More Food, Folks, and Fun

Week 4 in Taiwan begins with a quick update on Taiwan cuisine -



Top Right / Bottom Middle: A visit to Yong Kong yielded the best Beef Noodle Soup experienced thus far in Taipei along with a nice “Dan-Dan” noodle dish.
Top Left / Bottom Right: At “Tasty Restaurant” we sampled an ice cream w/ melted chocolate in a fried wrapper and enjoyed some good roasted duck.
Bottom Left: A local place (called “Meet Fresh”) recommended by some good friends in Taipei (Pete, Esther, Jesse) has this signature dish (Zhao Pai) with red bean, mochi, grass jelly, and shaved ice. Yum!


We were fortunate to celebrate two birthdays this past week – my (Warren’s) auntie’s 60th birthday and my good friend Mitch’s 30th!



Bottom Middle / Bottom Right: My aunt surrounded by her many cards and a special chocolate cake. My grandmother who was in especially energetic and humorous spirits that evening
Top Left: Lunch with Mitch! He got to wear this hat and take this “stuffed heart” home as a special gift from the restaurant. Haha.
Top Right / Bottom Left: Karaokeing at “Party World” with some friends. Karaoke in the US is a weird activity that Asians do. In Taiwan, it’s a way of life.


Taipei is still a city full of activities and surprises...



Top Right: This odd shirt reads – YOU (be a lucky) ARE (to have met) SWEET.
Bottom Left / Bottom Middle: My cousin took us to get foot massages where you first soak with these 12 spices before being pampered and massaged in chairs with personal TVs!
Bottom Right: This is the trendy “winter wear” for women in Taipei. Tights and a short skirt or short shorts. They are everywhere!

Next week we are off to Thailand and Southeast Asia. Our time in Taiwan seemed to fly by!

Warren's dessert stomach

It’s been another week in Taipei and time is passing quickly. We leave for SE Asia the following Wednesday.

The highlight this week was heading to Pingxi to celebrate the Lantern Festival. It’s the end of the new year celebration. If you’ve seen Tangled, seeing the lanterns in person is even cooler than a Disney moment... and I was in Disneyland only a few weeks ago. A shout out to our new friend, Winnie, for some of her lantern pics. We also went strawberry picking with Warren’s cousin (or 2nd cousin) on the mountainside. Of course, we ate a 10-course meal after the laborious work of picking strawberries.

As most know, I’ve always had a separate stomach for dessert. What we learned is that Warren also has a 2nd stomach for dessert when we’re here in Taiwan! He will even order 2 desserts that he wants and I eat whichever one he likes less.

Food pics (top left going clockwise): Shave ice with strawberries / milk pudding, lao bing, MOS rice burger, Warren, peanut roll (an awesome dessert – rice paper rolled with shaved peanut brittle, taro ice cream, and the kicker…cilantro), Mel, sesame mochi balls with fermented rice soup, and pai gu fan.

Friends & Food

It seems like our entire time in Taiwan will be filed under the “friends & food” category!

In addition to Warren’s family, we also have several friends who are living in Taipei. It has been a very restful time of traveling… a bit different from previous parts of our trip as there are fewer “touristy” things to do and we are not volunteering in any capacity. We spend a lot of time at coffee shops with free wireless, reading our Kindles (thanks to Jeanne/Albert for their perfect Christmas travel gift and to Michael for stocking us with books), and hanging out with our friends.

We often talk about how lucky we are to have this time. Of course, everyone will have to help us find jobs when we finally land in SF, but nothing to worry about now!

Top Left: Typical of our days at the Mr. Brown Coffee
Top Right: Free performance at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial to kick off the Taiwan International Festival of Arts
Bottom Left: Hanging out at the arcade with Jen and Andrew. Jen and I sadly had sore arms after playing this “whack-a-mole” type game.
Bottom Right: Dessert with Pete and Esther. Yes, they are wearing down jackets and eating snow ice.

