Sweet as Sugar

Isn't this cool?

 These ones are pretty neat too, but the rabbit was made especially for me :)

 I probably should have taken more pictures, but I was so caught up watching him make the rabbit out of sugar that I just stared in awe. Our Explorer Walk for the Nanjing International Club for March was at Purple Mountain for the Plum Blossom Festival. (I'll be posting pictures of that next). Towards the end of the walk, we came across a few booths and this man was just sitting here waiting for a customer. I had seen stands like this before, but no one was ever paying him to make anything. So, I thought it'd be neat to see (and the other 20-some foreigners who went on the walk). I asked the cost, 5 yuan, and then I got to spin the spinner to see which zodiac animal he'd be making. You can kind of see the spinner on the right. 

 Once you spin, the artist begins to make your design out of melted sugar using a spoon and a spatula. He takes a big spoonful of the melted sugar and starts artfully drizzling it on the marble slab. It took him under 2 minutes to make my rabbit. One the design is completed, he puts a little sugar on the bamboo stick and attaches it to make a lollipop so to speak. Then, he carefully lifts it up using the spatula. Surprisingly, it tastes pretty good too! Once we had all gotten pictures, Joanne and I enjoyed every last bit of the burnt sugar.