How to enjoy a trip to Qingpu Jinze

To buy delicious caotou (water dropwort), yesterday I accompanied my sick mother and drove to Qingpu Jinze. Jinze is geographically close to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the local accent here is somewhat different from that of native Shanghainese. When I said I was there to buy caotou, the old ladies couldn't understand me, and it was only later that I found out they call it 'jinhua tou' (golden flower head). Going so far to buy caotou was because the general manager of Xingguo Hotel, Huang Xin, mentioned to the chefs that the fragrance of caotou is in the stems, which should not be discarded. I asked at that time, as the stems seemed too tough. Manager Huang pointed me in the right direction, which was the variety here in Jinze is quite good. I arrived at the vegetable market around 4 p.m. Not many local farmers were out, and there weren't many types of vegetables available. I bought some vegetable mustard, pickled vegetables, small carrots, and green onions. The onions were expensive, 2 yuan for a small bunch. The most interesting part was that transactions with them required cash. The grandmothers said their 'jinhua tou' was not available yet. However, there was caotou at the vendors', and I picked two stalls to buy half a jin from each. I stir-fried a small plate today, and it was indeed tender. Behind the vegetable market is a river with several fishing boats docked, and several women on the shore were repairing fishing nets. Chatting with one of them, I learned that the fishing boats can't go out now; they have to wait until the fishing ban is over in May before they can fish in the lake. So, it's currently not possible to get wild-caught fish. After buying the vegetables, I took a stroll around the ancient town. It's not a big place, and you can basically finish touring it in about an hour. Since it's after the New Year and a workday, the town was extremely quiet, with various ancient bridges connecting the communication between the residents of Shangtang Street and Xiatang Street. The ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River are all similar at their core. It's a pity that the water here is not clear enough. On Shangtang Street, there's an old man who makes decent youdunzi (fried dough dumplings with radish filling). They are crispy on the outside, with plenty of radish filling, not too much batter, and I told him I would come back for his youdunzi. Dongdong Kitchen is run by a friend I know. I've always seen her post on social media. Her shepherd's purse wontons are made from wild shepherd's purse collected directly from the farmers. I had to try them when I went there. The filling was fragrant, although the skin was a bit mushy, probably from being frozen. But what's special is that the wontons had a spoonful of meat sauce and celery leaves added, turning the soup into a soy sauce base, fragrant with a hint of umami. Before leaving, I also bought her brown sugar buns and eight-treasure rice.