There is no such thing as fortune cookies in China....

.........but there are dumplings. Many, many dumplings. I got the chance to make them Saturday night at a Chinese new year party given by friends Wenjun and John. Standing with a few of her friends, I marveled at the speed in which they rolled out each little circle of dough and even tried my hand at filling and shaping the delicious morsels.
Dumpling making is a family affair, with various members taking on different tasks, based on their particular skill. As these women shared their own family's methods, I stood quietly, soaking it all in, trying to remember something so communal in my family. I couldn't. The cooking that went on in my house during holidays was solely my mother and grandmother's responsibility, with the rest of the family called only when the meal was ready. As I got older, I helped, but I can't remember us working on the same dish at the same time.

Though, I do have fond memories of the baba-san family "Apple Butter Festival" where family and friends spent the entire day making apple butter and trying not to get stung by the yellow jackets buzzing around the apple press. Driving down to Delaware from New York, we never got there early enough for the start, arriving only as the huge, black kettle was already over the fire, the smell of apples greeting us as we pulled up. We all took turns mixing the apples with the paddle and listened carefully as the more experienced members debated the amount of cinnamon to add. While we waited, we talked about what had happened in the year since the last get-together. Finally it was ready and everyone went into action, an assembly line forming to pour the butter into jars and then screwing both parts of the lid on tight.


Of course the best part was several weeks later, as I dipped my knife into the almost finished jar, remembering the wonderful day down in Delaware.....