Too much nacho cheese

I think I ate too much for lunch today but my stomach always tells me "you can eat more!"  Unfortunately, because I hate seeing food being wasted and uneaten, I end up eating what my friends can't eat.  In the end, I was given the unfortunate nickname "human disposal" for taking everyone's leftovers.  For example today, my friend ordered nachos while I had my usual sandwich.  After finding a seat and getting settled, my friend opened up her box of nachos.  In the box was a ton of nachos with so much nacho cheese covering the chips that it looked the the chips my drown.  Also on top were globs of tomatoes, guacamole and sour cream creating a bit of decor but added to the mess.  My friend hates the texture of tomatoes so I knew half of those chips weren't going to be eaten.  Plus her stomach is tiny so she wouldn't have finished them anyways.  

I attacked my sandwich anyways just because I was famished after working in the morning but that sandwich didn't last and soon I was munching on her nachos.  The nachos were quite a challenge to eat considering every time you grab a chip and bite, your fingers and mouth get covered with cheese.  It's not the most go to food if you want to eat attractively.  

After 10 minutes of complete mess, my friend couldn't take anymore and she needed to head to class but what about the leftover chips?  Leave it up to me.  With 10 minutes before I need to head to class, I will find a way to finish it up whether or not it looked appetizing.  And with 5 minutes to spare I strolled to the trash can, discarded the box and headed to class.  With my awesome stomach and eating skills, no food can get in my way.  Well, maybe except seafood...

Back to Taiwan. After a day of shopping and eating, I was dead pooped by the end even though it was only 10 pm.  Stumbling back to my aunt's house, I noticed how uncreepy it was compared to where I lived.  In my town, there is no one on the streets or walking around by themselves but in Taipei, people were speeding around, some still in their school uniforms.  That's one of the things I love about Taipei is that no matter what time, there will be people of all ages doing their errands.  Though I couldn't enjoy it for long because I must hurry back home to a nice shower and a surface to sleep.  The day was over before I knew it but hey it was only the second day of my two month stay so what is there to miss?

The next day before I met up with my friend to go biking and to do more eating, my uncle needed some lunch and whether or not I needed it, he was going to take me.  Not that I would refuse such an offer in Taiwan.  Navigating through what seemed like tens of twists and turns, we arrived at a little restaurant in an alley (all good restaurants exist in an alley, or it seemed).  My uncle had brought me to eat fried chicken.  But don't mistaken it for KFC fried chicken because this is way better.  The thigh of the chicken is used with it covered in a thin crispy layer of skin and flour, unlike normal fried chicken that is covered in a bumpy layer.  Oh it was a delicious, juicy fried chicken.

In addition to the fried chicken, it came with some rice and 2 small sides like a traditional Japanese bento and a bowl of soup if you would like.  The cuisine in Taiwan is very influenced by Japanese cuisine not only because of the occupation by Japan for a number of years but also of how much admiration they have for the Japanese.  I may or may not get to this later but it's a lot to talk about.  But anyways, this meal was delicious, simple and way more than what I could eat.  Unfortunately, for some reason when I'm in Taiwan, my stomach actual feels satisfied after a normal amount of food.  If they had this type of set in my town, I would be happy, my stomach would be happy, and my family would be soo happy.  And it wasn't expensive at all.  There are a lot of these types of meals in Taiwan because it's a quick way to get lunch or dinner without being too expensive.  Sometimes, it's just better to eat out than to cook.

Craving some crepes now

Today was quite a productive day in a sense the I completed many many assignments and goals.  But it was also a very antisocial day where I never left my apartment to see anyone or to do anything.  It's pretty much how I spend my weekends but today I cleaned my nasty nasty apartment.  No, it's not me.  It's my roommate.  She is really the nastiest person I have lived with so far because she doesn't clean and she leaves loads of dirty dishes in the sink, on the table, stove, counter, does not put food in the fridge etc.  It did not occur to me that I would have to be dealing with this when I agreed to room with her.  And what's hard is that I cannot command her as if she were my brother.

Ha but my greatest accomplishment is cleaning the toilet.  That toilet seemed like it wasn't cleaned for ages and I really couldn't take it anymore because it was gross and I cannot allow my friends to go to the bathroom when they visit.  Blech.  Anyways, it's clean now but my roommates really need to know that they are living with other people.

