Hong Kong Notes

A few more notes on my trip to Hong Kong.

I took the bus in Taipei at Minquan and Songjiang Rd, just north of the temple and just south of the 7-11. There's lots of food carts nearby, so you can grab a quick snack at a cheap price (better than overpriced airport food - especially Terminal 1 where there aren't as many options). You buy your ticket at the shop ahead of time. It's a Free Go bus, though there are other busses that run there (City Flyer and maybe AirBus too). When the bus came, it was already full - because my flight was leaving pretty soon, I got to go on it anyways and sit next to the bus driver. For other airport bus options, check out this site: http://www.taipeibus.taipei.gov.tw/english/airportbus.htm

Here's my Hong Kong google map, with restaurant, party and transportation locations.

Hanna took us to two excellent restaurants:
Yi Jiang Nan
33-35 Staunton St, Central
Tel: 2136 0886
I loved the tofu with preserved egg dish here.

Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao
Shop B224, Times Square,
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: 2506 0080
Dim sum style dinner and lots of good noodles.

I also got some recommendations but didn't have time to check them out. Maybe next time:

Mak's Noodle
麥奀記忠記傳統雲吞麵家
G/F, 37 Wing Kut Street, Central, Hong Kong. (2 minutes walk from MTR Sheung Wan Station Exit E2)
香港中環永吉街 37號地下
Tel: 25416388
Opening Hours: 1030 – 2000 Daily
Style: Guangdong

Yung Kee Restaurant
Tel: (852) 2522 1624
Really good goose. Reservations not required.
Address: 32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong
Open til 11:30 pm

Leaving Hong Kong, I took the Airport Express for $100 HKD. My Octopus card only had $42 left on it, so Peggy had to add money for me (in increments of $50 only). It also includes a $50 deposit that can be dipped into. Check in at the counter 1.5 hour before your flight (I was only an hour ahead and they let me go through - and I just made it to my gate).

Coming back to Taiwan, I took the non express Air Bus for just $90 NT (dropped from $110). It was a nice price but much too slow (even accounting for traffic). Next time I'll stick to Evergreen or the Express version or one of the other buses. The 33 drops off at Yuanshan MRT before going all around town and then to Taipei Main Station.

Wed-Sun: Ultimate

The remainder of the week revolved around Ultimate. Wednesday night pickup at Shilin was much better attended this week than last. There was enough for a full scrimmage with subs this time - last week only part of one of the teams had showed up - I'm guessing b/c we had just played in a tournament and people wanted a break. It was good to play with the Taiwanese folks again.

Thursday I practiced tossing a bit at the regular track workout in preparation for Hong Kong.

Friday I flew to Hong Kong, leaving Chinese class halfway through. It was the last day with our substitute teacher Guo Lao Shi, who I really like. I met Mitch and Jocelyn at the HKG airport and we took a bus into town. I met Noah (Slim/Balls) at his hotel, where he's being put up for 2 weeks for work. Peggy was already there waiting for me. She is still as cute as ever. : )

We swung by Swindlers, a nearby bar where the registration party was being held (on Lockhart Rd). I met a lot of my new teammates and saw a lot of old teammates. We grabbed a bite to eat at a nearby Chinese restaurant called Hay Hay - I highly don't recommend their he fun (chow fun) - oily and bland.

Hong Kong Pan Asian Ultimate Tournament 2007:
Saturday won all 4 games - against KUNT (Korea), Junk (Hong Kong), Jeepney (Philippines) and the crossover game against Freakshow (Singapore). The crossover game was the most challenging of the day, but we still came out ahead with a big lead. Freakshow had previously won against Ringers of Fire at the Singapore Open - I was expecting a tougher game - but of course, different tournament, different team members.

Sunday's first game was against 8th seed Junk again - they put up a good fight, but we ended up on top again. We then played fourth seed KUNT again and rolled through them - I felt like Junk played a better game despite being lower seeded. The game next to us was Shanghai vs Soidawgz (Thailand) - Soidawgz were up 7-4 at the half, and then up only 9-8 when the hard cap went off. Shanghai scored, tying it at 9-9 forcing them to play one more point. Shanghai amazingly pulled away with the win, with Kevin (a friend of Peggy's), catching the winning score.

