Keeping in Touch: Thank you Steve Jobs!

Yesterday we witnessed our own small Christmas miracle when we video chatted (through FaceTime) with my husband's family in China.  Small potatoes?  Not to us.

We've tried to video chat with my mother-in-law and her family since before my son was born--three years--with no success. We've tried AOL, Skype, and AIM, Chinese computers and computers purchased in the United States, but each time faced a breakdown of technology, insurmountable user error, or just plain bad luck:  no internet connection.

Enter the iPad.  When my mother-in-law visited this year we gave her a refurbished iPad. To my surprise, she was sending email and chatting with her relatives in Germany via FaceTime within two hours of receiving the gift.  Soon after, she returned to China, and we tried to video chat, but could not connect due to a poor internet connection.  Sigh.

I thought all was lost until yesterday morning when we were able to connect for the first time with my mother-in-law, her sister, and her sister's family.  Yeah!  We had not seen many of these people for more than two years. Children had grown, and elders had aged.  We spoke Chinese and English, and laughed with each other.

I have big hopes for this little piece of technology in 2012. I hope that it will help my kids stay connected with their Nainai for as long as she stays in China, and that it will help them build relationships with their other Chinese family members who we only see every three years.  Little piece of technology...big hopes!

Merry Christmas!

(This is not a shameless promo for Apple or any of their products, but an honest-to-goodness story of how the iPad helped a family in the United States connect with their relatives in China on Christmas Day.)

Weekly Jiaozi Night

When life gets hectic--especially in these weeks leading up to Christmas, we are often forced to choose between cooking a meal or sitting down at the table to eat together. Some families turn to weekly pizza night as a solution, but our weekly “go to” when life gets busy is jiaozi (Chinese dumplings).

Jiaozi can be found in the freezer section of most Chinese grocers. I buy the Wei-chuan brand because they taste good, and because they have a seal (lower left corner) assuring they've been inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

   

Jiaozi are very affordable (I get mine for around $3.50 per bag), and they come in a many flavors:

  

Pork, scallops, and shrimp                 Pork and Chinese spinach

Chinese Celery and Shrimp               Pork, Leek, and Shrimp (my fav!)

Lotus Root and Chicken                    Green Onion and Beef

Leaf Mustard and Pork                      Seafood and Cilantro

According to Andrea from Viet World Kitchen, Wei-Chuan also makes a MSG-free brand, their Shandong Dumpling series (look for 山东 on the wrapper).  I haven’t seen this in the stores, but intend to keep my eyes open for it!

Jiaozi can be steamed, boiled, or pan-fried. 

Boiling Jiaozi

When boiling jiaozi, make sure to follow instructions on the package.  Jiaozi should come to a boil four times, and each time this happens, 1 cup of cold water must be added.

Here's how this works: after placing the frozen jiaozi into the boiling water, wait until the water begins to boil again.  Next, add one cup of cold water to the pot, and wait until the water comes to boil again.  Do this two more times.  When the water boils after the third cup of water is added, it’s time to take the jiaozi out.  You can dump the pot into a strainer (like pasta).  I use a slotted spoon to take the jiaozi out, because the noodle “skin” can be fragile.

Pan-frying Jiaozi

Turn burner to medium heat.  Cover the bottom of the pan with oil, and arrange the frozen jiaozi in the pan.  Add approximately 1/2 cup of water to the pan, and cover with a lid.  Cook until the water in the pan cooks off. Add around 1/3 cup water and cook for one minute.  This will keep the jiaozi from sticking to the pan when you remove them.

Next, dipping sauce!  Here is my all-time favorite recipe--a slightly spicy and sweet vinegar-based sauce.  Please alter and swap out ingredients according to taste.

Sweet, Spicy, and Sour Dipping Sauce

1 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar

¼ tsp Kadoya sesame oil

¼-1/2 tsp Guilin chili sauce

pinch of sugar

Serve with salted edamame (which can be bought in freezer section of stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joes) and enjoy!

These gifts=my love for you

One of many cultural (and family) traditions that I’ve struggled to understand over the years is the annual inundation of gifts every time my in-laws visit. This visit my kids were inundated with gifts twice: once when Nainai arrived and again when Yeye arrived.  For those of you who have not experienced this, let me give you the play-by-play. 

My mother and father-in-law bring two bags when they fly.  The smaller of the two contains their clothes for the week, while the larger bag is stuffed with gifts for my kids (their only grandkids). The first order of business when in my in-laws arrive--no matter how late--is the distributing of gifts (toys, school supplies, clothing for the next three years, shoes, underwear, socks, books, movies, CDs, and pretty much anything else you can imagine.) 

In the middle of the gift-distributing process and about the time our kids’ eyes were beginning to glaze over, my husband and I realized that we should confiscate and hide some of these gifts to use as Christmas gifts from Nainai and Yeye (since they probably hadn’t thought about Christmas yet).

Well, our plan caused great strife for both generations. My son saw my husband carry a load of toys upstairs, and then later re-traced dad’s steps to look for them.  My daughter saw everything, and later asked me why Yeye and Nainai hadn’t wrapped the gifts. And my in-laws were just plain mad that we prevented them from giving these gifts to their grandchildren right away.

Days later, the kids had forgotten about the gifts, and my in-laws had wrapped the confiscated items.  I felt only marginally pleased with our solution, feeling like--in attempt to keep our kids from becoming spoiled brats--we had offended some deep-seated belief about how Chinese grandparents were supposed to show their love for their grandchildren.

In Chinese culture, love is communicated in ways that I’m not used to, through gift giving, food, and scolding.  I’m trying hard to be understanding of this cultural difference, but my pragmatic Western self just wants to tell my in-laws to save their money, give their grandkids a hug, and tell them, “I love you” instead. My in-laws are learning how to hug, though, so I’m trying to learn how to be understanding of their need to give gifts.

May the gifts you give this season be filled with love!