Dear blog,
I am writing you from the mattress on Christine's floor, what she has come to call her "bed" over the past three weeks.
I'm all packed and ready to come home. In less than two hours we'll be calling a cab and heading off to the airport and I'll be back in a country where I can read the menus, ask the servers for recommendations, and totally understand what they're saying!
We spent the past three days celebrating Christine's birthday. The 18th we stuffed ourselves ridiculously silly with a salad, a french gallette and crepe, topped off with an iced rose latte. That was a pretty dumb move, because we rolled out of there at three and had birthday dinner reservations at 630, which of course we were not hungry for. The reservations were at a restaurant that specializes in tonkatsu- super deep fried Japanese pork cutlet. I got a small plate of it, and of course, it being Chrisinte's birthday and all, it was amazing.
Yesterday's lunch was all you can eat sushi with some more "ice" stuff for desert. I liked this ice dish better than the other two- it tasted like snow which made me happy and nostalgic.
Today's lunch was my last traditional Taiwanese style meal for what will probably be a very long time. There was silken tofu with thousand year old egg, those little dumplings that reminded me of potstickers, and noodles with sesame sauce.
Oh man. Time to relax and mentally prepare for the journey ahead. See you soon!!!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Taiwan Part 2: Day 1
Back in Taiwan! Christine's 23rd birthday! Yay!!!
After being in Japan for a week, it felt really good to arrive in Taipei, someplace a little more comfortable and familiar.
Surprisingly enough, there was more food for me to try here in Taiwan! We were just about to head out for breakfast/lunch when Christine's roommate announced that she had made the three of us desert and we had to eat it before we left the house. Tang Yuan- "soup circle." The outside was a flour paste with a sweetened sesame paste inside- it kinda tasted like caramel- and, of course, it was so good.
Lunch was some traditional Taiwanese fare- drunken chicken with fatty pork, noodles, rice, bittermellon with egg paste, and some sub-par garlic eggplant. Trying to eat the slippery drunken chicken, I struggled more with the big plastic chopsticks more than I have at any other point in the trip. This was embarrassing, but I got through it and managed to eat the rest of my meal without any other problems.
I had this with my first mediocre Taiwanese beverage. Christine ordered it for me without consulting me, and it kinda just tasted like grape juice with "aloe cubes."
From here we went to that cute French bakery right by Christine's house where we had picked up some food in preparation for the Japan trip and indulged in a cannale and a couple macaroons- salted caramel and macha flavored. They did not disappoint.
Dinner was "lu wei"- "stewed flavor." So, there's this huge stand with all different kinds of food- noodles, veggies, mushrooms, animal parts- you pick out everything you want, and one person takes your money and passes the food onto the next person who takes all your food out of its packaging and sorting the food in order of how long it will take to cook. It then goes onto the third person, who chops everything up into the correct sizes, who then passes it onto the final person who cooks all the food in a big vat of boiling tea. This same person then sauces the food and puts it all on a plate for you to go and eat. On our plate, there was seaweed, tofu, tofu skin, mushrooms, quail eggs, chicken hearts, chicken liver, pig's blood rice cake, udon and ramen noodles, duck's blood, tarrot gelatin, baby corn and hot dogs. My favorites were the tofu skin and the pig's blood. The tofu tasted too much like tofu, and I didn't really like the chicken liver. The chicken heart was ok if eaten in small bites.
This was washed down with a yummy drink that tasted a lot like that sweetened sesame stuff that we had for breakfast.
Then we came home and had some birthday cupcake, birthday shots, and birthday glee. Goodnight!
After being in Japan for a week, it felt really good to arrive in Taipei, someplace a little more comfortable and familiar.
Surprisingly enough, there was more food for me to try here in Taiwan! We were just about to head out for breakfast/lunch when Christine's roommate announced that she had made the three of us desert and we had to eat it before we left the house. Tang Yuan- "soup circle." The outside was a flour paste with a sweetened sesame paste inside- it kinda tasted like caramel- and, of course, it was so good.
Lunch was some traditional Taiwanese fare- drunken chicken with fatty pork, noodles, rice, bittermellon with egg paste, and some sub-par garlic eggplant. Trying to eat the slippery drunken chicken, I struggled more with the big plastic chopsticks more than I have at any other point in the trip. This was embarrassing, but I got through it and managed to eat the rest of my meal without any other problems.
I had this with my first mediocre Taiwanese beverage. Christine ordered it for me without consulting me, and it kinda just tasted like grape juice with "aloe cubes."
From here we went to that cute French bakery right by Christine's house where we had picked up some food in preparation for the Japan trip and indulged in a cannale and a couple macaroons- salted caramel and macha flavored. They did not disappoint.
Dinner was "lu wei"- "stewed flavor." So, there's this huge stand with all different kinds of food- noodles, veggies, mushrooms, animal parts- you pick out everything you want, and one person takes your money and passes the food onto the next person who takes all your food out of its packaging and sorting the food in order of how long it will take to cook. It then goes onto the third person, who chops everything up into the correct sizes, who then passes it onto the final person who cooks all the food in a big vat of boiling tea. This same person then sauces the food and puts it all on a plate for you to go and eat. On our plate, there was seaweed, tofu, tofu skin, mushrooms, quail eggs, chicken hearts, chicken liver, pig's blood rice cake, udon and ramen noodles, duck's blood, tarrot gelatin, baby corn and hot dogs. My favorites were the tofu skin and the pig's blood. The tofu tasted too much like tofu, and I didn't really like the chicken liver. The chicken heart was ok if eaten in small bites.
This was washed down with a yummy drink that tasted a lot like that sweetened sesame stuff that we had for breakfast.
Then we came home and had some birthday cupcake, birthday shots, and birthday glee. Goodnight!
Japan #2
Ok, so seems like I have a lot of updating to do and not a ton of time to do it, so I'll really stick to the general picture and highlights of food travels in Japan.
