The reason why I love the weekend is that my world stops and I am able to do something different from the things I do from Monday to Friday. This week, I was down with asthma, so I was able to spend my Saturday at home, with my mom, as we spent a quiet ( and Chinese ) dinner of steamed spare-ribs, fried dumplings, and fish fillet.

I am Filipino-Chinese, and it’s in my blood to have an affinity for Chinese food. I just love everything about Chinese food, and it tops as my favorite cuisine, to be followed by Spanish, and Korean. I think that I would never get tired of Chinese food, because I like it when it’s smokin’ hot ( I am feverish with hunger when I see a cup of hot and sour soup ) , and I like it when it’s cold, too ( ala-cold cuts, shrimp salad , mango sago…yum!).

Anyway, I woke up with the mood to take pictures as my sister Candy joked that she forgot to buy my favorite Xiao Long Pao’s that I have requested yesterday, as I jolted awake.( I am VERY sensitive when it comes to food. Haha! ) Every Sunday is liberation day for me as I am allowed to wake up ridiculously late , just in time for lunch. ( Love it! Haha! )

As for the early risers, my sister C bought some takeouts from Retiro street ( near Banawe ) Banawe is almost the closest thing to Chinatown - it is the north version of Chinatown ( Binondo ). She bought some food from Shuin Taiwanese Food Center ( which I so love, and wouldn’t mind eating every week ), and from Suzhou Dimsum for my frozen Xiao Long Paos.

Here are some photos that I took. These are novice shots, I just hope that I could be better than this! Haha!

These are Suzhou’s Xiao Long Pao’s. I posted about this last time, about being bloated dumplings, with soup stock inside the wrapper, along with the filling. We bought them frozen, and we steamed them under pechays - that is for the soup stock to remain inside the wrapper, for if there is no vegetable placed under, the wrapper just might stick and no more yummy soup stock!

Update : I don’t think the Suzhou’s Xiao Long Paos are generic anymore. They made me very addicted to it. The more I eat them, the more I am addicted! My sisters ate some Xiao Long Pao at a local Tea House last night, and they said Suzhou’s was hands down the best, so far!

All the rest we got from Shuin :

Yumyum. I just love tofu!

Smoked Chicken

Bamboo Shoot

Salted Sichuan Pickling Vegetable ( Salted Mustasa ) We call it “kiam ( salty ) tsai ( vegetable ). This is my favorite vegetable dish! It’s very very flavorful.

Oh, and did I say that I just love Sundays? My tummy sure does love Sundays!