Vancouver catchup

Welp, I'm a month behind! Highlights:

* Byrne Creek Ravine park, nice overgrown ravine.
* Central Park, looks like redwoods but probably western red cedar.
* SeaBus to North Vancouver. Walked west past Waterfront Park, back over via 3rd, up Lonsdale commercial district. Nothing too exciting. Did see Squamish land. Boat was fully enclosed, no sea breeze for me. I wore my mask brace over KF94. Came in handy on the way back, with a woman on the train coughing loudly with no mask on.
* Moved to east of Chinatown for 2 weeks, then just a bit north of *there* for 4 weeks. Experienced my first induction plate. Steamed frozen dim sum and broccoli. Discovered bad and good ways of steaming.
* Found Portside Park, didn't believe Google that it was hard to get out to the west. Google was correct; train tracks are massive barrier without relief, I finally escaped through a parking garage.
* After I started counting, 52 people masked outside, 94 unmasked.
* Tried salted duck eggs. Edible, not great. Maybe better mashed into rice.
* Tried century egg. Refused to swallow.

adventures in steaming

Previous place didn't have a steamer. But I'd asked for a pasta colander, and was given a big metal one, with a built-in ring to rest on. So I improvised with that and a big pot. Cooking frozen dim sum took 20 minutes rather than the 10 on the package, but otherwise worked well. Tried broccoli too, and my friend was right, it is a different texture than microwaving. I'm not sure it's worth the time every day for broccoli.

Current place I asked for a colander and a steamer, though noting that they could overlap; I was given a rubber/silicone steamer, in the model of movable overlapping plates; I used to own a metal version of that, didn't use it much. I guess you could use it as a colander.

I first tried it with frozen potstickers, and held over a small pot. It fell into the pot once the silicone softened with heat. I tried covering with a lid, but the central handle of the steamer made that problematic. At any rate, it took like an hour to get them done. :( Also I ran out of water at one point.

Today I used the local big pot instead, with a better covering lid, to make a proper steam bath rather than a leaky steam column. Also went back to siu mai. Worked perfectly, don,e in 20 minutes. Then tried the potstickers again... maybe worked? After 20 minutes, when I cut one open, the filling was hot, good sign. But the texture was pretty soft, not sure if that's a permanent condition. Maybe it is: after eating some, I microwaved two survivors; filling hot again, still soft. Maybe it just doesn't become firm.