This is my first time in Taipei in March, and I have to say it's kind of pleasant. The rain is going to be on and off all week, but temperatures are going to hover in the low teens making the no-central-heat lifestyle more comfortable than a month ago.
Unfortunately, my lappy suffered some strange mishap overnight and now fails to boot up with a "fan error." I'm stuck doing this on an older machine which I guess doesn't hurt my blogging abilities too much, but it does decrease my overall internet enjoyment.
Super short rant: Monetary denominations in Taiwan max out at $1000 NT, which is the rough equivalent of $35 nowadays. This is a small bill size to peak at, and although living costs are much lower leading to less money being thrown around, it seems kind of strange not to have anything a little bigger. A $5000 NT note might be a bit too high, so I'm not sure. In Japan, the smallest paper note is 1000 Yen and Taiwan's is $100 NT ($3.50). Both of these are large amounts to be throwing at strippers...making it much more expensive in general to make it rain.
公館 - Gongguan
The Gongguan area serves as the collegetown for National Taiwan University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. I guess it's Taipei's equivalent of Takadanobaba, although I've never thought of it that way before...
NTU is unanimously regarded as the best school in Taiwan. People in Asia always think that their country's respective best colleges are super-prestigious, but then nobody learns anything in college. High school students have a hard time just getting into school, and there is no doubt in my mind that the students at these schools are the brightest; however, the quality of education they receive thereof is just not on par with the West.
I grew up thinking Seoul Dae was this other-worldly school, but now I'm more of the opinion that they'd be lucky to have me. Am I bigoted or just arrogant?
College students are always out and about, and that's why Gongguan always has some of the best street food at night. We were there after dinner to specifically check one thing off the list. Warning: old camera again.
臭豆腐 - stinky tofu is basically fermented tofu that of course smells really bad. When it's fried up most of the stink gets cooked away, but some of the unique taste remains. The result is yums, although I admittedly didn't take to it my first time around. Also, the steamed variation I had at Big Beard was so smelly that I simply found it too hard to bear. Still it doesn't take much to acquire this taste (kinda like sushi). Frying it also puffs it up into a super light and crispy treat. We made the mistake of not getting it double-fried (when they fry it again after cutting it into pieces). Still delicious of course.
Next up, we went for some douhua at this place V had visited with her cousin, Irene. It's the quintessential hole in the wall joint complete with a single serving station and an extensive menu.
You can get your douhua two ways here, hot or cold. It was especially warm that day, so we got it with ice. You don't get any choice of toppings here and once you order it you're done. It's gonna come out super simple and old school: tofu, peanuts, and syrup. I'm not a douhua expert like V, but it was pretty damn good. The tofu is so soft it just obliterates on your tongue.
This place is run by a woman who has turned down every attempt for a TV station to get them on television. When she's not there, it's her two sons that run the joint and apparently everytime V's been there, one of them specifically is just completely shit-faced. I was there to witness it and it's true; he perpetually looks like he just got in a fight with his mama about what makes their douhua delicious...and lost.
No pictures of his face, but here's the douhua. I think that mine actually had too much ice in it and ended up little watered down. I tried V's after and it tasted brilliant. On the bright side, they scraped the last of the batch of peanuts into my spoon and I ended up with double everybody else's peanuts. My experience was slightly disappointing, just because the syrup got too light, but I totally understand how good it should have been. Cry. I might need a second go around.
Last up was V's fried sweet potato balls. We got them super fresh from the one cart that always does them the best. This station is also apparently run by an old woman, but it was her daughter there this time, and we can honestly say that her mother taught her well. Love all these mom and pop joints.
統一阪急百貨 - Uni-President Hankyu Department Store
The Hankyu department store is probably the most Japanese one in all of Taipei. Taiwan already has a unique relationship with Japan and adopts a lot of brands and products, but Hankyu is a level above. We were saying that the food court was like "a taste of home." If home was Japan... Tonkatsu, ramen, matcha, you name it they got it. We're trying really hard to refrain from eating Japanese things and getting a healthy dose of Taiwan before we head back.
I don't think Mister Donut qualifies as a "Japanese thing." We got a bunch of seasonal specials: a strawberry covered in strawberry donut, regular strawberry, and white chocolate covered chocolate. The one of the left was serious strawberry overload. No need to cover a strawberry donut with strawberry frosting and then throw some freeze-dried strawberries on top. In contrast, the plain strawberry one was quite nice. Our favorite might have been the chocolate one though. This was apparently a Valentine's Day special. Not sure why it's still around, but I ain't complainin!
We totally couldn't figure out what to eat and ended up settling for a fried pork chop. You can never really go wrong with one of those. We did a bit of quick shopping and decided to eat leftovers at home for dinner instead of anything in the food court.
There were leftovers on the table, but this guy was waiting for us as well.
Apparently, when people have a son they send out a gold box filled with two red eggs, a fried chicken leg, and sticky rice. I have no idea where this custom comes from, and I'm not even sure if this is just a Taiwanese thing or a Chinese thing. I just ate it and enjoyed it. I love sticky rice. And congratulations to the baby, I mean the parents of the baby, whoever they are.
Popo!
Possibly the best picture we've ever been able to take of Popo. He just refuses to look at the camera. V was surprised. Really surprised.
Possibly the best picture....
No comments:
Post a Comment