A grammarian's lexical choice; It's supposed to hint at the variety of topics I cover in my posts (plus my gender). A little convoluted & punny, but it amuses.
I was shopping in the Little Saigon section of Fruitvale on International Blvd (in the 'hood) when I came across a very interesting looking pan. Cast iron with spherical indentations. I didn't know what it was for, but my mind went immediately to Yorkshire pudding and fried eggs. It was only $12, so I bought a pan and for that price Gwynie bought one too. But after a couple of failed attempts at eggs, they were consigned to the cupboard.
Fast forward a couple of years, in Taiwan, Takoyaki is a popular Japanese street snack- fried balls made with a wet batter, chopped squid, pickled ginger and green onion. Covered by a generous hand with sauce/mayonaise and shaved fish flakes etc. They are a little crisp on the outside with a soft almost souffle like center and tasty nuggets of chewy squid. These are a fun finger food, to eat them you have to stab them with medium/small bamboo skewers.
It's pretty exciting to watch the vendors make them too. Of course they make it look super easy. All you need is the right pan, a couple of long skewers, and years of practice...
Here's a video I found that demonstrates the technique.
Then I found a recipe online and thought I would give it a try. http://japanesefood.about.com/od/seafoodfish/r/takoyaki.htm Ingredients
Batter:
1 2/3 Cup flour
2 1/2 Cup dashi soup
2 eggs
1/2 lb. boiled octopus (yaki), cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 Cup chopped green onion (negi)
1/4 Cup dried red shrimp (sakura ebi)
1/4 Cup chopped pickled red ginger (benishoga)
Mix flour, dashi soup, and eggs in a bowl to make batter. Heat takoyaki grill pan in oven or stove top. Brush oil inside cups of pan. On stove top, pour batter into the rounds, you don't need to be too careful about spilling since that will get pulled in during the cooking process. Each cup gets a sprinkle of octopus, red ginger, and green onion. As batter cooks, use 2 skewers to rotate 90o bringing the bottom edge up and allowing batter to fill cup, forming hollow sides. Keep rotating, tucking in rough edges, until you have successfully formed a closed ball. Keep turning, till takoyaki become rounded and evenly brown, remove them from the pan and place in a plate. Put sauce and mayonnaise on takoyaki and sprinkle bonito flakes/aonori on the top.
Okay it's cold and raining AGAIN. I know it's not quite time to start packing the animals off two by two. We're still short on snowpack for the blistering summer months. So I vacillate between being grateful that it's raining- think SNOW! and grumpy coz it's so soggy. Instead I hunker down and plan on a steamy evening indoors perched next to the hotpot. In Taiwan I ate hot pot at least once a week during the winter when it was cold (and rainy), and continued to stop by my favorites even when it was starting to get too hot (and rainy) for soup (yeah that's why they have AC!)
Here I have a standard spread of snow pea leaves, cabbage, fermented chili and miso, shrimp, corn,
beef rolls, chicken meatballs. This is one of the first meals I had with Jenny's family- I think of it as an authentic Taiwanese style meal. So easy and simple yet deliciously gratifyingly warm.
When my Taiwanese roommate Angie came to visit last year, she left me a book called Third Culture Kids. I put off reading it for a while, but when I saw another reference to TCK's that rang a chord of recognition, I dusted it off. A quick read, I charged through, feeling moments of resonance, "Aha!"-like epiphany and deep welling emotion.
The book describes the phenomenon in positive terms and eschews discussion of "pathology" or "problems reintegrating", positing these TCKs as the "prototype" 21st century global citizens growing up in a world that is more connected and where "connectors" may be more valued . The idea is kids growing up in a culture not of either parent form a hybrid of the 2 cultures bridging the gap and essentially forming life patterns based on these differences. Consider for a moment, one surrounds one's self with like minded multi-culti friends. I chose these friends based on that sense of recognition and compatibility, together we form our own culture. I am more likely to have something in common with someone who grew up in more than one culture, regardless of whether they share my exact cross cultural experiences (unlikely- altho I do have one other person who HAS shared this with me....) because it requires a certain mindset. This also explains why Angie and I hit it off so well (and quickly). But there are many more people who "belong" simply because they were born and live in the same place, for whom I will always be "other" culturally and racially.
This book validates my experience growing up as an expat kid in a country where I was "other". This doesn't mean I felt excluded or not integrated, but it acknowledges the emotional and mental distance I had while at the same time trying desperately to belong... I embrace all my experiences and celebrate them yet it helps me recognize finally the feeling of isolation I have had for so many years in terms of cultural identity.
Looking more closely at my family history- my mom is a TCK. Her family left China when she was 2 years old, following Grandpa's work with the diplomatic corp in Kolkata, West Bengal India. After the end of the Chinese Civil war, with the fall of the KMT Nationalist government her family fled to Dhaka, Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan). Grandpa found work at the local university teaching Chinese literature. Subsequently when she was 12, they moved to Hong Kong (a British colonial outpost), where they lived for 10 years. My mom is fiercely nationalistic, defending the country against any perceived criticism. It always bugged me that she defended China so vehemently, until I understood her history as a TCK and realized that the country she defends has never really existed except as that golden ideal, that promised land of "Home" in her mind and heart. That her rah-rah nationalism is an expression of her overwhelming desire to belong somewhere. (Sadly her last visit to China proper as an adult was so miserable that she swore never to return "home" again... but memories fade and ingrained behaviors revert to the norm.)
I have a different take on things, my idyllic dreams of the "green and pleasant land" shattered by the reality of living in England for 2 years to finish off my high school A Levels. I experienced such a profound rejection by the native English that I have never truly considered myself as belonging, altho my passport is British. This is not to say that everyone treated me this way, on the contrary, I have several dear friends who generously included me in their lives and families. However, my OVERALL experience (despite the kindness I received) was one of alienation. I always thought my sense of cultural dissonance stemmed from being biracial. That I was a combination of my parents' two nationalities/cultures as English and Chinese. That the white (and subsequent Asian) rejection of me stemmed from my mixed race. But now I think it must have been at least a combination of factors both racial and cultural. I spent most of my formative years- four to 18 in Jamaica. So in essence I'm at least partially culturally Jamaican. Luckily Jamaica embraced cultural differences- "out of many- one people" and was warmly inclusive and accepting (don't get me started on the homophobia and religious dominance). Now I have found (to my relief) a home in San Francisco, a multi-culti melting pot of people, where my differences are celebrated and not weirdly out of place, where most everybody is from somewhere else- Whether another state or another country... Newly sworn as a voting citizen, (culturally American/expat for almost 20 years) I look forward now to acting as a catalyst- forming a global community based on communication, where the effective gestalt of national/cultural/racial/linguistic traits is not seen as damage but is celebrated and used as the bridge to international cooperation. Dare we hope for WORLD PEACE?
年年有餘，
nián nián yǒu yú,
every year have abundance/left overs (sounds like "fish")
歲歲平安。
suì suì píng ān。
a year of health/without mishap(?)
恭喜發財，
gōng xǐ fā cái，
best wishes to get rich
(congratulations and best wishes for a prosperous year)
紅包拿來。
hóng bāo ná lái。
lucky money brings/comes(?)
祝大家牛年行大運！
zhù dà jiā niú nián xìng dà yùn!
hope everyone's year of the Ox is successful!
My friend Kat posted the above salutation on her Facebook profile. I translated it as an exercise to try and keep my Chinese up. As you can see it's not quite right yet, but it's starting to make sense. Let me know if you think I mistook a meaning somewhere.
As always I check my horoscope to see where I'm at. Not that it changes so much, but every year it's fun looking at it and trying to see how it really could apply to me... Read thru and see if you agree that this describes me? (Compiled from Wikipedia)
Yang Metal Dog- Monkey/Virgo month, Dragon hour
* The West（西）
* Autumn（秋）
* White Tiger（白虎）
* The Planet Venus（金星）
* The Colour White（白）
* Respiratory system & Lungs（肺）
* Honest, intelligent, straightforward, Loyal, sense of justice and fair play, attractive, Amicable, unpretentious, sociable, open-minded, caring, respectful, Determined, Self-reliant, Unyielding, Strong, Forceful, practical, affectionate, dogged
* Reserved, Needs Personal Space, Sophisticated, seeks pleasure, idealistic, moralistic. Can be cynical, lazy, cold, judgmental, pessimistic, worrier, stubborn, quarrelsome.
The Third Trine
The third trine consists of the Tiger, Horse, and Dog. These three signs seek a true lover, and are like-minded in their pursuit of humanitarian causes. Each is a gifted orator and excels at verbal communication. Relationships and personal contact are of highest priority and each one seeks their intimate soul mate. Idealistic and impulsive, the Tiger, Horse and Dog follow the beat of their own drummer. Defiant against injustice, these three signs wilt without large amounts of physical affection and loyal support for causes. They are productive, enthusiastic, independent, engaging, dynamic and honourable. They can also be rash, rebellious, quarrelsome, hot-headed, reckless, anxious, moody, disagreeable, and stubborn. Although these three signs are loyal, they can be very protective when lied to. The three signs do not enjoy being told what to do, but will listen when it is a person they love or trust whole-heartedly.
Hey everyone, I just got back to SF last month and have been recovering from jetlag and cultural dissonance and of course looking for jobs.
Taiwan (and Asia in general) has been an amazing fascinating experience, I learned a lot and I'm really glad I was able to take the time off work. I'm planning on returning to Asia at some point, and will perhaps focus my efforts on finding a job that will allow me to do that. Learning Chinese exercised mental muscles I didn't know I had. I've come a long way according to my room mate Angie who has been super supportive. Especially at a recent party where the only 2 people spoke any English at all, I spent 4 hours hanging comfortably, even to the point of introducing myself to the whole group in only Chinese. Of course, speaking is a lot harder than comprehending and the characters are still a bunch of squiggles. I still have a long way to go to attain fluency and accuracy but I've got a foundation now that I would not have achieved at home. I made so many great friends and was getting so close to sort of functional in Chinese that I'm sad to leave. Everyone was so friendly and willing to help me. I highly recommend Taiwan as a place to learn Chinese. But of course I'm glad to be home with Gwynie, whom I missed something fierce.
I'm very glad I took the time for this adventure, I was super burnt out over last year and just decided to do something different, very different from science. It's made me realize I'm not as trapped or pigeonholed in my profession as I felt. If anything working outside those confines for just a short time has made me aware that I can still try to do anything I want. It made me think longer and harder about what I want to do, what I like doing and to question myself about what I'm actually good at. Still no concrete ideas,
Creatively I feel like I've worked on pieces that I've been thinking about for a while. I'm definitely excited about the direction they're going in, altho still not ready for public airing yet. I've certainly enjoyed the blogging, it's helped me stay in touch with so many more people than I expected. I'm really touched at how many of my friends stop by frequently to check in on how I'm doing, even tho it's mostly about what i had for dinner.
I've decided that I need to make a bigger effort to include a variety of people in my life and not choose the "safe option" as much just because I'm scared of how things might turn out. I've been very lucky to meet some amazingly interesting and talented people who have forced me to grow in directions that had veritably atrophied at home. For that alone I'm glad.
Keep watching this space I'm going to post randomly as thoughts occur.
I’ve been living vicariously through Astrid’s blog in Taiwan and now I’m here getting to see it first hand. Initial impressions:…. it rains all the time -even when the sun is shining. As a result the city is verdant yet concrete maze; its sunny, hot and humid- everyone carries an umbrella and people walk purposefully but at a slow pace on the crosswalks (in order to give the scooters a clear path to turn). I nearly got run down looking the other way and walking too quickly across the road until I figured out what was going on.
My first day- we took the dogs Percy and Dodo down to the river for a walk. I was turned around the instant we left the apartment building, lost as we went along a warren of streets. I picked up a smattering of Chinese: "Ni hao- hello", and everyone has figured out that we’re at least sisters- "jiejie and meimei" and then we say "shang bao tai"- twins and then they say "yes we can tell! "
I get the phrase for twins mixed up with shao long bao which are very yummy dumplings.
I didn’t check out a guide book (which I normally do for trips) but when sissy asked me what I wanted to do when I visited, I said “eat everything that’s on your blog” so we did.
We dashed around the city and stopped at Taipei 101 which is currently the tallest building world. Going up in the elevator seemed like a short journey but I felt my ears pop. We stopped at Eslite the biggest book store in Asia and wandered the 4th floor around marveling at all the books then headed downstairs for the most amazing passion fruit and mango frozen yogurt out of a neato machine which blends fresh fruit and frozen yogurt /ice cream on demand.
At the special mushroom restaurant Mushroom Garden, I got to try abalone mushroom which was served like sashimi on a bed of ice and a fragrant salty, gingery sauce and then we had shabu shabu (hot pot) with all kinds of mushrooms in a tasty mushroom broth. There was a sticky rice cooked in bamboo with meat and mushrooms. Yummerlicious.
We went to Jilong spelled Keelong by slow train and when the conductor stopped to talk to us, it was like a soft rain washing over me, I understood nothing. I was so jealous of my sister’s newly acquired chinese until she fessed up that she didn’t understand either. A really nice gentleman rushed over to help us out, explained that we had to change trains in Bu Dan and kindly made sure that we got on the next train. [Please note that this was the only instance where I had trouble with communicating, but clearly it made an impression on Gwynie- Astrid] We hiked up to the temple with the large Buddha and the elephant over looking the city.
We hiked to the fort that looks out over the harbor and the stone structures were immense. Fashed from all that walking we caught a taxi back to town to go to the night market near the temple to cross shao bing (tasty buns) and gao tie (fried savory doughnuts) off my list of food. So as to not OD on starch I had cherry tomatoes sprinkled with plum dust which was sweet, sour and salty at the same time. Ooh lucky me, I’ve got a bottle of plum fairy dust to take home with me. Now, I’ll be able to replicate candied tomatoes at home.
Another great day was our trip up to Muzha by taking the Mekong gondola which goes a really long way up the mountain to the top. We trekked back down to a teahouse which felt like a really long way but was really not far and a few minutes beyond the temple where we had a bout of indecision. We choose the local specialty tea cooked goose with fried sweet potato and sautéed sweet potato greens with garlic. We drank gallons of Mountain High Oolong. I was so caught up in the pouring, swirling, smelling and drinking of the tea I forgot about the caffeine, which kept me awake all night. The tea was amazing and so we went to the organic market the next day to buy some of the teas that we tried. It’s a very pleasant ritual that I’ll try to keep up when back home.
