Warm day: Playing poker is a popular activity in winter.PHOTO BY GAO ERQIANG / china daily

The baked sweet potatoes, which everybody regarded as the best winter snack, were always found in a big iron bucket. The heat from the potatoes kept our hands warm. We would hurriedly peel the dirty skin off as steam from the piping hot red and golden flesh dissipated into the cold air. The tantalizing aroma and the sweetness of the flesh always tempted us to bite off a large chunk of the sweet potato but we had to refrain from doing so or risk getting our tongues scalded.

Beside the old man would almost always be an old woman who sold eggs simmering in a pot of fragrant dark liquid. The smell of these eggs, stewed with tea leaves and various spices, posed a dilemma every single time: should we pick the sweet potato or the egg? As most parents earned a monthly salary of just 20 yuan during those times, being able to have both was a true luxury.