Ban zhuo ?

Ban zhuo? How can I translate this into English? Very Hard! Casue, this is Taiwanese, not Chinese. mm, see my picture, that woman was preparing food on a road. She was preparing food for a big feast. On the other side, they were bai-bai. After bai bai, they would need to have a big feast. That woman was preparing food for them. Of course, they all ate food on a road.

Usually, we Taiwanese call this kind of feast pan zhuo. That means big feast eat on a road. Surprising to you? Usually, when we have weddings, big bai bai or funerals, we will have this ---ban zhou. That's our tradition. But, now in big city, like Taipei, seldom to see this. In countryside cities, maybe you still can find this easily.

Boiled squid

I like to eat squid very much. In Taiwan, we usually put squid into boiling water for a while, then add sauce on it. Sometimes, we Taiwanese like to add wasabi on it. Or we add 5 flavors sauce on it. 5 flavors sauce? mm, there are soybean sauce, garlic, raw paprika and sesame oil . We usually add 5 flavors sauce on sea food.

See my 1st picture, that man was putting squid into boiled water. In my 2nd picture, he was adding sauce on it. See, there were 4 kinds of sauces in front him. The price of this is 1 for 20 NTD, 3 for 50 NTD. (around 1 Euro)

that "hot" ~~

Yes, washi street also famous for this kind of "hot". There was a place for hookers. Usually, we women did not go there alone. Why? afraid of "missunderstanding".

I shall explain wahsi street more. There is a famous temple near washi street. Many people go there to bai-bai. There is a big night market also. But, maybe in a small alley, there are hookers. Thats' " before". Now, here in Taiwan, we do not have any licenses for hookers. Before, there was. Hookers who had licenses needed to do health examine every year. NO sexual diseases ones could have licenses next year. Washi street is a place for many hookers to "work". Casue, that place was a crowded places.

This picture was taken in the night market. They sold this kind of toy on a road. In other night markets, I do not see so "open" & so many. Maybe only in this washi street night market. *_^ !!

Snake soup

mm, I promised you. Althought I am Chinese, I still have no guts to eat that. Especially, alone. I asked my colleague to go with me. Casuse there is a big night market for tourists. Many nice food to eat. But, she said "NO" ~~~~.

In fact, snake soup is good to people, especially in summer or when you are "hot". mm, this "hot" is not that kind of "hot". Do not missunderstand my meaning. This "hot" is the same as "hot " in Chinese medicine theory. Usually, when you have acens on your face, that means you are "hot". This is the simplest way to explain that "hot". Of course, there are a lot of kind of hot in Chinese medicine theroy.

See my picture, there are many people to see the snake show. That man said, if you come to washi street and do not see any snake show, that will be a big pitty. See, some snakes are sleeping in the shelf.

There are not only snake soup in that shop. See the sign, mm, there are many other kind of animals, such as mouse, deers, chicken, turtles, pupa , birds & other animals who live in mountain. Terrible Chinese?

Usually, you can not take picture of snakes or what they sell related with snakes. mm, how can I do this? mm, techniques. *_^ !!

Fruit ice

This is fruit ice. The yellow ones are mango chunks, the white ones are sliced banana and the light orange ones are melon slices. There is also cream on the top of fruit ice. Is this kind of ice in western country? I do not know. It's really very good to eat such a dish of fruit ice in the hot summer in Taiwan.

Why I eat this today? mm, After a long & tired meeting day, and there is a little bit hot today, So, ice is good choice for such a Friday dinner. According to our latest weather report, it will be cold tomorrow. mm, how strange weather in such a subtropic island. I mean, Taiwan.

Btw, I do really love Egypt. I visited that website. It remined me a lot of memories.

The place I wanted to go most

Do not need to introduce anymore. Everyone knows where this place is. Spinx & the great pyramid, this is Egypt, everybody knows. That picture was taken at year 2000. Maybe I was an Egyptian in my ex-ex-ex -ex life. *_^ !!

See, how large the great pyramid is. I sat on a brick. One brick weights 1 ton. After my Egyptian trip, I didn't know where to go anymore. Cause, Egypt is the most place I wanted to go in the world.

But, now, I find a nice place to go, Croatia. Why? cause I like ancient architech.

dao xiao mian (noodles sliced by a knife)

dao xiao mian? mm, noodles sliced by a knife, can you understand, now? See the noodles in my picture. Can you find any difference ? The shape of this dao xiao mian is not as general noodles. The shape of dao xiao main is irregular. Cause this is sliced by a knife, maybe I shall say, sliced by human, not by machine. So, mouth feel of this dao xiao mian is more elastic. (Compared with general noodles)

What is the flavor of my noodles? Acidy & hot spicy noodles. What are there inside my bowel? Vegetables, sliced carrot, egg , to-fu, sliced pork meat and spice. (pepper, vinegar, salt)

What are those in my 2nd picture? The light orange one is pickled spicy turnip. The deep brown color one in the right is a kind of seaweed. Next to seawed is sliced to-fu. And, the one in light brown color is sliced pig's ear. All those are stewed with soybean sauce & Chinese herbs.

ice milk tea with pearls

This is ice milk tea with pearls. Where are the "pearls"? See the bottom of my plastic cup. Those small dark brown balls are "pearls". Same as I said before, this pearl is made of casava starch. A little bit elastic in mouth feel. You can use that straw to help you to eat pearls.

