Update on Explosion at Salvador's

Just two weeks ago, we were in Kunming China with my brother Colin. We spent most of our free time hanging out at his cafe, Salvador's. On the morning of Christmas Eve, a Chinese terrorist planted a bomb with the apparent intention of exploding it remotely later that night when there would be a numerous ex-pats, tourists and students celebrating the holidays together. Luckily, the bomb detonated early, fatally injuring the bomber but nobody else. We are counting our blessings.

Click here to read the New York Times article about this event.

Click here to read our blog entry about our time at Salvador's.

The Temples of Angkor, Cambodia

Bike and Boat Trip Through the Mekong Delta

Hanoi and Halong Bay, Vietnam

3-Day Trek in Laos, near Luang Prabang

A Li's Wedding in Yunnan Mountains, Southwestern China

A Li is one of Colin's employees at Salvadore's. We were invited to spend three days participating in her wedding celebration.
To get there, we had to take a 5 hour bus to a 4-wheel drive truck to motorcycles which took us to the beginning of our walk to her family's house.All of the Salvadore's owners were there: Josh, Kris, Nalco and Colin.

Here is the groom and the bride.

Here is some of the family.
We ate like kings. When it was all over, they had fed 560 people.

Veggie Dumpling Recipe

The Veggie Dumplings at Hangzhou Pork Bun Shop were our favorite, so we got the recipe.
To make the dough for the skin, lay down 3 cups of flour in the center of your workspace. Create a crater in the middle, adding water and kneading for 15 minutes until the consistency is just right. Roll into small balls and flatten. Add filling, fold in half and pinch closed along the seam.

To make the filling, thinly slice carrots and zucchini. Cut small cubes of tofu and saute everything together, adding salt if necessary.

You can steam, boil, saute or deep fry the dumplings. So simple.

To make the dipping sauce, add black vinegar, soy sauce, sesame, chopped chili and green onions.