Real Bread

"Real" bread is hard to come by in Taipei. Sure, there is the overly sweet, oily bakery breads on every corner. And there is the delicious steamed bread in the form of mantous and baozi. But when you are craving a nice crusty French baguette, they are nowhere to be found. You might think you see them, as there are similarly shaped productions in some bakeries. But when you bite into it, you realize it's been buttered, sweetened or in some other way tampered with to be nothing close to what you were expecting.

So tonight I made my own...

Bread Machine Baguettes
The original recipe called for splitting the dough into 2 pieces. However, the mini oven I'm using doesn't have that much room, so I split it into thirds, making 2 baguettes tonight and saving one piece in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch. This bread is best eaten fresh, as there aren't any preservatives and you want a crisp crust and a chewy inside.

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 t)
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups warm water

1. Place ingredients in bread machine according to manufacturers directions. Start dough cycle.
2. Remove dough with floured hands and cut in thirds on floured surface.
3. Take each piece of dough and roll to make a loaf about 12 inches long in the shape of a baguette. Taper ends.
   
4. Place on greased baking sheet and cover with a towel.
5. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 450°F/230°C. Place pan of water on bottom rack (This ensures a nice crust).
   
7. Make diagonal slashes about 2 inches apart down each baguette.
   
8. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
9. Cool. Eat immediately - plain or filled!

Holiday Season

Unlike last year when I nearly forgot about the holidays, this year it was much clearer that xmas was approaching. Around town I saw a few lights, decorated trees and store workers wearing Santa hats. As ever, the holidays do not hold a religious meaning for me but is an excuse to spend time with friends and eat lots of food. So today's entry is dedicated to more recipes!

Lasagna
Finding lasagna ingredients in Taipei is nearly impossible. You can buy the lasagna sheets in the basement supermarket of Shin Kong by the Taipei City Hall MRT. You can find zucchini there also (and much more expensive ones in Jason's, in the 101 basement). You can get Ricotta at City Super in the SOGO on ZhongXiao Fuxing. Mozzarella is more easily available in regular stores, as are eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. I could not find spinach anywhere, either fresh or frozen. So I substituted some Chinese greens that looked a similar leafy green for my usual recipe. Everything here is to taste - if you like a lot of cheese, load it on. If you hate mushrooms, leave them out.

• 9 lasagna sheets (boiled or use the no-precook kind)
• meat sauce (choice of meat: turkey, beef, pork, chicken; seasoned with garlic, onions, italian seasoning, crushed red peppers or tabasco)

• ricotta
• 1 egg
• leafy greens, chopped (I prefer spinach, but anything will do)
• mushrooms, sliced
• zucchini, sliced
• parmesan
• mozzarella

1. Prepare meat sauce.
   
2. Mix ricotta, egg, parmesan and leafy greens.
   
3. Layer meat on bottom of 9x13 baking dish.
4. Layer 3 noodles. Top with ricotta mixture. Add sliced vegetables. Sprinkle mozzarella.
   
5. Repeat layers: meat, noodles, cheese, veggies, more cheese.
6. Top with last 3 noodles and top with remaining ingredients.
   
7. Top with lots of mozzarella and a sprinkling of parmesan.
8. Bake according to package instructions. Usually once the mozzarella is melted and slightly browned it is ready. If there is a lot of liquid, it should be visibly bubbling. If preparing ahead of time, you can refrigerate after the previous step. Baking time will increase.
   

Oreo Cheesecake
I usually make a pumpkin cheesecake, but it's impossible to find graham crackers in Taipei. So I used oreo cookies to make a crust and decided to try my hand at an oreo cheesecake instead. One large box of oreos from Wellcome suffices for this recipe (it has 2 rows of cookies), though for a thicker crust you could go for another small package.

14-20 oreo cookies (without the creme filling)
1 T butter
4 packages of cream cheese (nearly 1 kg), softened
1 cup sugar
1 t vanilla
4 eggs
12-15 oreos, broken into quarter pieces

1. Crush oreos (in a plastic bag with your hand or a jar) and then pulverize (in a blender or food processor). Add butter and beat thoroughly.
2. Press into bottom of springform pan and bake for 10 minutes at 165C.
3. Cool in freezer.
4. Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed.
5. Add vanilla. Beat eggs in one at a time at low speed.
6. Stir in broken oreos.
7. Spread evenly in pan.
8. Bake 1 hour at 165C.
9. Cool in refrigerator over night (at least 4 hours). Garnish with additional oreos.
   

