Happy Chinese New Year! It is the Year of the Rabbit, a kinder and gentler year, according to Chinese Astrology. I, myself, am a Monkey – no smart remarks, thank you. To celebrate, I’m trying out several dim sum style dishes, and I’m starting with Vegetarian Pot Stickers.

The concept of dim sum is similar to Spanish tapas: lots of little plates and tastes. It’s a wonderful way to try out different flavors and textures, and to stretch your cultural palate. For me, the problem with going out to a dim sum restaurant, is that it’s tough to find dumplings and pot stickers and so on, that aren’t filled with pork or some sort of seafood.

I decided that if I’m going to get to indulge in this delectable form of Chinese cuisine with abandon, I’d have to learn to make it myself. And you know what? It’s not particularly difficult to make at home, either. You can buy egg roll and won ton wrappers in pretty much any grocery store, and while there are traditional fillings, there’s no reason you can’t create your own, or modify the recipes to suit your own needs and tastes.

Vegetarian Pot Stickers
(makes 24 – double or triple recipe as needed)

Ingredients:

24 won ton wrappers

8 oz. mushrooms (your choice – I used half whites & half baby portobellos)
1 Tbs. tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp. sriracha hot sauce
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. fresh garlic (pressed through a garlic press)
2 scallions, white & green parts, roughly chopped

A little cornstarch
A little vegetable oil
1 cup water, divided

Special equipment: 10″ skillet with a tight-fitting lid, small bowl of water

Preparation:
Add all of the ingredients (except the wrappers, cornstarch, oil, and water) to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mushrooms are finely minced and all of the ingredients are well combined. It will help if you’ve given the mushrooms a bit of a rough chop first, or if you use pre-sliced mushrooms.

Place a won ton wrapper on your work surface, turned so that it appears to be a diamond shape. Place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper.

Dip a fingertip into the bowl of water and trace along the two edges farthest from you. Bring up the end closest to you, fold over the filling, and pinch the edges together to seal. Make sure you’ve gently pressed the wrapper around the filling so there are no air pockets.

Stand up your little triangle pocket so that the filling side sits on your work surface. Fold the top point down, away from you, and pinch. Now, give the edges on either side of that fold 2 little pleats and pinch. Your pot sticker will now look like it has wings. Place it on a large plate that’s been dusted with a bit of cornstarch, to prevent sticking.

Heat the skillet over medium-high heat. Brush just a few drops of oil onto the hot pan surface, and place 12 of the pot stickers, upright, into the pan. Allow the bottoms to brown. Carefully add 1/2 cup water to the pan and cover it quickly. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, or until all of the water has been absorbed. Remove the pot stickers immediately to another plate to keep warm, and repeat the procedure with the rest of the uncooked ones.

Notes:

Traditionally, pot stickers are made with round dumpling wrappers, so if you have them, you can skip the part about folding the top point down. You still have to pleat, though.

Feel like you have to have meat? Substitute 4 oz. of ground chicken (or pork, if you must) for half of the mushrooms, just don’t run it through the food processor. Mix the processed ingredients with the ground chicken thoroughly and fill the wrappers as before. Add a full cup of water (instead of 1/2 cup) to the pan, and steam until the water evaporates, about 5-6 minutes.

Wouldn’t it be fun to do up a bunch of these for your Super Bowl party?

Ruby-Throat Hummingbird giving 2009 “The Ass”

And don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. Bleah.

I’m not going to get into national issues here. Yes, the economy has tanked. The Republicans, aligning themselves with the fringe right-wing, have sabotaged health care reform and national security purely in self-interest and seem to have only one goal: driving this country into the ground and blaming President Obama and/or the Democrats. But I’m not going to talk about that, right now. I don’t need to go that big. To review:

If you recall, the year began with MJ’s mother going from hospitalization to dead in roughly 7 days’ time, the news of neither event being volunteered to us by his father, except that we happened to call him, coincidentally. Said events also giving rise to the only time in my life that I have uttered the word “fucking” as a modifier to the word “jewelry.” And as “Mom” was in charge of the family finances, and “Dad” was too self-absorbed in his own problems to notice and/or give a rat’s ass about her mental and physical deterioration (take your pick), we discovered that bills hadn’t been paid in several months, their power and phone were about to be cut off, and their mortgage was in danger of foreclosure.

