Love the flavors and options at your local Dim Sum restaurant, but can't stand the crowds and noise? Try these recipes in order to replicate some of your favorites at home. They've got preparation advice and recipes for 5-Spice Barbeque Pork Ribs, Spicy Minced Chicken and Water Chestnut Lettuce Wraps, Steamed Buns With Barbecued Pork (Char Siu Hum Bao), Cheater's Pot Stickers With Hot Sour Dipping Sauce and (my favorite) Chinese Broccoli With Oyster Sauce.

Pudding cakes are the perfect dessert for those times when you want to impress your friends and family. Two desserts in one, they are far easier to create than it appears. Try the Coconut-Lemon Pudding Cakes, the Hazelnut-Mocha Pudding Cakes or the (sounds amazing) Muscovado Sugar & Rum Pudding Cakes.

Trying to balance good flavor with healthful, easy to prepare foods? Maybe you should cook up some mushrooms? And then use them as part of this Farfalle in a Broth of Wild Mushrooms and Browned Shallots.

If the state of the world has you down these days, spend just a few minutes in the kitchen sprucing up prepared foods for a quick and comforting meal.

The first restaurants in a new chain offering dim sum have opened in London. Ping Pong Dim Sum Little steamed parcels of deliciousness. Three eateries are in operation to sample these under-appreciated Chinese specialities.

• 45 Great Marlborough Street Soho
• 74-76 Westbourne Grove
• 10 Paddington Street

If you cant get to one of these fabulous sounding places maybe you could try making dim sum at home. This article in the Independent has several recipes.

I'm in San Francisco this weekend, and am having a serious dim sum craving. When I'm in LA, my dim sum options are very obvious to me: I can go for "pseudo" dim sum at VIP Harbor Seafood if I feel lazy and want to stay on the Westside, I can brave the one way streets of downtown and go to Empress Pavilion in Chinatown, or I can make the long haul along the I-10 freeway and go to any of the extraordinarily crowded, but always-worth-it, places in the San Gabriel Valley.

But here in the Bay Area, I am at a bit of a loss. While in school at Berkeley, I went to Yank Sing once or twice, but don't recall (it was a very long time ago). I've also heard/read that Ton Kiang is a popular place.

Are there some raves out there for dim sum in the Bay Area?

A while back I experienced a dim sum epiphany in the form of pear-shaped dumplings at a spot in Manhattan's Chinatown. I'm pleased to report that the same place, Jing Fong, has provided yet another surprise.

When my yum cha buddies and I saw this dish rolling by,  we wiped the drool off our chins and waved down the lady. At first glance, it looked like a large open-faced dumpling. Digging into it revealed that it was a taro cake flecked with bits of meat (perhaps Chinese ham) crowned with a mixture of  ground meat, bits of lop chong, pieces of mushroom and other goodies. As with all good taro cake, the interplay of the sweet, soft taro with the salty, savory ingredients was spot on. But this version was exquisite: a taro cake fit for a king. 

Although I do look forward to the weekends for the rest and relaxation, let's be frank here. I love the weekends for the weekend-only food opportunities. Lazy Saturday and Sunday morning breakfast of pancakes fluffed at home, brunches out at any of the local cafes amongst the rest of the still sleepy-eyed Angelenos, and dim sum.

I'll have to admit that these days, working from home and onmy own time, the weekend brunch thing is not as special because I can wake up at 10 am on a Wednesday and make French toast. However, dim sum truly is a weekend activity. Sure, there are places in Chinatown that serve dim sum during the week, but culturally, and sort of personal/traditionally, it's always been a weekend thing. Family members arrive two-by-two at the specified restaurant, we wait impatiently for 30 minutes as we watch cart after cart go by, then finally, we sit down within the clanging din of the dining room and eat. It's hurried, yet drawn out.

The thing that really whet my appetite about dim sum when I first tried it was an umistakable sense of being immersed in a neverending cavalcade of cart-borne deliciousness. Alas, as with all passions, this newfound chowlust abated.

That's not to say that I didn't still have my favorites after the honeymoon was over. I like har gao, with their crystalline wrappers bursting with shrimp, as much as the next guy. And I always try to save room for some creamy dou fu fa, spiked with a liberal splash of sorghum syrup to sweeten the nutty, fresh hot tofu. I'm also always on the lookout for such special dishes as fried whole shrimp showered in slivers of garlic and jalapenos. But for what seems like forever I haven't snatched up anything really new with my chopsticks.

Until last week. My longtime yum cha buddy and I were three-quarters through a meal at Manhattan's Jing Fong when a cart rolled by bearing the above delight. At first glance we were sure that this dainty pear-shaped  trio must be some type of dessert. I can't say whether we thought this because we were nearly stuffed or because they were fruit-shaped.

As you've no doubt guessed by now, there was nothing fruity about these pears. Encased within the golden crust was a savory mixture of chopped porky goodness. Oh, about those stems, they're stems all right – cilantro stems.

One of the best things about my Inner Richmond San Francisco nabe is its proximity to the real Chinatown in the city. Not the touristic place where dollar store owners hawk fake jade and shot glasses to tourists, but the bustling, neighborhoody area where Chinese and non-Chinese alike do their shopping.

One of my favorite establishments in the Inner Richmond is Wing Lee Bakery on Clement and 5th. Not a bakery like you are thinking (although they do offer up sweet treats), "bakery" is the traditional name for shops that sell dim sum, too. The best thing about Wing Lee is that they serve fresh dim sum and other savory tasties for cheap. An order (3 pieces) will cost you no more than $1.30, and if you just want a bite, they also sell their dim sum by the piece.

Today I shoved $5 in my pocket and headed off in search of lunch. I selected coriander dumplings, both boiled and pan-fried leek dumplings (my fave), pork siu mai, a spring roll and a couple of baked char siu bao (pork buns). Then I took it all home, brewed some chrysanthemum tea, and my daughters and I had a feast for lunch.

[Photo Stefania Butler]