Continuing from my last post where I introduced 西門町, my friend took me to 師大夜市 one of the many night markets in Taiwan.  Night markets dot the island of Taiwan and each one is filled with yummy food stands and alleys of merchants selling clothes.  Here is where you will find many famous Taiwanese 小吃 or snacks like 水煎包 (steamed buns), 豬血糕 (Pig's blood rice cake) or 蚵仔煎 (oyster omelet).  Night markets are the place people go during their free time because it is a good way to meander through streets and talking with friends as you snack on some great food.  I have asked my friends from China about the night markets there and they say, it's not as famous nor organized as those in Taiwan.  So definitely visit one night market if you go to Taiwan.

師大夜市 used to be one of the best night markets in Taipei before residents around the area complained about the noise, forcing many shops to close and restaurants to shut down.  What's left is a couple of rows of clothes and small accessory shops and one row of food carts.  It's quite depressing when you think about a once bustling night market reduced to a couple of streets. The last time I visited, there were plenty of small dine-in restaurants hidden along outer edges of the market.  My aunt had taken me to a Japanese curry restaurant that was delicious.  Simple and filling.  But those restaurants are no longer there and stores change constantly as they lose business. However, it still boasts an impressive amount of shopping with awesome prices that are cheaper than any other place I have seen.

Onwards with our unhealthy eating and shopping craze, my friend and I stopped in a bakery that smelled like fresh baked bread.  Mmmmm.  These bakeries also line every street in Taiwan so if you're craving something sweet and delicious for a breakfast or a hiking trip, just walk in to one, grab a few, pay and done.  The pineapple bun is a staple at any of the bakeries and it's a favorite of mine.  The green onion bread on the other hand is a more savory bread and is my mom's favorite.  In the United States, you might find a couple of these stores in areas with Chinese influence but the prices and variety just can't compare with the ones in Taiwan.  I always wonder how they can make the bread so soft with a perfect golden color.  I want to be able to make some!

We didn't end up buying anything we got our free smells like in those Jimmy John's shops with the "free smells" signs.  What was to come was unexpected because the whole time my friend was saying what sounded like Cola cake and she really couldn't describe it until we came upon a flashy little shop.  The fake food displays got me really excited because it looked like giant ice cream cones packed with fruits and giant balls of ice cream.  It wasn't giant ice cream cones but giant crispy 可麗餅 (crepes).

阿諾可麗餅 is a rare shop selling the crispy crepes filled with whatever you desire and is located the middle of the first row of shopping.  Seating is limited with just counter space lined on the three walls and 4 tables and once the night goes on, long lines form.  The ambiance is quite similar to a local restaurant with dark walls and names scrawled everywhere.  Almost an impossible task, finding a spot to leave my trace was difficult. But right in front of me I spotted a little white submarine soon to be named "Jasmine."  My parents would say "有病", meaning you're weird, for signing my name but for me, it is a necessary to take the opportunity when it shows up.

My friend and I were lucky to arrive to no lines and barely enough seats for the two of us.  We settled for a dessert crepe with banana and honey and a milk tea boba because where ever you go, you have to get one.   It's a weird tradition among us especially the American-Asians.  With a milk tea boba and honey banana, it became a sugar overload but the filling looked wimpy with just the bananas.  The star of the dish was the crepe itself as it was nice and crispy with the right amount of sweetness. To eat the crepe, you break off the pieces with your hand because it would become quite messy if you bite.  You can also make the crepe into a savory crepe by switching up the filling and adding ham, corn, mayo and lettuce.  If you're not looking for a meal, be sure to split it with a friend or it will fill you up, leaving no room for other food.

 Another type of cuisine found frequently at night markets are various foods that are barbecued.  Typically a cart would have different kinds of items such as sausages, chicken wings or legs, pork blood rice cakes or chicken hearts.  These are great to snack on while you're shopping because the are in bite size portions and pretty cheap, about $3 for one bag of stuff depending on your order.  I usually get the blood rice cakes and some sausages and maybe a couple of hearts here and there but sometimes the options are endless I can't pick.  These are the least healthiest things on the planet but they sure are delicious!

I am back...since a long time ago...

I just got back from an amazing 2 month trip to Taiwan and a 5 day stint in Japan and there was so much food that I think I don't want to eat anymore.  That's what I last typed just as I got super busy with school and neglected to update the blog any further and indeed, after I returned to the States, I would feel hungry and be perfectly fine with it.  But now that I'm back, I miss the convenience of walking out the door and have access to so much cheap food, things they should have in college.  If you don't know what I'm saying, you have to go visit Taiwan yourself because literally the lives people have revolve around eating.  So everywhere you go, there are at least 10 places to eat, especially in Taipei.  I suppose in a tiny island home of 23 million people, there has to be an abundance of food or else people will starve.

