Dumpling Day!

While working on my last entry in the blog, I received a phone call from one of the waitresses at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant that my family and I have attended for about 17 years. She had heard of my San Francisco Dim Sum adventure in Chinatown and how I was slightly disappointed in the dumplings I had tried. She claimed be a great cook with authentic Chinese recipes, particularly when making Dim Sum dumplings. So, she invited me over for a taste! Of course I was eager to drive over. Dumplings? Homemade? Heck yea!

The dumplings were fantastic and better than anything that I had in Chinatown. She had made pork and vegetable potstickers made with a Chinese leek that you can only purchase at Asian markets. She also made fluffy pork and mushroom buns using...surprisingly...Pillsbury biscuit dough! These were my favorite. Like biting into little clouds on the outside and savory Asian porkness on the inside. Everything was delicious. She also made her own dumpling dipping sauce, spicy chili sauce, and her own beef jerky (all fabulous).

So generous and kind, Cathy fed me dumplings until I was bursting at the seams! The foodie lesson learned that day? You don't always have to go far to get great, authentic cultural food.

Here are the pictures from that day: