Shameless Self-Promotion - The Sequel

There's something about seeing your name in print when it's about something you love. Today the latest issue of Ottawa Magazine arrived in my mail - the glossy, half inch thick Interiors issue that sells for $8.50, and isn't distributed free-of-charge to everyone that lives East of Bank Street and north of somewhere where I don't get it (as far as I know). I didn't expect there to be a food article in it - not realizing that in addition to the brilliant articles on home design and interiors, they would tuck in some of their regular features. And in amongst the regular features was my article on Dongling and her dumplings.

You may recall when I was introduced to Dongling by one of my co-workers (see: The Age of Discovery... Finding New Places To Eat ); I was subsequently pitched on a story idea by the Editor of Ottawa Magazine to write a piece on dumplings, which I wrapped around the idea of "comfort food". Of course I said yes to the article, only to worry later about the challenge of doing an interview with someone who spoke next to no English. And my Mandarin is not what it used to be when I was 16 and could comfortably order a beer, complement the cook and our driver, or apologize for stepping on the toes of fellow passengers on the Beijing buses.

I scrambled around for someone who could join me for lunch, broker a meeting with Dongling, and serve as translator. A week later in the midst of our second blizzard, I headed out with two co-workers for a brilliant lunch and a fascinating interview with Dongling.

But there's an important thing to remember about dumplings - inspired by the article I headed there this morning, only to be reminded of Chinese New Year. . . and the consequential run on dumplings. I picked up the one remaining bag of Pork & Chive dumplings - and probably screwing over the next Long Nose who was inspired.