one more from Jingmei

I will just add that our old neighborhood is very much like it was compared to eight years ago, still more dogs wandering "free" than in Taibei, but now there are less cars and bikes parked in the back allies (due I am guessing to the new parking regulations) which actually makes the streets surrounding our old apartment much nicer. You can get a sense of this from the photo in this post; this is a picture of the noodle shop across from our old place, it is still there! In the past it would have been cluttered with parked cars and mopeds. Another change is the number of bicyclists, packs of well groomed families, I suspect the MRT has had the desired effect of moving people out of the rather dense city center to the suburbs. Even with all the bikes the traffic there is the same, and the streets are just as pedestrian unfriendly.

Our old stomping ground 景美, 8 years later

Chao doufu 臭豆腐

Yes, "stinky tofu" is well stinky but so very tasty. This is the deep fried kind, which I bought from the back of a little open-back trucks that comes and goes during the day near my home. This box of fried-to-order tofu, a pile of lightly pickled cabbage and carrots, all covered in a nice spicy sauce cost me about NT$65 about US $2.

Spring has sprung

Star fruit and Wax apples.

Kengding 墾丁

After a long blog-o-break, I am back. Here are some images from Southern Taiwan taken at Kending National Park

Luobo si bing 蘿蔔絲餅 and cong you dan bing 蔥油蛋餅

Yes, another food post, this is just indicative of what I am doing...other than my main task, all there is is food. These babies come from a little stand some distance from my place. They have four items:
Luobo si bing (shredded radish filled fried bread)(pictured)
Hongdou bing 紅豆餅 (red bean filled fried bread)
Cong you bing (diced onion flavored fried bread)
Cong you dan bing (diced onion flavored fried bread with a fried egg added)(pictured)

This place always has a huge line, it takes about 20 minuted to make it to the front but it is worth it. This palace is particularly good, the filling is well composed, the bread is airy, and it is nearly deep fried so it is very crispy on the out side but steamy bready underneath! Not to be eaten everyday but from time to time.

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...