Scallion pancakes from... um, I'm not sure where

I haven't made any posts recently, and honestly, I have no excuse for that. My job ended last Friday (well... technically Saturday), and I've kinda just been sleeping a lot... so yeah, it's not because I haven't had time to post. In any case, I have a short story to tell. When I was a kid, I used to love scallion pancakes. I hated pretty much everything that had any hint of fish, and most fatty pieces of meat, or anything remotely different, so my food choices were severely limited. My grandfather would always get me scallion pancakes, of 蔥油餅 (if you're inclined in reading Chinese), which would always make me happy. Pieces of oily dough (and I mean oily) were rolled in a basket filled with diced up scallions, and then dropped onto a hot plate skimming with oil. The dough would be pressed out into a larger circle of desired thickness, which is largely dependent upon the cook's preference, and allowed to swim around the pool of oil until fried to gb and d. Fresh, and still burning hot from the oil, the pancake would be shoved into a paper bag (soon to become transparent) and placed in my hands. Me being the fatass that I was, and still am, would shove the entire thing in my mouth disregarding any sense of pain. It's okay, since the deliciousness would dull the burns. Uh, yeah, that's pretty much the end of my crappy story. Anyway, located on the corner of a small alleyway on 和平東路 (He Ping East Road), there exists a hut... that's all it really is, which sells these golden concoctions. There are no tables, nor anywhere to sit, but the line stretches 20-30 deep during lunch, with each person buying upwards of 10 pancakes. Was it really worth such an absurd wait time to eat what you could buy from pretty much anywhere?


My god yes! For 25 NT (70 cents or so) you can either get their scallion pancake, a turnip pancake, or um... I actually forget the menu since it was so long ago (but I do remember +10 for an egg fried on top!). It was everything I remembered from my youth, crisp exterior, soft layered interior, and the familiar taste of peanut oil and scallions, and make no mistake, they did not skimp on their scallions. As far as if I would go back? No doubt, I actually went to look a few times afterward, but I had always already eaten beforehand, so it would've been excessive, but I do reminisce about this place often haha. Think about it, what kind of nutjob would go and buy 10+ pancakes if it wasn't that good (there's many many nutjobs if that adds to their reputation lol). Anyway, go look for it if you're in the area, I've gotta warn you though... it might be a bit tough to find.

Oh yeah, I think I'm gonna give up on the run counter (not because I haven't been running lately... which, actually I haven't), but because I realized that I've run into the same problem as when I was rowing. I stopped running because I found it enjoyable, but rather I did it to boost my personal odometer. I think part of the reason I started to hate rowing, and erging as a result, was because I was too focused on reaching a certain distance achievement (not unlike those useless achievements in Halo 3...). I don't want that to happen with running or biking, so in the future, I'll probably just... run. I'm sure everyone was pretty sick of the running portion anyway ha.
Read more...

Return to posting!

Nope! Not yet I'm afraid. Another 4 days of work, so possibly a few posts in the upcoming week in my downtime, but I'm still a bit preoccupied with my research, and also other annoyances that come to mind (hi grad school!). I just wanted to update my run counter, since it bothers me that it's a few days behind.

Anyway, I did a short 2.78 mile run to 國父紀念館 (Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall) yesterday to meet a friend from school. Did I mention it was raining still? I thought, for some reason, that the rain would get lighter as the typhoon left the island, but apparently I was wrong. I ended up being drenched, not entirely because of the rain, but whatever. This morning (evening for the NYC folks), I did a 10k and then a bit more (6.37 miles). I was planning on just doing a 4 miler, but I felt like since I took so many days off, I had to prove to myself that I could actually do a longer distance run (not that the 10k is long by any stretch... just longer than what I've been doing a.k.a. 0 miles). Maybe if I feel up to the task, I'll do the 4 mile mountain loop in the area behind my lab today... maybe.


distance for the day: 9.15 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 467.80 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

So about posting more...

Maybe I got lazy today (I got up to run though!). Anyway, just checking in to update my run counter. Oh yeah, good news, I won't have to do any math in the Fall with regards to my biking counter, I plan on getting a computer to do that for me lol.

distance for the day: 5.49 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 458.65 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Do my friend a favor

I realize I have a pittance of a reader base, so this probably won't help much... but if you're in need of awesome translations (read: want something a bit more useful than babelfish), use Middish. Happy translating.

distance for the day: 4.38 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 453.16 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Master Hong's Noodle Shop (洪師父麵食栈)

Taiwan is known fo its beef noodles, this is fact. I mean, what other country holds competitions to crown the best bowl of beef noodles? So if I told you that Master Hong's Noodle Shop was crowned top bowl in all of Taiwan in both 2007 and 2008, you're probably already wet (because you're drooling all over yourself of course :D). Stuck in the middle of downtown Taipei, you can find them right across the street from their bitter rivals, the 2007 2nd place winner, and also my favorite noodle shop... Liang Pin. In an unassuming nook, stuck between 2 bubble tea places (you read that correctly... beef noodles, can be followed by your choice of bubble tea), the only thing that would make you stop to look at the store is, well... all the awards they have plastered all over the place. Countless yellow signs adorn the frame of the door, just beckoning you in. I mean, how can you refuse a place that has apparently won every single culinary award in Asia (bit of an exaggeration there, but you get my point). In any case, store front... loud and obnoxious. Inside, it's a bit more mellow... 6 tables on the first floor, more in the basement, the place actually looks really clean. Seriously, they actually put some effort into decor, but... this turned out to be a bad thing.


How could an excellent interior put a damper on a meal you ask? Well, let me explain. In Chinatown, dingy is good. Now, I wouldn't want to eat in a place where I see rust everywhere, and cockroaches creeping around, but a bit of wear to me usually implies it hasn't been bastardized (hi Joe Shanghai!). In Taiwan however, dingy is bad... because here, bad is bad is bad. If a place is insanitary, you might actually get dysentery or something I probably can't pronounce. In the case of Master Hong's, the interior is way nicer than the standard 10 minute sit in shop (yes I made that reference lol), and thus... it shows in the price. I mean, look at the menu! I won't lie, it was really painful for me to pay the 180 NT ($6), especially when I realized I could go right across the street, to what I think is the best beef noodles in the world, and get 2 bowls. Anyway, check the other prices yourself (I got lazy so I just snapped a pic of the menu), they only get worse from there.


