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Carolyn Jewel Romance Author

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Writer's Diary

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Ah, my little dumpling . . . Not

When I put my mind to it, I am a good cook. Honest. I can follow a recipe and seem to have good instincts for deviations. Sometimes I read a few recipes and then cook something I just make up. And the result is usually really good. But I must now admit defeat at the hands of dumplings. I have made them twice, different recipes both times and they were both times a complete and utter failure. Worse, tonight, I misread the instructions and put the dumplings in at the wrong time and had to take them all out, throw the big squashy mess in the compost and start over. Sigh. And Rats. So, people, I need dumpling tips. Not recipes (although maybe that would help) but the tips that no one puts in recipes. Arcana, people. Dumpling lore. I need dumpling lore.

In writing news, yesterday I put my outline in order since I've massively changed things since the last time. I had to drop it off at my prof's this afternoon because tomorrow we meet. I bought some 4x6 index cards and tonight I'm going to print the outline off 1 chapter per card so I can do some layout and mix and match. But mostly I need to get words written. Time is short now and I have to write the darn precis that's supposed to go with the final project. Sigh.

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Comments:
Since there have been inquiries, I'll clarify my own post (I'm too lazy to edit the post) I am not referring to Chinese dumplings or apple dumplings, but the kind of dumplings for soup or stew or what have you.
# posted by Blogger Carolyn : Thu Mar 29, 07:20:00 PM PDT
 
My husband makes great matzoh ball soup, and matzoh balls are simply one version of dumplings. He swears by the recipe on the back of Streit's matzoh meal. When he's bought other brands and/or used other recipes, they don't come out nearly as well. Don't know if you can get Streit's in northern California, but if you can you might try it. Good luck.
# posted by Anonymous Susan/DC : Tue Apr 03, 02:25:00 PM PDT
 
Thanks for the great suggestion, Susan. I've seen Matzo ball mix at the story, so I'll look for that brand. Maybe doing it right will help me out. My brother suggested reading 8-9 recipes and then combining all the steps that match and filling in any gaps from other commonalities in the recipes. So, I might try that, too.
# posted by Blogger Carolyn : Tue Apr 03, 10:10:00 PM PDT
 
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