it's a dumpling bee!

So in China, women get together around big holidays and make dumplings by the hundreds. It's like a quilting bee, with lots of whispering and stories about troublesome children and laughing. Here's my favorite recipe. It looks more time consuming than it really is, and best of all, you can freeze them (before cooking) and cook them from frozen for a quick dinner.

Jiao zi (Chinese dumplings)

* Filling:

1 cup shredded Napa cabbage
1 tsp salt
----------------------
1 lb ground pork, or combination of ground pork and beef
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 tsp pepper
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder (opt)

* 1-2 pkg chinese dumpling wrappers (you can also buy wonton wrappers and use a large round cookie cutter to cut circles)

*Dip:
equal parts soy sauce and vinegar
sesame oil



Sprinkle 1 tsp salt over shredded cabbage. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes. Take it in handfuls and squeeze out the excess water. Mix the squeezed cabbage with remaining ingredients by hand or in a food processor. Be sure to mix it well so the meat absorbs the other flavors.

To assemble: Place one tablespoon of filling in the middle of a wrapper. Moisten the perimeter of 1/2 of the wrapper with your finger (dipped in a small bowl of water). Fold and pinch at the mid-point. Make 2 pleats on both sides of this mid-point. Pinch. Repeat with the other half. There are some photos of how to do this here: http://chowtimes.com/2006/08/12/jiaozi-chinese-dumpling/

To cook:

Boiling method: Boil water or broth in a saucepan or stockpot. Add 8-10 dumplings. When they float up to the top, boil them for 1 more minute, then remove.

Potsticker method (frying/steaming): Heat 2 T oil in a skillet until hot. Turn heat to medium. Arrange dumplings into rows in the skillet, with sides touching. Fry until bottom turns crusty. Pour in 1/2 cup water. cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 6 minutes. Put a large plate on top of the skillet and turn the skillet upside down onto the plate to serve.

sleeping is for sissies

Bertram Russell once said,"Men who are unhappy, like men who sleep badly, are always proud of the fact." Unfortunately, I think this is true, at least among insomniacs. A room full of insomniacs is just as bad as moms at a baby shower: "You think that's bad? I was in labor for 18 hours! And then they used forceps!" It is in that spirit that I share the following: The night before last I slept for 1 hour and 30 minutes. And, no, I do not have a newborn. No, I wasn't about to take the LSAT. I was on an antibiotic, of all things, for a sinus infection. It was terribly potent and caused all sorts of gastronomic distress, numbness in the extremities, dizziness, and what can only be called sleep resistance. Every time I was near sleep I had that little body quake, the mechanism meant to keep you awake during something important like night driving or watching a neighbor's wedding video. I tried everything our bathroom pharmacopoeia had to offer, I read a boring text book, I counted backward from 100, I got on the internet (and, incidentally, found this amazing site about an old mental hospital in New York), I drank tea, and then I just stayed in bed for hours, simultaneously envying and getting irritated with dh, snoring blissfully by my side. Around 5 am it became a reverse psychology game with me. I was going to make myself stay awake until dh's alarm went off at 5:45, and would thus fake myself into falling asleep. My brain saw through this clever plan of its own design and I finally fell asleep at 6:00. At 7:30 the kids were up and dh was off on a business trip. But here's the thing: I survived! My kids knew I was really tired but I was still a relatively happy mommy. It's a major accomplishment for me because I have had frequent bouts of insomnia since I was 9 and I think it contributes to frequent bouts of pessimism. No small part of the credit here goes to Coke Zero and some tasty chocolate.

solar-powered clothes dryer

So ever since gas prices started skyrocketing, hanging out laundry is all the rage in our neighborhood. I love the fact that it takes about 20 minutes for a load of towels to dry. dh doesn't love the idea of a clothesline (thinks it's "trashy"--we won't mention the Mountain Dew and Twizzlers habit here) so I don't leave it up all the time. I looked in Flash's cubscout book and found a knot that unties easily so I can use my super secret clothesline at will.

overnight shenanigens

Guess what happens when you put palmolive liquid soap in the dishwasher? dh did and at 2:00 am, he and his brother-in-law (pictured above), up late writing code, found themselves mopping up the kitchen with bath towels. I woke up to a positively *sparkling* kitchen floor.

free time.... hmm.....

