Tag Archives: Taiwan

What I’ve been up to these days

Some foods from the night markets:

Custard Cream puff

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Baked Swirls of Matcha on super soft doughImage

Typical lunch in Taiwan

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One of my favourite foods here- Charcoal-baked MochiImageImageImageImageImage

Cheese Baked Pasta in Cream sauceImage

Spicy Fried Chicken Baked Rice

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My favourite school food– Curry Rice with pork piecesImage

Some tradtional Chinese sweets. I love these too much for words to describe. Not a good sign. ImageImage

Peanut and Sesame Pancakes

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Custard Cream Pancakes

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Charcoal- Baked King Mushrooms– fat free, msg freeImageImageImage

Japanese Style Cakes with Matcha or Custard Cream fillingsImage

Charcoal- Baked Chou (smelly) TofuImage

Some handmade Chinese pastriesImage

Assorted deep fried awesomeness

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Low Fat Yogurt Soft Serv

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Handmade mochi by a road vendorImage

School food

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Local foods!

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Taiwanese Wanton Noodles

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My absolute favourite Taiwanese Breakfast– Egg Pancakes (Dan Bing)Image

Japanese Style Cakes

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My childhood favourite– Apple BreadImage

油豆腐

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Kang Kong

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Taiwanese Chicken Rice

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Stir fried Glutinous rice

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肉羹湯

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A typical Dinner

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Those pancakes again!

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Coffee flavoured with custard cream fillingImage

Foods from restaurants:

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Red Bean Pancakes from Pingtung– my hometown!Image

Spring rolls with ice-cream

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The Last Trip : Shanghai 2012

I realised not everyone who loves horror movies manage to appreciate the gore of Thai and Japanese ones.

Not everyone who enjoys peace and harmony enjoys the freaking ambition of Cantonese police action to demonstrate how truly awesome policemen are (thanks, but no thanks, bro).

But of course, with age, mothers tend to get more irrational, incomprehensible and more often, pretend they know you inside out, when they don’t, at all (at least mine does).

And evidently, having dumplings, fried rice and ice cream for four days does nothing good for my complexion. (but love you! Breakfast buffets)

In three weeks, and a day, I will most probably be quitting baking. “most probably” because I still hold on to a hinge of hope that doesn’t exist. I’ll be flying out of this tiny, all-too-familiar country with less awesome food than Taiwan. And the country to which I will be in for the next seven or so years is in the latter part of the former sentence. No biggie, really.

For now, you’ll just be bombarded with a crazy mass of pictures from my trip to Shanghai that ended with the one and only Typhoon Haikui.

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4 August 2012 from Singapore to Hong Kong

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Hong Kong Airport .

Starbucks between Gates! Awesome. .

Yeah, I take the Economy class. I’m no millionaire. Or even a three-thousand-aire. So kill me. .

After arriving at Shanghai, we had our first dinner from Tesco supermarket (which was next door loved it!): slices of delicious cold beef, vegetable fried rice, vegetable fried rice cakes, some grapes and an assortment of  Chinese biscuits. .

Nanjing Pedestrian Street (5 August 2012) .

A super crowded Apple store. .

An ‘underground’ KFC. .

Shanghai Lao jie… or at least here are some pictures of places near it (6 August 2012) .

Lunch at Shanghai Lao Jie: Some rice dish + pan fried buns + purple yam balls (which sucked) + black fungus stir fried with fish slices. We packed up the remainders for dinner with the day before’s dinner leftovers.

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We decided to lug home piles of medical books on the 7th of August so we decided that the DSLR had to be left out from the trip. Thus no pictures.

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Typhoon Haikui (8 August 2012)

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A snack while stuck in the hotel .

The view of the chaos outside from inside .

looks better than the situation was .

Shanghai news. Before this picture, I was cruelly laughing at the grumpy reporters trying to stand still talking, trying to grab hold of escaping coats, out-of-control umbrellas and re-buttoning unbuttoning (by the wind) shirts  in typhoon hot spots. I’m such a horrible person. .