Samson, a friend of my sister's and a professional tour guide, came and took us around the northern part of the island along. We saw so much in one day, it gave us the flavor of the remote fishing villages and hiking areas that have only recently in the last couple of months got a finished highway. We went to see the natural sulphur springs with the bamboo maze high up in the mountains and took in great vistas of the plumes from the volcano and far off views of the coast. Then we drove to a really large cemetery which had road and roads and huge mausoleums. Then onto a special Buddhist temple covered in shells and coral dedicated to the gods of the fishermen and the sea- there we crawled through the shell lined maze and tunnel as a sort of prayerful activity. Followed by lunch which was a great respite - we had a huge steamed fish, squid so fresh that it will never compare with anything else, that 's my new benchmark. 2 different kinds of sautéed vegetables and a pork belly stew followed by a seafood broth with winter melon vegetables.
Onward to beautiful water carved coastline museum where a cacophony of safety warnings rang out over loud speaker in harsh contrast to the blue peaceful setting and pineapple like fruit in trees! We raced eastward to a fishing village where we tried passion fruit seaweed pudding, delicious!
A tired end to a whirlwind tour was a direct drive home on the newly opened freeway to meet up with friends for dinner. We saw a dizzying number of places but the thing most clearly set in my mind is that we need to come back to do some nature hikes.
I raced back to the states to beat a cyclone but I wish I’d never left. Taiwan, you’ll see me soon too!
The first garbage run is 7:30pm the other is around 9:30pm, you should be able to hear the music down the street before it makes it to our block...
We put all the compostables in a separate bag (can be any plastic) or use the largest tupperware depending on volume (that way it doesn't smell as much if you keep it in the fridge). You dump the compost into the plant waste bucket at the back of the garbage truck, if you use a plastic bag then throw
the dirty plastic bag into another bucket they have provided for that. otherwise the tupperware gets washed at the hose behind the first building in the alley.
The regular garbage goes into the blue stamped garbage bags. There should be some in the bottom cupboard in the hallway opposite the bathroom door.
Recycling goes downstairs to the old lady on the first floor.
After my plans for Alishan were shelved because of poor scheduling on my part, Angie suggested taking the Maokong Gondala up to the Muzha tea plantations. Since Taiwan is famous for their tea, this seemed like an appropriate and super fun day's activities.
We caught the MRT out to the end of the brown line. It's pretty amazing how many hills are cut thru, making the commute way shorter. Next the Maokong Gondola rises thru the foothills up into the mountains. The cable cars are hot and stuffy, better designed to keep the heat in on a snowy alpine day. At the top we take the road to the left and walk down the mountain for about 30 minutes (keep going past the temple).
All of the tea from the farms in Maokong is used at the 100-odd tea houses and restaurants in the area. To keep up with the demand for tea, high end tea from other parts are also served. Tea plantations in Maokong started out offering just tea and desserts. As the tourist trade became more popular, they started offering meals.
The teahouse is nestled into the side of the mountain. Lush with greenery, the picturesque stone and wood teahouse looks like it's been there for centuries. We order a local high mountain oolong more toasted but with the light fruit flavors of the green. For lunch we have the tea smoked duck, green mountain vegetables and deep fried sweet potato. We enjoyed a fabulous afternoon tucked inside the little teahouse, learning all about local tea, eating delicious treats. On the way back it rained (surprise!) and we caught the local mountain bus (which accepted the Taipei transit pass) back to the Gondola.
The instructions for brewing are as follows
1. Boil water
2. Fill pot 1/4 with dried tea leaves (should fill pot when unfurled)
3. Add water to tea up and over top of pot
4. Immediately pour out the water into the bone china jug and use to rinse utensils
5. Add water to tea, steep for 15-25 secs depending on taste, immediately decant into jug (to keep leaves dry so they don't go bitter)
6. Pour over spoon or pour into tall cylinders (to develop the nose) and then transfer into regular cups
7. Smell the spoon/cylinders
8. Sip slowly over conversation with friends
NB this is highly caffinated, tea leaves can be reused 4-6x
Yaoyue 邀月 (Inviting the Moon) Teahouse
No. 6, Lane 40, Sec. 3; 指南路3段40巷6號; tel (02) 2939-2025
We started out late the morning of the races, and then our cab driver (who had no idea where Dajajiao was actually) dropped us opposite to where we wanted to go. Forcing us to run 10 blocks in flip flops punctuated by frantic phone calls from Danny our team captain exhorting us to "go straight to the bridge". I think bitter thoughts about the driver, who could have used the same instructions.
We arrive panting and breathless, and grab life jackets - just in time to line up and load the boat. The Taipei City race is a big deal. All the teams are in lycra rash guards and board shorts, sporting hairstyles and skin adornments fashioned specifically for the event. The mayor AND the president are scheduled to participate. We've got our styling watersports functional uniforms in red and white. Our team is the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce. We're an international bunch but mostly Taiwanese, English, American, Canadian with a couple of Aussies & Kiwis thrown in. The teams we're up against look burly and synchronized. We paddle out to the start and mill around 4 boats to a heat, jockeying into position. Our drummer calls us to the ready, we sit with paddles raised, crouched to unleash a torrent of power strokes, when the starter tells us to put our paddles down. As we comply, he fires the starter pistol, and while we struggle to get our paddles into the water, the Phillipino team surges ahead winning by 3 very clear boat lengths. To our disappointment, we have a consolation race in the afternoon but can expect nothing more from this loss. Everyone is bummed and miserable- all those mornings on the river- just to lose it on the start... Oh well this was just a prelude to the meat of the weekend. We forfeit the next day's races as planned, and move on to the Taipei County races.
Day 2 Bitan- Taipei County Races
The next day we're at Bitan Taipei County races, an entirely different event. The first thing you notice is that the ladies take their sun protection seriously. Long sleeve shirts, hats and topped with an uv protective umbrella. We have to attend the opening ceremony so we arrive early and gather in the long covered area reserved for paddling teams. Everyone and their uncle speaks, the sound is a cacophony of marching bands blaring on horns and pounding on drums, mounted police shouting crowd control instructions (the horses freak out and jump into a giant dumpster narrowly missing the small kids running around in all the excitement).
Here the teams are lean and tanned. In addition to the neoprene race shorts, they have carbon fiber paddles instead of the wooden ones which come with the boats. They may be contenders, but we have the sexiest drummer on the river. We start with the compact and brown aborigine teams, they smile red beetle nut smiles, talk smack and tease us about our chances. We paddle down river to the start, our biggest problem is getting the handlers on the platform to stop staring at the the pink shirted dental hygenist team. The aborigine teams crush us convincingly while we place 3rd, they're on their way to the money slots. Up next is the other "foreign" team-IMBA students from DaiDa(?), another local team (Christian and short a couple of rowers) and a boat of "high schoolers", we spank them all but it's an unconvincing competition (Are we doing better or are they really that bad?) Meanwhile, in a super tight and closely contested heat, the flag catcher for the blue shirted aborigine team shockingly misses the flag. The rules state this is a forfeit, the blue team weeps inconsolably. They've been training for months...
We take a lazy interlude for lunch, where I wander down and buy zhongzi. These are rice packets wrapped in lotus leaves, that are special to this festival celebration. Michael checks out the rankings, if we place in the next consolation heat, the top teams will make it into the last slots for the main draw based on time. The team prepares for another heat. Today we have a full boat plus extra, I'm out and Angie is back in. She gives me her DSLR, some quick pointers and leaves me to snap the race. I head up to the suspension bridge for a different vantage point, and it looks like our team places well again- we're in the final 8.
We're jazzed but tired. The lineup changes again- I and a couple of the other teammates out resting are back in the boat. The boats square up again- based on times we're racing against the depressed blue team, a burly carbon fiber kitted team and a yellow team. The burly team charges ahead chased closely by the blue team hoping to salvage a spot in the upper 4. The yellow team is leading, and we're paddling with concentration and effort, pulling closer. As we churn towards the finish line flags we grunt and groan. Come on! It's all in slow motion- where the roar of the crowd fades and all you can hear is your blood pounding and the feel of the water heavy like molasses against the paddle. We rock and strain without looking now, the boat rises gliding with each stroke and we take the pace up another beat. A couple of feet to go we pull even and then surge forward our flag catcher leans precariously out grabs our blue flag and heaves upwards. We know we beat the yellow team with the orange flag, they know they've lost. We roar our victory, celebrating, pounding our oars against the gunwhales of the boat.
When the official times are posted, we beat the yellow team by 41 milliseconds to take 7th place out of 37 teams in the mixed open division. Not bad at all.
During Scrabble nite last week Stella mentioned that she was headed on a tour to Hualien with friends for the weekend. The plan was to track down fireflies in the mountains and then hike Toroko Gorge the following day. Angelica and I both loved the sound of this adventure and begged to be included.
Here are a few video highlights of the trip. Check below for still shots.
第一天 First day
台北(龍山寺捷運站二號出口)集合, 開心地出發啦~~!
Taipei (Longshan Temple MRT exit 2) Picked up by our guides Amao & Crystal, happily starting our adventure la ~! We (Angelica, Stella and I) are greeted with smiles and cranberry cheesecake stuffed mianbao. Everyone is talking Chinese but I'm catching the gist of the easy stuff and Angie's filling me in on the more complex topics. After a while we get caught up in the conversation and Angie forgets to translate, but it's ok I'm happy to listen to all the jokes flying around. On the way out we pass a labyrinth of freeway ramps. I'm glad someone else is navigating.
下北宜高抵達蘇澳. (路程中可視團員狀況沿路休息)We travel towards Ilan thru the Suao tunnels of the Taipei-Ilan highway. (It's an amazing feat of engineering, but cuts right thru the aquifer layer- affecting groundwater and catchment areas!). What used to be a long, tortuous and winding trip has been massively shortened and straightened by boring directly under the mountains. I'm glad not to be carsick but I feel a little guilty about the ruined aquifer layer (the local environmentalists had a cow when the highway was built).
享受整路蘇花公路美麗的東海岸風光, 到達小房子, 先將行李放好..喝杯咖啡稍事休息, 也討論一下行程選擇 The drive along the eastern coast highway was long (4 hours total) but with beautiful scenery. We made a well planned stop at a scenic temple perched on the bluffs overlooking the elongate Hualien Bay with a fantastic view of fishing boats and (very importantly) toilet facilities. After another hour we arrived at the B&B cottage, dropped off our luggage, made necessary pit-stops and refreshments. The cottage is an old style farm village cottage, with raised platform bedrooms and hard mattresses. The rooms are open onto the wooden rafters, so no ceilings. The roof is tiled the old fashioned way (after a typhoon 3 years ago destroyed the aluminum roof). Everything was decorated in a rustic Ikea style, bold colors and simple furniture. The backyard is fully planted as a kitchen garden. If you walk down the road, you can see other cottages built in the same style but in different states of repair and conditions.
We discussed our plan of action for the day and agreed that since I was short on time in Taiwan our goal was try to fit as much in as possible in a sort of "ultra speedy crack mission impossible ". Crystal jokingly promised that we would get to a site and then they would say "see that trail? you have 30 minutes- run, run run (pao, pao ,pao)". After a confusing conversation about manta rays I determine from small concrete reliefs in the garden that the sunfish or Mola mola is the mascot of Hualien. Crystal asks me to draw the difference between a manta ray and a sunfish- she laments that instead of marine biology Taiwan has "Seafood biology".
Impromptu stop at the beach. No swimming, coz it's a steep pebbly beach (like Monastery Beach in Big Sur) with a dramatic drop off and a strong long shore current and hidden rips. It's a working beach coz the substantial drop off allows the fishing boats right up onto the beach to land their catch. Still it was nice to rest on the beach after the long drive. The pebbles look like a mix of marble and limestone, all Jackson Pollocky. Everyone is armed with a camera, I feel somewhat redundant with my little point & shoot when everyone else has massive DSLRs. The breeze starts picking up, and the air force base down at the end of the bay had planes flying overhead, so it was interesting but a little noisy.
阿美土產午餐~ 超級推薦的山野美食~!! Lunch- Amao and Crystal recommend the local seafood and we're all enthused to drive down into Hualian harbor and buy fresh fish from the local fishermen. They have a kaleidescope of fish- flying fish, octopus & squid, flat fish with bio-luminescent skin (bacteria in the skin cells), all kinds of coral reef fish; I even found a guy skinning (ever so casually) an entire bin of poisonous puffer fish! We didn't risk it ourselves considering the conditions, but I saw other people ordering it by the jin (Taiwanese measure for 600g). After Crystal chose our fish, they cooked it for us. Each dish tasted very different. We started with some incredibly fresh tuna and salmon sashimi, followed by fish ball veg soup, salt and pepper oysters, eggs noodles and mounds of fresh steamed shrimp. Wow. fantabulous.
松園別館~ 感受遍地舖滿松針與徐徐清風吹來的靜謐 On the way over to Tsung Yuen Museum we stop at a roadside stand to pick up some thirst quenching stewed winter melonade (it's got a kind of caramelly melony depth to it, good pucker factor & brain freeze for sure). The museum is atop the only hill in the city, surrounded by trees and covered with pine needles and a quiet breeze blows slowly thru the tree tops (Qing feng dian). It's more of an artsy craft center, complete with drumming circle (occupied by a class of drummers pounding away), display galleries for art, poetry and classrooms (jewelry making, etc). The museum store has a full selection of postcards and other knickknacks. You can see the red bridge we crossed on the way into town. The roof had been slightly altered for skylights. I like the impromptu poems on slabs of 2x4. Many of them are wild running style, which has a lot of energy, but the folks who are supposed to be able to read the characters complain that these are illegible. I can only make out a a handful of characters like ren, shui, bu, zhong, da - enough to feel like my studying is starting to have some relevance.
We spot some fallow fields with a cover crop of cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds and daisies. There are other flowers I can't identify. It's so pretty we whip out the cameras and start snapping more pics. We all have cameras and we're using them, so it's tough to get a good shot of someone with out them looking at their cameras. On the plus side between us all we've generated about 700+ pics over the weekend. Amao thinks we prolly have taken more pics than any other group they've had. It's so photogenic, as is the derelict cottage and old man with a twig broom.
林田山的舊宿舍... We head on over to the Lin Tianshan the old quarters of a logging village. It's got all the original equipment and possessions of the people who lived there during the lumber heyday. The highlight for me is the constructed art section where huge models of insect lie in wait.
"跑跑跑"的散步完後, 黑心團特色的"吃吃吃"時候到了, 來吃個特別的鮮韮菜臭豆腐..攤子旁就放著大大把的新鮮韮菜.. Amao asks us if we're ready for the most challenging part of our trip "the black heart of our Mission" , "Chi Chichi" to eat the fresh leek special stinky tofu ..
