My dumps

I've received a lot of requests for more dumpling pictures.  Okay, fine.  Twist my arm.

These little dumps belong to another soup dumpling family called sheng jian.  The filling is made with pork aspic (don't cringe, if it was good enough for Julia Child, it's good enough for you), so there's a little bit of soupy deliciousness inside.  They're cooked in a big pan so they're pan-fried and crispy on the bottom and steamed on top.

You still have to bite and slurp, although it's not as much liquid as xiao long bao.  You dress them with a little soy-vinegar mixture and some spicy chili flakes.  I mixed both into a little slurry mixture in that reservoir of my plastic plate.  (Does that plastic tray make anyone else think about grade school cafeteria food?)

Multiple people recommended that I try Yang's Fried Dumplings, which has several locations.  The closest location is in the food court of the Réel Center Mall in Jing-An, which is a 10 minute walk from my apartment.  I told you, malls in China are awesome.  But I would go to Clackamas Town Center for these dumplings, which is saying something.

In the busy food court, Yang's doesn't even have a sign, but I followed all the people I saw slurping dumplings and the vendor with the longest line.  They don't have an English menu, but they do have pictures and weird plastic food replicas of dishes, so I gestured through ordering one order of pork dumplings for ¥6 and one order of shrimp dumplings (the ones with the black sesame seeds) for ¥16.  My whole dinner cost about $3.50.  And it was damn good.

They hit all the right dumpling notes: salty, spicy, fatty, vinegar-y and addictive.  The would make great hangover food.  Which may have been an added benefit after going to a good-bye party the night before for a Shanghai co-worker.  But they'd be good anytime.

After eating so many delicious dumplings, I've been craving salads.  Salads and raw foods aren't really a part of traditional Chinese food.  There's a great food memoir about Chinese food called Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper (I highly recommend it), and one of the chapters is called "Salad is for Barbarians."  

Most travel guides will tell you not to eat any raw foods here unless it has a peel that can be removed.  So... that would definitely rule out any salad.  I love salad.  I can't live like that.  So I've been buying some fresh veggies and fruit at little storefronts that seem at least somewhat reliable.  I've really had to lower my standards for what qualifies are "reliable."  As long as they're not cleaning live fish on the sidewalk in front of the store, it's reliable.  I guess I brought charcoal capsules and grapefruit seed extract for a reason, right?

I don't have a kitchen or basic kitchen supplies, such as a chef's knife or cutting board, in my apartment, so my salads are pretty pathetic.  I cut up cucumbers in my hands using a plastic butter knife.  Or just give up and eat a cucumber like a banana.

But even a terrible little salad with jarred, pickled cabbage (there are a lot of British import foods in this part of town), bottled dressing and pretzel croutons is better than no salad.  

Looking forward to reinstating my CSA box and going shopping at farmers' markets when I'm back.  

Eat a salad this week and think of me, my friends.  I'll eat some dumplings and think of you.  And from across the Pacific ocean, we can be jealous of each other.