Dreams of my hometown

Today, 90 percent of the area is covered by plants, including many rare species. Throughout the year, the area is always green and in bloom, and tourists often get a glimpse of rare birds and animals.

Looking down at the city from a pavilion on the top of the hill, one will find there is a river running through the town, shinning like silk under the sun.

There are big and small parks, full of trees and flowers. Among them are teahouses, restaurants and stalls that stay open to midnight. They sell hotpot and barbecue fish and shrimp, freshly caught from the river that is free from pollution.

But fish are not the signature food in Ankang, that honor goes to Zhengmian, or steamed noodle.

The noodle is what locals most often eat for breakfast, together with a bowl of porridge, although there are other options.

Every district has its own popular zhengmian restaurant, and the most famous ones in the city always have long lines of people waiting every morning to get their breakfast.

Yuan Biqin, 49, learned how to make zhengmian more than 10 years ago from a relative, and her restaurant, Jiao's Zhengmian, named after her husband and located downtown, sells hundreds of bowls of zhengmian every morning.

She owns other two zhengmian restaurants in the city, and has decided not to expand further, not because she doesn't want to, but because she is too busy running the current ones.

The noodle requires its makers rise from their beds in the middle of the night to begin their preparations.

The first thing is to make wheat powder batter, then to steam the batter into very thin pancake. When customers come, the cook will chop them into noodles to add bean sprouts, oiled pepper, and specially made sauce.

The secret of the mouth-watering flavor is all in the sauce, which is usually made with vinegar, oil, grinded garlic and sesame, and other ingredients that zhengmian masters keep secret.

The noodle tastes soft but chewy, and has a flavor that can only be made in Ankang, because any subtle difference in the materials and water can produce a change in flavor.

For me, whenever I'm about to leave for Beijing I buy several dishes of zhengmian. I know I cannot find this exact dish in the capital, where you can buy everything but the taste of home.