It's getting hot and steamy in the kitchen

"They" say that the easiest way to learn Chinese (or any other language) is through immersion into the culture, to hear native people speaking...natively.
As I cannot just up and leave to China I have been watching Mandarin movies instead. Romances, Indies, War epics, Comedies... the lot! Each movie has a common vein running through it: FOOD.
Watching these movies has not only helped my Chinese ("oooooh he just said 'what?'") but it has made me want to experiment with some chinese forms of cooking.
So this Sunday afternoon found Matt and me heading to a local Asian supermarket. Here we picked up a bamboo steamer, rice bowls, chopsticks, a huge knife and several chinese foods.
Unfortunately I didn't see any Pho, but they do sell it in the little cafe in the store. I will have to try it sometime :)
My first meal using the steamer was made up in my own head.
I used bone-in portions of chicken, whacked them into smallish pieces with my awesome new scary knife and then marinated the bits with some ginger, scallion, shitake mushrooms and oyster sauce. I steamed the chicken for 20 minutes before adding another level to the steamer laden with broccoli.

I always get nervous when cooking meats using a 'new' technique, but was relieved to see that the chicken was desperate to fall off the bone when the cooking time was up.
 Sorry I didn't get a close up shot of the Chicken, I was too eager to sit down and eat!!

Matt is off, again, this time to Buffalo NY until Wednesday evening. So today I went to a metro park that I haven't been to before for a walk around its lake (3.3miles). There is a swimming beach which is formed from the run over of the lake.

I chose to do the 'Heron' walk and it really lived up to its name. I must have seen about 6 herons.

 The dogs were especially annoying on this walk, darting back and forth like crazy and snapping at passing dogs. I was not pleased, and it made it hard to take photos of the herons. This photo was easy though, because the heron was literally about 10ft away.

Tonight I decided I would experiment with my bamboo steamer again. I opted for chicken and shrimp steamed dumplings.

During this time I found myself singing my own version of this song "On the baby's knuckle or the baby's knee, where will the baby's dumpling be?". Oh I amuse myself!

I finely chopped some chicken breast, prawns, ginger and scallions. I wrapped them in skins that I had made from scratch (very easy, just use flour and water, knead for 15 mins and let sit for 5mins)

They steamed for 20 minutes and I served them with some freshly steamed broccoli and rice. I used some thai chili and ginger dipping sauce.

The dumplings turned out great! Next time I shall use some cabbage in them too.
I have to admit I also tried making some chicken and shrimp steamed buns, but it was a HUGE failure. The special flour for the buns didn't want to make a dough for me. It resembled corn flour and water.
I'm going to have to do some research on what I need to do differently in future.... If any readers have any suggestions I'd appreciate it!!!!