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My freshmen English class’ final project last semester was to put together a video introducing some aspect of Taiwanese culture to “foreigners.” These two students–Ray and Steven–made a video on Taiwanese tea. I enjoyed it, so I asked if I could share their video with yall. They reluctantly agreed (but that’s probably because a good Taiwanese student must show humility in the form of shyness). One of our favorite restaurants is called DuDu Cafe. It is a family style restaurant that serves food that is most similar to Chinese dishes you might find in the States.
Now do you see why we like it? DELICIOUS!!!
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.
There were many times I told my cousins “you’ve not really been to Taiwan if you haven’t ________.” And, one of those “fill in the blanks” was “eaten cuo-bing” (剉冰, shaved ice). Cuo-bing is a wonderful Taiwanese delight!! Cuo-bing is shaved ice topped with yummy stuff. I like it topped with either fruit or an assortment of chewy things. And, traditionally it is topped with things like peanuts, beans, sweet potatoes, or taro pieces. In addition to these yummy things, a sweet syrup water is poured onto the ice and sometimes sweet condensed milk is also added. The above photo was taken at a self-serve cuo-bing shop at a night market. You fill up the bowl, they weigh it, and then top it with ice and the brown sugar water. Here are some fruit topped bings I’ve enjoyed:
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One of the benefits of having 8 hours of class on my birthday is that over 140 people sang happy birthday to me! And . . . three of my classes surprised me with cakes!! The first class actually used another student from another class to tell me they were in an assembly in another building, and our class would be canceled and I was free to go home. I walked by their classroom before my class and it really was empty (little did I know they were hidding in the stairwell). I debated for a moment whether to trust them or not. I decided they were trustworthy. I sent a text to one of the students and told her what I expected them to have completed by our next class. But, about 5 min into class time the three guys in the class came into my office and told me the assembly was over and they were ready for class. So, we all went back to the classroom. I was thinking about how amazing these kids were since they were willing to have class even though they actually had a free pass for the final hour of the day. When we walked into the classroom, there was a party going on. :) (Can you see the numbers on the cake? That’s right . . . 18!!!)
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Happy Year of the Rat!! This photo above was taken at the day market on the morning of Chinese New Year’s Eve a few years ago. During the Chinese New Year time, every store sets out candy and every home has a tray of candy set out for guests. Perhaps it is to wish friends and neighbors a sweet year–that’s just a random guess on my part. :) (I’ll try to share some more Chinese New Year traditions with you next week.) Here are some more photos of Chinese New Year candy for sale. Some are in the shape of firecrackers, some in the shape of an ancient weight for currency, and some look like Chinese lanterns.
At Chinese New Year, everything is a little more festive–including the fruits that have "blessing" values assigned to them. I forget which blessings pineapples and oranges are supposed to bring. Perhaps wealth–anyone know for sure? UPDATE: In the comments, Lawrance, answers my question. I put his reply here to make the answer more accessible to others. Thanks for clearing up my vauge impression, Lawrance.
Department store food court food in Taiwan is actually quite good. I had this for dinner one day last week when I was starving. It is a fried chicken breast served with a tomato rice omelet and curry. It also came with corn soup (aka thick egg drop soup), steamed egg (with mushrooms, fish balls, and chicken broth inside for flavor), salad (shredded-cabbage based), and some herbal jelly soup. And, to make it even better . . . this yummy meal only cost me about five US dollars. Sweet huh?
This was yummy. It only cost $1.50. Pumpkin hot pot used to be my favorite. But, I think I might have just found one that is even better. At A Guan, a restaurant near my apartment, they allow you to have two kinds of soup for boiling your food in by providing a split pot. I chose coconut milk and curry. The curry soup base was so wonderful I didn’t even need the hot pot dipping sauce that I love so much. This was also my first time to have chicken hot pot. I usually choose beef or pork. The chicken at this place was wonderful . . . I’d choose it again in a heartbeat. Anyone wanna come join me for hot pot this weekend? I’d be happy to go again!
Now, I love green tea. And I really love anything with mauh-cha (green tea powder) in it–ice cream, Kit-Kats, cheese cake, donuts. And, I’ve even had a similar green tea drink at a local restaurant. But this drink from Starbucks? Not worth it. It was ok, but just barely ok. I’ll stick to coffee from Starbucks, and green tea greatness from the local tea places. When you go to places like Starbucks, do you venture out and try their "new" drinks or do you stick to your favorite standbys? The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or 中秋節 in Chinese, is the second largest holiday in Taiwan. It is a harvest celebration and occurs when the moon is her biggest. So, this year that is today, September 25th. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a national holiday in Taiwan. So, that is why we had the four-day weekend. However, Monday’s work and classes will have to be made up this Saturday since Monday was not a national holiday. To celebrate the Moon Festival, people share and eat mooncakes, BBQ with friends and family, and eat pomelos. Mooncakes are traditionally round Chinese pastries about the size of a biscuit. (But, they taste nothing like a biscuit!) The outside is either flaky or soft, and then the middle is filled with . . .well, a filling. Fillings can range from a salted egg yoke to red bean to taro to green tea. Here are some of the mooncakes I was given last year: ~*~*~ ~*~*~*~ Here are some photos from 2004’s Mid-Autumn Festival BBQs with students. ~*~*~ Pomelos–a grapefruit-like fruit–are also part of Mid-Autumn Festival. Of course, you eat them, but you can also wear them on your head like a hat!