上場囉, 為了讓切丁的韮菜方便食用, 會將炸好的臭豆腐中間挖一個洞, 若要加辣就會把辣椒醬放進洞裡, 再把切丁韮菜鋪放上去., 這攤的臭豆腐真是有夠臭, 把車停在旁邊門一開, 感覺就像被臭味劈頭打中的感覺一樣, 也有普通加泡菜的炸臭豆腐, 加泡菜的話則是將臭豆腐切成三角型後再炸..外國朋友都讚不絕口, 說外皮酥內心軟, 又臭又夠味, 整個就是一個決配~!! 放着外帶裝盤中..臭豆腐上鋪滿滿新鮮切丁的韮菜..
韮菜是要用多少切多少, 才不會因為切好後放太久而縮掉..
We all agreed to share just a couple of servings coz we were still full from lunch. We stopped at an open air stand that did both original pickled veg as well as special leek chou doufu. The smell is a wall that splits your head open. Good things it's outdoors and has good ventilation. The doufu is cut into triangles and then holes cut into the middle to increase the spicy sauce diffusion.
Leeks are cut fresh and then sweated slightly to enhance the flavor. Another version is ladled with vinegared veg- cabbage, carrots onion etc. I like the pickled cabbage version better, I think that the vinegar adds a bite and clarity to the taste that the leek doesn't. But it's all delicious. It was a case of everyone eats it or no one eats, the smell was that strong. Crisp inner skin soft, smelly tender insides Gou Wei! The car reeks afterwards and we have to roll all the windows down for air.
吃完臭豆腐點心, 又轉戰一定要推薦給外國朋友的"豐春冰果室", 大家用了超級清涼的甘蔗冰, 快六點了, 準備來去鯉魚潭看螢火蟲囉.. 豐春冰果室~ ㄧ路搭車, 來去吃個冰消暑吧~! We hardly have room but for the famous Feng-chun fruit ice we'll make space. The ubiquitous shaved ice is replaced with frozen sugar cane ice. It's juiced, condensed and frozen in bright orange pipes that line the walls. The industrial set up indicates that they're ready for the sweltering summer demands for ice, ice, ice -Xiaoshu ~!
夜間活動(還有體力嗎? 逛夜市、休息、來去鯉魚潭享受寧靜夜景跟找螢火蟲?) We continue our drive up into the hills directly behind Hualian to Guangye Shi, where Liyu (Carp) Lake sits in a bowl between two ranges. As we pull into the park I see a sign for the Hualien 2008 Triathlon. We just missed it by a couple of hours... Oh well we'll just have to enjoy a quiet night searching for fireflies. The frogs come out in their brass section complemented by the cicadas and crickets string section- an evensong symphony as the twilight fades completely from blue to black. Groups of nature lovers congregate near the trail head but we ignore them and press on around the lake and up into a gully as small sparks of light start floating around. I try to film the queer green pulsating strobes. It's so faint that it's not making any impression on my camera screen (which is so backlit that it's killing my night vision), I switch off the technology and decide to rely on my memories of the event. As my eyes gradually acclimate to the dark, it seems all of a sudden a swarm of fireflies descend from the canopy, flitting around with steady beams or pulses tracking the path. Amazing. We grow quiet as we absorb this kufee (cool feeling) glad that we were able to leave the masses of people behind. The best side for spotting fireflies is the east side in damp brush covered places. We circle the lake and climb into the car after a good long hike (estimates range from 5-10 km) It was dark and it took a long time but so worth the effort and blisters.
七星潭(帶著自強夜市採買的美食,來去七星潭吹風吃美食) It's so late all the restaurants in the area are closed. Luckily the local night market Qixing Tan is well stocked with local delicacies. We can't eat the BBQ, there's a 70 minute wait, so we walk down and grab a variety of Taiwanese night market staples- coffin bread stuffed with lamb stir fry, oyster omelet (but with the locally fresh oysters it's lifted to a different plane of being), mango/watermelon/papaya smoothies and rice congee. I'm so stuffed from the day, I can only sip on a mango smoothie and taste Angie's "dead bread".
回小房子休息 Back to the cottage to rest. We pass out as if struck on the head with a baseball bat.
第二天 The next day
七星潭看日出!! We skipped the optional visit to see the 5 am sunrise and local fish market by simply sleeping thru till 7am. Amao got up early, but decided against waking us up.
享用小房子的田園風有機特色早餐.. We wake up to an organic breakfast of wild veggies (fern tips, sweet potato greens, bamboo shoots, seaweed) gathered and cooked by Amao's mom.. Delicious.
今天我們有一整天的時間逛太魯閣國家公園, 首先到達的當然是不能免俗一定要"到此一遊"的, 橫貫公路入口牌樓.. Today we have a whole day planned around the Taroko National Park, we stop to take the typical tourist pics at the cross-island highway entrance decorated archway to the Taroko and buy the casual 7-11 picnic lunch for later .. We take several different paths along paved walkways designed to exhibit the natual beauty of the rock formations and wild gorges. Amao drops us off, and we walk prolly an easy 30 minutes. He picks us up and drops us off again. This time the trail cuts thru the mountain, and the tunnels are pitch black with no lighting. We make our way up the trail to the Crystal Waterfall Caves, where we don plastic rain gear and wade into the dark tunnel. About 5 minutes in the sounds of the waterfall are so deafening, you can hardly think. But the light is so bad, it's impossible to take good pics and I'm afraid of getting my camera wet. Still it's exhilarating to stand under the torrential cascade and feel the pounding force. Ack my raincoat sprang a leak and I can feel the cold water rushing in with it's icy cold fingers.
On our way out we pass a convoy of buses. I'm so glad that our tour is special, instead of being herded on and off those massive tankers. They have to stop and buy things from the "tourist shops" specially designated as part of the tour. We're off in search of a wild onsen- a mineral spring in a river that has been made into a bathing pool. It's deserted and rustic. We soak our feet, and wish that we had brought our bathing suits. The water is hot and smelly. The views are great.
The mists start to roll in, it's getting cold and we're all tired.
晚餐-南方澳最新鮮的富美活海鮮 dinner - Nanfang Ao fresh live seafood-rich and tasty plus crunchy fried frogs' legs. What a treat!
回到台北溫暖的家..(龍山寺捷運站) Taipei to return to the warmth of home .. This time dropped off outside our lane since it was on the way back to Longshan Temple MRT for everyone else.
It should have come as no surprise, since there are tons of evidence of geothermal activity. But when I felt the tremors, I was like "Is that an earthquake?" Neither of them lasted long enough to do anything besides register in my consciousness. They both felt pretty small, about 2-3 in magnitude. Interestingly
I felt these earthquakes but lots of people didn't.
Every day walking home from school, I pass a place that roasts sweet potatoes in massive clay ovens (I think heated by charcoal), very reminiscent of tandoori. The smell as you walk by is terrific and since I don't have an oven (just a bionic toaster on steroids), this is an efficient and convenient way to get some healthy carbs. It's cheap too, only $10 NT per sweet potato. They are piping hot, smoky without being burnt and sort of caramelized from the long baking. The lao3ban3 is super friendly and goes out of her way to make conversation with me. I think she's been very supportive of my awkward Chinese and appreciates the minor improvements in tones and vocabulary over the weeks.
You can imagine my surprise last weekend when they dismantled the entire operation from the largish shop space to camp out on the corner selling from a cart (top picture). When I asked her what was going on, she said that they couldn't afford the shop anymore. I guess the margin on sweet potatoes is just not that large. But she seems in good spirits, and I haven't noticed a drop in the number of customers, so hopefully with lower overhead, and maintaining their customer base by staying in the vicinity of their original space they're able to make a profit. The second picture is the space they vacated.
Across the street is a small baking operation, I hesitate to call it a bakery. The guy sells shao bing- 3 different kinds. Big pillowy flat ones stuffed with green onion, small crispy salted green onion dusted with sesame seeds, and little sweet ones. He's open early until he sells out, lasting maybe 3 hours tops. There's always a small cluster of people waiting for the fragrant and steaming buns, he sells them faster than he can pull them out of the ovens every day. But rather than making more and having leftovers, he just grins and says "Wo3 mei2you3. Ming2tian3 ni3 hui2lai2." And then you know you missed your chance and have to come back tomorrow- earlier, much earlier.
When I asked him why he does it this way, he explained that wheat flour prices doubled over the last year, and that he can't afford to have any leftovers and still keep his prices where they are right now. But soon, even these kind of cost cutting measures that are protecting his customers won't be enough, and then the shao bing will get smaller or the prices will go up. I'm betting they get smaller...
On the corner by my house, there was a small restaurant with a couple of street stalls out on the sidewalk. They mostly supported the local business lunch crowd, but were never very busy. Yesterday, they packed up into 3 large trucks and moved out. I didn't get to talk to anyone about the reasons behind their closing down, but I'd guess they'd cite rising costs in food and fuel, killing their margin. I think it looks like it's going to be harder to find fabulous cheap food shortly, just because everything is costing an arm and a leg wholesale.
This morning on my walk with the dogs I passed a betel nut shop also closing. I don't frequent this store (not into carcinogenic radioactive luminescent red spit), but all of the construction workers drop by on their way home from the job sites (of which there are many in my neighborhood). So you'd think there was enough business to stay open? It's starting to get a little depressing.
Taiwan DragonBoatTraining from Misty FahYing on Vimeo
Every year in June, teams of people vie for top honors in the Dragon boat races. The events in Taipei City and County are fierce, fielding teams from all the local universities and major corporations. Angelica's friend Andrew recruited us for his Dragonboat racing team citing low numbers of girls. "If you show up, you'll get to paddle" he promised. Thus we rose at the crack of dawn and ended up on the river bank to experience this Taiwanese tradition. When we showed up, there were a couple of teams churning by looking either energetic and paddling all in unison or looking exhausted and uncoordinated (more like a drunken caterpillar).
After some essential stretching each person collects a paddle and a puffy life jacket, and we head out onto the dock to load the boat. With 9 paddling positions of 2 people- one on each side of the boat, a helmsman who steers, a drummer and a flag catcher/navigator- there are 21 people in total. We start out with some warm up paddling, you're supposed to paddle with your back and legs and not with your arms. Easier said than done... I'm finding it difficult to bend in the middle considering the massively squishy life jacket. But we bend and paddle in earnest, splashing water and trying to achieve the desired "hydroplaning" effect, where you're going fast enough that the boat rises out of the water and becomes "easier" to row. We look more like a bunch of frenzied egg beaters than a smoothly functioning machine, and the boat lurches from side to side as the rhythm breaks down (we really didn't start in unison either). To top if off, we've got a rookie helmsman, who sends us around in circles for about half an hour, before we swap him out for someone else.
We're part of a mixed group of locals and expats, and a fair number of the team is bilingual, which means that you may get instructions in either Chinese or English. What this really means is that you still don't understand what's going but you can use the language hurdle as your excuse for not immediately complying. After another 20 minutes of wetly thrashing around on the water, another team issues a challenge to a "friendly race".
Bring it on.
We muscle the boats into approximate alignment, paddles in the ready position and then when the shout "paddles up. GO!" start with the 20 "quick" strokes. The boat heaves and judders and then suddenly feels magically "lighter". We've achieved the desired hydroplane and it IS easier. We rock back and forth, watching the oar in front, straining to keep time and stroke correctly. Snatching a quick glance over to the other boat, we're rapidly pulling ahead, their prow still buried in the water- they failed to "rise" to the occasion. We continue up river to the marker and then break, resting our burning backs and legs and waiting for the other boat to struggle to the end. We cheer them as they approach with shouts of "Jai You, Jai You!" They grin sportingly and promise another time. I want, I need to switch sides- my back is starting to seize up, but there's no chance since we're stuck out in the middle of the water in a wobbly boat. Turning downstream we paddle against the incoming tide. This time it's a tough slog, and we're all grateful when someone needs to get dropped off, ending the session. Still I'm hooked and I'll be back on Wednesday, really at the crack of dawn- got to be at school/work by 9am.
intransitive verb: to go on or through water by or as if by means of a paddle or paddle wheel
transitive verb1 a: to propel by a paddle b: to transport in a paddled craft "paddled us to shore in his canoe" 2 a: to beat or stir with or as if with a paddle (as in washing or dyeing) b: to punish by or as if by beating with a paddle
paddle[verb]
Text: to move a boat by means of oars "I like to paddle on the river for exercise and relaxation" — see row
After a long fun hike in the hills above Keelung, Sabina and I headed back down into town, ducking into the 3 brothers' Dou hua shop to eat the famous dessert. I had the special tapioca pearls, stuffed each with a red bean, accompanied by iced taro and dou hua with ginger syrup. Then we met all of Sabina's family and friends at the local fire station (opposite the stairs up to fort hike) before walking across town to the restturant.
Sabina and her girlfriends had decided to treat their moms to a fancy meal to celebrate Mother's day. All the girls are working professionals, Sabina is a project manager/PR for a Taiwanese economic "think tank", her friends are all in the public services- nurses, police, firefighter. I think the invitation was to the moms who were told they could bring their husbands if they wanted (but only if they deserved it). So we had quite a large table of people.
I didn't take pics of the meal because it felt intrusive. For starters there were these soy-vineagar brined clams slurpy goodness. Followed by the best sashimi I've had since Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo Japan. There were 3 or 4 local fish really fresh firm and tasty, as well as tender squid pieces and salmon/crab rolls. A decadent plate of curried crab roe served with crusty french bread, mmm tasty. Grilled oysters in the half shell. Rock lobster heads in vermicelli, garlic lobster tossed with black bean sauce. Then we had a fish soup, salt and pepper deep fried crab. Drunken deep fried whole fish- it had been soaked in rice wine before frying so the wine cut the fat and the flesh was sweet and succulent. Mounds of vinegary shrimp to peel.
The mayor was eating upstairs with a famous Taiwanese movie producer, a guy from the Taiwan legislate and a rich chip manufacturing magnate. Sabina's dad returned with the kind offer for us to take pictures with Lin Yi Ling (sp?)
We stormed upstairs in a frenzy of hushed excitement and took pictures with the tallest super model. She was very sweet and got right in the middle with the little boy of the party, with all of us crowded around. I felt like we were invading her privacy but it seemed quite the done thing to have the picture taken.
So I go walking down by the river fairly often. One afternoon the guy ahead of me on the trail suddenly disappeared. I checked to see where he went but couldn't make out how he could have vanished so quickly.
If you look closely, you can see a hut kind of merged into the surrounding greenery. In fact there's a whole row of huts! And people live there...
The official stance on homelessness in Taiwan is that it's very low. Altho I've tried to find statistics I haven't found anything super specific in English- some articles cite between 5000-20,000 in the Greater Taipei Area. Truthfully I've seen several people sleeping on the streets looking very reminiscent of San Francisco and Berkeley. But somehow I have a feeling that some people aren't being counted coz they've found themselves an alternative that doesn't rely on charity or available aid.
