Wait a minute November 14, 2008

One of the restaurants we went to in China was this nice, little Italian restaurant.  So, the most genuine Italian food I’ve eaten was in China.  The owner was even truly Italian.  He had (I think it was) his cousin ship ingredients fresh from Italy to him every week.  That picture up there is down from our personal eating room down to the courtyard.  That’s how most restaurants in China are built.  Almost none of them have a communal eating area, and some even have a large garden with a pond in the courtyard.

and the rest October 23, 2008

Star Fruit

There were two other fruits that I really liked in Taiwan, star fruit and dragon heart.  I’ve seen star fruit at home before, but never dragon heart.  I guess we just bought one in Taiwan, because we were feeling adventurous.  

Star fruit (also known as Carambola) might be my favorite fruit, but I’ve only eaten it once, so pomegranate still holds the record.

According to this post, that’s a good thing, since star fruit can kill.  Murderous fruit.

 

 

Dragon Fruit

Then there was dragon fruit (or Pitaya), which was probably the strangest fruit I’ve ever seen. 

It was the special “surprise dessert” our hosts presented to us after dinner at their apartment one night.

The one we ate was dark purple/magenta on the inside.

It was really, really sweet.  I didn’t like it as much as some fruits, but it was a nice switch from the daily apple.

7-cent pomegranates October 18, 2008

Pomegranates are my most favorite fruit (maybe even food) ever.  I’m pretty much obsessed with them.  You can get your technical info on ‘em or some recipes and such (personally, I don’t know why you would want to ruin a perfectly good pomegranate by adding other stuff to it).

Ahhhhh

In Taiwan we could only find pomegranates costing over $1, like over here (but at least we found them). 

During our travel through China (after being fooled into buying one for $2) we found a fruit stand in Kunming that sold them for 7 cents!  It was heaven.  I wish we could have stayed there longer. 

Luckily, I still get the occasional pomegranate over here.  The good ones are rare, usually the ones we buy turn out to be half-rotten.  Oh, well, they’re still half un-rotten and perfectly edible!

More breakfast! October 14, 2008

 

Yummmm

This might not look so good in a picture, but it tastes amazing!  They have the best breakfasts in Taiwan and China (minus the rice gruel and dried sardines I had on the plane)!  

This dish is basically eggs, ham, and herbs baked in an Asian version of a tortilla.  I think the sauce is a type of soy sauce.  

There was a little shop that sold these, kind of like a breakfast wrap Subway.  It was very open and had tables so you could sit outside and eat your breakfast, because mornings in Taiwan are nice and warm.

Egg Pancakes? September 25, 2008

I just thought I’d share one of the most glorious dishes ever with you.

I miss these.

This is one of my most favorite foods.  I only got to eat it twice, and I don’t even know the right name for it.  Just looking at that picture makes me so hungry.  I’ve tried making things like these at home, but I just can’t get it right.  Please, if anyone has this recipe, tell me it. Please.

(PS: I actually ate these in Beijing, China, but it was part of the same trip as when I went to Taiwan.)

(Update: I think I found the recipe! =D)

bubble tea (and more!) September 14, 2008

Mmmmm

“You have to try bubble tea!” our hosts told us.  I was the only one to try it.  At first I didn’t really enjoy the taste of the tapioca pearls, but being raised not to waste anything I finished drinking it over the course of many days…

.. and now I’m addicted.  In fact, I recently bought some tapioca pearls so I could make my own bubble tea drinks at home. Woohoo! =D Now to get my friends to try it!

 Those lovely globes on the plate are shelled dragon eyes (don’t worry PETA, we put the dragons down humanely before we shell their eyes).  We picked these up at the market at the suggestion of our hosts.  I loved the fruit.  I ate tons of them.  Then people found out about my love of dragon eyes (by the way, the real English name for them is longan fruit).  They gave me bags of dragon eyes.  I began to utterly abhor dragon eyes. 

I was sitting in a large, crowded room for hours watching a community event thingamabob.  The couple behind me decided to introduce the American girl to dragon eyes.  They gave me a huge bag of the fruit (which I accepted politely since it’s rude to refuse a gift after two or three refusals, while inwardly cringing) and kindly instructed me on the correct way to peel them.  I’m so sorry to you, kind bestowers of Taiwanese produce, that bag ending up rotting in the fridge.