OMG Bacon...with butter!

This is a Taiwanese soft pastry bread topped with cheese, bacon and a generous glaze of butter. Oh you have to love the Taiwanese for this creation. I ask you, How can you go wrong with that combination!? It just oozes heart attack on a roll with the taste of heavenly bliss. If you want to scarf one of these down, you can find it at Yamazaki Bakery near the Eslite underground mall section at Taipei Main Station. Probably at any of their locations around Taipei too. This deserves a OMG Bacon...with butter!!

Home cookin': Pumpkin soup

In the spirit of October, I decided to cook some Pumpkin soup tonight. I also felt like something simple and comforting, so soup just sounded awesome. This was also inspired by my friend's pumpkin soup that she made two weeks ago. A quick dash to the SOGO convenience store for some pumpkin, heavy cream and milk was al I needed. The rest of the spices I thankfully already had. After about 1 hour, the soup was done simmering. Although it turned out a bit watered down. I'm not sure if I simmered it long enough or if I have to tweak the recipe to decrease the amount of chicken stock needed (5 cups). Anyways..to accompany such deliciousness, we need some beer and soup bread. It's Oktoberfest time, so I opted for an Austrian beer. Stiegl Weisse (And ice cold by the way, the only way beer should be served). For the soup bread, some butter potato bread. The beer tasted pretty good. It's a hefeweizen with a light flavor, hint of bananas and a minor metallic finisher. But the most important act of the evening, the soup. It tasted creamy, warm and soothing with that autumn pumpkin flavor! I liked that I sprinkled some chopped coriander on top to give an extra complimenting flavor. This has inspired me to try some other soup recipes. Who knows what'll cook up next in my soup kitchen? Corn chowder, French Onion, Mexican bean? 'Till next time, I bid you a joyful Oktoberfest!

Miramar's hidden food court

Oooops, Miramar Entertainment Mall actually does have a food court. I originally thought it didn't have a food court, but today, with Yuki and another friend, we discovered it had one on the basement level. It turned out to be a medium sized one, round shaped. Food is still the same as any other food court, with the added variation of Cantonese food and Singaporean food. However we did notice a small sit-in Indian restaurant. Since it was sit-in, we'd all have to agree to eat there so we didn't end up going. But I absolutely love spicy indian food. Especially northern Indian where they're not vegetarian. Regretfully I didn't glance at the menu or the pricing, but I suspect it's not that expensive. I need to make plans to return back here for lunch or dinner. They have a large window to see into the kitchen and they have Hindu cooks. So i'm really struck with interest to try out their culinary menu in the hopes it'll be different than what I've been finding so far around Taipei. You'll hear about when I do.

