One of my new classes invited me to their dumpling party to celebrate the New Years. Eating dumplings and noodles is tradition to bring luck to the new year. As students don’t have a kitchen at their disposal they rented one to use at a nearby restaurant. It was my first time to have full run of a kitchen and interesting for me to see how things are laid out.
As I rode the slick new escalators up the side of the mountain in the Xiamen botanical Gardens, I hated myself a little. Why was I here, supporting the destruction and abuse of this gorgeous natural mountain? I mean, is there anything lazier than taking an escalator up a mountain?
You’d think in a country where Instagram was blocked there would be no Instagrammification of places. But then you’d be wrong…very wrong.
I literally dream of Xinjiang noodles. Every year when I go back to China to visit, it’s one of the first things I eat. I also had a lot of fun the time one of my students taught me how to make dumplings. Great post!
Xinjang noodles are my favorite! There is a tiny little place by my school that makes them and it makes me so happy! I want to try making dumplings!
Thanks guys!
I joke that Xinjiang Noodle places are to China what Chinese restaurant are to America. That is, you can find one wherever you go in China, even the tiniest little town will have a Xinjiang noodle place slinging the dough and pulling out noodles. We have one right near the school gate too, and almost every time I go I see another foreigner there (despite having just a few foreigners in my city). I had a hunch these places would be big in the west, and based on both of you saying how much you like it, the hunch is growing stronger.
Maybe I’ll learn to make the noodles someday, go back to america and make a million bucks selling them! 😉