THANK YOU NOTE | MY FAVORITE FOOD

A Feast Of Chinese Pastry At My Friend’s Home

Taste of childhood

It is a way to perform alchemy with ordinary ingredients, turning simple flour, salt, sugar, yeast, and milk into a masterpiece of flavors.

— by Trista Signe Ainsworth

When I read this, all kinds of Chinese pastries appeared in front of my eyes:

面条 Noodle 馒头 steamed bread

花卷 steamed twisted roll

包子 steamed stuffed bun

饺子 dumpling(with meat and vegetable stuffing)

馄饨 “won ton”; dumpling soup

When I was a child, I once had a pastry feast, which allowed me to taste many delicious foods from flour, and today, I still remember the fragrance on my lips and teeth.

One year when school was on summer vacation, I was invited to stay at a good friend’s home for a week.

She was my best friend in school. For me, she was like an elder sister. Her family came from the north in China.

In China, there is a big difference between the north and the south in terms of diet. Southerners prefer rice and northerners like foods made from flour.

I grew up in the South and my staple food was rice. Occasionally, my parents also made some pastries, which I found very delicious.

But every time making a pastry, they had to fight hard as if it was a very time-consuming and labor-intensive task.

To my amazement, at my friend’s house, we had pastry every day, and it has never been the same.

Flour seemed to be very obedient in the hands of my friend’s mother, let her make all kinds of shapes, and she was like a magician who could change flour into different patterns every time.

One of my favorite foods of all her pastry dishes is the steamed stuffed bun, which is a combination of flour and minced meat.

After the flour is fermented, it becomes fluffy dough. The dough is kneaded into small pieces one by one. Then round each dough piece, dig with your thumb and form it into a nest shape. Fill in some mince that is with various seasonings added in advance, and close the top.

When my friend’s mother was doing the last step, I glanced at it and thought to myself: “It is easy!”

“Auntie, I want to make one too”.

She quickly agreed.

But no, it is not as easy as I thought.

Look at the buns I made. They either have a lot or only a little mince.

Look at the buns my friend’s mom made. Each bun was filled bulging, like a general who has won a battle, standing on the battlefield full of energy.

And mine? Before they could even enter the battlefield, they had already fallen.

Everyone laughed when I said that.

Put the prepared buns in the steamer, and open the steamer after steaming for ten minutes. All buns were born in white, round, and bulging like little snowballs. Before they were served on the table, I was fascinated by their aroma.

When you eat it, take a small bite, the soup in the bun will flow into your mouth immediately, and then you will taste the delicious meat filling.

That was the happiest time of the day.

If you haven’t eaten any buns, you wouldn’t know how delicious they are, and once you eat one, you can’t forget it.

After graduating from high school, my friend and I embarked on a different life path. I went far away from home, while she stayed in her hometown.

Many years later, we met again. It was weird that we have become estranged from each other after having experienced up and down in our life, and we couldn’t talk about everything like before.

Today you can buy buns in snack bars all over China, but most of them are not as good as the ones my friend’s mother made.

Recently I started making buns by myself. After trying a few times, I was finally able to make buns that were not as decent as the one my friend’s mom made, but they didn’t like too bad 😜.

Anyway, the taste of my childhood comes back, but my lost friendships can no longer be found.

Thanks so much for Trista Signe Ainsworth and Sharing Randomly for the prompt about food memories.

Thank you for reading! I would be very happy to read your thoughts and your memories about food in the comments!

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