Spicy foods are very popular in Shanghai, as a nice complement to the non-spicy sweet Shanghai dishes. Sichuan and Hunan spicy restaurants can be found in many malls and neighbourhoods. Chopped chili pepper is common in many dishes, especially Hunan style foods. The chili peppers are manually chopped and mixed with some garlic, ginger, salt and then preserved for a while. People also use chopped chili pepper at home, seasoning to various foods.
Tea egg is a common snack you can find from convenience stores, street vendors and street restaurants in Shanghai. The chicken eggs are boiled in hot water and then simmered in soy sauce and black tea leaves. Some also put spice or extra flavours while cooking. The egg shell has been cracked all around so that the flavours get into the egg. It is a nice snack for Shanghai people between meals.
The moon festival is believed to have the brightest and most round moon during the year. Chinese people eat the moon cakes to enjoy a sweet and complete family life. Legendary goes that there is a lady Chang'e living in the moon. Her husband got two pills for eternal life. Instead of taking one, Chang'e ate both pills. She flew up to the moon and lived an eternal life there, but was alone and afar. Looking up at the full moon, you may identify a lonely female figure regretting on her greediness.
JiuNiang is a kind of fermented glutinous rice with wine taste. It also tastes sweet, thus liked by many Shanghai people. The ingredient can be cooked with egg, osmanthus flower, into pancake, but more often boiled with the glutinous rice dumplings. The dish is commonly ordered as a desert in the Shanghai-style meals.
Next year 2012 is the Chinese year of Dragon. The new year's eve will be January 22nd, which is coming in less than a month. People are getting prepared for the most important traditional festival - Spring Festival. You can feel the it stronger in the villages and water towns. Dried sausage, salted chicken and dried fishes, etc. can be seen all over the ZhuJiaJiao water town.
