On our last day
in Xi’an, we were invited to a dumpling banquet at a historic dumpling house in
the Old City. Madame Wang explained that
when we first arrived, we were served noodles.
This is traditional because when guests arrived in ancient times, hosts
could quickly prepare a meal of noodles for them. During the visit, the tedious process of
making dumplings would ensue…and so, for our final meal in Xi’an, we were
treated to this delicious tradition.
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| Near the entrance of the restaurant, plates of dumplings display only a fraction of all the items actually available. |
Amid the toasts,
speeches, and laughter, I think everyone felt a certain sadness that this day
had come…from the time we nervously feasted at the hot pot meal (some of us…like
me…still struggling with chopsticks!) to this relaxed banquet of dumplings (I
was quite pleased with my chopsticks skills by then!)…we had grown quite
accustomed to each other. The language
barriers were dissolving, the weather had warmed nicely from the bone-chilling
March temperatures, and we truly felt we were among friends.
The dumplings
marched onto the lazy susan in varieties I can’t begin to describe. There were steamed dumplings, boiled
dumplings, fried dumplings, baby dumplings…each batch uniquely shaped to
resemble the fillings—shrimp, vegetables, pork, lamb, beef, chicken… We ate our
fill…and then some!
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