Mochi (年糕) is a traditional food popular in Chinese and Japanese cooking, made from 【小题1】(special) treated rice. It is often presented in the form of a round cake, and is traditionally exchanged at the New Year.

Mochi is made by 【小题2】 (put) sticky rice into water overnight, cooking it and pounding it into a sticky paste. The paste is made into shapes ranging from simple to complex rounds, some of 【小题3】 are stuffed with sweet fillings. Mochi is often decorated with 【小题4】 (flower) or fruits, especially when it is exchanged as 【小题5】 gift at celebrations like birthdays and the New Year.

Traditionally, wooden mortars (臼) and pestles (杵) 【小题6】 (use) to pound mochi rice. Fresh mochi is usually cooked and served warm 【小题7】 a variety of sauces. Steaming and boiling are both popular preparations in Japan, along with cooking. Fresh mochi is soft but it hardens quickly. Prepacked mochi blocks, flattened and cut into square pieces or 【小题8】 (shape) into rounds, are available at grocery stores. Mochi can go bad easily, so it’s 【小题9】 (good) to cook soon than to keep it in your fridge.

Hard mochi pieces can be cooked, deep-fried, boiled, and more. Cooked mochi is very sticky, so be careful not 【小题10】 (choke) on it.

After coming to China, I experienced authentic Chinese food. In Beijing, the chef in a Sichuan restaurant offered us the 【小题1】 (please) of experiencing wonderful and different food besides friendship. In Xinjiang, their traditional foods are those 【小题2】 (cook) over an open fire. The kinds of food local people consume tell us a lot about themselves; therefore, we can say culture and cuisine go hand in hand, which are both worth 【小题3】 (experience).

There is an extremely informative book on baijiu called The Essential Guide to Chinese Spirits, by Derek Sandhaus, that 【小题1】(explore)the history and production of baijiu in vivid and lively detail. Sandhaus traces the invention of baijiu back a thousand years, 【小题2】 either traders from the Middle East 【小题3】 invaders from Mongolia introduced the concept of distillation(蒸馏)to the mainland.

Baijiu is identified 【小题4】 smell into four main categories: nong xiang(strong scent), qing xiang(light scent), jiang xiang(sauce scent), and mi xiang (rice scent).

Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of China, was so taken with Kweichou Maotai, a sauce scent-style baijiu, that it 【小题5】 (name) China’s National Liquor, necessary at state dinners. Due to limited production and popularity, Kweichou Maotai can now fetch hundreds of dollars 【小题6】 bottle.

There are a few 【小题7】 (requirement) that unite all of these spirits while also distinguishing them from Western drinks, 【小题8】 (chief)that baijiu   is produced in a process known as solid-state fermentation(固态发酵).

When you first drink baijiu, it’s hot enough to make you clutch your chest, 【小题9】(set)your mouth, throat, and nose on fire before leaving you with 【小题10】(it)lingering taste — so fragrant and complex, it reaches into your soul.