Why Do Today What I Can Put Off Till…

Posted in Uncategorized on June 30th, 2007 by mei| | 1 Comments.

Never!

I am horrifyingly bad at keeping on top of my posts these days. I almost feel like I am drowning in this invisible list that nobody told me to make…but myself. Oh well. Be P-A-T-I-E-N-T. And don’t remove me from you RSS feed. Just yet.

Besides procrastinating, I am also the queen of skipping around and not doing my duties in order.

I got tagged by hungryintaipei to post 7 random things about myself. I also have to pass this along to 7 other people on their blog, leaving a comment on their blog that they have been tagged.

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 things as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.

(See how lazy I am… I just copied and pasted the above. Tee hee.)

Well, without further procrastination here goes:

1) Almond tofu was the first dish I made all by myself… and it wasn’t (exactly) instant either!
2) As a kid I could eat one of those huge bulk packs of nori seaweed by myself in one sitting. No kidding.
3) I played the flute and went to band camp.
4) Out of all the dishes that Thailand has to offer, the one item that I’m craving right now is egg noodles with char siu (“bah mee moo daeng haeng”).
5) I thought Italian food sucked until I went to college.
6) I thought dairy sucked until I went to college.
7) I went to college with the Amish. Really.

Now, here’s my list ol’ seven…

The Hungry Rose
The Girl Who Ate Everything
Sweet and Salty
Just Hungry
Levenade
Wertings
Manami

Quick Caveat

Posted in Uncategorized on June 21st, 2007 by mei| | 0 Comments.

Not really food related but the heads up pertains to this blog. I just found out that my site looks awfully _ _ _ _ _ _ in Explorer. Indeed I have been working in Wordpress using Mozilla. I feel somewhat incredulous that it has taken me this long to figure out that meieats dot com has not been optimized for viewing in other browsers. Normally, I would have been paying due diligence. Oh well. I’ll find a way to fix the bugs (this means: never).

Folks, just use Mozilla.

Tainan Ta-da!

Posted in Chinese on June 20th, 2007 by mei| | 1 Comments.

tan_zi_mian.jpg Wow. I can’t believe I am this backlogged. I haven’t had even the most minute of minutes to sit down and blog (let alone the time to cook and EAT!).

I promised my loyal readers food fodder from Tainan. Then there’s scrumptious Singapore. I better throw out news about the Taipei International Food Show (June 21-24, 2007) now or else I would be remiss to not inform Taipei foodies on time. Your truly also needs to make note of the yum-yum wedding dinner party at the Far Eastern hotel at some point.. and then there’s Taidong and Green Island eats…

Tainan. If you haven’t been there… go! It’s every Taiwan foodie’s mecca. Now with the High Speed Rail in commission one really doesn’t have a reason why not to make it. You can get there in less than an hour and a half, eat to your heart’s (and tummy’s) content and still make it back to Taipei for dinner. If you decide to stay over in Tainan for a few days, yours truly would highly recommend staying at the Evergreen Hotel - especially if you get there on a weekday. Among my three friends and I, each ended up spending about 30 bucks US a night (and trust you me, my room at the ramshackle hotel on Green Island costs the same) and we even got breakfast vouchers and coupons to use at certain eateries in town. Now, this foodie would normally cast askance looks when someone mentions hotel buffets and food vouchers but I tell you the smoked salmon at the hotel breakfast was TOTALLY WORTH IT. That dreamy lemony capery mustardy dilly sauce used as an accoutrement needs to be documented IN STONE somewhere!!! I heart smoked salmon.

Next - food vouchers. I forgot the exact amount the hotel gave for the four of us (all foodies in our own rights) to split but it was a fair amount. It wasn’t just a few NT dollars and then you end up paying a huge balance at the end of the meal. You could use the vouchers at three of the restaurants in town. I didn’t really care for the latter two but I have to say the first restaurant was splendid.

rice_tube_pudding.jpgChi Kan Dan Tsi Noodles to me was the perfect place to get my fill of Tainan’s famous Dan Tsi noodles (top left: broth variety pictured in the foreground, soup-less variety in the background). My friends an I also ordered a number of other dishes such as steamed milkfish (老豆辦蒸虱目魚肚), milkfish ball soup (縣煮虱目魚肚湯), pork trotters (赤坎招牌精燉滷豬腳) and rice tube pudding (廟口竹筒米糕)(pictured to the right). What really took the cake (or pudding, if you will) was the last item: dreamy glutinous rice steamed and flavoured with stock in a bamboo container, served with pork floss on top. My prosaic description does this divine culinary item no justice. Just go and eat it.

