first xiao long bao

First what? Xiao long bao are a specific type of Chinese dumpling. The exact translation is “small dragon bun/dumpling.” [10/30/09 update: Oops! That translation is not correct; our friend Hope has informed me that this particular "long" means "basket," as in the steamer basket used to cook the dumplings, instead of "dragon." Apparently, it is a common mistake for those not well-versed in Chinese. The characters are very similar: = basket and = dragon. Okay - back to the entry.] Xiao long bau are a bit like a steamed potstickers: meat wrapped in a thin dough skin. They are traditionally steamed in a bamboo container and served in the container (usually in groups of somewhere between 6 and 10). They are one of my favorites. There’s a bit of a trick to eating them since they have yummy juices inside which one must be careful not to let get away when biting the dumpling (I personally recommend using a Chinese soup spoon). The juices explain why they’re sometimes also referred to as “soup dumplings.”

I tend to like the lower-class street version with the more doughy skin instead of the up-market super-thin skin version, but I’m not kicking any of them off the table. When we are in Taiwan, I usually manage to convince the family to eat them a couple times per week. But if that doesn’t fly, then I’ll happily walk to the nearest little shop and grab some for myself. Like many specific foods in China and Taiwan, there are often shops (or complete restaurants) that specialize in one thing.

Of course, for any of you that know our family, Susan is (by far) the most food-educated, and the one that cares the most about all things culinary. I basically just struggle to keep up in a never ending battle to shed my natural eat-to-survive attitude. This said, Susan is more than happy to cater to any strong feelings I have about food since it means that I’m taking an interest in her “hobby,” and that makes it more fun for her. So she’s all about getting the xiao long bao, too.

So… back to Exie. They say one’s palette is formed in the first two years. But hey, no pressure, right? Just feed her a wide variety of food for the first two years and you should be in good shape. Sounds easy enough, but factor in i) that most babies are somewhat finicky eaters; and ii) the inherent difficulty involved with taking your little one out to eat, and it’s actually not all that easy to get them to eat a wide variety of food. Of course, some do better than others, but we’re usually pretty happy when she eats a good sized meal, never mind what it actually comprises. [Side note for anybody that cares: Yes, that is the correct use of comprises, even though most people will say, "is comprised of," which is an accepted idiom, but only because everybody has started to say it. This results, strangely, in "comprises" and "comprised of" having the same meaning even though it seems that they should be opposites. The gravy in the above sentence is that by using it correctly, I also managed to avoid ending the sentence with a preposition. Whoohoo!]

Anyway… ahem (grammar police guy goes back into the closet)… we were both pretty happy to celebrate the occasion when Exie had her first xiao long bao, especially since she really seemed to enjoy it. She’s eaten dim sum quite a few times (and seems to really like it, which is great), but we hadn’t fed her xiao long bao yet. To be honest, these particular xiao long bao were somewhat below average (Susan thinks so, too, which means a lot more than me thinking so), but that’s okay. It just means that when Exie gets to have the real deal, she’ll like ‘em even more!