Dim Sum With The Wongs

A few weeks ago Sophia found a great book at the library entitled, "Dim Sum For Everyone," by Grace Lin. Before reading this book with her, I'd never heard of the Chinese dim sum cuisine. Together we discovered that dim sum, which translates to "little hearts," consists of a wide variety of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. "Dim Sum For Everyone" has brightly stylized illustrations of these dishes, such as Fried Shrimp, Egg Tarts, and Dumplings—all of which Sophia thought looked really yummy.

After reading "Dim Sum For Everyone" upon request at least five times every day for a week, Sophia's dream of trying out the food came true. Our good friend who was visiting noticed the book on our coffee table. It just so happens that her family goes out for dim sum in Ann Arbor fairly often, and she invited us to come along the following Sunday.

Today was the big day. We met the Wong family at Lai Lai, a cute little restaurant on Carpenter Road. The Wongs, who were experts on the menu, helped us figure out what we might like, and let us try out some of their selections too. Stephen liked everything, and Sophia liked the fried shrimp balls, egg tarts, and turnip cakes, which were a favorite of Cassidy's. Unfortunately I was unable to eat anything from the dim sum menu since I'm on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, so I ordered steamed chicken and snow peas with no sauce. Hmmmm. Salt and pepper helped a little. I though dim sum was supposed to be "for EVERYONE." Darn it.