Jules

 I think if sunshine could be captured in human form, it wouldn't be too different from Jules. Not sure how else one could get through grad school with all jokes and a smile (and then also casually pick up sewing while writing her thesis). Jules identifies as White/Mexican/Native American/Hungarian. I met her at grad school orientation. I remember walking with her to the student union to sign up for something... or attend some event... or something. And bonding over having no other friends in Madison along the way. What a fortuitous meeting because now here I am, wrapping dumplings in her beautiful kitchen in her beautiful house with her beautiful pup at our feet.

I didn't process much past refried beans and rice, which was the first thing on Jules' list. Mostly because I fucking love refried beans and rice. I wanted to find a colorful 8-bean blend as a nod to 八宝粥. (ba bao zhou) for my own personal touch, but that ended up being a bit overzealous. We decided on a combination of black eyed peas, pinto, and red beans - look how pretty anyways!

It really didn't matter in the end because once it all went to boil in the pot, it became a fragrant brown mush. The not-so-secret secret is Mexican oregano.

The other components were cherry picked bits from the Hungarian/German dishes I had to google. We roasted red peppers (letcho) to blend into the dough, and we quick pickled cabbage (krautwickel) and jalepeno and carrots to have as an accompaniment.

So these roasted red pepper wrappers were filled with a dollop of refried beans and a little mound of tomato rice. With lots of scallions and cilantro for good measure.

It's funny I actually spent so long wondering if this carb with carb wrapped in carb dumpling would work that I didn't realize until much much later that it's basically a little vegetarian pocket burrito. Even as I was eating it and drowning in its carby comfort, chasing each bite with a bite of pickled veg, it still didn't click why the combination seemed so... familiar. The context of a dumpling really took me out of it for a second there. Vegetarian pocket burrito is the perfect description for these guys.

You know, beans are so underrated. I don't make them at home as often as I probably should for how much I crave baked beans at BBQ joints and soupy refried beans at Mexican restaurants. Even seeing beans as a listed ingredient in a main dish will often sway my decision. But I guess for the most part, I, like apparently every other panic buyer and doomsday stockpiler, think of beans as primarily an emergency food. Which makes sense - they keeps well, they're high in protein and fiber, and if you get them canned, they're easy to prepare. Dried beans have been a staple for thousands of years. Some of the first beans were cultivated in the Americas - the common bean, tepary beans, lima beans, runner beans. They had spread from there to Europe, Asia, and Africa, and new varieties eventually come back to the Americas. I won't tell you how long I spent trying to understand bean terminology and taxonomy, but the fun fact takeaway I got is that prior to common bean migration to Europe, Europeans only had fava beans, which are legumes but aren't a true bean.

In addition to the common bean, the technique of planting them alongside squash and corn for the best productivity was also a Native American discovery.

One of my favorite passages from Braiding Sweetgrass: 

"Acre for acre, a Three Sisters garden yields more food than if you grew each of the sisters alone.

You can tell they are sisters: one twines easily around the other in relaxed embrace while the sweet baby sister lolls at their feet, close, but not too close -- cooperating, not competing. Seems to me I've seen this before in human families, in the interplay of sisters. After all, there are three girls in my family. The firstborn girl knows that she is clearly in charge; tall and direct, upright and efficient, she creates the template for everyone else to follow. That's the corn sister. There's not room for more than one corn woman in the same house, so the middle sister is likely to adapt in different ways. This bean girl leans to be flexible, adaptable, to find a way around the dominant structure to get the light that she needs. The sweet baby sister is free to choose, a different path, as expectations have already been fulfilled. Well grounded, she has nothing to prove and finds her own way, a way that contributes to the good of the whole."

Corn offers support and light, squash reduces weeds along the ground, and beans provide nitrogen for everyone. I'm crying because nature is so beautiful.

Also crucial supporting character: Jared's margarita in a cactus glass.

Things I would do differently: add a salsa to the filling, could add roasted peppers to filling too (maybe with slivers of onion - now I'm just making a fajita dumpling).

Jules' complete list:

refried beans and rice, esp from the amazing local Mexican restaurants (that also had other amazing dishes but beans and rice is everything)

cosmic brownies

oatmeal cream pies,

chips and salsa

oreos

pizza rolls

german/hungarian foods like spatzele, krautwickel, letcho