After a bumpy ride cruising through the heavy rain, crazy wind and ankle deep water… (following two pictures were brightened, to delude) .

All flights cancelled/delayed, including mine. .

Stranded people at the airport. .

The super cool and really awesome awful and terrible weather outside. .

Dinner at the airport/ my first meal at Ajisen Ramen Restaurant. My mom and I both got the Tomato and Beef Ramen Set which came with 4 pan fried dumplings and a delicious saucer of cold bamboo shoots tossed in vinegar, sesame oil and sesame seeds (my favourite). .

Since we had dinner at four, mom and I shared a meal at Burger King for supper while waiting for the next available flight.

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The Day After Typhoon Haikui 9 (August 2012)

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The next morning, at 5am. .

Getting to the plane! From Shanghai to Hong Kong before transferring from Hong Kong back to Singapore. This is actually the airport that transports people from the airport to the plane. .

Watching people board the bus… .

Climbing up those damn stairs had always been one of my unaccomplished dreams… until this day that is. .

On the plane from Shanghai to Hong Kong .

Breakfast: 5 different kinds of Chinese dim sum + 1 tub of yogurt + 1 container of fruit + 100ml tub of apple juice + a small yummy bun (planes always have the best buns I have no idea why) + 1/2 cup of unsweetened black tea .

At the Hong Kong Airport

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From Hong Kong to Singapore .

Mum’s lunch: Spaghetti  + a container of fruits + a  small bun + Haagen Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream .

My lunch: Sweet & Sour Chicken with Egg fried rice  + a container of fruits + a  small bun + Haagen Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream .

Exploding Cream Buns 爆浆面包 (Whole Wheat & Vegan)

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One of the things I love most of Taiwan is the varied speeds of change in the country. The rocky path to my grandparents’ house  have those same old rocks embedded, the same old metal spring buried at one side, rows of crops of 槟榔叶 (betel leaves) grown by the same old farmers at the other, the same kinds of grass growing at the side, the same family of daisies swaying along to the wind. Largely the same people, plus a few babies, minus some who passed away, the same smiles, the same faces, with a few more wrinkles. The same breakfast shops that had not changed in any way since before I was born. Things like that stay the same. They make the place we come from what it is.

Cycle a couple kilometres along the sort-of-expressway into the city. Most things would be different a year on. The same lady selling my favourite pancakes 车轮饼 stands at the same spot, but in front of a different shop. Shops promoting PDAs with wireless network connection spring up. Just 5 years ago, barely anyone owned a computer, let alone knew what the hell the internet was. [Even today, in the area my mum was born, few people have an internet connection (an estimated 1 in 3).] And right in the middle of the Pingtung city, now stands at least 3 new french bakeries, 1 Japanese bakery, and 1 modern Taiwanese bakery. That’s where I found 爆浆面包, or as I translate– Exploding Cream buns. An innovation unto the traditional tiny buns accompanying Western meals. Today, they are one of the most popular buns in Taiwan. Though they’re typically filled with a buttercream filling, I decided to go the healthier way with, well, tofu. If you don’t tell the people you’re serving that the buns contain tofu, there is little chance they’ll find out.

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The cream is injected into the bun rather than pre-inserted. DO NOT inject the cream into the bun while the bun is warm lest you want baked cream (a mistake a made for 2 buns, one of which’s innards are in the photo below).

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I’m providing 2 choices of filling. The Oreo Cream.

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The Coffee Cream version.

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And now the recipe! The recipe for buns is adapted from Christine’s Recipes. There are errors though! Add another 1 tsp of lemon juice for Coffee Cream and 1/2 tsp for Oreo Cream.

Assembly: stuff cream of choice into a piping bag. Make a hole in the corner of the bun and fit the piping nozzle into the hole to squeeze cream into the bun. If you press too hard such that too much cream enters, the bun literally explodes. So be careful!

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Hopefully, I’ll have something great for you tomorrow!

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This post is going to YEASTSPOTTING!!!

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