A Cat Special or A Special Cat

I've been conditioned to really like cats since being at Mike and Jeri's this week.

While we were out last Tuesday on Middle Autumn Festival we stopped off at two pet stores and I have to confess I saw kittens that were adorable.

But so is Du. As these pics testify.

Sorry to non-feline lovers to subject you to this very subjective entry.


L: Du in red top that she hates; R: Du napping on her pillow.

L: Kitten sleeping in her litterbox; R: Kitten falling asleep upright.

L: Massive "tiger cat". It really was huge. And looks like Garfield; R: Du in her bumble bee costume that she hates.


All-star Du.

Food Fest

Today is Middle Autumn Festival day proper and the last day of the long weekend. A late start, I woke to a small lunch at 12:30pm consisting of seaweed and onion soup with chopped minced fish cakes. Then my brother announced we were to take the MRT to Xi Men Ding, a popular area in the city for the hip and happening kids of Taipei. It's a shopping district, full of cinemas, restaurants, food stands, knick knacks, tattoo shops, hair salons and such.

We arrive around 2:30pm to sample the first attraction of the day - intestine rice noodles. It's a bowl of thick-souped rice noodles, with bits of chopped pork intestines, topped with coriander. Add some chilli sauce and it makes for a warming and delicious meal. A small bowl costs NT$40. We washed it down with a cold kumquat lemon juice drink with dried plum.




Next my brother spots a little cart selling a kind of sweets literally translated as chilled rounds. They are clear glutinous bite-size balls with flavoured centres. They come filled with red bean, mellon and peach. You get nine for NT$30.


As we ate we wondered for a bit and did a little shopping. Time for a food break, so we had deep fried minced fish cakes. It's topped with a special sauce and is a delicious snack. One portion costs NT$40. My brother Mike and his girlfriend Jeri also shared a thick soup with floured pork. This is the best I can describe it! We walked round the corner and had strawberry and condensed milk shaved ice.



After walking around some more browsing at this and that, we rested our feet at a tea house and I had iced apple red tea, which is just apple flavoured black tea. I also ordered a double flavoured toast which is a thickly sliced piece of toast cut in half, with peanut butter on one half and chocolate on the other. Jeri had an iced passionfruit green tea and my bro had a coffee (just a regular coffee not worth bolding).

Xi Men Ding kept us occupied for hours but someone mentioned smelly tofu and I wanted to have some as it is one of my favourite snacks. My brother knew the best place for it but we needed to take the MRT to another location.

15 mins later we arrive at the smelly tofu shop only to find it was closed for Middle Autumn Festival! So onwards we went to nearby Tong Hwa Street Night Market.

Taiwan is famous for night markets. You'll find streets lined on both sides with a myriad of stores selling the latest and greatest stuff, as well as food stands, stalls and carts. A whole mix of licenced and legal, and unlicenced and illegal vendors are crammed into the street, all for your shopping and eating pleasure. But I suggest you buy whatever you like at that moment, for if your vendor happens to be of the illegal kind, the vendor and cart will in a blink of an eye disappear at the approach or even smell of a police officer so you'll have no chance to go back should you eventually decide two steps later it was a bargin afterall. They are that fast and instinctive. Like rare short-haired bandicoots.

At Tong Hwa we found a stall selling bite-size smelly tofu for NT$55 for a large portion.



My brother also had sweet tofu dessert from another stall, but it was weirdly flavoured with chocolate and other unknowns which is such a sacrilege. The only way to have it in my books is traditional with peanuts.

Next my brother and I spy a food cart selling blood rice cakes and we get a stick, a childhood favourite of his and mine. Pork blood is mixed with rice then steamed. It's then cut up into rectangular portions and skewered, so you get a stick per portion. It is kept in boiled water until you order one. The vendor will then dip it in a special sauce, paint on chilli sauce if you ask for it, then coat it in crushed peanuts on both sides and finish it off with coriander. Only NT$25 per stick.

Jeri on the other hand spies a cart selling chicken bums. It's the very tip of the chicken's rear end which is quite fatty. You get five per skewer. Grilled to perfection they are crisy and moist and beautifully edible and nicely bite-sized!

I get thirsty and murder a freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. It is very sweet and incredily thirst quenching in my opinion.

Almost immediately we find ourselves next sitting at a food stall sharing a bowl of bitter melon and rib soup as well as a medicinal soup with pork knuckle.

