December update...

Hello people....I am finally updating. I can't believe it's been over 2 months?!

Bacon DanBing

蛋餅 (dan4bing3) or Egg Pancake (?) makes a regular appearance in my breakfast. I can get a plain one for $15NT or one with bacon for $25NT. There are other fillers, like tuna, but I like bacon because bacon. Danbing is when an egg is slightly fried with the yolk broken and a Chinese tortilla-type thing with green onions in it is placed over it. I often watch danbing cart man flip it over, add soy sauce, roll it up, and chop it up with his spatula. After class, I enjoy visiting this breakfast cart right outside my school. They sell dan bing, Taiwanese breakfast burgers, sandwiches, and drinks which I avoid because they are not the tastiest extra calories.

Chicken...Meal, $95NT

This is from one of my favorite spots. The place is supposed to be Thai-style I think. The chicken is delicious because it is not only tender, but also flavorful. The sweet and tangy sauce to the right is unnecessary, but still welcome. The vegetable dishes rotate.

Dumplings from 8 way (八方)

8 way is a chain dumpling/potsticker store which is fine by me because it is delicious, fast, clean, sheep cheap. Warning: if you eat dumplings, you will suffer dumpling breath. I love eating dumplings here because there are a million different ways to make sauces, and that is just so awesome!

Yogurt Art

Too expensive ($120+ for the amount I put together), not really worth it. Heard there is a Yogurtland somewhere in Taipei, so I should probably check that out. I don't really get froyo cravings though. So, it's no big deal.

a different kind of 飯糰

Whatever this is, where it comes from, I really enjoyed this. My school ordered it for our weekly lunch lectures. This one is Korean style, so it has kimchi in it. Unfortunately, the next time we had it, they did not order the Korean style one. I was like D:

Smoothie House

Smoothie House

Yes to Smoothie House. It is easy to get to with the new MRT line that goes to 東門(dong men). I went here at the recommendation of a teacher/friend. It was great fun and delicious.

Tomato Beef Noodle Soup with hand shaven noodles

I remember liking this, except the beef was a little chewier than I like. I like the beef to just fall apart when I eat it. Hope that's not strange...

A random stall somewhere in Shifen

Lantern shaped cakes filled with cheese or yam

Not particularly memorable, nor particularly cheap. I took these pictures because (I think) it says "在一起好嗎?" which I think is cute. Though maybe it says something different altogether.

Almond Tofu Shaved Ice

My friend took me to Yu's Almond Tofu house because she knows I like almond flavoring. Thanks, fwiend!! :3 This was kind of amazing because they take frozen almond tofu and shave it up. Then, we picked 2-3 things to go with it (red bean, grass jelly, something else?). And then, we shared with our friends as seen above! So...apparently, there is branch just over by Shi Da...which means I should be there everyday.

Peanut Butter Burger with a side of fried mushrooms

The burger meat might have sucked...I don't even remember. But I was so distracted by the sweet and salty peanut butter "sauce" that came on top and melted into the bun. There are little bacon bits on top. This is at Bravo Burger, and I would go back if I had a mad burger craving. Kind of pricey (~$280-300) as all Western food here tends to be, but still worth it because sometimes you just need non-Taiwanese food. Shocking :o ...I know.

Yong He Dou Jiang

Yong He Dou Jiang

Here, my friend poses with radish cake and salty soy bean soup (luo buo gao, xian dou jiang). When I think of a delicious breakfast, if I'm not eating a fan tuan, I'm having xian dou jiang.

Yong He Dou Jiang

I am a fatty, and I had some xiao long bao to go with my breakfast. I basically ATE EVERYTHING, save 2-3 buns which I gave to my friend.

Mr. Curry - 咖哩先生

My brothers are in love with this place. I don't come here often because I think it's kind of far, and you should really take some friends with you.... Mr. Curry only offers a handful of dishes (read: 7-12). He probably does it to do it well. The Mushroom Chicken and the (I don't know the name of this fish) fish are so good. Though the flavor is very simple- what, green onions, red chili peppers, soy sauce, maybe some rice wine- it goes a long way. If it weren't just the slightest more expensive then typical grub and if I weren't so lazy, I'd be here more often. Had a hard time finding it in the beginning...lol

Die Flugel Cafe

Die Flugel is a favorite of my brothers. They have chai tea latte here! The Starbucks's in Taiwan do not- or at least so it seems from the menu. I love the tiramisu here because it has a very nice bold flavor. It has quite a bit of creamy/whippy filling, but not like other places. Since I don't like tiramisu with too much cream, this is good. :) Die Flugel's menu is always evolving. It's a really great place to have cakes different from what you would find at 85 degrees or other bakeries that make those Asian sponge cake type cakes. Also, pumpkin cheese cake seen somewhere above was really delicious.

