The community kitchen on Station Street opens its doors on Wednesday evenings to anyone who wants to learn to cook something new. This autumn it has been dumplings, and the long table by the window has been full.
The class is led by Mei Lin Zhou, a volunteer who learned to fold from a grandmother and has taught at the kitchen since it opened. The rules are simple: wash your hands, take a bowl of filling and a stack of wrappers, and do not worry about the first ones.
The fold
Everyone's first dumplings look like small, lumpy parcels. The trick, Mei Lin says, is less filling than you think and a wet fingertip along the edge of the wrapper. By the third tray most of the table can manage a row of neat pleats, and the kitchen fills with the sound of people comparing them.
Everyone eats
Nothing goes to waste. What the class makes is steamed or fried at the end of the evening and eaten together, and the volunteers take what is left to neighbours on the estate. The kitchen runs on donations and asks for whatever people can give.
Places are not booked in advance. Arrive a little early, bring an apron if you have one, and expect to go home with floury sleeves.