Today's post is about some interesting things that you can drink through a straw. The first, which Kim is holding there on the left is "Bubble Tea" (also known as "Pearl Tea", or "Milk Tea with Sago", or "Tapioca Tea" depending on where it is ordered). Bubble Tea isn't anything new to us, as we'd often go out of our way to get one from downtown Flushing when we were living in Queens. However, it comes from this part of the world and if you haven't made it to your local Chinatown (or if you're living here in China) to taste one of these - do yourself a favor. Basically, its a drink made of tea, milk, and very large balls of tapioca. The drink comes with a wide straw for the tapioca to fit through. Very delicious!The second thing that Kim is holding is a "Soupy Dumpling" - instead of a bowl, this soup is served in a dumpling, and usually has a big piece of pork in it as well. When you order a big one (like the one pictured here) it comes with a straw so that you can drink the soup before you eat the rest of the dumpling. There's a trick to eating the smaller ones - you place the dumpling in a spoon with one hand, and hold it steady with chopsticks with the other hand. Then you bite off a bit of the dumpling skin in order to let out the steam. At this point you can pour in some vinegar and/or soy sauce (might I recommend the vinegar?). In a few seconds, its cool enough to eat.
3 comments:
Hey Gran and Kim!
Hooraaaaaaaaaaaaaay for tapioca tea!
"Soupy dumpling?" sounds interesting. Do the little ones come in a pile? Must be messy if they leak, or if you try to take some home and they spill or get squahed. Worse then eggs, maybe. Is there a vegitarian version?
Hi Leah! Yes- unfortunatly, theres a place to get tapioca tea right down the street from me, so I drink them way too much...
I don't know if there are vegitarian soupy dumplings. To be honest, theres not much of vegitarian anything here because most Chinese people aren't vegitarians, and largely don't understand why someone would be a vegitarian.
Its interesting because our vegitarian friends have found that its more effective to say "I can't eat meat" than "Please don't bring any meat" because with the latter, they'll assume that "don't bring meat" means that the meat shouldn't be the focus of the dish, but it still might have meat in it.
Even saying "I can't eat meat" isn't a foolproof operation either.
Anyway, the soupy dumplings are usually served in a little round bamboo container fresh from steaming. The one time that we got them to go, they were served in a little styrofoam box.
Ah. The clouds part.
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