Dumplings

Recently, I was told by a few friends to watch "The Bear", a TV Series about a young chef from the fine dining world that comes back home from Chicago to run his family sandwich shop.

Me, being behind on TV Shows to watch, just finished episode 5 of the inaugural season this morning. I mention this because there is a particular scene where a new dish is being made at the sandwich shop and the head chef makes one of the staff members taste it and the reaction on her face said it all; joy and happiness.

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I remember my mom sitting at the dining room table, in her orange apron with a cartoon monkey sewed on it, hours before dinner when I was about 7 or 8 years old, wrapping the seasoned ground pork in dumplings wrapper to prepare for supper. There was a time where I sat in the seat right in front of her and watched every move carefully. 

Grab the wrapper.

Put the meat on the wrapper.

Dap water around the wrapper.

Fold the wrapper in half.

Fold the outside of the wrapper.

Repeat.

I would get so hyped up for time to pass by so we can all sit at the table to eat the dumpling. Once it was time for dinner, my mom would get the portable hot plate and would put the dumplings on there once the surface was hot and ready. The dumpling, sizzling each time she placed it, I would patiently stare and wait for the food cook.

Once my mom said the food is ready to eat, I remember grabbing the first piece off the hot plate, dipping it into a sauce mixed with soy sauce, chili oil and rice vinegar, then biting into it.

Every bite brought me joy and happiness.

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Certain foods, like dumplings for an example, brings nostalgic memories for me. That moment and that time, there was nothing to worry about except to enjoy the food. Though my mom was exhausted are prepping and cooking the food, she was probably happy to see the smiles on our face when we ate her food.

I've made and cooked my own dumplings in the past but never really shared it with a lot of people. So the other week, on a NFL Sunday, I decided to bring over a few dumplings over to a friend's house where she was having people over to watch the games.

As I was prepping the few dumplings the night before (about 100 pieces), I kept on having that nostalgic memories of my mom at the dining room table prepping food for our family and hoping I can deliver on the taste and quality of the food.

As Sunday came along and as I was cooking the dumplings at my friends house, not on a hot plate, but on a frying pan on a stove, I was nervous how the dumplings would turn out, maybe because my friend Emily was watching my every move of cooking it the entire time.

As I finished cooking one plate of dumplings, Emily and I went for a taste test. I took the first bite and was happy with it. Emily went second and the reaction she gave was exactly what I was hoping for.

Joy and happiness.

As others came over to watch the game, I finished cooking up the 2nd batch of dumplings and served it on the picnic table where a spread of food was out. When every one took a bite of the dumplings, the reaction was the same.

Joy and happiness.

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My mom always took pride in the food she made (like every mom in the world) and I always looked up to her (and still do) when it comes to cooking. Hell, I called and asked her for a curry recipe once before and wrote it down on an index card back in 2016. I still have the same index card until this day. 

Even with the recipes my mom gives me, it seems like a never ending journey of perfecting a meal like mom does. But as long as it's really damn close and could bring people joy and happiness, I'm alright with that.

Jun