Taiwan's 100 year Anniversary

Monday 10/10 will be the 100 year Anniversary/Birthday of Taiwan. So through out the weekend will be celebrations. Yuki, our friend and I headed out to the Taipei Main station area in search of a Russian restaurant called Cafe Astoria. Little did we know, the celebrations had already started or what it involved. The big main streets around the Presidental Palace were all closed off for the parade. When we arrived, we saw rows and rows of military vehicles and military personnel. It looked liked the city declared martial law or something. It's the first time I've seen a line of so many military vehicles driving on the city streets. People were taking pictures, dancing and celebrating along side too. I didn't get any pictures of the main stage or performances though. I'll probably regret this years down the road as this is probably THE most significant celebration for Taiwan for decades to come. It's Taiwan's big 100 birthday! However in the spirit of discovering Taipei on it's birthday, we did the best thing you can do when exploring...get lost! As the tanks distracted us, we walked further along down the parade line to see more of what was going on. Then I discovered something. A big book store full of English technology books. Some used, some new. It's a goldmine! I was disappointed earlier when I found it difficult to find English technology books here in Taiwan compared to the relative ease in Hong Kong. I thought I had to ask my parents to buy it in the States and ship it over. I'm so thankful I found a English book store, and a rather large one at it. I now have no excuse to not pick up a book on Java or PHP. The store's name is Ten Long Computer Book Co. Further on, and with our stomaches growling, we hunted down the Russian restaurant and bakery. However once on arrival, we peeked at the menu and made a judgment that it was too expensive for our pocketbooks. Perhaps next time when I have more padding in my pockets. So we went exploring to another part of town and discovered an awesome little chinese restaurant specializing in spring roll wrapped cuisine. It's next to the 228 Memorial Park. It's chinese name is 種福園斤餅牛肉店. The waiter and possible the owner, helped us order. Since we acknowledged it was our first time there, he quickly recommended the three most popular dishes and a bowl of soup for each. The owner and his wife (I think), were very very friendly. The meal was spectacular! The mixed vegetable dish was tasty. The shredded meat was juicy and savory! The shrimp was fresh and QQ! You just take the meat/vegetables, wrap it a warm spring roll and dip it in what I think is chinese oyster sauce. It's very similar to the spring roll wrapped Beijing duck. It's absolutely delicious and a hidden gem of a restaurant. You'd never know this place existed even if you walked by the storefront. The cost came in at around $300 NT a person. But in my opinion it was well worth it! It's on my list of restaurants to revisit with friend's that want to experience more "Local" cuisine. The photos don't do it justice.

While exploring around the Presidental Palace, we discovered a natural history and bank museum. The building was the original site of the Land Bank Taiwan. The story goes, that a museum of natural history defaulted on a loan, so the bank seized the dinosaur bones and other items. It has since been erected into a small but packed natural history exhibit inside the old Land Bank building. Since today was the 100 year birthday of Taiwan, the museum allowed Free entrance to everyone. How kind! However my friend was deathly scared of dinosaur and shark bone recreations. So we quickly breezed through that. On the way out, towards the back of the building, was the historical display of the bank. According to the facts written on the walls, the building was once a large bank owned by the Japanese during the Japanese rule over Taiwan. After WWII, they kept parts of the bank vaults and storage facilities in tact to act as a historical display of what it once was. Most everything was original and was left where it originally was over 60 years ago.

This is Hong Kong style egg custard buns (奶黃包). They're a dim sum dish that has semi-melted lava of creamy sweetened egg yolk in the middle of a pure white soft bun. My foodie friend is infatuated with this dish and rightfully so, because it's absolutely warm watering! She's been trying to find a suitable replacement for this special HK dish here in Taiwan. And we finally found it in two places none the less. Both in the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi mall near Taipei Main Station (新光三越).

Ten Long Computer Book Co. (天瓏專業電腦書局)
100台灣台北市中正區重慶南路一段107號
http://www.tenlong.com.tw

種福園斤餅牛肉店
100台灣台北市中正區懷寧街106號

Old Land Bank

No. 25號, Xiāngyáng Road, Jhongjheng District

Taipei City, Taiwan 100

Cafe Astoria

2F, 5 Wuchang St Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市武昌街一段5號2樓)

http://www.astoria.com.tw

Home cookin': Japchae

Tonight we decided to cook Korean in the tajine pot. Not the first time to cook korean, but bulgogi is real easy anyways. so...first complex korean dish? Actually this isn't that bad. Most of the ingredients are shared by the Taiwanese, so they weren't hard to find or expensive in cost. Clear cellophane noodles, seasons, meat, vegetables and it's done. Actually without some variations in spices, it about the same as a Taiwanese dish I know of. This dish is called Japchae in Korean pinyin. In the process of cooking it, I think we didn't add enough oil, so some of the noodles got burnt at the bottom. But it scraped off easily and actually adds a pleasant texture to it. It doesn't taste burnt, just some added crispyness. I'll probably keep burning a little next time we try this. Discovery by accident. And for the lubricant? Korean beer Hite! I figured we needed Korean beer for a Korean meal. It ended up complimenting the meal pretty well. It tastes light but with more spice and hoppy-ness at the end. The other beer is Orion, an Okinawa beer. Not Korean, but Japanese beer famous in it's southern most island bordering Taiwan. Orion tastes similar to Taiwan beer. Well enjoy the food photo, i'm off to get some ice cream from the grocery store.

