Taiwan Through Pictures: Part 2

For the first part of this post, check out Taiwan Through Pictures: Part 1.

Wow, it's been 5 months since my trip to Taiwan. That will teach me to wait too long to post about my trips in the future! Unfortunately my memory is getting fuzzier and fuzzier, but hey, that's what pictures are for!

The favorite stop on the trip for both me and T was Sun Moon Lake. A lot of natural beauty here, although it rained the hardest on our way to the lake. This is how I found out my jacket that I packed for the trip was water resistant, as opposed to waterPROOF. You live and you learn. But the thunderstorm finally broke over night, lending us the beautiful view form our hotel room above.

We had the opportunity to visit a Hakka village, enjoy their cuisine, and even make some Hakka tea, which was a mix of green tea powder, black sesame, white sesame, puffed rice, and a couple of items I can't quite remember (in the baggie has either pine nuts or peanuts). Suffice to say, it was all very tasty.

At one of the rest stops, there was signage for one of my favorite Taiwanese soft drinks, Apple Sidra, a caramel-colored apple soda. My other favorite is Hey Song Sarsaparilla, which I guess is like a more medicine-y tasting root beer. Perhaps more of an acquired taste, T is unfortunately not a fan.

For the rest of this post, I will merely share the rest of my pictures, with the occasional caption. This will hopefully teach me the importance of writing things to down during or shortly after my future trips.

Outside the Beitou Hot Spring Museum

Best. Pork. Ever.

We had some delicious mango and strawberry snow from this place, but not as much fun as posing with their mascot.

While I don't know when our next trip will be to Taiwan, I'm so thankful for the opportunity to go with my family, and to show my wife a bit of the motherland!

Taiwan Through Pictures: Part 1

Back in April, I had the pleasure of taking a vacation to my ancestral home of Taiwan along with my wife, sister, and mom. We traveled primarily in a tour group, which was a great way to maximize the sights (and eats) on a trip that was just barely over a week. Here now are some pictures from that trip:

We ate at the Din Tai Fung in Taipei both at the beginning of the trip, as well as at the end, and my God, they really were the best xiao long bao (soup dumplings) I've ever had.

The Mrs. picked up a little charm of Din Tai Fung's mascot.

Taiwanese people love fruit! We came right in time for lembu seaso, also known as wax apple or mountain apple. Bear in mind that other than color, this tropical fruit shares nothing in common with the common American apple, but instead has a very light, airy, Styrofoam-like texture, and has a very light, sweet flavor.

Mangoes unfortunately were NOT in season, but this farm stand that our bus stopped by on the way from Kaioshung to Kenting had some large mangoes for sale.

Banyan trees are everywhere we went.

We also got to ride both the bullet train, as well as the classic train.

This is a picture of the wonderful wooden bowl that acted as a container to our delicious lunchbox, modeled after the offerings train riders would order back in the day.

Here we have a smoked chicken leg, that was light but flavorful. You'll also notice the wonderful variety of flavors and textures along with the chicken: a slice of Taiwanese sausage, veggies, corn, and diced bean curd, all on top of a bed of rice.

The wife and I also came across some very interesting restroom signs at this train station...

...which were strangely similar to abstract art.

Saltiness and shawarma

Since returning from Taiwan, a few things have changed in the area of food:

• Everything tastes too freaking salty! I mostly blame the light (but delicious) seasoning of the food in Taiwan. A meatball sub I had this past week for lunch left my mouth feeling like the Sahara. Bleh!
• I've had a lot of noodle soups and rice porridge, mostly because I've been struggling with a cold for nearly two weeks now.
• Before my trip, I was set on blacklisting a few things from my diet upon returning from vacation, and while the list may grow, it currently includes soda (club soda is OK), artificial sweeteners, and fast food (with the exception of desperate moments like at an airport or on a road trip).
• I haven't been cooking too much in 2012 other than a few staples that my wife and I enjoy, but I was really inspired to take up the spatula again when I caught my first episode of American's Test Kitchen. The episode featured a very tasty looking recipe for spaghetti and meatballs which I'm dying to try. 
• Just barely related, but The Avengers movie has boosted sales of shawarma! This is shawarma in case you were wondering:

Off to Taiwan

Things will be quiet for the next two weeks or so on the blog as the Mrs. and I take a family trip to the beautiful island of Taiwan! We'll be seeing family and will primarily be on the tour of the western side of the island. What's there you ask? I'm not entirely sure, but I can't wait to find out as there are both bustling cities and an abundance of natural beauty in Taiwan.

Man, the last time I was back in the motherland was April of 1999, this trip has been waiting to happen for quite awhile now. While my spoken Taiwanese is decent, I can't read or write, and my Mandarin is practically non-existent all the more reason why I'm thankful my mom and sister are along on this trip.

While you can expect entries for "Tuesday's Tunes" to continue, other content will be on hold until I return...

....with tons of pictures...

...mostly of food.

I'm especially look forward to trying as many bowls of Beef Noodle soup as I can, in the eternal quest to improve my own recipe.

Photo from Chow Times
I was instantly drooling after my Google Image search for this...

And while travel for me goes hand-in-hand with eating, I am really looking forward to members of my family that I rarely get to see and to experience with all of my senses the place that previous generations of my family called "home."

Work in Progress: Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Growing up, I would look forward to my mom making Taiwanese Beef Noodle soup. There's nothing quite like soup and stew to warm the heart and body during the cold winter. Last year, I asked my mom for the recipe so that I could recreate this for myself and Taryn, who thanks to recent visits to Taiwanese restaurants, has also become a big fan of this dish. Unfortunately, she's not always won to remember all the ingredients and neglects to mention measurements, which led to a very tricky first attempt.

Last Thursday night, I enlisted the help of a recipe from epicurious, which vastly improved on the flavors I got out of my soup when we consumed it on Friday night. While I'm still tweaking the recipe, I was able to get a number of taste-testers, including my roommates, and should be able to share a recipe in the near-future. The bowl pictured above includes center-cut beef shank, beef for stewing (cut wasn't listed), carrots, green onions, bok choy, and homemade pickled mustard greens from my mom.

Since a lot of prep went in the night before, I had some extra time on my hands and decided to give scallion pancakes a shot. The texture came out breadier, instead of flakier, however this was a great medium to soak up the delicious broth.

My stomach growls with anticipation for the next trial-run.