食物 :D

Why, howdy thar. This weekend I'm going to Kanding! For free! You're jealous, huh? You totally know where Kanding is, dontcha? It's okay, I don't really even know where it is now. It's a small city in the south with apparently beautiful beaches. I'll take pictures.

I've just recently realized that I haven't really talked about Taiwanese food too often in these blogs. No better time to start than now. :) Well, I must first start by saying that the pineapple right now here is absolutely scrumptious. Except pineapple is something naturally grown so you can't quite credit the Taiwanese for how mouth-orgasmic the pineapple happens to be currently. One thing the Taiwanese can take credit for is rou song. Probably one of my favorite things in the world.

肉鬆 (rou song) or pork floss in English, is a ground, dried, fluffy pork substance. Don't quite know how it's made. It's a bit crunchy and light unless it's packed together, and it's pork so of course it has a meaty flavor. It's a strictly Taiwanese thing and they mainly add it to rice porridge, bread and sandwiches. Not so popular among exchange students. Most of my foreign friends give me strange looks when they see me eating this mixed in with rice porridge, and the Taiwanese give me more of a shocked look. I myself thought it was repulsive when I first got here and now I find it heavenly. Mmm. Another one of my favorites is anything made with Sesame in Taiwan. A very popular way sesame is used is in tangyuan or sweet dumplings, as well as your basic sesame candy. Both are amazing.

芝麻湯圓: Sweet dumplings. Eaten during winter season mainly, served warm in a sugar-water broth. Specially eaten during the lantern festival in January.

芝麻糖果: Sesame candy. Popular just because it's freakin' delicious.

Something that's been one of my favorite things here in Taipei are the bakeries.

When I walk into one it's like entering a baked goods world full of endless possibilities. So little time to try them all without getting fat. Oh, woe is me. It's also helped me to come to terms with another dream I have in life. Owning a bakery/restaurant and baking/cooking for a living. Food's a big part of my life, what can I say. It's like a tumor that I've managed to shrink over time with diets and learning more about food, but it's never going away so I have to accept the little bugger. Food's just too much fun and when it comes to what you can do with it, the sky's the limit. :) So, how does that sound? Part linguist/baker/chef? I think I can make it work. I've also decided when I come back to Taiwan and I'm going to become a Chef's apprentice and learn their ways.

Onto other subjects, the humidity is raising steadily in Taiwan. Last week was awfully hot and sticky, and this week it's been raining non-stop. People are getting cranky, including me. It doesn't help when the main time's I get spoken to by a certain host pop it's about a mistake I've made. There I go, complaining again, sorry, can't help it. You're the only one who understands. So far, things I'm not allowed to do or have to do better include: I can't enter their bedroom at all, even if it's just to put away the internet cord in it's place a mere foot from the entrance. I can't put anything on the shower rack or else it will fall and the world will end. I have to turn off and unplug the microwave before I open it or else the sensor could break and I unleash a blast of radiation into the house. Not only that, but everything must be unplugged if it's not being used, reason not primarily being to save the environment but that if there's a power surge and electricity goes out something could break and explode. What I have to do isn't so difficult to make it better, I know, but if I forget anything or mess up it's worthy of a sit-down lecture. Now, everybody's different, and I've learned enough to know that I've gotta grin and bear it.. But just to spite 'em I've stopped using a sponge when I wash my dishes. Hah. Currently poppa bear is riding my ass to get off the internet, so I gotta finish this up.

I'll post again soon with some more on food, and maybe a bit more complaining. :] See you soon.