Introduction

Two foods defined my year-plus social distancing: sriracha mayo and 生煎包.

Sriracha mayo

In sriracha mayo, I found simplicity and control. Sriracha mayo only has two ingredients; you guessed it: sriracha and mayo. On days defined by You haven't done anything, I could reflect Well at least I made sriracha mayo. Plop a white glob into a bowl, squirt over it a layer of red, and BAM! Well at least I made sriracha mayo.

生煎包

In that year-plus staying Inside, our family cooked nearly every meal. My mom mastered my favorite food from our trip to China: 生煎包, pinyin shēng jiān bāo. Like 小笼包, often abbreviated XLB to accomodate non-Chinese speakers, 生煎包, often abbreviated SJB in a similar fashion, contain soup as well as the meat filling. Uniquely, 生煎包 has a thicker wrapping of semi-leavened dough, crisped on the bottom during cooking.

Conclusion

Many days of that year-plus social distancing I dined, transiently happier, on sriracha mayo slathered on 生煎包. Today I went to a Chinese restaurant hoping to relive the 生煎包. When the dish arrived, I coated the precious buns in ginger-infused vinegar. And with an eager bite, I found neither the “hot” nor “juicy” promised by the menu. My mouth unfortunately un-burned, I left the restaurant disappointed, and called my mom.