Little Steamed Juicy Buns

[Gary Soup]

Yes!  although the ones in the picture seemed a bit too white?  The ones in shanghai are maybe cooked over a high heat so the dough is browned a bit more.

They look about right to me.

Here's a picture of a serious shengjian bao operation in Shanghai:

[jo-mel]

On the issue of Tang Bao, I think you can think of tang bao as the generic umbrella name for this sort of dumpling. All xiao long bao are tang bao but not all tang bao are xiao long bao! They are bigger than xiao long bao.

That's a good way to put it!

[Gary Soup]

I couldn't resist posting these wonderful photo links for Jeannie. They were taken at the downstairs takeout window of the most famous xiaolong bao emporium in the universe. The photographer is Kingston Chang (remember the days of REAL film photography? )

Pic 1 shows the assembly of the beauties through the window:

http://www.pgallery.net/photo-lib/image/la...ang01-48428.jpg

The second pic shows the view from the takeout line. I waited an HOUR in line one day for $1 worth of dumplings (16 pieces!) and not a soul in line was grouching about the wait:

http://www.pgallery.net/photo-lib/image/la...ang02-48427.jpg

Bingo! The happy moment of reaching the window. The woman is pouring the de rigeur Zhenjiang Vinegar from the pitcher:

http://www.pgallery.net/photo-lib/image/la...ang03-48429.jpg

You can download higher-resolution images from the website for fair use. I'm using the second one as wallpaper on my laptop.

[Jeannie]

Garysoup, these photos look fantastic! Love you website by the way, I can remember my Grandmother humming some of the Zhou Xuan songs.

And you guys are right about the potsticklers, my memory was playing tricks on me, far too long since I've been back to Shanghai. Thank god I'm going back this December!

[Gary Soup]

Garysoup, these photos look fantastic!  Love you website by the way, I can remember my Grandmother humming some of the Zhou Xuan songs.

Thanks. The Zhou Xuan songs are the most popular part of the website. I think it will morph into more of an Old Shanghai or "haipai" website. I have most of her recorded output, I think, plus video clips of her singing in movies, and may dump it all on the website, but I'm looking for good (not literal) translations of the titles. Wanna help?

I'm planning to move the dumpling stuff to another website. I'm such a xiaolong bao nut that I registered the domain name xiaolongbao.com. Maybe I'll immortalize Jason with that great picture of him attacking a xiaolong bao at China 46 (as if he weren't immortal already).

How long have you been away from Shanghai? If it's more than 10 years, you'll find yourself gawking like a "xiangxiaren".

[Jeannie]

I know! Everything changes so fast. I went back last April and I can't wait to go again. All my family is there, only my parents and I are in England. I'm taking my boyfriend with me this time, he's English and he's never been to China so I'm very excited and a bit apprehensive too. It will be such an overload of the senses for him!

I'll try my best with the titles of the songs but I left China so young that I'm afraid my reading/translation skills may not be up to scratch.