hotmtlnovel Chapter 3684: The Mercury Age (4)
Chapter 3684: The Mercury Age (4)
Chapter 3684: The Mercury Age (IV)
In the early morning of summer, the sun always rises very early. Without the harassment of reporters, Schiller finally got rid of the abnormal day and night schedule and became healthy again. He woke up almost at dawn.
But he woke up not because of the dawn, but because of something obvious - Pikachu was yelling downstairs again.
Schiller walked to the window, opened it, and smelled a strong scent of grass. Outside, the lawn in New York's Central Park seemed to be being mowed, and the hum of the lawn mower was endless. The swans on the lake came ashore from the other side in a somewhat embarrassed manner, and under the command of the keeper, ran to the shade of the trees on the opposite side.
New York Central Park is so large that even if you stand on the ninth floor, you can hardly see the tall buildings on the other side of the skyline. All you can see is green forests, and you can actually experience the feeling of living in a country villa in Manhattan. Schiller began to think that the high land prices here make sense.
Schiller walked to the other side and took down the schedule list - this was what he had written last night to do today. The most important thing was to go shopping. In addition to buying some office supplies, he also had to prepare for Steve's birthday party.
Traditional American parties require people to bring a dish. Depending on the race and number of people attending the party, different types and quantities of dishes should be brought. Most people will choose to bring special dishes of their own ethnicity, such as black people bring African specialties, most Latinos bring Mexican food, Chinese people bring Chinese food, and white people are more likely to bring wine, drinks or takeout.
Schiller has been here for more than ten years. According to his observation, Americans are particularly bad at cooking. They don't have any systematic dishes here: hamburgers are from Germany, pizza is from Italy, street food is mostly from Mexico, and rice and noodles are all from Asia. If you have to say, fried chicken can barely be considered a specialty, but unfortunately, the delicious fried chicken shops are all run by black people.
Among Schiller's friends, Captain America Steve and Peter are relatively good at cooking. However, whether their cooking process is really cooking is also worth discussing.
For example, if they are making pizza, they can prepare fresh vegetables and meat, but they will not make the crust themselves and can only buy frozen ones from the supermarket; if they are making hamburgers, they will only fry the patties and put some vegetables in them, and the hamburger buns are all bought; otherwise, they will buy some vegetables and salad dressing to mix the salad.
In theory, bread is the staple food in Europe and America, but the problem is that Americans don't know how to do pastry work. In China, almost everyone can steam rice, and there are occasionally a few elders who can steam steamed buns, or at least make dumpling wrappers. But it's very difficult to find an American who can make bread from mixing flour. They are at a loss when it comes to flour.
Some people may think that Westerners like baking and they always make small cakes. But the problem is that their cakes are also made with premixed powder: there are large whole package sets in supermarkets, and you just need to add various materials into the machine according to the steps to get a cake. Especially muffins and cupcakes, the whole process cannot be called baking, and children's food toys are more difficult than this.
Some people may ask, since they both came to the United States to live permanently, why was Pride able to accept eating in the cafeteria, while Greedy eventually developed cooking skills?
This brings us to the difference between Gotham and New York. Although both Gotham and New York are megacities on the East Coast, the food in Gotham is not so industrialized. Although it cannot be said that all the raw materials are freshly picked and killed, at least the beef and fish are fresh local specialties, and the vegetables are imported from the metropolis. The chef is not to be said to be very good, but as long as the ingredients are fresh and the seasoning is slightly adjusted, it will not be unpalatable.
New York is different. Food here is all industrialized: a frozen pizza crust is much cheaper than the same weight of fresh flour, and pre-made frozen fried chicken is cheaper than refrigerated chicken. As for fresh chicken? There is no real fresh chicken here. The same is true for beef. If you look carefully in the freezer of the local supermarket, you can basically find stocks from the World War II period.
This means that no matter whether it is the cafeteria of SHIELD or the cafeteria of the nursing home that Schiller is currently running, almost every dish has to have some frozen food. Needless to say, the taste is hard to accept. It was only after Schiller came here that he had his first taste of fried salmon that tasted like the skin of a firecracker.
Just like the UK, it's not that there is no good food in the US, it's just that the good food is not American food. Chinese and French food are still good.
After entering the era of unlimited energy, pre-prepared meals and frozen ingredients have become even more popular, because cold storage and cold chain transportation have basically no cost, which can drive the price of frozen food even lower.
Now, in New York, it only costs about two dollars to buy a 10-inch frozen meat pizza, which is enough to feed at least two adults; five dollars can buy a box of pre-fried chicken legs, which you just need to fry at home. Some discounted or not-so-fresh low-priced ingredients have returned to the cent era, and it is basically impossible to not be able to afford a meal.
Most ordinary people are not that wealthy, and if the food is cheap enough, they don’t care that much about the taste and flavor. Even the middle class is like this. These frozen products have good sales and are easy to preserve, so supermarkets prefer to stock them. In contrast, fresh organic vegetables are still expensive, difficult to preserve, and not many people buy them, so the variety and quantity of stock will decrease.