Point #1: Food in Japan is kinda sorta really expensive. More expensive than San Francisco expensive. And especially coming from Taiwan where we usually spend around $3 per meal, my travel mates and I were conflicted as to how to navigate the situation. This made for a lower volume of noteworthy meals, though this is not to say there were too few.
Point #2: I've had lots of good Japanese food in the USA.
Point #3: Food in Japan has a much wider variety than I had ever thought to experience in the USA.
Point #4: Food in Japan is kinda sorta really expensive.
With that said, there were still some awesome highlights.
* In Osaka, after befriending a few Australians from our hostel, we went into a place where everyone gets their own fire (grill) and you can order all the raw meat you want (of which there was huge variety, including "salted pig's penis" which we did not try) and then cook it as rare or well done as you pleased.
* I ate delicious ramen at a stand in Osaka and at the Ramen Museum in Yokahama.
* There was this cool style of restaurant called izakaya where every table had a button that you could press when you wanted your server to come over and then you would order small plates and drinks and then whenever you wanted to order more you could just press it again and they'd come over and bla bla bla and your bill only closed out when you said you wanted it to. As a server, I would be thrilled to work someplace with that kind of system!
* In Kyoto, we ate at an izakaya restaurant where I got "tea rice with raw octopus"- you get a bowl with rice and raw octopus and a cup of hot tea and you put the hot tea into the rice so the octopus can cook- it was AMAZING. And then I got chicken-plum-cheese tempura, and that was really good too. This restaurant seemed to serve more "modern" Japanese food and it was delicious. Christine got sweet potato fries with honey butter and that was also a huge hit.
* On the train on my way to Tokyo I thought I was getting a package of normal salmon sushi, but then when I opened the box each sushi piece was wrapped in a leaf! And all the writing on the box was in Japanese so I had no idea how I was supposed to eat it, if I was supposed to unwrap it and eat it or not! I unwrapped the first one which was impossible to do using only chopsticks, which I took as a sign that I, in fact, was supposed to eat the leaf. It tasted super good, as if it was meant to be eaten that way, so I ate the rest of the sushi this way. I showed it to Kirtana and a friend of her's and they had never seen anything like it before. They read the package and it turned out that this leaf was a persimmon leaf! Which only strengthens my theory that persimmons = the perfect fruit.
* At Starbucks I had a macha tea latte. It was green and pretty and yummy and filled with antioxidants which made me think I was being healthy.
* In Yokahama I also tried Korean food at a Korean/Vietnamese/Indian restaurant, and in Tokyo I went to a ridiculously expensive but very cute and good smelling French bakery.
* The only other noteworthy food Christine and I tried was horse sashimi. For some reason it reminded me of fruit juice, but Christine described it as a mix of raw tuna and steak.
Anyway, aside from the food Japan was a very interesting experience. I've never felt so much explicit pressure to follow such specific conduct, which I had a hard time dealing with. However, the country was beautiful, and we met a ton of extremely warm, kind people at each step of the journey. I'm not sure if I would rush back for any other reason other than to visit Kirtana, but I am very glad that I went and got to see this country I've heard so much about my whole life.
Point #1: Food in Japan is kinda sorta really expensive. More expensive than San Francisco expensive. And especially coming from Taiwan where we usually spend around $3 per meal, my travel mates and I were conflicted as to how to navigate the situation. This made for a lower volume of noteworthy meals, though this is not to say there were too few.
Point #2: I've had lots of good Japanese food in the USA.
Point #3: Food in Japan has a much wider variety than I had ever thought to experience in the USA.
Point #4: Food in Japan is kinda sorta really expensive.
With that said, there were still some awesome highlights.
* In Osaka, after befriending a few Australians from our hostel, we went into a place where everyone gets their own fire (grill) and you can order all the raw meat you want (of which there was huge variety, including "salted pig's penis" which we did not try) and then cook it as rare or well done as you pleased.
* I ate delicious ramen at a stand in Osaka and at the Ramen Museum in Yokahama.
* There was this cool style of restaurant called izakaya where every table had a button that you could press when you wanted your server to come over and then you would order small plates and drinks and then whenever you wanted to order more you could just press it again and they'd come over and bla bla bla and your bill only closed out when you said you wanted it to. As a server, I would be thrilled to work someplace with that kind of system!
* In Kyoto, we ate at an izakaya restaurant where I got "tea rice with raw octopus"- you get a bowl with rice and raw octopus and a cup of hot tea and you put the hot tea into the rice so the octopus can cook- it was AMAZING. And then I got chicken-plum-cheese tempura, and that was really good too. This restaurant seemed to serve more "modern" Japanese food and it was delicious. Christine got sweet potato fries with honey butter and that was also a huge hit.
* On the train on my way to Tokyo I thought I was getting a package of normal salmon sushi, but then when I opened the box each sushi piece was wrapped in a leaf! And all the writing on the box was in Japanese so I had no idea how I was supposed to eat it, if I was supposed to unwrap it and eat it or not! I unwrapped the first one which was impossible to do using only chopsticks, which I took as a sign that I, in fact, was supposed to eat the leaf. It tasted super good, as if it was meant to be eaten that way, so I ate the rest of the sushi this way. I showed it to Kirtana and a friend of her's and they had never seen anything like it before. They read the package and it turned out that this leaf was a persimmon leaf! Which only strengthens my theory that persimmons = the perfect fruit.
* At Starbucks I had a macha tea latte. It was green and pretty and yummy and filled with antioxidants which made me think I was being healthy.
* In Yokahama I also tried Korean food at a Korean/Vietnamese/Indian restaurant, and in Tokyo I went to a ridiculously expensive but very cute and good smelling French bakery.
* The only other noteworthy food Christine and I tried was horse sashimi. For some reason it reminded me of fruit juice, but Christine described it as a mix of raw tuna and steak.
Anyway, aside from the food Japan was a very interesting experience. I've never felt so much explicit pressure to follow such specific conduct, which I had a hard time dealing with. However, the country was beautiful, and we met a ton of extremely warm, kind people at each step of the journey. I'm not sure if I would rush back for any other reason other than to visit Kirtana, but I am very glad that I went and got to see this country I've heard so much about my whole life.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Hi Guys!
