Last weekend, Mrs. Expatriate and I decided to take a trip to the Gukeng Coffee Festival. It’s a small gathering of people selling coffee, food, handicrafts, and other such things. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and there were quite a few people out and about. If you get a chance, I recommend you go.
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In Taiwan, it is common to eat sweet foods on and after your wedding day. It is thought that eating sweet food will help the newlywed couple have a baby boy. The reason is a Taiwanese proverb: 吃甜甜，生兒子。 (chī tiántián, shēng érzì) It doesn’t sound as good in Mandarin, but it rhymes in Taiwanese Continue reading Someone wants us to have kids Being able to use chopsticks is an essential skill when living in Taiwan (or China or Japan or anywhere else in Asia). Most restaurants will have chopsticks and spoons available for use (the spoons being for soup). Rarely will you find forks and knives, unless you go to an American restaurant or steakhouse, etc. Continue reading How to use chopsticks Miss Expatriate and I decided to spend the day in Taichung and had quite a bit of fun. For once, we actually did something and I got the photos organized and am blogging about it (I’m usually too busy to put the photos up until months later when it’s too late). We started off with lunch. Miss Expatriate had heard about a Muslim Restaurant that was getting very good reviews among the locals, so we decided to give it a try. The building was very drab and unassuming. The only giveaways were the green signs hanging out front. No matter where you go in Taiwan, you can be assured there will be a large stock of locally grown, fresh fruit available. Much of this fruit is similar to the Western World: apples, bananas, oranges, etc. Much of it, however, is also very eastern: Bell Fruit, Passion Fruit (and other tropical fruits), Dragon Fruit, Lychees, Dragon Eyes, etc. Oftentimes, much of this fruit is grown natural and wild. Natural, wild bananas, for example, are very short and fat and filled with seeds, not long and thin like modern bananas you buy at Walmart. In Taiwan, fortunately, they’ve also taken out the seeds.
Many foods in Taiwan are seasonal. That is, you can only get them during a certain time of year. One of my favorites is only available during the winter months: 燒仙草 (shāoxiāncǎo). Literally, Hot Immortal Grass. In English, it’s commonly known as Hot Grass Jelly. This is one of those foods that just looks Continue reading Taiwanese Winter dessert Well, it was a pretty uneventful Thanksgiving, as Thanksgiving is wont to be in Taiwan. It isn’t particularly celebrated, although the Taiwanese do have a name for it: 感恩节 (gǎnēnjié). If you have been reading the Taipei Times, you may know that the Kaohsiung Ambassador Hotel, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, was holding an Continue reading Thanksgiving Dinner This is a GUTS chocolate bar. Sounds so appetizing. I’m not sure what it means: does it have guts in it? Does it take guts to eat it? Does it make you feel brave and strong afterwards? I ate it anyway; not bad at all. Guts Chocolate Continue reading GUTS Chocolate Bar |
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