Even in Manhattan, which has the best economic situation, near New York's Central Park, there are more mass-market supermarkets. If you want to buy very fresh ingredients, you have to drive to high-end supermarkets farther away, and you have to go early, otherwise they may be sold out.
Schiller also has a lot of frozen food in his refrigerator, mostly for when he is too busy with work and has no time to spare, mostly frozen pizza - cheese, meat and tomato sauce are not bad at all. But if he has time, he will still try to cook as much as possible.
Schiller had attended similar parties before where guests had to bring their own food, but because what he brought was different every time and tasted good, everyone had high hopes for him.
Captain America's 100th birthday is a big deal, and even Washington will probably hold a celebration. Schiller naturally had to make some grand preparations. He decided to try some ingredients he had never cooked before, such as duck and goose.
In the United States, people basically only eat chicken, and Schiller has only eaten roast duck and roast goose in Chinese restaurants. He got a reliable supply channel from the owner of the Chinese restaurant he often went to. When he came back from buying vegetables, he went to find a reliable middleman to bring back two ducks and geese to practice.
After all, whether it is roast duck or roast goose, it is difficult to succeed in one go, so you have to practice with two first. When you are almost done, you can prepare the food for the banquet, so as to ensure better taste.
Schiller was walking downstairs when he ran into Peter and Pikachu who were going upstairs.
"Good morning, what brings you two up so early?"
"Uh... I woke up suddenly." Peter said, touching his nose.
"You're still so bad at lying, Peter." Schiller shook his head and said, "Pikachu woke you up and wanted you to take him for a ride in the flying car, right?"
Peter spread his hands, revealing an expression that said "I knew I couldn't hide it." Pikachu nudged him with his short hands, flicked his tail and said, "You got up earlier than usual today, Doc. Where are you going?"
"I'm going to buy groceries, are you guys coming?"
Peter immediately became happy. He rubbed his hands and said, "Is it time for another feast? Can I order some food?"
"I'm going to prepare dishes for Steve's birthday party. You can come with me to buy some ingredients and practice. You don't want the dishes to taste unsatisfactory, do you?"
"That's right." Peter thought for a moment and said, "Although my aunt gave me the recipe for raspberry pie, I have never made it once. I should buy some ingredients and try it. Otherwise, it will be troublesome if I can't make it."
"Let's go." Schiller said, shaking the car keys.
They went downstairs and got in the car. Because it was so early, there were few cars on the road, and they drove smoothly all the way to a high-end organic supermarket on the edge of Manhattan.
“Oh my god,” Peter sighed, “I don’t know if I should say this, Doc, but when I passed by here the other day, I was wondering what kind of sucker would come to a supermarket where a broccoli flower costs five dollars…”
Schiller rolled his eyes slightly and said, "Yes, I am the sucker, and so are you."
"No, no, no, I will never spend a penny here." Peter said, "If I knew you were coming to this kind of supermarket, I would never come. It's better for me to go to the one my aunt often goes to. She has a points card there. At the end of last year, she used the points to exchange for a small cart..."
As they talked, they entered the supermarket. This supermarket looked high-end: the hall was wide and bright, and the food was wrapped in plastic wrap, shining in the soft light. The vegetable area had a slight earthy smell, and everything was beautiful as long as you didn't look at the price tags.
Peter first picked up a zucchini, looked at the price next to it, and put it back with a grin; then he picked up a box of raspberries, looked at the price, and threw the box back quickly as if he had been electrocuted.
“Oh my God, Doc, are you sure you want to buy groceries here?” Peter was really confused. He said, “My aunt filled her shopping cart with $20 yesterday. She brought back enough to feed us for a week, but here we can only buy a zucchini and a few raspberries.”
"Okay, Peter," Schiller said, extending a hand. "I admire your aunt and uncle's frugality, but I admire your family's taste buds even more—especially since you go to Manhattan's fine restaurants for dinner once a month. How on earth do you tolerate all that frozen food?"
"Well, it doesn't taste that bad, does it?" Peter thought about it carefully and said, "Of course it's not as good as those made in those high-end French restaurants, let alone yours. But every time I think that a big can of pancake mix only costs two dollars, I think those pancakes are particularly delicious."
"Of course, we have the conditions to eat better. But now frozen food has been developed very well, and it is not bad at all after heating. And as long as we replenish dietary fiber and vitamins regularly, it is still healthy. There is no need to eat a big meal every time, right?"
"I consider myself a very frugal man, Peter," Schiller said, putting his arm around Peter's shoulders, "but I am willing to spend more on food than you can imagine. You don't want to know how much the geese and ducks I want to pick up later cost per pound."
Schiller made a gesture, and Peter coughed violently, then his facial features wrinkled, obviously very confused.