The Taiwanese government has invested a lot of effort into municipal waste services including a pretty extensive recycling program. I think it's safe to say that the little old ladies who mostly participate have got the Berkeley recycling scavengers beat in spades. Ok so the low tech version looks very similar to a shopping cart, but check out the massively loaded tricycle. This one gets piled high before setting out to a collection point- every trip has got to be worth while. In fact it's piled so high I have a hard time believing anyone can move it but they do! Another popular option is the scooter powered cart.
It's very much a tradition here to have an old lady down stairs/ around the block/at the garbage drop off point who takes all the paper, cardboard, plastic and metal cans which then don't make it into the regular garbage. It all has resale value. These ladies treat the recycling- crushing plastic, cans and stacking cardboard; then move it to a collection point where it's picked up for transit.
I think it's a fairly effective program, and the ladies make a living off it.
I've only got a couple of weekends left and so I'm trying to cram a bunch in. This makes it hard to keep up with the blogging, what with the Chinese class, studying etc. My apologies for the paucity of entries. Last weekend I took the train out to Keelung (pronounced Ji1Long3). Don't ask me about the weird spelling, Taiwan is full of English "names" that look nothing like the chinese pronunciation. Keelung-aka JiLong, is Taiwan's 3rd largest seaport, and is located on the coast, north-east of Taipei. The train ticket cost NT$45 kuai, the journey was about 1hour 15minutes and relatively non-crowded. There is a bus that costs about the same and is about 45 minutes (which is the recommended way to go), but I prefer trains since they go in straighter lines (motion sickness...)
Here's the view from the south east corner of the harbor just beyond the train station. You can see the massive cruise liners waiting to set sail for Okinawa, Japan. Sabina met me at the station and immediately asked me if I had eaten (which is the polite way to greet someone in Chinese). Of course I answered that I was starving (the impolite but truthful answer) I had heard good things about the street food in Keelung. To that end, we wandered down to the food street (Ren Er Jie) and then headed out for a tour around the city and a hike up to a Qing dynasty fort.
Even tho it was only a little after noonish, Ren Er Jie was completely packed. At nite the MiaoKou Market explodes into being centered around the Temple (DianJi Gong) and RenEr lies at the heart. It's so popular that during the day, the food stalls are always open. There were so many stalls, and we wanted to get moving so we sampled the "nutritious sandwich" (deep fried yummy goodness but hardly healthy), peanut dust veggie spring roll, and the BBQ'd octopus arms. Across the way, Pao pao Ice stand was crammed with people waiting for a tasty shaved ice treat, and so of course in the interest of sampling as much as possible, I got a mango shaved ice. They have other flavors like peanut and red bean which looked delicious too. Just down the way I looked longingly at the sushi/sashimi and Sabina promised that we would have sashimi later at a great seafood restaurant.
Here's Sabina howling with laughter, after I asked her to pose with the International Asian symbol of picture taking. We crossed the Tian Liao river and walked a couple of blocks north to XinEr Jie and started our climb up to the Martyrs' Shrine opposite the local fire station. It's pretty steep but you get a good workout to compensate for all the eating planned for the day. Continue onward, upward and inward to JiLie Temple. They have an excellent little museum that mostly focuses on the summer "Ghost Festival". (Sadly I'll miss it by just a few days.) Keep walking faithfully uphill (another 30 minutes?) and you'll get to the Kuanyin Temple with the massive white statue of Goddess Kuanyin. There are quite a few temples on the ridgeline, so don't worry if you don't get there immediately.
When we got to the temple there was an old fashioned mini market, and you could imagine what the original Keelung market must have looked like hundreds of years ago. It was pretty quiet, except for the massive bell tolled constantly. Ring the bell & make a wish. I'm sort of templed out so I didn't take any pictures of the massive statues or temple itself.
It's really more of an uphill stroll on sidewalks than a trail hike. If you get beset with doubt, you can always ask a friendly local who will stop and keep pointing you in the right direction. The ridgeline extends out to the Qing (1800's) Dynasty Fort (Hai3men2 Tian1Xian3), on the way you'll pass a great lookout space, and a small dirt bike course.
The woods were pretty dense and there were a ton of butterflies and insects. These were kind interesting looking caterpillars wandering the the walls. Anyway great views, old guns and lonely soldiers' graves. I definitely recommend this hike.
On the way down we took a different trail and ended pooching out onto the seafront road, by a shipyard with those massive shipping cranes that inspired the Star Wars "AT AT walkers". Walking back, we passed a derelict village that had the old fashioned Japanese style houses. Kind of sad to see these houses abandoned but really cool to be able to see how they're actually constructed. You can see the plaster and wood walls, raised sprung wooden floored platforms that used to be covered with tatami mats.
Total time spent including breaks for hanging out etc 3 hours.
Today in class our teacher Li 佬師 gleefully informed us that May 1 is officially the start of the rainy season (aka Prune Rain 梅雨 mei2yu3) prolly coz you shrivel up with all the water! All rain previous to this date can be laughed at（a light drizzle by comparison). True to form it was raining so hard when I left school, that the VW bus sized drops were beating thru my umbrella. I believe it. Our teacher Li 佬師 says the Taiwanese have many words for rain。 I'm starting to think they have these words in the same way that Eskimos refer to snow。
我的課很好 wo de ke hen hao (my class is very good)
我們學完的書 women kanwan de shu ( we have finished our book)
We've learned about 400 words (in pinyin) and ~50 characters. I've
been brute force memorizing. Sometimes it feels like they just run out my ears.
Of course the reason my blog has been pretty idle for the last week: I was studying for a midterm.
我的考試有一點難了 wo de kaoshi you yidian nan （the exam was a little difficult）
Today we started another book! by the end of term, our
teacher says we will have learned about 800 words
The other good news is that I inherited an old beater bike from a
classmate who just left for France。（He's headed to the IvoryCoast next）。Anyway a shout out to Jean-Michel。I'll be passing it on to another classmate when I leave。
Altho it's harder to dodge the rain on a bike。。。
The Bao An temple holds an UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage award. It's the only site in Taiwan to receive such an honor and is well worth the visit. The neighborhood is called Dalongtong, and the 200+year-old Bao An temple lies at the heart. Take the MRT red line north to Yuanshan Station, Exit 2. Turn left and walk up Gulung St, it's sign posted. Turn right at the 2nd light (Dalong St) and walk up to Hami St, you should be able to see the ornate temple gates and courtyard from the intersection. The deity housed there is Baosheng Dadi, a medical God; other Gods include Shennong (Farm God) & Mazu (Sea Goddess). The Confucius Temple is right next door but it's undergoing renovations currently and thus not open for viewing.
My friend Samson invited me to attend the Baosheng Cultural Festival. It a series of celebrations at Bao An Si that last a whole month (centering around the 15th of the 3rd lunar month) culminating in fireworks, procession of resident deities, street performances, religious ceremonies and fire walking.
In the video short above I've tried to give you a flavor of the number of people crowded into a relatively large space (so think LOTs of people), the sounds of the various celebrants and the street performers-martial artists, cherry blossom dancers & paper mache masked umbrella toting maternal ancestors , and the giant Shenou (God puppets) that dance and whirl thru the area. Frustratingly, everywhere I stood, someone taller than me (I'd like to be a tall person) came and parked right in front, so my views are slightly obscured, but I was pretty lucky and managed to get up front & see most everything.
Everyone has the most amazing cameras and telescopic lenses. I felt kind of dorky using my little point and shoot. Both sides of the courtyard had stairs or scaffolding that permitted a significantly larger number of people to take shots of the courtyard activities. At one point I had maneuvered in to position with an excellent view, only to find that the reason the area was unoccupied was because of firecrackers piled there. Pretty exciting moments to have all those explosions happening so close at hand (or foot rather). I could feel the percussions pounding thru my shoes, paper shreds hitting my face, and the billowing smoke chokingly acrid and smarting.
The floats are covered in flowers and lights for both day and nite processions. The shenou wait patiently for people power, while the martial artists demonstrate their prowess by breaking as many weapons as possible. Each musician is a soloist in their own right. Gods stride past on their way to the temple main doors (only opened on special days for the Gods to enter thru). Inside the temple itself, there were so many offerings that they had to add rows and rows of tables. The special day was extremely lucky and meant good health for supplicants, so it was crowded and busy. The air was heavy with the incense and burning joss paper.
After sunset, a large paper lion was installed in the courtyard and massive numbers of firecrackers/fireworks strung up around the square. More and more people cram into the space until it's impossible to move. Then when the TV stations signal the go-ahead, the firecrackers & "cascading" fireworks are set off, each strand setting off another couple of strands till it's impossible to hear, all you can feel is the pulsing impact from explosions. Suddenly the paper lion erupts into flames as fireworks cannon out, whizzing off to shatter into showers of multi colored sparks that rain down cinders & ash into the crowd. All the people who originally jockeyed into the front for a good view, surge backwards from the cacophony, while the people at the back press forward, determined to see the most of the display. Having learned from the earlier exploding moments, I was safely ensconced on the temple steps, with a relatively decent view altho again all the tall people seemed to have banded together. I think my eardrums aged a couple years from the overload on sound. If you're suffering from Post Traumatic Stress this would not be a recommended activity.
Shutter speed is still too slow for good pics in the dark. I'll ask Ange is she has any good shots.
What's this? How did I become an internationally infamous movie starlet? you ask.
Well not really famous or distributed in any way so far. My room mate Angelica has a friend- Jack, who needed some (let's say) "international" looking/sounding people to appear on a short for a bushiban (cram school where they teach English/Chinese/Japanese/Korean). Initially I had plans to attend a Taiwanese Temple Celebration and I said no thanks.
But halfway thru the day, Ange called- they were desperate and would I re-consider doing it? As a favor to Ange, I agreed to show up and recite some lines.
I had to say "Chinese culture is so rich and complex. I wish I could understand the language, then I would really appreciate Chinese art! But where can I learn Chinese?!!"
and then really frustrated "Where can I learn Chinese?!!
Things they never tell you about the glamorous world of film:
Look into the camera without shifting your eyes- apparently mine were shifty and squinty.
Don't "overact" just talk like you would with a friend- My eyebrows were working too hard
Put some "real" emotion into it- I was kind of... too stiff (make up your mind huh?!)
Don't laugh at the end of the take- it really makes you seem not professional/sincere ;^)
Acting is mostly waiting around for everyone else to flub their lines- for close to 1 1/2 hours and then finishing my lines in 10 minutes (6 takes)!
and for my pains- NT$1000 kuai (US$30)
No pictures coz my memory card was full from the temple stuff. Altho now I wish I had ditched some of the old ladies dancing to record my taste of fame and glamor.
The Taipei Weekend Flower market is located under an elevated freeway on Jianguo Lu section 1. It's normally parking during the week, and during the weekend the space is converted into various markets where vendors can sell things out of the oppressive sun/rain that makes being outdoors a challenge here in Taiwan. On the north end there is a Jade Market, then the Flower Market, followed by the Gallery Market (where you can buy "art"). I was pressed for time so will have to explore the other markets another weekend. There are 2 stops that are pretty close by, Blue line Zhongxiao Xinsheng Exit 4 puts you out on Zhongxiao East Lu. Continue east on Zhongxiao Lu & turn right onto Jianguo Lu. Keep walking, you should see the Jade Market under the freeway. It's pretty crowded with people buying jewelry, but it looked like a lot of fun (I'm definitely going back to check it out). A few blocks south, the Flower market starts. From the Brown Muza line, take the Da'an Park stop (not sure what exit sorry) and walk west on XinYi Lu till you see the south end of the flower market. Note: all the green bits you see in this shot are brought in for the flower market. Normally this space is just bare concrete.
You can buy almost anything plant related. Pots of all shapes and sizes, potting mix, fertilizers and ground cover. I'm inspired to dig and hoe and scatter the good seed on the ground. To that effect I bought (of course) edible plants- basil, rosemary and mint, as well as some interesting decorative plants to keep on the porch outside my window. It's really amazing how much better I feel having some plants to look out at instead of the concrete and iron bars (it's like prison). So many apartments look like mini jungles- I guess it's pretty easy to grow things with the high humidity and tropical sun.
The market was packed with people thinking about green things and gardening now that spring has arrived. You can get hi-tech hydroponic/sprinkler systems, and more orchids.
You can even get trees!
ShiLin Nite Market is THE Nite Market to visit in Taipei. It started out more than 100 years ago centered around a local temple. It's very popular and in recent years experienced enormous growth- now a massive warren of alleys and lanes filled with people swarming the food carts and pawing thru the clothes and nicknack's. There seem to be a large number of roving vendors, that operate under the radar, since if the police wander by checking licenses, they all dodge away down little back alleys and trundle out after the police are past. They set up their carts in the middle of the street forcing the crowds to swirl and eddy around as people to stop to sample and buy the treats. Apparently this is quite a tradition, dating back to immigrants from China clashing with local aborigine villagers forcing them to flee into the Yamingshan mountains. In order to sell their goods they had to "ghost" in and out of the ShiLin area to avoid notice- Ghost Market is another name for the area. There's a massive food court area built that was supposed to control food sanitation and crowding in the streets. But its a fairly well acknowledged fact that the best stalls are still in the older section (altho the popular ones also maintain stalls in the new food court) it just hasn't achieved the critical mass the planners had hoped for. The most excellent tasty Chou Doufu (fried/stewed stinky tofu) stall is near the intersection of the temple street and the main strip altho I can't tell you the name of the stall or the streets? Just walk till you see a long line of people facing towards the stinkiest spot in the area. Sahm Shung Di (tofu pudding) doufu hua is packed all the time. Near the movie theater, there is a long line of people waiting for the deep fried chicken fillet. Again you notice the line around the block for one stall and the almost lifeless neighbor (victim to the ruthless Taiwan foodie standards).
Earwax? Eh? speak up I can't hear you. If you've had problems with your hearing the first place to stop is the earwax removal stand. for a couple hundred kuai, you can have a paper tube inserted into your ear, set alight and wait patiently for the wax to get sucked out into the tube. Afterwards the paper tube is cut open to reveal your collection of ear wax for you to gasp in astonishment (and your friends' to laugh & take pictures) over what was housed in your auditory canal.