I guess I've had free time lately, because I'm a posting maniac this week. I just wanted to pass on this recipe from my favorite portly ex-boxer/ grill engineer/ cookbook author, George Foreman. I do love his little grill. I read in Newsweek that red meat cooked at high heats can increase the consumer's cancer risk. Here, then, is a ground turkey burger recipe that everyone in my family really likes:

1 lb lean ground turkey
6 oz lowfat Swiss or Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 egg white
1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp seasoned salt
4 onion rolls or hamburger buns

Combine all ingredients (except buns, of course) in a medium bowl. Shape into patties. Spray with Pam. Grill.

You can also omit the shredded cheese and form the patties around a little lump of blue cheese. Very tasty.

One more idea for the George Foreman grill:

Split focaccia rolls in half, layer meat, cheese, roasted red peppers, fresh spinach, etc, and use the grill as a panini press. Tasty goods.

wacky english

Just a random sampling of wacky english. Our anniversary's on Tuesday and we celebrated with a trip to Chinatown (not quite the same as last year's trip to the actual China, but tasty fun nonetheless). Here are some of the sights we saw:


1. This is a bubble tea shop. Bubble tea is a tasty fruit shake kind of thing with huge black tapioca pearls in the bottom (not necessarily made with tea). What, then, is a "dunobaby?"



2. Please, no "pop pop."




3. It may seem to be a package of white pepper, but it's so much more than that.



For more happy english fun, please to visit engrish.com

what we did on summer vacation

Last weekend we took a trip to the Texas Coast with the author of Round Tuit and her family after a day at the Cockrell Butterfly Center, where the above picture was taken. As always, we really loved it, and as always, I was freaked out by the giant millipedes (live, yes, they're live) that they also have. Ewwwww!

The beach was awesome... so awesome that we stayed much longer than was wise, and despite many applications of sunscreen, we all got BAKED. (Wait, is baked a euphemism for stoned? I can't remember, anyway, we got really sunburned.) Poor dh got no real beach time; by the time he arrived we were scared of the sun and literally going from shady spot to shady spot under an umbrella.

We had a memorable dinner in a theme-y restaurant with many pirate mannequins (one of them danced) and shark stuff all over, etc. Then a trip to a marine research center where we got to pet some dead animals (a tiny shark, some fish, an eel) and some live ones (a sea cucumber -- GROSS! -- and a sea urchin). I think we all had a great time. We picked up some souvenirs, including a huge sand dollar that I suspect came from a different coast, but it's pretty. We also brought home the lacy, delicate designs of peeling sunburns on our backs. Flash's looks like a butterfly. Mine just looks creepy; the other day dh said, "You're MOULTING!" Nice.

since you asked...

Patty O. requested a favorite meatless recipe, so here ya go!

Four-Veggie Roast (from Martha Stewart, slightly altered)

2 large carrots
1 1/2 cups fresh green beans (6 oz)
5-6 small new potatoes, halved (8 oz) or 8 oz of Yukon gold or red potatoes, cubed*
1 small onion
1 T olive oil
2 tsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp grated ginger
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Coarse salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Thoroughly wash vegetables.

Peel and cut carrots into slices almost 1/2 inch thick. Snip

the tiny ends off green beans, and snap them into pieces

about 2 inches long. Peel onion; cut into wedges. In a

square or 9 x 13" metal baking pan, combine olive oil, soy

sauce, garlic, and ginger. Add all the vegetables. Stir

gently to coat with seasonings. Sprinkle with pepper and

salt, if desired. Roast the vegetables, uncovered, for 20-25

minutes or until just tender, stirring vegetables once or

twice with a long-handled wooden spoon. Test vegetables with

a fork to check doneness.

