While in South America, I was saddened to learn that one of the oldest and long-standing bakeries in Manhattan Chinatown is closing at the end of July. Once upon a time in the early 1960s, New Golden Fung Wong Bakery opened on Mott Street. Manhattan Chinatown was predominantly Toisanese and Cantonese due to restrictive immigration law and early immigration patterns. They became known among those who know (this is another case of #iykyk) for their moon cakes, winter melon cakes (lao po bing), and hopia, various flaky snack cakes filled with black bean or scallions with pork fat. I am embarrassed to say that while they had been on my radar for a while, because I always had so many places I wanted to try (and repeat places to return to) every time I went down to Chinatown, I did not actually step foot into this shop until the pandemic period, so 12 years after I first moved here. I loved their non conventional mooncake filled with black sesame ($7.50 is a steep price to pay for a moon cake, but given I knew it was all black sesame, I was happy to pay it and its rising price). And their lao po bing, aka old wife cake, aka winter melon cakes, were probably the best ones I’ve had outside of the ones my dad used to buy me at a specific bakery along Stockton Street in San Francisco Chinatown. Most places use a lot of cheap filler for their lao po bing; New Golden Fung Wong puts all the good stuff in to make this cake extra special for those who appreciate it.

I went into their shop today and after ordering my black sesame moon cake and lao po bing (fresh out of the oven, still on the baking tray!), I told the worker that I heard they were closing at the end of the month, and I asked why. She sighed and responded that the owners were retiring and had no family members or kids who wanted to continue the business, so they had no choice but to fully close down. It was really sad to hear this news in person, as well as to see the signs written in Chinese on the front that July 31 would be its last day in business.

New Golden Fung Wong is a no-frills bakery. They don’t sell anything trendy or any new bao that’s being developed by up and coming pastry chefs in Hong Kong. But it’s the type of bakery my grandma would have loved and frequented, and also the kind of place my parents would appreciate and want to give business to. Times are changing, and tastes are evolving. But it makes me sad that this institutional bakery is closing because it could mean that for the next generation, like Kaia’s, they may never even know what these classic, nostalgic Cantonese treats were and how delicious they are. I’m seriously tempted to go back to the shop one last time to get my fill of black sesame moon cake and lao po bing before July 31 to not only support the owners in their journey to retirement, but also to quell my own sadness that I won’t ever be able to enjoy New Golden Fung Wong treats ever again after July has ended.

When we first moved into this building about seven years ago, while we had all the machines, mats, and weights, I didn’t notice a lot of extra equipment like TRX bands, leg bands, kettle bells, stretch bands, and balance balls. But over time, I noticed that new extra workout accessories were being added, and I thought, wow, this is great! It’s almost like someone’s personal collection of workout accessories, but in a public setting for everyone in the gym to enjoy. I’ve always liked to foam roll, and so I regularly use the foam rollers at the gym after my workouts and during the day when I get a break and feel the need to roll out my muscles.

Chris recently mentioned he was interested in using a version of a foam roller that’s called a rumble roller – it’s basically like a foam roller, but it’s got these interesting textured “spikes” that stick out of it all around. It’s very good for massage and taking out “toxins” that are concentrated in sites of pain in your muscle. I wondered if it might be something that could be added to the building gym, so I messaged our building trainer (who I occasionally chat with and text) to ask if it might be a possibility. And I was shocked: the trainer told me that the management company didn’t pay for any of the extra equipment: he himself had paid for all of those accessories out of his OWN pocket! He said he needed these things for training his clients, so he just bought them himself.

That confused and infuriated me to no end. Why would he not even ask the management company if they could comp him for it given they were for the benefit of a working and operating gym for the use of residents…? It just didn’t make any sense at all.

When I was growing up, frozen dumplings were always a backup food somewhere in the back of the freezer. Like many other Asian families, we only had these when my mom didn’t feel like cooking but needed to get dinner on the table. The dumplings were always fine, but nothing to get too excited about. As a kid, I was always excited because it was one of the very few things in the kitchen our mom would entrust us to do for dinner, other than turning on the rice cooker. The dumplings were usually the large bulk purchases from places like Costco or Ranch 99 and varied in filling, from chicken and cabbage to beef and mixed vegetables. Sometimes, we even got a “treat” and had mixed shrimp and pork ones. The texture was always very uniform and not particularly interesting.

