qishan noodles(岐山臊子面).doc

Noodles with legends ? Qishan noodles from Shaanxi are rightly famous, as much for their taste and texture as the communion of community and harmony that they represent. Few in China are as passionate about their noodles as the natives from Xian. The noodles are steeped in folklore（民俗）, family traditions and legends. In China, novices（新手） unfamiliar with the food are often intimidated by strange names and even stranger customs. Take saliva（口水） noodles for example, a dish from Shaanxi in northwest China.? Unlike saliva chicken, the Sichuan cold dish of steamed chicken bathed in chili oil（辣椒油） and sauce, this does not mean drool （口水）inducing. It quite literally means that you are dipping into the same bowls, using recycled soup, sharing saliva.? This is actually a kind of Qi-shan noodles that is famous, or notorious, depending on how you see it - in which soup from the bowls of individual diners is returned to the pot and shared out in repeated servings.? Odd（古怪）? No matter how off-putting（令人不愉快） it sounds, this is an accepted tradition to those of us born and bred in Xian, just a two-and-half-hour bus ride away from the place where the noodle dish originated.? And, although Shaanxi has numerous restaurants specializing in Qishan noodles everywhere, you will not find saliva noodles on the menu. The only way you can sample this is to be invited into the home on special occasions.? It was not until my parents and I were invited to such a noodle feast a couple of years ago that I fully appreciated the true meaning of such a meal - a communion of community and harmony.? You should be happy if you are invited to have saliva noodles because the guests are limited to family members, close friends and special guests, my mom told me later.? The preparation itself involves the whole family, with helping hands from close neighbors and friends. After mixing wheat flour（小麦粉） with water, the dough（生面团） has to be kneaded（揉） for hours until it becomes glossy and shiny. It is then