A few days before I left Shanghai, China celebrated Tomb Sweeping Day. As you might guess, it's a day where everyone visits their ancestors' gravesites and does some cleaning, weeding, yes, sweeping, and other general upkeep. They also offer up gifts -- usually food, or objects made of paper, which they then set on fire (there's more symbolism to it than I can properly explain).
There are also special snacks. These here green things are qingtuan (CHING-twan), little green glutinous rice balls stuffed with red bean paste. They only come out for Tomb Sweeping Day, although I'm sure that once the US has wormed enough multinationals into China, they'll be sold four weeks in advance and shaped into little chicks or brooms or something. Anyway, the green balls start out looking somewhat paler, and end up looking nice and shiny. These are also covered in plastic wrap, I guess to keep their shape for later eating (they were given to me, whereas I think most are bought to be eaten on the spot). I'm not entirely clear on how they get the green color -- I've heard alternately that it's from an herb or a vegetable crushed into the rice flour. It's not artificial food coloring, anyway.
They're very sticky, at least the one I ate was. (Unfortunately, that and the not-holding-shape thing also lead to not photographing well.) Tastewise, they were decent -- red bean paste has started to grow on me since I've been here, but I still prefer it in smaller doses. But they were just too sticky. (I'd have liked to try one warm, to see if it still had that problem.) You know how when you eat -- what are they, Jujubees? -- and the remnants are stuck in your teeth for ages afterwards? These are kind of like that, except that Jujubees don't also stick to your fingers.
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