withdrawal

i miss my grandma already. look at that giant pearl ring! woo. baller.

almost didn’t make it to phoenix last night. super long flight to LA resulted in being delayed… landed in LAX with only 1 hour until my connecting flight!! took forever to get through customs and even longer to get my baggage. Ran with all my luggage only to be told by the EVA AIR agent that it was too late to transfer my baggage to my connecting flight all the way in Terminal 1. Those of you who know LAX know that Terminal 1 is REALLY far from the International terminal. yeah. He tells me the only way i can make my flight is to run the approximately 1 mile or so to the terminal… with all of my baggage. of course i’m like SH** at this point… so i take ALL my baggage, load it onto a cart, and push/run 1 mile to the terminal. i get there and the woman says… oh… we just had the last boarding call… and this is the last flight of the day, you may be stuck over night. i’m like NO GET ME ON THIS FLIGHT…. it is YOUR fault that the flight was delayed!! so anyway. after much running and shoving, i get on.

anyway. finally made it. total withdrawal.

Pros and Cons

there is a lot to say.

pro. baking success again! crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside… full of green onions, garlic, and white pepper. yum yum yum.

con. there is so much destruction and weeping and heartbreak on tv everyday in the aftermath of the typhoon. everytime i turn on the tv, i inevitably end up crying.

pro. i love that every morning when i go into work, there are people practicing tai-chi and qi-gong 氣功 outside of our building. i especially enjoy the middle-aged woman to the left of the building that practices her 氣功 every morning with a sword. yes, a sword. a fake aluminum one i’m sure, but still cool to see her doing complex moves with the sword.

con. what the hell is the government doing over here?! i have never seen such a slow and horrible response to such a horrible disaster. and seriously. turning down aid from other countries when we clearly need it? what the hell. so pissed.

pro. soulmates!!! 再會囉 …

con. returning to atl for another 9 months.

pro. back for good next may.

neither pro or con, but super funny: typical 宅男 Otaku and his girlfriend on the 捷運 on my way home from work. One of two things is happening in this picture. Either he is SO engrossed in his 漫畫 (japanese manga) that he doesn’t even notice her trying to speak to him, or he is SO uninterested in what she has to say that he finds much more pleasure in his comic book than in her. hahahaha. hilarious.

pro. evening hang outs at Insomnia with Micki over an iced caramel macchiato.

sigh.

typhoon morakot – disaster!

the storm has passed, and it was seriously some of the most vicious wind i’ve ever seen. apparently taipei was ok, but seeing as I live in the mountains outside the city, i seriously thought we might blow away.

taiwan is seeing some of the worst flooding and post-typhoon disaster that it’s seen in almost a century. half of the island is under water, and thousands of people are trapped in the homes, on the roofs of their homes, or trapped in villages that have had their only access roads blocked, or access bridges washed away. even more are without power, clean water, or food. crops have been destroyed. homes have been washed away. people have gone missing or have even died. there aren’t enough rescuers or rescue equipment to rescue all the people.

today, i will refrain from posting anything happy or funny, so that we can take time to say a prayer for taiwan… not even sure how this much of the country can recover from such disaster!! very reminiscent of hurricane Katrina.

typhoon Morakot

it’s coming!! 莫拉克颱風， looks like it’s going to be a big one. its not even here and the rain and wind have already begun, and the creek next to my house is getting higher and higher… scary.

i have claws in my food!

yum yum claws in my food, and let’s throw in a chicken head too. makes me feel like my food is going to jump up and rawwwwwr hisssssss.

hissssssssss

baking success!

ah ok in a side note regarding my previous entry… that was me just angry at the events of the day. that being said, i am not hating on american tourists. in fact, they make things a lot more exciting haha they’re always so happy and fun, especially after a couple beers in a pub. ha. i must also declare my love for japanese tourists!! i had the cutest conversation with these adorable little elderly japanese tourists today, as i struggled with my elementary japanese. a little sad to figure out that minoring in Japanese in college has almost done me no good… i don’t remember anything!

also… something i noticed is the lack of screaming children here. seems like it happens a lot more in the states… a kid screaming in the candy aisle, the kid kicking and screaming at the mall. here it really doesn’t happen much, but today i finally realized it’s probably because any screaming kids are immediately and secretly dragged to the bathroom and smacked before going back to the store. hahahaha.

The other day I decided to bake. I loove all things 饅頭，蔥燒餅， etc. basically give me carbs and i’m happy.

i decided to make 蔥燒餅。 (uh…sweetened bread with green onions? how do you translate that… )

the dough is a basic self-rising dough… high-gluten flour, yeast, water, sugar, some milk, baking powder, etc. After rising, i rolled out the dough, brushed the inside with some oil, then added green onions, pepper, and salt. Then i folded it into thirds. Because you want it to be sweet and crispy on the outside, i brushed a simple syrup solution on the top before baking.

