Local food in Xi'an
In my last blog, I once mentioned lichee fruit, and lichee is the favorite fruit of Concubine Yang in Tang Dynasty.
Concubine Yang was famous by her amazing beauty and excellent dance talent, being favored by Emperor Xuanzong deeply. Pitifully such a perfect love ended on a huge tragedy. Emperor Xuanzong was forced to decree to hang her with the white silk belt by herself.
Concubine Yang died at the age of only 36 years old, the same death age as Diana Princess and Marilyn Monroe. It seems that 36 is really an unlucky age for the peerless beauties, regardless of all the times and nations.
However, the beauties who died before their ages just left people the most beautiful impressions.
When people visit Xi'an, one of a must-see places should be Mountain Li, where there is the hot spring. Except to love eating lichee, Concubine Yang would like to take the bath in hot spring of Mountain Li.
I still remember how I felt when I visited the hot spring in Mountain Li. We females all couldn't wait to touch the water of hot spring in order that we became as beautiful as Concubine Yang. Of course, it is impossible. But anyone can really fall in love that place full of the atmosphere of beauty and legends of Concubine Yang. And the local pomegranates are especially big, most of which are available for export, according to the guide.
Xi'an is named Chang'an in Tang Dynasty, it is said that Chang'an was a famous international capital city at that time, there were different kinds of people gathering and living in it, including some muslims who don't eat pork.
So the local food is also time-honored, abundant and delicious. I just upload some of Xi'an local food photos to meet readers' appetite. At least when I see these food photos, my month is watering, I miss that place where Concubine Yang enjoyed her best time.
Night scene of Xi'an 西安夜景
Marinated pork meat in baked bun 肉夹馍
肉夹馍
Spicy soup 回民胡辣汤麻
Basic Mutton 水盆羊肉
Mutton entrails soup/haggis soup 羊杂汤
Noodles with coagulated sheep blood (used as a food item) 粉汤羊血
Steamed buns 小笼包
Beef/Mutton and bread pieces in soup 牛羊肉泡馍
So wonderful story about Concubine Yang. The hot spring sounds fascinating. We do have hot springs here in my country too. Hotsprings are found in areas with active volcanoes. The story could be true, they say bathing in hot spring is good for the skin. I've never been to a hot spring yet but I'd love to someday.
The foods are indeed mouth watering. I love steamed buns! and basic mutton is a dish I can easily cook myself =) . Never tried a soup with sheep blood, but in my country there's a similar we call "Dinuguan/Filipino Pork Dinuguan" it's a soup made of pork meat and pork blood, usually it's also served hot and spicey with rice cake for the side dish. I tried it and it's also good. =)
I also never tried "sheep blood". It is said that during Tang Dynasty, there was good hot spring water in Mountain Li, now only very little hot spring water, having no way to take bath.
But Xi'an is really a great place where there is Lan Tian Jade(蓝田玉), and the famous Terra-Cotta Warriors is just located in it.
It is the first time for me to see a kind of black jade in my trip of Xi'an. On the surface, the jade is black; under the light, the jade becomes green.
I bought a green/black Lantian jade bracelet. As result, it has a strange fate. It entered the cremation urn of my late American husband.