She's cookin' with gas now...

(pictures from left to right: (right)my cooking unit which consists of two gas burners, one is confirmed functional. (left) The prep area and no there is no other place for that plant, even though I'm pretty sure that it's dead)

Greetings from my little kitchen in the ghetto. I make fun of my apartment; great location, acceptable accommodations. And the kitchen is a little less user friendly than I would like. But it falls under the heading of "you get what you pay for" and I don't pay all that much for the place, so I eat out all the time. Then it hits me, I haven't really cooked for myself in ages (not including when I was visiting home). So now that the gas leak has been fixed in the kitchen, it's safe (relatively) to try my hand at cooking again.

Now, it's been a while and I don't have amazing facilities to work with, so what are my options for some hot chow? If you've been with me in China, you don't even need to rack your brain: Dumplings! Boil some water and in less than 10 minutes you all set. So Sunday, I went out and bought myself a pan and some dumplings. I love shopping by pantomime and pictures. It made me think about why we need language at all, just numbers. People understand what I'm saying through my broken Chinese/pantomime, I got my stuff and the store got it's money. A job well done.

In my day, I have been to some pretty grungy places, this includes houses that my friends live in. No big deal, everyone can do different things. But here's how my stove unit looks (see above picture). Please be sure to notice the plastic wrap that covers the back and right sides of the walls. What you can't fully see is said plastic wrap flapping in the breeze that the gas creates. It's a little disconcerting as I've never lived in a place that has a gas stove, and I've never really used one until February. Couple that with the fact that gas explosions are noticeably high, because of bad equipment. Great. Also note that there is newspaper stuffed into the right had side too. Ask my grandma how good of an idea that is. You are lucky you can't see the rust on the pans to the left, it would explain why I forked out the kuai to have my own.

But I love my dumplings, so I trudge on. Pretty much ignoring the "watched pot never boils" theory, I watch that baby like a hawk. After my minor ordeal with the police, I have no desire to deal with whatever the fire department holds. The whole thing turned out fine and I can add my Chinese culinary skills to my list o' accomplishments. Mmmmm, I'm a great cook.