Summer begins

Summer begins today according to China ‘s 24 solar terms.

The sky was crispy clear and bright in the morning , from the wash of yesterday’s rain .

As I was little,we used to have Summer rice on this day to mark the first day of this year’s summer.

Summer Rice is a specially made rice, fresh bamboo shoots, salted pork , fresh broad beans and peas serve as the best ingredients .

But the best and most important part is you need to cook it outside in an open field.That’s the essence.

While the adults are busy with digging the fire pits and collecting fire wood, children go to pick vegetables directly from the fields .

When the preparation done, we first fry the salted meat together with the fresh vegetables until the meat grease wrapped the vegs, then you just add rice and water in . After a quarter hour, the air is so full of a delicious sent that you even could smell it from miles away.

While the adults wait around and keep the fires burning, the restless children would try to catch shrimps in the nearby fish pond, the beginning of summer is just the ripe time for shrimps fishing. So if you’re good at fishing , you got us fresh water shrimp soup for a second course.

There’s another different tradition quite popular in my husband’s hometown. They have Summer noodles for the beginning of summer. The ingredients are nearly same except they have noodles instead of rice .My mother in-law is so good at cooking Summer Noodles, we would gather together at her house just for a taste of this delicious course , even without any invitations.

We’re common people , but little rituals and ceremonies always make us feel special .