Yesterday I went on a dumpling adventure with my new friend Daniel that wiped me out more than any other dumpling experience I have ever had. It started out as a simple plan to have some tasty dumplings that he has lauded the best dumplings in Chinatown, then expanded to include a hunt for a deluxe juicer/orange squeezer/possible torture device in one of Chinatown's many kitchen/restaurant supply stores. We hit a couple on Bowery, stopped for bubble tea (mm taro... but it was halfway warm, definitely a disappointment), then walked all the way to the other end of Chinatown to Division Street to look in a few more, where we found the juicer, but didn't like it enough to spend the money.

Daniel's friend had recommended a dumpling place somewhere on Mott Street, so we walked through the winding alleys to find it tucked away down a dirty little side street. They only had fried dumplings, no steamed, and their plastic forks were strewn in a plastic bin in the middle of the shop. NO CHOPSTICKS! This was definitely not, as Alton Brown would say, Good Eats.

So then I took Daniel all the way to East Broadway and Rutgers to look for the street cart I've always seen there that sells rolled rice noodles for a dollar, but we got to the corner and it wasn't there :( He ended up taking me through the sketchy Jewish neighborhood that I never knew was nestled within the sketchy East Chinatown neighborhood before we headed back to the tried and true dumpling place on Eldridge. So completely yummy. We got ten steamed dumplings, a sesame pancake with beef, and a bottle of soymilk, then parked ourselves on a curb in Columbus Park to chow down.

It was delicious. And hilarious. And exhausting. I think we literally walked three miles, it was yucky and warm and I was slightly embarrassed to be so gross in front of a cute boy (who blushes when I tell him that he is cute), but you know, that's life. I want to erase all these weird scandalous expectations that people have when two relatively attractive people of opposite genders spend time together. He obviously doesn't expect things to happen a certain way, and at this point neither do I. I just like having someone fun to walk around with, eat yummy food with, laugh with, and make fun of without feeling like it's going to get me into some sort of trouble.

No more drama. Well, at least no more drama with more people. Only fun, and new friends, and peeing in our pants.

What?