Hi guys! Long time no see!
I'm am currently writing you from my spiffy hotel room in Yokahama, birth-city of the late Opa Dieter. I'm staying here with Kirtana for a night before changing my resting spot to the extremely close Tokyo. While Kirtana showers I'll give a quick update on all the delicious Japanese food I've been eating since I got here last Wednesday.
First stop: Hiroshima
Dinner: Okonomiyaki. After a near disaster where I left my Japanese Rail Pass (equivalent to Japan's Eurail pass) and passport on the train and was almost forced to "come back tomorrow morning" to sort it out due to a significant language barrier, we checked into our hostel in Hiroshima and asked our angelic hostess where we should grab dinner. She informed us that okonomiyaki, a noodle, veggies, meat and egg dish, is a must have while in Hiroshima, and recommended a nearby restaurant to try it. We did, and it was (relatively) cheap and delicious, and by the time we got back to the hostel the men at the train station had called to say they had found my lost items and I could pick them up at the Hiroshima train station anytime after 6am tomorrow.
The next day's breakfast was a bento box from a kiosk at the train station. It's so cool to be here and see the difference in the food culture! Anyway, I forgot to take a picture of it but I remember it included rice with some seaweed wrapped around it and a variety of pickled vegetables.
We grabbed lunch after visiting the main tourist sights, all concentrated around the Peace Park. After a tearful visit to the Peace Memorial Museum I got an AMAZING lunch. I wish I remembered what it was called, because I want to find it in the United States. There were cold ramen noodles with this amazing spicy meat/peanut sauce, with an egg and seaweed and bean sprouts on top and then you stir it all together and eat it and it makes your life complete/cheers you up after witnessing extensive documentation of one of the darkest moments in contemporary human history.
Ok my Koala Bear and I are about to grab dinner but I'll write more later!!
I'm am currently writing you from my spiffy hotel room in Yokahama, birth-city of the late Opa Dieter. I'm staying here with Kirtana for a night before changing my resting spot to the extremely close Tokyo. While Kirtana showers I'll give a quick update on all the delicious Japanese food I've been eating since I got here last Wednesday.
First stop: Hiroshima
Dinner: Okonomiyaki. After a near disaster where I left my Japanese Rail Pass (equivalent to Japan's Eurail pass) and passport on the train and was almost forced to "come back tomorrow morning" to sort it out due to a significant language barrier, we checked into our hostel in Hiroshima and asked our angelic hostess where we should grab dinner. She informed us that okonomiyaki, a noodle, veggies, meat and egg dish, is a must have while in Hiroshima, and recommended a nearby restaurant to try it. We did, and it was (relatively) cheap and delicious, and by the time we got back to the hostel the men at the train station had called to say they had found my lost items and I could pick them up at the Hiroshima train station anytime after 6am tomorrow.
The next day's breakfast was a bento box from a kiosk at the train station. It's so cool to be here and see the difference in the food culture! Anyway, I forgot to take a picture of it but I remember it included rice with some seaweed wrapped around it and a variety of pickled vegetables.
We grabbed lunch after visiting the main tourist sights, all concentrated around the Peace Park. After a tearful visit to the Peace Memorial Museum I got an AMAZING lunch. I wish I remembered what it was called, because I want to find it in the United States. There were cold ramen noodles with this amazing spicy meat/peanut sauce, with an egg and seaweed and bean sprouts on top and then you stir it all together and eat it and it makes your life complete/cheers you up after witnessing extensive documentation of one of the darkest moments in contemporary human history.
Ok my Koala Bear and I are about to grab dinner but I'll write more later!!
Saturday, February 12, 2011
quickhellofromjapan!!
justwantedtoupdaterealquicktosayi'mgreat,safe,injapan,andeatinglotsofgoodfood.imusingajapanesekeyboardrightnowandthespacbarisinareallyannoyingplacesoi'mjustnotgonnauseitfornow.butwannasaythankstoallmyadoringfans,thatiloveyouandwillpostagainverysoon!!probablyeithertomorroworoncei'mbackintaiwan.
lovelovelovelovelove
Emma
lovelovelovelovelove
Emma
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Day 7
Today started like any other day with cereal.
After my quick exercise (gotta do something to at least slightly offset the ridiculous amounts of food I'm consuming) I met Christine so we could be off for lunch. We got a little lost on the way but took a (slightly creepy) cab ride to our destination. I was thrilled to try another one of Christine's all time favorite drinks here. This one was milk&boba drink where the tapioca had been cooked in black raw sugar, making it extremely sweet. It is added to whole milk and the only thing flavoring it is this ridiculously caramely sweet tapioca. It was so sweet and so good.
Lunch was another taste of typical Taiwanese food, at an amazing hole in the wall close to the most prestigious university in the country. We had a pork-bun-sandwich thing; lean pork, fatty pork, cilantro, pickled something and peanut powder wrapped in a delicious bun. This was followed by two soups- one was broth with pig intestine, and the other broth with chunks of pork and corn. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little squeamish about trying the pork intestine, but it was actually surprisingly delicious.
On our way home we stopped at an adorable French bakery and picked up a few loaves for the following days voyage to Japan. After powering through an intense blog entry Christine and I devoured one of them with some Gouda cheese, and then I crashed.
On our way to dinner via Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall I picked up a gourmet iced latte at the closest 7-11. We were then off to another hole-in-the-wall classic, the main course being those burn in your mouth dumplings I had heard so much about; Xiao Long Bao- small basket dumplings. We got the classic pork filled ones which reminded me a lot of potstickers or wontons. Then there was beef with cucumber and scallions wrapped in a pancake, cabbage, and a sesame seed tortilla stuffed with red bean for desert. Two thumbs up to all of it.
Then there was a margarita at the salsa club, and now we're back home, snacking as we pack and pull an all nighter before a long day of travel.