Optional: For a layered version, after beating in eggs, mix a portion of the mixture with pulverized oreos. Put this dark layer at the base, and then top with the light layer.

Healthy Pumpkin Bread
Since I still had that can of pumpkin to use, I decided to make a loaf of bread. I started making pumpkin bread in college. My original recipe had a lot of sugar and oil. After a few years I decided to cut back and found this recipe. It also uses whole wheat flour for some extra nutrition. If you don't have any, you can just use all white. It turns out moist and flavorful. But most recipes do, as pumpkin is just an excuse to combine cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.

1 cup white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 t soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup brown sugar, lightly scooped
1/2 cup milk + 1/2 t lemon juice
1 egg
2 T butter, softened
1/2 cup raisins

Mix dry ingredients (up to ginger) in a large bowl. Mix remaining (wet) ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix wet into dry, stirring just until flour is moistened. Pour into 8x4 greased bread pan. Bake at 350 F/175 C for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until done.

Pumpkin Raisin Cake
I had some leftover pumpkin from the bread so used this muffin recipe to make a cake. It was my first time using this particular recipe. It came out ok - next time I would add more spices, and maybe a little more pumpkin.

1 c sugar
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 egg
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 c milk
1/2 c pumpkin
2/3 c raisins
1/3 c walnuts
1 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder

Mix all ingredients together. Bake in greased muffin tins at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes or 8x8 glass dish for 35 minutes. Easy, moist, freezes well. Makes one dozen muffins or one cake.

Fresh Mozzarella Dish
I love fresh mozzarella. My sister got me hooked on it when I visited her 6 years ago in Paris. Along with tomatoes and basil and seasoning, you just can't go wrong no matter how you eat it - plain or on a cracker.

Fresh Mozzarella
Tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Fresh ground black pepper
Salt
Olive oil

Dogsitting

As I've mentioned, I spent last week dog sitting. I met this dog when I first got to Taiwan and then he ran away (well, the longer story puts the owner as being slightly negligent due to...well, let's say the influence of some friends...but let's just say the dog ran away). I didn't think he'd come back but nearly 2 months later and an animal shelter called my friend to let him know he'd been found - traceable thanks to the chip inside of him.

So Bargearse came back. He's named after a character by the same name in a TV show that was dubbed by a comedy group. My friend Becca calls him Badgers and I've taken to calling him Bodgy. His owner has an Australian accent and it sounds like "Bar Jazz" when he says it.

He's sometimes a trouble maker, like when in sight of other dogs or plastic bags moving in the wind. But overall, he's pretty well behaved, and his floppy ears and endearing way of being cute when expecting food or a walk make up for any wrong doing. He also spends time chasing his tail. It's one of the cutest things ever. He can do it for quite some time. Today he was going in such fast circles, I thought he was going to take flight! I haven't caught it on video though as his ears perk up when I or the camera make a sound.

Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies

Oh ya, last night I also baked cookies. Where I'm dogsitting has an oven so I'm taking advantage (they're very rare in Taiwan - it's only a very small sized one). It's the second time I've made them here and this time I took a picture of the results.




Chocolate Chip Cookies
I have been making this version of cookies since high school. It provides a thick and soft cookie, just the way I like them. I usually put crushed walnuts in but this time used plumped craisins. I also use a recipe with reduced sugar and butter. The *ed items have been reduced from the original.

• 1/2-3/4 cup packed brown sugar*
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar*
• 1 cup butter, softened (not melted)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• a dash of cinnamon (optional)
• 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup craisins

1. Beat sugars and butter in large bowl on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 min. Beat in vanilla and eggs; beat in flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon on low speed. Stir in chocolate and nuts/craisins.
2. Drop dough by large spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Flatten slightly if you want a final smooth look.
3. Bake at 375F/190C until edges are light brown, 11-14 minutes. Cool on grocery bags or paper towels (to soak up excess grease).
4. Makes 20-40 cookies, depending on size.

