I love potstickers.  I’ve made them a few times, but I always felt they weren’t quite right – like something was missing.  This recipe looks so easy that I’m gonna give it another go!

The word for “pot stickers” in Chinese is guotie, literally “pot-stick,” a name they have earned from their
cooking method. Chinese cooks first steam guotie in giant flat-bottomed iron pans. When all the water is
absorbed by the dumplings, they are left in the pan to get crispy and “stick” to the pan. We recommend
using a nonstick skillet when making these so that the dumplings don’t actually stick to the pan forever.
These Guotie Pot Stickers make amazing appetizers served with the dipping sauce. We like to make more
dumplings than we can eat and freeze the extra for later.

Makes about 36 dumplings

Dipping Sauce
1 cup Chinese black rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar

Dumplings
12 ounces ground beef or ground pork
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
3/4 cup minced green onions, green and white parts
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Pinch of salt
About 36 round Dumpling Wrappers
(purchased premade, or see page 258)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup water

To make the dipping sauce, whisk together the black rice vinegar, ginger, sesame oil, cilantro, soy sauce,
and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

To make the dumplings, combine the meat, soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger, green onions, sugar, sesame oil,
and salt in a bowl and stir in one direction with a chopstick until just mixed. Fill a small bowl with some
water.  Hold a dumpling wrapper in the palm of your hand and place 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in the
center.  Dip your finger in the bowl of water and run it around the edge to help make a good seal.  Lightly
fold the wrapper over on itself, but don’t touch the edges together. Starting at one end, use your fingers
to make a small pleat on the side of the wrapper closest to you, then press the pleat into the other side
and pinch together firmly.  Keep making pleats down the dumpling opening in this way until completely
sealed (see Dumpling Folding Tips on page 255).  Repeat this process with the remaining filling and
wrappers. Freeze any dumplings that you don’t intend to cook immediately (see Dumpling Freezing Tips
on page 256).

Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place 12 dumplings
pleat side up in the pan so that they are just touching each other. Cover and cook for 1 minute. Decrease
the heat to medium-low, pour 1/4 cup of the water into the pan, and cook, covered, for 8 to 10 minutes,
until all the water is absorbed by the dumplings and their bottoms are crusty brown. Repeat this process 2
more times with the remaining dumplings, oil, and water. Serve the dumplings with a side of the dipping
sauce.

—From Feeding the Dragon: A Culinary Travelogue Through China with Recipes by Nate and Mary
Kate Tate/Andrews McMeel Publishing.  Published with permission.

Guest post of the week by Roscoe Harris

I came home last week and was really excited to see that my husband had gotten me a surprise. My surprise was actually something that I have been asking for at least for three years. When I got home I noticed that all of the switch plate covers, outlet covers, and pictures were off the walls. The only things left on the walls was ADTequipment. There was blue tape and painter’s cloths on the floor. He was going to do some painting in the house! I have been dying to spruce up the colors in our place for a long time, but a lot of other things needed to be done around the house before we could paint. He had a book of paint chips and balloons. A few minutes later there was a ring at the doorbell. I answered the door and he had ordered my favorite pizza, Hawaiian. We spent my birthday evening drinking beer, eating cake and Hawaiian pizza, and picking out color chips. What a wonderful birthday spent at home!

How Was Your Day (aka ME!!) is looking for sponsors for some upcoming events. 

Made With Love blog hop: All handmade items.  How great is that gonna be?  Pretty awesome, I think.  However, I’m looking for a sponsor.  Do you make something great like soap, bags, jewelry, clothes, or ???  Do you have a website or Etsy site where you sell your items?   Lets chat! 

Under the Tree blog hop: Children’s items.  Toys, books, clothes, movies, etc.  

Home for the Holidays blog hop: Holiday Home Decor, Holiday Crafting and Gifts that you can make yourself.  This includes craft supplies!

12 Days of Christmas blog hop: 12 Days of a giveaway.  T-O-N-S of exposure.  Like, a lot!  This hop starts Black Friday and is open to everything. 

Holiday Gift Guide: Great gifts for her, for him, and for kids.  Limited space available

Holiday Entertaining Guide: Parties, decorations, food.   Evening and party looks/outfits.  Limited space available. 

Holiday DIY Guide: HWYD is running a ton of fantastic how-tos and tutorials for the holiday season.  Gifts are always better when they’re from the heart.  We’re looking for craft supplies of any genre (beads, paper, yarn, fabric, etc), tools, and the like. We have unique sewn projects, bath and body, knit/crochet, and paper projects planned. 

