PAU! Or Pao. It’s the snack that bears my name. Last Saturday, after reading Renee Kho’s extensive treatise on pao (found completely at random from here), I realized I had not eaten siopao for over two years, so Amy and I had an early Saturday brunch of dimsum, Yang Chow fried rice, and mini-siopao at China Doll Restaurant in tiny DC Chinatown.

Along the way, I was elated to find a Chinese grocery, Da Hua Market, in the Chinatown area. After months of having to take the subway to get to the nearest grocery (there are none in my immediate vicinity), the discovery of an Asian market just ten minutes’ walk from my apartment is a double bonus. The shelves were lined with all manner of Oriental foods, including some Filipino treats: rice crackers, ramen, banana ketchup, bagoong, soba noodles, edamame, sinigang mix, dried mangoes, and every possible kind of Chinese tea you could imagine. It was a happy, happy day for me, as Amy can attest.

Update: Sad news, I’ve just heard through the grapevine that Da Hua Market had to close down. :(