Jiaozi!

I've been the mom of a Chinese daughter for eight years, and until Saturday I never tried to make jiaozi, or Chinese dumplings. I was convinced that it was too hard. Now I know better; it was easy and a lot of fun. The hardest part was battling the huge crowds at the Asian grocery store, and making a singing/dancing Tootle stay at my side, as we shopped for the ingredients we didn't have at home: Chinese cabbage, ground pork, green onions, and dumpling wrappers. I guess Saturday morning on our way to skating lessons is not the ideal time to shop at the Asian market; I hope it isn't always so mobbed. Both Tootle and Doodle loved putting the filling in the wrappers, and Doodle particularly excelled at the task. Her jiaozi were works of art. She tried to teach me her craft, but I failed so she did the bulk of the work once her far less proficient younger sister lost interest. We steamed
about 85 dumplings, and less than two days later, about a dozen remain. We had them for dinner on Saturday night and the girls have been gobbling them up at all times of the day and night since then. Perhaps I've finally found a weight gain plan for Doodle, although I probably would have more success in packing pounds on her if we fried the dumplings rather than steamed them. We'll be making more dumplings for Tootle's preschool class at Chinese New Year, and I'm even thinking about having a dumpling making party for our China Moms group. What's more fun than having 2 girls at your dining room table making jiaozi? Having 15-20 girls crammed around the table sealing the yummy morsels in dough. I must be crazy.