The Taiwan Soap Saga

Posted on February 18, 2012 by taiwanxifu

Welcome back.  I am slowly regaining my writing mojo.  Over the last few weeks, I have had absolutely no compulsion to write — especially not about the delights of Taiwan.  The reason?  I was having a prolonged and unusual episode of ‘I hate Taiwan-itis’.

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Baozi for Breakfast in Tainan

Posted on February 5, 2012 by taiwanxifu

During our recent trip to Tainan to celebrate Chinese New Year, we didn’t do as much ‘snacking’ as usual.  But that didn’t stop us enjoying local food, even if we didn’t go to all the famous snacking places.

Freshly steamed shallot buns at Chengji Baozi shop in Tainan

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Taiwan Style Theatre Restaurant: Centered on Taipei magazine

Posted on February 4, 2012 by taiwanxifu

The February 2012 issue of the Community Services Center’s publication, Centered on Taipei, is out now.  Check out my article on a Taiwanese-style interactive dining experience, where you can learn basic Taiwan puppetry (budaixi) skills from a puppet master.  And the food is pretty good, too.

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Fangyuan Ice Lolly

Posted on January 29, 2012 by taiwanxifu

During a recent visit back to Tainan for Chinese New Year, I was able to revisit one of my favourite shops from my student days:  Fangyuan Ice Lolly.  Even though it was winter and cold (even for southern Taiwan), we couldn’t resist trying some of the delicious sweet treats.

I credit Fangyuan Ice Lolly as one of the main reasons I had a massive weight blow out while in Tainan.  Every few weeks or so, I would peddle my trusty red Giant bicycle down to Fangyuans and pick up a combination of 20 — or maybe 40 — different flavoured icy poles.  The owner would wrap them up in bundles of newspaper, I would place them in the basket of my bicycle and peddle home quickly down Tainan’s fashionable wedding street.  I rationalised my bulk purchases by pretending that I was really buying them for my homestay father, who first introduced me to the shop.  But someone it seemed that I was always the one who sneakily took the icy-poles one by one from the freezer. 

Sesame icy-pole

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Chinese New Year Prosperity Cake

Posted on January 25, 2012 by taiwanxifu

Chinese New Year traditions are fascinating.  I love the way that certain foods are associated with Chinese New Year because of their auspicious meanings, or because they sound like words that are lucky.  One celebratory food item is a simple steamed dessert called ‘fagao’ (發糕) popular in Taipei bakeries throughout the Spring Festival holiday.  ‘Fa’ means to rise, which symbolises rising fortunes and luck.  And it is also the same character used in ‘facai’ (發財, to become wealthy). Gōngxǐ fācái (恭喜發財), is one of the most common greetings over the festival period; even my toddler knows how to recite it when receiving red envelopes.

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Chinese New Year gourmet gift boxes

Posted on January 18, 2012 by taiwanxifu

As I am deliberating what to get for Taiwanese friends over Chinese New Year, I happened to read this feature article by Taipei Times reporter Catherine Shu on innovative and creatively presented Chinese New Year gifts.  I love how Taiwanese gourmet gifts are often elaborately boxed and presented.  The hard part now is to choose exactly what I will get for my former home-stay family, who living in the foodie city of Tainan, already have nearly everything they could need!

 

 

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Chungtai Monastery

Posted on January 12, 2012 by taiwanxifu

On a recent visit to the scenic Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan, we detoured on our way back through Puli so that we could visit Chungtai Temple (中台山).  The Chungtai Chan Monastery vies with Foguangshan (near Kaohsiung) as one of the largest temples in Asia.  Standing at 136 metres it is one of the tallest (and largest) temples in Taiwan and the world.  Built on the side of a mountain, the temple was designed to resemble a person in meditation (I had to stretch my imagination a bit to visualise this).  It is almost impossible not to notice it rising from the hillside as you drive towards it from Puli.  The architectural design has spiritual significance.  As their website describes is:

The entire structure is an embodiment of the Dharma, unifying sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation. The three central Buddha halls rise vertically to the golden dome on top, symbolizing sudden enlightenment to the ultimate truth—”awaken the mind and see the true nature; seeing the true nature one becomes a buddha.” The pilgrimage stairways on both sides of the monastery represent the gradual bodhisattva path (a bodhisattva is a Buddha-to-be, one with infinite compassion for all beings), each step leading to the attainment of buddhahood not just for oneself but for all beings.

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Kanpai

Posted on January 8, 2012 by taiwanxifu

Christmas is the time for family, and for us this year it included an early January visit for my father.  We wanted to take him somewhere special, with his only stipulation being that he wanted to dine at a Japanese restaurant.  After much deliberation and canvassing of recommendations we settled on a place that an American friend with a keen interest in Japanese culture recommended:  Kanpai.

 

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Woolloomooloo

Posted on December 23, 2011 by taiwanxifu

Woolloomooloo.  Just the name intrigues.  Pronounced wool-la-mar-loo, it harkens to a trendy inner-Sydney suburb home to several European style cafes.  It is also a popular hangout for antipodean and other expats in Taipei.

The breakfast menu at Woolloomooloo

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Giant strawberry daifuku

Posted on December 17, 2011 by taiwanxifu

A few months ago, I was watching a program on television about snacks in Tainan.  One of the segments that really stood out was about a shop that makes a type of giant-sized mochi called ‘dafu’ (大福, known in Japanese as daifuku).  So of course I had to try some out when I next visited Tainan.

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