cooking in taiwan

breakfast with the Wu's

On Saturday, Lawrance prepared breakfast for me and mom. He made sweet potato “xi fan” (porridge) and fried eggs.

Taiwanese people eat pickled things with their xi fan. Here are some of the pickled things Lawrance likes on his xi fan.

Wanna know what mom’s favorite one was? She loved the Chile Odorous Frying Fish. She loved it so much, in fact, that she asked about taking some back with her!!

making pizza in taiwan

wuhoo! it's wu family pizza :)

If anyone asks Lawrance what his favorite food to eat that Amanda makes is, he answers enthusiastically “pizza!”

Taiwanese people who hear this answer assume it would be a common answer since of course all Americans eat is pizza and hamburgers. But, the looks on some of the American’s faces have been precious. Most assume he has misunderstood the question since it would seem very difficult to make pizza in Taiwan. Then once they realize he totally understood, and I do make pizza here, they want to know how.

Actually making pizza in Taiwan is quite easy. I get both my pizza sauce and crust at a “local” bakery supply store called Wang Lai; it is about a 45 minute ride from our home by moped. I’m sure other bakery supply stores probably also sell pizza sauce and crust–I know the “pineapple man store” in Kaohsiung does too. The small jar of sauce pictured below is our favorite and will cover about 10-12 small pizzas.

The pizza cheese (mozzarella) can be found at the bakery store too, and sometimes we are able to find it at our local grocery store as well. It’s not cheap, but frozen the cheese will keep awhile and this one bag will last us about 16 small pizzas.

products we use to make our pizza

In addition to the cheese, we top our pizzas with ground beef or pork that I have seasoned generously with Italian seasoning that we can get at Costco (thanks Larina!!) and Tony’s that I carry back from the States. We also typically top it with yellow and red peppers, onions, and for Lawrance’s pizza frozen corn (that I purchased at the bakery store too–just for his pizzas).

I then bake them two at a time at 160c for about 10 minutes on our nifty pizza pan that was wedding gift from Sarah and Kevin (thanks guys!!).

a sprinkle of cheese, then they are ready to be baked

Like the Americans who hear Lawrance’s answer, I had always assumed that making pizza (in Taiwan) would be hard. I guess if I had to make the crust and sauce from scratch that would totally up the difficulty factor making it a very special, rare treat. But, the way I do it right now takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish–that’s faster than ordering from Pizza Hut!

I know it is no culinary masterpiece, but I share this here because I am constantly searching for how to easily make things both Lawrance and I enjoy eating, and I thought others who live in Taiwan might be too.

"pizza without corn just isn't real pizza" --Lawrance

apricot chicken delight

The first half of this semester was hard. Weird schedule, lots of new pressures and responsibilities, and a lack of energy.

Unfortunately lack of energy is a vicious cycle–no energy to cook good stuff = eating out; eating out = not always eating the best foods; not eating healthy = no energy.

So, during the midterm week, when I wasn't grading tests or catching up on laundry. I searched for some recipes to turn into the 30 meals project that
Carrie, my RA in college (well, and my college roommate's sister-in-law) told me about on this post. (BTW, thanks Carrie!!)

My requirements were that the recipes:

could be made in less than 20 min,
needed to be low-carbish,
needed to delight mine and my husband's taste buds, and
could be made with things easily found in Taiwan.

Finding meals that meet all four requirements was no small task!

Although Lawrance is generally easy going and not too picky about food, finding things we both love to eat often has proved to be a challenge.

So, my first recipe test was something I found at Cooking During Stolen Moments: Apricot Chicken.

It was SO easy and best of all packed full of flavor!!

I kinda went a bit overboard using freshly cracked black pepper and might have used extra garlic–so our's was not only tangy, but spicy too–she does say to season to taste. :)

This is probably the least low-carb recipe I collected since it uses apricot jam, but it is definitely something I'll be making again before too long.

Side-note to anyone in Taiwan wanting to give this a try: I used half of a jar of Carrefour brand apricot jam (french name on bottle) to cover 6 chicken breast quarters.

honeymoon muffins

(aka Grandmother Smith's To-Die-For Carrot Muffins)

I'm not sure how many of my cousins were given a batch of these to eat on their honeymoons, but I know my sister and her groom got a batch, and so did we.

