Chinese sugar fried chestnutsWritten by Jacklyn Chen
Note: You may freely reprint this article as long as author bio and active links are intact. A email notification of how you use it would be greatly appreciated.The "Liang Xiang" chestnuts are well known. Here "Liang Xiang" refers to old "Liang Xiang" county, is equivalent to part of mountain area of "Fangshan" district of Beijing, and is not "Liang Xiang" village county. "Liang Xiang" chestnuts really are "Fangshan Chinese chestnuts". There are many ways to eat chestnuts, but most popular one is sugar roasted chestnuts. As soon as chestnuts are harvested in autunm, you'll see cauldrons are set up at every corner of street. Mix chestnuts with sand, sprinkle plain sugar syrup, fry till sand becomes pitch-black. The chestnuts will then look shinning and bright as if a layer of oil has been applied to shells. The burning smell flutters all over. People like me who are craving for chestnuts would come to buy by following smell wihtout sellers' calling out. People used to use shovel to fry, now process is electrically operated. The history of Beijing sugar roasted chestnuts is quite long. The old "Zhitang" man copies others quotes from Lu You's "Old School Notes" in "Roasted Chestnuts", talking about a chestnut roasting story: The most well-known and best-selling chestnuts in Northern Song Dynasty Kaifeng were roasted by Li, HeEr. Others were trying everything possible to imitate, but no one did at end. During Southern Song Dynasty Shaoxing years, Song's embassador was sent to Jin (an old country in China) and arrived now Beijing. Suddenly two people, who called themselves "Li, HeEr", sent in 20 bags of sugar roasted chestnuts, then left with tears.
| | Gourmet Flavored CoffeeWritten by Hans Dekker
Coffee tastes great by itself, but for an extra special taste sensation, try gourmet flavored coffee. There are many flavoring substances which can be added to coffee to give your daily cup of Java an out of ordinary flavor experience.Some flavors are natural enhancers that go together with coffee like bees and honey. Rum and chocolate have been added to coffee for almost as long as coffee has been produced. Some of newest gourmet flavored coffee includes vanilla, macadamia, and even peanut butter! Not all these flavors are everyone's “cup of tea”, but taste sensations of gourmet flavored coffee give you a new outlook on Java juice. Try out some of these special flavors -- you may find a favorite that you always come back to. Just look at some of these types of gourmet flavored coffee -- apricot cream, Black Forest cake, Café Napoleon, chocolate raspberry, Jamaican rum, Southern pecan and vanilla hazelnut. The names by themselves makes your mouth water.
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