Moving along, MJ was himself diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and hypertension. The quack doctor we were then seeing, decided it would be great fun to scare the crap out of me with a possibly serious thyroid condition, then disappear to a convention without leaving his staff authorization to share the test results with me.

At the end of June, the day after we returned from Sarasota and a week of R & R with good friends, our house was robbed, resulting in several months of dicking with the insurance company and endless – to this very day – recriminations from my mother.

Work has, quite simply, sucked. Believe me when I tell you that I am fully acquainted with my shortcomings. (No! Really! It’s true! I’m not perfect!) Without going into detail, I will only say that it’s just not necessary for other people to create them for me.

MJ’s father’s cancer has spread to his leg/hip. He pretty much stopped eating, had no appetite, and wouldn’t let his nurse’s aide fix him anything to eat. In his weakened condition, too self-absorbed in his own problems to notice and/or give a rat’s ass about much of anything, we discovered that bills hadn’t been paid in several months, his power and phone were about to be cut off, his mortgage was in danger of foreclosure, and all of his credit cards were cut off and their interest rates jumped to something usurious like 35%. We had him put on medication to stimulate his appetite, and while his strength and interest have increased, as a result, we’re keeping a closer eye on him.

But, it hasn’t been all bad.

As a result of MJ’s health concerns, he lost over 50 pounds and is on the cusp of being taken off the diabetes medication. We hope that will happen after the next blood test, which I’m putting off until February, because we’ve both been very very very bad children this holiday season.

I have become a relatively more regular blogger. It really is an incredible means of self-expression. I have ranted about life and sensitive issues like politics and the environment, expecting flames, and received praise and encouragement, instead.

Since joining Twitter, I have become friends with an incredible number and variety of people all over the world. With my “Recipe Monday” features, I’ve also somehow managed to be sucked into “Foodie World.” I’m baking bread with HBin5; I’m baking French macarons with MacTweets; I was flattered to be invited to bake 12 kinds of holiday cookies for “The 12 Days of Cookies”; and I will be attempting something else I’ve never done, in the coming year – canning – with Tigress’ Can Jam (I’ve got everything but the jars & lids!). I keep saying I’m not a “food blogger” – initially, I was super-intimidated to be included in such company (they all make such pretty things, and “pretty” is just not something I’ve really concentrated on!) – but, as we’ve all gotten to know each other, I discovered that experience counts. I learned that I have something to offer, and what I don’t know, others will help me learn. There is such a supportive food blogger community out there, and I’m proud to count myself as one of them. There. I said it.

I believe in giving back, and you’ll see more of that, as well. You will still see the occasional sponsored post, but what little money I make from that usually goes to sending packages to our troops in Afghanistan. While I don’t support war, I support our troops. I consider that two separate things. And since I didn’t have time to send them holiday packages, this year, I donated to eMOM so she could send packages on my behalf. I’d like you to click that “Chip In” button at the top of this page and chip in $5 or $10 so she can make her goal. Today is the last day to make that deadline. Please give what you can. * They made it! Thank you!

All of that being said, however, I am equally proud of being – for all intents and purposes – somewhat of an environmentalist and enthusiastic promoter of creating backyard wildlife habitats. If you have room for a bird feeder and/or a bird bath in your yard, you’re well on your way and should click that button in the sidebar to find out more. This is the perfect time of year to start and plan. So I will equally enthusiastically continue to participate in Nature Notes, too.

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Appearing yesterday (my birthday!) was this female Red-bellied Woodpecker. I love this shot because you can finally see the streaks of red on her underside that gives this bird its name! You can click on it to see it in better detail – I forgot to re-size it.

I leave you with this terrible quality video I shot yesterday through my dirty window, of a squirrel storing away nuts for the winter. This may be old-hat to most of you, but I’ve never actually seen this behavior before, and certainly never thought South Florida squirrels found it necessary to do that.

Maybe he knows something I don’t know about the future. Maybe it’s a warning. Maybe I’m anthropomorphizing. Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I need to wash my windows.

Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, and Peaceful New Year!