Re 丸子: from my year in Beijing, I think I may be able to shed some light! 丸子 are, in my experience, a more bready sort of meatball, more akin to the consistency of western style meatballs, whereas 丸 are less bready and more proteiny, if that's a word.
丸子 in Beijing came as 大丸子, which are large (2.5 inches across), porky, and in a thin gravy. If you know what a British faggot is like, it's kind of like that except less offal. (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.)
They also came as xiao丸子 (small-xiao...I have forgotten the order of strokes in xiao and am on the iPad which I have set up for characters and not pinyin entry), in tangcu (sweet and sour) xiao丸子, which were about an inch across and in the much nicer brown sweet and sour and not the gloopy red stuff.
丸子!
丸子 in Beijing came as 大丸子, which are large (2.5 inches across), porky, and in a thin gravy. If you know what a British faggot is like, it's kind of like that except less offal. (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun.)
They also came as xiao丸子 (small-xiao...I have forgotten the order of strokes in xiao and am on the iPad which I have set up for characters and not pinyin entry), in tangcu (sweet and sour) xiao丸子, which were about an inch across and in the much nicer brown sweet and sour and not the gloopy red stuff.