Alright, onto the food... that's why you're here to begin with right? I got their award winning traditional 3 beef noodle soup. Appropriately named since they include thinly sliced brisket, slow cooked bone removed short rib, and my favorite, beef tendon. Served with the choice of hand pulled or knife cut (I got knife cut of course) noodles, over a dark rich beef broth, I could see why they won. The different cuts of beef provided a nice contrast in texture, despite a monotone flavor, which in this case isn't a bad thing. The beef tendon proved to be sufficiently tough, but still delicate. The brisket was just pure flavor, and the short rib meat was fall apart soft... all but melting in your mouth. I realize how strange that last bit sounds, but it was really good. The noodles... up there in quality in comparison to Liang Pin, uneven, yet still fairly consistent in texture, of course, cooked al dente... just enough to finish cooking in the soup. The last element... it was good as far as soups go, above average, fringe excellent for sure. It had a nice richness, the familiar pungent beef scent, and wasn't overly saturated with salt. Was it amazing? Short answer... yes. Would I go again? Probably not, it was good... but not twice as good as Liang Pin. Still, if you find yourself in the area (I think it was 漢口街) twice, then you should at least try it... after Liang Pin of course.

I finally stopped being a lazy bum today. Went for a slightly shorter run (during which my cheap knockoff iPod shuffle died) just to stretch out the legs. Finished at 4.38 miles, but for the first 5k, I think I ran around a 7:30 pace. I have no real way of confirming that, but I normally run the 10k around an 8 minute pace, and today felt significantly faster, or maybe I'm just getting fatter and running is getting more difficult, either way... I wanted to ease my way back into running again haha. Oh yeah, when I get back to the US... the biking counter is gonna jump like crazy. I finally caved and bought my bike, let's just say... MSRP makes me have to ride a couple 1000 miles next year to justify the purchase. Pics will arrive when I reassemble in the US.

distance for the day: 4.38 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 448.78 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

No time to waste today

Super big presentation (okay, I'm exaggerating here) for the lab today. Gotta tidy up my powerpoint, that is... lots of pretty pictures and useless words, because I need something to offset how bad our experiments are going. I'd like to add a qualifier to that last sentence, I'm not a complete failure at life... making superconductors is really hard. Check back later this week (maybe tomorrow) for peking duck pizza and of course more shaved ice. Notice how I keep eating and not posting? Yeah, that means I have about 100 pictures that I haven't dealt with yet. More to come indeed! So today, in lieu of food porn, I offer you... panda porn!


Sooooo cute right? If your response to that isn't a definitive 'of course,' then we're probably not very good friends... or friends at all.

distance for the day: 5.85 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 444.40 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

I think you should go to 7-11...

Wait what? Why would I recommend a convenience chain store for food? Maybe because 7-11 here isn't what Americans are used to. I know when I hear 7-11, I immediately think 'Big Gulp,' and while they do have that here in Taiwan (in way awesomer flavors like mango, guava, lemon lime soda, and hey song sarsparilla), that's not what they're awesome for. No... what they're awesome for is a variety of snacks you really can't find elsewhere. For the person on the go, they have those puffy pillow buns at dim sum places (I don't know wtf they're called in English) called 肉包子... as well as a dizzying array of chips and cookies in flavors you often don't want to know (but would eat in fistfuls without question). Come on... they even have bags of chips where monkeys make love to chips, or perhaps it's a monkey anatomically defective, I honestly couldn't tell you. What really makes me love 7-11 is the fact that they make bentos. That's right... prepackaged lunchboxes for those who are too lazy to walk a few more minutes to a proper restaurant. For that, I salute thee 7-11.


I'm actually only making this post because someone I know happens to love bento. In my opinion, the food probably isn't good enough that I'd really blog and recommend it to someone, but the novelty that 7-11 sells it is good enough for me. Also it might seem like this entire post in written in jest, but really... the food isn't bad. For all of 59 NT (less than $2), you get your choice of a few bento boxes, fried chicken cutlet, a tonkatsu glazed pork chop, soy sauce chicken, and a few others I don't remember. Each is served over rice with pork sauce (yes the kind you get at pork chop places in NYC), and accompanied by 2 or 3 side dishes... either tofu, seaweed, some greens, or a tea egg. In addition to that, you also get your pick of any 600 ml drink they offer, usually a bottle of green tea, oolong tea, or uh... grape drink (dead serious). The food is decent... really. They heat it up for you in a microwave behind the booth, and within a minute, you have lunch, vs. 20 minutes at the NYC cravings truck, which honestly, I find to be about the same in quality. If you need further endorsement, I eat it like... 3 days a week for lunch, partially because I'm lazy and it's the closest thing to my lab, but also because I kinda like it. Anyway, if you come to Taiwan, you'll probably eat one out of convenience, so yeah... enjoy!

So I took another day off yesterday. My aunt went nuts with the karaoke, and I ended up staying up until 2... late, I know right? So yeah, this morning I did a mid length distance. Finished at 7.03 miles at around my half marathon pace. Pretty good, all things considered I mean.

distance for the day: 7.03 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 438.55 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Return to posting

Not yet... tomorrow, I promise. I don't really have much time to do much writing (or thinking, aside from topics on superconductivity... Spinel structures, doping, and spin glass magnetism oh my!). Anyway, I don't want to make a compromise and start making shitty (or I guess, shittier) posts, so I'll hold off until the weekend, when I really have time to put some thought into what I write, unlike the GRE, zing! No really, the actual reason I've been failing to post is because I've been doing bike shopping, and I'm indecisive. Therefore, my mornings are spent ctrl+tabbing between product pages lol. You probably think I'm joking, but I'm not.

