Winter Solstice

Today is December 22nd, which is also the winter solstice on the lunar calendar. Traditionally, our people would eat a bowl of sweet soup with rice flour balls. This traditional food we call it "Tang Yuan". Making and eating tang yuan both signify family reunion and prosperity. Some family would have pink tang yuan for good luck. When you eat Tang Yuan, it also means that you are getting one year older.
We eat not only Tang Yuan, but also dietary supplementation. There are some food for dietary supplementation, ginger duck soup with herb is most popular for Taiwaner, then wine cooked chicken soup is also common, or you also can eat mutton hot pot.
So my Mom cooked Tang Yuan for me, it means that I also grow up one year old.
And then she also cooked chicken with glutinous rice as lunch for me.

Happy Birthday to my Mom

Today is my Mom's birthday, but she doesn't like to eat the cake. She prefers to eat a Taiwanese local meal, vermicelli with pork knuckle. And because today I am very busy, I didn't take the photo for that meal, however, I found the nice photo for vermicelli with pork knuckle, which we call it "dika mi sua" in Taiwanese and "zhu jiao mian sien" in Mandarin Chinese. I will show it in the following photo, then you would know a kind of our local meal. This kind of thin and long noodle means for longevity. That's why our old people prefer to eat it to celebrate on their birthday.
We also have a kind of good gift for parents, that's the red envelope with money, it's more practical than other gifts. And it depends on your economic situation, if you don't have the part time job and still need to take the money from parents, then the amount is NTD 600 (around 15 euro). We like the even number for the happy thing, and the odd number for the sad thing like funeral arrangements. So I put the NTD 1200 (around 30 euro) into the red envelope to my Mom. Because there are three-quarters of my monthly wages in the custody of my Mom per month. We still have a concept of filial piety in Taiwan. So my behavior is also common here.

Milk Ice Flake

No more rainy day, now I am eating the milk ice flake, which is so called as snowflake ice. Because the shape is similiar with snowflake, but it made by frozen milk. I like its milky taste. Actually I seldom drink a glass of milk, so it tastes really great.

I love the western kind of ice cream, but I also like our local ice sweet. You can have more than 100 kinds of tastes and changes, as for me, I prefer to eat the simple flavor. Add a pudding with dense ice milk. It is a great match in the summertime.

Can you see the pudding?

I ate so fast, haha~

Dan Bao Fan

After 1 month, I lose 1 and 0.8 kilo, then today I allowed myself to eat a bit better lunch. I know the French eat the omelette, but in Asia, there is a kind of food similiar with omelette. We used to cook the rice with egg, and its name is "Dan Bao Fan." If you still feel confused, then you also can call it as for rice with a thin omlette on top. In addition, my lunch is hearty. There were also some popcorn chicken.

Moreover, I recently addicted in new type of tea drink. Green tea plus stone lotus Yakult tastes really great. I like it now. The following photo is the tea cafe recently I love to go.

Shirmp

I didn't eat the Zong Zi today, because I don't like to eat it and now I am on a diet, I have to quit the high-calorie foods and eat fewer starch. My Mom knew that, so she also bought the shirmp for me. I have heard that Thailand has much cheaper seafood to buy, if one day I visit Thailand, I think I should try to eat their food. All my friends like Thai food and think Thailand is so cool to have abundant cultural heritage.

Before cooked the shirmp is like this photo.

After cooking the shrimp would become reddish orange.

On the spur of the moment

As a normal monday, but lunch I ate the mussels, it made me happy, I have read the record that Pingpu people really love to eat the seafood, especially the shellfish. Hmm, I think maybe I really like to eat shellfish. But I try to restrain appetite now, because I am on a diet and the one thing I want to warn, that is eating lots of shellfish made your breast enlargement. To me, this is a very frightening thing. I don't like that.