Less special section goes here

Hospital Food

Why this is here: Because the hospital cafeteria is like a mall food court. Pretty cool.

School Fan Tuan

School fan tuan is not nearly as delicious as the ones I usually go to buy near my classes. The oil stick/油條 is a little too underfried/chewy for my liking. I think a good fan tuan as a nicely fried you tiao/油條; that way, when I eat it, I don't end up destroying the rest of the fan tuan.

Chen San Ding

I think I've described Chen San Ding's Milk Boba (青蛙撞奶/ qing wa zhuan nai) a couple times. I wasn't sure if I had a picture of my delicious weekly treat, so here it is. Normal people will get more boba, but I ask for less. The boba is delicious, but when I'm drinking something, I actually prefer the liquid more. hahha.

Taiwan Starbucks - Green Tea Latte

This was the first time I ever had a green tea latte. It warmed my soul, it excited me, it left me wanting more. It is the greatest thing I have stumbled upon in Starbucks, simply because I wanted a tea latte and the barista told me that green (matcha) tea was the clear winner over black tea. It seriously tastes like green tea ice cream, except it is warm! It is amazing!

School lunch

Mom does it better. :)

This comes from a place that I think I'm a pretty big fan of. The food so far has not disappointed, and the sets come with vegetables.

Mouth-watering Chicken, 口水雞

Mouth-watering Chicken is mouth-watering...and kind of spicy! I'm not sure that I've ever had this before. I had this during dinner with family. Having done some research since, I know that it is a Sichuanese dish - it is quite delicious.

Not edible

The Life and Trials of Inanimate Objects Finding Friendship

Tibetan Indian Food

This above four pictures come from Namaste Curry. It's not a terribly place, though it is pricier for a typical meal. My chicken was delicious. The curry which comes in a gravy boat was okay, as I recall. You can ask for spicier curry if that is your thing. la la la!

Delicious Lunchbox

School orders this for people on the newspaper team. I love getting the lunchbox with fish. Unfortunately, this store is neither close to school, nor to where I live. Furthermore, I have no idea exactly where this lunchbox place is.

Non Spicy Tofu Soup

Grass Jelly on Ice

Tasty sweet soup with chia seeds

The plate I above comes from a lunchbox type of restaurant near my dorm. When I talk about lunchbox, I mean that you get rice, some side veggies, and the meat that you selected. Something like that. I like to come here because I can get a cheap, filling meal (the above is $70) that has some veggies. I love veggies! After your meal, you can get sweet or salty soup. I have only ever had the sweet chia soup. It's fun to eat because the chia seeds develop an interesting gelatinous shell.

Dessert

This dessert...I don't remember its name...consists of taro, coconut, and sago...as far as I can tell of course. I love sago pearls (西米露) with some sort of sweet dessert soup with a nice consistency (i.e. not thin) such as red bean or taro. Dear reader, if you have not had dessert soup like this, please search it out.

My favorite beef noodle soup, $110NT

My favorite beef noodle soup so far comes from an unassuming shop near my dorm. It's hardly a restaurant. It does, however, have a large sign that says beef noodle soup (in Chinese, of course) on the stall. I think I'm going to get it tomorrow. I love that the soup is flavorful without the over fatty/greasy-ness of the other nearby beef noodle soup restaurant. The 紅燒 (hong shao) flavor is very classically done at this restaurant. The beef has a great texture as well. It isn't tough or chewy. I can bit through it with relative ease. Anytime I don't have to struggle to eat something like a dog gnawing on a chew toy is a more pleasant experience.

Okay...that's it for now...though I believe since the above picture has been another month...Thanks for looking! You can find more pictures in my photo album, though you may need to grab the link from me? I'm not clear on that.