Home cookin': Lemon Tripe with chickpeas

Miniatures! I've always been fascinated with miniatures. I think it's been instilled into our childhood exeriences to like miniatures. Because most toys are pretty much miniatures anyways. Girls get miniature dolls and boys get miniature cars (excuse the stereotype). And the more details involved the more they fascinate me. I've build plenty of scale models in my youth, and it just got more fun the higher the difficulty rating got, because it would include articulating windows or arms or gun turrets. Anyways, the day started of pretty dreary and grey, so Yuki and I grabbed our umbrellas and headed over to the Miniature Museum of Taipei. It's not too far from the SongJiang NanJing MRT station (捷運松江南京站)。 The miniature museum of one of two in Taipei area. The second and much larger outdoor location is called Window On China in Longtan (龍潭鄉). I didn't feel up to bringing my camera today, so I just stole one from Google images. All the scale reproductions were extremely well put together. Most of them were of european and american style houses and castles. However there were a few asian themed examples too. My favorite is the miniature of an old japanese street with food and service stands possible from the 1960's era. There are even some of the beautiful victorian homes of San Francisco. Some miniature rooms, as Yuki pointed out, included a miniature within a miniature. It's really a cool place to visit and convenient to get to. The Entrance cost was $180NT. Student fee is $150 but my school doesn't count. The gift store has miniature kits, so you can bring some home and try for yourself too. Overall, a great place to visit while in Taipei. It's one of the less popular places that may not be in a tourist book. This is all we pretty much did for the day. Relaxing and stress free and most importantly cheap. heh! So for dinner we grabbed some ingredients and tried out the next recipe in Yuki's Tajine cookbook. Lemon Tripe with chickpeas. It turned out sour and powerful in flavor with the great chewy texture of tripe. Although probably too chewy. It was our first time cooking with Tripe. We found out later, after dinner, that it helps soften the Tripe if you soak it in a brine solution for 2 hours prior to cooking. Next time.

MMOT (袖珍博物館)
104台灣台北市中山區建國北路一段96號
http://www.mmot.com.tw

Home cookin': Quiche

keesh...correction Quiche. Kind of a weird word I can never remember to spell. Tonight, I cooked again for my dear friends at the YongHe flat for my appreciation for letting me hang out there so often. At the orders of my short and hyper, but extremely joyful good friend, I bakes some delicious quiche for everyone. She also helped out tremendously with her own recipe for the filling. I just brought the pie crust. The wonderfully flaky hand mixed pie crust. Baking is tough on the arms. It requires hours of mixing, stirring, pressing and kneading. I guess it's a great exercise too. My arms will be huge after a few more recipes, or at least my right arm! In the end, the Quiche came out perfect flaky golden brown with a healthy pepper, onion, potato and bacon filling. OK, I added the unhealthy bacon. But I love bacon! I enjoyed baking with my friends and we all enjoyed the great meal scarfing it all down. I wish i could send a piece over the internet, but alas until 4D is invented, enjoy the photo.