Chi Kan Dan Tsi Noodles 赤崁擔仔麵
No. 180, Minzhu Road, Section 2
Tainan (Next to the Chi Kan Towers)
06 2205336
台南市民族路二段180號 (赤崁樓旁)
website (Mandarin only): http://www.chikan.com.tw/index.asp?le=tchines

Tainan is also famous for its fried shrimp rolls. I’ve had them at several eateries in Tainan but just found them okay. Not bad. Not superb. Just okay. I repeat - my favorite food item in Tainan was the rice tube pudding.

If you really can’t make it to Tainan (tsk tsk) check out this famous Tainan eatery in downtown Taipei:

Du Xiao Yue　（also known Internationally as “Slack Season Dan Tsi Noodles”)　度小月
No. 12, Alley 8, Lane 216
Zhong Xiao East Raod, Section 4
02 2773 1244
台北市忠孝東路四段216巷8弄12號
website (Mandarin only): http://www.iddi.com.tw/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=b22&Category=123069

Eating this Lonely Planet

Posted in Outside Taipei on June 12th, 2007 by mei| | 2 Comments.

Mea culpa.

Pardon the lack of posts recently but yours truly has been away, eating up a storm down in Tainan and Singapore. I’m going to have to enumerate the list of food I partook before memory - or more precisely, the lack thereof - would have me shoot off into random tangents…

In no particular order or ranking:

Tainan Danzi noodles (both soup and without broth varieties)
Glutinous Rice in Bamboo
Pork’s Knuckles
Steamed Milkfish
Milkfish Ball Soup
Mesona Tea
Baked Pudding(!) (I still make the best flan)
7-11 Tuna Rice Ball (*gasp* Yes, really)
a bite of my friend’s 7-11 Rice Bian Dang Set(*shakes head then nods head* see Mei’s Bian Dang post)
decided to get my own 7-11 Vermicelli and Chicken Drumstick Set (super surprisingly good! the drumstick was stewed very well with the flavors permeating the soft flesh completely… the vermicelli was so much better than some of the stuff gotten “fresh”)
Milk Pudding from 7-11 (Enh. I like convenient store savory stuff better…)
SMOKED SALMON with this really AWESOME mustardy lemony caper sauce (in CAPS because it was so incredibly good and I wished I could have eaten more of this at the hotel breakfast!!!!!)
Tainan Shrimp Rolls
Oyster Pancake (*gags a little*)
Oyster Fritters (*gags* I will never like oysters.)
Almond Tofu… on shaved ice
More Smoked Salmon and more Tainan Shrimp Rolls… and more 7-11 stuff on the way
a High-Life Convenient Store Vegetarian Fried Rice (*shrugs*)

KAYA TOAST and Soft Boiled Eggs with soy sauce and Coffee (Lurve this stuff but I think I almost OD-ed on this… ate this everyday in Singapore)
Laksa Noodles
Teh Tarik (”Pulled” tea)
Hainan Chicken Rice (with oh-so-tender drumstick)
Northern Indian Food
Southern Indian Food (doh)
Ice Cachang (oh what nonsense this stuff is… Taiwan shaved ice is so much better)
Really BAD Rasmalai (an Indian dessert I normally like)
Another Indian sweet… that tastes like a block of sugar
ROTI/PRATA!!!
(Uninspiring) Chinese noodles
CURRY PUFFS! (Never thought I’d be eating them in S’pore but sooo goooood)
Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream (I get BJ’s where I can, man)
Chicken Briyani (so-so… had better in Thailand)
Beef and Chicken satay (one thumb up)
Kueh Lapis (AWEEEESSSSOME Singaporean/Indonesian layered cake)
other Kuehs… (enh)
Dulce de Leche… eaten out of the jar.

