Phoenix was hot. How hot? The temperature could easily soar to 40 degrees in the summer.
How long does it have summer? From the middle of June onwards, many areas were still in spring, but here, they were already preparing for midsummer …
Li Du and Ah Meow had been walking on the streets for less than an hour, and they were already sweating profusely.
Ah Meow was even worse off. A cat's fur did not have a strong ability to dissipate heat. He stuck out his tongue from the heat, just like a dog. He didn't even want to walk anymore. He climbed up a lush willow tree and hid in the shade, refusing to move.
Li Du waved his hand and said, "Come, come down. Let's go home."
Ah Meow looked at him suspiciously and continued to stick out its tongue like a dog.
"Let's go back and enjoy the air-conditioning. Look, I can't stand the heat anymore!" Mr. Li wiped his forehead and waved his hand, beads of sweat flying everywhere.
Seeing this, Ah Meow finally trusted him. It slid down from the tree and quickly went into the backpack. Then, it used its claws to open the backpack for some air.
However, Li Du had already drunk a few glasses of iced fruit juice. Although it tasted good, it was too sweet. He did not want to consume too much fructose.
On the way back, he passed by a Chinese supermarket. After thinking for a while, he went in and bought some soft glutinous rice, distiller's yeast, and yeast powder, intending to make his own beverage.
He planned to make sour rice wine. When he was in college, he worked in a Japanese restaurant and learned this craft. It was a light alcoholic beverage that was popular in rural areas of Japan.
The hotel room was not suitable for brewing wine, so he asked the owner to borrow the kitchen. However, Bedes was not there. Only Nicole, a girl dressed as a man, was wiping glasses.
Li Du knocked on the table and said, "Hey, Nicole, the cup is already very clean. Why are you still wiping it?"
The eccentric little girl rolled her eyes at him and said, "This is the bartender's rule. The purpose is to reduce the pressure the customers feel. Don't you understand?"
"I don't understand."
Nicole snorted and said, "When a customer drinks, if the bartender doesn't find something to busy himself with, the customer will think that the bartender is paying attention to them and will feel pressured. Wiping wine glasses is to solve this problem, understand? "
"I understand. Thank you, but if you're willing to lend me your kitchen, I'll be even more grateful," Mr. Li said with a smile.
Nicole squinted at him and said, "You want to cook?"
"No, winemaking."
The little girl was a little interested. "You know how to brew wine? Beer? "
"No, it's a type of rice wine. The beer will take at least a week to brew. I don't have that much time to waste here," Li Du explained.
The little girl was a dabbler in bartending. She was very interested in brewing wine, so she readily agreed to Li Du's request. However, she requested to mix wine with him.
Li Du said, "That's not a problem, but don't you need to look after the shop?"
The little girl went to the backyard and whistled. A big golden retriever ran over. Nicole handed it a bone and said, "Look after this place, okay?"
The big golden retriever drooled and nodded happily, as if it understood what she said.
"This dog is well trained," Li Du praised.
The little girl said impatiently, "Of course, Lil 'Bi is a smart child. Let's go and brew some wine."
Many Chinese immigrants in the United States came from the southern region of China. Most Chinese supermarkets were opened by these people, and their hometown had the custom of drinking rice wine, so the supermarkets also had special soft glutinous rice.
The glutinous rice was soaked and vacuum-packed. After opening it, it could be directly used to brew rice wine.
There was a large pressure cooker in the kitchen. Li Du washed the glutinous rice twice and saw that it was clean. He put it into the pressure cooker and simmered it like porridge.
Nicole looked at it seriously and asked, "How much water?"
"Rice and water are about one to one and a half," Li Du said. "Now we have to wait patiently. It will probably take about an hour and a half."
Time had to be controlled. Li Du opened the pot every fifteen minutes to check.
Because less water was used, it slowly became a thick porridge. At this time, he turned the heat down. The porridge gurgled in the pot, and big and small bubbles constantly appeared in the porridge.
After about an hour and a half, the porridge was done. At this time, the glutinous rice gave off a strong fragrance. If it was accompanied by a small plate of pickled vegetables, Li Du felt that it would be a good breakfast.
After cooling, he added yeast and distiller's yeast. After mixing it well, he added some yogurt.
Seeing this, Nicole pouted and said, "It's a mess. It looks disgusting."
Li Du smiled and said, "If you knew the amount of bacteria in yeast powder and yogurt, you would feel even more disgusted."
Whether it was yeast powder or yogurt, it was to quickly cultivate a large number of yeast, which could save time for fermentation.
After mixing it well, he put the pot in the corner of the kitchen and said, "Tell your brother not to pour out the things inside. At this time tomorrow, we will have good wine to drink."
Nicole asked in surprise, "That's it?"
Li Du said, "Of course. Did you think the procedure was complicated?"
Nicole did not say anything. She went back to make a sticker and stuck it on the pot. There was a line of beautiful words on it: Whoever touches my pot, I will hit their head with a beer bottle!
After a day of nothing, Hans set off early the next morning. Like a professional spy, he displayed a work attitude that Mr. Li could not help but give him a thumbs up.
In the afternoon, Nicole came to find him and said, "Twenty-four hours are up."
Li Du was reading a book and said casually, "It's okay, it can ferment for another two to three hours."
Nicole said angrily, "You are not strict at all."
Li Du saw that she was looking forward to it, so he put the book away and said, "It's fine now. I'm just playing it safe."
When he opened the pot, it was like opening a beer bottle. A milky white foam came out, and at the same time, there was a faint smell of alcohol.
Nicole looked excited and said, "I smell alcohol. Oh yeah, it's a success!"
Now the porridge in the pot had become semi-liquid. Li Du used a clean cloth to filter the porridge, and then filtered the milky white wine into a big bottle.
Nicole impatiently tasted it with a spoon and pouted. "Hmm, it's not good. Only the taste of alcohol."
Li Du smiled and said, "Don't worry. You can say that when it's dark."
He put the rice wine into the freezer. This process was used to allow the yeast to break down the starch into sugar and increase the acidity. At the same time, cooling the rice wine would have a better taste.
In the evening, the sun was setting. Hans came back, tired and sweaty.
Li Du asked, "Are you okay, buddy? Do you have to risk your life? Be careful of heatstroke! "
Hans waved his hand and said, "I'm fine. Give me a glass of cold beer!"
Li Du said, "I'll give you another drink. It's more powerful than cold beer!"
There was a gazebo in the garden behind the hotel. He took out the rice wine and went to the gazebo with Hans and Godzilla. Soon, Nicole came over with Bedes. They waited expectantly to taste the rice wine.
Hans passed the cup over and said, "Let me drink first. Let the hero drink first."
Li Du was overjoyed. "You got news about Dog Ears?"
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