Guest posts: Are you interested in doing a guest post?  Or having a guest post on your blog/site?  Let me know. 

Reviews/Giveaways: I always have space for regular reviews and/or giveaways, too. 

Advertising: Of course, you can place an ad on HWYD, too.  Contact me for details.

I love a good sweater.  I’m not super fond of wearing a jacket unless I’m going to be outside for a while (like apple picking) or it’s really cold.  I find a sweater keeps me toasty-warm but not too hot. 

How great is this sweater mini dress?  A great cut that is so flattering to most body types.  I especially like the cable knit pattern.   While I’m digging the Teal, this sweater is also available in purple, brown, and a burnt orange.  The best part?  It’s from Pink Rose, is available at Macy’s, and really reasonably priced.  How reasonable, you ask.  Does $38 sound good to you?  It does to me.  Oh -  it’s on sale right now for $24.99.  

Simply put, I adore Fair Isle and Intarsia knitting.  Sometimes, though, it can look a little ski lodge-y.  Sometimes, that’s just not the look you’re going for.   The Astrid dress is able to take fair isle knitting and make it totall modern, sophisticated, and dare I say – a little edgy.  This dress is handknit from delightfully soft undyed Alpaca yarns.  Swoon!  From Peruvian Connection.

I love the line of this dress.  I like the way it falls from the bust, but isn’t an empire waist.  The gold accent around the neckline seems to be just the right amount to be flattering but not fall over into tacky territory.  And, I have to admit – I dig the pockets.  I know they’re not for everyone, but I like ‘em.  From Roaman’s. 

I love this one.  I have a ridiculous affinity for stripes.  It’s undeniable, and perhaps a bit of an obsession.  This dress is still really cute even if you don’t love stripes like I do.  The flare of the skirt is fantastic.  That is one complaint I have about sweater dresses sometimes – I don’t necessarily want it to be clingy everywhere.  I also really like that it looks like two pieces.  From Amanda Charles.

This is more of a tunic, as you’d definitely need some bottoms.  I love the detailing in the back.  However – I think this would be really cute with some jeans and maybe a thin long sleeve top underneath.  You could wear it as-is when the weather warms up, too.  Great for casual date nights or being cute while running errands.  From Charlotte Russe. 

Recently I had the opportunity to test out Conair’s new Xtreme Instant Heat Multisized Hot Rollers. I had some mixed feelings about this. Even though my hair’s natural texture is somewhat curly/wavy, I still use curling irons from time to time to control the wave. Hot rollers, though…those weren’t for me. I hadn’t used rollers since I was in Jr High.

When I got the Conair Xtreme hot rollers, though, I knew they were different. The first thing I noticed was the new style of clip. Rather than having the bobby pin style holders, these have big claw clips to hold the curlers in place. Hmmm…interesting! Another change was the rollers themselves. These were soft and velvety, and they seemed like they’d hold your hair better. With these two new design features, I realized that these weren’t my mama’s hot rollers!

As I read further – Yep, I’m the person that reads the booklet that comes with everything – I learned why Conair called them Xtreme Instant Heat. These heat up in 75 seconds. 75 Seconds!! I can’t even microwave a hot dog that quickly. You can get your hair set quickly and easily in the morning, while going about your other tasks – like getting dressed, having breakfast, or putting makeup on.

The curlers have ceramic ion technology, which helps with better heat transfer. I also find that the hair tools with ceramic ion technology or tourmaline ion technology make my hair less frizzy. They also have stay cool ends, which helps when rolling your hair up. I did burn my fingers a few times, but that probably has more to do with my habit of grabbing the roller part. And the claw clips? There’s a nifty heating element inside the roller case to put them so they heat up, too. Once you wrap your hair around the roller, it gets heat from both the outside (the clip) and the inside (roller) so the curl sets and lasts longer. How great is that? Honestly, it’s horrible when your hairstyle disappears midway through the day.

My hair seemed to stay curled for quite a long time – at least 6 hours before I pulled it back into a ponytail. The only thing I didn’t like was that there’s nowhere to store the clips for the curlers and I wish there was a timer that let you know when the rollers were heated. Although, with the super-quick heating, I guess there’s not much of a need for the timer.

The Conair Xtreme Instant Heat Multisized Hot Rollers are available nationwide at mass market and drug store retailers, as well as at www.conair.com for an average retail price of $31.99-$39.99. Conair is currently offering a $5 rebate for the hot rollers that is available here starting Oct. 10th.

One lucky reader will win a set of their own. Enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

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I received no compensation for this giveaway. I did receive a sample for review purposes.

