Jolly Roger.

I have a weakness for sweets (luckily for me I also have good restraint), but I have a theory on Chin-Doi: these sweet little morsels of death have it in for me... and I have proof.

I went out one night for Dim Sum with a friend and tried Chin-Doi (A breaded bun filled with red or yellow bean paste) for the first time. It was amazing... it was so simple, so melty, so

fried.

I didn't care that the hot grease was burning the skin off my fingers or that my workout for the day was shot. I'd found a new guilty pleasure... at least until I had a mild heart attack later on that evening.

I'm still in my 20s (and I'm not a celebrity. RIP Brittany Murphy), I workout regularly, and I'm a vegetarian. It was totally abnormal. On the plus side, I found out I have a food allergy (not the Chin-Doi)... and survived. This was my first experience with the bun, lying on the bathroom floor, grasping my chest, trying desperately to breathe. 2 sonography tests later, I'm still here.

The 2nd time I tried Chin-Doi I was in a good mood. Did some last minute Xmas shopping, haggled where I could. Got some faux jade bracelets in Chinatown. The day was great... until 3 guys in bulletproof vests came banging at my door at 9 p.m, guns blazing. I SO won't get into it here, but thankfully it all worked out in the end. My friends know the whole story.

I want to try them again but I'm terrified. They seem to be the harbingers of ill fortune.


I'm afraid some Donnie Darko shit will happen and and a plane engine will fall from the sky. I'm afraid I might end up like Fred Sandford, clutching my chest screaming "ELIZABETH, I'M COMIN' FOR YA! IT'S THE BIG ONE!" while Lamont looks on waiting for me to kick off. Bad things come in threes.

Chin-Doi, I hardly knew ye...

11/27/09 - 12/16/09