Hello, just a quick update to let you all know that we are still around. Classes at the university finished up for me earlier this week, and thus I begins my 6'ish weeks of vacation - well, the month-long vacation officially begins in two weeks, but with no more classes, it's effectively vacation time now. What could spoil this time of rest and repose? How about a mild flu? :) Don't worry, though, I'm on the uptick.
Tonight we went out to our favorite local jiaozi (dumpling) restaurant. For those of you who aren't familiar with jiaozi, they are what "potstickers" (think Safeway's China Express, but smaller) want to be when they grow up. They are also much cheaper than Safeway's - we bough 50 jiaozi for less than $4. These tasty morsels are terribly addicting, and come in various flavors. I prefer the pork and chive kind, Inga leans toward the beef and white carrot ones. Jiaozi can be boiled or fried, depending on one's tastes or current gastronomic condition. Fried jiaozi can scoop up more sauce (once you bite the end off, though that might be a breach of Chinese etiquette), whereas the boiled ones sit a bit easier on the stomach.
The outside, or "skin" of the jiaozi is basically just a flour and water mixture (2:1, if you're keeping score at home), rolled out in the shape of a mini tortilla. The filling is made from minced/ground meat, and vegetables. The skin is pressed close on top, and voila! ready to go.
Below is a video of our "jiaozi lady" and "jiaozi grandma" (sorry, but yes, we give names to these people since we don't bother to ask their real names) making some jiaozi tonight. They thought it was quite funny that we were interested in this, since, well, in China not knowing how to make jiaozi is like not knowing how to make pancakes in the States.
Enjoy!
