The Ninja Daughter

by Tori Eldridge

  I do the same.

  I adore char siu bao and chow fun but call sticky rice dumplings zòngzi instead of jungji. To make matters even more confusing, I also throw in Hawaiian style names like manapua for char siu bao and crispy gau gee for these awesome rectangular wontons that no one from China or anywhere outside Hawaii has heard of. If you ever eat Chinese food in Hawaii, I highly recommend an order of crispy gau gee.

  For simplicity, I left off the tone marks, habitually used to convey pitch and inflection, with some of the common Chinese words spoken by English speakers. I used Hanyu Pinyin with tone marks to transliterate less common Mandarin words and phrases spoken by native speakers. And when the need arises in future books, I’ll use Yale Romanization for Cantonese because it has a similar appearance and uses tone marks rather than tone numbers.

  I hope you enjoyed the facts, fictions, and assorted cultural morsels. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me line. If you subscribe to my Muse-Letter, you can reply directly to me! And if you’re looking for discussion topics and cool extras for your book club—like Chinese teas, recipes, decorations, fitness tips, meditations, and videos—you’ll find that on my website, as well. ToriEldridge.com.

  Until then… Aloha nui loa!