Somewhere along the way I remembered the butcher shop which was practically on my way home. Once someone appeared from the back, I told her what I wanted and waited as she took it to the back and ground it for me.
Everyone was busy in the kitchen, so I took over the dining room. I mixed my dough and started chopping cabbage, glancing every once and awhile at our family blog where I posted the recipe the first time I made dumplings. J (she's a 12 year old Colombian-American) came over to see what I was doing and saw the power point I had open which I hadn't had time to start. She offered to help, so while I made Chinese dumplings and we listened to salsa, she worked on a slide show about the United States.
KT (a 5 year old) came over to watch too, and she wanted to help. So, while I rolled out dumpling wrappers, I showed her how to put a spoonful in each one and seal them. She's a careful little worker, and loves to help. She did a great job, though at times she liked to be silly and ask me if she should put in about 3 times the amount of filling I showed her.
After we'd been working awhile, everyone from the farm arrived. E (3) and T (not quite 2) wanted to help too. So, we pulled up chairs to the table and I gave everyone a ball of dough to roll out.
Everyone who walked by wondered what we were making until they saw the ready-to-be cooked dumplings. Then, to a Colombian, the answer was obvious. "Oh, you're making empanadas!" Well, sort of. I told them they were a Chinese version of empanadas.
Culture night was pretty awesome. We had food from Colombia, Venezuela, the US, New Zealand, Holland, and, of course, my dumplings. And, once the food was eaten and the presentations over, we cleared away the chairs, and danced. I love that social dancing is a part of life here.
2 comments:
I had dumplings today at the chinese restaurant. They were good but I bet they didn't have as much fun making them!
You're making me hungry!
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