Still, I've been pretty lazy with running as well. I haven't gone every morning like I used to, but I did do a short 2.00 mile sprint with my boss yesterday. This is a man who can out pace me on a half marathon, so it was a fairly good workout. As far as this morning... I did a nice relaxed 8.67 mile circuit, maybe just about my 10k pace. Still, it felt good enough, and I think I can say I'm fully recovered from basketball... knock on wood.

Posts to look forward to... the beef noodle champion of 2007 and 2008, passion fruit fries, the 4 layer Bigmac, more Japanese curry than you can deal with, bento boxes from 7-11, and of course... more shaved ice.

distance for the day: 10.67 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 431.52 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Laziness is something that you can't heal

Sorry, I'll start posting again tomorrow... I don't really have the energy, nor the time, to make a quality post (can any of my posts actually be considered 'quality posts?' haha). Anyway, I'll finish today with a post of the last meal I ate during the orientation week, which as of today... was about 3 weeks ago. Yeah, that should give you an idea of how behind I've fallen in terms of posting.


As far as our last meal, we went to 竹東 (Zhu Dong), which is an area where a lot of 客家 (Hakka) people live. Naturally, we ate at a Hakka restaurant. I didn't take pictures of everything... but these two dishes were at least interesting to me. First was... uh, to be honest, I'm not sure what that was. My group leader said it was pig's brain, but she might've been joking. It was pretty tasteless, mostly just taking on the character of the soy sauce it was cooked in, and kind of mealy, not unlike a red potato. Anyway, I wasn't a tremendous fan, I just thought it looked kind of cool.


Hakka people are also famous for their love of 麻吉 (mochi). Made with rice flour mixed with hot water, and pounded gently (then roughly) for longer than humanly possible, the result is a creamy and chewy concoction which can only be described, yet again, as 'QQ.' The way you're supposed to eat the giant ball of rice dough, which is essentially all it is, is to cut it using chopsticks into little balls, roughly the size of a chickpea, then roll it around in a powder mixture of peanut flour and sugar. End result, orgasm in your mouth. The delicate sweetness of the flour mixes with the rather unnoticeable starchy taste of rice to make for a ridiculously filling dessert. Trust me, if you finish that entire thing, you will feel sick.

distance for the day: 7.07 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 420.85 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

So I've healed up (sort of)

Well, maybe I'm not 100%, but I certainly feel better than I did a few days ago (sorry, I guess I shamed Columbia rowing since I took more than 1 day to recover). I did a bit of erging yesterday with my boss (nice to meet someone who used to row in Taiwan no less), not too bad, maybe a total of 3 or 4k, most of it pretty easy. Today I got up and went into fatass mode, inhaling a 燒餅油條 (shao bing you tiao) and a whole bag of chips, so after work, partially out of guilt, I went for a mountain run with my boss. It was essentially 2.19 miles of 'kick my ass,' with total distance being 4.38 miles, out and back. Not too bad considering my bedridden status as of uh... yesterday.

distance for the day: 4.38 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 413.78 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Random food from 逢甲夜市 (Feng Jia Night Market)

So as a continuation of my orientation trip theme, I'll condense all of 逢甲夜市 (Feng Jia Night Market) into one giant post. Since we stayed in the 台中 (Taichung) area for most of the days, it's only appropriate that we visited Feng Jia at least once. Claimed to be one of the largest in Taiwan, it actually didn't disappoint in terms of size or variety of food, in fact, my only gripe was that the people who planned out the itinerary made it so we only had about an hour to see the entire thing. That is... we had an hour to check out half a kilometer of stores, plus all the branch streets that encompass the night market. Something about that didn't make much sense, especially given the fact that we were allotted something close to 2 or 3 hours for dinner on the first night. Anyway, I really shouldn't complain, I guess getting to go in the first place is something I should be grateful for... I wouldn't have any other reason to go to Taichung in the first place. Completely unrelated side tangent, before we got off the bus, they told us not to eat strange or unclean foods, or anything that might make us sick (bump that... if I'm in a night market I'll never get to return to, I'm eating anything I damn well want to).

Uh, if you know me at all, you realize that I'm a shaved ice addict. There... I said it. I will walk much further than anyone else you know just to have ice and syrup. As stupid as that sounds, it's true. In any case, I made my group members eat shaved ice before splitting up and eating 'normal' food (sorry guys!). Naturally, since I couldn't wait, we stopped at the first shaved ice place we came to that wasn't called Meet Fresh. Called 頂好 or literally translated as 'the top,' it was a small shack of a store, which was run by a singular old lady. You have no clue how happy it made me to see a giant neon sign that said they had shaved ice + 5 toppings for 35 NT ($1). Anyway, inside it was pretty cramped. Only 4 tables, half filled, we actually had to stand around for a while before we could all sit down (there were 10 of us after all). To the left was the counter with an awesome array of toppings, from solid taro, to red bean, to flaked ginger, to tapioca balls, and maybe 10 or so other bins I can't remember. If you had to characterize it as something, it's a standard mom and pop shaved ice place that you don't see as often anymore in Taipei (that is... if you include the requirement of a general level of cleanliness).


I got the 抹茶紅豆冰 (matcha red bean shaved ice) for uh... maybe it was 50 NT ($1.50). Honestly I wasn't really counting, since I was more focused on eating. I was originally going to get the 5 topping thing, but then I realized that I haven't been able to find this in Taipei for that cheap before (it's also a relatively rare flavor combination). Anyway, it's not a traditional shaved ice plate... instead, they take what basically works out to green milk tea and freeze it, proceed to shred it into 雪花冰 (xue hua ice) which is much thinner and sorbet like, then top it with the requisite red beans and condensed milk. The resulting concoction works amazingly well. The slightly sweet yet bitter green tea ice has a really smooth texture, and the flavor contrasts and mellows the overly sweet condensed milk on top. The red beans add a subtle earthy tone, and just a bit of textural difference to the melting ice and creamy milk. The only question is... how can I recommend something that I can't ever have again?! Ha, seriously, go find this store... it's near the entrance of main street.