When I moved to New York, I realized that almost every hole-in-the-wall dumpling shop I liked, whether it was in Elmhurst, Flushing, or Manhattan Chinatown, sold their own dumplings to take home — in frozen form. You could get a bag of 50 pre-frozen dumplings for somewhere in the ballpark of $9-14 depending on the filling (and what year we’re referencing). Because of this, I could “vet” how good the dumplings were by buying them freshly made, whether it was boiled, steamed, or pan-fried. And if I liked them, then I’d be comfortable committing to a bag of 50. Some people are wary of the frozen dumplings from little dumpling shops, but I can say, after buying many frozen bags from my favorite shops, that they cook up exactly like they do by the restaurants as long as you treat them properly.

Bibigo beef dumplings were a frozen brand that we found at Costco years ago that was on sale, so we got it a couple times and enjoyed them. So when HMart opened in our neighborhood, I picked up the Bibigo frozen chicken and vegetable dumplings, also on sale. I steamed some of them to supplement dinner tonight, and while we ate them, I was reminded of all those frozen dumplings I ate growing up and how… they all paled in comparison to my favorite dumpling shops here in New York City.

That’s when I realized how lucky I am to live in a city that has literally endless excellent dumpling shops (and with so many different styles!) that can be bought in bulk, frozen, and made at home. I am spoiled for choice here, and when one shop doesn’t have the dumplings ready frozen, then another one will just a few blocks away. Sometimes on Instagram, I get messages from people around the world, people I do not know personally, who tell me how envious they are that we live in such a cosmopolitan city with so much variety for cuisines — and at approachable price points. Some people tell me that they have to drive at least 50+ miles just to get the most basic Asian vegetable, or a good Indian restaurant, etc. We really are so lucky in so many ways to live in this great city.

Since we came back from Australia, Kaia has gotten really into her “search and find books.” We’ve also been using her favorite Artichoke to Zucchini book as a way to “search and find” different foods, with me asking her where the mango is, and then she has to point to tell me she’s identified the mango. Before Kaia turned two, I didn’t actually know that “search and find” as a concept was a very popular 2-year-old activity. Luckily, we have friends and family who have gone through this phase with their children, and so we got gifted a number of these types of books.

So in addition to reading a number of books as part of our bedtime routine, Kaia always insists that she “wants to find,” too. Her favorite book for this right now is Under the Sea: Search and Find. The cute thing she does when she is extremely confident about knowing where something is — she’ll start giggling uncontrollably and use her finger to slap what she’s identifying. So if I say “Kaia, can you find the octopus?” And she’s 100 percent certain she knows where it is, she will shriek and giggle, point/slap the octopus, then aggressively bounce on the bed and lie down, almost jumping.

This past week, she’s also incorporated her stuffed animals, two rabbits named Henry and Peter (Rabbit). She will say “I don’t wanna find. Henry (or Peter Rabbit) wants to find. Then, she will use their “hands” to point to the object I’ve asked her to find. Sometimes, she has them take turns. Other times, she has one do a string of “finds” and then gets the second rabbit involved.

She proudly declared after having both of them participate: “Sharing is caring,” with a huge smile on her face.

I used to have moments when I’d be so sad about her getting older because I loved her as a baby so much. Sometimes, I still get sad about her walking now (as insane as that sounds) because I miss the sound of her hands happily slapping the floor as she crawled, indicating to me that she was coming near. But then I realized that if she were a baby forever (yes, I realize that’s an unrealistic hypothetical, but hear me out), then we’d never be able to enjoy these sweet, cute moments together. A blogger I follow, who has a young daughter just a few months younger than Pookster, recently wrote in a post, “I know I say this every time, but (the age her daughter is currently at today) is my favorite age!” That’s sort of how I feel – minus the toddler tantrums.