The Recipe Written in Three Hands

Nina found her grandmother's dumpling recipe in a flour-stained notebook. She followed it exactly and produced a filling her mother called unfamiliar. The notebook said cabbage. Her mother remembered mushrooms.

Her grandmother, called on a video chat, said both were correct. During one difficult winter mushrooms were too expensive. Later cabbage had upset her stomach. She changed the recipe without changing its name.

Nina had planned to serve an authentic family meal. Now she wondered whether there was an original version at all.

Her grandmother asked what was in Nina's refrigerator. Spinach and a small carton of tofu. "Then we have another version," she said.