For the Finals, we kept a close game most the way through - I think it was tied at 9's at one point. It already felt like a completely different game than the previous six - where most of the time were up at half around 7-3 with most teams. Then it got worse when they started to pull ahead, the soft cap went off, we scored a bit, but then Kevin ended up catching the winning score again. Apparently Ringers has been battling Shanghai in finals for quite some time, so a lot of my team were disappointed in the loss.

We played O and D lines - I was on the D line and had the most fun in the cup. During the semi's game, one of the KUNT women bashed my hand on a D - I ended up with a swollen finger - having to wrap it up for the finals just to throw with minimal pain. By the next day it was black and blue and looking like it was swollen to capacity. Looking at it now, it's a bit like I have a hot dog for a finger. I don't think it's broken - just badly bruised/sprained. I'll give it a week to heal.

Saturday night I met up with one of my old college roommates, Hanna. She's been in HK for 3 years now. We had a delicious dinner at Yi Jiang Nan in the Central area. We walked through the neighborhood, and used the outdoor escalators to help conquer the hills (reminded me of Seattle and made me realize how flat Taipei is), in order to get to Krispy Kreme! So much for exercising.

Sunday we had yummy dim sum at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao in Times Square.



Ringers of Fire Hong Kong: Kwong, Rob, Daphne, Jeremy, Yoshio, Jim, Mitch, David, Craig, Nick, Lin, Aisa, Kerry, Liz, Rie, Adeline (Manoah missing)


View of Taiwan from the plane - the EVA 11:20 am flight was pleasant - partially empty and on time (unlike the delayed outbound flight)

Tuesday: Chinese Night

Tuesday I went to Stewart and Vita's place for a Chinese night. While Stewart was busy cooking dinner in the kitchen, I had a chat in Chinese with Vita. It was stunted as usual, but she has a forgiving ear and it was good practice. When Stewart joined us, he practiced a bit, too. He's using the same book as me and maybe twice as far along in the book - this means he has gone over a larger amount of vocabulary than me, but because he only has lessons once a week, his pronunciation isn't as consistent. It was quite a lot of fun.

We had hoped to end the night with watching a movie in Chinese with English subtitles, but procuring this type of movie in time proved more challenging than expected. So instead we watched the Fantastic Four sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, in English with Chinese subtitles. This was an amazingly bad movie. I highly DON'T recommend it.

Monday: Pizza Pizza

I love making pizza. As much as I love eating Chinese food, it was a pleasant treat to make homemade pizza with Geoff last week. We used his recipe for the dough (in his bread machine) and some of my suggestions for toppings. I don't have his bread machine pizza dough recipe, so I'll share the one I've been using for years instead.

The Dough

I researched different pizza dough recipes and combined them to make the perfect one for my taste. It makes a medium sized crust that's a bit crisp on the outside, soft in the middle, without being too chewy or too crunchy.

• 1-1.5 cups very warm water
• 1 T milk
• 1 T sugar
• 1 package of yeast
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 3-4 cups flour
• pepper, parmesan, oregano (optional, for taste)

1. Combine the water and milk and dissolve the sugar. Sprinkle yeast over the mixture and stir gently until it dissolves (about 1 min). Let stand until a thin layer of foam covers the surface (about 5 min).
2. Add the olive oil, salt and any optional ingredients. Gradually add flour, mixing with a wooden spoon, until a soft ball forms. Knead until smooth (about 10 min). Shape into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, moist place until doubled (1-1.5 hours).
3. Punch down the dough. Shape into a ball. Divide in half. Let rest for a couple minutes.
4. Shape each piece, handling minimally. Place on 2 lightly oiled cookie shoots. Let rest for 15 minutes.
5. Pre-bake in a 450 degree oven for 3 minutes. This step is optional but ensures the dough will be thoroughly cooked and rises it a bit before you layer on the ingredients.
6. Add toppings of choice. (see below for more information)
7. Bake at 450 degrees until cheese and crust are golden brown (about 15-25 minutes).

Topping Hints

If you're making pizza at home, take the chance to go wild. Add things you normally couldn't oder and see if they go well together. making pizza at home isn't just about having something to eat - it's about experimenting and having fun. The amount of ingredients you need depends on your taste. Always order extra sauce? Then pour it on. Love cheese? Add an extra handful or two.