That's how good they are . . . you will want to eat them on your honeymoon. (Ok, so maybe the real reason you want to eat them on your honeymoon is because you are trying to save money broke after the wedding and they are easy to pack and carry. BUT, being practical doesn't make them any less yummy).

So since I've not enjoyed these treats in nearly a year, I was really craving some. So, I pulled out my grandmother's recipe and made a batch. If you follow her recipe you are going to get a "yeild" of several dozens of muffins. I mean come on . . . it calls for 9 eggs, 6 cups of carrots, and 3 cups of oil!!

At first I was trying to figure out how to half the recipe–but how do you put in 4.5 eggs? Then I figured out she must have TIPPLED the recipe. There was no way I was only going to make a mere 1/3 of a batch . . . I wanted extras to freeze for later.

So, on Saturday I made this GREAT, BIG, HUGE batch of carrot muffins! YUMMY!!!!

I also discovered that Grandmother must shred her carrots because I grated mine . . . . and there is a difference (in texture, not taste). So, if you are wanting to "hide" the carrot aspect from children, I recommend shredding, not grating the carrots. But, if you are wanting them to feel more "hearty" then grate them instead.

So, without further adieu . . . here is my grandmother's recipe for Honeymoon Muffins. :)

6 cups flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat, and 4 all purpose)
3 ¾ cups sugar
6 t soda
6 t cinnamon
1 ½ t salt
6 cups grated carrots
1 ½ cup raisins
1 ½ cups coconut
1 ½ cups pecans
9 eggs
3 cups oil
3 shredded apples (I left the skin on–this makes them SO moist)
6 t vanilla

In large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in carrots, raisins, coconut and pecans.

In separate bowl, combine
eggs, oil, apples, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture. Stir only until
combined. Spoon into lined or greased muffin tins.

Bake at 350°F for 15
– 18 minutes.

Like I mentioned before, these muffins freeze very well. Either let them thaw on their own or pop them in the microwave oven for just a bit and eat hot.

I bet you can't eat just one!!

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Also, thanks for the several ideas about recipe storage. They were very helpful!! :)

lawrance cooks on fridays

We both work mostly in the afternoon and evening–somewhere between 3-9ish. So, we usually have our mornings together, so our "big meal" is lunch time. Monday to Thursday I do the cooking, but since I have class on Friday mornings, Lawrance has been cooking on Fridays recently.

When we married he could fry an egg and boil instant noodles.

Law's mother is an excellent cook, and she prepares three meals a day every day. They hardly ever ate out. Moreover, she grows her own vegetables organically. Very healthy, very frugal. (Confession: this knowledge kinda scared me after I found out . .. I knew I'd never be able to live up to that.)

Anywho, one day he got the random idea to call her and ask how to make shrimp and fried eggs. Then he started playing around with other dishes.

Let's just say . . . I'm blessed. :) I always look forward to lunch on Fridays.

my first birthday married

I made the traditional birthday cake for my mom's side of the family. It is a peppermint cake. It is really easy–add a few drops of green food coloring and a 1 teaspoon of peppermint oil to "white" or plain cake batter. Layer with chocolate frosting and crushed peppermints. DELICIOUS!!!

But . . . there was one huge disappointment . . . the "peppermints" I bought here in Taiwan had some extra "flavor" (menthol). That's just not right on a birthday cake!! :)

My birthday present was the purse sitting behind the flowers . . . I got to pick it out.

And, on the Saturday before my birthday, Lawrance came home with the flowers. At that time all the lilies were closed. It was fun watching them one by one throughout the week. He is SO thoughtful!! :)

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And, Lawrance took me out to a stake place called "Tasty." They have a set meal that is 7 courses–for most of the courses you get to choose between 2 or 3 items. It was very nice!

I think they have some of the best wait staff in Taiwan.

Not all of the courses and also not in the correct order, but to give you the basic idea . . .

Maybe not the best dessert they have but definitely the coolest (as in most unique) is a fried chocolate wanton that you break and pour over vanilla ice cream. Then you get to eat the rest of the fried chocolate wanton.

tong yuan tradition

For the first time in 30 years, I went to school (aka: work) on Christmas day as did Lawrance. In fact, since he didn't come home till after 10, there was no point in cooking a special meal. So, in order to still do something special, after lighting our advent candles and opening gifts, we made tong yuan.