The first cart we stopped at was rectangular duck blood sausages cooked in a steam box, dipped in spicy sauce, peanut dust and green onion. Dense and chewy this is a hearty meal in it's own right. Good thing Jenny and I are sharing everything. Ginormous sausages and special squid ink sausages are porkly rich and tasty. Definitely cholesterol on a stick... We pass on the gelatinous stuffed dumplings in favor of the ubiquitous oyster omelet- crispy egg outside stuffed with oysters, veg & amoeba like filling smothered in spicy sauce (aka booger pancake according to Jenny). These are the specialty of the area, and everyone has their own version. I can't get over how few oysters there are and how accurately booger describes the experience. Next on the list Frogs' eggs drink (you can see the green frog with eggs coming out of it's ass)- delicious tapioca pearls stewed in brown sugar, with milk and ice. For an extra $10 kuai you can add Lime "jello" made from the spongy white stuff that used to be a small brown ball. Altho a fantastic concoction, it seems to succeed despite the marketing (it really does look like frog's eggs). Other tasty treats are shaved seed & nut brittle, BBQ'd chicken butts, deep fried pastry- rolled in rice flour pancake. An interesting candy is a zillion sugar threads stretched out, then wrapped around peanut or sesame fillings. On the way out we pass a stall where you can tell that cooking corn over the grill is hazardous- the guy has a burnt red face and singed eyebrows. Stop at the shaved ice stalls and fruit stands for a traditional Taiwanese summer treat of fabulous fruit snacks.
Altho it's called the ShiLin Nite Market, the best MRT stop is JiantanZhan. Stalls are open from about 5:30 pm till well after midnite and the last train home. Start anywhere and wander till you overload on the crowds.
It's rained pretty much every day that I've been here. Before it was a kind of drizzly
cold rain with gray skies interspersed by hefty downpours, all in unbelievably cold weather. Seriously!
It's still raining but the rain is now a more sideways torrential bucket poured over your head type, so loud that I can't hear the construction going on next door. I realize now that I miss (by comparison) the gentle freezing rain of winter (not to be confused with actual frozen precipitation such as snow, sleet or hail). Now the rain is warmer but then everything gets kind of mildewy smelly very quickly and there's mold growing on the walls. Yuck. I've wiped down the walls with bleach using Wendy's patented method for mold abatement, let's hope that works.
I'm not complaining actually, but this is my reality right now. The only other place where I lived that rained as many days (altho not as torrential) was England. Along with the water comes the hot weather, and I am such a delicate wilting flower. I've started walking around under an umbrella even when the sun is out, coz when it's sunny it's HOT- the sidewalks steam.
You can still find some winter holdovers- like the random roasted chestnut cart. I'd always read in books about roasting chestnuts by the fire. Sung about them in carols, but never actually really eaten one. So I plonked down my NT$15 kuai ($0.50US) and bought a bag of toasty warm brown smoky chestnuts. The lady selling them could tell I had no idea how to eat them, so she gave me a quick demo. And then I found out why they always say "as brown as chestnuts"... Roasted chestnuts make your hands black!
But as the weather gets hotter, the cherry trees all blossom and look so pretty! Up in the Fern Garden they got a spectacular display.
Last spring my cousin Monica invited me and Gwynie out to Dry Creek Peach and Produce to thin the peach crop. It was tough removing all of the perfectly formed baby peaches on many levels. I felt like each peach was a summer moment waiting to happen, so I was very reluctant initially to choose which one got the axe. But if they all stayed on the branch, they wouldn't get enough nutrients or room to grow and would break the branches that were mostly skinny new growth. It was also very hot and hard work to stand on a ladder with your arms raised for what seemed an interminable age. Our instructions were to reduce the number of peaches on a branch to about 4-5 (on alternating sides) depending on the strength of the branch. We just dropped the green fruit on the ground, they were too green and tough to eat. After about 2 hours of work we'd finished off about 4 trees in a 10 acre plot. It really gives one a new respect for farm work and where our food comes from. The result of all that hard work is ambrosia!
picture courtesy of Dry Creek Peach and Produce
Here in the Taiwanese markets, of course there's a use for these discarded baby green peaches (which are a sign that summer stone fruit is just around the corner). Brined baby peaches- taste like salted plums crossed with crab apples. Crunchy and slightly sweet salty from the brine. The first time I ate some I got the worst stomach ache from the green fruit. But that thankfully has subsided and I've happily added these to the breakfast rotation.
This one is for Kelly and Gwynie who both spend their days trying to make things safe for the rest of us.
Taiwan has a much more relaxed attitude about safety requirements. It's generally possible to wander thru unsecured building sites, stepping over tools and building debris. Sometimes it's not clear where the job site starts and the sidewalk ends... I'm not sure what the accident/injury rates are?
I snapped this one near my little lane, where there is a gas supply company down the way. They're pretty busy and get shipments of tanks of gas for fuel every other day or so. If your tank (think BBQ gas tank on GIANT steroids) runs out of fuel (used for heating your water and high BTU stove), you just phone down to the store and they'll run over another tank in about 5-10 minutes or so. The turn around is very fast and is made possible by the form of transportation they use.
It's pretty common to see up to 6 tanks loaded onto a scooter with the guy smoking a cigarette as he zooms past. However they're always too fast for me to get a good shot. So I made sure to get a stationary pic of unattended bike. The delivery guy was away dropping off a tank.
Anyway the other thing I noticed is how many people do some form of arc welding without protective gear, this is also a fairly common sight.
I've seen teams of construction workers on the side of a building using blowtorches to remove metal gratings. No one was harnessed and there were no safety lines preventing the gratings from dropping on the heads of people nonchalantly walking directly underneath (the area was not secured). I didn't think to take a pic so you'll just have to take my word.
Here's a picture of Danshui fishing village. After the terminus of the MRT was completed in Danshui, there's been quite a change from this original maritime scene to that of Taipei locals' weekend destination spot. Known for it's good food, historical sites, and pleasant riverside bike path, families spend their Saturday or Sunday afternoons wandering around or cycling the area. It's surrounded on all sides by mid-rise apartment blocks, and housing prices rocketed in the area, since now you can commute easily into the city center in about 35 minutes.
Kind of nice to be able to get away from Taipei, altho it feels like Taipei has followed you there.
I loved the juxtaposition of the Earth God shrine and the high power electricity pylon.
I went with Samson and Yi-Ling to the Mangrove Interpretive Center behind Hongshulin Station. Then we walked along the boardwalk/bike path thru the mangroves to Danshui. It was pretty sunny and warm- one of the few days so far! We saw a ton of birds and crabs (but those pics didn't turn out so well).
Today I had total brain freeze in class. We're doing possessive "de"
and it's not the same as Spanish "de" (of course). Somehow my brain
really got freaked out by that and just shut down, so I couldn't
recognize any words at all. Kind of frustrating since normally I'm
doing ok in class.
I've started dreaming in Chinese, altho I can't understand what
they're saying yet, i guess it means my subconscious is trying to
process my experiences.
My apartment is not super well insulated for sound so i can hear the
neighbors, and just the other day I started to understand their
conversation. which at the time was cool, but prolly later will
become annoying.
haha
The title is a quote that Gwynie has posted on her G'IM. It's from an old favorite of ours, the Wombles who were environmentalists before it was trendy.
They had a great vinyl album 'Wombling Songs' that we would sing along with all the time.
Here's a classic episode,
I wish I could find the song itself...
Exercise is Good For You (Laziness Is Not)
Standing on your tiptoes, running on the spot,
Exercise is good for you, Laziness is not!
Up in the morning for a five mile run,
Down to the river for a swim:
Biceps a-bulging, it's all good fun,
Chest out and keep your tummy in!
I just discovered the local municipal gym. Right across from Chiang Kai Shek memorial, the multi story facility is accessible to anyone who has NT$50 ($1.60 US) to spend on a workout. They have a 50 meter pool, steam room, sauna, heated pool for babies and old folks, and a fairly well equipped cardio room in addition to the weights, weight machines, yoga mats, balls and stationary cycles. I'm pretty excited about this discovery which means that I can maintain my workouts for relatively low costs.
My roommate Dee and I walk the backstreets down to the river with the dogs. Then Dee runs and I walk till we meet up and then turn around.
I also found a fabulous set of slides all polished up and great fun. I could do the stairs all night if the reward is a good 30 foot drop on luge style slick concrete. I can't believe they're for kids, it's pretty intimidating. As close to walking the pipe as you get in a tropical country.
A large adult male at the very top of the slide (for scale of reference)
On the way to and from school, I walk past a bunch of interesting shops and street stalls.
Here are a few shots that I think capture the randomness.
The Indoor Goose who is a great sentry for intruders. Ever vigilant, this gander escorts you for the entire expanse of sliding door. Prolly gets pretty tired during rush hour.
Would you eat at a restaurant called Elastic? It serves teas and soups made of connective tissue plus special herbs and spices that are supposed to help your joints. Cheaper and tastes better than that Glucosamine chondroitin, MSM, Sam-E, CoE Q10 etc.
I do language exchange with Yi-Ling once a week. She helps me with my Chinese and I help her with English. It's a very productive couple of hours and we always eat something interesting. Altho sometimes I think it's almost a dare. Haha.
Chou Doufu (Deep fried Stinky Tofu)
This is a binary selection food. Ether you love it or you hate it. Yi-Ling suggested I try it. She offered to buy one and share it with me (with the idea that when I hated it, she would finish it off). Half way thru the plate, I offered to get another one so that we didn't have to share. Yum delicious and way better than my previous stinky tofu experience at Spices!
The Taiwanese Hotdog
Yi-Ling was also behind the purchase of this delite.
The larger white looking dog is a sausage casing stuffed with flavored rice, it's cooked on the grill and then sliced open. Condiments are layered in and then the spiced sausage is placed inside the way a hotdog goes in a bun.
It's served wrapped in a paper cone- you twist the bottom and the hotdog construct is pushed up.
I asked for extra spicy and boy was it ever HOT!
Outside every convenience store and supermarket you'll find a drop box filled with receipts.
At first I thought it was just a way of cutting down on litter. But no, it's part of a larger system at work. People are donating to worthy causes. "And why would said lost cause want your moldy old proof of purchase?" you ask. Each transaction is documented with a receipt so that the shop must declare their sales accurately for tax purposes. (Apparently tax dodging was pretty popular- and may still be!) In any case, each receipt has a number printed at the top which is entered in a national drawing once every 2 months. As soon as I heard there was a passive entry to this chance to win NT$2M dollars, I started saving receipts.
Rather than reiterate the possibilities of winning I'll let you read up on that. My roommates think it's a hoot and have started donating their stubs to my cause. I guess they just don't feel lucky. But I feel hopeful, in a way more than I every had with the California Lottery (maybe coz I actually have some bits of paper with numbers?) and will continue to collect for the duration of my stay. It would be too cool to win some cashola just for picking up litter.
Tomorrow's the big day, the numbers are published and then I have to write some conditional searches in excel to see if any of my numbers match. Wish me luck!
Ps yesterday at a souveneir shop in the Taipei Main Station, one of the girls leafed thru a stack of receipts to find one that matched my purchase amount rather than print me one from the till. So my feeling is, tht sometimes even with this new system, transactions aren't being logged. But hey what's this girls time worth, compared to what the owner saves in taxes?
Ps2 I won! 2 tickets matched the last 3 digits. which means I won a whopping $400 kuai (almost US$12). not enough to retire on, but certainly good fun
Ice Monster (冰館)- The magical shaved ice fruit dessert
15 Yong Kang Jie, Cross street XinYi Lu
Taipei (Taiwan)
02-2394-8279
If you have some time to kill (ie you're waiting for a table at Ding Tai Feng) you can wander down YongKang Jie and wait in line at Ice Monster (冰館) which is the trendy spot for the ubiquitous shaved ice dessert. There's a really interesting phenomenon here in Taiwan, where one place will have a huge line of people waiting patiently and next door sells the same thing but no one goes there. I haven't got to the stage of trying the less busy spots but it's safe to say that people seem willing to wait for what they perceive to be the "better" product.
As you can see by the suitcases, there are some tourists sampling the "must visit" shaved ice fruit dessert. However I think there was a decent mix of locals also. Most of the topping options are chopped seasonal fruit over a mound of ice covered in condensed milk, fruit juice and syrup topped with sorbet or ice cream. The real trick is trying to figure out what flavors you want to sample. Coz there are so many options.
We got the mounded strawberry madness with passion fruit sorbet to share between the 3 of us since we needed to save space for the DTF xlb sampling. While you're waiting in line, you have to scout out the seats, so that by the time your dessert is ready, you have a place to sit. The seating style is communal- small benches and long tables that you share with other people enjoying their "healthy" fruit and frozen treats.
The people sitting opposite were having taro &red bean, and the mixed seasonal fruit. They seemed very friendly and were happy (ok maybe unaware) for me to snap a picture of their choices.
Most people seemed to be going for the fruits but every now and then someone walked by with an interesting flavor, this one is called "Job's tears". I think it might be stewed barley grains... but I'm not sure. of course there are smoothies too but they don't seem to be as popular.
Ice Monster has a philosophy of contrasting tastes and textures, so that you should taste both sweet & tart and the ice is cool slippery (not too crunchy- they have a special machine that grinds it) and the toppings are chunky and chewable.
Once you get your treat, you have to eat it quickly before it melts (altho it's not quite that hot yet- so what I really mean is before the people you're sharing with forget to share!) Ice Monster seemed quite crowded, regardless we managed to get in and out in about 30 minutes, just in time to walk back to DTF. Practically the most efficient use of waiting time ever.
This landmark restaurant Ding Tai Feng (DTF) is considered (by some) the canonical xiao long bao (xlb) in Taiwan. While this statement provokes rolled eyes and heated controversial debates among the foodies, it's a question that I (ever in search of definitive food) consider my duty to investigate further.
It's controversial for multiple reasons: These dumplings originate from Shanghai (where it is clearly stated that the Taiwanese know nothing about making the real thing); Everyone (including street vendors) in Taiwan can make xlb just as good as DTF, so what's the big deal? The only reason DTF is famous is their effective overseas advertising campaign. Finally, who in their right mind would willingly pay 4-6x higher prices for the same thing?
The original branch is near my hood, about 10 minutes walk north east of Guting MRT. To sufficiently sample the xlb's, the team was three in size- Taiwanese expert in eating xlb, Shanghai xlb benchmarked expert, naive non-xlb sampler. We arrived after a decent tour of the back streets of XinYi Jie/Jinshan Lu (hardly lost but walked on streets without names?!) and finally wrapping around on LiShui Jie via JinHua Jie.
There was a hefty mass of people crammed into the small space (currently limited by scaffolding due to perennial Taipei construction) in front of the restaurant. With an electronic number board and loudspeakers mounted outside the entrance, they obviously experience this kind of crowding on a regular basis. We grabbed a number from the girl in the headset, and headed off to wait in a less intensely packed space.
After about 30 minutes of waiting at Ice Monster (more on that later), we headed back to find an even larger press of people in the same small space. Luckily the XLB Gods were with us and we basically strolled up to the front, filled out our pre-order form and were seated by the efficient gaggle of girls in headsets. You walk thru the corridor with the open kitchen gleaming clean behind glass, and view the expert team constructing the very xlb you'll be eating in just a few minutes.
