Some eat to live. I live to eat.: Dumpling Empire + Early Chinese New Year Dinner

My last dumpling night post was only about the sauces that I mixed and the dumplings that I ate. This time, will discuss the dumplings that I made!

We had an early Chinese New Year get together last night which involved a game if dumplings - hidden in some of the dumplings are some coins, which are each assigned some dollar amount. If you are so lucky as to eat a dumpling with a coin in it, not only are you bound to have good luck for the year, but also you get $$$. Unfortunately, while I was not so luck as to win anything this year, we still had our red envelope tradition which I as an unmarried "kid" can still partake in. Granted, we had to earn it by reciting Chinese New Year sayings (in Chinese), which is actually a rather stressful experience!

After we all got our envelopes, there were games...involving dollar bills...and die. And I'll just leave it at that.

Speaking of last night's dinner, among other delicious dishes, there was also a roast pig - head included, which has minimal relevance to this post other than the fact that it looks really cool/creepy.

Back to the my original focus - dumplings. There were many leftover packs if dumpling skins and containers of the filling, which we for some reason ended up bringing home with us (I'm not complaining!). So in preparation for our dinner tonight ad well as for New Year's Eve dinner tomorrow night, I said I'd be in charge of making the dumplings.

8 packs of dumpling skins, 5 containers of filling, 1 bowl of water, 5 trays, 1 rather achey back and 4 hours later, I, the Dumpling Queen, had my Dumpling Empire, with about 400 "citizens" at my disposal, armed with deliciousness and ready to be made into a meal!