"I was, in fact, homesick for wildness, and when I found it I knew how intimately - how resonantly - I belonged there. We are charged with this - all of us. For the human spirit has a primal allegiance to wildness, to really live, to snatch the fruit and suck it, to spill the juice." - Jay Griffiths, Wild: an Elemental Journey

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Wild Dim Sum

Today, on Easter - which is a holiday I don't really celebrate - I had a delicious brunch - surrounded by crowds of other people who don't really celebrate Easter.  I had Chinese Dim Sum for the first time.

Oldman and I figured we'd continue our trend of eating at Chinese restaurants during holidays when everyone else is doing some pre-prescribed holiday thing.  (We ate at a Chinese restaurant on Christmas night as well.)  Plus he's kind of been jonesing for dim sum in a big way lately, and I figured the only way to get him to stop mumbling "dim sum" under his breath was to go ahead and give the man some.

Entering The Silver Fountain restaurant on a Sunday afternoon for brunch was like going to Rita's on free italian ice day - except with more Chinese food and less italian ice.  But the crowds, the chaos, and the noise were about the same.

A squished 20 minutes in line, and we were seated.  Within 30 seconds, the first cart came by with a bunch of little plates, being pushed by a small, Chinese woman who was starting impatiently at us to make our choice.  I didn't really understand what was happening, so just pointed to something that looked noodley.

After just a few minutes, and several more carts, our table looked like this:


I hadn't eaten anything yet today, so this was technically breakfast.  Oldman informs me that Dim Sum is traditionally a breakfast/brunch type thing anyway.  Nothing about this seemed like breakfast.  I was highly aware of the cultural difference of eating what grows in a country where rice, root vegetables, and seafood prevail.  The agricultural hallmarks of a European breakfast (eggs, sausage, pancakes, bagels, etc.) were noticeably absent.

A small list of what we ended up with:
- turnip cake with bits of pork
- taro root cakes
- rice noodle with beef
- fried crab balls
- chinese broccoli
- fried tofu shrimp cakes
- pork buns
- salt and pepper shrimp

This was the aftermath of our meal:


And these, our overflowing leftovers:


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