Lunch was another taste of typical Taiwanese food, at an amazing hole in the wall close to the most prestigious university in the country. We had a pork-bun-sandwich thing; lean pork, fatty pork, cilantro, pickled something and peanut powder wrapped in a delicious bun. This was followed by two soups- one was broth with pig intestine, and the other broth with chunks of pork and corn. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little squeamish about trying the pork intestine, but it was actually surprisingly delicious.
On our way home we stopped at an adorable French bakery and picked up a few loaves for the following days voyage to Japan. After powering through an intense blog entry Christine and I devoured one of them with some Gouda cheese, and then I crashed.
On our way to dinner via Chiang Kai Shek memorial hall I picked up a gourmet iced latte at the closest 7-11. We were then off to another hole-in-the-wall classic, the main course being those burn in your mouth dumplings I had heard so much about; Xiao Long Bao- small basket dumplings. We got the classic pork filled ones which reminded me a lot of potstickers or wontons. Then there was beef with cucumber and scallions wrapped in a pancake, cabbage, and a sesame seed tortilla stuffed with red bean for desert. Two thumbs up to all of it.
Then there was a margarita at the salsa club, and now we're back home, snacking as we pack and pull an all nighter before a long day of travel.
Day 6
Today was a day of Taiwanese "comida cotidiana."
For lunch we went to this little Thai chicken place in the night market closest to Christine's house/school, a spot where she "goes with [her] friends after class all the time." It came in a "bian dang," a "Taiwanese bento box" with the main course being chicken, with sauce, broccoli, noodles, a bittermelonesque thing (but it wasn't bitter, yay!) and all the white rice you can eat. Of course we couldn't have a meal unaccompanied by a drink, so we got milk tea with that grass jelly stuff we had had for post lunch desert the day before. Nothing too thrilling or special, but it was nice to go someplace cheap and typical, someplace where I'd probably eat at often if I was gonna be around for longer.
There were no food experiences to report on for most of the afternoon, although our ticket to the 91st floor of Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world, came with a complimentary beer float which after (not) much deliberation we decided to not take up, and I came across some interesting looking cookbooks at the bookstore that we rummaged through while waiting to go up the fastest elevator in the world.
For our (first) dinner we got beef noodle soup- one of Taiwan's most traditional dishes. Before sitting down we got to pick up little appetizer plates- we got eggplant and tofu noodles. Once again I was hella hungry so I scarfed that down and waited as patiently as possible for the majestic noodles to find their way to me. And they did. And (surprise surprise) they were amazing. The beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender, with lots of fat which makes everything so good. The tomato broth was delicious, and the noodles were noodles, complimenting the rest of the soup perfectly.
Our next destination was the Shi Lin market, Taipei's biggest night market. However, we had just eaten and were quite full, so to kill time we went to the public hot springs for some relaxation and digestion before our next conquest.
And conquer we did.
1) Strawberry covered in molasses. Sold on the same stand as that tomato and plum molasses stuff I tried my first night here and didn't like. This was much, much better. I don't think I'd have it again, maybe I'm not a huge fan of molasses, but the strawberries were ripe and juicy and delicious.
2) Deep fried scallion pancake. Super garlicy scallion pancake with an egg on top. Good, a little oily, but I do love my garlic... :)
3) Quing Cao Cha- an herbal iced tea. Super refreshing and very simple compared to all the boba/milk tea/grass jelly I've been drinking!
4) Pancake balls- Yes, Christine unintentionally tricked me into eating pancakes. They t. weren't your traditional pancake shape which was deceiving, but probably from the exact same batter. They were ok- tasted like pancakes- I didn't have more than a couple.
5) Rice balls- Christine and I decided to try something new when we saw this mysterious lady with a hat on using cool little contraptions to turn ingredients into food. Christine tried to order from her in the traditional oral way when another patron came to our rescue, pointing out that the woman was deaf. It was a nice ordering without words, especially in the middle of the hustle and bustle of this night market. We got two different flavors of rice balls- peanut and sesame. I liked the sesame one better but probably wouldn't get either of them again.
6) Fried squid- This was just a sample. Since in Spain I was such a huge fan of octopus, I figured squid would probably be equally delicious! This sample was ok, but I was full enough that I didn't feel compelled to eat an entire order of it.
7) Sausage and rice- The rice was encased the way sausages are and presented alongside a small sausage, with the idea being you take a bite of both of them at the same time. I'm not sure how they seasoned the sausage, but it kinda tasted as if it had been soaked in that tea stuff that flavors so much of Taiwan's cuisine. I didn't care for it too much, but the rice was delicious and I gobbled that right up.
8) Tomatoes and plum- One of Christine's favorite snacks here is tomatoes and plum. What they do is they get little tomatoes and mix it in with little pieces of plum and put a little plum powder on top. This is probably where people got the idea to put it all on a stick and cover it in molasses. I was pretty excited for this unpleasant experience to be redeemed in a way, but I guess I just prefer my tomatoes salty over sweet.
9) Peanut ice: It's hard to explain this without showing the picture (will upload soon, promise!) My guess is they freeze a block of ice that's mixed with peanut sauce and a little cream and then they shave it off to make this really awesome looking & tasting desert.
Ok so I realize that the review of all this food coupled with the fact that it was hard to avoid the smell of stinky tofu makes it sound like the night market was not a great experience, but that's just not true! The night market was so cool, so exciting, so much more to try! I didn't find much that I loved, but I barely made a dent in all this place had to offer, and it was just so cool to be in that environment that it was definitely a positive experience.
As we watched Glee, I broke out the seaweed popcorn I had been so eager to try, and I'm happy to report it surpassed expectations. It was a lot like hurricane popcorn, with some sweetness added. Very dangerous. Do not plan on bringing any home, because I will eat it all in one sitting, and that is bad.
PS: When I get home, it's back to healthy eating. I swear.
