I love baozi. I've never been a "sweets in the morning" person -- I hate donuts, never add sugar to my cereal, and danish gives me the heebie-jeebies. I much prefer the baozi's warm savory insides, perfectly contrasted to the squishy softness of the outside bun. I love that the colors peaking out from the opening only slightly reveal to you its contents.

You can get baozi pretty much anywhere, it seems. The company canteen sells an extra-doughy version of the pork and scallion variety for just 3 jiao apiece. Yesterday, I bought three on the street in Jiujiang for 1 kuai -- I received two of the juicy pork and a spicy garlic and leafy vegetable variety I had never tried before.

I bought the four in this photo from a street vendor, whose giant 2-foot wide bamboo steamers bursting with baozi are conveniently situated on the road to my school. I got two scallion and vegetable, and one spicy cabbage, both of which were delicious. Unfortunately, one contained the dreaded sweet bean paste, which I have detested since I was a child. I tossed that one.

>> A recipe for baozi