• pizza sauce, tomato sauce, pesto
• Shredded mozzarella, parmesan, ricotta, feta
• Sliced mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, onions, spinach, broccoli, roasted garlic
• Sliced tomatoes, pineapple
• Pepperoni, sausage, cooked ground beef, ham, chicken, smoked salmon
  
• Pepper, oregano, basil, garlic powder

Ordering the ingredients

The items on top tend to dry out, items in the sauce and under the cheese will become moist. I advise having onions below (otherwise they'll burn) and putting moister items on top. I also like to deseed the tomatoes...otherwise you can easily burn the root of your mouth biting into a piping hot one.

Dessert Pizza Toppings

Also consider making a sweet pizza for dessert instead. Remember - anything goes!

• Apples, pears, bananas, raisins
• Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts
• Cinnamon, nutmeg
• Cream cheese

2 months done

I've now been in Taiwan for two months. My last day of work was 1 year and 3 weeks ago. Time has gone slow at times and sped by - these past 2 weeks have gone by particularly fast and I find myself behind schedule -- even with a part time student schedule. I'm hoping to catch up by tomorrow.

I've been playing a fair amount of ultimate. On Wednesday, I went to Jiantan to play pickup with some Taiwanese folks. A young woman I've met there before, Xiao Xiao, is really nice. Her friend ChiChi and ChiChi's dad, Lin, are also friendly - and FeiFei is a good amount of fun. The other folks are a bit quieter. Afterwards Tino and I checked out Shilin night market.


I met Tino earlier this year in Vietnam - a good friend of Tuyet's. He's also an ultimate player, American, and ex-pat. He just started working for a Taiwanese company and they've sent him over for a bit of training. It was nice to see him again and hear about what he's been up to - certainly an inspiration - finally someone who LOVES their job!

Thursday I enjoyed dinner at a Burmese restaurant with Geoff before track practice (I forgot to grab the card). Friday I explored the Gongguan night market with Dan. We were the last in line for some cong bing before the cops came to tell them to move on. They let them finish cooking and we ate some delicious greasy green onion fat pancakes. I also had some of those pudding/red bean filled cakes from a place that always has a long line and doesn't allow pictures. They were tasty and different from the ones you normally see around Taipei (fatter, with batter spillage). All the eating exploration made me late for Friday league - but luckily my team had a first round bye and I got to play two games despite showing up an hour late.

Saturday I went to John's to enjoy breakfast. He is as big a baker as I ever was and always has some fresh made treats for us. That morning he had fresh made waffles for us and bagels just out of the oven.

After filling up on fresh mango, bacon, coffee, papaya shakes and waffles, we headed out to Long Dong for some climbing.



I wouldn't have made it past this overhand without Geoff's help - in both advice for hand and foot placement - and the big shove that he had to give me to get over it after my forearms felt that burning sensation that made me want to stop altogether.

Once past that hurdle, the rest of the climb was much easier. I think it was better to have the most challenging part early on - otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to make it past. The views from up top were incredible. I didn't bring my camera up, but the views of the water were gorgeous - light blue with waves crashing in over the rocks.




John and Mitch are great climbers - they tackled some pretty tough overhangs and led for us.


Afterwards, we went to the water to cool off and relax - the wind and waves were stronger than normal, so the ocean didn't look enticing enough to jump in - but I enjoyed watching 30 foot water crashes as some of the guys went for a swim.

We returned to Taipei to enjoy a filling grilled dinner at Geoff's - lots of fresh vegetables (usually lacking in Chinese food), some meat and drinks. We went to the Comedy Club at night to see a hypnotist - the most entertaining was a fellow who gave in pretty easily who forgot the number 7 and kept counting 11 fingers and being very confused about it. The hypnotist told him that I had given him an extra special finger - and any time he touched it he would feel good. He continued to subtly stroke his finger the rest of the night. Too funny!

Today I went to practice in Banciao because the YongHe fields are still not usable from Typhoon Krosa 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle while running into the endzone - hopefully I will recover before I go to Hong Kong this next weekend to play in a tourney. All is not lost though if that's not the case - two of my best college mates will be there and I hear HK has plenty of good food (in fact, I'm taking suggestions on where to go - leave a comment/email if you have any advice).

Spending Spree Options

In case you're not on Facebook and haven't seen the 100 photos uploaded from the weekend to know what I've been up to...I played in a local tourney down in Banciao with the Renegade team. Saturday was really windy for our round robin. We beat all 3 teams, the toughest being the Old Eagles for the first game of the day. We bagelled the last team, and Craig attempted 3 pies before completion (by Mitch)...which was funny for us to watch, but heartbreaking for the other team (sorry Other team).

