再見,台灣!

We've had quite an adventure here in Taiwan and it is certainly sad to leave. Had many interesting experiences, ate a lot of delicious food, saw some pretty cool things. Thanks Taiwan, we'll see you again sometime soon! Upon our return, we are finally going to get to work on our cookbook. I suppose I will post about that on here too, as writing in this blog has been fun and as long as you all are enjoying it, why not continue? We've been experimenting with different dishes the past six months or so and would really like to stick them all together in a book of traditional Asian tastes with a twist. Taiwan has certainly given us some good ideas, and we are going to try and simulate street food taste into healthier packages. Anyway, here's more on our last days of this adventure.

Oatmeal, still the best breakfast choice, still not sick of it after two and a half months. However, it is exciting to vary up the milk flavor, so the other day we tried adding some strawberry milk tea.

My one-on-one teacher gave me this little cake on the last day of class. Taiwan is famous for their "fenglisu" pineapple tart cakes, but this one from the Saint Paul Patisserie had cranberries in it too. What a cute package!

Bianca, Lisa, and I at the outdoor school cafeteria eating "bingqilin"

My Chinese class at National Taiwan University's ICLP. Lisa, me, our "laoshi", and Karen. Our fourth class mate, Ryan, was absent this day.

Tapioca pearls in the US are terribly hard, and impossible to make. So, we found a boba tea supplier in Taipei and hunted down some good, fresh materials for our tea. Our house will now become a boba factory. We picked up ceylon black tea, jasmine green tea, fresh tapioca pearls, and taro powder. They also gave us some free samples of popping boba, fruit jelly, and lychee coconut jelly. In addition, we were given a free boba to taste their materials. What nice customer service! 

our local boba shop

For our last dinner, we went to the world famous Din Tai Fung restaurant for some "xiaolongbao"soupy dumplings. Living up to their name, Din Tai Fung's dumplings were delicious as well as the two other dishes we ordered. 

Stewed bean curd and tree fungus

Dumpling dipping sauce- ginger slices, chili oil, vinegar, and soy sauce

Traditional pork xiaolongbao

Pan fried pork

Dogs are everywhere in Taiwan and so are sidewalks. So you better pick up after your pet.. or else!

Our neighborhood happy dog

Sorry for what's going on here, but I couldn't get a picture of him otherwise; he was on a mission and moving too fast. Check out the star shaved on his back!

Cool door in a quiet neighborhood 

Late night snack/ breakfast carb feast- the last one I'll have until I'm back here, where bready snacks are actually delicious