We did want something salty to eat, so after the dessert, the we (the guys) split up with the rest of the group since we just wanted food. On one of the side streets we found fried mushrooms... of course since we're in Taiwan, they were 木耳 or 'Jew's Ear.' I forget how much they were, but definitely no more than 50 NT ($1.50) for a single serving. They consisted of a cup of the Jew's Ear mushrooms which were breaded and deep fried, topped with two sticks with a different variety of mushroom. I didn't buy these, but my friend Paul did... and he seemed to like them. I did however sample them, since they had people walking around with single mushrooms on toothpicks, and I could see what's so appealing. A crunchy exterior hides a juicy, soft, yet chewy interior. In addition to that, they had a nice mild taste that you could smell after the first bite. So if you find fried mushrooms, you should give that a try. I'm pretty sure where you get it from shouldn't matter too much.


I also ended up getting some takoyaki, or fried octopus balls. I realize that these are really commonplace in Japanese izakayas, but they do them differently in Taiwan. First off, they tend to be more of a street food, and not something associated with alcohol (well... actually, those two aren't mutually exclusive, since public drunkenness is pretty normal at night markets. Anyway, I had been lusting for some octopus balls for the longest time (you know you want them too...), so I went and got them from the only stall I saw selling them. For 50 NT ($1.50... I think everyone agreed on a price here lol), you get 6 balls topped with your choice of 2 flavors. The flavors range from original (soy sauce based), to pork floss, peanut flour, curry, and a few others I can't remember either (I'm sorry! It was a long time ago). I chose original, because you have to have a basis of comparison, and also peanut flour, since I needs mah proteinz! Seriously though, more of the same... which is to say... culinary excellence. Soft, yet still crunchy exterior yields to a soft interior where a layer of fish paste exists. Within that is a mixture of octopus chunks and Chinese style vegetables (cabbage, carrots, radish) which melds into a slightly fishy, but still curiously different taste. It was after I finished that I realized that 'flavor' just meant what condiment they put on. So... the original was salty, and the peanut was slightly sweet, with a hint of peanut. If I make that sound like a bad thing, I don't mean to... these were really good. Even if you can't find this specific stall (I probably couldn't find it again), just try Taiwanese takoyaki, it is vastly different (not superior... just different) from Japanese style takoyaki.


Last thing I bought, is supposedly something that Feng Jia is famous for. Super tall swirl ice cream! I had found this small stall in one of the alleys and ordered up a swirl chocolate/vanilla cone. See the picture next to the machine? It's supposed to have a perfect peak, and be about a foot long. When my vendor person did it, she screwed up the first time... it broke at about 8" and she had to scrap that. Second time, she got it up to the 10" mark, but the tip wasn't straight. Third time's the charm right? Nope, she managed to mess it up again... full 12" without tip... but it still fell at the end. At this point I was kind of getting impatient, so I just told her it was fine... paid my 30 NT ($1... actually less than a dollar) and bailed. You read that correctly, it's a dollar... for something that's more than a foot long of ice cream. Way to rip us off Ben & Jerry. So I left, content with my monstrosity of ice cream, eating as quickly as possible since Taiwan is still about 80 degrees at night. When we turned the corner, I found a more legit place selling the same thing. About 10 different flavors including matcha green tea/chocolate swirl, and for 25 NT (75 cents or so) to boot. I bet they don't screw up the peak either! OTL, life's not always fair is it... so if you go looking for really tall swirl ice cream, go to the 25 NT one on the big main street!

I have to race one of my bosses on the erg for a 2k today, so I meant to keep my run short. Final distance ended up being 6.56 miles... oops! Ha, no I probably subconsciously ran further so I'd have an excuse if I lost horribly. Let's hope I don't shame C150 too badly (he did say he hasn't erged for about 10 years).

distance for the day: 6.56 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 409.40 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Proof of my love of food

I ran a 5k today to go get Subway. In the middle of the day. It was 100 degrees Farenheit. It was worth it... haha. The cost is 69 NT (about $2) for a 6" sub.

distance for the day: 3.19 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 402.84 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Orientation trip (same meal 5 days in a row)

So during orientation week, we were fed a lot of food. When I say a lot, I mean something along the lines of 11 dishes at every meal (most of which were repeated), but that's besides the point... the point being... we were constantly inundated with waves of food. At every meal, we'd be guaranteed a whole chicken, cooked Hainan style... that is salted, steamed, and cooled. In addition to that, we'd also have a whole fish, usually striped bass, staring back at you blankly with its head left on. Of course we'd also have a plate of greens, mushroom soup, a plate of giant shrimp (the beady eyes still creep me out), fried seafood of some sort, and almost always a tofu dish with shrimp or oysters. I'm not sure why they couldn't change up the food for variety, but whatever, it was decent.

Anyway, today's post isn't a review. I didn't pay for jack, and I don't know what half the things I ate are, and I obvi0usly have no clue how to get there again (nor was it good enough that I would want to. Think of this as... a collection of food porn just to gawk at. Oh, and the reason why there isn't actually like... 50 pictures of everything we ate... 1. it's completely trivial to take pictures of the same thing everytime, and 2. I didn't want my orientation group members to think I was a nutjob, or kill me for making them wait to take a picture before they could eat ha. I should note that these pictures were from the first dinner ceremony, and are way better than the things we ate later on, so it's not really indicative of the overall quality. Anyway... onto the pics!


First up was this mixed platter. I don't really understand the arrangement to be perfectly honest, there was a stack of small salted brine (I didn't try this, since seeing shrimp in their native form is a turn off for my palate), a small pile of olives, a small dish of pickled bean sprouts, some fruit (wtf was this doing here...), and a stack of really fatty cold pork slices. Uh, only the pork was redeeming, and it was still just mediocre at best. Wait... what am I complaining about? This was all free, courtesy of the Taiwanese government.



I'll be perfectly honest, this dish confused the crap out of me. We were given bread (I love Taiwanese bread, soooo buttery and airy), and then presented this. It looked like pork floss, but turned out to be warm shrimp paste (yeah... read that again, you know it sounds... uh... terrible). No, but seriously, if I could describe it as anything, it's 魚鬆 (fish floss), which is soaked in oil, then heated in a microwave. We were supposed to make sandwiches out of it, which I did, but still rather... meh.