Sunday we returned to play some of our regular teammates - including Geoff, Tommy and Stewart, who combined with the Kaohsiung and other extra folks. The two women playing, Joann and Van, were super hot, but didn't take advantage of their speed over my slow defense...resulting in our win. We played another team (maybe Taichung B) before going into finals against the Hunters (Taichung A). I played the first half of the game, but then decided to sit out the rest of it, from pure annoyance with their captain, Michael. It was a co-ed tournament with no gender requirements - so even though he had two women on the team, one of them being a kickass player who has single handledly broken our zone before, he wouldn't let them play. Their men are just plain faster than me, and I couldn't keep up with any deep cutters. It was a shoddy display of Ultimate spirit and I hope the Frisbee gods find justice at Asia Oceanic Worlds this December.

Surprisingly, they had a few observers for the finals - one of them even shook my hand after watching me struggle to keep up with the men and try to understand why a perfectly able woman was forced to put on a sweatshirt on the sideline instead of play. He said he agreed that the women should be allowed to play, but there wasn't anything he could do about it since no one had set a gender rule for the tourney. There was also an awards ceremony at the end with medals. Kaohsiung-Taipei took 4th, with Joann accepting the medal and making a short speech in Chinese about how women should really be involved in the game. I was the lucky one to receive the Taipei 2nd place trophy...and guess who went up for the 1st prize!? The woman who wasn't allowed to play. Oh, the irony.

Saturday night we had a team dinner at Kunming Restaurant (the one I tried going to on Typhoon Day) and then heard a great band at some bar on XinYi Rd near DunHua. Sunday we went up to the hot springs in XinBeitou again. All of this left me with no time to study any Chinese...except for when Noah whipped out his book on the MRT and read a dialogue with me - he's in the intensive class and already on Chapter 23! He also said the teacher kicked out one of the students.

Monday I had an interesting discussion with a friend of my classmate's about Yi Guan Dao. God, soul, reincarnation, Truth, Destiny. I also checked out the dumpling place Dan's been raving about with Geoff - can't remember where it is though - one alley north of RenAi and east of LinSen maybe? Near the climbing gym. They're open late, but not for lunch.

Today I participated in a listening study. I was going to buy a new pair of shoes (my Tevas are pretty raggedy) or some new clothes (I hardly brought any and most of them are falling apart)...but this morning I read Emily's review of Taoranting...and am now tempted to get a group to go get some Peking Duck.

I also tried Little Shanghai 小上海 today - just a bowl of niu rou mian $110 NT - but I really wish I had room for the steamed baozi and the zong zi. I think I will return for lunch soon. The noodles were very good (a bit chewy) and the soup had a little spice to it, but not overly so. On the negative, the soup was a bit oily and the beef was just good, not great.

68 Minsheng E Rd, Sec 4 (East of DunHua)
(02) 2718-5783
lunch: 10am-2:30pm
dinner: 4pm-9pm

DaHsi, Dashi, DaXi

Wednesday was Double Ten Day (Shuang Shi), a national holiday, so no school. Tuesday night, I went to DaHsi with some teammates to do some beach-camping. This was the same beach I went to to go surfing with John, Becca and Dan. This time again, I went not long after a typhoon. The sand was littered with huge rocks and garbage. We just made the train from Taipei Main Station after some momentary confusion and bad instructions from the ticket seller. Luckily the ticket checker set us straight. We walked north from the station to get some supplies from the convenience store and town market, then headed back towards the beach. On the way, a cute black dog started tagging along. He was our pal the whole weekend, checking up on us every so often, looking for a good tummy rub or checking if there was any food. When we went to sleep, he would bark at any strangers that came near, including early morning fishers other dogs. It was nice of him to protect us, but it also would have been nice not to be woken up so often.

Anyways, Geoff was the man and brought the whole grill set up along with an enormous amount of food - steak, chicken, tofu, eggplants, mushrooms, onions, chopped carrots, and drinks. We had to wait til the next morning for dessert because we were so full. [Camping Snicker-Apple Dessert Recipe: ] He cored apples and then stuck a snickers bar in the whole, wrapped it in foil and then set it in the fire pit. 15 minutes later (or so), they were ready to be eaten - the apple softened, the chocolate melted into a nutty, caramely gooiness that had Mitch licking the foil for a good 5 minutes to make sure he had gotten all of it.