Serves 3-4

*Sweet potatoes can also be used.

something fishy... er, chickeny

When I saw labels on Tyson chicken claiming "no antibiotics," I was skeptical. Turns out I'm not the only one; they've been ordered to remove that claim from their label and advertising. This whole antibiotics/hormones thing freaks me out from time to time. I've been trying to cook with less meat, as the Chinese do. Rarely does a Chinese cook prepare a big slab of meat, unless it's a whole fish. I try to limit the amount of meat I use in a meal to 2 chicken breasts (or equivalent) and then fill the rest out with veggies and grains. No complaints so far, even from my Michigander dh who literally grew up on steak and potatoes every night.

marooned

Last night I watched part of this Frontline episode, titled Storm Over Everest. It's the story of a doomed expedition that encountered a storm on Everest on May 10th and 11th, 1996. I think around 10 people died, all told. One person was Rob Hall, an experienced climber and guide who stayed up there trying to help another climber. Because of the high winds and the unbelievable cold (minus 100 degrees windchill at night) no one was able to rescue him. Incredibly, he was lucid and his radio worked almost until the end of his life. He was able to speak to his wife through the radio via a satellite phone at base camp and basically say goodbye.

I can't stop thinking about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I have this tiny obsession with the idea of a person being stuck, marooned, out there somewhere. Like on a snowy, impossibly tall mountain, in a bog, on the top of a burning skyscraper or under the rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake. And I wonder, is technology a blessing or a curse in that situation? If one is truly marooned, unable to be helped or help themselves, does a last conversation or answering machine message bring a measure of peace? Do the people they leave behind find comfort in that last conversation?

I guess this line of thinking originally started when I found out about the earthquake in Chengdu, China. Chengdu is a city we visited last summer, one of our favorites. Incidentally, it is considered the "gateway to Tibet" for many people, so I guess that's the Everest tie-in. Anyway, I have really tried to limit my news intake regarding this horrible tragedy, knowing it would be very upsetting. I did hear coverage from NPR about a middle school that collapsed and I stood there staring at the radio for a long time. Chengdu is an amazing city. Some of the nicest people we met on our trip live there.

because you need more ways to waste time online

Ok, I am officially a 7-year old. Let me introduce you to a site that was first an "educational" place for my kids to have some computer time without coming across something scary. You make your own snowflake! And you don't make a mess! What could be better?
It soon became one of those irresistible kid activities, like Play-doh and sidewalk chalk where I get more into it than my kids and they have to beg me to stop. Don't forget to check out the gallery where you can see some amazing snowflakes most certainly crafted by adults who are shirking other duties.

the neighbors

So we have these neighbors with kids the same ages as ours and we've recently discovered the joys of riding bikes in the street. Dh doesn't really approve of this but I think it's ok as long as the boys heed my frequent and loud bellow, "CAR!!" whenever one is approaching. Usually it's all fine and good and the neighbor mom and I sit around and talk about stuff that moms who aren't very good friends talk about, like
1. kids
2. recipes
3. things on sale
4. cleaning

Which usually causes me to reflect on the lameness of my life.
Anyway, when the neighbor mom isn't home, sometimes the neighbor dad brings the kids out to ride. And we don't sit together and talk about stuff because that would be Incredibly Awkward. But he does let his very small children roam about my yard (no problem), dink around with tools in the garage (a bit of a problem), and drink my Coke Zero when I'm not looking (BIG PROBLEM). I try to just smile and do the gentle kind of reminder but not exactly discipline move that one must do when a child is being ridiculous in front of their parent but not reprimanded by that parent.
The thing about this situation is that the neighbor kids have an extremely overdeveloped sense of hearing and whenever our garage door opens, they fly to the front window and start screaming my kids' names. And also ask many many questions, such as, "Where are you going?" "Why?" And, always a favorite, "Can we come?" After 10 minutes of getting teeth/hair brushed, shoes on, ipods and books stowed, snacks packed, etc., the very last thing I feel like doing is answering these questions and then prying my children away from their window and into the car. I actually really like the neighbor mom; we can hang out in pajamas while we wait for the bus and she doesn't seem to notice that all I could find was church shoes and I haven't washed my face. (Although one time she did refer to making your bed each day as something "good people" do. I guess I'm a good person 1 day a week.)