My Mom likes to see me eating a lot, and she will feel the sense of accomplishment. Actually today I didn't eat all of them which I photographed, but when my Mom found I am typing this entry, she said the plate of mussels are too little, it must made other people think we are stingy for food. Well, since I know Arab nation habbits, I
always suspected my mother was an Arab in her last life. Because she does love gold, and she loves the very very big LCD TV screen, also she is hospitable and generous. If she really sees a meal in Japan family, maybe she doesn't need to go on a diet. I think she will be a scrag soon.
This is a plate of mussels. It tastes very delicious. And I eat two-thirds in this plate.
And this is a home-style vegetable. We used to eat the vegetable, meat with rice to be a meal.
Oh this is a plate of pork, I think our pork is very worth to eat, anyway this is my taste of food.
Finally I ate a plate of watermelon. Because we have a lot of rain and weather is very warm, so you can eat very sweet fruits, above all, it has rich water content. Oh I think the rice is common to see, that's why I didn't take the photo for my bowl of rice.

My dinner is Bentou

Last night I chatted with an Omani girl about Taiwanese food, because she only knows the Chinese food is very delicious, she didn't know that Chinese food is devided into 8 types. Basiclly the foreigners cannot eat the original Chinese food, all they eat is poor qulity of Chinese food, because other countries didn't focus on the quality and management of Chinese restaurants, as long as the Chinese cooked the food, they all think it is the Chinese food, and there were many Chinese pretend to be Japanese to open the Japanese restaurant long ago, I only know that finally Europe limited only the Japanese can run a Japanese food restaurant.

You can eat all the 8 types Chinese food in Taiwan, in addition you can find the shadow of Japanese in many details in Taiwan. Tonight I ate the fried chicken steak bentou. This is from Japan, it originally is called 弁当べんとう(bentou), and then we have many different forms in Taiwan. I know Japanese focus on Bentou culture, their women need to learn how to decorate the beautiful bentou to the family, then they will take the bentou to the school or office for the lunch. As a Taiwanese, we can buy the bentou easily, and it is bargain. you can see the photo I took that there are 3 dishes and a fried chicken steak with rice, and the free soup and drinks no matter how many cups you eat and drink in there. And all you need to pay is 1,35~2 Euro. How worth to buy, haha~

The early bird gets the worm

This morning I got up early, because last night I decided to go to play tennis at morning.

I have been for a long time to play tennis, and I did not normally rest, sometimes I doubt that I am an European then live in Taiwan, otherwise why I especially energetic in the early morning in Taiwan, it is just the early night for the European.

Today become a bit cold since the Continental air mass was coming yesterday, it's not bad, I am afraid of this summer will be very hot. And then I just now finished my breakfast, guess what?

Dang Dang Dang Dang~ The answer is now revealed, Udon noodle.


Udon noodle is from Japan, but it has a bit changed in Taiwan, it is not expensive around 1,1 Euro but can full.

I will go playing tennis soon, and then go back home to take a bath then go to the school, the rest of time stay in library.

Snow pear

Before I had only introduced our food but ignoring to mention the fruits in Taiwan, then a Saudi Arab friend suppose that we only have many seafood to eat.

Actually I like to eat watermelon most, but now there is no watermelon to eat, then I took the pictures for snow pear.

There are many species of pear, most people only know the Chinese Department of pear lines and two types of pears, but our pear are known far and wide in East Asia, because it is rich in water content, in addition it tastes sweet. Of course it lives in 15-20 ℃.

And our farmers take care with fruits as a baby, so they would use milk for irrigation and play the radio to them, farmers even worry the fruits will fall down or raindrop to hurt them, then they make special clothes for fruits to wear on, it can protect them.

You can see the first picture is very big pear.

Next you can see clearly words in Chinese and Japanese on sticker, because our fruits usually sell to Japan, sometimes we cannot buy it but sell to Japan.

