Food

Those who know me at all will know how important food is to me. Large appetite aside, I think that food is a window into a foreign culture. And so far, China has not disappointed.

Here I am with two baskets and two bowls of soup. The soups are both wonton soup, and the baskets have baozi and jiaozi (both are types of dumplings). Baozi are the white round ones on the right. They look really laborious to make. The dough is a fluffy, sticky rice dough made through what looks like endless kneading. They're filled with anything; vegetables, pickled goodies, or meat, generally. These ones were meat, probably pork. Jiaozi are the yellower, half-moon shaped ones closer to me. Those are your classic pot-stickers; thin, pasta-like dough filled with meat and spices.

The restaurant featured in that picture is a new favorite. I came across it last night after accidentally traipsing across Haidian with my doppelganger, Ian. (Seriously, though. To those who aren't used to seeing foreigners, we probably look like a carbon copy of one another. Our fellow students didn't know we were different people until a few days into the program.)

Anyway, about the restaurant. Tiny place inside, but they're happy to grab the tables and move them into a little plaza outside, when the weather is nice. And the price can't be beaten. A bowl of wonton soup is about four kuai. That's less than a buck. All told, our two bowls of soup and two plates of dumplings? Twelve kuai, or $2 USD.