Ketchup

Yesterday I took part in a sort of study. I saw an ad on the bulletin board at school. It was advertised as some local students wanting to talk to a small group of ShiDa students. I thought it would be interesting so I signed up. The organizer emailed with some questions about why I want to learn Chinese and what the hardest thing about it was. That seemed fair enough and I was expecting a small room to talk with some other people.

However, when the 7 of us entered the room, we were surprised to see a big presentation screen in front with 2 long tables for us to sit at - with name cards and small plates of food for each of us. In the back of the room was a video camera, the front a podium with a man with a portable microphone, and the class was filled with students. I was taken aback, as was everyone else. Had I known there would be public speaking involved, I probably would have backed out. And had I know that I would have to speak Chinese on camera - whew -- well I would have waited until I had more than 3 months of Chinese on my back. Everyone else there had studied for much longer and didn't seem to have as much trouble understanding the emcee as I did. Oy.

I did as I usually do in a time of stress in public - blumbered my way through it. It's akin to blacking out while seemingly fully functional. I can't even control what comes out of my mouth, smile too much and become repetitive. I also focus all eye contact on one person. What a disaster! I really should learn to handle myself better - but it's still not something I jump to do. The last time I had to present something was to complete my major in college. When speaking my native language I have the added habit of speeding up everything I say - so if I prepare a 30 minute presentation, I somehow finish it in 15 minutes from sheer nervousness.

Luckily, afterwards, we paired up with another waiguoren and went to talk to smaller groups more intimately. This part was the fun part. I had an easier time understanding the Chinese and could speak to their questions. Some of them were about what methods my teachers use are best, what Chinese holidays I know about, what I think a good use of video is for language learning.

I am supposed to go back two more times - hopefully we'll skip right to the small groups and not have to do microphone speaking. Or maybe by then my Chinese will have improved enough so I don't have to feel so embarrassed about being in the dark. I know I shouldn't be embarrassed about my language skill - I am after all just a beginner. I guess I feel bad that they ended up with me instead of someone else. I think my old classmates Li Juan and Ke Rei would have done a lot better since they can listen and speak better than I can. Oh well, at least they are getting a spectrum.

I did the study right before class - it was my first full day with the new teacher. She's growing on me - I think she still hasn't realized it's HER class and she needs to take control, but hopefully by next week she'll have it down, instead of wanting to rely on the previous teacher's materials. We also agreed that we would take Feb 4 off so that we could have 10 straight days off for the Chinese New Year break. To make up for it we'll be adding a half hour to each class for a week. Unfortunately, one of those days is one I already plan on missing to go to Bangkok. I also found out one of my classmates travels internationally for tournaments, too. He plays pool! I was impressed and glad to hear it - as last semester I felt a little out of place always talking about my international tournament travel. I think at least the other guy can understand.

Today I have a break from dogsitting. Bodgy is a great dog most of the time and other times drives me up the wall. For example, I took him on a big walk last night around Daan park for over an hour. He got off leash twice, was running around in the street, and eating disgusting food off the ground. I don't think he's getting enough exercise but I just don't have the time to give him a proper run during the week. Hopefully going to disc tomorrow will use up all his energy. This new teacher doesn't assign as much homework, so I think I will stick with intensive. I was worried before about being able to manage my time and not burn out. Hopefully I can stay with it - and hopefully it's not a problem that I haven't paid for it yet!

Sleepful

Because of my late night study habits and a dog that loves to bark in the morning, I am still as tired as ever. I even fell asleep while taking the Chapter 12 test today.

I've had a couple unexpected turn of events today. The teacher I've been raving about to everyone...the one who said she was going on a 3 week vacation at the end of this week, announced today that she won't be our teacher anymore starting tomorrow for the rest of the quarter! This is such an amazing let down to everyone in the class. We all feel uneasy about it. It's nearly the end of change period and we have no guarantees about the quality of our new teacher. I can only hope for someone half as good as Deng Lao Shi. Unfortunately, I've already heard more negative things about the new teacher than good.

