Can dumplings be considered a type of food? It spans across cultural cuisines, most notably in Asian countries, but that is not to say that Occidental cuisine doesn’t have its fair share of representation, too. Meeting up with some friends in New York City, we went over to check out the festivities.

Set up next door to the Whole Foods Bowery Market (which is about the size of a large department store), several ethnic dumpling vendors were spread out around a small park, with the center stage set up for a dumpling eating contest later in the day. I had seriously considered entering the dumpling eating contest before and on my way up to NYC, but the realization that I didn’t want to either a) spend the rest of the day being carted around in a wheelbarrow or b) spend an hour inducing vomitosis majoris at the closest port-a-potty afterwards, I opted for just sampling what each dumpling tent had to offer.

Getting to the dumpling festival early was crucial to enjoying the event. Lines were non-existent, but dumplings were ready to go. A $20 ticket would get you four station tastings; each tasting would be anywhere between 2 – 4 parcels of OMNOMNOMnery.

Traditional dumplings were definitely represented, although options such as these whole wheat wrapped dumplings were a nice touch.  The wraps were high quality, and had no particular odd texture that I’d normally think of with a whole wheat dough.

Some dumplings such as these were served with more accoutrements, such as these heavily fried dumplings with scallions and red cabbage.

These golden fried Malaysian dumplings were lava hot, accentuating their freshness.  I was a little dismayed with how little sauce came on each plate, and the servers were definitely not budging on giving me any more than had been dotted there already.

The cheese and potato Polish pirogies were very good, although no plain cheese or meat pirogies were anywhere to be found.

One tent had Chinese bao (buns) available, made with either white flour or with wheat, and filled with BBQ pork or edamame, respectively.  The BBQ pork buns rarely let me down, but the edamame ones were a nice option, too.  I’ve never had edamame filled bao before, but catering towards vegetarians was a definitely smart.

Tents were wide open, with plenty of volunteers right when the festival started up at noon.  We decided to return to the festival after wandering around for a couple of hours, but when we returned, we realized the festival we made a terrible mistake.  Lines ran from one end of the court to the other, with the average waiting time ranging from 15 to 30 minutes for a plate of dumplings.  Not withholding any patience to just hang out, we left the scene, but not before noticing that the Italian ravioli tent was completely without patrons.

Poor Italians.

Well, at least they have Carla Bruni.

The most surprising sight was the uberdumpling.  It looked a bit less delicious than when I think of death by dumpling, and more actually reminded me of something else entirely.

Oh well.

The dumpling festival is held every year in the late summer and fall, so keep an eye out for it in 2011.  And remember, if you really want to enjoy it, get there early, and pig out before the crowds.

I had heard about CupcakeCamp DC through some channel or another on the interwebs a few weeks ago, and the concept sounded simple  enough.

Bakers bring cupcakes, attendees come and eat them.

Really?  Something as good as that for free?  My heart palpitated at the very thought of death by sugar.

The event nearly collapsed after the original venue fell through, but at the last minute, Funxion came through, generously donating their space for over 100 cupcake junkies and bakers.  The second floor loft overlooking the main floor staged the judges overlooking the audience, with a crew of volunteers descending into a throng of outreached arms with every round of cupcakes delivered.

Even if you didn’t get to sample a particular cupcake because the box was completely emptied before it made its way through the bar, there was always another box right behind it, and likely a second or third serving of the cupcake you missed not too far behind.  Managing a camera and my cupcake nom nom noming skills simultaneously proved be one hell of a balancing act.  I have no idea how I didn’t end up getting frosting all over myself.

I thought I got a pretty good sample of all the cupcakes that were distributed for the first two hours.

Strawberry

Banana Walnut

Coconut Cream

My personal favorite, Blueberry with Sour Cream and Thyme

Espresso Bean

Vegan Ginger

Vegan Chocolate Chip Mint

I didn’t get an official count of just how many bakers and types of cupcakes there were, but more than enough to lose count.
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The event was extremely well organized, and completely run on the grease of hard volunteer work.  I’m proud to be part of a city that kicks off cool events like these.

Oh, and if you were wondering, I didn’t end up tossing my cupcakes by the end of the event.  In fact, I left a little early, tongue numb from the sugar overload and my vision blurred, but I had a great time and thank the organizers for putting this on.  As much as you think it’d be fun to experience death by cupcake, a person can only take so much.

I’ve still got the shakes right now. If you can catch the next CupcakeCamp, I highly recommend you go. Find more information about it by clicking here.