Pix and better write up to follow but now I have to DIE…ET!!! There’s a wedding at the Far Eastern that I have to go to this Saturday which can only mean… MORE FOOOOOOD!

Burger Bonanza

Posted in Food News, Non-Asian on June 4th, 2007 by mei| | 1 Comments.

bongo_veggie_burger.jpgpickles_burger.jpgmei_lentil_burger.jpgBurp. I’ve been eating waaaaay tooo many burgers as of late.

It’s quite surprising how many burger joints have sprouted just this past year. In the past one would have to resort to Mickey D’s or da King but now, Taipei-rens are spoiled for choice. I’ve mentioned a few burger joints in an earlier post but here are two more to take note of.

Bongos, the brother branch Coda, is a nice little eatery tucked away in the Gongguan area. What I liked about it at first sight was the option of outdoor seating. There simply aren’t many options when it comes to dining al fresco in Taipei, are there?

Moreover, I was quite nicely surprised that there is a used book selection!!! Being a prolific reader I am aghast at how expensive books can get at a certain bookstore that opens 24 hours and at the other store in the tallest building in the world… but back to food. Yours truly was truly happy that Bongo caters nicely to the vegetarian palate. I ordered the veggie burger (pictured top left) and was not disappointed. Given that a friend said that the meat burger is much better than the veggie one, it was still pretty darn good. Now, I am all curious about the beef one. Next time.

The veggie patty was nicely spiced and the texture was just right. It was dense, chewy and HUGE! I had to take many breathers to polish it off. The burger came with fries that were…alright, a salad (which I liked, nice fresh mixed salad leaves - you pick the dressing) and a soda which is, well, the same anywhere. Go on Mondays, like I did, and you get a 10% discount (or was it because I was wearing that mini skirt?). Can’t exactly recall how much tab was but I’d say 200nt ballpark.

Pickles is another burger joint that I tried out recently. It’s in the Shida area where I hang out a lot. Pickles serve your average burgers as well as some brunch food items like waffles. No veggie burgers here, tho’. Waaah.

I had their bacon cheese burger (top right). It is okay lah. Nothing wrong with it but I didn’t feel the love with that burger. Can’t quite pinpoint what it was. Perhaps the sub par quality of the side dishes (you can choose two of the following: regular fries, hash browns, criss cut fries, and cole slaw). The cole slaw was pretty much just shredded lettuce with mayo and the hash brown… I didn’t even order the hash brown! Nonetheless, I am not writing this place off. I would give them another chance if they can come up with a vegetarian option. The staff was extremely attentive. Prices range between 100 and 200nt.

The last pix is of Mei’s lentil veggie burger(bottom left). Looks alright but taste-wise it could be better. Cut me some slack, will ya? It was my first time making a veggie burger patty and I didn’t even use a recipe. Truth be told, I just wanted to use up the bag of lentils I have. Well, for anybody who is curious enough, it was a mixture of lentils, edamame, shitake mushrooms, carrots, shallots and garlic. I think it would taste better with more spices (cumin? definitely more shallots and garlic) and if I added some cooked pearl barley for extra chewiness. Anybody with good veggie burger recipes, message me!

Oh, some of you may remember my post about the other new burger joint, California Grill. I did manage to make a quick visit when it first opened up. I had the salmon burger and it was really really good. The only thing that could be getter was the bun. I thought it was a bit dry and stale tasting and despite being priced comparable to the other burger joints (100 tdo 200nt range) I thought the portion was a bit on the small side.

Bongos
No. 3, Alley 5, Lane 74
Wenzhou Street
(in the Gongguan are)
溫州街74巷5弄3號
02 2365 6059

Pickles　美式漢堡
No. 24, Lane 40, Taishun Street
(in the Shida area)
泰順街40巷24號
02 8369 5858
Closed on Tuesdays

Mei’s Veggie Burger Joint
Message me if you want to do “business.” Hah!