For lunch we went to this little Thai chicken place in the night market closest to Christine's house/school, a spot where she "goes with [her] friends after class all the time." It came in a "bian dang," a "Taiwanese bento box" with the main course being chicken, with sauce, broccoli, noodles, a bittermelonesque thing (but it wasn't bitter, yay!) and all the white rice you can eat. Of course we couldn't have a meal unaccompanied by a drink, so we got milk tea with that grass jelly stuff we had had for post lunch desert the day before. Nothing too thrilling or special, but it was nice to go someplace cheap and typical, someplace where I'd probably eat at often if I was gonna be around for longer.
There were no food experiences to report on for most of the afternoon, although our ticket to the 91st floor of Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world, came with a complimentary beer float which after (not) much deliberation we decided to not take up, and I came across some interesting looking cookbooks at the bookstore that we rummaged through while waiting to go up the fastest elevator in the world.
Our next destination was the Shi Lin market, Taipei's biggest night market. However, we had just eaten and were quite full, so to kill time we went to the public hot springs for some relaxation and digestion before our next conquest.
And conquer we did.
 |
| Rice Ball Lady |
2) Deep fried scallion pancake. Super garlicy scallion pancake with an egg on top. Good, a little oily, but I do love my garlic... :)
3) Quing Cao Cha- an herbal iced tea. Super refreshing and very simple compared to all the boba/milk tea/grass jelly I've been drinking!
4) Pancake balls- Yes, Christine unintentionally tricked me into eating pancakes. They t. weren't your traditional pancake shape which was deceiving, but probably from the exact same batter. They were ok- tasted like pancakes- I didn't have more than a couple.
5) Rice balls- Christine and I decided to try something new when we saw this mysterious lady with a hat on using cool little contraptions to turn ingredients into food. Christine tried to order from her in the traditional oral way when another patron came to our rescue, pointing out that the woman was deaf. It was a nice ordering without words, especially in the middle of the hustle and bustle of this night market. We got two different flavors of rice balls- peanut and sesame. I liked the sesame one better but probably wouldn't get either of them again.
6) Fried squid- This was just a sample. Since in Spain I was such a huge fan of octopus, I figured squid would probably be equally delicious! This sample was ok, but I was full enough that I didn't feel compelled to eat an entire order of it.
7) Sausage and rice- The rice was encased the way sausages are and presented alongside a small sausage, with the idea being you take a bite of both of them at the same time. I'm not sure how they seasoned the sausage, but it kinda tasted as if it had been soaked in that tea stuff that flavors so much of Taiwan's cuisine. I didn't care for it too much, but the rice was delicious and I gobbled that right up.
8) Tomatoes and plum- One of Christine's favorite snacks here is tomatoes and plum. What they do is they get little tomatoes and mix it in with little pieces of plum and put a little plum powder on top. This is probably where people got the idea to put it all on a stick and cover it in molasses. I was pretty excited for this unpleasant experience to be redeemed in a way, but I guess I just prefer my tomatoes salty over sweet.
9) Peanut ice: It's hard to explain this without showing the picture (will upload soon, promise!) My guess is they freeze a block of ice that's mixed with peanut sauce and a little cream and then they shave it off to make this really awesome looking & tasting desert.
As we watched Glee, I broke out the seaweed popcorn I had been so eager to try, and I'm happy to report it surpassed expectations. It was a lot like hurricane popcorn, with some sweetness added. Very dangerous. Do not plan on bringing any home, because I will eat it all in one sitting, and that is bad.
PS: When I get home, it's back to healthy eating. I swear.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Day 5
Today I had the most amazing ramen ever.
Christine and Beatrice call it "bone soup." Apparently the broth is made out of bones that are blended for two days straight. There are noodles and seaweed and pork, along with some other greens. We got it with eggs, probably the most delicious eggs ever in the history of the world- I think they were hard boiled, and marinated in some sauce, and they were sooo good. We also got some croquettes and tofu along side it, but they were barely worth mentioning next to these other plates.
For desert, we got "ice"- ice topped with "grass jelly," tarot and yam balls. So good. Christine said that I don't have white-people taste buds, which made me feel proud.
After this, I was very seriously stuffed. I was still pretty seriously stuffed when we got to this fancy French restaurant that Christine was really excited to take Beatrice, her best friend here who had studied abroad in Paris, for quite some time. When we got there we were greeted by the chef, a prestigious Swiss drunk who moved to Taiwan a couple years ago. Unfortunately, the food wasn't the most noteworthy thing about this establishment. The chef came over to chat us up not once, not twice, but seven times. Talking about his age, he shared that "although there may be snow on the rooftop, there's still fire in the furnace" while he thrusted his hips forward. After treating us to a cup of free wine, he walked around the table asking for kisses on the cheek, and one point whispering "next time I'll turn my head." We each took turns entertaining him (read: taking one for the team) while he rambled on about this or that and the other three at the table got to enjoy each others company for a brief, uninterrupted moment. Christine (who I should mention was sitting farthest away from his chosen hovering spot and therefore experienced the least of this man's creepiness) managed to have a fruitful, productive conversation with the man, where she picked up a few very good cooking tips.
Anyway, onto the food: we got and shared: foie gras, escargo, two different pastas (one with prawns and tomato sauce and another with a creamy mushroom sauce) duck with the chef's "special orange sauce" (not on the menu, big whoop) and then a desert that he called "sauvignon." It was my first time eating foie gras, and it was pretty delicious. I had eaten snails once in Spain but they were prepared very differently and I didn't like them very much- the escargo was really good. The pastas were both pretty delicious as well, especially the creamy mushroom one. The duck was the only plate that kinda disappointed- it was a little rarer than I like, and the "special sauce" really wasn't that great. The desert, however, was AMAZING. It was beaten egg whites, licquor (we chose cherry flavored kirsch), sugar and some white whine, heated with a little scone on the side. At the time, the desert made all the creepiness we put up with worth it. In retrospect, a big part of me wishes we would have told him to leave us alone when he first made us uncomfortable. Oh well, I guess...
 |
| Ramen of the Gods |
Christine and Beatrice call it "bone soup." Apparently the broth is made out of bones that are blended for two days straight. There are noodles and seaweed and pork, along with some other greens. We got it with eggs, probably the most delicious eggs ever in the history of the world- I think they were hard boiled, and marinated in some sauce, and they were sooo good. We also got some croquettes and tofu along side it, but they were barely worth mentioning next to these other plates.
 |
| Most Amazing Eggs Ever |
For desert, we got "ice"- ice topped with "grass jelly," tarot and yam balls. So good. Christine said that I don't have white-people taste buds, which made me feel proud.
 |
| "Ice" |
 |
| Desert |
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Day 4
First breakfast in Taipei: honey nut cheerios.
