So, the rain finally came. Thunder, lightning, large tropical drops of rain. Then, three hours later, it all stopped and the city of Taipei cooled off for about 3 hours before the humidity set in again. Perhaps in preparation for an evening storm.
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a batch of chocolate croissant
taiyaki ready to be retrieved
and sold |
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as they say on the Great British Baking Show, laminated
layers!!! and a nice, not too sweet red bean filling! |
The day was spent chasing down some decent loose leaf tea and laundering some quick drying pieces of clothing in the tub. On the way to the 7/11 around the corner (7/11s are everywhere, and they serve the public with all the odds and ends of life), we stumble across a breakfast only stall. Soy milk, rice balls and chinese pancakes (think scallion pancakes without the scallion). All things comes in two forms, sweet or savory. An optional third choice of savory AND spicy is available if requested. The stall is ran by a young couple, moving efficiently between all their prep surfaces and equipment, serving an endless stream of morning commuters their breakfast on the go. We ordered two savory rice balls and watched the lady of the shop scoop a handful of sticky rice into a plastic bag turned inside out on her hand. The rice is flattened and a scoop of chinese pork floss (finely shredded dried cooked pork) is ladled on, a scoop of salt preserved vegetable stalks goes next and then, the crowning glory, a stalk of very very deeply fried fried dough.
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| The riceball, revealed! |
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| The riceball inside, revealed! YUM! |
The bag is inverted and the rice is formed into a ball around the ingredients by hand. The bag is tied and viola, instant rice balls to go. A healthy and quick way to start the day for under a dollar US. Though i was eager to dig into the fresh hot riceball, we
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pork floss, pickled veg, crispy brown
fried dough goodness |
just had a big breakfast and a teashop awaits. So, off we went. We got to the teashop far too early. Somehow i miss read the opening time to be 11AM when it is actually 1PM, so we decided to wander about the neighborhood and see what is available for the killing of around an hour and a half. There is a Dante's Coffee (or what we jokingly called the 7th Circle... there are many Dante's around Taipei, not as numerous as Starbuck's, but pretty darn close). There was an empty table and it looked somewhat air conditioned, so we went in. Across the street there was a stand outside of a Japanese curry restaurant selling what they called Croissant Taiyaki. A Taiyaki is a traditional Japanese snack consisting of a fish shaped pancake like pastry with an inner filling of red bean paste. This is a version that is made with croissant, so i had to order one. The young girl tending the stand was in the middle of making a chocolate batch and a butter filled batch so told me that it would take 15 minutes.
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| interesting patch... hmmm |
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drinking the Dong Ding Oolong
at the Stop By Tea Shop |
We had coffee ordered so i paid her and went to drink the coffee to kill the time. During the coffee drinking, we were mesmerized by a painter/handyman across the street. He was on a short ladder painting the top of a wall. When he came to the limits of his range, he would, while standing astride his ladder so that each side of the ladder ran down each leg, shuffle his weight and "walk" the ladder over to the next section. It was quite awesome! Coffee done and over 15 minutes up, we left just as we see the kitchen staff stomp, kick and spray at something on the wall and floor of the kitchen area. Across the street we went to pick up the croissant taiyaki from the girl and began our
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fried tofu (top) and
boiled pork large
intestines |
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cuttlefish ball
soup |
wanderings on another hot humid day. During the wanderings, we went in and out of variably air conditioned shops. One such was a stationary/toy shop and i found an iron on patch for kids that is practically a identical replica of a Nazi SS Eagle patch... always a bit disturbing when you see that, but no one seems to be shocked in Taiwan as it was displayed along with other cute iron on patches for kids. Finally, we stopped into a total of two shops, the second one being the original shop we had intended to go to, the Stop By Tea Shop. At both shops we asked the proprietors to brew up some of the teas we were interested in buying and tasted over conversation. This
was an activity i used to do with my folks when i was younger. We used to while away hours just sitting and chatting and tasting different varieties of teas before my folks dropped serious cash and carried out loose tea leaves by the pounds. We were buying on a much more discreet scale, to be sure. A Ah Li
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| Frying stinky tofu |
San Oolong tea and a Dong Ding Oolong tea was drunk and bought and
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a peek inside the bag of stinky tofu
goodness |
everyone was happy. The Ah Li San Oolong drinks very elegantly, subtle floral notes, a strong finish that is a bit dry but not bitter. The Dong Ding Oolong is robust, tasted dark and even, no bitterness to speak of, and a more tannin in the finish. Both teas can be steeped 6 or 7 times with good flavor and no bitterness. We returned to the hotel and i had the riceball from the morning for a late lunch/snack. The thing about cold riceballs is that it is a different pleasure than a fresh one. Instead of hot sticky rice, you get cold and slightly al dente rice (which i
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| love, in the style of stinky tofu |
love). The subtle sweetness of the rice melding into the slight saltiness of the pork floss and pickled vegetables is divine. Then the crunch of the fried fried dough... makes a person want to leap up and scream hallelujah! Yeah, it was that good, Sally would want to have what i had.
That pretty much wrapped up the afternoon. Only for the evening to start with Jenn's iPhone deciding to die and not hold or take charge. So, after much googling and realizing that there is not an Apple store in Taiwan, only Apple Authorized Reseller/Service Centers, we went to Studio A, the one nearest to the hotel. As luck would have it, as we sit there in front of the service guy after an hour and a half wait, the phone took charge and held charge. We were sent home with a diagnosis of "there isn't anything wrong with your phone" and, well, now, a few hours later, a still dead phone. Go figure. However, on the way home, we swung by the night market and had dinner. The noodle soup of last night was repeated, along with boiled pork large intestines (not in a soup this time) and some sliced fried tofu with a soy/chili sauce. The whole thing, along with a bowl each of the noodle soup, was tied up with cuttlefish balls in a clear broth flavored with chinese celery dices, another flavor of childhood relived. On the walk back, i noticed that the stinky tofu (fermented tofu that truly stinks abut tastes sweet and wonderful when cooked -- fried or steamed) stall that was closed the last two nights was open. So, an order of fried stinky tofu to go please! The order, freshly fried, was put into a plastic bag (night markets must have the world's most heat resistant plastic bags), soy sauce paste and chili sauce was ladled over, and a heaping pile of Chinese spicy pickled cabbages was placed on top. The bag was left open to not trap steam that would soften the crispy fried stinky tofu, placed into another handled bag, and off we went. i had to pick up an order of the oyster omelette from the Champion brand stand even though i just had one last night (so good), and we stopped off at a iced dessert stand to finish up the take out. A green bean ice with sugar syrup (they were out of stuffed dough balls and, from the conversation, sweet tofu as well). i was very eager to get back to the room so that i can dig into the stinky tofu. Another childhood memory. It didn't disappoint. The crispy outer skin giving way to a soft center. The subtle sweetness with a wee bitter edge. The sweet and spicy chili sauce. The cool and spicy pickled cabbage. They all work together to make each bite of the tofu exquisit. Yeah, a good night and dinner.
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