We played some cards - including the Ozzie version of Oh Hell which they call 500. Or maybe that was the other game that was the combo of Bridge and Euchre (I hope I remember the rules to teach Grr and KC). The next morning I taught them slapJack-ooQueen-clapKing and then Vietnamese Poker, which we played all the way home to Taipei. I also played a variation of Spit - except Geoff and Craig's rules were no pile ups! But otherwise the same. We also had a round of rock-paper-scissors, which I won. This isn't really significant, but it reminds of the 3 rounds I won at dinner at the steamed dumpling place last week. This was a trick I picked up from the Northwest Tofu eating gang (Emery, Edmund, Ann, Colin, etc) where when a dish comes each person gets one piece (or however it evenly splits by) - then for the remainder, you roshambo. You participate even if you don't want to eat it. So I played last week the first time for the winnings, and then the second and third times for the glory - I forced Dan to eat a dumpling he didn't even want. Oh the power! This is an all time high of a 4 win streak!

This is how I always pictured camping - gathering your own rocks to build a fire pit, finding dry wood to build the fire, and then laboriously fanning until you have hot flames spouting forth. The camping Christina and I did this summer was very much the opposite - using either the Coleman stove that KC lent us or eating baked tofu sandwiches (no cooking necessary). Trout grilling is similarly easy - you just show up at Angie's house and someone starts a blazing fire effortlessly for s'mores. Or you use a fancy shmancy grill.

p.s. Winning receipt lottery numbers were announced a couple weeks ago. Of the 4 receipts I have from August, no winners.

Super Typhoon Effects

Saturday was another Typhoon Day - which was too bad b/c it would have been a weekend of ultimate otherwise. I, as most the rest of Taipei, stayed in and slept a lot. I felt a bit stir crazy after and ventured out during the evening to hit up the local 7-11 (the only place open) for some snacks. I then had a very productive chat with my grandmother, exhausting me as usual. Some disc mates were at a local bar watching the Australian-England rugby match - the same bar that is co-owned by one of my classmates. So I headed on over and found a packed house. It was weird to see so many foreigners in one place - I suddenly felt like I wasn't in Taipei anymore. Another weird thing was other women I didn't know coming up to me and insisting that I dance -- in a friendly way. I stayed to watch the New Zealand-France game as well, which was exciting in the beginning and the end - resulting in another upset.

Afterwards, Geoff and I checked out NatureStar 24HR Hong Kong Style Restaurant just down Nanjing E Rd. It was nearly empty so early in the morning. The waiter did the typical eye contact with the Chinese girl (me) and spoke to me in Chinese. When I gestured to Geoff, who can actually understand and speak Chinese (but looks Ozzie), the waiter then switched to English to speak to him. Aye ya! The food was ok, but overall too pricey. (Though Stanley tried to convince me it was an ok price.) Afterwards walking around the neighborhood we saw this blown over tree. It sort of looks like the bike attacked it.

Sunday was Eric's birthday. Geoff gave him a happy birthday whip cream smash in the face. Reminds me of good times in high school - though Eric took it well. He mentioned chocolate sticking in his hair and I refrained from telling him about the oils in whip cream that are sooo hard to remove. [sorry - inside joke here meant for 1] Beforehand, I met Rich and Dan to try out another dim sum place - 京 鼎 樓 47 Chang Chun Rd - a variety of steamed dumplings available, including shrimp, crab, sticky rice, and red bean. On our way, we had to fight our way through crowds like I've not seen before - I think it was a result of Typhoon Day - everyone cooped up for so long, the next day everyone just got out on the street and enjoyed the outside.

Today I met up with John and Fudy again for a hot pot dinner (251 Da-An Rd, Sec 1). I like going to places of their recommendation because they are in the business and have excellent taste. They did a one month tour of the best restaurants in France just recently. Guillaume, Justine and Julian were also there - and I forgot to mention I had run into them at the Brass Monkey watching the rugby match. Such a small world.

Today we had a substitute teacher - and she was awesome! She spoke Chinese the whole time and had us doing a lot of different activities and thinking in different ways. She will be there tomorrow as well. I think our teacher took a couple days off to get away for a while - Wednesday is a national holiday.

JiaoZi Nut

From my recent postings, you might think I was some sort of niu rou mian nut. But I'm not. I enjoy the dish - it brings back memories of my parents getting noodle bowls (niu rou mian and pai gu mian) - but if there was only ONE dish I could have for the rest of my life, it would be jiaozi! When I was living in NYC, I had a favorite place in Manhattan Chinatown - Lin's Dumpling House. I probably had a slight disposition considering the matching name, but the fact that they had many varieties of dumplings was really the key part - 14 to choose from! I was disappointed that they had closed shop years later.

