Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 34 Wilderness Chef

In this scorching weather, the outdoor area feels like a furnace at midday, and you could get heatstroke if you stay there for even a few tens of minutes.

While trading gold is important, health is the foundation. Only by maintaining good physical function can one continue to produce results.

This way, the lunch break will last for more than three hours, which is quite ample.

Knowing that Edward was very hungry, Zhou Xin didn't spend too much time making lunch.

He poured some cooking oil into a frying pan, cracked in an egg and fried it until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, then took out a few slices of bacon and fried them until slightly charred.

Next, melt a little butter in a frying pan and fry the two slices of toast until heated through.

Finally, take out the tomato slices, drizzle the egg, tomato slices and bacon with cheese sauce, and put them into the fried toast. A sandwich is ready.

He made another sandwich using the same method, knowing that Edward had expended a lot of energy and one sandwich would definitely not be enough.

Edward took the sandwich from the plate and eagerly took a big bite.

"Oh Jesus, this is absolutely delicious!"

Zhou Xin once again secretly felt sorry for Edward, who had never eaten anything good.

As for himself, he planned to make a simple ham and egg fried rice.

He had already cooked a portion of rice in the rice cooker last night, intending to make fried rice with eggs this morning, but he didn't make it because he was in a hurry to leave for gold mining.

Leftover rice is perfect for making fried rice; that's what Stephen Chow taught him.

Cut two sausages and a few slices of bacon into cubes and set aside.

Scoop out a lump of lard that was purchased at great expense and put it into the pot to melt.

People in Europe, America, and Australia generally don't eat lard, so the lard sold in the market is mostly imported from China, which is why it's quite expensive.

However, lard curd is a solid, making it easy to carry and actually very suitable for outdoor life.

Moreover, it makes fried rice or stir-fried vegetables very fragrant, so Zhou Xin bought a small jar.

After the oil has rendered, crack in two eggs and scramble them. Then add ham and diced bacon and stir-fry together.

Then add the leftover rice and continue to stir-fry, occasionally spreading the rice out in the pan so that the oil at the bottom of the pan can fry the rice until it turns golden brown.

Continue frying until all the moisture in the rice has evaporated and every grain is golden and tempting. The fried rice is now ready.

It's a pity that scallions don't keep well; otherwise, sprinkling some bright green scallion flowers on top would definitely make it even better.

"Xin, what did you make? It smells amazing!"

Edward looked at the distinct grains of egg fried rice on Zhou Xin's plate, its color enticing, and smelled the aroma that was much more fragrant than the sandwich in his hand. He couldn't help but ask.

"Would you like to try a dish that mixes rice and eggs together?"

As Zhou Xin spoke, he generously handed the plate to Edward.

Edward was indeed very curious about this Chinese delicacy, so he took a spoon, scooped up a spoonful, and put it in his mouth.

The rice grains, fried to a golden brown and chewy perfection in lard, mixed with ham and bacon bits that exude a meaty aroma, create an ultimate fragrance in the mouth.

Suddenly, Edward felt that the sandwich in his hand didn't taste good at all.

"This is so delicious! My God, why did I never know there was such good food in the world?"

Looking at Edward's naive and unsophisticated appearance, Zhou Xin felt a little sorry for him.

This is nothing. If you went to my hometown, any dish there would be so delicious it would make you swoon.

There's no way around it; these Europeans and Americans, brainwashed by their local media, believe that Chinese people are all people with a taste for only eating rats and their internal organs.

How could you possibly imagine the vastness of the food in this great food empire?

Since there is no afternoon napping habit in Europe and America, after lunch, Zhou Xin lay down on the folding moon chair to sleep, while Edward began tinkering with installing Starlink equipment.

Outside, the sun was blazing, but inside the camp, a cool breeze was blowing. Zhou Xin slept very comfortably, even drooling.

I slept for two hours and woke up at almost three o'clock.

Zhou Xin got up and stretched, feeling refreshed.

"Quickly use your phone to play Connect Four, the device is installed."

Edward walked over and pointed to the Starlink equipment installed not far away.

Zhou Xin was seeing Starlink devices for the first time and was quite curious. He immediately took out his phone and found that there was indeed an additional Wi-Fi signal.

Being able to connect to Wi-Fi in such a desolate wilderness, where there is no cell phone signal, is quite a novel experience.

"It works, the speed isn't particularly stable, but it's sufficient for our needs."

Zhou Xin nodded. It was good enough that the communication software was usable, and it could also be used to browse video websites such as YouTube, although watching live streams was not very smooth.

Finally, I don't have to be isolated from the world anymore!

As long as there is internet access, we won't lose contact with the outside world.

Moreover, their spiritual lives in this wilderness will be much richer.

After a long day, lying under the stars, letting your mind wander, and watching a classic movie feels really nice.

"Xin, let's continue!"

Edward looked at the sun in the sky, already feeling quite impatient.

Zhou Xin nodded. Although it was still a bit hot, the temperature had dropped considerably and was within a tolerable range.

Zhou Xin was quite satisfied with Edward's enthusiasm. After all, no boss would dislike a hardworking employee, even though the two weren't really boss and employee in the traditional sense.

In the afternoon, Zhou Xin continued searching for and marking locations where gold was buried, while Edward continued digging for gold along the route marked by Zhou Xin with great enthusiasm.

Time flew by as the two focused on their work, and it wasn't until after 7 p.m., when night fell, that they finished work and returned to their camp.

In the afternoon, Zhou Xin marked more than a dozen locations, while Edward dug seven locations.

The afternoon's harvest was much worse than the morning's; the largest piece of gold they found was only the size of a soybean.

However, both of them had a full understanding of the difficulty of gold mining beforehand, so they were not disappointed.

Harvests are always unpredictable, sometimes good and sometimes bad.

That evening, Edward insisted that Zhou Xin make him fried rice for lunch.

There happened to be some rice left, so Zhou Xin made him a plate of fried rice with eggs, just as he had wished.

He himself simply stir-fried a small piece of pork belly to render the oil, then mixed it with minced ginger and garlic, added seasonings, and stir-fried it into a dish of meat sauce.

Then I cooked a bowl of noodles, poured meat sauce over them, and ate it.

Edward closed his eyes and slowly chewed, enjoying the delicious taste he had never had before.

"This is simply the most delicious food I've ever eaten, even better than king crab from Alaska."

Zhou Xin was speechless. This is way too much!

After dinner, the two took a quick shower.

Then, the two turned on the nightlight, sat down at the table, and began to weigh their day's harvest.

On the table were an ounce scale and a wooden box containing gold.

Edward swallowed hard, his eyes filled with anticipation.

After pouring all the gold from the box onto the scale, Edward looked over nervously.

0.8 ounces, while today's gold price is $2240 per ounce.

In other words, their earnings for today were $1792.

This is what they reaped on the first day of their gold hunting trip in Western Australia.