And I won't even be able to tell tomorrow, as I am going to miss class for a family event. I talked to my grandma today and she seems in high spirits, so at least all is not lost. And I should finally be able to have a chance to chat with my cousin. Oh and sleep in a dog-barking free environment (I've found someone else to take over dogsitting for tonight and tomorrow morning).

Sleepless

Sleep deprived is more like it. I've been over the top busy this past week and as a result catch cat naps right before class every day.

I like the beginning of a new quarter because during class change period you get to meet a lot of other students. My class has whittled down to 6 students. The friendly Japanese woman moved to the morning class. One of the Japanese men disappeared as well. At one point an Australian and another Japanese woman tested out the class, but they didn't come back. We got another young woman from Hong Kong, so that leaves the men from Japan, Turkey, Guatemala, America and the women from Hong Kong and America (me). Today another guy from France tried to get in, but the teacher didn't let him.

I really like my teacher, Deng Lao Shi - unfortunately, she is taking a 3 week vacation in Germany starting Friday. Last quarter's teacher took a 3 week vacation to Turkey, Greece and Egypt. Our substitute that time was great. It was nice to have an alternate approach to learning the material and it helped when the first teacher came back. However, I really like Deng Lao Shi and have trouble imagining anyone else being as organized as she is. Oh well - at least she is coming back.

This past Saturday I took the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Kaohsiung. About $1200 NT one way taking 1.5 hours. I went to watch the Asian Oceanic Ultimate Championships (AOUC) during the day. Six countries were there: Japan, Australia, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. My Ringers of Fire teammate, Kwong, was representing Oz. Quite a few of my teammates from Singapore Open were on the Hong Kong team (Tim, Nic, Bay, Wilkie, Erica, Elaine, Rob, etc). And of course Taiwan had some of the local players from Taipei (Fei fei, Xiao Xiao, Chi Chi, etc). The Taiwan team had a wai guo ren (外國人) coach - he only spoke English and called Xiao Xiao "Smile". It was funny to hear. I don't know if he calls Chi Chi "Seven" or just Chi-Chi. The weather was gorgeous -- further south is really much warmer than Taipei. The games were fun to watch (Hong Kong had a brilliant run at the end of their game against the Philippines) and I had a nice time seeing some of the Kaohsiung Black Lung players again (Shane and John mostly, with a short chat with Holly and Julie). Our teams struggle with some of the same problems. It's hard to get such a mixture of people to be committed to Ultimate and develop successfully.

The highlight of the trip was seeing my uncle and aunt again. They picked me up at the fields and we stopped to watch some of the Frisbee Dog action. Then we enjoyed a nice dinner together where I spoke most of the time in Chinese - a first for us. My aunt was highly encouraging in boosting my confidence - saying my Chinese was coming along really well - but I do believe she has a forgiving ear. Afterwards we stopped at a famous bao-zi place to pick some food up for PoPo. This place was amazing. Granted, everything is more spaced out in KH than in TP, but this place was like a bao-zi warehouse. A huge open store with racks and racks of baozi in the making. It was as close to bao-zi heaven as I could imagine.

I got back to celebrate Mitch's birthday. Jocelyn chose a restaurant just around the corner from where I live. I was late so didn't have any food but everyone raved about it, so I am planning on going there again to try it for the food. It's called Jolly's:

29 Qing Cheng St (台北市松山區慶城街29號B室)
It's just behind the Nanjing E Rd MRT (behind Brother Hotel - just walk straight out of the MRT station, down the road on the left). It's next to Mo Mo Paradise, which is a Japanese Sukiyaki place that I've also heard good things about. Jolly's serves Thai food and has a big bar with a good deal on half-yards. Jocelyn says you have to have a reservation if you want to eat dinner there.

Speaking of food, I've tried another Niu Rou Mian place. It's near the Taipei Main Station MRT. It's won in several categories in the Festival the past couple years.