Because of the lack of WiFi and plain laziness, I did not blog for the entire two months in Taiwan and the months I've been back.  So now I'm stuck with uploading all the pictures and writing descriptions for them so I apologize if it seems incomplete or halfheartedly written.  Definitely nobody's fault but mine.

On the first week of my stay, my friend took me on some day trips around Taipei mostly to relive what I missed for the last 3 years.  I haven't been back the Taiwan in so long that I was so excited about every food and every object on the streets.  I needed to meet my friend at a subway station but right from the start, I got lost.  Getting lost in Taiwan is pretty terrifying because everything is in a different language and the street names are seemingly all the same.  Turns out the "station" that I was waiting at was just the entrance to an underground passage and I had only needed to walking forwards for a couple of more yards.  And I learned what a subway station looked like...

A frequent sight in Taiwan

The first place we tackled was 西門町 (Xi Men Ding), one of the hubs that young people go to hang out.  Xi Men Ding is a large swath of area with multiple streets and ally ways just dedicated to eating and shopping so it's not a surprise as to why it's so busy day and night every day.  It's a shame that we could not eat at every restaurant and every stand but we did have a decent amount while we were there.

If you are familiar with Chinese food, then you will think that this food look unappetizing especially when you learn what else is in it.  A little hole in a wall called 阿宗麵線 (Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodles) provided some simple yet delicious.  Each bowl is a good portion for a large snack with it containing flour-rice noodles and pig intestines.  Pig intestines are not something to cause a scare in Asian cultures so you will often see it in many dishes, whether served in soup or just as a cold side dish.

Flour-rice noodles

I'm hungry, who needs seats?

Only costing $1.50, the noodles were sheer yummy goodness as I slurped it up with just a spoon. Tons of others clearly agreed with me as they stood slurping their noodles and chatting with their friends.  Yes, there are not enough tables for people to sit but who cares?  Everyone just goes on eating their noodles standing up right in the front.  My suggestion would be to share a regular size bowl with friend so that you can leave some space in your stomach for other goodies while you are there.




After that, we chilled at 祥發 港式茶餐廳 (San Fa HK Style Restaurant) eating some dishes that you may frequently find in Hong Kong.  From what I could see from the menu, there are some dishes you could find at Dim Sums and some that are twists on dishes from Dim Sums.  

For example, one of the dishes we ordered was 蘿蔔糕(daikon cake) fried with been sprouts, eggs, green onions, tofu and probably some meat.  The daikon cakes are the big brown rectangular chunks you see in the picture.  Usually the daikon cake is eaten plain at Dim Sum but here they had fried it up with other things to make it a dish rather than a small appetizer.  I particularly loved the flavor of this dish and it had a slight kick to it too!  Each bite made you want to have more and more.

Another cool snack you may find here that's famous in Hong Kong is the 菠籮麵包 (Pineapple bun).  In Hong Kong, you can order this dish at many restaurants as a side dish, or even just your breakfast paired with milk tea.  It's definitely something you should not eat everyday for the sake of your health but treat yourself sometimes.  This warm bun is a sweet bread filled with butter on the inside with a thin flaky layer on top.  It was a good portion, almost half the length of the chopsticks.  It was a trip down memory lane as I remember my last trip to Hong Kong.

After that nice break from walking and shopping, we stopped at 成都楊桃冰(Chengdu Starfruit Ice) to get us some cold refreshing drinks.  Neither of us had tried this before so we went classic and ordered the starfruit drink.  It was certainly a cold drink but refreshing wasn't really the word to describe.  The taste had a 酸梅 (sour plum) taste to it so it was a little sour, but not the sour you might encounter in a lemon.  I wasn't a big fan of this drink but I'll accept it.

Buddy cups

Though one of the shopkeepers asked us why in the world we even went there because it isn't very good so I guess it really isn't great. Somehow it's because this one isn't the original but another one opened by a feuding relative.  Classic.  But that shopkeeper guy was a judging person because he questioned why my Chinese was so 卷舌 (retroflex?) even though my parents were from Taiwan.  He and my friend ganged up on me, trying to tell me it's so much easier to talk like people in Taiwan and there I was blubbering because I hadn't used my Chinese in so long...

Sometimes I wish I could spend a week browsing Xi Men Ding and enjoying all the great food it has to offer but time is precious and I have other things to do so it'll be a few years before I come back.  All of these places I have visited, you should be able find more information on travel blogs or websites if you wanted to know more.  