While not a frenetic activity, the team produces a steady stream of dumplings to satisfy the demand.
One person rolls an exacting weight of 5 gm of dough into thin rounds, and then flips them off towards the person responsible for stuffing 16 gm of pork, pork & crab (with crab roe), or taro filling onto the skin; These are then grabbed by one of 3 folders whose job is to make the 18 (count them!) folds in a twisted top knot. These then nestle in the bamboo steamers to await the demands of the now ravenous hordes. Many xlb are steamed on cabbage leaaves, but DTF uses a sturdy cotton fabric to protect the dumplings from sticking. (Dumplings that fail for whatever reason are immediately trashed.)
We had to trek up several flights of narrow stairs (you've got to have legs of steel to work here!) At each landing the towering stacks of bamboo steamers lay monument to the popularity of Ding Tai Feng. We were seated in an out of the way corner on the 4th floor and immediately got tea, place settings (including small dishes of shredded preserved ginger) and pickled cabbage (yan bai cai 醃白菜), and cold noodle & tofu salad (didn't catch chinese name). Followed by hot and sour soup (酸辣湯 suān là tāng garnish with vinegar and chili sauce to taste), garlic stir fried pea shoots (豆苗 dòu miáo), xian rou zongzi (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves with pork 鮮肉粽子). Our server checked up on us periodically and filled our cups frequently so we did not feel neglected, even tho we were prolly the furthest lastest table in the whole building. Space is somewhat spartan and not immediately consistent with the high prices they charge.
Then the xlb arrived, wow the skins were shiny and translucent (a mark of distinction and quality) you could see the soup swimming inside. You prepare a nest of ginger, soy, vinegar & chili, and gently transfer a quivering delicate dumpling into your spoon, taking care not to (tragically) poke a hole. Pause to admire the precise 18 folds.
Then you bite a small hole in the side and suck out the steaming hot juices, till you can maneuver the whole construction into your mouth without it exploding catastrophically. Repeat till out of xlb. The skins were tender, somehow elastic but chewy, the soup rich and porky with a subtle crab flavor. If you were able to look inside you could see the filling was studded with orange crab roe. Then we had the sweet taro filled dumplings for dessert. Which were good, but not as good as the xlb.
The somewhat reluctant consensus was that Ding Tai Feng does have a superior product. The xiao long bao were better texture and flavored than those sampled in Shanghai's YiYuan Garden (thicker, chewy skins & gummy meat-altho broth was good-which perhaps not representative of the best but equally popular with the tourists). Additionally the skins @DTF were admittedly more tender & supple and the broth somehow juicier than other local options. But with the fiendish wait and the higher prices, it becomes more of a trade off between performance vs price i.e. if you're hungry and can't wait, or on a budget- there are many nearby options that serve very decent xlb and other tasty baked pastries for significantly less.
No reservations. English/Japanese menus available. Staff used to dealing with tourists, coz let's face it, that's who mostly frequent the place.
I wish I had... (aka Cooking in a Taiwanese Kitchen)
I wish I had all my knives, pots & pans, appliances (dish washer!), spices and kitchen counter tops.
But failing that, here's one of the kitchen appliances that I especially wish I had here in Taiwan. a hand held immersion blender
It's just so handy, and with all the various attachments, would be a good substitute for most of the larger appliances that are currently in storage.
But I don't want to bag on Taiwanese kitchens in general, I just feel a little under equipped to do the cooking I'd like to. The great thing about the Taiwanese kitchens, is the wok burners that throw out amazing amounts of heat. So I'm concentrating on stir frying and saute'ing.
There are no real ovens here, but we do have a steroid enhanced toaster oven that bakes pretty decent cookies. I made almond snicker doodles the other day and they turned out quite well. Angie has massive bags of almond flour which I guess is easy to come by. In Taiwan people use it to make an almond milk drink. I also substituted oats for some of the flour coz Angie had a massive bag that she wanted to get rid of. the recipe I used was proven to work in anemic toaster cooking conditions.
http://haochr.blogspot.com/2008/01/mmm-cookies.html
they turned out pretty well.
ack just lost the rest of my post. sorry more tomorrow
Hong2 Sao1 Niu2Rou4 Mian4- Beef Noodles in Spicy sauce
My former Chinese teacher Liu2 Lao3shi1 offered to take me out shopping for sports clothes that fit. Not everyone (and by that I mean no one) uses the type of athletic jog bra that I forgot to pack. So when I complained about this startling deficiency plus the fact that everyone here is a size negative zero, Liu Laoshi immediately knew where to steer me. It's a little to complicated to explain, and she ended up taking me herself.
On the way there we passed a restaurant famous for its Mala Hong2 Sao1 Niu2Rou4 Mian4- Beef Noodles in Spicy sauce. So that's where we stopped to have dinner. It was pretty tasty tasty. (shout out to Kat and Wayne for help with my tones)
I've got the standard beef with spicy sauce and Liu Laoshi went with the plain broth and braised pigs foot, which I will try next time.
There's a big bowl of pickled cabbage which you spoon into your noodles for extra crunch and salty goodness.
Another specialty is the steamed beef ribs over potato, it was so good but I was stuffed by the time it came out. More a question of how do I pack this home for breakfast?
It's actually on the way home from the Jin Ling Girls High school. I can definitely see myself jumping off the bus at the Ximen Station and grabbing a tasty bowl.
Lao Wang Ji Niu Ro Mien Da Wang (I'll have to ask Liu Laoshi for the tones)
Old Wang Beef Noodle King
Taoyuan St No. 15, Taipei (台北市桃源街15號)
accessible by MRT Ximen Station Exit 3 & 4
You can tell you're in the right place by the rows and rows of bowls lined up waiting to be filled.
Directions: If walking down Baoqing Rd., turn left onto Taoyuan St., and it will be on your right. Walking down Hengyang Rd., turn right onto Taoyuan St., and it will be on your left.
Closed every second Sunday of the month.
I had the "hong sao" (spicy beefy kind), but they also serve beef noodle soup with clear broth.
You can also order different meats.
I've found the local equivalent of my farmers' market at home. It's different from the regular wet markets, in that most of the produce is certified organic AND the people selling it are the farmers themselves.
It hasn't achieved the same type of popularity that the wet markets experience- perhaps slightly too expensive for typical Taiwanese shoppers who don't yet care about the organic label. Another reason is each stall is equipped with a sink and running water, so it feels sparkling clean in contrast. I like it enough to keep going back. I'd love to promote it so that the farmers can start making some money off this effort. It's just behind the Guanghua Computer Street (computer related shopping done, cell phones, mp3 player accessories etc) in a converted parking lot. where Songjiang Lu intersects with Ba De Lu and Xinsheng Jie MRT Blue line Zhongxiao Xinsheng station Exit #1.
The first thing I had was the fresh squeezed orange juice. Mmm sweet with a little hint of orange oil from the rind. Then I walked past the Bee Lady's table. As well as the live comb with little fuzzy bees working hard at building cells, she has a honey "vodka" (distilled white alcohol anyway), if you need more spice added to that she also has it flavored with bees.
In between the Tea guy and the Purple Corn Lady, sits the Medicine Man. He makes a traditional cough medicine of >19 ingredients that are ground into a paste and dried inside the hollowed out rind of a pomelo.
After it has cured, you cut it into small cubes and suck on it when you have a cold or cough. I'm not sure what else there is in the mix but menthol is definitely a major player.
Another must is the mushroom table. The Mushroom Man makes a mean mushroom stew. It's got 5 or 6 different kinds of mushrooms. Abalone mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, Enoki mushrooms, Woodear, Shitake, Giant white mushrooms. The texture is amazing some are chewy or succulent, others are flavorful, or slippery.
The Mushroom Man also makes the Chili sauce. Add vinegar and Hot chili pepper sauce and you've got a hearty snack to last you for the afternoon.
Then it's on to the pickle stand where you can buy anything pickled. I definitely want to learn how.
Walk past the fun flavored vinegars, honey and cabbages to the sugarcane stand. You can get the juice or a couple of blocks to gnaw on as you wander around.
A while ago when I was still in the good ole USA, I heard about the Taipei International Bakery Show listed on a favorite baking blog (perhaps you've used her recipes- The Cake Bible, Bread Bible etc).
I love trade shows, they really give one the chance to see whatever industry behind the scenes. The last San Francisco Fancy Food Show (FFS) was massive, literally 200k sq Ft, miles of aisles, interesting food and loads of fun (2 days worth). Luckily I was able to use my trusty press pass to register for the Taipei Bakery Show (It's listed as an Agricultural Trade Show here in Taiwan). It was held at the Taipei World Trade Center- which is a massive complex of buildings. It was quite a maze, and not made any easier by the fact that there was another trade show (Digital Electronics) running concurrently, and another show setting up (Taiwan Postal Service). The area was pretty packed, but quite small, I'd say about 1/3 -1/6 the size of the FFS. I managed to walk it in about 3 hours, with intermittent but ruthless sampling, and stops for in depth interviews.
First impressions, wow it's all about the machinery. Everything is made on a scale many orders of magnitude greater than I could ever comprehend. From massive mixers and ovens to silicone muffin/cake pans, it's all about volume baking and automation.
Everything looks gorgeous, any cake shop in Taipei turns out miniature works of art. It's a crime to eat it.
2nd Impressions, sheer disappointment with the empty promises. The pastries were dusty, dry and crumbly, the cakes leaden and fillings fake & gummy. After an in-depth interview with the manager of a major margarine company (whose second largest product was soap), I understand why everything tastes like margarine- coz everything is made with it! Taiwan has gone the cheap route with their baked goods and paid the price. Butter and lard have been substituted with margarine and oil. All the fillings are mass produced and many bakeries use frozen pre-made dough for their rolls, loaves and pastries. So essentially it all comes from just a few manufacturers, who dominate the market. Stuff that smelled divine was like ashes in my mouth.
Still it was an interesting experience, I got to see:
A commercial metal detector that pulls contaminated cookies out of the production line.
Hand made vegetable based pasta
Beans and more beans used for sweet fillings. Ok so these are the real thing, but somehow still miss the mark. I don't know if its just something is lost in the scale of things, my taste buds or if people really will continue to buy this stuff. (Please note I ate these sort of sweet bean filled pastries in Japan and enjoyed them tremendously)
The Chocoli Chicks- very earnest in their attempts to distribute chocolate buttons.
Traditional pineapple filled cookies.
Gelato (that's more like it!)
And the Taiwan National Junior Bakery Competition Finals- Preliminary competition to the Junior World Championships. Quite a long day for the contestants, who are required to start the previous nite. They have to temper enough chocolate for a sculpture (chocolate form) and also create several different kinds of truffles and decorative candies.
I didn't see any of the judges tasting anything, so I don't know if they care about that at all. There were mad, mad decorating skills- I was really impressed. So much so that I lingered for over an hour watching the competition. The final touches, judging and moving the pieces was all so interesting. Entry #3 almost lost his whole sculpture during the move, so it was quite dramatic.
And I agreed with the winner! Of course my Chinese being somewhat lacking I could be totally wrong about who actually won.
Afterwards I toured thru the Taipei 101 building- 2nd tallest in the world.
Karaoke (better known as KTV) is very popular here in Taiwan. It's so popular that you have to make a reservation or wait till 11pm for the first available room. You climb the stairs into the upper floors of the complex. The ceilings are very low, I feel positively tall since my head is only inches from brushing the paint. The space is sort of like in "Being John Malkovich" where they've "cut down on the overhead". Only you don't get to see the the world from JM's PoV or teleport out to the Jersey turnpike afterwards.
Things apparent after my initiation into the small soundproofed room that is KTV-
Don't let your Taiwanese friends at the console until after you've entered some English songs, else you'll spend the entire night waiting for your turn at the mike.
Most Chinese pop songs involve tragic death scenes that look a lot like a cross between tuberculosis and Ebola. The funniest one I've seen so far was a Lego version that's spot on. the entry has a link to the original version which is also pretty funny.
Be supportive of other efforts, you'll prolly suck more and you don't want to be voted off the island.
Keep drinking beer, it doesn't help with the singing but it makes the whole experience more tolerable.
Don't bother with the extra priced buffet, it's just fried food and inedible desserts.
I discovered several things about my musical depths-
I know very few of the popular songs.
I know all the lyrics and the tunes of a limited selection from the 80's. This means my inner muppet wears a mullet with wings, pegged pants, leg warmers, off the shoulder sweatshirt and electric blue eye shadow.
Most other songs I know one word per line and only the tune from the chorus (which doesn't generally help with singing the melody for the verses if it's different)
Beer doesn't actually help my singing in any way (funny when I played rugby it seemed to work)
I can't wait to start learning characters so that I can go back and rock the Chinese section.
of course this time I cheated and sang a song that I have been listening to for sometime, I should point out that even tho I know the tune and the words (sort of) I did miserably and will have to practice heaps before I try again.
Sung by Vienna Teng
Lüdao Xiaoyequ
words by Chen Chang-shou/music by Yao Di
Zhe Lü Dao xiang yi zhi chuan,
zai yue li yao ya yao,
Airen yo, ni ye zai wode xin li piao ya piao,
Xiang wode gesheng sui na weifeng,
chuikaile nide chuangjin,
Rang wode zhongqing sui na liu shui,
buduande xiang ni qingsu.
Yezishu de chang ying,
yanbuzhu wode qingyi,
Mingmeide yueguang,
geng zhaoliangle wode xin.
Zhe Lü Dao de ye yijing nayangde chenjing,
Airen yo, ni weishenma shi momowuyu:
Translation by Ed Peaslee
This Green Island is like a boat,
floating in the moonlight,
My darling, you too are floating in the sea of my heart,
Let the sound of my song follow the breeze,
blowing open the curtain of your window,
Let my love follow the flowing water,
endlessly pouring out its feelings for you.
The long shadows of the palm trees
cannot conceal my love,
The bright beauty of the moonlight
casts its brilliance into my heart.
This Green Island night is so calm and serene,
My darling, why are you silent, saying nothing?
I've mentioned the Fern garden before, but I hadn't toured around during the day. This week I visited Jenny's family's nature conservancy garden of indigenous Taiwanese ferns- representing close to 300 of the almost 700 native species endemic to Isla Formosa. It's inside Yangmingshan National Park, just north of Taipei city; a very tranquil and verdant mountain oasis, away from all the hustle bustle of concrete city life.
They've put a lot of effort into the details. Even the wrought iron gates look like ferns, curling and twining over the rocks. We started near the front gate and worked our way up the hillside, following the contours around the slope. The undergrowth is pretty dense, and a vivid palette of greens make up the verdure. Apparently it rains more in the summer, but the last 4 weeks of rain have made the foliage lush and full.