three blue skirts

I don't know how long I've had this skirt pattern (Simplicity 5844); long enough for it to be found only on eBay. I've made it 4 or 5 times, and I just realized that the last 3 skirts were blue. I thought I'd put up a picture... The next one will be red.

8 lightning fast breakfast ideas

Maybe you're the type of person who rises, glowing, from your Downy-scented feather bed, ready to greet the glorious morn. I am more inclined to give the glorious morn a half-nod as I reach for the Diet Coke and flip on NPR. As I've written before, I loathe most breakfast food. I'm not really hungry until 10 am anyway and therefore not very sympathetic to the widely varying tastes of my family when it comes to breakfast. If I could feel good about serving cereal every day, I would definitely do it, but--as the dusty box of Kix in the pantry will attest--my kids will only really eat cereal of the high fructose corn syrup-drenched variety. Anyway, I was talking with my mom over the weekend about breakfast (she used to feed 8 people every morning, she's an expert!) and we came up with some great ideas...

* yogurt/granola/frozen blueberry parfaits
* refrigerator bran muffins (recipe here)
* boiled eggs (boil a dozen at the beginning of the week, peel what you need each morning, mash with butter and salt+pepper, heat up in microwave)
* egg mc muffin type thing on toast or whole grain english muffins
* breakfast tacos (scramble a dozen eggs, portion onto tortillas, add ham, grated cheese,and frozen spinach leaves. Freeze, heat up as needed)
* smoothies
* Please don't try the following sausage biscuits. They don't turn out well.
sausage biscuits (For these, I buy those cheap tubes of refrigerated biscuit dough and Banquet brown n' serve sausage patties. Pinch each biscuit dough portion in half. Place one half in the bottom of a greased muffin tin. Place 1 sausage patty in top. Put other half of biscuit dough portion on top. Bake at 400 for 12 minutes. Freeze and heat in microwave as needed. You can make 32 of these biscuits for about $6.00.)
* breakfast skillet (Microwave 1-2 cups of frozen hashbrowns and 1 cup of spinach. Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Add hashbrowns, spinach, and some fully cooked bacon or ham to skillet. Brown for about 4 minutes. Add 4-6 beaten eggs or 1 1/2 cups egg substitute. Scramble. Top with cheese if desired. Serve with salsa.)
* apple crisp w/ vanilla yogurt (or even vanilla ice cream!)

(Yes, we do love spinach at my house, even in the morning.)

p.s. the photo is of a Full English Breakfast. Read the wikipedia entry about it here. It's pretty interesting and only a little gross.

little pouch and washcloth

The general idea for this little gifty is from Bend the Rules Sewing. If you're reading this, Mindy, I guess it's not a surprise anymore...

the poor (or just cheap) gal's periodical

I was just craving some Adam Gopnik books or articles tonight when I remembered that such articles are practically on tap at our library website via the online databases. If you haven't drilled down into your library's website, I highly recommend that you do. If your library system subscribes to online databases, they probably also allow remote access to them. I chose "Academic Search Complete," which includes the New Yorker, typed in "Gopnik, Adam," and printed out 4 long articles to read in the bath. Such happy news for a non-fiction junkie. Best part: if you drop the pages in the water, it's OK!

skip this post if you hate minutiae

Queen Scarlett tagged me, and I actually have time to respond!

10 Years Ago...
I was living in Provo, UT, working in the Financial Aid Office (sooooo boring). Newlywed, quite poor, happy.

5 Things on my To-Do list today...
* finish laundry
* find campground for trip next week
* pay bills
* make breakfast cookies if I feel like it
* carpool
(it doesn't get more exciting than that!)