Have you ever found one thing? We Taiwanese like to eat something elastic in mouth feel very much. *_^ ! How much does this cost? Usually, 25NTD. But, I get special offer today. It only costs me 15 NTD.

Oyster narrow noodles (oyster mian xian)

This time, I do not know how to translate "mian xian" into English. See my bowl, that "noodles" is called "mian xian" in Chinese. Narrow than general noodles. What are there in my spoon this time? The left one is oyster and the right one is pig's intestines. Usually, we Taiwanese have mian xian with oyster or mian xian with pig's intestines. But, I can not eat too much. So, I ordered mix one, mian xian with oyster & pig's intestines together. The price of this is 35 NTD.( equals to 1 Euro)

Thanks to deCinabre again for telling black pudding. I found that animal blood is really a kind of nice food in many countries. *_^ !! Blood sausage seems to be a kind of food in Tibet, northern east part of China & Mongolia, too.

large flavored sausage

Miki told me that sausage in Europe is not sweet. We add some sugar in sausage here in Taiwan. But, this kind of sausage maybe you only can eat here in Taiwan. (See my picture) Usually, that man roasted sausage first. Then add a kind of flavor on it. You can choose the one you like. See, there are 14 kind of flavors on the top sign. There are original flavor, cream, honey, lemon, pepper, wasabi, steak, hot spicy, garlic, extremely hot spicy and so on.

See there is a small picture under the sign? The man in the right side in that small picture is our Taipei city mayor, Mr. Ma. What is the fuction of that picture? mm, the owner wants people to know Mr. Ma ate this before & felt good.

What is the flavor I choose? mm, see my 2nd picture. Red sauce on my sausage. Extremely hot spicy one. *_^ !!

Halloween food?

Pumpkin? No, duck's blood. Interesting?

This is duck's blood pudding hot pot. (Thanks to deCinabre for correcting my English. Meat pudding. ^_* !! ) I know you western people do not eat "blood". Only vampire sucks blood, right? Maybe this is the best food for vampire.

Except for duck's blood pudding, what else are there in my hot pot? Steamed to-fu with bad smell, vegetables and some fish meat syrup processing foods. How much does this cost? 90NTD.

See, there is blue frame below my hot pot. That's why this called "hot" pot. They use this to keep temperature of food in the pot "hot". The waiter lighted off a candle ball and put it under my pot.

Also thanks to Joyce for telling me "hot pot". It's really very interesting to translate Chinese foods into English. *_^ !!

cake of pig's blood

Afriad of it? or disgusting? Same as you know, we Chinese almost eat everything. Except for tables & chairs. This one is made of waxy rice & blood of duck. The light brown powder outside cake is powder of peanuts. (in my 1st picture) The color of that cake is black, like the one in my 2nd picture. You can have 4 choices. Not spicy, little spicy , medium spicy & hot spicy. The price of this is 25 NTD.

Same as you see in my 3rd picture. They put cake of pig's blood in a steam box. If you want to buy it, the boss will take it out of the steam box. Before, they used blood of pigs, but, now, they use blood of duck to make this. Duck? mm, bird flu? oh, no~~~ I just ate one cake of pig's blood.

meat circle? rou yuan

Meat circle? I do not know how to translate this. The shape of this is in a circle. Inside this are meat slices & bamboo. On the top of my meat circle(rou yuan) is sauce. Soybean sauce, hot & sweet sauce. The outer skin of rou yuan is made of casawa starch. So, after boiled, elastic in mouth feel. See my 3rd picture. That's the way rou yuan looks like. ( Those in that yellow box)

Rou-yuan is a kind of famous food in Chang-hua county. You can fried raw rou yuan. But, in the southern part of Taiwan, they steam rou-yuan. I like steam one. Cause, not so oily.

This costs me 35 NTD. (around 1 Euro)

My lunch, today

mm, Today is a little bit cool. My colleague wanted to eat something hot. So, we went to eat "sea food noodles" . A bowl of sea food noodles & a cup of green milk tea are my lunch today. They cost me 75 NTD. (Around 2 Euro)

What is inside my bowl? Shrimps, of course. Fish meat, sea shells, fish meat syrup ball, vegetables, fish meat syrup slices. What is so special for you inside? Pig's liver. The small brown one above my spoon in my picture.

We Chinese believe that what part of animal you eat can help you to improve the part of yourself. Or you can improve that part of yourbody which is similar to the look of what you eat.(以形補形)

So, now you know why there is a slice of pig's liver inside my bowl. To help to improve the function of your liver. In fact, there are a lot of vitamins & iron inside pig's liver. But, there is also much antibotic. So, eat or not? depends on yourself.