The garden features were installed with particular consideration for the native habitat, so many of the paths are elevated to allow forest floor critters and bugs passage underneath. All the wood used is native and endemic, or recycled lumber scraps and salvaged railroad ties. Each section has an individual style and feel since they were all constructed at different times, as materials became available.
The Hsu family built this garden progressively, their mission to conserve the local habitat that represents Yangmingshan with an emphasis on ferns which make up the majority of the plants. Another mission for the garden is education, and as such they host nature groups and classes in a delightful outdoor terraced area, heavily shaded by the dense canopy. In addition there is a enclosed gazebo where one can take refuge during inclement weather or rest and take advantage of their small refreshment counter which serves up cool drinks and perfectly frothy cappuccinos. A spiraling wrought iron fern staircase leads to the deck patio above where you can see all the way down to Danshui and the river.
Small grottoes with cool ponds and small rocky streams provide aquatic homes to the dragonflies(?), frogs, and newts. In the distance you can hear the birds mocking and whistling to each other. I even saw a couple of large raptors- didn't have my glasses so not sure exactly what kind...
Continuing up the hill, we stopped by the kitchen garden patch (mostly dormant for the winter) and the chicken run where the flock of chickens scurried around pecking at the bugs and grubs. They're the special Taiwanese mountain chickens that lay large creamy pink eggs- pretty enough for Easter. We peeked into the nesting box where a broody hen was setting some eggs. Careful, don't disturb her, she looks pretty nervous.
Then we wandered into the neighboring plot which is the largest private single person cemetery in Taiwan, for the mother of the guy who started the first Taiwanese cruise line. It's secluded and private and very manicured compared with the fern garden.
click on the mp3 to listen to me talking about the fabulous Wulai Hot Spring
For the 2/28 holiday, some friends & I caught the bus to Wulai, about an hour south of Taipei. This is an aborigine mountain township where the volcanic hot springs are used by many little spa resorts. We climbed up the hill to "Cloud Spring Garden". A pink slice of Nirvana.
It's a hotel/spa/restaurant and was quite busy due to the holiday. For a mere NT$500 you get 2 towels, slippers and locker. In order to enter the pool area you must scrupulously wash and rinse off 3 times, before you can get into any of the pools. The complex is divided into 2 sections for men and women. Each month, the resort switches sections between the genders, so that there is a change in facilities available. This month the women's section included a group of four pools covered by a Japanese style roof with open sides looking out into the lush garden surrounding the pools. Each pool was a different temperature- super hot, really hot, plunge pool cold, and hot with massage bubble beds/spouts. These were the "loud" pools where groups of women- aunties, grandmas, cousins, mothers, daughters and friends all gather to soak, gossip and laugh on seating ledges submerged along the edges.
Along a tiny deck, you could relax with a face mask, and look out over the view of mountains across the valley. Another area included thundering massage waterfall spouts which pounded streams of water down on one's head & back. In the middle near the showers, the dry sauna, steam room and cold plunge pool were grouped strategically. First scrubbed down with handfuls of mineral salts, then sat in the cedar planked steam room and waited for the salt to dissolve away. Taking a deep breath, jumped into the COLD plunge pool to rinse off and then sat in the dry sauna to warm up and work up a good sweat. In between took long drafts of green tea to replenish fluids. Then relaxed in the "quiet" super duper hot pool until melted. This pool was surrounded by rocks and plants so it felt very secluded from the rest of the garden. The whole garden was fenced Japanese style where the slats were cleverly designed to allow you to see out, but no one to see in. I was a little doubtful, but everyone else was very nonchalant, so I tried not to worry about it. On the way down I checked and you really can't see in! Of course no cameras were allowed for privacy reasons, so this shot of the pool was lifted from their website http://www.cloudspring.com.tw
Cloud Spring Garden Spa
雲頂溫泉行館
台北縣烏來鄉西羅岸路45號
02-2661-7755
With legs like jelly, we hiked down the hill to the nearby Atyal community, where we sample the locally grown boar sausage. Crisply grilled over charcoal, the casing was crackly while the meat was dense, chewy and sweetly flavorful- in a way more "pork" than pork. The special spices made each bite an explosion of deliciousness.
Sustained by the hearty snack of pig on a stick, we headed back uphill on the only other road, and trekked for 45 minutes to a local Atyal restaurant with a view of the mountains and emerald blue river running thru the gorge.
Cherry blossom restaurant
櫻花餐廳
台北縣烏來鄉環山路181號
02-2661-8085
Unfortunately the business card is all in Chinese, so I'll have to get Angelica to translate the address.
We ordered several local specialties including
betel nut flower salad- lite sesame and brown vinegar dressing,
rice cooked in bamboo-the flavors were delicately nutty with a smoky hint of charcoal
green stir-fried fern tips,
clay pot mountain chicken with wedges and chunks of garlic/ginger in in caramelized soy basil sauce,
grilled boar with preserved garlic in vinegar.
Angelica got a bottle of brewed cloudy millet, which tastes and is made in a way very similar to sake.
Caught the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Central today to hang out with Scott and Steven (my Mom's godson). They live in Central and work on the island so they know all the great local joints. I wanted to check out the Mid-Level escalators (中環至半山自動扶梯) which basically run from Central up the steep side of the mountain. For some reason that escapes me now, I decided to make separate albums for my couple of days in Hong Kong. So don't forget to click on the photos to access the rest of the pics that aren't included in the main body of my blog!
Here's a picture of the steep stairs that you'd have to climb if you wanted to get to the Mid-Levels. The streets are really steep, and connected by switchbacks, so cars were having a hard time going up in the rain, pealing out tires to get enough traction. If it ever froze here, HK would be in deep trouble.
These are apparently the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world (2,624 feet with a vertical rise of 442 feet), and were constructed to alleviate traffic congestion of people trying to commute down into town.
Most of it is escalators but parts are moving sidewalk where the rise is not steep. It services about 16 streets, and allows access to an increased number of businesses and apartment buildings that were originally considered "impossible to get to". It seemed to take forever, like more than half an hour but according to wikipedia it's a mere 20 minutes. I took a picture from about halfway up but since it's covered, it's difficult to capture the whole thing.
I stopped at Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road to check out the antiques and more spiraling incense. For a temple experience on the island, you can combine Man Mo with the Mid-Level Escalators and Antique St. For a temple experience on the Kowloon side Tin Hua is a good one, since you can combine it with wandering around Nathan Road, Mongkok, Temple St and shopping.
At the top we wandered over to a tasty local hand pulled noodle place called Home Town Dumplings. I almost ran the batteries dry in my camera, trying to snap the magical creation of noodles from dough by waving your arms around. Here is the series for your viewing pleasure:
They were delicious! We also had succulent lamb dumplings in soup so piquantly spicy with vinegar & hot sauce, and crispy fried pot stickers that were so tasty yummerlicious that I almost burst.
This Sunday I was invited to the TLI New Year's Banquet. I got lost trying to find the place, but bumped into a couple of people who showed me where it was. Several of the teachers performed songs and dances. Some of them were really hilarious. My favorite was a teacher dressed in a traditional kimono who did a very graceful dance.
There were also raffle prizes and games of charades (all in Chinese!) I didn't win anything :^( but there were really good prizes like rice cooker, DVDs and a grand prize- a ceramic heater. Charades was hard but very fun, there were teams of people competing so spirits were very high. The food was amazing but but I was so busy eating I forgot to take pictures until almost the end. We started with a lobster salad and sushi. Then all kinds of seafood dishes- cheesy crab, black bean and garlic scallops and spicy garlic shrimp.
This is silky black skinned chicken. It was so tender and moist that you could pull it apart with a spoon. It's also a lucky dish that means "no one got fired".
Can you guess what these are? Hint- they're not to scale. I've labeled them in the album. So if you click on the picture it'll take you thru to the rest of my shots. Everyone watched me with bated breath, as I tried one of these. When I pronounced it delicious, they all laughed and gleefully informed me of the source. They were all impressed when I had another big helping.
Down to our last package of toilet paper (which looks sort of like Kleenex) we headed to the best place to buy bulk items- Costco! It's eerily the same down to the font on the item labels. I was surprised to find that Taiwan has embraced Costco, but it really is the cheapest price for bulk items. They also are one of the few places to sell in bulk. Not so crowded on the weekend, it's still kind of a novelty I think. The food selection was a mix of western items and asian tastes. For instance, you can get your cheeses, Campbell soup and EEVOO but they also have 3 kinds of miso and 4 kinds of ramen noodles. The cuts of meat were definitely styled towards asian cooking. In the produce section they had all kinds of interesting greens and mushrooms on steroids. I wish we had these meat and veg options back home at the Costco in Richmond, CA. Down in front you can still get your pizza fix if you need it. They also have mango fruit smoothies.
There's not much room in the apartment but somehow I managed to put everything away.
In the evening we went out for spicy hot pot.
辣巴子川味火鍋
地址：台北市羅斯福路四段136巷6弄10號
電話：（02）23645669、23645650
(English address: Roosevelt road section four alley 136 lane 6 number 10)
there were all kinds of side dishes to accompany the flaming hot spicy soup and meats/shrimp/crab
We were so full afterwards that we walked 3 MRT stops to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial.
Today Angelica showed me her favorite pastry restaurant. It's on a side street off Heping East Road. But I got so turned around while we were walking that I don't have a good idea of exactly where it is. Will update later. The specialty is the flaky pastries. They are stuffed with red bean paste or black sesame paste, seasonal salted green veggies or meat. They also serve a mean fried chicken and a steamed plain bun that is then deep fried. All so interesting and tasty.
I was so stuffed that I couldn't eat dinner.
I found some interesting greens at the little organic store. Can you guess what they are? I've labelled them in the album, so you can go check the answer.
After wandering the fabric warehouse, and starting to feel faint, Angelica suggested we swing by her favorite cafe in that district. Lunch was @ Taste of Tainan Past= Tai2nan4 Gu2 Zhou3 Wei4- a local street cafe on Nanjing Xi Lou (Nanjing West Road). Angelica's opinion- "I don't know why but their flavors are more complex and intense than other places." With that kind of recommendation, I'm there in a flash.
We had rice w/ red cooked pork, tofu & wilted spinach, fatty fish fillet w/ crispy skin, and Fish skin soup. The most different and interesting dish was the fish skin soup- basically a clear fish broth with green veg, fish balls and chunks of fatty fish skin. then grab some skin with shreds of ginger and dip in soy/wasabi to cut down on the fishy taste. Wow a medley of flavors. Yum.
All of the red cooked items were a tasty deep brown salty sweet goodness that had hints of anise, cardamom, orange peel and maybe cinnamon? The pork was succulent and tender, (and I made a tofu exception- also very delicate and juicy). Very scrummy mature master sauce which is the house pride and joy. I didn't get a clear shot, but the pot looks positively stratovolcanic. Apparently this pot has been red-cooking continuously since the cafe opened many moons ago, and is considered the source of the complex flavors. It was sooo good, but I'm glad I saw it after and not before.
The shiny part is the caked layers of soy, pork etc. I'm sure it would be an excellent candidate for the JGI's biodiversity sequencing project.
Language classes are going quickly so I have to work very hard to keep
up with the pace. Since I'm still in private lessons, I don't
have a very good idea of how my pace compares to anyone else's. I'm
constructing sentences now. have learned how to use ma? and
negative bu in questions. I'm confident enough now to try my baby chinese on the unsuspecting public at Shi Da Lu Market. Today I communicated successfully with 4 people- my highest number so far! They were all very kind and helped me with my pronunciation, tones and numbers. (Somehow confusing wu and liu).
It's still raining, 3 weeks into my stay. I bought an umbrella and wellington boots to stay dry. Can you tell I like polka dots?
I'm getting into a routine which is nice, and learning where the
grocery stores are. There's a great organic store near the house.
Contrary to the USA the organic store is cheaper coz things are a
little less pretty- holes and spots , but very fresh and tasty.
We have a washer and dryer in the apartment, but it's about 1/2 the
capacity of a washer in the states. I've had to revise my laundry
style to accommodate the loads and of course sharing with 2 other
people.
I had hot pot with some of Angelica's friends and family up in the mountains.
Jenny's family have a house inside a national park. and run a nature conservancy garden of
endemic Taiwanese ferns- representing close to 400 of the almost 700
native species. It's very tranquil and green outside the city, away
from all the hustle bustle and concrete.
a friend- Samson, took me to Shi Pai hot springs just out side of Taipei- for lunch and a good soaking.
I'll blog about it later. But it's amazing how great one's skin feels after a mineral bath. The stream flows by and mixes with the mineral water making a kind of milky cloud. The water is super hot and steaming!
Today took the MRT out to Danshui, which is one of the oldest regions in Taipei
to play mahjong 麻將 with Angelica's friends- Jenny, Maggie & Bri'de (Maggie's boyfriend) and Eli (an american scholar working on ethnic minority groups in Thailand, south western China and Taiwan). Bri'de played Maggie the nite before and beat her so he was designated as floating advisor. Mahjong is like bridge, you only need 4 people (for the different directions), the tiles have different suits- bamboo, coins, numbers (characters), winds (directions), cardinals (dragons) and flowers.
(This Old Fashioned Mahjong Tiles picture lifted shamelessly from www.majongtiles.com)
Tiles are stacked into 4 walls of 18 pairs of tiles. The object of the game is to build five sets- 3 of a kind or straight and 1 pair from 17 tiles. We didn't do any of the complicated scoring since we were just starting (and also not playing for money). I won a few games of mahjong with Bri'de's help but i think that Jenny and Maggie were being nice to the newbies so that we'd play again. There were six of us so after a while I sat out so Eli could play. Maggie was so good that she doesn't even sort her tiles. Good thing we weren't playing for cash.
We stopped at the Danshui street market afterwards and I took some pics of food stalls and interesting things. the brown thing with the cream sauce on top is a tofu skin pocket deep fried, stuffed with fish then steamed and topped with cream sauce. It's considered a local specialty, & soy sauce quail eggs.
Another interesting one was a whole roast pig! yeah they just carve slices off. mmmm the stall next to the whole pig has special regional sausages
that are amazing, kind of like fresh lap cheung and bbq'd so smoky.
I tried eggs on a stick-yeah so yummy, they were fun coated with a salty sauce thicker than soy but not sweet like teriyaki and then hot pepper to shake on top, little soft in the middle but in a good way.