I actually really liked this dish. It was shrimp, fried in breadcrumbs (not Italian, but also not panko, so I'm not really sure what it is), then doused in an awesome sweet mayo sauce (I want to say it was made with kewpie, but that's a complete guess). Presented on a bed of fruit and drizzled with lime or lemon juice, it was a nice blend of sweet with savory. The shrimp was nice and springy, the crust was adequately crunchy, and the taste was mild enough to let the texture shine through. I think this was one of the few dishes I sincerely wished there was more of. It's important to note, that those shrimp were so perfectly round, that picking them up with that stupid spoon was next to impossible.


What can I say about this dish. Steamed 油飯 (oil rice) was studded with mushrooms and small brine. Then covered with blood sausage and Chinese style sausages known as 香腸 (xiang chang). The oily rice was just okay, it was kind of dry, which I suspect was because it was prepared by massive batches (enough to serve close to 300 people), so I guess you can't expect perfectly oily and 'QQ' rice. The sausage and blood sausage were good though. Actually, they're probably just average, but since I haven't had them for the longest time, I was kind of craving the taste. If you haven't eaten it before, Chinese sausages are semi sweet, since they're usually covered with maltose or honey, and are probably close to 50/50 fat to lean. End result is... orgasm in your mouth haha. Anyway, needless to say, I liked this dish. This is where my photography ended, like I said... I didn't want my group members to hate me from day 1 (and if any of you are reading this... sorry for making you guys wait for food!).

I'm late for work... so uh, I ran 6.68 miles this morning. My hips still hurt. I did pass 400 miles since I started tallying though, oh happy day! Of course this also means I've done about 500 miles in the current pair of Asics, and have no shoes to switch to for another 250-300 miles... oh well. In summary, moderate distance done in pain lol.

distance for the day: 6.68 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 399.65 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Assorted sweets at 羅東 (Luo Dong)

Chalk it up to laziness (yeah, I'll admit it), or to shorten my backlog of random eats, or because my sister has been calling for more food pics, or perhaps because I'm just a tad bit bitter I won't be able to have any of these crazy amazing desserts again for what seems like an eternity, but I'm condensing my remaining dessert posts from 羅東夜市 (Luo Dong Night Market) into one mega post with tons of food porn. Prepare to be amazed.

First up was a 豆花 (Dou Hua) stand. How do explain dou hua... it's the silkiest of silky tofu varieties. Essentially the center cut of silken tofu, which gets sliced by a large ladle into thin slices, traditionally placed in a bowl of boiled sugar water. Often flavored with ginger sugar, brown sugar, peanuts, regardless of style, it always has a strong almond scent that always takes me to my happy place haha. Served hot or cold, dou hua is traditional night market food, and you can find it x10 at every one. Luo Dong's standout in this genre of food is a place called 包心粉圓專賣店 (Bao Xing Fen Yuan Specialty Store). How am I supposed to translate that?! If I was forced to, I guess it means 'filled heart dumpling specialty store,' but I'm pretty sure it sounds way more elegant if I leave it Chinese. Anyway, 粉圓 (Fen Yuan) are something that almost every ice store makes (Meet Fresh is famous for theirs...). They're gelatinous rice that is molded into really 'QQ' balls that aren't too off from mochi. Soft and yielding, yet surprisingly resilient, they offer the perfect complement of texture to the thin shaved ice, or in this case... silky smooth tofu.


I got the 綜合牛奶豆花 (mixed milk dou hua), which was 50 NT ($1.50... don't quote me on this, it was a while back!). Ridiculously thin curd tofu is topped in a cup with a generous serving of shaved ice made with milk, then topped with more condensed milk, plus a heaping serving of peanuts and tapioca balls, finally drizzled with almond milk. Yum. Oh I forgot to mention the hot ginger flavored sugar syrup (sounds gross to those who hate ginger, me included, but it's not what you think) that's given alongside in another cup. It's something that I would eat in the summer or winter. Would I recommend it? Uh, no time to respond, too busy wiping the drool off my keyboard. If you find yourself at this night market, it's really easy to find... it's a circle... just keep walking, and look for the absurd line.

Next up on the docket was mango ice! I know that Ice Monster is all the rage in Taipei (and in the Philippines too apparently), but I'm weary of them since 1. their prices are absurd... almost 2 times the price of most places and 2. I've gone 3 times and gotten sick 3 times. That's exactly what I'm not looking for when I want shaved ice... and empty wallet and an upset stomach hours later to remind me about how stupid that decision was. Anyway, I found this gem called 'Summer Snow 巧味冰庫' (Summer Snow... er something unknown... fridge :D). As you can see, my translation skills are top notch lol. The store was pretty packed, and had a nice store front, so I got suckered in. Their specialty is 雪花冰 (snow flower ice as a literal translation), which to summarize is usually when you take a flavored milk... common flavors are mango, vanilla, milk, matcha green tea, and then you shred the ice from that. The result is really thin crystals which have a creamy texture as opposed to the graininess of normal shaved ice. It's more akin to a sorbet in that it melts on your tongue with a smooth context rather than just... crunch.


Anyway, I got their 芒果雪花冰 (mango snow ice) which I'm pretty sure was 100 NT ($3). Half a plate of freshly shaved mango dipped in mango juice syrup, half a plate of thinly layered ice made from the aforementioned condensed milk/mango ice, topped with a scoop of mango sorbet, and drizzled with more mango syrup, this can probably induce a sugar coma if eaten too quickly. In any case, it was absolutely delicious, the ice was smooth, and closer to ice cream than shaved ice, and the mango was ripe enough to have the delicate sweetness (even without syrup), but still raw enough to have ample resistance when bitten into. Did I mention it was only $3? Again, I don' think I need to explicitly say this, but it's definitely recommended, and I would eat a bowl here everyday if I could. Well... I'd rotate with Meet Fresh and Tai Yi, but you get the point.

