The long Chinese New Year/Spring Festival is finally over - the last of a month's worth of fireworks are going off as I speak. This final day has two names too (probably more, but I only know two): Lantern Festival and tangyuanjie 汤圆节. Shanghai's famous Lantern festivities have been canceled in reaction to the deadly stampede December 31st, but 
tangyuan, stuffed rice balls, are available in the freezer section of every supermarket all year round. A friend invited me over for some black sesame (or was it perhaps poppy seed?) stuffed tangyuan, boiled for five minutes and quite tasty, and I got to see some lanterns too - if only changing trains on my way home! Let's start the new year already!
tangyuan, stuffed rice balls, are available in the freezer section of every supermarket all year round. A friend invited me over for some black sesame (or was it perhaps poppy seed?) stuffed tangyuan, boiled for five minutes and quite tasty, and I got to see some lanterns too - if only changing trains on my way home! Let's start the new year already! 