There was a place in Seattle serving dumplings that a couple people raved about - but I thought was utterly terrible (as is often the case in bad Chinese restaurants in America). The skin was homemade (a plus), but it was too thick and the filling was incredibly boring - mostly just pork. They only had one variety. I never returned. I made them myself at home when I had the energy. Here's my recipe:

JiaoZi - Dumpling
Dumpling making parties are fun and tasty. The mixture is made to taste based on ingredients you prefer and have available. Omit the meat to make vegetarian style. Anything goes with jiaozi - my friend Kevin once made a mango jiao zi because he couldn't eat the pork filling we made.

2 packages wrappers (Shanghai style, not Hong Kong)
1 lb lean ground pork
2-3 zucchini (cabbage can be substituted)
Chinese mushrooms, soaked and chopped
shrimp (uncooked, peeled, deveined, chopped, salted)
thin rice noodles (softened and chopped)
Salt
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
pepper, ginger
minced spinach
garlic
chives
water chestnuts
tofu, firm

1. Grate zucchini, add salt to sweat and drain excess liquid.
2. Add seasonings to pork and mix well.
3. Combine pork, zucchini, mushrooms and mian. Season.
4. Wrap mixture in wrapper with one or two pieces of shrimp.
5. Boil in water until floating and thoroughly cooked - approximately 4 minutes when fresh. Otherwise, freeze immediately. Frozen dumplings take approximately 7 minutes to cook.

Now in Taipei, I can have fresh made jiaozi every day if I want. I try to vary it up a little (with my second favorite, baozi, and then other rice/noodle/bread dishes) but there are some moments where I think about just going all jiaozi all the time. What's prevented me is probably finding a really awesome jiaozi place. I've had a couple recommendations to me so far that I still need to find and try. The closest place to me has workers that just aren't quite as friendly as I would like. There's also a jiaozi chain store that I see everywhere, and have tried a couple times when desperate for a snack.

My current list of places to try:

• Zhou Panzi Dumpling House (周胖子餃子館)
  37 Zhongxiao East Road, Sec 5 (忠孝東路五段37號)
  Taipei City Hall station, facing away from the Taipei 101
• Tung Men Jiaozi Guan 東門餃子 (Dong1 Men1 Jiao3 Zi)
  37, Lane 31, Sec 2, Jinshan S Rd
  02-2341-1685
  11:00-14:30 17:00-21:00
  YongKang St area with a fish pond in front.
  This place has many kinds of dumplings (unlike the other ones I've tried which only have 2 varieties). English menu
  
• Jin Din Rou 京鼎樓 Jing1 Ding3 Lou2 - Tina said this one had good dumplings - I wonder if she meant jiao zi or just xiao long bao.
  * 台北市長春路47号 = Changchun Rd
  * Tel: (02)2523-6639, MRT中山駅
  [Note: There's one in Japan too.]
  

If anyone has any other suggestions on jiaozi places to try, do tell.

Chapter 5 - Xiang Pian

Chapter 5 is about pictures and family members. 張老師 (Zhang1 Lao3 Shi1) asked if I had any pictures and I said yes. Of course she asked to see them and I whipped out the spare passport photos I keep in my wallet. She was disappointed it was only me in the photo, so I told her that I also have my iPod with digital pictures. So she made me take it out and show some to my classmates. The first one I brought up was of my dad's family. 這 是 我 爸爸. 這是 他 哥哥, 我 的 大伯. 那是我三伯. Zhe1 shi1 wo3 ba4 ba. Zhe1 shi1 ta1 ge1ge, wo3 de4 da4 bo2. Na4 shi4 wo3 san1 bo2. This is my dad. This is his older brother, my eldest uncle. That is my 3rd uncle. And so on.

The backlight was not on permanent, so I had to reset it and in doing so lost the picture I was originally showing. The next one I could bring up quickly was of my sister's family. 張老師 took the iPod and then began to quiz my classmates on who everyone was! Of course, you can tell who my sister is, but when she asked Guo 小姐 who the guy was, she said she didn't know, and Teacher reprimanded her! 他是她姐姐的先生. Ta1 shi4 ta1 jie3jie de xian1sheng1. He is her sister's husband. Everyone agreed that the kids are cute, especially the 男孩子 nan2hai2zi boy.