Goodbye Canada

On our last day in Canada before leaving at 3 o'clock in the morning the next day we took a trip to Calgary to check out their Chinatown.  There was actually a decent number of restaurants in what was considered Chinatown and it was way too hard to pick one restaurant to eat lunch at.  We decided on Gee Gong (珠江菜館) because it was less nice looking but it was still crowded.  That means it must be very good and somewhat inexpensive.

We were seated at the last open table which happened to be right next to the bathroom but who cares?  The waitress served us tea right away.  The sheer number of dishes made it difficult to chose just a few.  You could choose dishes that you eat with rice, or you could order things like noodle soup or jok (Chinese porridge).  I just wanted to order everything and devour it all but after some compromising, we ordered 3 dishes from the 合菜 menu and 2 noodle soups from the paper menu.

榨菜鴨絲湯麵 (Duck noodle soup)
(front) & 牛肉湯麵 (Beef noodle soup)

The noodle soups came first.  The noodles are Hong Kong style noodles that you would typically find fried but in soup form, it tastes just as good.  The Peking duck was still crispy and juicy making it even more scrumptious.  Everything about the soups were excellent except they seemed a bit saltier than necessary and they clearly used the same soup base for both.  But it's hard for us to waste any food so we downed the bowl.  The size of the bowl is more than enough for one person unless you are a big eater which in this case, it would probably be not enough.

煎封龍利 (Fried fish)

Everything else was superb and delicious.  Nothing was dissatisfying and not before long, the plates were squeaky clean.  Even though I dislike eating fish, I found this one to be ok because it was fried to the point that even the bones could be eaten.  However, I wouldn't eat it if you are worried about your health.

牛肉炒時菜 (Beef with seasonal vegetables)

五香牛腩煲  (5 flavor beef pot)

I have to point out how interesting the way the serve their rice is.  At most Chinese restaurants, they either give you bowls of rice or in a larger plastic bowl, but Gee Gong had it in a metal bucket.  We were totally fine with that and it even adds to the traditional Chinese restaurant, making it even more authentic.  They also charge for rice but it isn't as expensive as the Silver Dragon restaurant we ate at.

Yea we had some fast food

A friend of ours told us that in Canada, Tim Horton's dominated McDonald's and if we had nothing else to eat at home, we could eat their donuts.  She claims that because Canada is so cold, you'll end up burning through the calories so don't feel guilty about eating a donut.  Sounds tempting.  We decided to give it a try since all of us were tired and didn't feel like cooking anything later.  However, my brother and dad took one look at the menu and saw it wasn't burgers and fries and marched right over to the Wendy's next door.

Besides donuts, Tim Horton's mainly sort of a "cafe" or small meal style restaurant because they have bagels, paninis, soups, etc.  To be honest, nothing really appealed to me and the price didn't seemed just a tad expensive so I just ended up ordering a bagel and soup for around $5.  My mom did order a panini which was fairly large and thought it was delicious.  A very rare comment for a western dish.  I guess Tim Horton's is like a Einstein Bagel type shop so it's not really a place for a meal but not at all similar to the Wendy's next door.

Wendy's Poutine

Apparently there's this thing called poutine that Canada is famous for and my brother said it was absolutely necessary to try it while we are here.  Poutine is basically fries with gravy poured over topped off with cheese curds.  Sounds like an American dish right?  But it's Canadian and my brother just had to order it from Wendy's.  The gravy made it pretty salty and the cheese wasn't completely melted but I can't expect much from a fast food chain.  Making this at home must be a piece of cake.  I mean all you need is some fries, gravy and cheese curds and voila, you've got poutine.  And it would probably even taste better if you bought some McDonald's fries to use instead of trying to make your own fries.  Usually ends up nothing like fries unless you're a pro, which I'm not.  Wait, I usually bake mine so that's probably why.

Oh Canada

My week in Alberta, Canada was fantastic.  For someone who comes from the desert, the weather was great, a bit chilly but bearable and oh my, the trees and foliage was so green.  If any of you haven't visited Banff or the surrounding National Parks in Alberta, Canada, I would really suggest it because aside from the green, the water is gorgeous.  The lakes and rivers all run aqua blue with little contamination because the source of the water comes from glacier melts that has a concentration of rock flour.  The rock flour that scatters the light and makes the water blue comes from the glaciers grinding up the rocks into tiny granules like flour.  I tried to take as many pictures as I could on my 2 gb memory which was around 180 pictures until I realized when I got home that there were 4 videos that took up half the memory.  Definitely pay a visit to Canada and you won't regret it.