Happy Moon Festival!! Photo Credits: Q: So . . . how does pizza get delivered in Taiwan? A: By moped.
And, cuz my mom asked before, here is how I get pizza home when I order take out.
Did you know that there are actually multiple kinds of "seafood pizza"? Yes, yes, that’s right . . . you can choose between:
When some of my students came to my house for an end of the year/graduation party, they ordered pizza. They had three different kinds of the above seafood pizzas and Black Pepper Beef pizza (the above picture). And, once, I ordered a Shrimp Delight for my own dinning pleasure. It was so momentous an occasion–that I choose to order a seafood pizza by myself–that I deemed the occasion picture-worthy (see below). :)
Don’t knock till you try it!! So, exactly how many kinds of seafood pizza have YOU tried lately?
When I asked some teachers this summer in a week long English camp to list the top ten things to do while in Taiwan they listed number one as "eat" and number two as "eat some more." When I asked my kid brother what I should make sure to take our cousins to do and see, the first 75% of his list was all about food!! When I show my students a picture of an armadillo, the very first question they all ask is either "how do you cook it?" or "does it taste good?" Anyone who has been to Taiwan knows that Taiwanese people LOVE food. Every city, every county, every village has a food that it is famous for. And, please do not return back to your hometown and tell people you didn’t try the famous foods of the place you just visited. This is a major faux pas. Oh, and instead of bringing back "My grandma went to LA and I all got was this t-shirt" gifts, all you have to do in Taiwan is bring back a box or bag of famous snacks from the town you visited and everyone will be happy. Yes, it is true, the Taiwanese LOVE food. When Sandy posted a youtube video on stinky tofu, I just had to go check it out. I was pleased to find that there are actually a total of six videos on (bizarre) foods in Taiwan. Part 1: Stinky Tofu If you wanna know more about Taiwan, you can learn quite a bit (not just about food) through this Travel Channel show broken into 6 parts. But, if you only have time for one . . . you gotta watch the first one on stinky tofu–THE national food of Taiwan–that "stinks even worse than it sounds." :D But, my two "gripes" with this show are (1) he never leaves Taipei County and (2) they are mostly all unusual foods (not the things we eat on a daily basis). :) But, the name of the show is "Bizarre Foods: Taiwan" so number 2 makes sense. Oh, and he never tried the 1,000 year old egg that was on his plate. . . he is weak I tell you, weak. All kidding aside, I would love for someone to make a show of this quality about the GREAT, unique foods ALL of Taiwan has to offer. I would buy a copy of that DVD for sure!! What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve ever eaten?
This is 花生豆花 or "hwa shung dou hwa" or Peanut DouHwa or Peanut Tofu Pudding. Whatever you wanna call it, this is my second favorite Taiwanese sweet treat (first place is chawbing or shaved ice). It is a soy bean based pudding topped with brown sugar water and peanuts. Yummy!! A small cup (this one) costs 20 NT or about 60 US cents.
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Yeah, that’s right . . . you stick the whole head in your mouth, bite down, and chew. :) I love shrimp. And constantly having fresh shrimp from living on an island has spoiled me to no end, but I learned last night a new way to eat shrimp. It is possible, if the shrimp has been deep fried to consume the whole creature–eyeballs, legs, shell and all! And you know what? It is quite delicious that way! :) Last week, two of my students, Gilby, and I went to PengHu County–south of where I live–for an evening of traditional Taiwanese fun. We ate some traditional foods for dinner and then tried the famous 冷熱冰 (literally translated: "cold hot ice") for dessert. "Cold hot ice" is a bowl of hot treats–red beans, taro chunks, glutinous rice balls filled with peanut powder–covered in shaved ice topped with brown sugar water. Here are pictures of what 冷熱冰 (cold hot ice) looks like, as well as pictures of me and Gilby with my students outside of the famous restaurant.
Another cool thing about this restaurant is that just outside of the restaurant is a vendor who sells mantou (steamed bread) from a converted bicycle. Here is a pic of me on the bike, and a pic of Julie pointing to what is inside the steamer on the back of the bike. (Yes, we had the vendor’s permission to play with her movable store.) But, since the vendor was done for the day, she had already cleaned out the glass case in the front. (I found one on flickr taken in the daylight when her case was full.)