Something really cool about Taipei is there's a gym where you can go for about $2 an hour, and it isn't too far from Christine's house. We went there, and it was lovely, and then of course by the time we got back to the house where Christine's angelic roomie was preparing us lunch, I was very hungry and equally grumpy. Nothing if not consistent, Christine was amused/not concerned with my plight.
Unsurprisingly, the feast was well worth the wait- tofu-spagetti, garlic spinach, two other types of tofu, the tenderest chicken ever, bamboo, and noodle soup awaited us. To top it off, desert was a "sweet soup." Christine described it best: "it's this sweet broth with this lychee type stuff that isn't really lychee, and mushroomy stuff but it isn't mushroom..." The "mushroomy stuff" kinda tasted like cartilage, but Christine's roomie said it was vegetarian. Go figure.
We rode the gondolas back down (terrifying!) and went to this restaurant famous for its spicy food. Since most of the markets haven't been open because of the new year they had a modified menu which (apparently) was pretty disappointing, but I thought the food was really, really good! I had the most AMAZING silky delicious tofu ever in the history of the world. There was also tender chicken, super spicy beef with chillies, cabbage with bacon and green beans. It was super spicy, a little too spicy for some people at the table- my eyes definitely watered and my nose definitely ran- but I was very pleased.
We all came back to Christine's place, hung out, changed our clothes, left, went to some lounge where we had an amazing lychee cocktail thing, came home and went to sleep.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Day 3
The first thing I ate today was "nian-gao"- a slippery pan-fried rice block. I've eaten this before at dim sum places but not on its own- I had only had it as a wrapper for veggies or seafood. This time I had it dipped in soy sauce and it was so good. It was accompanied by some yummy cheesy foccacia style bread.
From there we were off to this famous temple built in honor of Confucius, but of course I was still hungry (in case this hasn't registered yet, I can't function without a good-big-breakfast.) I got one of those buns filled with pork dumplings (yum!) and then a coffee (looks like I'm gonna be having a daily cup, at least until the jetlag has completely worn off, which may never happen.) We walked around the appropriately very simple temple and then ventured off to this cute little pedestrian row lined with stalls selling tea, snacks and trinkets. I "made a cupcake" by stirring sugar in a little pan over hot coals and adding a little baking soda which was cool to watch grow but wasn't very tasty. I bought a couple souvenirs, tried some cold oolong tea, and then we were off to the train station back to Taipei! While killing time at the train station we went to a "sushi boat" Japanese restaurant. I wasn't very hungry but Christine talked me into eating some sashimi, okra and a hand roll.
Of course, by the time we were off the train I was FAMISHED. Christine's roommate, god bless her soul, heated up some AMAZING food for me- beef with seitan and some sauce, rice, greens, bamboo with carrots and mushrooms and another seitan dish. While I waited for this to heat up I had a couple dried mango pieces but Christine, who was greatly amused by my misery, cut me off, not wanting me to ruin my appetite.
After lunch we chilled- I updated this blog and Christine took a nap. After that we were off to one of the few establishments that was open (a lot is still shut down because of the new year)- the mall. Our original intent was to get these famous dumplings that "literally burn your mouth," so when we found out there was a two hour wait I wasn't too heartbroken- as delicious as these dumplings sounded, they also seemed a little scary.
We decided to eat "curry"- a plate of food that comes with white rice, meat/topping of your choice, and "curry sauce." Feeling a little nostalgic for Sevilla I got vegetable croquettes to accompany the rice with potato sauce.
After that we did a little shopping, where I was successful in acquiescing some AWESOME purple running shoes. From there we went to the night market right by Christine's home, and upon arriving Christine and her friend Beatrice's mouths dropped- they had never seen it so dead, so desolate, so empty. I wasn't able to taste some of the foods Christine was excited to introduce me to, but I did get a passion fruit green tea a-la-quickly, with yummy crunchy seeds and all, and it was delicious.
Of course, by the time we were off the train I was FAMISHED. Christine's roommate, god bless her soul, heated up some AMAZING food for me- beef with seitan and some sauce, rice, greens, bamboo with carrots and mushrooms and another seitan dish. While I waited for this to heat up I had a couple dried mango pieces but Christine, who was greatly amused by my misery, cut me off, not wanting me to ruin my appetite.
After lunch we chilled- I updated this blog and Christine took a nap. After that we were off to one of the few establishments that was open (a lot is still shut down because of the new year)- the mall. Our original intent was to get these famous dumplings that "literally burn your mouth," so when we found out there was a two hour wait I wasn't too heartbroken- as delicious as these dumplings sounded, they also seemed a little scary.
We decided to eat "curry"- a plate of food that comes with white rice, meat/topping of your choice, and "curry sauce." Feeling a little nostalgic for Sevilla I got vegetable croquettes to accompany the rice with potato sauce.
After that we did a little shopping, where I was successful in acquiescing some AWESOME purple running shoes. From there we went to the night market right by Christine's home, and upon arriving Christine and her friend Beatrice's mouths dropped- they had never seen it so dead, so desolate, so empty. I wasn't able to taste some of the foods Christine was excited to introduce me to, but I did get a passion fruit green tea a-la-quickly, with yummy crunchy seeds and all, and it was delicious.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Day 2
This was our only full day in Tainan, Chinese New Year!! Happy new year!!
