I'm the Culinary God-Chapter 717 - 322: The Joy of Harvest, Expressed with Lotus Cake! Son, Time for the Lottery! [Subscribe Please]_3

Chapter 717: Chapter 322: The Joy of Harvest, Expressed with Lotus Cake! Son, Time for the Lottery! [Subscribe Please]_3

In the West Fourth Ring Villa, the video shoot of Dundun playing billiards was complete. Now, everyone was gathered around the piano in the corner of the living room on the first floor, planning to film Dundun playing it.

"Can Dundun play?"

"Not likely, but it’s good enough if it can just pose; it doesn’t need to actually play."

"That’s a Steinway, isn’t it? A piano worth over a million, and you’re letting a cat play with it? Aren’t you afraid it will get damaged?"

Shen Baobao came over with cat nail clippers, gently holding Dundun’s paws and snipping the tips of its claws one by one.

Cat claws grow constantly and need their sharp tips trimmed regularly; otherwise, if they grow too long, they can pierce the paw pads, leading to inflammation and other issues.

Moreover, long nails are uncomfortable for cats.

Shen Baobao squatted next to the piano stool, clipping Dundun’s nails while the little guy cooperated nicely. After they were clipped, it pulled back its paws, seemingly to check if the claws had been cut too short.

This compliant behavior left Dou Wenjing and Zeng Xiaoqi utterly dumbfounded.

Just a few minutes ago, the two had been watching a video from a pet vlogger who got scratched badly while trying to clip their cat’s nails. The comment section was filled with messages from users too scared to trim their own cats’ claws.

At the time, they had remarked that with Dundun’s temper, it would probably take several people to hold it down for a nail trim.

But Dundun was very cooperative and quite patient.

It was as if the cat in the vlogger’s despairing video and Dundun weren’t even the same species.

"Our Dundun is indeed not like other cats."

Geng Lele said with a chuckle, "Of course. He’s the Holy Master of the Meow Meow Sect, after all. How could ordinary kittens compare?"

After the nail clipping, the lighting equipment was set up, and the camera was adjusted to the best angle.

As everyone was busy, Zeng Xiaoqi took out her phone. She wanted to check for any inappropriate comments under the Lin Ji’s Food hashtag and delete them immediately to prevent any negative impact.

Then she saw Wei Qian’s update.

The sight of those plump little round balls suddenly made the film crew’s chief photographer lose interest in her work. She exclaimed, "Hey, Boss Lin is preparing some delicious food at the store. Should we go have a look?"

After saying that, she showed her phone to everyone.

The girls, who had originally planned to film until dark, were immediately captivated by these snacks.

"I think since we have seven days for the National Day holiday, we can afford to mix work with leisure."

"Exactly. It’s not a big deal if we get tired, but what’s important is Dundun. Continuous filming is too hard on the little guy."

"I was thinking the same thing. Felines are known for their bursts of energy but have poor stamina. Let’s head back."

"Yeah, even if we come back to film tomorrow, we can’t just think about the shooting schedule. We also need to consider the little one’s physical limits."

"..."

Having found themselves a plethora of excuses, everyone began to pack up their equipment.

They decided not to take the equipment back this time, to save the trouble of hauling it back and forth.

However, it needed to be packed away properly, especially the delicate fill lights, which had to be stored in their special bags.

After packing up, Shen Baobao planned to go upstairs to change clothes and also bring down a few sweatshirts suitable for autumn.

Some went to the bathroom, others to the kitchen for water, all preparing to leave.

At the piano, Dundun sat up straight and pressed a key with its paw, then another one next to it. It played slowly and awkwardly, the notes disconnected and hesitant.

But if Han Shuzhen had been there, she would have definitely recognized it as "Butterfly Lovers," the very piece she had played when she first brought Dundun home and was helping it get familiar with its surroundings.

「At the store.」

Lin Xu flattened the well-rested dough with his hand. Then, using a small rolling pin, he rolled it out into a long, tongue-like shape.

After rolling it out, he folded the lower half of the tongue-shaped strip upwards, then folded down the upper, shorter half on top, creating a standard three-fold.

He folded it neatly, placed it back under the plastic wrap, and let it rest for another ten minutes.

Once it had rested sufficiently, he took it out. He rolled the tri-folded dough on the cutting board, again into a tongue-like shape. After rolling, he tri-folded it once more and set it aside to rest.

Through this repeated folding and rolling, the dough was gradually pressed thinner than paper. The shortening gradually became interspersed with the water-oil dough, with only a little fat separating the layers.

When heated, this fat would cause the layers of pastry to separate and puff up.

This is how Thousand-layered Puff Pastry is made.

After another rest, he lightly rolled out the tri-folded dough, making it as round as possible. Then, he took the filling from the refrigerator and wrapped it in the light pink dough.

He tucked the sealed edges underneath, forming a smooth, round ball on top.

Then, using a thin, sharp knife, he made three intersecting cuts on top, dividing the surface of the ball into six equal sections.

After making the cuts, he mixed some red rice flour with water. He then dipped a small brush into this mixture and evenly painted the sides of each cut.

This way, when the pastry bloomed, the petals would have a deep red outline, complementing the light pink dough and giving them an ethereal charm.

Once all the pastries were prepared, Lin Xu added vegetable oil to a wok. He heated it to a low temperature, then reduced the flame. He gently placed the uncooked lotus cakes into a shallow mesh strainer and slowly lowered them into the hot oil.

As they fried in the low-temperature oil, the ’petals’ slowly unfolded. The outermost layers bloomed completely, wrinkling slightly in the hot oil, beautifully resembling a lotus flower just past its prime.

The light pink petals, delicately edged in dark red, looked irresistible even before they were taken out of the wok.

These were, by far, the most visually stunning pastries ever made in the shop.

So beautiful, one would almost hesitate to eat them.

Frying lotus cakes required patience; they had to be cooked continuously in low-temperature oil so the petals could gradually bloom.

When they were almost done, he carefully lifted them out with a fine-mesh sieve and set them aside to drain off the excess oil.

By now, the petals were perfectly fried and so delicate they would crumble at the slightest touch. Therefore, every step had to be handled with extreme care; a little too much force, and the ’flower’ might shatter.

"Wow, such a beautiful lotus flower!"

Just as he was busy with this, Shen Baobao’s amazed cry came from the kitchen doorway.

She hadn’t expected to walk back into the shop just as Lin Xu was lifting a delicate, pink-edged lotus blossom from the oil.

Is this the culinary creation for today? Its beauty is simply breathtaking!

"You all produced such a great video, so I made some lotus cakes as a reward. This was also something I promised Lele before, and today I’m fulfilling that promise."

Lin Xu brought out the fried lotus cakes. These exquisite pastries immediately drew gasps of admiration.

Everyone took out their phones and cameras, starting to photograph these blossoms.

"So beautiful!"

"They look just like real ones."

"The red edges are so vivid; they look too precious to eat!"

"I can’t bear to eat it either. How about you eat mine, and I eat yours?"

"This feels like exchanging our children for food!"

"..."

Lin Xu returned to the kitchen to fry the rest of the lotus cakes.

While everyone gathered around the exquisitely beautiful pastries, praising them endlessly, Lin Xu took off his apron and headed down the stairs.

My boy, time for the prize draw!

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This Chapter is 5,200 words. Save your Monthly Tickets for tomorrow—they’ll be worth double then!