One of Taiwan routine meal~Shredded Chicken Rice

Today I want to introduce one of our people routine meal, shredded chicken rice, and I found that it is not good that I always translated the food material for English name, therefore I decieded to attach the original pronunciation in Chinese and Taiwanese, then you can order it in Taiwan and call the correct name, our people will feel more familiar for our food name. Some Taiwanese vendors perhaps will give you a discount or add more meat to you.

It is called "Ji-sz-fan" in Mandarin Chinese and "Ge-si-bng" in Taiwanese, and it is most famous from Jia-yi city. Its cooking method is to put the shredded chicken meat then topped chicken seasoning sauce on the rice, it is simple but tasty.

And I also ordered a plate of vegetable, I like this store's vegetable, because I am fear of eating garlic, but they are attentive to grate garlic to make a sauce with garlic mud, it tastes not bad, and you even like to eat vegetable, haha.

I like to eat seaweed soup, and I am strange that I can accept miso soup (味噌汁＝みそしる), but I hate to eat miso, then it's good that they use miso soup but no miso in it, and add to seaweed.

The Cijin Tour Of KH City [II]

After watched the fort, my Mom and I went to the shortcut to lighthouse, and then we saw this map on the way, but it is a pity that only Chinese, I think that we lack an international tourist attractions, not everyone can understand the traditional Chinese, not everyone can spend more over 10 years even 12 years to learn this language, and at the same time our website also has only one language, no wonder Korean can win us, and some of us still did only criticism but propose ways of improvement. It's really suck. This is what I found in this winter vacation, I will write in my notebooks on multi-language tour.

I took the bad photograph by lighthouse today, and then I decided to use last time I photographed to upload my blog.

Next we found where tunnel is. I think there is suitable for couples to visit, because night star is beautiful, and I never get tired of watching starry night.

This is the entry.

We finally felt tired of walking and I like here's view signs.

Of course, we needed to eat, eat , and eat. There was a lot of Chinese people have asked me that Taiwan is full of stars and singers. I am speechless, we are not only famous with singers, stars, and food, but also famous that our people are freindly, optimistic, hospitable. Above all, we are full of creativity, because of Japanese and Western freedom and democracy improved our values and then we insisted to learn traditional Chinese culture. Our people are the same as our island have been compressed out of most essence. That's why our culture are new and old at the same time. Anyway I saw the first vendor is "Fried quail egg", I really like to eat it, every time I went out to see this vendor, I will buy one to eat.

The process of making this dish.

This is called "Aiyu" in Taiwan, and you can call it "fruit jelly", some people also call it "fig jelly", it only live in Taiwan, and we like to drink it in summer.

This is roasted octopus, there are many people went to buy it to eat, of course we did too.

It's a pity that I could take the photo, if I could catch the smells, I think you will want to eat it.

This is the bicycle path which is our city government recently completed.

This is the windmill park, and we use the windmill to produce the electricity, in addition it is also a good place to give people a place for a rest.

There are fountains in the bathing beach park. There are a lot of people taking a surf in ordinary days. But today was too cold, then nobody took a surf.

It is a crab which is manufactured with scrap metal.

And then I heard the buskers to sing, I like their dress, and I also photographed one.

Next we went into market to see someone, this is brown sugar lollipop.

Followed we went back to park.

This is the amusement facility, it look like a ship, if I still were a child, I will go to play it and think I am a captain to drive the ship, haha~

We were preparing to back home at that time, and then we passed by the vendor of Trukish Ice Cream, I wanted to photographed one in private, but he found and made a victory gesture.

Of course, I remebered that I have promised one of my Omani friends for the picture to let her see what Turkish Ice Cream is.

After I ate an ice cream, my Mom decided to eat more seafood, then we ordered the "oyster omelet".

Immediately there are pork rigs rice and clam soup.

Next we still need to line up for a ship.

I felt happy today, and I found Cijin has beautiful night.

I have already been on board, and I took the night view of Kaohsiung harbor.

This is the latest build of the bridge.

Finally I finished my blog for Cijin Tour, it is really long to me, haha~ However, I had a nice day.