Her family provided me with this yummy sesame-red-bean-filled-cracker-cake thing, and a pineapple filled shortbread cookie/cake very typical of Taiwan- so typical that Christine is sick of even looking at the wrapping. I don't usually love fruit-desert stuff (unless it's straight up-un-messed with fruit), but like I said I'm being as open minded as possible about everything I eat and it was pretty good!
In the car on our way to temple we had roasted and seasoned seaweed, just like we used to have it at Christine's house back in the day.
Once we got to the temple but before praying, we walked into the most crowded cafeteria ever for a free vegetarian feast- chow mein, tofu skin, seitan w/ mushrooms & bamboo and mushroom soup. This was the first meal where there were designated food serving chopsticks and food eating chopsticks. As we finished the plates of food people who I assume work at the temple came around with huge vats of food and replenished whatever any table was running low on. Naturally, we stuffed ourselves silly and then went out to light incense, burn (fake) money and pray. From there we went to Christine's oldest aunt's house where there is a goose farm and ripe tomatoes for picking. The baby geese were super cute, and we spent a little while picking tomatoes but stopped after the bird poop smell started to get to us.
We snacked on candy and crackers as we drove to a second temple, and from there embarked on the long drive back to Tainan. On the way back to the house we stopped at a vegetarian cafeteria style restaurant where I got to try all kinds of food- there was sushi, bittermelon, yucca, bamboo, seaweed salad, seitan, different mushroom dishes, yam, sweet rice, tofu and even some green vegetables! The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the bitter melon, but Christine said that it's really good for you so I finished eating what was left of it.
We went home and I took Christine's Glee-card. It was magical. I passed out after four episodes but she stayed up for twice as many. It's no surprise that she's hooked.
Her family provided me with this yummy sesame-red-bean-filled-cracker-cake thing, and a pineapple filled shortbread cookie/cake very typical of Taiwan- so typical that Christine is sick of even looking at the wrapping. I don't usually love fruit-desert stuff (unless it's straight up-un-messed with fruit), but like I said I'm being as open minded as possible about everything I eat and it was pretty good!
In the car on our way to temple we had roasted and seasoned seaweed, just like we used to have it at Christine's house back in the day.
Once we got to the temple but before praying, we walked into the most crowded cafeteria ever for a free vegetarian feast- chow mein, tofu skin, seitan w/ mushrooms & bamboo and mushroom soup. This was the first meal where there were designated food serving chopsticks and food eating chopsticks. As we finished the plates of food people who I assume work at the temple came around with huge vats of food and replenished whatever any table was running low on. Naturally, we stuffed ourselves silly and then went out to light incense, burn (fake) money and pray. From there we went to Christine's oldest aunt's house where there is a goose farm and ripe tomatoes for picking. The baby geese were super cute, and we spent a little while picking tomatoes but stopped after the bird poop smell started to get to us.We snacked on candy and crackers as we drove to a second temple, and from there embarked on the long drive back to Tainan. On the way back to the house we stopped at a vegetarian cafeteria style restaurant where I got to try all kinds of food- there was sushi, bittermelon, yucca, bamboo, seaweed salad, seitan, different mushroom dishes, yam, sweet rice, tofu and even some green vegetables! The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the bitter melon, but Christine said that it's really good for you so I finished eating what was left of it.
We went home and I took Christine's Glee-card. It was magical. I passed out after four episodes but she stayed up for twice as many. It's no surprise that she's hooked.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Day 1
I got to Christine's house around 7, after being dropped off by the sweetest taxi driver in the history of the world. I got into bed, chit chatted with her for a little while and then took a nap. As we were getting ready to leave for the south, where her family lives, I was introduced to her roommate, a ridiculously sweet old lady. She gave us oranges and I ate mine right away. I later found out that they were supposed to be for the road, but I don't think she minded too much. It was pretty juicy and sweet, but I've never been one to get too excited about oranges, ya know.
We packed up our things and left for the train station, first stopping in the mall to visit Christine's friend who works in the most delicious doughnut shop ever, in the food court of the mall. When we walked into the mall, all the workers we walked past bowed and said "welcome" in Mandarin. I didn't know how to respond, but luckily we only passed four people before we got to the elevator. Christine's friend who was working is Christine's roommate's granddaughter. She was really sweet and hooked us up with some free doughnuts. Now, a lot of you out there know that I'm not a very picky eater, the three things I generally don't eat are 1) lettuce in burritos 2) pancakes and 3) doughnuts. However, I came into this trip saying as far as food goes, I'm willing to try everything with as open of a mind as possible. So we bought six doughnuts, her friend hooking us up with a couple free ones, and I got a cappuccino and Christine got matcha milk. We didn't eat all the doughnuts right away, but the ones we tried were really good!! Much lighter than the ones we have at home. Not so overly glazed. They were spongy, with the same consistency through and through. I tried a chocolate one, a "classic" one and a strawberry one. Apparently, strawberries are in season, so this doughnut had strawberry filling, strawberry glaze and dried strawberries on top. So good. The cappuccino was just like cappuccinos everywhere else- milk and espresso.
Then we went to another part of the food court and got this beef teriyaki "sandwich," with rice patties for the bread. We were both pretty stuffed from the doughnuts, so we saved it for the train ride. The bullet train took us from Taipei to Tainan in less than two hours, but we got hungry enough to eat it. And it was so yummy! We also had another orange. Anyway, I wonder where we can get that style rice bread back home. There must be someplace...
We were greeted at the train station by two of Christine's cousins, one of their 2 1/2 year old sons and her aunt. Once in the car, our first stop was at a bubble milk tea stand. Unfortunately, this first stand was all out of the bubbles. But the second stand did not disappoint. All I have to say about that is quickly, eat your heart out. So much better than that über-sweet stuff we settle for back home (sigh.)
