The fifth winter after the volcanic eruption, one morning after eating breakfast, Wen Qian wondered what she would have for lunch. The fact that she was thinking about it meant that she planned to cook for herself at noon, rather than taking food directly from the Space.
After some thought, she decided to use the small potatoes she had harvested previously.
She washed the tiny potatoes, put them in the oven of the warm stove, and roasted them until the skins were crispy and fragrant. With some additional seasonings added, they would be delicious. However, Wen Qian wouldn't eat just roasted potatoes, so she also planned to make something else.
Potato shreds, potato pancakes, mashed potatoes, potato soup—potatoes were a food that she could eat in any way without getting tired of them.
She had originally wanted to make potato flour, but found that it took thirty pounds of potatoes to yield just three pounds of potato starch, which was too much effort, so she abandoned that idea.
Similarly, making taro flour and sweet potato flour was also a hassle.
If she could cultivate crops on a large scale in the future, she might consider making flour.
Having finished breakfast, she planned for lunch, mainly because the winter was too long and there was nothing else to do.
Wen Qian put two logs of firewood into the stove, making the fire bigger.
Every year, she had to prepare enough firewood to last at least six months through the winter. For the next few years, she wouldn't cut trees from the foot of the mountain across from her home, but would go farther in the direction of the ranch to chop trees.
After cutting the trees, she would put them directly into the Space, then take them out at home and leave them by the door to dry. Once dried, she would start sawing and chopping the firewood.
The trees she cut were never particularly thick, so later on she stopped using a chainsaw and instead used a handsaw and axe.
These tasks weren't completed all at once, but were done whenever she had free time. Now that winter had lasted over six months, Wen Qian had to make sure she had enough firewood prepared, neither too little nor too much.
From her recollection, there was always surplus firewood left over each year, which she stored in the Space. She would never let herself run out and have to replenish it at the last minute.
The firewood for the warm stove didn't need to be chopped into very thin pieces, as long as the width and length could fit into the square stove opening. It didn't matter if it wasn't split, because it would slowly burn as long as there was fire inside, which saved Wen Qian a lot of work.
She really liked this stove and felt that it was an extremely cost-effective purchase.
Unfortunately, the shopping system from before had disappeared, and she would never have that kind of shopping experience again.
Sometimes when the wind blew, there would be gusts of wind sounds from outside that Wen Qian could hear. Other than the sounds she made herself, the only other noise was the wind outside.
So Wen Qian kept up the habit of talking to herself, worried that if she didn't speak for too long, she might forget how to talk.
During the day, Wen Qian tried not to turn on lights, so she kept the curtains by the window open to let in more brightness. On the other hand, this also allowed her winter vegetables and green onion sprouts to get sunlight on the windowsill.
Even in winter, she had to grow something, so she sprouted things like green beans, soybeans, peas, and peanuts near the warm stove.
She would often grow some of these, not necessarily to eat right away, but most of the time she would store them in the Space.
She did this mainly to add some vitality or greenery to her environment, since growing inedible flowers or plants at this time would be a waste.
After arranging the plants, Wen Qian would exercise indoors, which was a strict rule for herself.
She wasn't a strongwoman, but simply hoped to be healthy and agile.
Living alone for so long, with the winters being so drawn out, it would be easy to become lethargic if she didn't exercise.
Close to noon, Wen Qian would go outside and walk around the house, then climb a ladder to use a telescope to observe the surrounding environment.
Observing the environment and recording the temperature were both daily routines.
After surveying the area and finding nothing out of the ordinary, Wen Qian would take a walk outside, then return home to start making potato pancakes.
First, she steamed the potatoes until cooked, then peeled and mashed them. She added flour, eggs and seasonings, and mixed it into a batter.
Next, she removed the kettle from the center of the warm stove, using a hook to open the iron lid.
The center of the stove was round, designed with three parts: a large outer ring enclosing a smaller inner ring, and in the very middle was a small round lid with a slight indentation and a small crossbar on top.
Using the hook, she lifted this lid and pulled out an iron plate from under the table, allowing the flames to rise up for cooking.
Depending on the size of the pot or kettle bottom, the two outer rings could be removed or left in place.
If not in use, she would put the three parts back in order, push in the iron plate to lower the temperature, and place a kettle on top to heat using the residual warmth.
Wen Qian took out her flat-bottomed pan, removed the round lid and one of the small rings and set them aside on the table. She put the pan on top, poured in some oil, and began spooning the potato batter onto it to fry into small pancakes one by one.
Since the pancakes absorbed a lot of oil and were too greasy to eat alone, Wen Qian also stir-fried a plate of amaranth greens to eat with them.
After eating, she would read for a while. If she felt sleepy, she would take a short afternoon nap, but not for too long.
Sometimes when Wen Qian woke up, it was already afternoon, which would make it hard for her to sleep at night, disrupting her routine.
Wen Qian usually napped by resting her head on the table. This way, her nap wouldn't be overly long. Under the table, her knees could feel the warmth from the stove, and the stainless steel tabletop was also warm, so she wouldn't get chilled.
The main reason was that if she lay down in bed to sleep, she would have to take off her clothes, and the nap could easily become too long.
Wen Qian had previously enclosed her sleeping area with transparent plastic sheeting, mainly to prevent oil fumes.
This was even more important in winter, as there was no exhaust fan here. With the cold weather, she couldn't keep the doors and windows open for long periods either, so she could smell the oil fumes on her clothes and hat.
However, she really disliked that smell on her pillows and bedding, so the plastic sheeting helped a bit.
Since there wasn't much happening, Wen Qian wrote less in her journal.
Apart from regular temperature records and a few notes about her physical condition, her days were repetitive without much new to record.
Winter was also the time when she read the most books. Although she had browsed through the 'four must-haves for time travel' book set she had prepared earlier, she hadn't mastered many of the skills in it.
So during winter, she would re-read them again, not necessarily to master anything, but simply to become more familiar with the books and gain more confidence in their content.
For example, 'The Barefoot Doctor's Manual' was a book she read frequently, glancing through it whenever she had time.
She also studied and identified the medicinal herbs she had dug up previously, referring to the herbology book. There were also books related to cooking skills.
Every time Wen Qian looked at these books, she felt that the wisdom of the ancients truly shone brilliantly!
If she got bored with those, Wen Qian would take out the novels she had previously stored and read them. Although she had saved many on her phone, computer, and USB drives, she had also purchased many physical books.
For her, electronic books were ultimately not as secure as physical ones.
