Day 162 - Clapping

Thought of the day: I helped Jasmine's class make dumplings today.  It was a bit stressful to prepare, demonstrate, rush home to cook and then rush back to serve warm dumplings before the school was over.  The kids had lots of fun making dumplings and loved the tastes so it was well worth the effort.  I have noticed that if you are a Chinese, somehow everybody expects you to be an expert dumpling maker.  However, I have never made dumplings before coming to the US.  It is a northern China tradition and is just not done much in the south.  A friend's excellent recipe for making dumpling fillings and a few handy YouTube videos demonstrating dumpling wrapping and cooking techniques saved my day.  Yes, cultural stereotypes can surely be frustrating and sometimes self-fulfilling, but when it comes to dumplings, I really don't mind!

Photo of the day:

This kids adored their teacher!  And perhaps the dumplings gave them extra energy to be so enthusiastic at the end of a school day.