Mid-Week Meet-Up with Ms. Susan

Back in the day Susan and I used to meet up on our lunch breaks in midtown Manhattan. These days it's generally somewhere in the Hudson River Valley. In this instance, Palace Dumpling in Wappingers Falls, NY.

In addition to pan-fried vegetable dumplings we sampled an assortment of side dishes; seen above, a stellar salad of shredded, mounded tofu skin in a spicy sauce.

Palace Dumpling makes their own delicious homemade dumpling sauce, an intriguing blend of mild chili peppers, carrots, vinegar and some truly unidentifiable seasonings!

Simmered tofu skins with veggies, served slightly warm, was a beautiful counterpoint to some of the more aggressive flavors on the table. Salty with a hint of sesame oil and white pepper.

The visually stunning mung bean cellophane noodles were equally flavorful, doused with a sweet vinaigrette and shards of crisp cucumber.