Winter solstice Dumplings

 Ma Yanjiao /Gansu Honggu District Vocational Education Center

Our village has a tradition that during winter solstice everyone must eat dumplings.It\'s said that it brings peacefulness to the family.

My family especially believes in this tradition,and each year during winter solstice most of my relatives come back from their villages to eat at my grandmother's house.

In order to make a lot of dumplings,my grandmother starts cooking early in the morning.This year she used radish,peppers,ginger,rice noodles and meat for to make the filling.Making dumplings looks like a very simple process,but in fact it is very complicated.Even boiling the dumplings takes a lot of effort to make sure that they don't stick to each other or burst.You can always tell when the dumplings are cooked,because they float to the top of the pot.

After they were cooked,my grandmother put the three big plates of dumplings on the table for everyone to start eating.Of course,everyone knows that dumplings just aren\'t the same without a little vinegar,garlic and chilies.