Laba Rice Porridge

Chinese people have long followed tradition of foodways in a lot of important festivals. Like mooncake in Mid-autumn Festival, dumplings in the Spring Festival, we have laba rice porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The date usually falls in the coldest day in winter and is a traditional Chinses festival, called Laba Festival. On that day, family gather together and have the laba rice porridge to worship god. Similarly, that day is also a reminder of approaching to Chinese New Year. Laba rice porridge contains glutinous rice, red beans, mellet, Chinese sorghum, peas, dried lotus seeds, and some other ingredients. Normally, it is also called Eight treasure porridge, because of eight kinds of ingredients roughly counted. As I know, it is the only porridge which kids are free to add sugar in it. Regarded as one of the precious memory in our childhood, laba rice porridge has a special place in Chinese people's heart. I always remember after I got up in the freezing winter, my grandmother sitting at the table preparing me a bowl of warm and yummy laba rice porridge. The house was saturated with the aroma of laba rice, so was my childhood.