Taste Love

        On the Chinese New Year eve this year, the downstairs dining hall in my dorm held a celebration dinner. The dining hall really prepared lots of Chinese traditional food for the occasion. The most impressive food among them for me should be the dumplings. Dumplings are one of the most traditional food in China. Due to the shape of dumplings are similar with that of the ancient Chinese gold bullion, eating dumplings is a kind of good wish for Chinese. So in my family, we always eat dumplings on the New Year eve dinner.

That was my first time to celebrate New Year overseas without my family. Actually, I just video chatted with my whole family in that morning. Because of the time difference between Denver and my hometown, they all gathered in my grandma’s house and were taking the big New Year eve dinner together when I talked to them. My parents introduced the various dishes they had to me through the video. It was indeed made me miss these Chinese traditional dishes and want to join them. I noticed that my grandma still made the dumplings as usual. She is pretty expert at making dumplings in my family, so the dumplings in almost all of our New Year eve dinners since I can memorize were prepared by her. The characteristics of the dumplings she makes are thin dough, various juicy fillings and sufficient big size. Every time she made dumplings, I always can eat several bowls of them. And she also knows that I like eating the dumplings she makes, so she usually made some for me during her spare time.

        In fact, I spent plenty of time in my grandma’s house when I was little. Because my parents were pretty busy with their work at that time, they usually left me with grandma. My grandpa had passed away several years ago, so my grandma lived alone all the time. Her house is in the first floor of an apartment with a small garden. Because she hates climbing stairs since she took a leg surgery, and she likes planting plants. She indeed planted lots of plants and flowers in her garden, such as peony, chrysanthemum, narcissus and orchid. She looked them after carefully, and I believe that she enjoyed the process to plant them and take care of them. She always told me at that time that “every plant has its own life and soul.”

         I still remember the experience that observing her made dumplings when I lived with her. She got up early in that morning, went to supermarket and bought various vegetables, meats and flour. She said that “if I went lately, I probably cannot obtain fresh vegetables and meats. The freshness is the most important to delicious dumplings.” When she came back home, she started to wash and cut vegetables and meats, mixed the flour with water and roll the dough, which prepared for making dumplings. I stood outside of her kitchen and stared at her all the time. She smiled at me and asked me to come in. She explained every single step to me when she was doing that. She told me the secret of her thin and soft dough was that she always poured sufficient water with the flour, and when she rolled the dough, she always covered on lightly floured surface. I stood aside and listened to her quietly. Even though I recall the image of that day now, I still can feel that how the time flied peacefully of that day with grandma. When all the prepared works were done, grandma moved the dough, fillings and seasonings to the table in the living room because in this way, she can sit down on a chair and concentrate on making dumplings. I noticed that she brought a bowl of water with her, and I asked her with curiosity that why did she prepare a bowl of water. She gave me a faint smile, then answered that moistening the outer edge of every piece of dough with water can make the dough much stickier, and the dumplings are more stable.  After listening to this explanation, I suddenly realized that the reason that the dumplings made by grandma are always much more delicious than the factory produced dumplings is that she truly spends her all thoughts and throws herself into it. Perhaps, making dumplings for her is not just cook a meal, but is a silent way to express her love to us. I was glad that I understand her silent love.

         Time goes by, I am already a university student and studying abroad alone. My grandma still lives in that apartment and takes care of her plants. On my first alone New Year eve in a foreign country, those dumplings evoked the memories of my grandma and those days I spent with her. I guess, I will never eat such delicious dumplings as my grandma made.