When we got to Christine's aunt's place, I was greeted with teriyaki beef jerky (more tender than what I remember from back home) roasted chestnuts (just like momma makes em) and mountain apple, guava, and this other fruit that kinda tasted like a mix between an apple and a pear. We had our first home-cooked meal of the trip, and it was quite extravagant. There was fish with asparagus, dried fish, seitan w/mushrooms and bamboo, pork, fish cakes, tofu skin and duck. Everything was soooo good, especially the duck and seitan. It was a kinda special meal because of the new year.
Then we took a nap and went to a night market. It was kinda like a mix of a county fair and a flea market, only way better. Christine bought some gloves, but (surprise surprise) we were mostly there to try the food. First we had these yucca/tarot fried balls (so puffy and delicious.) Then Christine tried to get me to try this kinda spicy kinda sweet fried chicken. When I reluctantly agreed to try a piece, telling her I wasn't hungry AT ALL, she laughed and said "sorry hun, but that's gonna happen!!" Next we had yucca covered in molasses, one of Christine's favorite treats. We then passed this stand with really pretty sweet-shish-kabab looking things. She bought me the one that is the "most typical," and I ate one piece and had my first unpleasant food experience of the trip! Turns out it was tomatoes coated in caramel. I threw the rest of the stick away. We spent the rest of the evening people watching and releasing the fish we had won in one of the games. Went home and passed out. A very successful first day in Taiwan :)
We packed up our things and left for the train station, first stopping in the mall to visit Christine's friend who works in the most delicious doughnut shop ever, in the food court of the mall. When we walked into the mall, all the workers we walked past bowed and said "welcome" in Mandarin. I didn't know how to respond, but luckily we only passed four people before we got to the elevator. Christine's friend who was working is Christine's roommate's granddaughter. She was really sweet and hooked us up with some free doughnuts. Now, a lot of you out there know that I'm not a very picky eater, the three things I generally don't eat are 1) lettuce in burritos 2) pancakes and 3) doughnuts. However, I came into this trip saying as far as food goes, I'm willing to try everything with as open of a mind as possible. So we bought six doughnuts, her friend hooking us up with a couple free ones, and I got a cappuccino and Christine got matcha milk. We didn't eat all the doughnuts right away, but the ones we tried were really good!! Much lighter than the ones we have at home. Not so overly glazed. They were spongy, with the same consistency through and through. I tried a chocolate one, a "classic" one and a strawberry one. Apparently, strawberries are in season, so this doughnut had strawberry filling, strawberry glaze and dried strawberries on top. So good. The cappuccino was just like cappuccinos everywhere else- milk and espresso.
Then we went to another part of the food court and got this beef teriyaki "sandwich," with rice patties for the bread. We were both pretty stuffed from the doughnuts, so we saved it for the train ride. The bullet train took us from Taipei to Tainan in less than two hours, but we got hungry enough to eat it. And it was so yummy! We also had another orange. Anyway, I wonder where we can get that style rice bread back home. There must be someplace...
We were greeted at the train station by two of Christine's cousins, one of their 2 1/2 year old sons and her aunt. Once in the car, our first stop was at a bubble milk tea stand. Unfortunately, this first stand was all out of the bubbles. But the second stand did not disappoint. All I have to say about that is quickly, eat your heart out. So much better than that über-sweet stuff we settle for back home (sigh.)
When we got to Christine's aunt's place, I was greeted with teriyaki beef jerky (more tender than what I remember from back home) roasted chestnuts (just like momma makes em) and mountain apple, guava, and this other fruit that kinda tasted like a mix between an apple and a pear. We had our first home-cooked meal of the trip, and it was quite extravagant. There was fish with asparagus, dried fish, seitan w/mushrooms and bamboo, pork, fish cakes, tofu skin and duck. Everything was soooo good, especially the duck and seitan. It was a kinda special meal because of the new year.
Then we took a nap and went to a night market. It was kinda like a mix of a county fair and a flea market, only way better. Christine bought some gloves, but (surprise surprise) we were mostly there to try the food. First we had these yucca/tarot fried balls (so puffy and delicious.) Then Christine tried to get me to try this kinda spicy kinda sweet fried chicken. When I reluctantly agreed to try a piece, telling her I wasn't hungry AT ALL, she laughed and said "sorry hun, but that's gonna happen!!" Next we had yucca covered in molasses, one of Christine's favorite treats. We then passed this stand with really pretty sweet-shish-kabab looking things. She bought me the one that is the "most typical," and I ate one piece and had my first unpleasant food experience of the trip! Turns out it was tomatoes coated in caramel. I threw the rest of the stick away. We spent the rest of the evening people watching and releasing the fish we had won in one of the games. Went home and passed out. A very successful first day in Taiwan :)Intro
Since I'm unemployed and have friends in corners of the world I've never been to, I decided to take advantage of their awesome adventures and visit while I still can. The lovely Christine Fong has been living in Taiwan since February 2010, and for the next few weeks I'll be her useless mute shadow.
One thing Christine and I have always shared over our 7 year old friendship is an obsession with food. When she asked me if I would give up my vegetarianism for my trip, my answer was easy to come to- "duh." A few months later, when she sent me our itinerary, I noticed that most of our "activities" weren't landmarks, museums or activities, but were food dishes. Clearly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Since eating is often the most looked forward to parts of any vacation and some of my most exotic experiences here will be via my palette, I decided to keep a blog about my food adventures. I will document everything I eat with pictures, descriptions and stories. Although I'm doing this more for myself than for friends who might be reading, I hope you enjoy it!
One thing Christine and I have always shared over our 7 year old friendship is an obsession with food. When she asked me if I would give up my vegetarianism for my trip, my answer was easy to come to- "duh." A few months later, when she sent me our itinerary, I noticed that most of our "activities" weren't landmarks, museums or activities, but were food dishes. Clearly, I wouldn't have it any other way. Since eating is often the most looked forward to parts of any vacation and some of my most exotic experiences here will be via my palette, I decided to keep a blog about my food adventures. I will document everything I eat with pictures, descriptions and stories. Although I'm doing this more for myself than for friends who might be reading, I hope you enjoy it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)