The WID files

I'm about to offer some blog archives with a twist: they aren't my archived posts, but someone elses. That someone else is "Astrid," creator of one of my all-time favorite blogs, "Wrapped in Dough." Astrid is now in law school, and let her blog and domain expire, but before she did I saved all of her posts covering her seven-month stay in China and am in process of reconstituting the content on my own website. Here are a few that I have up already:

The Wrapped in Dough Files

Chinese dumplings are for VIP's

After being laid to their rooms, of course.

This from the Concord Times, Freetown, Sierra Leone:

"Thank you for your warm and kind reception. We have been very well looked after by your staff and Management," Mrs. Nane Annan signed the Bintumani BUCG Hotel register on July 2nd while checking out.

Upon arrival at the hotel, the UN Secretary General greeted Ms. Dong Wen, General Manager of the hotel in Chinese and was laid to their room by top management officials.

Bintumani officials say Mr. Annan and wife heartily ate 'dumpling', a traditional Chinese food meant for very important visitors. The UN Scribe also said 'thank you' in Chinese after eating.

There's New York style pizza, and now....

As reported in the Providence Journal, a new restaurant in Seekonk, RI, called "Chinese Iron Wok" advertises that it "brings New York China Town Cuisine to Your Neighborhood." Yes, but is it really authentic New York Chinatown cuisine?

A taste of China, and New York's China Town, too

Bloggers Do it Long and Strong (but RIP one Superstar)

I just finished reviewing the status of the 33 blogs about Chinese food or Asian food in general I have collected over the past couple of years. I'm happy to report that only one has perished, and nearly all the others are recently active (et tu Gary?)

The one discordant note was struck by the announcement HERE that Astrid was about to let her Wrapped in Dough blog go dark, being too busy in law school. For those who knew the blog when its creator had the time to keep it rocking, it was one of the best foodie blogs of any type, and Astrid's seven months of discovery and reporting (with mouth-watering photos) while traveling and teaching in China represent one of the high water marks in food blogging, IMHO. I've save all eighty-some pages or her entries from that period, and will be communicating with Astrid about preserving/republishing them. I'll even promise to spare her lawyer jokes.

Paving the road to hell redux; blog of the week

Oops, I said it again. But honest, folks, this time it's for real. I'm going to get off the matong and update this blog more frequently, whether anyone cares or not. After all, I'll be retiring soon and what do retired old farts do better than run off at the mouth about this and that, whether anybody is listening or not? And what better analog to blogging is there? So surfers, stay tuned, and googlebots, pay attention.

Anyway, this morning I was happy to discover an entertaining new blog centered on Asian food. It's Noodles and Rice, the Best in Asian Food, by Stef Patag. It's comforting to know that at any given moment there's someone in Cincinatti or wherever thinking of dim sum or whatever.

Oh, and part of the excuse for my absence from the blog is that I was here: