Hands Full of Glitter and Tofu : 2011 Day 32 - Zara! And Pig-Faced Dumplings All in a Row

Here are the latest photos of my darling mischievous niece Zara who's showing a very independent spirit and in true prodigy style is starting Terrible Twos tantrums at eighteen months. Still the tantrums are only a small part of her day and for the greater part she is as cute and clever as ever!

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Sammi samples the 'oishi  ne' (Japanese for 'delicious isn't it?') pork and ham dumpling

Another delightful, lovely dinner with my gorgeous gal pal from work and this time a new locale! We gave sushi the heave-ho and went for dumplings at a funky new eatery called Chef's Gallery near Town Hall station in the Lumiere building. We had both decided it would be good to try a new place, but what made this place all the more compelling yesterday, was that it involved minimal walking from a train station, which was particularly appealing on what was a disgustingly hot day.

I had joked to my gorgeous guy on the phone that if the place wasn't air conditioned I'd walked right back out and eat at McDonalds if I had to - which he replied that that would be taking things too far; he hates Maccas with a passion, as much for it's corporate blandness as it's non-descript food - but we didn't have to as the Chef's Gallery is brand spanking new, air conditioned, with great service, and fabulously fun, delicious food. We started with wafer-thin shallot pancakes, and a cold Shanghai noodle salad and followed them with ham and pork dumplings (they are the ones below), and ham ones, and finished with pig face dumplings (see way below) which were filled with sweet sesame filling (also had red bean pancakses). Totally yum, and as usual, we talked non stop and had a ball...... all in chilled comfort.

Alas the train going home wasn't air conditioned at all which put a bit of a literal dampener on things - I sweated almost from the moment the hot air hit me (it says something when the train platform is cooler than the train!) - but it had been such a good night that I concentrated on getting home, getting changed and cooling down. It had after all, been a most wonderful night. Why let Cityrail ruin it?

Boy dumplings make me giddy with happiness!

So kawai (cute)!! Too cute to eat..... and yet we did....with gusto