We also made these sticky sweet dumplings right after we decorated our Christmas tree in late November.

Below is a video of Lawrance showing you how to prepare tong yuan.

secret ingredient in sweet and sour chicken

Remember the neighbor-friend that I’m swapping cooking lessons with?

Well, last week she taught me how to make sweet and sour chicken. Wanna know what the secret ingredient is?

That’s right: KETCHUP!!! This is what makes it sour!

Oh! It was so yummy too.

So, if your in the neighborhood, stop by and I can try out my new Chinese cooking abilities on you. Just give me a little heads up, so I can head on over to the grocery store for some ketchup first. :)

a new favorite

When I babysat for a missionary family awhile back, the mom made oatmeal casserole. It was the first time I’ve ever tried such a thing. You eat it warm, but pour milk over it kinda like cereal. I am an oatmeal lover, so this new twist to an old favorite was a welcome treat.

I decided to make it for my own weekend-before Christmas guests who were spending the night. Like many casseroles, you can put it all together the night before, leave it in the fridge and just pop it into the oven the next morning.

Here’s what I did:

1/3 cup butter

2 eggs

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup raisins
2 small apples, chopped skin on
1/3 cup nuts (walnuts or pecans
1 cup plus 2 TBSP. milk

3 cups quick-cooking oats

Grease a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish (I don’t have a casserole dish, so I just used a cake pan). Preheat the oven to 177C or 350F.

Drop in the eggs and beat them slightly. Add the brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well, and make sure there are no brown sugar lumps. Whisk in the melted butter and the milk. Stir in the oats. Stir in the optional raisins, apples, and nuts (although optional, these make it oh so scrumptious).

Bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes. The top should be starting to brown. Remove from oven. Spoon into bowls and pour milk over the top.

I just mixed everything right there in the casserole dish. This fed six of us, even with going back for seconds. I also happen to know that it is good warmed up in the microwave the following day.

Next time, I am going to experiment with using Splenda instead of the brown sugar, I know it will give it a slightly different taste, but that’d be ok.

Also, the original receipe I followed was slightly different. One difference is that it called for 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder; I didn’t have that so I left it out. I didn’t miss it, but you might.

i need help (cream of mushroom help)

What’s a girl to do when the recipe calls for a can of cream of mushroom soup . . . but she can’t find any?

Can she easily make her own alternative? How? Any ideas on what can be used instead? It’s for a casserole I want to make.

Or, alternatively, anyone in Taiwan know where that same girl could actually find cans of cream of mushroom soup in Taiwan? Do they carry it at Costco?

little changes

I shocked myself this week when I drank American Kool Aid for the first time in perhaps 2 years. I found some that I’d kept in my freezer and decided to whip up a batch. When I first got to Taiwan, I drank Kool Aid all the time as a comfort drink. Tiny packages make for easy transport over the ocean, and the dividends are huge.

It called for 1 cup of sugar–I added less than a 1/4 cup of Splenda. I already knew to add less "sugar" for my new Asianesque tastebuds. However, I was not prepared for the explosion of overpowering sweet cherry that was about to pour over my taste buds.

Wow! That’s some strong stuff! I seriously was overwhelmed by black cherry Kool Aid. I watered it down–1 part kool aid and 3 parts water–and enjoyed it much, much better.

Who’d a thunk it?

brewed in the fridge

I knew Lipton’s has a "cold brew" ice tea. But I didn’t know that I could also brew traditional Chinese tea cold. Did you?

One of my Tawianese friend’s moms gave me a varity of Chinese teas and told me that I could brew them in the fridge. She told me to put the tea bags in the water and the water in the fridge before going to bed and when I woke up, I’d have tea. She was right!

I love oolong tea! I love green tea! I love jasimne tea!

I love that I can brew them hassel free in my fridge each night!!

The other thing my friend’s mom told me is that if you brew the tea hot you have to take out the tea leaves because they continue to flavor the tea as long as they are in the water. But, if you brew the tea cold, you don’t need to remove the leaves. They stop having an affect on the water when the tea is "right." Interesting, huh?

And, one more cool thing is that fridge-brewed tea has a less bitter and more sweet taste than the same leaves brewed with hot water.

So, stop by and I’ll pour you a glass of my very own fridge-brewed oolong tea for you to try!