Chinese Food Daily Diary: Day Four

This is a week long series on the different Chinese food I eat on a regular basis. To start at the beginning, click here. I’m not including breakfast because I eat the same thing, yoghurt, every day so I don’t feel that a picture is necessary. I try to describe the ingredients as best I can, so you can get a good idea of what real Chinese food is like, but often times I don’t even know myself!
Lunch: Today is a quick lunch at a small restaurant.
This was another “surprise” dish. I knew it was rice, and i knew it was going to have fried egg, but that was it. The tomato was a happy surprise. (I know how to say tomato, but not read it.) This was a simple filling dish and cost about .75 cents.
Dinner: Back to the dumplings place and this time I got dumplings. I usually get them fried but tonight was chilly and I wanted the soup.

The thing that makes or breaks a dumpling is the filling. Every place is different and each family seems to have their own recipe. At this restaurant they use a minced pork filling with some vegetables. Here is a close-up shot.

It tastes delicious but looks disgusting. This is a true family run restaurant with what looks like 3 generations helping out. The husband is the owner and occasional delivery guy. The wife is the main cook but is helped by her elderly mother. The sons help to answer the phones and deliver the food.  There are also assorted old people that come around from time to time to help.
This place is known for their dumplings and they make them fresh all day long. If you go in for breakfast you will see a giant pink tower of mined meat in a bowl towards the back. That is the dumpling filling. All day long, when they have a moment, different family members stand next to the bowl, spoon it into a wrapper and fold it up. By nighttime the bowl is almost empty. This is one of the older uncles doing his share.

Of course the bowl is just left open, with no wrapping or refrigeration, all day long. It’s one of those things that you just have to get used to. It’s usually better to sit facing away from the kitchen as well so you don’t have to see the messy state it is in (or the owner spitting or snot rocketing on the ground right next to your food). Everything is cooked thoroughly so we don’t get sick. (Well, not that often anyway…)