It was definitely a gourmet evening which started with Bone Marrow. They got the bones from Harris Teeter (our neighbourhood grocery store) and roasted them in the oven. Unfortunately, I do not have the exact recipe but I do have a picture of the finished product. Salil was all excited, but I was a bit hesitant about putting bone marrow in my mouth.
Fan expertly scooped out the marrow and spread it like butter on a piece of toast. It was topped off with a simple celery salad. My apprehension vanished with the first bite. It was like eating the most luxuriously buttered toast I have ever put in my mouth. There was not much of a texture to the bone marrow itself, but it definitely made for a tasty bite along with the crunchy bread and lemony celery salad!
With an abundance of drinks, chips, mini crab cakes and chatter, we got down to the dumpling making bussiness. Fan and Antti had made two stuffings. One was ground pork with chinese cabbage seasoned with grated ginger, soy sauce and a bit of bone marrow soup. The other one was ground pork and shrimp with shittake mushrooms. The dumpling wrappers are easily available in asian markets. Making the dumnpling itself was rather easy - a little bit of water to seal the edges was all that was necessary. Fan steamed some of the defective pieces which were in the danger of unwrapping when boiled. She boiled some and pan friend others. 
Three simple yet very delicious dipping sauce were served with the dumplings. Fan made the first one by frying some flower peppers in vegetable oil adding it to soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. The next sauce was a store bought chilli pepper sauce with peanuts etc. The label in the picture is in chinese, but its worth going on a hunt for this one. The third sauce was a simple refreshing mixture of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
The dinner ended with a big box of Godiva biscuits passed around the room!
