Quan Yin - Houston, TX

My friend invited me to go to Chinatown last Friday night. We were driving on the 610 interstate when we were rear-ended. Thankfully, it was a very minor accident, since the lady was trying to brake when she hit us. The paint on my friend's car was scratched, but there was no major damage. We had been debating whether to go to Quan Yin or Pine Forest Garden. She had printed the directions for Quan Yin, so we went there after all that drama. The crazy part was that another accident happened after we finally managed to pull of the road and the police came. We ordered the fried dumplings and "egg" rolls for appetizers, which we shared. My friend ordered a Cajun soup, instead of her usual pho. I ordered the kung pao "shrimp" entree, mostly because I'm too cheap to buy Sophie's Kitchen products at Whole Foods. I will say the mock shrimp were rubbery and I won't buy them in the future. They were just so weird-looking that I had to give them a try. We had a great time at dinner and then headed over to the Asian market. We bought some agar for future vegan cheese experiments, and she bought tofu claiming it was so cheap. I noticed that it's the same price I pay at Fiesta, which is a cheap grocery store in Houston (it's rather plain inside, but it has fresh produce, a huge international section divided by region, and some natural body products).