Title: Feeding the Dragon
Author: Mary Kate Tate & Nate Tate
Publisher: Andrews McMeel
Price: $24.99 US/$28.99 Canada

Feeding the Dragon is an amazing book. The tagline states “A culinary travelogue through China with Recipes.” I’ve never seen something designed to sell a product that was more fitting. Originating from the blog Feeding the Dragon, American siblings Nate and Mary Kate Tate (I love their names! Makes me smile every time I say them!!) travelled through China eating, photographing, and living among the locals.

Feeding the Dragon covers all regions of China, not just Szechuan province, as we’re used to. In fact, it seems that they covered the entire continent of Eastern Asia, including Tibet and Mongolia. Sections are based on the Tates’ travels to various regions (Beijing, Macao, Hong Kong, etc.) Sections are then broken down by neighborhoods in those regions. In each section, there are great stories about their travels and sometimes, travails, in the region. The easy to prepare recipes also have great stories regarding their origins, history, and the sibling’s ingredient swaps.

Wouldn’t it be fun to have a get together sampling dishes from different regions? How about a Lychee Martini in Beijing? Radish and Baby Corn Quick Pickles from Fujian sound like a great relish. Or Char Siu Pork Buns in Hong Kong – quite possibly my favorite food in the world! And some Guotie Pot Stickers from Shanghai. Macanese Crab Curry from – you guessed it – Macao. Tangerine Beef that originates in Sichuan province. We could have Grilled Lamb kebabs with yogurt from Xinjiang. Serve Tibetan Curry potatoes as a side dish. Ooohhh….A Jungle Passion Fruit Smoothie from Yunnan. I kind of love passion fruit. Well, there’s no kind of about it. Youitao fried dough sticks in Shanghai for dessert, even though they’re traditionally a breakfast food? It would be like our own travels through China.

With gorgeous photography and a comprehensive look into Chinese culture and how traditions and foods differ from region to region, Feeding the Dragon sucks you in. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to cook or likes to travel. This book would also be great for that foodie friend.

I received no compensation for this post.  I did receive a copy for review purposes.

Welcome to the Alexa Stop Hop and Drop blog hop. The rules are really simple.

Please join me along with this week’s guest host Create With Joy.

• Download the Alexa toolbar. This is very important. You can download it here. It’s safe – virus & spyware free.
• Add your site to the linky.
• Visit people and make new friends. It’s best if you go a couple pages deep. Click on some other posts. And if it’s a blog that interests you, why not give them a GFC follow or like them on Facebook?
• Leave a comment! That way, they’ll know you were there.
• Watch your ranking drop.

Unfortunately, the leaves in our area aren’t really changing color much. They’re just turning yellow and dropping. Our views should look like this.

Camping has always been big in our family.  In fact, I wasn’t even aware other families didn’t camp regularly until I was in middle school! 

An Airstream-inspired trailer in cabin colors with a vivid green background.  Just like it was plucked straight from the forest.  The rounded trailer look is so trendy right now, and I kind of like this one better than all the silver/grey ones out there.

The pendant is 1 1/4 inches, satin cord is about 19 inches with a lobster claw clasp.

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I received no compensation for this giveaway.

Spin Magazine has put out their new playlist for November.  10 tracks to download from iTunes, totally free.  Woohoo! 

As always, it may not exactly be your cup of tea.  Or, as happened for me in October, you may find a new favorite!  What do you have to lose?

If you act fast, you can still get the October playlist too. 

Where did October go? CRIPES!! No decorating yet. No jack o lantern so far. I haven’t gotten candy yet – not that it would last until halloween here. Heck, I haven’t even gotten wee one a costume! EEK!!

Here are a few fantastic DIY costumes that look pretty quick to do.

Meatballs and Spaghetti

How awesome is this?   Some yarn, a tablecloth, a paper plate.  Easy peasy and cheap!  And unique. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Brown pants, brown shirt, some felt or fleece and a little stuffing.  Super cute!

A Mushroom and a Gnome

 I’m a sucker for a gnome, sooo…I may be a little jaded.  This would be great for a big and a little or an only child and their parent.  I also think this would be good for two adults!  The best part – it’s a sweatsuit, a visor, cotton balls or pom poms, a paper bag, foil, and a trash bag.  You might not even have to buy anything! 

Safari Guide

Another one that could easily be free and would work for all ages. 

Cowboy

A little hat, a bandana…voila!!  The cat or dog may hate you, but y’know…it’s a small price to pay for a few moments of joy.