牛三寶麵
Niu2 San1 Bao3 Mian4
台北市開封街一段29號
29 KaiFeng St, Sec 1, Taipei City
11:00 - 22:00
2388-6840

I tried their current special, which has a tasty soup and different kinds of meat. I also tried their regular. Today I had the dry mian, which was really good - it reminded me of a dish I used to make at home when I wanted something tasty but was feeling lazy. I combined ramen with a can of Chinese stuff and ground beef. The blue can had tofu, peanuts, bamboo, and other yummy bits in it - I forget what it's called now. I also tried some of their jiu cai shui jiao (chive dumplings). They were ok. Maybe would have been better if I hadn't let them go cold on me. Dan says the bao zi aren't bad, but they had already run out by the time we got there. They also have a meal set - you get a xiao cai (small side dish of your choosing), their standard niu rou mian, and a drink - either tea or this other stuff I forget the name of (this is what sleep deprivation does to me - kills my memory - as if it wasn't bad enough as is - but I'm sure Dan will remind me what it's called). Anyways, they press the juice themselves, so it seems quite special.

We had actually tried going to a different place on Zhongxiao W Rd tonight, but they had closed by the time we got there. It turned out to be a good thing because a minute after I sat down I heard someone behind me say "Ultimate Frisbee". It's pretty rare to hear English, and it's even more surprising to hear someone talking about something I love. I shot my head around to see a table of three players from the Hong Kong team. What a pleasant surprise! We introduced ourselves - they had recognized me from the weekend since I had been talking with some of their (aforementioned) teammates. Dan helped give them good directions to Xinbeitou for the hot springs as an activity on their last day here.

I've been dogwalking a friend's dog for a few days now and will be dogsitting the rest of the week. Besides studying, going to class, walking the dog and eating, I don't see time for much else. I haven't been bringing my camera around, so no new pictures (I wish I had taken it to KH). That's about all the news I can muster for now.

oh wait, since random people end up here after googling ultimate related things, this is the best info I have for the rest of AOUC. My teammate Michael went down to watch Sunday's action:

It was awesome. Japan beats Australia in the final.
the score is 15:12 or 15:13. Honda totally used it's
speed and Auzies took advantage of the height by
throwing hammers down field. there are at least 5
hammer scores. I have some movie clips in my recorder.
I will see if I can put it online or burn a DVD for
anyone who is interested.

Second Quarter at ShiDa

I've started my second quarter at ShiDa. This time I opted for an intensive class, which meets 3 hours a day instead of 2. What I wasn't quite prepared for was twice the amount of homework. I've only had two days of class and have spent nearly all my outside time doing homework or studying, and I don't see an end to it with the aggressive schedule that we have. However, if I can stick with it, my Chinese should improve a lot faster than before.

My class currently has 7 students. Three are Japanese, one from Turkey, one from Guatemala and one other American. My previous class was mostly women, with only 2 men. This time it's mostly men, with only 2 women. The other woman is married and only in Taiwan for 6 months (because her husband is here to learn Chinese for work). The American is also married - he's got Korean parents and a Taiwanese wife and also only here for this quarter. I haven't learned too much else about the other students - most of them are from small families (4-5 people each). At least two of the students are new to ShiDa this quarter. The teacher is energetic and very organized - so far I like her style a lot.

I've been really jetlagged since my return, coupled with all the recent life changes, I don't find a lot of time to blog or take pictures. Some other quick notes on recent activities:

• made homemade applesauce as filling for dessert crepes and chocolate chip craisin cookies to celebrate John's birthday - Becca put on a great surprise party at Carnegies 2
• checked out the almond jello place near Dan's - along with the peanut soup - both delicious, I'll have to go back soon to get my fill - it's very similar to the snack I made with my mom growing up
  
• saw the Puppet Museum - surprisingly interesting (tell them you're a student to get a discount)
• got another sunset induced headache at Sunday ultimate - that makes it the 3rd time this year I've had a migraine trigger while playing ultimate - grrr (mom, tao: don't worry)
• had a goodbye dinner for Stanley with Christina - he is going to start his mandatory military service next week for a year! I'm sad to see him go.

I also am excited to have my knitting needles from Seattle - I need to check out the stores that Catherine mentioned in her blog and then organize a knitting night. I only know of two other knitters so far - so if you're interested in joining, drop me a line. Note that knitting night is open to all genders and you don't even have to knit. It's just an excuse to have a get together with good company and some food and drink.