Snacks I enjoy...
* peanut M & M's
* chocolate cherry diet Coke from Sonic
* rosemary/olive oil triscuits
* kiwi
* swiss cheese

Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire...
* Pay off the cars, house, and parents' obligations
* College/mission fund for boys
* Donate to a foundation working to eradicate malaria and improve water quality worldwide
* Move to Hong Kong for a few years
* Invest

3 of my bad habits...
* Thin skinned, sometimes
* Not very patient with kids who tune me out
* kind of a pessimist

Jobs I've had...
* Many secretarial/clerical jobs
* Custodial lackey(3 months)
* destitute laundress (chief duty: ironing---I think there is a special circle of hell devoted to such a job)
* Lazy groundskeeper (with Kristi!)
* Librarian


5 Things people don't know about me...
* I am secretly following the slow implosion of Britney Spears
* I am seriously afraid of heights (like I can't even climb on an 8' ladder)
* I wish I had more kids (ok, most of you know that)
* I sometimes worry about my weight even though I am very critical of our skinny-centric culture
* I like some schmaltzy Church music

OK, round tuit, pancakes gone awry, artistree, the scoop, lost and found... consider yourself tagged!

... and the dipping oil

I forgot to mention that all of us are way in to dipping bread into oil mixed with all kinds of herbs n' stuff. Here's a dipping spice recipe that I got from one of those "copycat" websites (it was a while ago so I don't have a link to it). It is also great as a pasta topping or combined with tomatoes for bruschetta. angry chicken has some oil and vinegar dipping sauces on her site today; her post reminded me of the joys of dipping.

Carrabba's Dipping Spice

1 T minced fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
1 T chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)
1 T minced fresh garlic
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 T fresh)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary (or 1/4 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp ground sea salt or kosher salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp olive oil
1/8 tsp lemon juice

Combine first bunch of ingredients. Add remaining ingredients. To serve, combine about 1 1/2 tsp spice blend with 3-4 T olive oil in a small dish.

Yield: 1/4 cup spice blend

Crusty Hearth Bread

I had every intention of taking a picture of the entire loaf, but the kids were hungry and super grouchy today, so there was no stopping for a photo.

I've been making this recipe for about 16 years now. Hard to believe it has really been that long since I started college and received my first cookbook: Betty Crocker, of course. It earned me the reputation of the mother of the apartment, according to one of my roommates. Paired with a good, thick potato soup or chowder, it's so very satisfying. Also excellent with ham and muenster cheese on the following day.

So here's the recipe. I make it in the KitchenAid mixer, not by hand as the recipe indicates.

Crusty Hearth Bread

1 pkg (1 tablespoon) regular or quick-acting active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
3 cups flour
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1/4 cup shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
------------------
egg wash
kosher salt
rosemary, poppyseeds, dried garlic, etc.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the buttermilk, shortening, sugar, baking powder and salt until smooth. Stir in remaining flour until dough forms. Turn dough onto floured surface. Knead gently about 1 minute or until smooth. Cover and let rise 10 minutes.

Grease a cookie sheet. Shape dough into round loaf, about 8 inches in diameter. Place on cookie sheet. Brush with egg wash* and sprinkle with rosemary, dried garlic, or poppyseeds (or a combination thereof). Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350. Cut an X shape about 1/2 inch deep in top of bread. Bake about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter; sprinkle with kosher salt. Tear bread into pieces, or cut into slices.

*For an excellent website about egg washes and "crust embellishments," click here.

random acts of medicine

I happened to watch 60 Minutes last night, and saw this segment about Remote Area Medical, or RAM. It's something like Doctors Without Borders, originally formed to provide free medical care to people in Third World countries. The demand for such care, however, is so great in the US that 60% of their operations are now based in our country. They serve hundreds of uninsured/underinsured people and must turn away hundreds more. I was impressed by the founder who lives in an abandoned school and showers with a garden hose. This is the kind of charity I want to spread the word about, hence the post.