We had a few other odd moments in class - including asking Luo Xian Sheng if he has any girlfriends, knowing full well that he is married. Zhang Lao Shi said that many chinese men are married but also have girlfriends.

After class I went back to Ximen - boy, 3 times in less than a week! This time to attend the premier of 3:10 to Yuma in Taipei. I had met Arthur, the Special Assistant to the President of Long Shong Entertainment at Dan's party on Saturday. He offered me free tickets for me and some friends, so I happily accepted. The screening was preceded by a promotional event consisting of half a dozen horses with Arthur and company dressed up as cowboys. After some time, they moved from the MRT station to a square closer to the theatre, where they picked up some models (male and female), who then (somewhat awkwardly) mounted the horses for photos. People were getting their pictures taken with the horses left and right. I had no desire, as horses are not a novelty to me (though it was nice to see them without muzzles). But after so many people offering to take a picture, I finally accepted one guys offer to take a snap of me. We ended up chatting for a while, which was nice, because his English was worse than my Chinese, forcing us to converse in 中文 zhong1 wen2 Chinese.



ok, now it's getting late so I'm going to speed up the rest of this entry.

Movie, 3:10 to Yuma, with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale - I enjoyed it, surprisingly for a Western remake.

Afterwards, we went to 牛店, Beef Restaurant, 91 Kunming St. I split a large bowl of noodles with beef and soup, including 3 kinds of meat products. It came with a dipping sauce that was quite tasty. I forget the name of the style of soup, but it's different from the Heping St one...qing something. Quite good. The noodles come in a choice of wide or thick. The soup comes as original or pepper.

We wandered around a bit afterwards having different snacks. This is the result of Richard requesting a cold mango drink without tea. They ended up putting mango syrup with green tea and then topping it off with this thick white cream.

Dim Sum

Yesterday, I had a long chat with PoPo in the morning. While she was talking, my eyes got droopy, so I took a nap. When I got up, we went out for lunch together, as originally planned. We just went across the street to Brother Hotel, walked up to the second level, where there is a Cantonese style dim sum restaurant. She used to go there with my uncle. We tried to order only soft things since Popo's teeth aren't so great. We got 3 kinds of dumplings, some lo buo gao (radish/turnip pancakes), shrimp noodles, and xiao long bao.

I battled through the meal to get PoPo to eat - she enjoys talking so much, she can go on and on and forget there is food in front of her. It's clear to me now that she doesn't eat enough. By the time I had eaten 12 items, she had only eaten 3, and was claiming being full already (that along with the 10 cups of cha/tea). I think it's so much work for her to chew meat, she wasn't enjoying it as much as she wanted. I convinced her to eat most of the noodles and luo buo gao, since those were the softest.

On our way home, we stopped by the Ting Bu La place and she ordered a bing. The owner asked me if she wasn't supposed to have sweets - I couldn't say no, but I did warn her that she likes to eat it too much. The series of events made me late for class, but it was just test time in the beginning, so I was able to catch up.

Afterwards, I walked down Heping, past a botanical garden and then up Kunming - passing by 2 of the niu rou mian places I want to try. Unfortunately, Dan was late getting to the area, so I didn't have any. But he showed me a good fried muachi place. I got a hei zhi ma (black sesame) and hua sheng (peanut). The black sesame is the best. $25 NT a piece. It's on the same road as where I got the noodles last time off to the side in a small alley.

We watched another movie in the Animation Festival. The Best of Annecy. I don't think I enjoyed it as much as the Monsters series. It was a bit more serious, depressing, and realistic. There were a few good ones though - including Premier Voyage by Gregoire Sivan (a first time father takes his daughter on the TGV to go meet mom - delightful, claymation), Charlie and Lola: I Will Be Especially, Very Careful by Kitty Taylor (7 year old Lola is enamored with her friend Lotta's white coat, reminding me so much of Maddie and Izzy and the red clicky-clacks - the film really captures the world of little girls and their funny short term obsessions, and a short curtain raiser in the beginning of a man in a time travel machine (wanting to go in the future, the machine malfunctions and ends up in the past in 1927 - and his surroundings are comic). Meme Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis by Samuel Tourneux was another good story. Everyone seemed to be enjoying Bloot "Seks" by Mischa Kamp, but the Chinese subtitles were put right on top of the English subtitles - making it impossible for me to follow along.