Hrm... last dessert item I had was another thing that originated from Luo Dong. It's found pretty much at every stand along the street that sells ice cream, so there's no point in telling you a specific store name (uh, to be honest, I don't really remember the name of the cart I got it from... I just picked the one with the longest line of people). In any case, it is pretty much peanut candy and ice cream, which sounds really plain... but it's really not. Let's see, for 35 NT ($1), you start with a lumpia skin (the Vietnamese rice roll wrappers), and then you start off with a spattering of peanut flour, the guy then takes a giant chunk of peanut brittle candy and starts shaving off layers of it into a small collector and dumps that on top, then a generous serving of cilantro is cut onto that layer of peanut candy, and finally 3 scoops of different flavors (vanilla, banana, and strawberry were mine) are put in the middle of the roll. He expertly rolls up the wrap and bags it in one swift movement, and voila... a peanut flavored ice cream burrito thing. Sounds terrible I'm sure, but if I've come to learn anything from my summers in Taiwan, it's that things that usually sound gross are usually okay, if not exceptional.


Look at that burrito like goodness, to the unknowing, you'd probably thought I just bought a simple vegetable roll. Upon biting, look at the cross sectional goodness. It makes me happy that the salty flavors of cilantro and the peanut shavings can coexist with ice cream. Refreshing and somewhat different... I really had no complaints. Yeah... brb, still wiping saliva off my keyboard, but definitely recommended.

I went for a nice long distance run today. As soon as I left my apartment, I still had that lingering stinging pain in my right hip, but I decided I could probably run through it. After about half a mile it either went away, or I stopped feeling it. In any case, I ran to the street where 饒河夜市 (Rao He Night Market) is located, then I doubled back to Da An Park, over to CKS Memorial Hall, and back home. Without realizing it, I did a 9.51 mile circuit (I had planned on 7 or so). All in all, a rather good run I'd say.

Oh, the following series of posts all take place outside of Taipei, where I didn't pay for food or housing, so it'll be less reviews, and more so... just pictures.

distance for the day: 9.51 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 399.65 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

龍鳳腿 (Dragon Phoenix Leg) in 宜蘭 (Yi Lan)

Don't ask me how they name these things, because in Chinese, the name actually sounds really elegant (dragons and phoenixes are basically the favorite animals used to represent males and females respectively). Anyway, when we went to 宜蘭 (Yi Lan), we went to 羅東夜市 (Luo Dong Night Market), which isn't too famous, but this is apparently something they're well known for. We found them at a small street cart named 阿公仔 (Ah Gong Zi). I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but 'ah gong' is grandfather if that helps anyone else figure it (please let me know!). Anyway, how can I describe this... it's just a cart that has 2 guys rolling these dragon/phoenix legs and deep frying them. Just read that once more, it's a cart that just deep fries stuff. There's no way you can go wrong. If you read my blog often, you should realize, in my messed up world... anything that gets fried is something that's good in the world.

As far as what they are... it's an assortment of Chinese vegetables, bean sprouts, carrots, napa cabbage, radish, and probably a crapload of stuff I can't properly identify, which are supposed to be stuffed into two ball like shapes and stuck on the skewer stick (mine clearly did not have this shape... it looked more like a corn dog which was glazed with sugar, which now that I think about it, sounds crazy good). The vegetables are held together with some fish paste, and then wrapped with a spiderweb like fiber made from pork fat. The stick is then deep fried until golden. So if you can imagine what it's supposed to look like... it would look similar to if you took 2 takoyaki balls and stuck them on a skewer. My guy clearly messed this up, but at 20 NT (67 cents) for 1, and 35 NT ($1) for 2, who am I to complain about quality? Taste... hmm... I don't know. I had mixed feelings about this. It's a bit too oily (yeah I said it), and the skin didn't have the crunch I expected, but the nice blend of subtle sweetness from the cabbage and carrots did work well with the nice savory flavor from the pork fat (and again... I love fried food). So in my opinion it's so so. Maybe it was just this cart, maybe a different cart would fulfill my unrealistic expectations and more, but based on this one... I can't say I'm in love. For the price though, you should at least try it. You don't have to find this cart, since I thought it was rather mediocre, but at least try the dragon/phoenix leg thing itself.

I didn't run yesterday because my hip hurt really bad. Actually this morning, when I first started running, I had stabbing pains in my right hip, so I actually jogged to catch up to my mom, and asked her for the keys so I could go back to the apartment. I started running back, but at some point... my leg felt a bit better. Anyway, long story short, I shortened my run to a 5k, and finished with a total distance of 3.65 miles. I know, kinda lame, but I didn't want to jump right back and start with a 10k.

distance for the day: 3.67 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 390.14 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

KFC... this is how you should do fried chicken

Fried chicken has a certain image in the US. It comes in a bucket and it's made 'fresh' by some man named Colonel Sanders. It's also associated with clogged arteries, high cholesterol, and I'm sure you can make the argument that it somehow causes cancer too. In Taiwan, there is KFC, but it exists almost solely for its sandwiches. Fried chicken done right, is fried chicken from a place like... this. It's called 黃金雞排王 (Golden Fried Chicken King) and it is another place that I probably won't have another chance to visit (a recurring theme... sad panda is sad). It's a small store nestled on the corner of a small road in 宜蘭 (Yi Lan), actually right around the corner from the soup place I reviewed yesterday. No tables inside, a rather uninspiring sign painted on the underside of the ceiling overhang, a giant hot oil vat, and a bunch of fried foods out front... it's not a place that you'd be immediately impressed with. Despite the ordinary appearance, my Aunt assured me that it's as amazing as the ones in 士林 (Shi Lin), which are renowned for their size.

