Too Much Food

What do you do when you have a bag of sundried-tomatoes, a jar of capers and a bag of dried figs that you don’t know what to do with? Make jam! What resulted was a melange of Mediterranean-inspired flavors, savory, sweet and tart all at the same time. I’ve been spreading it on top of [...]

It’s been too long since I’ve posted a recipe! Autumn is already in full swing and winter’s on it’s way and I have yet to write about something I’ve made. One thing I love most about autumn is all the great winter squash that arrives in the markets. I’ve had great fun just trying all [...]

Spring Natural Vegetarian Restaurant was highly recommended to us by many of my mom’s vegetarian friends. With branches in Taipei and Taichung, Spring Natural offers buffet-style vegetarian lunch, afternoon tea and dinner in a clean, airy and elegant setting. As the afternoon tea (served between 2:30pm and 4:30pm) offerings are comparable to that of lunch [...]

One of the best restaurants that I tried this time while staying in Taichung was Sakura, a small Japanese restaurant specializing in both sushi and cooked foods. Located in a nondescript alleyway in the Xitun district, Sakura is a bit difficult to find but well worth the search. The storefront:

Getting to Yizhong Street; the main road parallel to Yizhong Street. One of my favorite places to go in Taichung is Yizhong Street (一中街). Located near National Taichung First Senior High School (considered by Taichung residents to be the top high school in the city), Yizhong Street is a young person’s shopping and food paradise. [...]

One of my favorite 小吃* to get whenever I come back is 潤餅, or “run bing.” You can order these in the U.S. as “spring rolls”, but the use of “spring rolls” is a bit troublesome . . . Spring rolls in the States refer to so many things, from the Vietnamese fresh rice paper [...]

We’re in the midst of Mid-Autumn Festival (otherwise known as 中秋節 or Autumn Moon Festival) here in Taiwan; besides Lunar New Year (which occurs between the end of February and the beginning of March of every year), Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the biggest and most important holidays here in Taiwan. It’s a time where [...]

The day after we visited Big Juicy Goose, we decided to visit the restaurant next door: 大東屋活鰻料理專門店 (Daito Live Eel Restaurant). This restaurant, like Big Juicy Goose, specializes in one particular dish. In Daito’s case, it’s signature dish is an 鰻丼 (unagi donburi), a bento of Japanese-style roasted eel (うなぎ), basted in a sticky-sweet soy [...]

If you’re confused by my last two posts (the earlier one saying I was already back in Taiwan, the later one saying that it wasn’t worth $2000 to fly back to Taiwan to buy 杏仁餅); I definitely apologize . . . I am still in Taiwan, the post on black sesame polvoron was actually written [...]

One of my favorite Taiwanese confections are 杏仁餅 (almond chess cookies; or, as I like to call it, almond-flavored crack), a sort of marzipan-flavored candy with a crumbly, sandy, shortbread texture. They’re slightly sweet, buttery, with a salty backnote, and pair perfectly with a nice cup of hot tea. However, it’s hard to find these [...]