Iris has long enjoyed the book Yum Yum Dim Sum, by Amy Wilson Sanger. It’s part of the World Snack series, and its collage art portrays many of the most popular dim sum items: har gau, shu mai, sesame balls, sticky rice, and so on.
We’ve taken Iris to dim sum once before, but it was at a progressive sort of place where you ordered unusual items off a menu. Today was her first classic dim sum experience. Because it’s for a review meal, I can’t tell you where it was, except that it was on the Eastside, but you’ll find out soon enough.
Anyway, basically everything in the book appeared within two minutes after we sat down. Iris could not have been more impressed if the Cat in the Hat came to life. She ate a little of everything and pronounced the sticky rice her favorite.
I thought I was too old to experience this childlike sense of wonder other than vicariously (not that vicariously isn’t great), but then I remembered something that happened to me a few years ago.
It was our first trip to Thailand, in 2000, and I came armed with Joe Cummings’s book World Food: Thailand, where I had read this:
> Any vendor or restaurant that offers kai yaang will also offer somtam, in which grated green papaya is pounded in a large earthen mortar with lime juice, garlic, fish sauce, fresh chillies and a number of other ingredients depending on the recipe or the customer’s request. The resulting salad is slightly soupy, although the unripe papaya remains crisp.
I’d never eaten this before and didn’t know if it was even available in the US (it is), but I already knew it was going to be great. And then on our first morning in Bangkok, right on the same street as our hotel, I saw a street cart with a pile of shredded green papaya. Two minutes later I had a plastic bag of som tam, which was even better than I’d anticipated.
Chicken feet?
There are no chicken feet in the book, nor did we come across any at the restaurant. But like I said, it was on the Eastside.
I’ve had chicken feet at Jeem, and I can’t remember if I used to get them at the place on 140th, whose name escapes me now. Oh, and had them at Sea Garden in Bellevue not long ago, too. I used to eat them for pure gross out factor, but I actually do like to eat them and my usual dim sum companions have gotten used to letting me have the whole dish to myself. I’m getting hungry again!
Hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you that we recently picked up Sanger’s Let’s Nosh at the library. Have you read it? It includes such goodies as tsimmes, knish, gefilte fish, challah, and hamentaschen.