I also finished reading Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis by Eric Berne M.D. It was an interesting read about patterns in human interaction. Berne uses three Ego States to discuss what's driving people - Adult, Child and Parent. Each one is a necessary and healthy part of us, though in some situations, one can go into overdrive and cause problems for self or others. Particularly interesting, considering my current state of life, is chapter 16's discussion of Autonomy. He discusses a case of a person late to work - I used to be category 3, but at some point during my travels have switched to category 4. I no longer rush about the way I used to and find myself much more relaxed. Of course, I still go back to the other categories sometimes, but for the most part, continue to find myself living life differently from the past 10 years...and it's a good thing.

Niu Rou Mian 牛肉麵

The 2007 Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival is going on right now and culminates in a big taste off in one month (Nov 3-4, 2007 Huashan Culture Park, 1, Sec 1, Pa Teh Rd). In preparation for the finale, I have been tasting different niu-rou mian's around the city. My first one was a bad one from a restaurant that doesn't specialize in it. The noodles were nothing special, the soup was plain, and the meat was not particularly tasty or tender. You can probably find this type of dish at many places around the city.

[Note: The official website doesn't have much info. You can read about the 2006 festivities here. ]

The next place I tried may well be the best place in Taipei, according to Dan. Shan1 Xi1 Dao1 Xiao1 Mian4 (山西刀削麵). It's just off of Heping E Rd (No. 2, Lane 118, Sec. 2, Heping E. Rd), near the Technology Building MRT stop. They specialize in a tomato version of the noodle soup, which is just $10 NT more than the regular version. We also enjoyed a plate of their cong you bing (scallion pancake) that the chef was busy frying outside. I really enjoyed my noodle bowl - the hand cut noodles are nice and thick and little QQ, the meat was tender and flavorful, the soup was not too salty and the tomatoes tasted divine (not soggy). Dan was actually disappointed saying the meat is usually better. You can read more about this place on a Taipei Food blog here.

On Sunday, I went to the good noodle shop in the YongKang area that I've been trying to find for a long time. 永康牛肉麵館 Yong Kong Beef Noodle Soup Restaurant (17, Lane 31, Jinshan S Rd, Sec 2). It's further from the main drag where Ice Monster is. When I arrived around 12:45 pm, there was a long line out the door. However, once I was seated and had ordered, they had cleared most of the line. So just after 1 pm is a good time to go to avoid standing in line. They have several versions of the dish and they are all pictured on the outside with Chinese and English. You can get a small or large bowl. They also have dumplings and steaming baskets of pig intestines that nearly everyone in the restaurant ordered. At the table, you have your own dish of veggies that you can dump in, as well as white vinegar. Their soup comes spicy, Sichuan-style. The beef was tasty, but the noodles were plain (I think I like hand shaven noodles better). I found the soup to be too salty, but I couldn't tell if it came that way or b/c I added so many of the salted veggies. Perhaps the vinegar would have made it better.

[Note: Ice Monster is no longer serving Jumbo Mango Ice - since mangoes are going out of season. I sadly don't have them for breakfast anymore either since the price has jumped at the local fruit market.]

Today I went back to the Shan Xi restaurant for dinner. The dish was again, very good, though slightly too salty this time around. They gave me a heaping bowl of noodles and beef, and I was too full to try anything else. The guy next to me had gotten a plate of dumplings that I will be tempted by next time.

I came home today to study the rest of the menu - I am going to increase my food character knowledge.

牛 niu2 - cow, ox
肉 rou4 - meat
麵 mian4 - noodles
蔥 cong1 - green onion
油 you2 - oil
餅 bing3 - biscuit
餃 jiao3 - dumpling (food on the left; 交 jiao1 = leg = phonetic, on the right)
湯 tang1 - hot water soup
糖 tang2 - sugar
燴 hui4 - braise, stew

The other places I plan on trying include:

• Beef Restaurant
  牛店
  91, Kunming St
  closed Mondays
  
• Laodong Beef Noodle Restaurant
  老董牛肉細粉麵店
  146 Kunming St
• Little Shanghai
  68 Ming Sheng E Rd, Sec 4
• Lao Zhang Beef Noodles
  111, JinHua St
• (Ai-Jia) Qingzhen Beef Noodle Place
  (艾家)清真黃牛肉麵館
  41, Lane 223, Sec 4, Zhongxiao E. Rd
• Any other place recommended to me! Leave a comment or write an email.
  

Better yet, if you want to join me, let me know! The more the merrier.