Food, Food and More Food

As you may have realized by now, I love me some good food and living here is a great way to try things I wouldn't get to try in the states. I've had a few wonderful food experiences in the past few weeks that I thought I'd share with you.

First of all, with all the incredible fruits and vegetables here in Taiwan, you would think it would be easy to find vegetarian restaurants. They aren't that easy to find. You can get vegetarian food but usually, when you order what they call a vegetable dish, there's often some meat thrown in there - ground pork, little dried shrimp or tiny silver dried fish. I think they are missing that concept here. One place you find vegetarian food is in buddhist temples. Many of them serve food and a friend of mine and I decided to try one out.

The walkway into the building is just beautiful. The whole building (which is several stories tall) is dedicated to this one particular group and you feel the serenity and calmness the minute you walk in the door. How do they do that!?

 I love the happy buddhas. Don't you just smile when you see one?

The place was simple but beautiful. Although I'm only able to use my left hand, we decided on vegetable hot pot. I got the miso broth (which was delish!) and this is the selection that was put before me.

 This is my own personal pot and burner to control as I cook my assorted veggies.

 The sauce above is what you dip your cooked veggies in before you eat. It was a garlic basil pesto like sauce. I got seconds! The whole meal was fresh, flavorful and fantastic! YUM!

The next day I decided to get a massage even though they aren't allowed to touch my shoulder area. The rest of my body isn't dealing with this whole trauma thing so I needed some help. After 90 very painful minutes I was treated to this little meal. I'll start with the tea...it's a fragrant lemongrass tea that feels like it's healing as it's going down. The bowl is a local yogurt that is sprinkled with brown sugar and millet. I absolutely love this stuff. The yogurt isn't thick but it's tangy and combined with the toppings is a wonderful treat. Those are two little freshly baked muffins - both with fruit, and the last part is a fresh vegetable spring roll. I get a little nosh like this every time I get a massage. Come on! I know you're jealous!

Next, milk tea. This has become my new food (well drink) obsession. Often this is served with the tapioca pearls (bubble tea) but I'm happy with it on it's own. I LOVE this stuff. Basically it's just three ingredients...really strong black tea, milk and sugar. That's it and it's delightful. Sometimes you get it with some condensed milk but I find those too sweet, but still oh so good.  I usually go with little to no sugar. I don't drink coffee and have always been a tea drinker. Can I just say that I now, finally, live in the right country. Double YUM!

And...finally....Din Tai Fung. This is the most famous dumpling restaurant chain in all of Taiwan and there is one located about a 5 minute walk from my new apartment. The day I moved I strolled down to savor the amazing food there.

 The place is usually jammed packed but I was there early so had the place mostly to myself. That's a good thing because eating these "soup" dumplings with only my left hand was a bit challenging. Oh, don't you worry, I didn't drop one thing.

 First, I had a Taiwan beer to wash everything down. You make a little concoction of fresh ginger, soy sauce and vinegar to dip your dumplings in. The dumplings are called xiao long bao and I like the pork ones the best.

 I order local greens and edamame with slices of tofu skin on top. Sounds strange but it's so good!

 These are spicy pickled cucumbers. They are savory, a little sweet and have some good spice. I get these pretty much every time!

 And here are the famous xiao long bao. They are all made exactly the same way with the same number of folds. Inside is about a teaspoon of savory broth that you let seep out in your spoon before you dip and inhale. You do this to not only enjoy the broth on its own but to prevent yourself from scalding your mouth with the broth. I got 10 dumplings (5 on each layer).

Here's the link to check out their website. This will definitely be a place I bring people if and when they come to visit.    dintaifung

So, more of my food adventures in Taiwan. It sure is one of my favorite parts of living here!