Waffles are better at Melange Cafe

My friend wanted to head out to a coffee shop after dinner tonight. So I brought her to Melange Cafe. She was talking about Coffee Alley, but from my experiences there, it was less than satisfying. Arriving at Melange Cafe, it immediately looked better than Coffee Alley. Less cramped, no narrow steep stairways to walk up and no one and a half hour wait. Melange even has a cool large drip coffee maker. I don't know how to describe it. It's a bunch of giant glass balls stacked and connected to each other like a chemist lab. Also, the bathrooms are through the curtains in the back of the restaurant. You'll have to guess approximately where the door is because there's no indicator. Anyways, on to the food. The waffles were more thinner, which is a good thing. Coffee Alley's waffle was too thick and doughy. And the coffee at Melange is far more superior. Maybe the person at Coffee Alley that made my coffee was having an off day. I tried the drip coffee as recommended by one of my Taiwanese friends. She said it's their specialty and shouldn't be overlooked. The one cool thing about it, is that they include an extra ice cube of espresso. So when the ice melts, it doesn't dilute your coffee. Genius! We all ordered some different dishes and tasted each others desserts. I have to say the desserts are all well crafted. Not too sweet and not too unbalanced with the flavor. They usually include the caramel, sugar or chocolate in a separate miniature pitcher, so you can add more if you want. One bad thing I have to say is, the waffles come a little naked (void of sauce). The presentation could use some work. Pricing is around $150-300. So with a coffee and a snack, you're looking around $350. I'd definitely come back here again when I'm in the area.


Melange Cafe
No. 23號, Lane 16, Section 2, Zhōngshān North Road
Jhongshan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 104

Waffles & Ice Cream at Aunt Stella's

There was always this little quaint store called Aunt Stella's at almost every SOGO department store. I've never been in nor have I tried any of their delicious looking cookies in their front display. But today, my friend and I decided to drop in. Aunt Stella's is a western bakery that mainly serves cookies, waffles and cakes. So she just couldn't pass up the cookies. But once we sat down and looked through the menu. She switched to some strawberry ice cream waffles. It's a small shop, but the interior reminds me of a country home for a grandmother somewhere in the American northeast. The staff also has to wear these blue checker patterned grandma aprons. It's funny, but different. Great place to sit down, rest and eat a cookie after roaming around the SOGO center with your significant other.

SYS memorial spicy noodle shop

I don't know why i'm doing this in three parts. I just felt like it. So...
Part 1> Today's plan was to eat lunch with my friend. But she showed up with the whole female portion of the flat. So it was lunch for 6. We went to this small chinese noodle restaurant near SYS memorial MRT station exit 2 (國父紀念館). I forget the name, so I'll have to remember it for next visit and edit it in. But it's a small shop that specializes in spicy (麻辣) noodles and dumplings. There's usually a long wait during the weekends. And I'm sure it'll only get longer and longer as the popularity grows. This small street just outside of the number 2 exit is relatively new. Google maps doesn't even show it's current renovated form. Back to the noodles shop. It's a medium sized place and the interior is clean and organized. However it has a very plain no non-sense design. Which is perfectly fine. Service was great and prompt, especially when they mixed up our drink orders. Drop by some time. It's not too expensive, as depends if you have a big stomach. As for the spice. I'm not one to take opinions from, I can handle my spices. Afterwards, there's a great bakery, sandwich place, and a desert place nearby if you want more.


Part 2> We dropped by Emperor Love Tea Boutique. Yuki and I discovered it one day when we were strolling around the ZhongXiao DunHua MRT station area. It's an elegant two level (ground and basement) Tea House that serves very tasty tropical fruit infused teas. They have traditional green, oolong and herbals teas too. But what I think sets it apart from other places are the tropical fruit infused teas. Some, like the Hawaiian fruit tea, actually taste more like juice though. But it's good to have that option when your tired of the typical oolong and green tea. The atmosphere is very comfortable, delicate and elegant like a banquet room for a wedding. The waitresses are very kind and happy to help you choose a tea flavor that suites your taste buds. There's fee wifi and prices range around $200 a pot. Great place!

Part 3> Dinner with my family at a famous Japanese restaurant in TianMu. Nothing much to say here. Private family stuff. But the food was delicious and rich, so do enjoy the few photos I did take of my meal. That black/brown stuff is whole abalone.

麻膳堂
106台北市大安區光復南路280巷24號

Emperor Love Tea
106台北市大安區仁愛路四段345巷4弄2號