Killing Several Birds with One Dumpling Mold

As I get older, it's become less clear whom I should get birthday presents for. For the most part, the number of people who get me presents has decreased, and if I have a tradition of exchanging gifts with someone I keep it up until one year they don't get me a present. When that happens I just say to myself okay, so now we've stopped. With my twin sister it's harder to know what to do. Since our birthdays are of course on the same day, I can't just wait and see if she gets me something. Last year was the first time neither of bought each other gifts, and luckily we made that decision at the same time, despite not discussing it with each other ahead of time. But this year I saw something I really thought she'd like and wanted to get it. So I deliberated and decided to go ahead and buy it, knowing she probably wouldn't have a gift for me.

When I mentioned that I had a gift for her, she was worried for a minute that she hadn't gotten me anything, but then she quickly had an idea. She would take me to her favorite Asian grocery/department store and I could pick out a gift there! I was a little puzzled, since I expected the store to be mainly a grocery store, but when I got there I realized it had all sorts of random items - a stuffed Dory doll, a french fry cutter, pajamas, zipper pulls shaped like cupcakes. She kept texting me from different parts of the store, asking things like, "Would you like plastic grapes?" The store was so cheap that it felt like I was on a shopping spree, and it was so fun to be able to pick out items and have someone else buy them for me.

I ended up getting a set of 5 pairs of chopsticks, each made of a different kind of wood, a plastic squirt bottle, and a set of three dumpling molds. All for $8. Most exciting was the dumpling mold. I hadn't necessarily felt the lack of one before, but once I had it I started thinking of all sorts of things I could make with it - ravioli, pop tarts, calzones, empanadas, or of course dumplings. I have a tiny kitchen and love to cook and bake, so the idea that I could do so much and make something relatively fancy with one small, easy-to-store piece of plastic was enticing.

The problem was ... my oven was broken. This was also upsetting me because I couldn't bake birthday cake, which is one of my favorite parts of having a birthday. It felt odd to have a birthday and not be able to bake cake.

A week after my birthday, a repairman came and fixed my oven, and then I was out of control. In one weekend, and for no occasion, I baked coffee cake, banana bread, stuffed peppers, lasagna, and about 50 dumplings. I used a vegan quiche recipe with a filling of tofu, tahini, spinach, mushrooms, kale, and curry powder, and a basic pie crust recipe (earth balance, flour, and water) for the crust. You need to roll out the pie crust and cut out circles, then put each circle onto the mold, spoon on some filling, then close the mold. Then carefully open it, making sure the edges of the semi-circle stay pinched shut.

I actually made a double batch because I'd been meaning to bring some food to a friend of mine who has two new babies. I figured handheld food would be convenient if she only has one hand free to eat with. So I spent a lot of time molding these thingies, which I decided to call "quiche pockets." I was really proud of them. They look fancy, and they taste so good!

I texted my friend to see if she could use food, and if/when she had time for a visit, and she turned out to have time a couple of days later. So I brought her about two dozen and got to hold one of her babies for awhile and catch up with her. It was a good use of both my new kitchen tool and my newly working oven, as well as a chance to help out and visit with a friend. These quiche pockets met a lot of goals at once. The only problem is, they keep being mistaken for empanadas, and some people deny they count as quiche since they don't have egg. But they taste and look great, so I say they are a success.