Possible the new micro 4/3s format that's recently been so popular. And to conclude, that means no photos today obviously. Edit: Actually it looks like I save two to my computer before heading off to Maokong. We went to Din Tai Fung in the afternoon for lunch and had the red oil dumplings (紅油餛飩). Always a winner in my books. I'll leave with you the other photo of the original Din Tai Fung kitchen.
This afternoon, I decided to grill some classic comfort food. It's like american cooking 101 chapter 1. Ok maybe chapter 2, boiling an egg is like chapter 1. It's a simple recipe and everyone knows it. Butter on the outside and cheese on the inside. Place on hot pan for a few seconds and viola! But thanks for a Google search of different grilled cheese recipes, there's a page with over 100 of them, I found one I liked. It was the jalapeno popper grilled cheese sandwich. I'm a fan of hot and Jalapeno poppers are just one of my favorites! The combination of deep fried outside, with that distinct spicy Jalapeno and a creamy cream cheese core gets my mouth watering. This recipe is also pretty simple too. Just layer Jalapenos, cheese, cream cheese and panko bread crumbs inside. The recipe asked for whole Jalapeno's slitted lengthwise, but those are not easily as source-able here in Taipei. I changed up the cheese a bit with Pepper Jack Cheese to give it more kick. But I'd gather any cheese would work. It really hit the spot and I just can't get enough. You really can't go wrong with this simple american classic.
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!!
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!
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
