My fun with char sui bao

I did it! I have just finished making 29 char sui bao...or chinese bar-b-q pork buns. They're not that bad seeing as it is my first time and the recipe I got from Mom gave me only the basics with a postscript that said to call her if I needed help. I only had instructions on how to make the pork stuffing & how to make the dough so I faked my way through cutting the wax paper that the bun sits on to prevent sticking; guessing how much dough to use for each bun & how to make it into a bun(I finally figured out that I should treat it like a miniature-sized pizza); and how long to steam it & test for doneness. I did know that a teaspoon and a half of stuffing was a fair portion & that there should be no meat sticking out of the dough before steaming.

So, how did they turn out? Well the first 12 are more bao than char sui - like a really bad chicken ball, more batter than chicken. However, like the bad chicken ball, I'll eat it! The remainder are still steaming as I type - but I've lessened the amount of dough (I went with a bit-bigger-than-a-ping-pong-ball piece of dough. At first, I used a snooker-ball size piece of dough.) So, they'll probably turn out pretty ok. Yehyeh ate 2 and said they're pretty good. He also commented, "is there anything you don't do?" How cool is it to hear that from your 87 year old grandfather?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my fun with char sui bao!

Starting out...

I've done the dishes from dinner and swept the kitchen floor. I've completed the first 2 steps of my first sewing project as an adult - an easy pattern for a tunic, no buttons, no zippers, no pain...I hope. I've made my list of to-do's for tomorrow, including carrying over all I haven't done today. I've said goodnight to my yehyeh and wondered whether he just sounds tired or if he's sad and thinking of my nanny, who passed away almost a month ago. I've sat and watched several minutes of a hockey game with my husband, who I'll call Gai Doi. I've checked my email and newsgroups. I've reviewed the minor changes I've made to our house, which we moved into 8 short months ago. I've reminded myself that I don't have a job to report to in the morning, since I quit 2 weeks ago. And finally, I've surfed the net as much as I could and found an interesting blog about a woman who has quit her job. This discovery lead to my wondering if I could build a blog....what would I have to offer?

Only the upcoming posts will tell...