Because we lived in a resort, there wasn't many opportunities for us to explore the restaurants and eateries around the area.  But we did eat at a couple of Chinese restaurants and a fast food chain.  I will be writing about all of them in separate entries.

In the small town of Banff located at the foot of Banff National Park, my family craved for some food for dinner.  But everything that wasn't fast food was very expensive so we resorted to some Chinese food because we knew the portions would be sizable and my brother counts as 2 people.  Not surprisingly there was a Chinese restaurant right in the center of the town on the third floor called Silver Dragon.  It's easy to miss the entrance but it's there I promise.

106 3rd Avenue SE, Banff, Alberta, Canada 

Silver Dragon is a good sized restaurant and very clean with a good view of the rocky mountains if you sit near the window.  The waiter was very nice and immediately seated us at a table that had the view of the mountains instead of sticking us off to the side which happens very often.  The dishes were quite authentic, or at least more authentic than take out Chinese food and we ordered 4 dishes that I may or may not be able to translate correctly.

The beef noodle soup is one of my all time favorite dishes and Silver Dragon did not disappoint at all.  The stock was savory and the noodles were clearly handmade so it's chewier and more tasteful.  The vegetables like the broccoli and carrots were also a good addition to it so at least you were eating some veggies with your food.  There was enough to go around.

My dad prefers to eat vegetables over meat so there always has to be some vegetarian dish and this time we chose a tofu dish that look and tastes like the dish tofu family style.  The tofu used in this dish is fried tofu so there is a yellow skin on the outside with the normal tofu in the inside.  My mom raved about the tofu because it was so soft and fresh tasting which I guess none of the Chinese restaurants in Tucson had that quality.

 

雜菜牛湯麵 Beef and Miscellaneous Vegetables Noodle Soup and 雙菇紅燒豆腐 Two Mushroom Braised Tofu

  

The last two dishes were meat dishes that sound slightly unappetizing to a normal person mostly because I have no idea how to translate and "pickled mustard" never really sounds good.  But trust me, these dishes are amazing, at least if you don't have a picky palette.  We expected the Sichuan Chicken to be somewhat spicy but it only has slight sting to your tongue so if you can't take much heat, don't be fooled by the name of this dish.

梅菜扣肉 (top) Pickled mustard pork and
 川椒油淋雞 the chicken

川椒油淋雞 Sichuan Pepper Oily Chicken

And last but least, the pickled mustard pork.  Ooooo soo nasty sounding.  I guess it's to weed out all the people leaving the brave souls and you should be one of those.  If you don't want to eat the picked mustard, just eat the pork and your taste buds will be just as happy.  You might be surprised to see that the meat is literally a layers of fat and meat like a thick piece of bacon meat but as you should know, fat adds to the flavor.  Just don't eat too much of it because absolutely no benefit to your health.  

I apologize for not being able to describe the taste of these dishes for you but all I can say is that they are all savory dishes, salty and delicious.  You must eat all the dishes except the soup with rice like most Chinese dishes because there is too much flavor and you might just not be able eat anymore after a few bites.  But beware, Silver Dragon charges around $2 for each bowl of rice but they will not charge if you refill, at least for us they didn't.

If you are some kind of budget, this may not be the restaurant for you because the dishes can be quite expensive but compared to the other restaurants around the avenue, it's probably one of the better deals.  Silver Dragon did not disappoint at all.  The waiter was friendly and the food was heavenly so it's a place worth going if you're craving some Chinese food.

What am I doing?

Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing with this blog but I thought it would be pretty cool to just have a place where I can put pictures of things that I eat and where I ate it.  Kind of random but because I like food so much, I take pictures of my food and put it in a place where it can last forever.  FOREVER.  Maybe.  I'm really hoping my writing doesn't suck so much since I really don't like writing in general and maybe it'll just end up being a blog with just pictures...but that's cool too right?

And hopefully I can figure out how to use this blogging thing because right now it kind of just looks like a word document.  I have no idea how this will translate onto the main page and maybe Blogger is a magic application that will just transform it into a better looking rant.

I don't live in a town busy and populated enough to have a huge variety and amazing foods that I've never tasted before so most of the things I blog about will probably be from trips.  You might encounter months of inactivity.  But if there are people reading this, I'll probably post pictures of homemade food that my friends or I make for lunch or just randomly on a Friday night.

This summer is going to be some huge food overload because I'll be heading to Canada for a week and then to Taiwan (the Mecca for Asian foodaholics) and I'll be posting some major ton of pictures and textual drool.  Get ready guys.  Prepare for the bombardment of delicious food!