Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

For some it’s Dunkin Donuts,
For others it’s Dongbei Dumplings.
Feast Your Peekers On These Hearty Treats!

Over the past few weeks, apart from dodging fire & rain I’ve also actually managed to squeeze in two rides and far too many north east (Manchurian) dumplings for only two rides especially when one visit two of us devoured almost fifty of these delicious treaty packets. For those who have been to China and eaten dumplings, these are not your average small pocket of joy you get as you travel south from Peking (Beijing) to Canton (Guangzhou).

We have only one Dongbei Dumpling eatery here in Dexing and they more than have their work cut out for them.  

All dumplings are handmade and most weekdays, (yes weekdays!) the family, extended family and friends who drop by make around one thousand dumplings and have been doing this for over seven years. In one of my last blogs I mentioned this eatery and that they have fifteen different selections to choose from, I’ve now ticked off a handful of dumpling types and shall continue to do so in earnest.

The Photos In This Blog

The two fire photos I forgot to add to my last blog and that’s my buddy Amy who I had just shown that it wasn’t just a tiny fire on one hill. By this time it had finished with the hills in the far distance along with the valleys between and was now ascending the closer hills but thankfully we all know the outcome in comparison to what has just happened in Sichuan Province 'AGAIN’!

The only setback for me is for some reason since the fire the schools water supply has been rationed, or if not rationed then setting its own strange timetable and is available for only short periods at weird times. If our water supply was human for most of the day and night it would be rocking back and forth in a dark corner but humans are humans and we all need 'to go' so I guess that's when we finally get water for a short time. I have been bathing from a bucket and plastic cup for the past week, I turned on my washing machine on Sunday morning and it finally ran its course this evening after I returned from the city.

Apart from that my students and classes have been totally awesome.
Oh and we now have a new Koren BBQ eatery...MMMmmm!

The rest of the photo’s are from my two rides during which I set my target on the Jinshan (Gold Mountain) Pavilion and then spent many hours slowly riding around the lake. The new lake side museum/community thingamabob center thingamajiggy and New Ancient Town, both of which had just been started when I arrived eight months ago are coming along swimmingly. I then headed across the other side of the lake to see if there had been any progress in the construction of the temple and found that the only difference was that the grass was longer.

After my lake side adventure I decided to head up the road to try to find a different view of the pavilion which I did find along with a small new area to ride.

Now For A Bit On Dongbei Dumplings

The traditional Chinese festival Dongzhi (midwinter festival) is historically the reason the Chinese people eat dumplings and if you want to take it one step further then this came about simply to protect their ears from getting frostbitten.

Dumpling History

As the story goes, in ancient China there was once a kind doctor who helped local people free of charge and one winter he found that many local people had got frostbite on their ears. So he went about collecting traditional Chinese medicine, which included mutton, pepper and other ingredients and boiled them in water. Then he made the boiled medicine into snacks, which took the shape of dumplings. He distributed the snacks to the villages together with a bowl of hot soup. After eating the medicine and were quickly cured of frostbite and from then on eating dumplings on Dongzhi became Chinese custom.

The further north you head from the Yangtze River, the more the temperate climate demands that wheat trumps rice as the staple grain, often showing up on menus as dumplings and noodles. With a menu from the frigid provinces that border Korea, the Northeastern Style Dumplings, more commonly known as DONGBEI JIAOZI are more than part of the staple diet even in Beijing. The ravioli textured and size like dumplings can be stuffed with just anything you like. Dongbei cuisine is often quite heavy in the use of meat, garlic, vinegar and thick sauces and their jiaozi contains meat of any sort combined with different types of vegetables as well as different versions of vinegar etc.

Dumplings are ordered by the liang which is an order of six.

Normally all varieties are stacked together on the one plate which makes for a fun game trying to figure out the ingredients in the fillings by taste alone. Pork is usually the main meat but most eateries offer chicken, beef and lamb and the most popular vegetable add-ons are green peppers, cilantro, white cabbage, bok choy, mushroom, leek, egg, celery, water chestnut, zucchini, eggplant cubes fried together with pork paste, a stew made with tomatoes, pumpkin, cabbage and Dongbei mushrooms.

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
___________________________________________________________

The soundtrack to this entry was by the Beatles
The album was ‘Revolver’
____________________________________________________________