Most items are quite cheap at these night markets so it was hard to resist a little more browsing and shopping. It wasn't the end of the night however as we came to the end of the night markets. Around the corner were a number of pet stores where small crowds gathered at the windows to look at the impossibly cute puppies and kittens. Mike and Jeri took the opportunity to buy Du a "birthday" present, seeing today was the fourth anniversary of Du's adoption from the animal shelter to their home. A new collar was added to two items that were already purchased earlier at Xi Men Ding: a New York Yankees top and a demin skirt!

It was 9:30pm as we started towards the MRT but something was missing. I felt I had room for more. So near the station we stepped into a small restaurant that had three tables and a take-out window, and had sticky rice and pork ball soup. A filling end to seven-hour outing!

We come home tired but content. Then we start to torment poor Du by subjecting her to her birthday presents (she does NOT like wearing clothese). But such is the life of a pet. It was such a laugh.

As I started to compose this entry my brother serves up sliced white peaches and passionfruit halves. Always nice to finish a meal with some refreshing fruit.

Did I also mention that Middle Autumn Festival is always around the time of the full moon? I promise you the photo on the left is the moon and not a spot light!

Big Day Out

I'm spending a week with my brother and his girlfriend in Taipei. It's the long weekend, cause it's 中秋節, or Middle Autumn Festival coming up on Tuesday. The cool, or rather, kind of odd thing they do here in Taiwan is that Monday is turned into a public holiday so you get four days off in a row, but then you have to make it up on Saturday. You make your own mind up.

Clockwise from top left: Pepper Cake; different kinds of deep fried mushrooms; Fort San Domingo; my bro with icecream tower.

We went to 淡水 (Tamshui) for lunch, which consisted of some famous wontons, traditional pepper cakes filled with pork and green onions, fried 'shrooms and finished with a double-flavour soft-serve icecream cone that was 30cm tall. We shared that last item.

The reason we went to Tamshui was because they were taking me horse riding at a stables near by! It was a proper lesson, not lame like being lead on the horse by a person on foot. The lesson lasted for 40 mins. At the end of the lesson I had to swing off the horse to disembark, or whatever the word is. Problem was, I had used my arms too much during the ride, and my biceps were so strained that they almost failed to support my weight as I pushed off the horse. Almost, but not entirely. It was when I attempted to undo my helmet and found I couldn't bend my arms up to reach the buckle under my chin that I realised how bad my arms were. Think of that classroom science experiment where you had to push your arms as hard as you can against the sides of a doorway for a few minutes, then step away to see your arms rise voluntarily to the sky. It was that effect on my arms then, 'cept it was going the opposite direction. I wondered how I was going to eat dinner tonight if I couldn't bend my arms to put food in my mouth.

On our way home we stopped off at 紅毛城 (Fort San Domingo). Here's a little history. In 1629 the Spaniads built the Fort. In 1642 the Dutch kicked the Spaniads out. The Fort is now known in Chinese as the Fort of the Red Hair, describing of the appearance of the Dutch occupiers. In 1867 the English leases it for 99 years from China and builds a British Consulate next to the Fort. But she hands it back in 1972 when England broke diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (different from the People's Republic of China. It's fascinating history, I suggest you look into this dear readers).

L: My bro and his GF devouring pepper cakes; R: The three amigos.

L: British Consulate at Fort San Domingo; R: View of shore opposite.

L: My new man in Taiwan; R: Dusk on way home.

By the time we reached home it was dinner time, and we made a grocery stop for BBQ supplies. It has become somewhat of a tradition now to BBQ around Middle Autumn Day and admire the beauty of the moon, as it's usually full moon the day of the Middle Autumn Festival.

In Taiwan you don't need no fancy schmancy BBQ grill powering on 6 gas cylinders, no big backyards size of football fields or city parks. In Taiwan all you need is your front door step, sometimes shop front, or in our case, the balcony for space is a premium here. If it's raining like it was for us, just put up two or three umbrellas and hook 'em to the railing. But perhaps consider having an extra umbrella on hand, for one of our umbrellas did decide to emancipate itself from BBQing duties and took flight from our 15th floor balcony to go dancing in the night. Foodwise we ate pork, chicken wings, fish, capsicum, mushrooms, clams, mince fish cakes, bamboo shoot and duck heart skewers. Taiwanese BBQs rock.


L: Check out our ultra small balcony BBQ action; R: Precautions against the rain.

L and R: Food.

