What started as just your average lazy Sunday morning quickly turned into a hectic and chaotic one. Rushing around to get myself ready for the day, having overbooked myself per usual, I felt myself start to dread the coming hours. I had put off getting my oil changed much longer than I should have, so much so that my dad lectured me about it as I was drinking my morning cup of coffee. "Do you have the money to get a new car?!" "Not changing your oil is like shooting a gun at your engine and hoping it doesn't do anything!" et cetera et cetera . He is a little dramatic about things like that at times, but I know he means well. So that was the first thing on my list of things to do that day.
I got in my car, realized my gas light was on, adding something else to my list, and I made my way to Jiffylube. I told them what I needed, and waited patiently inside along with the other people getting things done to their cars. The waiting room was tense, a couple arguing about who knows what, an old man reading the paper, and a cashier that obviously did not want to be there. As I waited I thought about what the rest of the day had in store for me. I now had to get gas, meet a friend for coffee, and meet a different friend to do homework, and then stop home before driving to a different friend's apartment to stay the night. Keeping myself busy per usual. Finally my car was finished and I was on to the next task of getting gas.
I stopped at the closest gas station, worried I wouldn't make it a further one. And I quickly realized that seemingly everyone in the area had chosen to go to the same gas station I did, it was packed. I saw an open pump and pulled in, but in front of me was a huge delivery truck. I inched closer and closer and crossed my fingers in hopes that the gas pump would reach to my car. It did! I pumped my gas, and let my friend know I would be at the coffee shop in about ten minutes. Rushing to get back into my car I tried to squeeze through the gap between the front of my car and the front of the delivery truck. misjudging how much room I had, my thigh grazed the licences plate of the truck ripping my jeans and sending a wave of pain over my body. Just angry at this point I got in my car and was on my way, trying to ignore the throbbing in my thigh.
I met my friend Chris for coffee, got myself a large hot vanilla chi latte (one of my favorites) explained to him all the events of my morning and finally had a chance to breath. By this point it was around 2:00 pm. We talked, we laughed, and it was just a good time. Spending a couple hours catching up we lost track of time, and our conversation was interrupted by a man who worked at the coffee shop. They were closing. Neither of us realized how long we had been there, but we said our goodbyes and I was off to my next stop. As I was driving I thought about the pain in my leg, it ached and was sensitive to touch. I still hadn't looked at it, and honestly I was a little afraid to so I just ignored it.
I got to my friend Heather's house around 4:30 pm and was welcomed at the door by her smiling face, her boyfriend, and her cats. I was excited to be there, because it was my first time actually being at her house after being friends for about a year and a half. We only really hung out at school, or at her boyfriend's house because he lived closer to me. I walked in, set my stuff down, and took off my shoes. She had told me before that they take their shoes off inside their house, I'm not exactly sure why but she said "it's an Asian thing". She introduced me to her mom, a cute Asian woman in an apron visibly excited about what she was cooking and excited that I was there. Heather told me that they were still cooking, which is what she had been doing all day. At that point I realized I was going to be a part of cooking and was not going to be getting any homework done. I didn't mind it all that much, I mean who really wants to do homework? So I rolled up my sleeves, pulled up a chair and was ready to help!
They had already made spring rolls, duck, and rice cakes earlier in the day. And Heather explained to me what else they had planned to make. Dumplings and meat buns. Both of which I had never had before. Me being me I just said okay, and was eager to help. There was a large bowl in the middle of the table full of some sort of raw meant and a mix of different vegetables and spices. I asked what it was and Heather said pork and looked at me with a puzzling look I'm not entirely sure how to describe, she knew I was a picky eater and I think was just unsure of how I was going to respond. I normally don't eat pork, but decided it wouldn't be the end of the world to try it. Especially because I was helping to make it and her mom was so excited about all the different food. Adam, Heather's boyfriend, showed me how to make the dumplings. He used chop sticks to get some of the pork mixture and placed it in the center of a circle of dough, dipped his finger in some water and wet the edges of the circle. Then he folded it in half, creating a little pouch full of the pork mixture and began to squeeze the edges together and pinched chunks of the dough together creating little folds around the edge. It almost looked like a a sheet that had been folded. And tad-ah! He made a dumpling.
