bao-zi, man tou, and...peanut muffin?

every morning that i am able to rouse myself out of bed, i traipse over to the cafeteria across from my apartment building. once there, i lean through a window and say: "yi ge bao-zi he yi ge man tou," or "liang ge bao-zi," if i feel in a meaty mood. this time i saw something different down at the end of line so i asked, "zhe shi shemme?" (what is this? [i realize now i should have said na shi shemme?" {what is that?}]). the lunch lady replied "da ge" (i don't know what that means). she handed me a muffin.

bao-zi i have discussed before. a "dumpling" of chopped up pork and onions (or whatever one wants in the middle)--you take a piece of dough, place the meat in the center of it, wrap it up, and steam it. voila! my favorite breakfast.

man-tou is a steamed bun, empty of any filling. pretty simple.

da ge is basically angel food cake, with some peanuts thrown in for good measure. it was delicious and weird. it may just mean cake in general, i'm not sure...i'm just describing what i had this morning.

but still, bao-zi holds the number one place in my heart. it is tasty and easy to eat, and no matter where you go, it seems the bao-zi remains the same. it is the mcdonald's of breakfast foods.