I also had a burrito and pizza today they were both not quite right but it was fun to see the Taiwanese interpretation. I'm not missing American food per se, but the other folk were really
excited to eat it. next time I'll just eat the Taiwanese st food next to the burrito stand.
guava & sugar cane
all their foods are really healthy or interesting, i think i like them
All incredibly yummy, well I guess it's that way until you get
homesick and then you want to have familiar things I haven't got to
that stage yet, altho it t feels like I've been gone for ages but I
haven't even been here a month?- just a little over 2 weeks
I even took a picture of a manhole cover for gwynie-
interesting and show s that it drains to the ocean too
i shall try to do one touristy thing every day this week
like going to the national museum.
I went to the cookies and pastry museum today it was pretty neat
They have all these molds for making pressed cookies and moon cakes etc
it was all asian dessert stuff which dates back ages.
I think everyone is kind of tired of hanging out with their family
so they all go out and wander the streets together
eating and buying souvenirs -positively social and fun
garbage still running but limited schedule
ambulances and emergency type vehicles and transit all still running
but also limited schedule
I'm guessing they get compensated big time for working
brr the house is so cold tonite
it's like an igloo. speaking of the weather, i'll be in the Taipei
Times newspaper tomorrow - I got interviewed for a comment on the weather. so I said i thought
Taiwan was supposed to be warm tropical kind of island. I'll see if it's in the paper. Guess what? Here it is!
It's officially New Year's Eve, and folks here started celebrating at midnite (or rather- this morning) with firecrackers that went on for minutes at a time. Angelica, Dee and Jessie took me to the New Year Night market yesterday, it only happens around this time. It was so packed with crowds of people, you had to just keep walking at the same pace else you bumped into people in front or behind. Everyone was selling some kind of amazing snack, specialty food item or fancy purses/toys for presents. There's a hum of energy and excitement mixed with anticipation in the air, so everyone seems oblivious to the rain. It was so packed that Ange and I got separated from Dee and Jessie pretty much immediately- it was just too hard to stay together. The noise levels are quite high. People are trying to attract customers by having a good energy- and that entails using a microphone and loudspeakers. There was even one guy rapping in Chinese about how we should buy from his stand- pretty funny and kind of inspired performance art at the same time. The other very effective strategy was to block the stream of pedestrians and redirect everyone physically to your stall.
Unfortunately, my camera chose to die during this excursion (I think coz of the pouring rain), so no shots of the dried candied squid (魷魚 yóu yú) stalls or the mounds and bags of beans/seeds flavored with lavender or green tea (my personal favorite- wasabi coated black beans 豆豉 dòu chǐ) or the spicy whelks (辣螺 là luó) piled in bowls and served with a twist of lime. Freeze dried vegetable/fruit chips (薯片 shǔ piàn) were popular, as were deep fried and spicy flavored shrimp and taro chips. Candy stalls, dried fruit & fish/shrimp stands were surrounded by people trying to pick up last minute supplies before all the stores shut down for the week. No pics of the wicked sharp steel knives made from Chinese artillery shells.
Everyone including my teacher has warned me "stock up on food, the stores will all be closed for family time". On the way home from class yesterday, I found a Cantonese roast meat place and bought a massive roast duck, which should last us through the week. As predicted, the city is pretty deserted today. Traffic is light and the rolling shutter doors that line the sidewalks are locked tight.
We hung out at the apartment today, just vegging. I helped Angelica walk the dogs, it's a great way to explore the neighborhood. It's pouring rain still, so not quite as fun as when it's dry- I'm glad I brought my rain shell.
Angelica had to finish her feature article which the computer ate the night prior. Mostly quiet. Around 7pm we cooked dinner with Dee as sous chef.
We had fresh asparagus, roast duck, rice, ginger cooked squash and a huge salad. Drinks were guava juice spiked with pear-infused vodka. Not super traditional food but tasty. It was fun to hang out and cook together.
Ange wants to play Chinese New Year music, get a lucky pineapple and put up lucky posters. I think we've left it too late. We'll be playing mahjong and eating snacks with some friends later this week. So I think we're partly covered in the tradition corner.
I was invited to the southern end of Taiwan by a friend Chih-Fang, whom I know from the Bay Area. I boarded the bullet train at Taipei Main Station @ 8:30am. Train left the station promptly at 8:42 am.
The car was full of people in a happy and festive mood. Strangers and families joking with each other for the 1 ½ hours high speed ride down the island to Zuoying Station.
Chih-Fang and her sister Yi-Fang met me at the gate. I guess I was easy to spot- the only foreigner getting off the train. Chih-Fang explained the itinerary as Yi-Fang navigated the crowded and sprawling city streets. Family and traditional activities were the emphasis.
First stop was the family house in Kaohsiung where I was invited to the honoring the “House Foundation God” ceremony before lunch. The kitchen table was set up as the alter, with food, wine, incense and candles.
We burned incense and prayed. After which Chung Tai4 Tai poured wine and Chung Xian1Sheng1 burned the joss paper money in the front by the gate. I felt very honored to be included in their family traditions.
The offerings then became our scrumptious and delicious lunch including
Spicy and sweet cured sausage 香腸 xiāng cháng
Roasted pork 烤豬肉 kǎo zhū ròu
Steamed yellow chicken with preserved ginger 只雞斗酒 zhī jī dǒu jiǔ
Whole Fish fried 炒整条 chǎo zhěng tiáo
Braised Tofu 麻婆豆腐 má pó dòu fǔ
Fish cake slices 魚丸 yú wán
Tea-Soya cooked eggs 紅茶蛋 chá ye dàn
Stir fried vegetables 菜 飯 cài fàn
Rice noodles 炒米粉 chǎo mǐ fěn
Fish ball soup 魚丸湯 yú wán tāng
Home grown bananas 香蕉 xiāng jiāo
and tangerines 橘子 jú zi/柳丁 liǔ dīng
After lunch CF and YF took me to the British consulate and neighboring temple out by the harbor. At the top of a steep flight of stairs, it was a workout to climb all the way up!!
It was very beautiful and kind of old from the 1800’s. It was the first western style building in all of Taiwan. Lots of Taiwanese tourists taking snaps of the stellar view.
Then we went down into town and braved the crowds on the streets to go shopping. We drove out to the Chung family farm at a stately pace of ~55 mph. Along the way we passed rice paddies, banana fields, papaya groves, tobacco fields and scores of tomato fields.
Fallow fields are planted with flowers of all kinds. Just really beautiful, verdant and lush.
The roadside vendors have stalls of fruit: rose apples-蓮霧 lián wù (a reddish pear-shaped fruit), dragon fruit 火龍果 huǒ lóng guǒ (lurid pink magenta with greeny yellow spines), green lumpy sweet sop/chirimoya- 番荔枝 fān lì zhī, pink guava 番石榴 fān shí liu, green guava 扒拉 bā lā- to name a few and vegetables of all kinds and tubs of various pastes in lurid colors –green tea, red bean, orange pineapple, purple ube.
Out in the countryside the Chung family compound is sprawling, with old and new buildings juxtaposed. CF’s family home is part of a duplex shared with another uncle. The aunties are wrinkled and friendly, hanging on the doorstep, chatting happily in Hakka (a minority dialect local to the area), while they pull together bunches of greens plucked from the fields out back.
CF and I borrowed some bikes and wandered around on the back roads by the fields for a while, stopping to look at one of the family plots.
I recognized cauliflower 花菜 huā cài, squash 瓜 guā, tomatoes 番茄 fān qié, snow peas, chives 蝦夷蔥 xiā yí cōng, pumpkin 番瓜 fān guā, cabbage 甘藍菜 gān lán cài and lettuce 萵苣 wō jù to name a few. Of course there were others that I didn’t recognize. The sunset was a vivid red peach in the haze which was medium bad today, slightly obscuring the rolling hills in the distance. I feel like I’m in one of those watercolor paintings.
The place is spacious and has an interesting mix of wood and tile. My bedroom- the “guest room” is warmly finished in wood with a old fashioned futon in the corner and sliding rice paper doors. It’s elegantly Spartan, with a futon like “cement” which makes me so happy I could almost cry. It’s in stark contrast to the unbearably soft mattress that I have in Taipei. I immediately make up my mind to find a futon as dense as this one, for my back. I only hope my snoring doesn’t keep everyone awake.
In the morning CF and I got up early ~ 5am (Jet lag still) and ate dragon fruit (火龍果 huǒ lóng guǒ ). Chung Tai tai showed me how to prepare it. Apparently you peel it like a banana- if you can't, it's not ready. Wow, it was so delicious, sweet, creamy with a kind of tangy taste. Way better than the first one I tried in Hong Kong- which was kind of like eating sturdy cotton wool with kiwi seeds sprinkled in. Now that I know the secret I'll be sure to buy more of this fabulous fruit.
CF and I got the bikes out and went on another ride around the fields, only it started raining. We decided to keep going coz it wasn't too bad just lightly sprinkling. Well we got pretty far out and then it started pelting down so hard that I had to wipe my eyelids to see properly. We ducked into CF's cousin's place where they have a massive passion fruit (百香果 bǎi xiāng guǒ) vine trellised over an arbor. Knowing my love for passion fruit CF's cousin presented me with a bag of early harvested passion fruit. Yum! Just as we were borrowing umbrellas for the ride home. CF's dad showed up in his truck with umbrellas and instructions from CF's mom to return post haste for the trip to the temple. It was pretty tricky riding holding an umbrella, especially trying to turn corners and brake but we made it back intact.
At the temple, the traditional offerings of meat-pork and chicken, fish-dried squid, noodles, cake and rice wine were placed on the alter. Then we burned incense and placed sticks in various points around the temple. CF's family is very devout and donated money to the temple for the coming year. In addition CF's Dad asked for my protection and success in my endeavors to learn Chinese in Taiwan. This time I helped burn the joss paper money in the courtyard.
After temple CF and her dad took me on a tour around Meinung. We saw people harvesting the long stemmed field greens that are only found locally. They are really long and planted in ponds, so the workers wear high chested long waders in the deep water. We stopped by a local pottery studio next to an earth god shrine, where local monkeys come from the jungle down off the mountains behind to raid the alter. Nestled into the side of the green mountains and covered with mist you could imagine it way back in the 1700's when it was first established. The pottery studio was very interesting with local Hakka style earthenware pottery. It's very powerful, and I think the local artist seems quite famous for large installations.
Then we stopped by a local Hakka artisan village to look at crafts- they're especially renowned for their wicker and umbrellas. Of course I had to stop and sample the local snack of crispy deep fried giant mushroom chunks. Bliss! Crispy out side, firm yet succulent mushroom inside, coated with a spicy salt. How could something so simple be so amazingly good?
Then we went to a local restaurant that serves Hakka style food. There were 9 of us so we were able to sample all the specialties. We had
Zhu1 jiao3- soy cooked pigs feet
jiang1 se1 chou3 da4 chang2- pig chitterlings cooked in ginger and vinegar
jie2 ji3- drunken chicken white cooked in wine
Bian4 tiao4 thick spicy rice noodles
Ye lian- long stemmed field greens like the ones we saw harvested earlier
Gao li tsai braised cabbage and winter melon
chao cien zhou ro stir fried salted pork
stir fried squid
pickeled turnips
and of course steamed whole fish
We ended the feast with pickle cabbage soup
you can see that as the meal progressed I was les interested in getting the tones/names and more interested in getting stuffed!
wow sooo good
han bao la, hao chi
Tired and stuffed but very happy I headed back to Taipei. What a great weekend and an amazing privilege to stay with such a welcoming, warm, and happy family.
My route to class takes me past a little temple/shrine? tucked into the side of a building.
Classes are going well. I've had my first 2 and have finally realized that I've been missing a whole dimension of sound when listening to the aunties and mom talk. I've learned the basic "alphabet" of consonants and vowels, and the 4 tones. I'm struggling with 2nd and 3rd tones, but have the computer lab to practice with.
Today I did 2 hours on the computer and then 2 hours of class.
Afterwards I had a bit of a headache from concentrating so much, and from all the new information I have to store in memory. But I can hear the tones just not say them recognizably. I guess that's a start.
We've agreed that the apartment should be a "English-free zone", so that Dee and I can practice our Chinese.
I'm settling in to my new space, a room in an apartment off the Guting MRT. It's down a little alley that's kind of hidden. You need special instructions to find it. It's a bit spartan and "post -college" style but the room mates are nice and very friendly. Angelica especially has helped me settle in quickly. Taipei loves Ikea it seems. It was very urban feeling to go to Ikea in a taxi rather than driving. Then if you want to buy large pieces, they'll deliver them for a fee. I bought a warm down comforter and some sheets for my bed, I guess I love Ikea too. I've already vacuumed and mopped my floors, which seemed like they hadn't been cleaned since the early Cretaceous. Kinda grotty exterior but what was I expecting for $325/month?
The dogs Dodo and Percy are very friendly, and I've managed to get them to sit and lie down on command. So either I'm the dog whisperer or they speak really good English.
I had my first lesson today, with my teacher Liu Laoshi (sp?) She has been very kind and supportive of my non-language situation. We went over the basic consonants and vowels and started on tones.
One of her instructions was "smile when you say that- it puts the face muscles in the right position". I guess any language that forces one to smile while talking must be highly evolved.
My food allergies have been acting up. Hives every day unless I take my antihistamines, double doses.
I think it's the dyes and preservatives that they use which are very similar (or perhaps identical to the ones in Japan). I don't know if it's an immediate reaction, or an exposure issue, sort of "pre-primed" by my trip to Japan in 2006? Thankfully now I'm in a space where I can control what goes into my meals, so it
should subside. But the food is so delicious, it's hard to say no! I especially love the sushi at the MRT, it's deliciously fresh and costs $2.65 for a satisfying chirashi bento (See pics above).
Had a warm welcome from the roommates who made fried rice last nite. The kitchen is decently equipped, so I expect I shall start cooking soon.
Garbage pickup is a hoot. You wait to hear ice cream truck music, then gather the large bags of garbage and bins of compost and run down to the end of the alley. There are 3 trucks in a row- recycling, food scraps (pig feed/composting), trash. Everyone throws their stuff into the appropriate truck and trundles off home, while the music fades in the distance.
Hi all
i finally made it to Taiwan after weeks of interminable packing like
crazy. It's strange but I feel a great sense of relief and adventure-
Hey I'm finally doing it after such a long time planning.
i managed to get a reasonable flight last minute and landed in Taipei on
Thursday. Of course it was long and arduous as these trans Pacific
flights tend to be. Somehow losing a day in the middle of the flight
makes it longer... I'm suffering from jet lag as usual, but have
decided to try a combination of chemicals- melatonin and caffeine
administered at the appropriate moments to try and reset my clock quickly. so far
it's working great- I'm up at weird hours when nothing is open. But
neat coz it's empty of people when normally it's packed!
Click on the picture to get to the rest of my photos.
