Tiny Taste of Taiwan

This past Wednesday the kids and I went to visit old friends from our Cottonwood Heights days. Shortly after we moved to Cache Valley, they moved to Draper. It was fun to catch up and see them again. Of course, only Big Bro remembered their family, but the kids were in HEAVEN anyway. They had horses, which the kids got to ride, and Stew played on the tramp, with their scooters, with their balls, and basically got to do everything he loves.

The timing of our visit was perfect, as it also coincided with the 1 week stay of exchange guests from China. When my friend told them she was having friends over, their older guest, Snow, offered to make Chinese dumplings for everyone. It was it's whole own adventure.

Snow proudly displays her work!

Making dumplings is what one often does with company in China. Why this is, I don't know, but everyone enjoys one another's company as they stuff, seal, and then cook the dumplings. Snow was dealing with a house-full of novice dumplings enthusiasts, and was amused by our efforts. I was the most experienced dumpling stuffer - I'd probably done this a handful of other times - but my skills paled in comparison to Snow's. She was fast, she knew multiple techniques, and her work was beautiful.

I don't know that Veeve or Weese tried their hand at dumplings. Big Bro gave it a whirl and lost interest after a few (or maybe the horses were calling). But when it came to eating, our group of 14 handily polished probably over 100 dumplings off in no time. They were delicious. Most were fried because they weren't up to the standard of holding together boiled - we needed Snow's skills to make them boil-worthy. The rest of the group seemed to prefer the fried ones, but me and my kids liked boiled best!

Seeing my kids down the dumplings made me really excited to share with them all of the amazing food Taiwan has to offer. But there was more fun to come! As we were preparing to leave, Snow came over to Veeve and began touching her hair! "It's so beautiful, so thick, so soft," she was remarking in Chinese. She played with it, pulled it back with her hands into a ponytail. This had to be one of my best highlights from the evening. For years, we have been telling the kids of all the funny reactions to white foreigners Asians have. We have warned them when we go that they will be held, poked, prodded, and in a ton of pictures with strangers. It was HILARIOUS to see Veeve react to this for the first time. She smiled, and even laughed. I think she felt silly, and I think it completely blew her mind that of our stories were NOT exaggerated! Her reaction was so cute, I'm sure she is going to love Taiwan, and boy, is Taiwan going to love her!

We got held up with goodbye's and chatting nearer the door and the kids took a moment to sit down at the piano and play it. That prompted more pictures by Snow (who almost didn't eat the dumplings she'd slaved over, she was so busy taking pictures and video of US eating) and this was Weese's moment to shine. Rather than any frustration that she was being posed by a Chinese woman she didn't know who seemed very excited to cram the frame with as many kids as she could, Weese stuck pose after pose, smiling her best smiles and having a ball - like it was her private photo shoot.

The kids' Chinese may have a way to go, but the evening was great proof they are ready for much of the adventure awaiting in Taiwan!