Like I said, fried chicken in Taiwan is different. It's not classified into drumstick, breast, or wing. It's always a chicken breast, bone-in, that is pounded to oblivion (I imagine by a really manly woman) until it's the thickness of a pancake. Followed by a quick breading of spices which I can't identify (and don't care to), it gets fried in the giant vat of oil (which I'm sure has been reused for generations... lol kidding on that) until it is past golden, but rather a light brown. One last question about whether you want it spicy or not, and it's done. As far as taste... it's pretty amazing. It does stack up rather well to the version at Shi Lin, aned since it's 35 NT ($1), it's a much better deal than that at the more famous night market... where each goes for 50 NT ($1.50). Adequate crunch, good flavor, even distribution of spices, and really juicy meat makes for a pretty good snack. Uh... actually, I'm sure it would make for a pretty good meal for most people, but I can eat like a horse, so keep that in mind should you decide you want to get something like this (we supplemented this with some yam fries, but I forgot about pics, and that deserves it's own post when I visit Shi Lin). Again, I wish I could recommend this place, but first off... I don't know the exact address, and since I can't go again, I feel like no one else should get to either haha. Kidding (sort of).

One last thing. I feel like the quality of my posts has been steadily decreasing. I'd like to apologize for that. It's not because I'm getting lazy (well... it is), but it's mostly because I've been wrecked lately in terms of my schedule. The 5 day orientation trip really threw a wrench into things (it was a lot of fun though), and now since I started working in lab (I'll explain what I'm doing in a future post), I come home and I basically pass out. It certainly doesn't help that the food around my office sucks ass. I think I've been spoiled by midtown.

I wanted to do a short run this morning, but ended up getting lost. Another case of confusing street signs, and me being an idiots. Anyway, what was supposed to be a 5k, became 5.46 miles. Oh well, more is always better than less right?

distance for the day: 5.46 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 386.47 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

蒜味肉羹 (Garlic flavored meat 'geng')

This place is in 宜蘭 (Yi Lan County), so I likely won't be going back. Actually, the only reason I got to go in the first place was because my Aunt K wanted to go, but even she said that they only get to go once every 3 years or so. So considering all that, I guess I got a real treat haha. It's called 蒜味肉羹 (suan wei rou geng), which is exactly what it sells. The store front is, uh... well it's pretty crappy. In a beat up back road like street, it's a shack that is roughly the size of a small studio in NYC. The 'kitchen' is outside, where there's a giant vat of soup broth, and a second vat of the pork and fish paste. Inside, there are only 3 tables, maybe a total of 15 cheap metal chairs, and pretty much nothing else. If hole in the wall could be quantified as a measurable statistic, then this place is off the charts. This clearly hasn't hurt business though, since it was absolutely packed (we waited 15 minutes just to share a table with another family), and there was a fairly long line waiting for takeout.


肉羹 (rou geng) translates to... honestly I don't know what it translates to. It's pork which has a layer of fish paste applied to the outside, the same paste that is used to make fish balls and tempura (the Taiwanese variety). When placed in a pork soup base thickened with cornstarch, and mixed with Jew's ear mushrooms, bamboo, cilantro, and garlic... what results is the quintessential Taiwanese street cart food known as rou geng. What sets this place apart is the garlic though. From about 100 meters away, you can smell the overwhelming smell of fresh garlic, which is their trademark. We ordered 2 orders of regular rou geng and 2 orders of 肉羹粿 (rou geng guo/gui), all of which were 45 NT ($1.50). Yet another triumphant win for Taiwan, I'm pretty sure 3buckbites would fail miserably here, not... enough... bandwidth. The rou geng was thick and gloopy (I'm not sure that's a real word) and tasted adequate enough, but the standout thing about this place was the fact that their meat was almost all pork, and just a thin layer of fish paste (really uncommon given how cheap Taiwanese vendors usually are), and also that the garlic is overwhelmingly spicy (no hot sauce needed). All in all, probably the best I've had in Taiwan, which is fairly high praise, since you can find this everywhere, and I've eaten this at a lot of place. The one with the noodles... uh, I didn't try it, but it's the same base, so I imagine it's probably pretty awesome too. Would I recommend this place...? Hmm... I really want to, I really do, but I hurt thinking about not being able to go back lol. That and I don't have the faintest clue what the address is. If you were to see that store frong though... stop your car, get out, eat a bowl, and get 10 to go. I swear you won't regret it.

I had a really good run this morning, did a lap around 大安... ran over to CKS memorial hall... ran over to the President's office (where I got to see their morning flag ceremony), then sprinted back to my house. I didn't bother timing it since I had to stand still for the flag thing, but it felt moderately well paced. Final distance ended up being much further than I wanted to run, which was 8k, since I came in around 6.76 miles. You know, since I started working, I've found that I'm much more fatigued in the morning, that I doze off at work during meetings (in front of the Taiwanese equivalent of Stephen Hawking no less), and that I don't want to run. I need to find a way to fix this.

distance for the day: 6.76 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 381.01 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Crepes... they're just really thin pancakes

I often find myself looking for a 2nd or 3rd lunch after eating my initial lunch. This was one of those cases. After eating a proper meal already, I was walking around and ended up in the 師大 (Shida) area, near the teacher's college. There's a night market there that is kind of famous, and ridiculously crowded, especially after finals (this week) and at night. Luckily, the place I wanted to go to has a store, and is open all day so I don't have to fight through the absurd crowds at night. I think the name is 阿諾式可麗餅 (Arnold's Crepes), but don't quote me on that... in case you forgot, I'm an ABC (American born Chinese) so my Chinese in the grand scheme of things is pretty suxxors. Anyway, it's located at the opening of the first alley on 師大路 (Shida Road), and there's always a line of people waiting, so it's pretty easy to find (I actually think there are a lot of locations, since it seems to be a chain). As far as the store... small shack style, I didn't eat in, so I can't comment on the interior, but everyone there was getting it to go. Let's just say... it's equivalent to street cart food. Would you want to eat in a small shack with tables set up by a chicken and rice cart? Nevermind, don't answer that.


