Sausages

Suddenly across the street from my door a sausage "shop" has opened. It is actually just in the garage of the building across from my door in the alley way. I am not sure if it is here for the long term or just especially for the up coming New Year in late January. I suspect the latter is the case.

Yangrou chaomian 羊肉炒麵 (mutton fried noodles)

This is another favorite from my local noodle shop. I have been enjoying being able to regularly eat mutton, it is such a wonderfully flavorful meat! As noted in past posts I have enjoyed this same shops lamb meat fried rice, but I have decided these fried noodles are really notable. The combination of green onions, onions, large strips of ginger, large chunks of garlic, all infused with cumin powder.

Where the hell?

For the few of you who have been following this blog and were wondering what happened to my fairly regular posts, well I think this picture will explain a lot. I have pushed through some five hundred years of literary history in this gap of nearly three weeks. I hope, with the ending of this chapter, I will see more than the space here pictured and my regular food stops!

わい! Sorry for the long absence! The combination of working hard on me main project and a nasty little cold derailed by postings. Well, I have started to frequent the menu at a so called Shanxi 山西 "Shaved noodle" (dao xiao mian 刀削麵 place mentioned in previous posts. Today I had muxu chao mian 木須炒麵, fried noodles with shredded mushrooms, carrots, cabbage and eggs. This place is really quite good! The other day I visited a shaved noodle place in the Shida night market (師大夜市), but it was very much inferior to this. As a side note, I would just say the Shida market has really declined, that is to say, food-wise, the only real measure of a night market.

Bike ride

Well, I had another bike ride today, this time I thought to take some shots as we bumped through traffic.

daoxiao mian 刀削麵

I finally made it over to a noodle shop 4 or 5 blocks from here, a "shaved noodled" (daoxiao mian 刀削麵) place. It was worth the "long" trek past the numerous other places. Freshly shaved noodles in all their thick springiness! (ほんとにコシがあるよ).

Feicui wan 翡翠灣

I made a little trip to the Pacific coast to visit an old friend. This is in a small village of "Turtle Roar" Gui hou cun 龜吼村 (But as a side note, according to a sign in the town the original name of the village was Gui kong 龜空 "Turtle hutch" because sea turtles would come ashore there to lay egg in hutches, but then the turtles stopped coming (for some unexplained reason)and the name change to Gui kong 龜孔, which then changed to Gui hou as it is now for obvious phonetic and orthographic reasons). Here are some pictures from the main local attraction a coastal peninsular park. For more photos from this trip see Cell Phone Photography.

Suan la tang jiao 酸辣湯餃

This is one of those foods that I looked back on fondly since the last time I live in Taiwan. A thick sour and spicy soup with dumplings in it. I got this articulation at a place called Changxing xiaopu 長興小舖 near me home. Not bad but not up to the level of the place that set the standard so many years ago.

Fried noodles

Well, another meal from another neighborhood noodle shop. This is a fried noodle/fried rice place. At NT$50 it works.

Zhacai niurou mian 榨菜牛肉麵

Well, after a day of focused writing and translating, I took a spin around the neighborhood, planning to get a biandang 便當 (boxed meal to go) but the place was closed so I decided to hit a little back alley noodle shop. To my mind the measure of a good noodle shop, in Taiwan at least, is their niurou mian 牛肉麵 (shredded beef noodles), and if available zhacai 榨菜, a type of pickled mustard green stem. This dinner at NT$40 was worth it, not great but I will still try their other offerings.

Douhua 豆花

Douhua 豆花
A nice little afternoon snack after a long day of booking and paper work.

Fan tuan, part 2

I went out to get mantou but noticed a long line at this fan tuan place; and as H and I have learned over the years that is probably were you want to go for food ("some restrictions may apply") and this was no exception. I picked up a "red rice rice role" zimi fan tuan 紫米飯糰, stuffed with the usual dried pork flakes (rousong肉鬆), pickles, and fried bread (youtiao油條); all rolled into a yummy little package.

Lunch

Yes, another biandang便當 (meal to go). This time we have (going from back left around): boiled corn, carrots and daikon; stir fried Chinese cabbage w/garlic; shredded Western cabbage; (front) on top if a bed of rice: (right)stewed dried tofu in a fermented bean sauce, (center) two "main items" shrimp stuffed in a fish sausage (竹輪)and deep fried, and (left) pickles. Well, over all this was a great lunch after a frustrating morning of computer battles that wasted all the work I had done for the day...

Mantou part 2

Whole wheat mantou! At NT $14, it is worth the two kuai塊, MPF if you know what I mean...

Waiting for das bus

Mantou饅頭

I was very pleased to find that within a block of me home there is a full sized mantou and baozi shop! This is so great, I was wondering if I needed to buy a toaster for making breakfast, but with 7 or 8 kinds of mantou I am set. Today to flesh out my fleshy dinner of leftovers I bought a few zaliang mantou雜糧饅頭 (Mixed grain mantou), at NT$16 they are a bit more expensive than the plain ones at NT$12, the nuts and dried fruits are worth it.

Lunch

This is from the rib place just outside my front door. You get your choice of freshly deep fried meat, a mound of rice, pickles, and three side dishes; all for NT$70! It will actually be partly for dinner too, just add a few mantou and some beer and I will be set!

After a long day of cleaning, stocking, and preparing my new home, I picked the fundamental tool for the bus traveler in Taibei: a guide to public transportation routs, 408 pages of bus routs and maps; there are nearly 250 bus routs detailed in this little baby!

Dinner

On my way back to my temporary home I found a nice baozi包子 place, actually a Taishan 泰山baozi place. These babies were filled with bamboo shoots, dried shitake mushrooms, and pork (NT $16 each). According the master what makes these Taishan is the thinner breading and filling...

Getting ready to move in

I picked up the keys to me new home today.

I went out for biandang and came back with mala tang jiao麻辣湯餃, not bad for NT$80, a big bowl of yummy spicy soup with big pieces of doufu, liver, and pork, and 7 dumplings!

Dinner

After wandering around the University campus and getting locked in a building (it seems when the music starts playing you need to get out of the building or you will be locked in...I was able to escape after a rather nerve racking few minutes, being Friday I thought I was in for a long night), I headed back to the hotel and gathered some dinner supplies.

Lunch

I had biandang 便當 for a late lunch. I decided to wander around what will be my new neighborhood and have a very late lunch (ca 3:00PM) and here it is. This one came in a balsa wood box, a sort of Taiwanese riff on Japanese bento 弁, this baby cost me NT$70!

Going for a bike ride

I went for a moped ride with my buddy yesterday, following the streets I have not seen in nearly ten years.

Big news: 阿扁was arrested!

Breakfast

A couple of mantou 饅頭 are perfect for a late breakfast, this steamer is a traditional back ally steamer run by an old fellow out of the front of his home (next to the shops spoken of in my last post).

Lunch

Found a nice little Hujiao bing 胡椒餅 roaster in a back street behind my hotel (next to the chou doufu 臭豆腐 shop). These were particularly tasty if a bit expensive (NT$40) but packed with meat, mushrooms, and lots of drippy fat!

Here is were my books will pile up, just north of the university.

My first cell phone

After a few hours of wandering from shop to shop, I found a cell phone that would take pictures and met my budget. In order to activate it, I bought a prepaid card for it, the only method for foreigners who have not yet gotten their residency card. Now I am connected, though I am still unclear how to use all the functions.

The first food in my belly was a 飯糰 and 豆漿, so good!

The Beginning