Oh, yeah, that’s right . . . an edible teddy bear made of rice! See what I mean? How Creative!!
Oh! So many choices!! I took this at my local “grocery store” about a five minute walk from my apartment here in Taiwan. Two weeks ago, I get a call from a delivery guy. He is downstairs with a package for me. I go down to get it, and he tells me it needs to be refrigerated. Hmm, what could it be? Inside was green tea cheese cake with bits of taro. My best friend who lives in north Taiwan overnighted it special delivery via 7-11 to me! Pretty special, huh? (I bet you didn’t even know that in some countries 7-11 can be your delivery service, right? Yeah, me neither till two weeks ago!)
The cake was incredibly rich–I had trouble finishing one piece because of how rich it was. Ellen knows that I just love green tea flavored treats, so when she saw this, she thought I should be given a chance to try it out.
So, that is what it was. Yall came up with some really funny and some really clever ideas. Too bad I don’t have some kind of cute graphic to give you as an award for making me laugh and all. It turns out the first person to guess was actually the closest, but she is Taiwanese, so maybe she had an unfair advantage! ;) Too bad I don’t have a cute graphic for her either. And, too bad I don’t have one for Ellen for being an awesome, gift-giving friend! Thanks girl! You’re the best! Last week, when I posted my three food policies and pictures of a soup I now love, I mentioned that there is one thing I will never eat again. ejia asked what that thing was so that she would not mistakenly serve it to me if I ever sat at her table. ;) So, here it is. Here is the thing I will NEVER put in my mouth again:
I’ve actually blogged about it before, but not really in detail. So, let me introduce to you the thing I will never eat again–ever–no matter what. It is the 1000-year-old egg, aka the century egg. In Chinese it called "皮蛋" (pi dan).
The first time I tried this black, partially-translucent preserved substance, I had no idea what it was. I just saw these black slices of "jelly" on a pretty plate. It was 1998, and I was in China at a "thank you" banquet with a bunch of principals from schools in the area. So, being polite, I tried it. As soon as it was in my mouth, I regretted my bravery which made me put the whole slice in mouth without trying just a bite first. Oh my–never in my life have I ever regretted sticking something so small into my mouth before!! It truly is the only thing (as an adult) that I has ever made me gag. It was all I could do to smile and chew. Now, like most "delicacies" there are some people who just LOVE the 1000-year-old egg–which is really only 50 to 100 days old. Here in Taiwan, it is often cut into cubes and placed in congee (or rice soup) or sliced and added to But, no thank you! Not for me!! Believe me it is not jelly and does not taste anything at all like cheese.
Living in a foreign country, I have the privilege of trying interesting new foods all the time. So, I have three “food policies”:
Over the course of the last ten years (I first came to Taiwan in 1997 for a month), I’ve tried all kinds of things. And there is only one thing I will never put in my mouth again; however, there are many things that I didn’t care for at first but have grown to LOVE. Anywho, last week must have been the third time I tried this soup because I now know that I LIKE IT!
Can you tell what kind of soup it is? The Chinese name for this soup is 酸辣湯 or “sour-spicy soup.” That’s right–it is “hot and sour soup.” And it is yummy. We have a version of it in American-Chinese restaurants, yet I’ve never tried it there. So I don’t know what the American version really looks or tastes like. Because, yall, I used to be a proud card-carrying member of the “picky eaters unite” club. So, I wanna know . . . if you’ve tried “hot and sour soup” out side of Asia, does this here look like the Western-Chinese restaurant version of the soup or does it look totally different?
Oh, and here, it is not served in some little, tiny pre-dinner bowl. It comes in a big fill-your-whole-tummy sized bowl and costs less than 60 US cents. Or, if you are blessed it is free because the store owner likes you and wants you to try new things, so she occasionally gifts you with free soup or noodles. Nice, huh? One more reason to love Taiwan. I was reading about cravings the other day. For example, when you crave chocolate what your body really wants is magnesium, so you should eat raw nuts and seeds or fruit. So, I wanna know what a ginger candy craving means. Recently, I have been craving this! It is great! But, you can’t eat too much of it at one time cuz your mouth will be on fire!! |
Hi! We are Lawrance and Amanda Wu. We live in Taiwan--a little tea leaf shaped island in Asia. Amanda is from Texas and Lawrance from Tainan. We met, fell in love and married in 2008. We both teach English and both love to tell others about Jesus. We also both really enjoy laughing, and we both just happen to enjoy "ching cha," a type of fabulous green tea. Thanks for stopping by our blog. Wuhoo!                      
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