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Showing posts from February 18, 2012

Tastespotting in Dumpling Days by Grace Lin

One of my many favorite food scenes in Dumpling Days by Grace Lin (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012): "Careful when you eat these," Auntie Jin said. "They're special." I'd had dumplings lots of times. How special could these be? But as I took a bite, I almost stopped in amazement. "There's soup in these dumplings!" I said. All the adults at the table laughed. "I told you they were special!" Auntie Jin said. "They are called xiaolongbao . They have soup inside of them. They're good, aren't they?" I took another bite. The hot soup filled my mouth, and the mixture of soup and meat and dumpling skin seemed to melt into a warm, rich flavor. They were good. Very, very good. I began to realize why Uncle Flower said Taiwan had the best dumplings in the world. They were so good that I didn't even notice that I had soup dribbling down my chin. I quickly wiped it away. "They say if you can eat these dump