There's actually a dizzying variety of flavors, from the dessert (including sundaes, red adzuki bean, taro), to the sweet, fruity varieties (mango, strawberry, peach, etc.), to the savory (ham, teriyaki chicken, grilled steak, pineapple shrimp). I probably should've taken a picture of the menu... since I'd be hard pressed to even list 25% of the their entire menu (here, you can read it yourself if you know Chinese :D). They basically spread their crepe batter over a giant round hot surface, and while it's crisping, they'll butter it with giant butter knives, and either spread your sweet pastes, ice cream, or fruits on top to caramelize, or start to layer the appropriate ingredients. In the time that they're applying the additional toppings, the crepe comes to a semi pliable firmness, at which point they take another giant spatula and proceed to scrape, and fold the giant concoction into a perfect cone. Watching this go on was actually half the fun haha. As far as pricing, nothing on the set list tops 100 NT ($3), and most things are in the 40-70 NT range, so it doesn't qualifty as cheap eats (in Taiwan anyway), but it certainly won't hurt your wallet. I chose to get the 黑胡椒豬肉 (black pepper pork) which was 60 NT ($2).


How was it? Well, imagine a thin crepe cookie first covered with more butter, then stacked with thinly sliced peppered pork (like ham really), which is then covered by 3 slices of american cheese, further stacked with a heaping handful of shredded lettuce, carrots, and cucumbers, and finally topped with an orange mayonnaise sauce (similar to thousand island, but I really want to say that I tasted miso too). It was basically a giant salad stuffed into a crepe which has been buttered to oblivion. I thought it was pretty good for the price, it was a lot of food (good for a light meal) for a fairly low price. On top of that, it made me feel like I was eating healthy (even though I clearly wasn't)... double win. The notable ingredient here was the sauce, which would even make someone who hates salad want to eat heaping mounds of lettuce. Would I recommend it though? Eh, that's questionable. It's kind of gimmicky, and while I thought it was good, it wasn't... 'I have to have another crepe tomorrow' good. So if having a giant salad in a cookie sounds tasty to you, by all means... get one, but don't feel like your missing out if you don't get it.

I did sprint intervals today! Actually I don't really know if what I did qualifies as that. People always told me to do HIIT, but I've found that I can't run fast enough to force myself to have to stop in 30 seconds, so I end up sprinting for 2 or 3 minutes. In any case, I ran fast... then I jogged... rinse, wash, repeat several times. I went to Taipei 101 and back, so total distance ended up being 5.41 miles. A bit short, but hey... it felt hard all the same.

distance for the day: 5.41 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 374.25 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Zhu Ji Xian Bing (朱記餡餅)

Some years back, before I fell in love with beef noodle soup... I had another obsession, which were these small round discs known as 餡餅 (xian bing). Little pockets of pan fried dough, akin to a thicker and larger pot sticker wrapper, is home to a little ball of minced meat (pork or beef) blended with a mix of the requisite ginger and garlic. They reminded me of my grandfather, since it's a Northern Chinese delicacy, and he used to make them all the time. Needless to say, I still have a place in my heart for these 'oversized gyoza.' Perhaps the most famous place in Taiwan to find these is 朱記餡餅 (Zhu Ji Xian Bing). I think the name means it was founded by someone with the last name of 朱, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I prefer to think of it as 'piggy' instead... or at least that's what I thought when I was a kid (another point of confusion, am I still a kid? At what point can I start saying 'back when I was a kid' without feeling awkward?). Anyway, before I digress into another tangent, I should finish this review.

Not so much a hole in the wall type place (I know... I know... I'm sorry!), this place is actually sort of a tourist spot. Not to the point that it's on travel brochures like 鼎泰豐 (Ding Tai Feng), but people in Taiwan know it well... and even people who visit from the south will likely make a trip here. So let's just say, it's famous within Taiwan, but relatively unknown to foreigners. Anyway, as you can see from the store front picture... nice big signage, easy to find... it's located 仁愛路 (Ren Ai Lu), right after 花市 (flower market). It's a fairly large establishment, two levels, lots of tables, nice interior... with a traditional Asian decor (read: no metal stools... this actually makes me sad haha). It's actually pretty damn fancy. Look! Even the soy sauce and vinegar are kept in porcelein and not some cheap clear plastic containers. I did think it was kind of humorous that they had to label in Chinese and then English... but I guess that Chinese people aren't their only target audience.


As for the food... we ordered 1 bowl of beef noodle soup, knife cut of course, which cost 120 NT ($4), 2 beef xian bing which are 35 NT ($1), 2 pork for the same price, and one 牛雜湯 (mixed beef soup) which cost 70 NT ($2). The beef noodles are actually a surprise here, since they're not famous for them. A few years back, when that was all I ate, I ordered it, proceeded to get yelled at by my grandmother for ordering something stupid, and then was pleasantly surprised to have a giant bowl of noodles that probably ranks in my top 5 (and when you've eaten as many different places as I have, that's a pretty high ranking). Anyway, the noodles are the stand out here. Long, thick, and heavy knife cut noodles that stretch to tomorrow, they are of the same pedigree as those at 良品 (Liang Pin). The broth isn't terrific, but isn't terrible... but if we go by straight comparison... Liang Pin still wins out because of the combination of awesome noodles with a fringe above average soup base. I will not complain about this bowl of noodles though, for the price, it is absolutely massive... that bowl is about 10" across.


The beef and pork xian bing are what the place is famous for, and for good reason. Both have very unique tastes, and in semi cop out fashion, I'm just going to say that I can't find words to describe them. Both combine a pleasant mix of semi fatty, semi lean ground cuts, a healthy spattering of garlic, and some spices to make for a pretty awesome little bun like sandwich. The meats cook up nice and juicy (to the point where they have soup dumpling spillover), and the gets nice and crispy from the pan frying. No disappointments here.


As for the mixed beef soup (that is... a mix of various body parts from a cow including tripe, tongue, and brisket)... uh, my mom wanted that... and to be honest, it looked kind of gross, but she liked it. Overall... I love this restaurant, and I make it a point to visit every year I come back. Do I even have to bother to say I recommend going? Haha, seriously though, you won't be disappointed.

Oh... I don't have time right now... but I got to run again.

distance for the day: 6.55 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 368.84 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...

Almost back

My orientation trip is finally over (well... in like 12 hours). Let me just say, I love all of Taiwan, but I miss Taipei. Happy panda is happy once I get back. Just thought I'd post an update... since I did run yesterday. Let's just say a conservative 4.00 mile estimate. I can't map the boondocks too well.

distance for the day: 4.00 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 362.29 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles
Read more...