This one’s a quick dessert if you’ve got a craving for chocolate.  This recipe has a bit more of a dark chocolate taste, and I pretty much hoovered the entire thing in a few seconds, with a little bit of help from Jen.  It’d also probably make for a really nice chocolate spread, or the paleo-cupcake recipe I’ve been trying to come up with, except with the avocados, it doesn’t have a very long shelf life.  Which means you’d have to eat every last bit of whatever you use it for as a spread within a few hours.

Fine by me!

Ingredients:

• 1 large ripe avocado, chopped
• 2 tbsp dutch cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp honey

Directions:

1. Mix very well in a food processor or using a fork. You can eat it right away, or put it away in the fridge and let it set for 30 minutes.

I went to check out Mi Tierra Cafe on a recommendation for the best Mexican food in San Antonio. The restaurant is in Market Square, just a little over a half mile from the Riverwalk that tourists such as myself usually flock to for a myriad of restaurants and bars. During the evening, there are few things that give away what to expect inside. None of the patrons were out basking in the 104 degree Texas heat. I couldn’t imagine why.

Once inside, your eyes are assaulted by brilliantly colored pinata and lights dangling from the ceiling. Loud mariachis strum their guitars and shake their maracas, and an enormous display of baked puffs (not the Pauly Shore type) stretches across in front of you. The wait staff is dressed in brightly colored traditional Mexican garb, further driving home the violation of your eyes with everything presented in extra hi-def technicolor Mexicaness.

You adjust to it all fairly quickly, don’t worry.

I was whisked away to a booth, and took a few moments to take in everything from the menu. Six pages of food and drinks, everything from margaritas to meaty plates to 24 hour breakfast options like Huervos Rancheros. I can dig it. I asked for the Queso Flameado and the Michoacan, and spent several minutes fending off the “preview” struma-strum-strums of the roving gang of mariachis.

Shake shake shake. One mariachi attempted to attempt the start of a song. I shook my head, and he quickly scampered away, with even his maracas sulking. Shake.

Mi Tierra gives you a free dish of piping hot tortilla chips, and a nice, moderately spicy yet cool salsa, compliments of the house. If this was going to be a cheat meal from my normal diet, I was going to go all out. I shoved one chip after another into my maw, drinking down the salsa in a single gulp.

Ok it didn’t quite go down like that, but the salsa here is definitely good.

The queso flameado arrive in short time. Not exactly traditional Mexican fare in my opinion, leaning a bit more towards american tastes, this is a giant, piping hot cast-iron plate of cheese, with just a little bit of chopped chorizo to give it a nice smoky flavor. I sampled it with both the corn and flour tortillas, and naturally, the flour ones tasted much, much better. There has to be a better “it’s so addictive” type of analogy for things than crack. Why does everything have to be as good as crack? Are we a society hell bent on making crack the gold standard?

Anyways. Fresh flour tortillas. Crack. You know the drill.

The Michoacan is a plate of carnitas de puerco, or a baked pork tips marinated in orange and spices. It comes with the traditional accoutrements, guacamole, spanish rice, beans, and a tomato and onion salad. These carnitas aren’t your typical pulled pork variety, but rather, large chunks of Porky the Pig. The pork was a bit dry for my tastes and cut with large cuts of fat, which made me wonder if they preparation could have used a little bit of tweaking. Chunks of fat would usually indicate a moist and tender meat, especially with pork.

I’d hate to think that this is the best authentic Mexican food in San Antonio, but I might have just ordered the wrong main dish here. An excellent restaurant would have every dish prepared to absolute perfection, so I could see myself coming back to Mi Tierra to try something else to give it another chance. The service here is more than accomodating, with my waitress coming by every few minutes to top off my glass of water.

You didn’t forget about the bakery in the front, did you? Neither did I. I opted to try one of the various empanadas in front, finally settling on the apple empanada after a long deliberation between those and the mango ones. A perfect dessert after a heavy meal, and something to take back to your hotel room for another day of eating. They also have cookies, cupcakes, pies, candied yams, and macadamia brittle for you to try. Even if you miss the opportunity to have dinner here, there’s always a chance to get in with the bakery and grab something to go.

See Mi Tierra Cafe on a map here.

Recommended For:

• Queso Afficianados
• Birthday Parties
• Soccer Moms w/ a Van Full of Kids in Tow
• Watching Futball at the Bar

Not Recommended For:

• Paleoheads
• Zone Dieters
• Black Tie Night Out
• Your First Real Meal After Spending A Week at Burning Man