Here I am (the white American in the middle) with our colleague’s sister (on left) and his wife. They gave me the embroidered cloth that is on my shoulder. They said it’s to protect my clothing, but I think it’s too pretty for that purpose and I’ll wear it on a special occasion. You can see some of the son’s awards on the wall above the homework desk.

The dough is twisted into a thin rope while the filling (made of chives, mushrooms, tofu and other ingredients) is prepared.

The rope of dough is chopped into small pieces.

The small chunks get coated with flour.

Then the chunks are shaped into thin circles.

Teaching the Americans how to stuff the dumplings

My American colleague stuffing the dumpling

My American colleague in the background with finished dumplings waiting to be boiled. Several of these round trays of dumplings were prepared.

My American friend’s dumplings…. I can’t show you mine because I put the camera down when my hands were covered in dough. Mine were slightly (only slightly) better.

This is what the dumplings should look like.

You can see the plates of finished dumplings with the other delicious dishes. The women waited until we were finished before sitting down to eat.