發酵以後: 中間放沙拉油，蔥，胡椒，鹽， 再折起來。 上面因為烤完要有脆脆甜甜的口感，必需用糖水捈在上面。

success!! and oh my gosh it tasted delicious. the bread was perfectly loose, yet Q (chewy), and slightly sweetened… countered with the onion and pepper… and the sweet/crispy crust… mmmmmm.
又香又Q又脆又甜甜的… 好好吃喔！ 成功了！

comments on tourists

it’s summer, and the huge influx of tourists to taipei has begun. with that, i have some comments. if you’re going to be a tourist, you should follow the rules of the place or country that you’re visiting!! sounds simple right? but people just can’t seem to do it.

mainland chinese tourists ok hopefully i don’t offend lots of people but why are mainland tourists so annoying? I mean.. massive culture gap here. Not only do they not stand in line EVER, they push and shove, they shout, and scream to get their way in stores and restaurants. I’ve seen this wayy too many times recently. When you want to buy something, you stand in line at the register. you don’t shove people out of the way and yell at the cashier until they give you something. Second, at the museum, DON’T TOUCH stuff! there are signs in chinese and english that say don’t touch. so don’t touch it!! seriously. Lastly, mainland tourists need to learn not to spit. spitting all over the street is not acceptable. be respectful of the place you’re in.

the subway. Again, if you’re in another country, follow the rules!!! 2 American tourists got on the subway yesterday, and sat in the priority seats (博愛坐）. It says clearly in English to get up and give up your seat if any elderly, disabled, or pregnant women get on the subway. Even the mainland tourists are good at this. Anyway, these 2 american girls were chatting away, trying to decide where to go, and lookng at their new manicures. An elderly elderly woman gets on the subway, and moves toward the priority seats. they don’t get up. they looked at the old woman and then kept chatting away about their manicures, when clearly you’re supposed to give up your seat. even if there wasn’t a sign in english, you should STILL get up. the subway started moving and the woman nearly fell… only after some of us went to help her and I gave a death glare to the two tourists did one of them finally get up. 氣死我了！

flabbergasted!

My time here is winding down… hard to believe that in a few weeks i’ll be heading back to the states, only to wait so long before finally coming back! sigh.

i had the most awkward experience with Micki tonight at a coffee shop. So so so weird, but too weird to not share.

tonight, micki and i went to Insomia Cafe, in the 師大夜市，93巷. We were having a great time, until an older couple (the woman was prob in her 40’s at least and the man maybe in his late 50’s) came in to the cafe and started drinking beers at the table in front of us. 那女的一下就喝了兩大杯啤酒… and then came the ridiculous part. first was cuddling… kinda cute, i guess, for an older couple. but cuddling quickly and grossly progressed to the woman giving the man a ridiculously sensual massage… which (i’m sure everyone is grossed out already) … progressed further to include hands under shirts, and the secret unbuttoning of buttons!!! just looking at it made my face turn red, it was so scandalous.

oh my GOSH it was so awkward! Micki and i were absolutely flabbergasted. we couldn’t do anything about it. We tried not to stare, but where else were we supposed to look? so we ended up staring at our coffee, or awkwardly laughing together at the gross stuff going on in front of us. they were in front of us, completely inappropriately 摸來摸去 for a really really long time. soon after, we noticed the waitress and other nearby coffee-drinkers also staring in disgust. We couldn’t stop laughing, but were completely disgusted at the same time. seriously. get a room. 去開房吧！ in a coffee shop?! uughghg.

all that aside… Insomnia is a great place to study or hang out, with exhibitions of art pieces from local artists. check it out if you have time! minimum charge is a little pricey at $150NT, but it does include good music, free plugs for your laptop, free wireless, and free floating IKEA lamps for your table if you need more light. they also serve one of the best waffles i’ve had in Taipei!

INSOMNIA CAFE

typhoon rainbows

i quite enjoy my walk home from the bus stop. even though its usually sweltering hot and i’m sweating by the time i get home, i love the walk up the hill to my house. usually i don’t like living so far outside the city, but on other days, i really enjoy the fact that i live outside the hustle bustle and lights of taipei.

on my walk home the other day, a lovely rainbow (almost invisible in this picture) caused by the pre-typhoon misty rains greeted me as I walked up the hill, and the creek on the left bubbled cheerfully, full from the rains of that afternoon.

hong kong and beyond

its been a relatively uneventful week… save a couple earthquakes and a small typhoon. ha. not quite sure how i slept through a pretty big earthquake but i did.

last night, my awesome coworkers and i went to 鼎王 for 麻辣火鍋。 good stuff. it was the first time i had 大腸頭，which is pig rectum. yup. i gotta say, it was quite tasty… nice and chewy. must be that sphincter muscle that makes it so chewy. haha.

thought i’d post a few more pictures from Hong Kong.

we decided to be tourists and took the “duk ling” junk boat tour of hong kong harbor… starting from tsim sha tsui and ending up at central. you can’t tell from the picture, but this was a typhoon day and the harbor waters ended up being VERY choppy. needless to say, by the end of the tour, winnie and i were trying pretty hard not to throw up over the side of the boat. ugh.

despite the ridiculously sickening rocking, i managed to get to the back of the boat and take a picture of one of the sails.

sorry. no pictures of the city view at all. was trying too hard not to throw up.

of course, there has to be some pictures of food! here we have the famous 豬爬包, which is basically a fatty seasoned pork chop slathered in mayonnaise, on a buttered sesame seed bun. yum. look at that fatty pork chop! very good, but very pricey. $15 HKD?! are you kidding me? that’s $64 NTD … for about 2 bites. darn.

hong kong does have some amazing high rises.

i love the hong kong airport. it’s probably one of the most beautiful airports i’ve been to in the world… the ceiling is so awesome, it’s like gentle waves on a river.

after arriving in Taipei, it was off to the 高鐵 high speed rail station. i love the symmetry of the 桃園高鐵站.