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photo by Edsel Little

I popped into a dim sum place today, all by myself. It was past my lunchtime, I had done the grocery shopping that I needed to do, and I had an hour at most before I had to pick Munchkin up at a birthday party. And I was jonesing for dumplings, as I frequently do, and was in the neighborhood of a very good dim sum palace I’ve been to before. Service is fast–as soon as a cart comes by with something you want, you’re eating. It would be the perfect quick lunch.

Except that it wasn’t, because on my own I can only eat about six dumplings, and that means only two dishes. That somewhat defeats the purpose of small-plate eating, of which dim sum is the cuisine par excellence: to have lots of little dishes and taste a bit of each one. Some foods are just meant to be shared with many friends. Which, now that I think about it, is one of the charms of dim sum.