Cheese Diary: Caveman

"I'm looking for a blue that is less sharp than the Roquefort and creamier."

That request describes the Caveman. The Roquefort was so strong that I couldn't eat excessive quantities at once so I toned down the cheese and settled on the Caveman which is currently my favorite blue cheese. It has just the right amount of saltiness, fewer veins of mold, but what also sticks out to me is how it has a kind of fruity aftertaste - a lot like strawberries. I hope they get it back in stock.

Chinese Dumplings for Dummies

I know that dumplings are time consuming, but I feel I've made dumplings enough to where I find the process mildly therapeutic. It's really relaxing and a good activity for when I don't feel like thinking.

Here's the recipe I've gotten good at: Fu Qing Sweet Potato Dumplings

(UPDATE: The blog of the OP for the recipe is messing up - I copied the recipe after having to disable JS and reposted. Sorry for the lack of pretty pictures :(  )

The first time I made them...I think only about 12-15 survived the dumpling formation process. The second time, I made so many I was able to perfect my dumpling making process. 3rd time I made them, they came out really good, but the 4th time I made them I perfected my steaming technique. The key to getting the dough right is making sure you have a good sweet potato, the flesh under the skin is really bright orange and after you boil the sweet potato, the flesh is really sweet on it's own.

Most of the recipes I've seen for dumplings involve flattening the dough wrapper and forming it in your hands. I have to say, that's what causes my casualties when forming the dumplings. I do use the dusting flour, but it doesn't help me too much. The flour sticks to my hands and the dumpling rips apart. So here are my deviations from the recipe above.