Jin Han would start working before dawn, and when Tiantian woke up, he was nowhere to be found. After washing up, she began preparing breakfast.
She picked a few relatively dry corn kernels, ground them into coarse grits removing the rough husks, and kept the fine ones.
She started boiling water in a pot—once the water boiled, she added two peeled and chunked sweet potatoes. When the sweet potatoes were half-cooked, she stirred in the corn paste mixed with water and continued boiling. As the sweet aroma of corn spread, the Henan specialty—corn and sweet potato soup was ready.
Meanwhile, she steamed a few potatoes. When the potatoes were nearly done, she added four clean eggs and continued steaming—since the fire was about to go out, there was no need for further attention.
She took out the pickled vegetables, rinsed them under water, chopped them to bite-size, and seasoned them with vinegar, chili, and a bit of vegetable oil as sesame oil wasn't available yet this year.
