Whew, it’s March already. That means that by the end of the month we will have celebrated my oldest’s 3rd birthday and we’ll have had Passover a few days after that party. February blew by so quickly, I can’t really get my head around March.
In February, we went out to the Pacific Northwest to visit my cousin and her boys. It was fantastic, but short. The best part, of course, was seeing them and the second best part was the food (naturally). We ate well, as we always do, feasting on salmon and greens. They also introduced me to a restaurant that, if it were in my town, I would be visiting every single night. Really. I am considering a trip back, just to eat there.
I give you Din Tai Fung Dumpling House.
For those of you in the know, I need not say more.
For those of you (like me) who don’t/didn’t know, let me tell you. We went at lunchtime and there was a wait. Which was fine, because we had entertainment. When we walked in, we were greeted by this little dumpling guy.
Then, we were able to watch the chefs make the dumplings.
Just as the kids started to get restless, we were shown to our table. At which there were four, kid size settings.
Drinks were quickly brought, also in kid sized cups, with the friendly dumpling guy on them.
I left the ordering up to my cousin and her husband and I wasn’t disappointed. It works somewhat like a sushi or dim sum set up– you check off what you want and as it is delivered to your table, the servers stamp or check off what’s been brought.
We started with a cucumber that my cousin’s husband (effectively my brother in law) remembered from his childhood as something his grandmother made. It was fresh, crunchy, sweet and salty.
Next came hot and sour soup.
Green beans.
And dumplings. Oh, the dumplings. Shrimp, chicken, pork….. soup dumplings, steamed dumplings… I was in heaven.
There was fried rice and noodles, too. I wasn’t fast enough to get a photo of the noodles.
Oh, people, I can’t tell you how good this was. It is beyond words. Even the baby loved it. Like, really loved it.
We’re all going to be dreaming about this place until we can get back there. I’m going to be in search for a similar place here in my geographical area… I’ll keep you posted.
