That's Chinese!

We finally ventured down to Chinatown. The boys both complained that they didn't want to go but on the way home they admitted they had more fun than they thought they would. Just look at their genuine smiles in the pictures.
































As we drove down the street trying to find parking, Kamryn got very excited and started saying, "That's Chinese! That's Chinese!" She recognized the Chinese characters on all the storefronts. All this Chinese started rolling out of her mouth! We were pushing her down the street in the stroller and she was saying "Ni Hao, Wo Jiao Kami" and waving to everyone so excitedly. It was so funny.

I guess the Chinese language lessons are paying off. Kamryn and mommy have been taking Chinese language lessons now for about 10 weeks. It's amazing how natural it is for Kamryn to repeat the Chinese words. She can hit the tones perfectly. I, on the other hand, have a hard time sounding right. Heck, she almost speaks Chinese better than she does the English! (just kidding) She does know the difference. One day while I was in the laundry room I could hear her playing with her dollhouse. She was setting up the dolls saying, "This is daddy or baba."




















































She obviously LOVES Shanghai Soup Dumplings too. I didn't even know what they were until we got home from Chinatown and I googled the restaurant that we ate at. I think it's a newer one there - Lao Shanghai. The restaurant did get great reviews online and we enjoyed it too!

So there we are sitting in this quaint little one room restaurant (which after reading one review I noticed it said "Kids: No" - oops) and out comes this dumpling looking food. I thought, bummer, the pot stickers we ordered aren't fried enough for my liking;) Well, it wasn't the order of pot stickers.



We obviously didn't know what we were doing because the waitress came over to our table and told us to scoop out the dumpling with this spoon and then pour the soup over it and slurp it from the spoon. Well Kamryn really loved eating these just right off her plate. So we let her. She ate the majority of them although all the guys tried them too. (yes, even Brendan!)



What I learned online later is that Shanghai soup dumplings (also known as xiao long bao), are filled with ground pork and chicken broth. The secret to eating these steamed, juicy dumplings is to grab the tops of the dumplings with your chopsticks (don't poke them in the middle) and carefully place them on top of your soup spoon so that you don't lose the broth. Then you nibble off a tiny piece of dumpling skin so that the soup can pour out onto your spoon. They taste best dipped in vinegar and topped with slices of fresh ginger. (who knew? I guess we live a sheltered culinary life.)

Shopping in Chinatown took me back to China although the prices weren't as low like in China. Brendan wanted a wooden sword, Matt wanted a cap gun keychain thing, and Kamryn, my princess, wanted a mini wooden sword covered in jewels so she could be like Mulan. So I bought my princes their goodies and the princess a sword and a really cute stuffed panda bear eating bamboo.