You Win Some you Dim Sum

I don't normally ever talk about food on here since I'm not really a good type but I gotta tell you Dim Sum is one of my favorite ways to eat!  It is also surprisingly inspirational to me in the shapes and colors that all these delectable foods come in.   It happened to be the week of Chinese Lunar new year when my friends and I went.  If you live under a rock and had no idea this is the year of the Rabbit.

 

Of course there was a Lion Dance going on during the more annoying time ever.  Leave it to poor planning and gloomy outside weather to make everyone uncomfortable for about 20 mins as a completely non-asian troupe performed a traditional dance to the best of their abilities.  You gotta give them a gold star for effort. The Lion Costume is always a great inspiration with the vivid colors, the comical shapes of the eyes and mouth and the ingenuity to fit so many people and coordinate them together.

 One of these dishes is my favorite thanks to fond childhood memories of reading Ranma 1/2.  It's not the Chicken feet! But the color on those toes is really an amazing orange.  From left to right clockwise we have BBQ pork buns, Chicken Feet, Spare ribs and Tripe.  My favorite is BBQ Pork buns because I remember all those fights Ranma and Ryoga had over them at the school cafeteria which is why Ryoga set out to follow Ranma for revenge and ultimately became cursed as P-chan the adorable baby black pig.  Yup I'm a nerd and it's ok check out the Wiki for Ranma 1/2 here.

Back to the food, check out the trip in the lower left corner, that creamy palette with the sprigs of green onion and you can see a little of the spiky looking bits reminds me of a sea urchin.  The knobby looking spare rib to the lower right reminds me of bobble stitches in knitting.

This Egg Custard was not only super delicious and buttery but the color and shape make me want a ring bejeweled with little yellow lacquer pools clustered together.

This was towards the end.  You can see we did a pretty thorough job eating the vast majority of it.  By the time we left there was nothing left on a single plate.  The friend Taro root at the back far right is another favorite of mine.  It has a super delicate shell on the outside that looks like some masterful lace work that just crumbles as you eat it.  I imagine I am eating a masterpiece every time I eat one of those.

Typically after Dim Sum it is followed by an extended food coma on the couch where I brainstorm and sometimes sketch ideas.  Perfect mind and belly feed to get the creative juices flowing.
If you are wondering where in the world this is, it is simply Sunflower on North Sawmill Road.  They even have the wonderful cart service that I love!  In Chicago my favorite Dim Sum restaurant is Phoenix in China town close to the new section.