who am I when I'm (not) with you?

once: It was my mother taught me to make dumplings, mixing together ground pork and shrimp and jiǔ cài and chopped cabbage, drizzling in soy sauce until it was just this side of brown. Dipping our fingers in the dish of water to wet the edges of the skin, we used to sit around the table, my mother and sister and I, racing each other to see who could wrap the most, the prettiest, the quickest; which of us would scrape the last of the filling out of the bowl. Sometimes we'd boil them and sometimes we'd pan-fry them, but I always loved the fried ones best, watching the wrapper turn crispy golden-brown at the edges.

(People used to complain of the smell sometimes when I brought them to school for lunch, but after a while I figured they were just jealous.)

( and once: )

[written for the 5th Asian Women Blog Carnival]