When I began to make the dumplings Heather got me a spoon to scoop the pork mixture out of the bowl, I tried using the chopsticks but wasn't as successful as they were. I scooped some out, put it in the dough, wet the edges and squeezed it together by folding the edges. Just like Adam showed me to do. One after another we continuously made dumplings until we were almost out of the circular dough. And decided to save some of the dough for the next time. Heather's mom took the dumplings over to the stove tray by tray to steam them. Next we moved onto the meat buns. Heather brought over a large ball of dough that they had made earlier and were waiting for it to rise. She put it on the counter and began to section the dough into (somewhat) equal small pieces. After a couple of failed attempts to make the dough flat enough, Heather put me on the rolling duty. I rolled out the dough, piece by piece, trying to make them as thin as I could. I watched Heather and Adam struggle to put the pork mixture into the dough I had rolled out, all while Heather's mom patiently tried to explain and show them how to do it. I was kind of glad I was given the task of rolling the dough, because it was something I actually knew how to do. Towards the end, I did attempt to make some... emphasis on attempt. These were tricky because you had to hold the dough in your hand while trying to close the top by pulling the dough up and together at the same time. No matter how many times we watched Heather's mom do it, none of us were really getting it. Heather's mom then took the trays of these meat buns over to the stove to be steamed as well. And finally once everything was done, the moment of truth, to try it all.
Heather got us all plates, and me a fork because again I'm not too good with chop sticks. I put a small piece of duck on my plate, a couple dumplings spring rolls and a meat bun. Unsure if I would like any of this I felt a small feeling of anxiety well up inside me, a normal feeling for my picky self to feel when trying something new. I decided to start with the spring roll. I bit into it and heard a loud crunch, followed by an overwhelming feeling of warmth in my mouth. As I continued to chew I couldn't quite make out the flavors I was tasting. Defiantly some vegetables but the way they all mixed together and the textures made it seem like something completely different. Then I took a bite of the duck. Heather warned me not to eat certain pieces, which she identified to me and told me they were bones. That gave me a little bit of an unsettling feeling, but I still tried it. I bit into it and it was very tough, I almost felt like I had to yank the remaining duck in my hand as hard as I could to get it to separate from the piece I help in between my teeth. It reminded me of when I was younger and I would bite on the leather straps on my softball glove. Then I tried the dumplings. The look of them reminded made me think of alien eggs or something, not really resembling something to eat. I took a bite out of one of them and was initially surprised by the rubbery texture of the outer layer and the explosion of flavor of the inside. Again, I couldn't really identify the flavor, but it was the same filling that was in the spring rolls. The difference between the spring roles and the dumplings was interesting. The same filling, but drastically different outer layers. That made the experience of the two so different. a crunchy fried spring role and a chewy steamed dumpling. Finally, I tried the meat bun. A large ball of dough with again, the same pork and vegetable mixture inside. I bit into the fluffy doughy bun and felt the chewy goodness of the bread in my mouth. The first bite full of mostly bread had such an intense flavor. It was almost desert tasting because of the sweetness of the bun. The second bite really gave me a taste of the filling, it was a savory sweet balance that was very interesting and enjoyable to me. I never really identified the pork flavor in any of these, which is why I think I enjoyed them so much. The duck was my least favorite of the foods I tried, but wasn't horrible. Nothing made me want to spit it out and never think about the taste of it again. But it isn't like I am going to be craving them.
Overall my stressful morning and trip to do homework turned into a fun filled relaxing evening. Not only did I get to try new foods, but also go to have the experience of making it. As I get older I find it less and less that I get to interact with my friends in a wholesome ways. Most of the time we just get food at a restaurant or drinks at a bar. The act of going to Heather's house and making food with her mom was such a good experience and something I'll remember, and frankly maybe something I'll try to do more often with more of my friends.