Found

Was cleaning out my email box, and found these pictures from one of BB and Z's Taiwan art classes (at the end of December).

They were supposed to be practicing making circles as pieces of candy in a candy jar.

Three Boxes

Forgot my camera at Judy PohPoh's house on Saturday, so wasn't able to blog as I had planned.

We received some packages over the weekend, one really beat up, the postman rang at the door to ask me how long it'd taken them to arrive. (I take it he doesn't see this kind of thing very often.) When I told him I had sent them, he did a double take, and then I explained that they were sent by surface mail, since these things wouldn't fit in my luggage. Then he asked if I had expected them to arrive today, and I said, it was hard to know when they would arrive, I was told they would arrive in 2-3 months. So let's see, they were sent at the end of January: they got here in pretty good time.

G and BB's dolls were packaged with Japanese snack crackers, so that was a bonus for them. (Thanks, San YeePoh!)

The other box contained a number of dried goods, including dragon eyes and scallops, some sour plum candies, black sesame chews, our Christmas stockings and a coat as filler.

Last Minute

On our last full day in Taiwan, I was, of course, frantically packing, slowly coming to the realization that not everything was going to fit in the luggage and also remain under the weight limit (50lbs/22kgs). What to take and what to leave behind?! Shiao YeePoh offered to mail some boxes for us, which would mean doing without for 2-3 months.

One of the things I decided to have sent after us was the card making kit that G got for Christmas. For one thing, G wanted to keep the carrying box, which does not lend itself well to economic packing, and secondly, that heat gun was heavy! Anyway Shiao YP convinced us to have a card making class so *I* would know how to use all those powders and brushes once we got it home. The first project was a basic stencil-embossed card, the girls were told to use a dabbing method when brushing on the color.

Next, the instructor had the girls make these double-layer danglies, which demo-ed an adhesive ink; sprinkled on a gold and sparkle mixed powder and melted it to the card. The instructor added the rivet with a pen-sized punch thing, kind of neat.

Only saw the first part of this final project, I decided to go home and finish packing. (After card making, Shiao YP took G and BB to afternoon tea.) As near as I can make out, the girls did a watercolor and then taped it to various other bits. The main white card is embossed in a flower-snowflake pattern, guessing they must have run it through a machine because of its uniformity.

M and her favorite blankie, which I requested to have shipped. It's super soft (and nearly threadbare in some spots) from years and years of usage. I even remember seeing it at my AhPoh's house when I was a kid, there's actually two identical ones, the other is located at ErLo.

That Final Sunday

After mass, we walked over to AhTai's old neighborhood, had a nap at the Er Lo.

Then mee fun tang (thin rice noodles in soup) for lunch in Dong Mun Market. This isn't your typical restaurant housed in its own building; this is street food. Not as rustic as some of those traveling carts, where you're belly up to a fold out table on a little stool, exposed to the elements, but close enough, with all the market shoppers pushing past you, if you're seated out in the lane. Anyway there are places famous for their mee fun tang, this place had a measure of fame as evidenced by the articles and pictures on their walls. Once the hot bowls cooled off, I think the girls really enjoyed their mee fun tang, which comes unadorned – we ordered several side dishes, including cabbage, tofu, and a dish of pork cheek and stomach or intestines, can't remember which. Delish.

As we were making the rounds through the market, being introduced to AhPoh's acquaintances, we stumbled upon a dessert parlor, which we decided to try. They had a selection of hot and cold tofu puddings (and their various traditional toppings like green or red mung bean, chunks of coconut jello, lotus seeds, pearl barley), which wasn't as good as the street vendors in my opinion, but they did have this coconut milk dessert that was highly redeeming. Basically, some coconut milk concoction (like this) with your choice of toppings, we ordered a second helping.

Took a taxi home, where we found Wong PP cleaning up and a plate of these little "peach" buns (red bean paste filling). You might remember them as being a sign of longevity as served to elderly (or anyone else) on their birthdays. Come to find out, they're also a traditional offering to some deity, the Sky King, on his feast day, which this year was celebrated on the 29 January. 

The Trusty Journal

Had to look to my journal to see what we did the rest of the new year's week. Looks like organizing and putting away and packing on my part; lots of TV watching by the girls (to fortify them against the lack of at home); the usual business of eating and sleeping.

One day we went to MOS Burger for lunch. The milk comes in glass bottles, and there's a hand washing stand in the middle of the dining area, which I like for not having to take the girls through the bathroom. Oh, and I remember, in the middle of lunch, the sun suddenly came out (after days and days of overcast dreariness and rain), and you could hear the entire restaurant sighing in happiness and delight. We finished lunch and took a few spins around the school track to soak some of those rays up.

Had a cake that JioPoh gave us, she said it would be at optimum flavor three days after baking, which happened to be Friday, the fifth day of the new year. It looked a lot like my birthday Amo cake, but was much sweeter, no subtle hint of anything.

Lots of time spent drawing, when the girls were resting their eyes from the TV.

On the sixth day of the new year, we were back at Shiao YP's house for lunch with Su TaiPoh, who is the wife of my grandfather's cousin (deceased). I can't even remember the last time I saw her, my mom had to tell her who I was because she didn't recognize me. Su TP was escorted by her three grown children and two son-in-laws (don't think I've ever met any of them before), they all had a good gab, catching up.

In the course of the afternoon, those noisy spinning tops came back to haunt us. The girls were upstairs watching TV and during the commercials, the tops would spin furiously, and then go silent when the show was back on.

Said a final farewell to Shiao YieYie, and then Shiao YP drove us around town for a bit. We had planned to see a puppet museum, but the girls all ended up falling asleep so that we just went home (to do more packing).