L: More food; R: Taiwanese/ROC flag. It's not allowed to be flown in international arenas such as the Olympics. Go read up on this people!

Body sore but belly full. A good night's sleep beckons.

Sean! Yes I'm talking to YOU!

I can't believe we keep missing each other on MSN!

Get in contact. I emailed you at soulshiv, is that not right anymore?

I hate misplacing friends.

Note to all: I love you all dearly and equally. Fact.

xoxoxoxoxox

Scandalous

I'm currently reading Thomas and Jane Carlyle, Portrait of a Marriage by Rosemary Ashton, an historical biography. What me pretentious? Nooo...

I first became aware of the Carlyles in Weekend 7 of my London countdown. At the suggestion of Lonely Planet: London, I took Corrinne with me to visit the preserved home of one of London's most intriguing couples of the 19th century.

From that visit, and the few pages from many that I've managed to understand so far from the book, the Carlyles were a power couple; he/she capable of commanding great respect, admiration and/or money earned from their individual and/or collective talents/genius/success. Today's example would be Brangelina. Posh and Becks. Bill and Hilary Clinton. Kylie and Jason back in the day.

I would love to be one half of a power couple. Admittedly I am a LONG way off that dream. But if we don't have dreams, what do we have? And having these dreams makes it easier going to bed at night. (It's the morning when you wake up that's the horror.)

But I digress. A book devoted to a celebrity couple. Wholly on the subject of their marriage, from courtship to death, when they parted. Doesn't this just sounds like a lifetime's worth of tabloid magazines bound together? But because this particular couple was exceptionally intelligent, witty and scholarly, an examination of their relationship is deemed academia. Go figure.

Wistful Thinking

It's hard, this job hunting business. How long can you live at home until it's time you took what ever job that was offered? How many good, solid, yet uninspiring prospects can you keep turning down in hopes of that elusive dream job? Such a prickly situation too, with the folks. They want you to have that security, cause it's hard to come by. But all you want to do is wait, cause maybe, just maybe, the big prize is just around the corner. It's a gamble they say. But it'll come you hope. They worry. You shrink.

My head is spinning. Who exactly is looking for work?

The last three years come flooding back. The freedom. The friends. Good times, no, great times. Nostalgia plays with your memories, makes them fuzzy with rosey tints.

Touched By an Angel

In every tour group there's always one or two characters that stick in your mind. Mine was a lady who loved to answer to everything our tour guide said to us, whether it was required or not. It was like being in a southern gospel church.

Tour guide: "Hokkaido is a very picturesque island..."
Lady: "Yes! Picturesque."
"... famous for dairy products like milk..."
"Like milk! Yes!"
"... you'll have the opportunity to enjoy the baths tonight..."
"Hot baths tonight. Uh-huh."
"... please gather in the lobby for dinner at 6pm..."
"Lobby at 6. Halleluiah!"
"We'll visit a waterfall this afternoon..."
"Praise the lord!"
"... followed by a sulfur valley, the source of this area's hot springs..."
"Amen! He speaks the truth!"

I wanted to clap and sing and jump on my feet and raise my hands and be loved and healed! But I didn't think the tour guide would've appreciated the interruption.

Climb Every Mountain

I went to Japan for 5 days. Hokkaido to be exact. The folks were going, so I invited myself along.

Food great. Coach rides not so great. Natural hot spring baths every night divine... especially the outdoor ones. Ever seen footage on National Geographic of those Japanese mountain monkeys bathing in natural rock pools in the middle of winter, whilst snow falls around them? And how content and relaxed they looked, faces flushed rosey pink they are languidly close to nodding off? That was me, minus the fur and the snow.

It is the custom in Japan to bathe in public baths in the nude. To cover your modesty you are allowed one small towel. I struggled with that small towel on the first day. It simply wouldn't stretch beyond what seemed like the size of a fig leaf. Facing the reality of the situation I plunged (excuse the pun) into the world of nude public bathing. It wasn't so bad. Being in a roomful of naked women, mostly of a retired age-group, I took a sigh of relief knowing these women weren't interested in sniggering like teenage girls I once knew (or were).

Once you sink into that neck-high bath with your fellow bathers, you feel at peace and at one with everybody there and the world. After an enjoyable soak you can stand and walk away without clinging to your fig leaf. You've overcome a cultural barrier, you've done as the Romans did, you've understood the connection we all have as human beings, to the planets, and the universe. You are on the top of the world.

Just don't slip on the wet floor on your way out.