Flavorista

Happy Chinese New Year – Part 1

January 30th, 2009

My amazing sister-in-law and true flavorista, Tracey, just returned from a trip to Beijing where she was visiting her youngest son, who is living with a Chinese family for the school year. She happened upon a wonderful restaurant where she helped make dumplings, a staple for the weekong festivities surrounding the lunar new year. These pictures are hers, as is the text that follows.

 "I ventured into a small neighborhood restaurant for a last meal, attracted primarily by the trays of dumplings on the sidewalk outside.  The place was crowded, so I squeezed into a table next to the cooks who were preparing dumplings in the middle of the small dining room.   There were brightly colored greens with garlic and minced onions being filled into some.  Other were receiving a dose of minced pork with onions, veggies and herbs.

The cooks decided that I should give it a try.  So after watching them go through the routine over and over, they handed me a pair of chopsticks and a stack of dumpling wrappers.  What fun!  I devoured a plate and a half as they exited their steaming bamboo baskets.  Next time I come to Beijing for a month, I think I will apprentice myself out to a kitchen for a week!  If you look closely at the neat rows above, I think my contribution to the effort is the slightly flattened one in the back row with the filling ooozing out the edge."
 

Entry Filed under: Travel Food