Dimsum, Parades, & Tong Sing

We're halfway through the 2010 Lunar New Year celebrations, and yesterday was a day filled with friends, tummy-filling dimsum happiness, a joyful parade, and almanac enlightenment.

I kicked off my Chinatown adventure walking down the pre-parade Mott Street on my way to meet dimsum buddies at Golden Unicorn (18 East Broadway @ Catherine). It's not my usual go-to place, but I trust the leaders of yesterday's group (Ken Smith and Joanna Lee), and while they don't have the world's biggest selection, it is fairly high-quality and consistent.

As they had already scored a table, dishes were waiting for me, so I shed my coat and dug in. I'd say the stand-out selections were the pork buns, the various steamed seafood dumplings, and what I call the "pork football," a fried rice ball stuffed with pork, peanuts, and a few veggies. Yum.

After dimsum, we made our way to the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) to hear Ken and Joanna's talk about their recently-published Pocket Chinese Almanac. Check out the Ask Tong Sing blog to learn more about this culturally fascinating tradition.

Along the way, we meandered through the streets, enjoying the crush of the vibrant, festive parade. Just a few highlights...