We continue to try new places to eat.
Top Left: Warren is standing next to the dough to make fresh shao bing. There are a surprising number of styles of shao bing here. It’s like pizza crust – thin vs. deep-dish. This place is called Fu Hang Dou Jiang.
Top Right: I’m not sure what these made-to-order mini waffles are called, but they are awesome. You can fill the inside with cream, red bean, peanut, even veggies.

Seven Days in Formosa

Melissa and I have been in Taiwan for over a week! Some things that we have noticed –

Dogs are everywhere! Stray ones wander the street, but more and more folks have city dogs that they dress up, take shopping, into stores, etc. Top Right: these dogs were crossing the street towards us and the man actually told Melissa she could ride one of them if she wanted. Haha. We’ve also seen the advanced technology that Taipei has developed in the past few years – sometimes to an unnecessary level. Bottom Right: for example, a digital sign outside a subway station bathroom displays which stalls are currently occupied, vacant, or out of order! We’ve begun to figure out where to get shoes, electronics, and other needs which are all quite convenient with the bus and subway system. Top Left: Melissa at one of our favorite stores on the GongGuan MRT stop where we got extra socks, laundry detergent, Chinglish journals, and even yoga mats. Melissa was into this large bear =)

We’ve continued to explore the cuisines of Taipei. On a recommendation we went to Din Tai Fung – a famous dumpling house with yummy shao-long-bao and extremely long lines. Top Right/Bottom Right: They hand-make them at a breakneck pace and they come out in a perfect steam tray. We’re definitely going back.

We go about every other day to see my family in Taipei. My grandmother just turned 99 and despite having limited mobility, hearing, and vision, is still pretty cognizant of her surroundings and can carry on rather long conversations about a wide range of topics! In the back is my cousin, Ryan (Hau-Hau) who is our unofficial personal guide to Taipei (when we’re not playing several rounds of the “Big-2” card game).

Goodbye chicken adobo. Hello Taiwanese brunch.

For the last 10 years, Warren and I have been sponsoring Joan (pronounced Jo-ann...which I only found out during this trip) through Compassion International. I don't think either of us ever imagined having a chance to see her, but we've been writing each other sporadically over the years. It was really cool to actually meet Joan and her family. Joan and her 9 siblings grew up in Davao City, which is the most southern tip of the Philippines in the Mindanao island. She was a bit shy since she wasn't comfortable with her English and I have no language skills in Tagalog, but we both warmed up throughout the visit.

My two weeks in the Philippines were rewarding and fun. Plus - there was the bonus of feeling really tall. In case you didn't notice, you can look back at the previous pictures!

Top: Joan just had a baby a few months ago. His name is Chris Jairus

Middle: the project where Joan lives

Bottom: Joan's mother, Jenny - her social worker, Joan, me, and Ronald - project director

Warren and I arrived in Taiwan just in time to celebrate the New Year with his family. These pics are the decorations around town. Here's wishing everyone a great year of the Rabbit.

(From Warren)

No surprise, one of the major aspects of life in Taiwan is the food. Everywhere you go and everything you do is connected to the experience of eating with family and friends. Melissa and I have every intention of getting fatter while we are here.

Top Left: Literally within hours of stepping off the plane in Taipei, I (Warren) was rushed to the best local Shao Bing You Tiao joint on Renai Road for a traditional Taiwanese breakfast with my uncle and cousin. Hot sweet soy milk and fried dough, it just doesn’t get any better than that. I had many a meal here during a few summers of my childhood. All together we paid 70NT$ for a three person breakfast – about $3.

Top Right: As a kid I remember loving this reddish pear-shaped fruit -- Lien Wu – which is unique to Taiwan. It has a consistency similar to an Asian Pear and tastes like an apple, but is lighter and sweeter. I could eat through a whole barrel of these.

Bottom Left & Right: We gathered around the kitchen table on the evening of Chinese New Year to partake in a feast of ten separate dishes. As expected all parties were stuffed to maximum capacity while in the background all throughout the night we heard the constant erupting of firecrackers (though they are “officially” banned in the city). The after dinner dessert consisted of what is called a Ba-Bao or Eight Delights. This is actually a traditional Chinese dessert that we ate with eight different parts to it – including red bean, rice, lotus, and dried apricot. YUM.