Back at It

Now that we've been home more than a month, I wanted to quickly summarize our last few days in Taiwan (for posterity sake). You might remember we left off at our second big dinner of the new year, with all that incredible food. Well that was followed (on the third day of the new year) by another fabulous dinner at Shiao YeePoh's house.

In the morning of that third day, we went in search of breakfast in the freezing cold. We had intended to eat at MOS Burger, but they were unexpectedly closed despite their 24H sign. (In all likelihood, because of the week-long new year's holiday, lots of employees just decided not to show up.) We walked ever further and further, and ended up at the sub-par traditional Chinese breakfast place.

The beautiful spread at Shiao YP's, from either end of the table, lots of it home cooked from what I could tell. There were noodles and the familiar Chinese sausage; a bean sprout stir fry; a ham hock and mantou pairing, which the kids loved once they had a tasting; the ever-present chicken broth with daikon radish, a great finisher.

The kids' table, with Amber presiding. Absent from the festivities were my cousins Wendy and Michael (Shiao Bao), whose universities in the United States had already started the new semester, and of course Drew. Michael's twin, Barry (Dah Bao), sat to my left. I think because he's a working man now, or was at the time looking for a job after recently finishing grad school, he no longer belongs to the kiddie table. Or maybe there just weren't enough seats. Or maybe he was embarrassed to be sitting with all those girls. :)

One of my two favorite dishes at the table: a pork stuffed tofu. Haven't had this in years, going to have to experiment with making it now that I'm home. The other favorite, which I happily polished off, was a newbie to me. It's a three-layer deal, the bottom being slices of sweet potato, followed by fatty chunks of pork, and topped with ground glutinous rice. Don't know the seasonings, but all steamed together till the pork's tender and the fat has cooked into the sweet potato, kind of salty sweet. AMAZING.

After the girls finished their dinners, they had a flavored konjac drink, and ran off to play.

Z and M's delight was the dog – and the after dinner snacks, which included winter pears, Taiwanese oranges, nuts, watermelon seeds, and

this super thin meat jerky that's crispy.

The girls playing an iPad dress up game.

There was also a huge poking prize box that we all took turns at. This one had way better prizes than the one I first bought for the girls. Don't know if I've covered this topic before, but I saw one of these poking prize boxes at a store on one of our first Taipei outings. Couldn't figure what it was, until Shiao YP pointed it out to me that time I went with her to Tamsui and we brought one home. So what it is is this styrofoam box with a bunch of little square compartments in it. You can buy various levels of boxes, which determines the level of niceness of the little prizes in the compartments, the whole thing covered over by a piece of a paper, usually displaying a variety of Japanese anime characters. Simply poke a whole through the paper and retrieve your prize. Totally fun for kids. And had I figured out a way to bring one of those boxes home, I could have re-covered the box and had another go of prize-poking (provided I could find prizes small enough to fit inside the compartments).

BB's new diamond ring (keychain). One of the more unique wedding favors I've ever seen come out of a Taiwan wedding. In her other hand, a noisy spinning top, which I conveniently forgot at Shiao YP's house.

Z and G each got a diamond ring keychain too.

Cute little dolls that Shiao YP made, they fit in the palm of your hand.

Right before heading home, the girls had a go at some sparklers. BB was again disappointed at there being so few.

This would be the last time we'd see San YieYie and Yio-Rong before going back to the United States.

Let Me Count the Ways: New Year + 2

As I've recently learned, the second day of the new year is traditionally reserved for having a meal with one's "niang", or wife's mother. (Hence, another round of traffic-beating.) This was originally going to be a down day for us, but then our collective mouths were called in to help eat at San YieYie's family dinner. The minimum sized table at this particular fancy Chinese-style (i.e. everyone squished together, talking and eating loudly) restaurant in the south gate district was for 10 people, and they had only 8 adults: San YY, San YeePoh, and my cousin Amber; San YY's older sister, her three children, and a son-in-law. In year's passed, San YP told me, the eating would progress rather slowly and then they would end up taking home a lot of leftovers; this year they were so pleased with the leftover status that we were invited back to help them eat next year's "niang meal".

There were so many dishes! A (fake) shark fin soup, which was rather tasty; a mung bean sprout stir-fry; bell peppers paired with real crab meat; sweet and sour chicken; a huge tray of pig knuckle, which I helped myself to a big fatty piece.

Then there was this bowl of huge shrimp the size of M's hand! I didn't partake because I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to them, but I know the girls enjoyed them.

The awesome seafood hot pot (above) that took forever to boil; a pretty tasty fish.

The waitress unveiling a savory zongzi-like thing with seasoned eel on top. Excellent. The last part of the meal consisted of a somewhat bitter greenery (name?) paired with scallops, the idea is that if you have your bitter (albeit in food form) at the start of the new year, the rest of the year will be sweet; a fruit plate; and a soup dessert called jiu niang. (Note: not the same word as "wife's mother".) My AhPoh was famous for her jiu niang as being some of the most alcoholic you'll ever taste, she would add rather large quantities of alcohol right before serving. This restaurant version was TAME in comparison.

As a kid, eating at these kind of restaurants, my favorite part of the meal was the guava juice, there was never enough, and someone would inevitably hide the carton in order to make room at the table. It was the same with the girls, always wanting more juice or some of the sour plum "tea".

The restaurant gave the girls little chocolates, Amber used the wrappers to make little dancing ladies.

And the girls received another hong bao.

Afterward we went driving around Taipei, which is eerily quiet during new year's. There are noticeably fewer cars, fewer people everywhere. The city is almost quiet. 

BB's drawing of me. Notice the tapes on my face where my moles used to be.

We stopped at a couple of chain coffee shops and finally found one that had a birthday cake available.

Amber turned 19 on the second day of the new year. I got her one of those trendy black leather strap charm bracelets.

San YP made paper fans for the girls, they were so excited about them.