包子

One thing I really want to learn to do for living in Utah is make 包子 or Chinese steamed buns, especially 叉燒包, the kind with char siu pork inside. The problem with that is that you first have to make the Char Siu pork which is pretty difficult alone and requires lots of things that might be hard to get in Utah, like fermented red tofu. But in is delicious. Here you can just buy the pork already in its 叉燒 form and then make the bread. That's hard enough. The baozi I made (that's how you say 包子) always turns yellow as it steams. It still tastes yummy, but does not look at all appetizing. I just want an old Chinese woman to teach me, but normal people don't know how to make it. So it's hard.

Our new investigators sister 夏 and sister 陳 are both doing good. They have a baptismal date for the 27th and are progressing well. I feel really bad for the older one. She is 18, but really looks 13. Elder Pope always calls her and her sister little kids, but that's just his habit, he calls everyone 小朋友 or little friend which just means little kid, no matter how old they are. Normally it's just fine, but I think she might get a little self conscious about it. But they are still good and she's really sharp and quite sarcastic, which is very rare among Chinese people.

We met a mom and her little daughter on the mini bus yesterday. The daughter was five and very cute and very outgoing. The mom said they were on the way to therapy because she was afraid her daughter had adhd. I thought, "Oh no, another tiger mother. Just let your daughter be, she's probably fine." By the end of the ride I knew exactly what the mom meant and supported her entirely. We asked our ten year old investigator "do you have adhd?" (mostly just to practice new vocab) and she said "I used to think I maybe did, but now that I've seen that girl I'm not worried anymore.

We made strawberry pie for pi day. Happy 3.14 everyone!

Lot's of Chinese recipes call for shaoxing rice wine, which is a cooking wine of about 16% alcohol. Does anyone know how long it takes to cook all the alcohol out?

I love you. See you later.

-Noah