We've been having freshly-made bao zi (with our oatmeal) every morning, both sweet (e.g. bean paste or black sesame paste) and savory (e.g. usually pork and cabbage, or pork, cellophane noodles, and Chinese chives), and then I had a craving for dan bing, which is literally "egg disc". The one on the right is pretty run of the mill, basic; the one on the left is a vast improvement of turnip cake with green onion and egg.
I believe these shirts came from the bag of clothes that Er YeePoh gave us, they were so happy to all be wearing the same shirt. It's a shame there wasn't a fourth smaller one for M, it reinforces people's assumption that she's the little brother.
We spent most of the day in my AhPoh's old neighborhood, namely, Dong Mun ("East Gate/Door", referring to these
walls?) market, saying hi to all the people who know my mom, checking out the wares and fresh groceries available. Above, this guy was selling a variety of
dried shrimp.
We're very much an anomaly here, but until our walk through the market, chatting intimately with people who've known our family, I didn't realize we're a pleasant anomaly. Lots of curious stares, whether because of their number or their mixed blood, I don't know; lots of people giving me the thumbs up, sometimes commenting at how lucky I am, sometimes how busy I must be, how gutsy. One gentleman told my mom how envious he was because his only child refused to give him grandchildren, and here my mom had four!
We bought some interesting flax seed buns off a lady. Interesting in that they had a portion of glutinous sweet rice flour in them, making the bun extra chewy. This (above) is the dining area of the second floor apt ("Er Lo") that some of my aunt's own, it was originally purchased as extra living space for family members converging on my grandparent's tiny house – the single-story house is no longer standing – just around the corner, or as a resting place in between meetings/conferences/shopping in town. The apt has been completely remodeled since the last time I was here, so we stopped by to have a look-see.
We had lunch at
Taipei Milk King, which has also been remodeled, but I was happy to see that at least one of these wood slab tables was preserved, they've had them for as long as I can remember.
Our favorite thing to get at TMK is the papaya milk shakes, though Drew loves the breakfast too.
And look what Santa brought us!!!
