The Dumpling Sisters

[abcdefg]

Sorry. It asks readers to sign on to her two Facebook pages, one of which is just titled "Felicitas Pizarro" and another one that is a fan page specifically titled "Vote for Felicitas Pizarro on YouTube." It adds that there are lots of new developments in this "huge culinary revelation."

[renzhe]

I took 3 years of junior high and high school Spanish and all I could make out was Facebook, fan page, and You Tube.

LOL, in the first sentence, the only Spanish words are: sigan (from seguir), a, en, su, y, también, la, and por.

You won't get very far without those

The rest is anglicisms, proper names and websites.

[Kobo-Daishi]

LOL, in the first sentence, the only Spanish words are: sigan (from seguir), a, en, su, y, también, la, and por.

I could recognize most of those small words, but, not the bigger ones.

I guess "a" is equivalent to the English "a".

en - in

su - your (mi casa es su casa)

y - and

la - the

por - for

Sigan and tambien, I have no idea. I thought "sigan" might be "sign" since spelled so closely.

Note, I haven't looked them up so am just guessing.

Kobo.

[abcdefg]

Sigan and tambien, I have no idea. I thought "sigan" might be "sign" since spelled so closely.

Sigan = a form of the verb "to follow"

Tambien = also

[Kobo-Daishi]

I much prefer the crusty old Cantonese Chef we saw not long ago.

Sure, I like "crusty" as well. But he doesn't know how to market himself the way the Dumplings have.

His videos aren't slick and there are no production value.

Of all his videos, only the one where I suggested he change the name for chow fun to a more traditional spelling has gotten at least the all important 300 YouTube views. None of the other videos are even close.

https://www.youtube....AWyTRwyNIF63vcQ

Whereas the Dumplings put out a recipe for chicken and corn soup just 4 days ago and it's already gotten 632 views.

http://www.youtube.c...DumplingSisters

I just looked and they've since put up another video about an hour ago. This one on how to wash chopsticks. I'm sure it'll zoom past all the videos by "crusty" as well.

Kobo.

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His videos aren't slick and there are no production value.

Kobo, I'm definitely not suggesting that I know how to market oneself and become popular with viewers on line. Was just expressing a personal preference regarding style.

As a couple of reference points, to better convey where I'm coming from, I think some of the ancient TV shows of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin are benchmarks of excellence. Realize this will probably elicit a groan. I appreciate that they don't pander to the viewers, or try to be fetching and hip.

It seems to me that lots of "How To" shows on TV and on the Internet today are only partly about the subject matter and are mostly about transforming the host into a Glamorous TV Personality or Star or Video Idol. And I'd include Jamie Oliver in that group, even though he often conveys good information.

I realize this almost surely means that I am woefully behind the times. It means I like wide neckties instead of narrow ones or pin stripes instead of paisley or plaid.

Furthermore, I'm not willing to agree that how many "hits" a webpage gets, or how many "view" or "one plusses" or "thumbs ups" a video receives are indicators of merit. They are usually indicators of popularity, and sometimes popularity indicates merit, but not always.

Would we agree that Obama got the most votes, so he's clearly the best man for the job?

And BTW, for whatever it's worth, I'm very glad the Dumpling Sisters are doing well. They are probably very nice people and seem to know a lot about Chinese cooking.

This is all pretty far from the topic of Studying Chinese and I apologize to the forum for having strayed.

[Kobo-Daishi]

I wrote this a few days back, but, because of the forum update didn't get a chance to post it.

 

I agree that one doesn't have to be hip and trendy to put out good information.

 

I used to watch Julia Child back in the day. Not so much Jacques Pepin.

 

But this is like that old joke...I forget how it goes exactly...where someone produces a work (either a painting, sculpture, play, novel, etc.) just for himself and no one else.

 

If they don't want their stuff to be seen why put it up in a public forum.

 

I figure Siu wants to advertize his restaurant and the Dumplings to eventually monetize their videos.

 

Maybe it's just me and I think everyone is after something.

 

Then again, I don't advertize my blog. Even though at search engines and directory sites like Yahoo, Bing, Google, etc. they have links to request one's site be included in their listings. I don't do that.

 

And Google which owns YouTube and Blogspot (Blogger) have directories and also ways to advertize the user pages. I don't do that.

 

I didn't even include a link to my blog in my signature until recently. At another forum I frequent, I had put the blog url in my signature but it never showed up and I never bothered to follow up on it.

 

Maybe Siu makes his videos just for the fun of making them and not for the recognition either.  

 

Anyway, the girl's latest video has garnered more than 10 times the views in 1 day than Siu's last video has in a month (a meager 22 views).

 

Which is really a shame because I think his "signature wings" dish (which I'm tempted to try out) is a lot more worthy than the video of the one Dumpling sloshing a bunch of chopsticks in some soapy water and saying that they're now clean. I was quite disappointed. Not up to their usual standard.

 

The "wings" dish seems really easy to make. Lightly marinate some chicken wings with soy sauce. Deep fry them for 4 minutes. Toss them in the "signature" sauce until well coated. Then plate. (Since when did plate become a verb?)

 

The only thing is that you can barely make out what the chef is saying in the video and sometimes he doesn't even mention some of the ingredients he's putting into the sauce. Oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil. I heard or saw.

 

For some of the ingredients not mentioned, the videographer (the son?) writes it out on the screen. But not for the ones the chef does say onscreen, even if we, the viewer aren't able to make out what he's saying. Such as one ingredient that sounds kind of like Worcestershire sauce, but I'm not certain.

 

It would be good if the son slightly muted the live audio and added his own voice over explaining the dish clearly. That would be a major improvement. Keep the sounds of the kitchen, but, as background.

 

And maybe include the recipe somewhere. Either in the video itself or on the about section on the web page. The Dumplings have the recipes at their separate blog site.

 

And maybe change the default view setting to a slightly higher resolution from it's current (lowest) resolution setting. I know they probably want it low in case the viewer has low speed internet. They could also mention that they've got a much higher resolution and that by clicking on the settings on the bottom they can get at it. Other videos usually mention so and even recommend it for viewers with broadband.

 

It's quite obvious Siu knows a lot about Chinese cooking. It's just a shame he's not reaching a wider audience.

 

Kobo.

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I don' disagree with anything you say and also think that the Chef Siu videos are not well done even though he is probably a very good cook.

Afraid I haven't continued to follow him or the Dumpling Sisters, so I cannot comment on their recent updates.

[Kobo-Daishi]

 

Which is really a shame because I think his "signature wings" dish (which I'm tempted to try out) is a lot more worthy than the video of the one Dumpling sloshing a bunch of chopsticks in some soapy water and saying that they're now clean. I was quite disappointed. Not up to their usual standard.

To be fair, the chopstick cleaning video is one of their "quickies" so shouldn't be judged by the standard of their regular longer videos.

 

They've got a lovely video showing how to siu mai up now. Seems real easy to make. Might give it a go.

 

Kobo.

[Kobo-Daishi]

After 4 months without a video, the Dumpling Sisters are back as well!!!!

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDumplingSisters/videos

 

And with a vengeance!

 

They've got a new cookbook out as well!!!!

 

Good on ya!!!! Or is that only Ozzie?  

 

I thought they had given up the thankless task of running a YouTube channel. I know since no one ever visits my YouTube channel Kobo's Cantonese Corner. How frustrating it can be at times. But I guess food is universal and only a tiny segment is interested in the Cantonese dialect/language/topolect/regionolect. 

 

Kobo.