Big cake wraps small cake inside

This is also famous in shin-lin night market in Taipei. The small cake inside is crispy. The big one outside is normal. There are six kinds of flavors. The flavor is the flavor of small cake inside. The price of it is 100NTD for 3. Maybe 40 NTD for one.

Large Frien Chicken

Afriad of chicken now? "Bird flu"? Joking, of course. This is also a kind of famous food in shin-lin night market.

It costs 45 NTD.( around 1 Euro). Usually, it opens at 4pm during week days. But, in weekend days, it usually opens earlier. Maybe around 2pm. Cause, the time for me to go there was 2pm. They just stated to turn on the light & boiled oil to fry chickens.

Same as you see, there were many people waiting. Why so many people like to eat that? Crispy & large maybe is the reason for them to like. I also saw a tourist group from Hong-kong to go there and waited in a line to buy before.

Oyster omelet

Eat this before? I knew you ate it before. This is famous food in Zhang-hua county. The one you have been to. Lu- gang. Same as you know, Taiwan is a small island. So, not so many special food you can eat only in a city. You can eat oyster omelet almost in every night market.

The one between my chopsticks is oyster. Small? yes. It will be bigger in Zhang-hua. (It's a harbor city. Sea food, of course.) The brown-red sauce on the top of my oyster omelet is a mixture of soybean sauce & hot spice.

Usually, they add casava starch liquid in a pan first, then add some oysters, egg, then vegetables. (like my 2nd picture) The price of this is 40 NTD. (equals to 1 Euro dollar)

ding bian chuo

This time, I do really not know how to translate it. This is mix of Taiwanese & Chinese Manderin. I can tell you what is inside the bowl. The one in my spoon is made of a kind of starch. They add this starch in water, then mix it. After mixed, they add this mixture to a hot pot. Along the edge of that hot pot. Then that mixture will become "solid" . They can take that solid apart from pot edge. Then, you can have ding bian chuo ,now.

Why dian bian? dian is a knd of pot in Chinese. bian is the edge. chuo is the way they take apart solid mixture from pot edge. The mouth feel of this is also elastic.

What are others in that bowl? Shrimps syrup, meat syrup, vegetables, bamboo, celery & special spices. The price of this is 40 NTD. This is famous in Keelng night market, too.

sausage size for one mouth bite

This is also famous food in keeling night market. Sausage size for one mouth bite. Toasted sausages. The price of 1 sausage is 5 NTD. Usually, we Taiwanese eat sausages with garlic. So, they will ask you to add garlic or not. Not garlic sauce, raw garlic. They are so many people waiting to buy. Really good to eat.

soybean milk icecream in keelung night market

This is soybean milk icecream with "pearl". (粉圓豆奶爽)　I didn't translate it directly from Chinese. I translated it by the meaning of that "icecream". This pearl is not real pearl. This is made of casava starch, caramel pigment & modified starch. Why I know this so clear? Same as you know, my major is food science. Of course, I know this.

Why we Taiwanese like to eat that "pearl"? The mouth feel of that pearl is elastic. I can teach you how to make good pearls. First, you can buy a pack of dried pearl in stores. Then, put them into boil water. Boil them, but, remember to stir. Then, put them into ice water for a while. Then, you can have elastical pearls to eat.

My 1st picture is the look of soubean ice cream. The brown ones are pearls. You can realized the size of pearls in my 2nd picture.

The name of this store in Keelung night market is "3 brothers" (三兄弟) ! The price of this "ice cream" is 40 NTD. (1 Euro dollar)

night market of Keelung

Most of you know that I have to do a human clinical trial in Keelung every 4 weeks. Today, I need to go there and do a small test. Of course, I went to a night market. This night market is famous in Taiwan.

Keelung is a harbor. So, there is a lot of sea food. "Bingo" ! You are right. See my 3 pictures. Crabs thick soup, sea shells & lobsters. mm, really looks so decilous. But, I didn't eat. mm, too high calories for me to eat those. What did I eat for my dinner? Soybean milk ice cream & a soup. I will tell you tomorrow or days later. Cause, I am too tired today.


This night market is not far from keelung train station. Easy to go there.

bai bai?

Well, what will be your answer to see such a big "constrution" outside your home? on a road? To chinese, before, maybe not now, they did not think this is illegal. This is our "tradition culture" . If you live in Taiwan, or lived in Taiwan, you know that there is also "traditional Chinese music" with such things. Tell you a truth, I do not understand traditional Chinese music. I can not tell which one is wedding or funeral,either.

The one in my 1st picture is for celebrating some Gods' birthday. Usually, people build such big construction when they have weddings or funerals outside their homes or on a road. Yes, they can go to churches, resturants or funeral houses. But, some people think that is closer in feeling to do those things in "this way". See the red cloth in the top? If you do thing joyful, like wedding, celebrating birthday of Gods, we Chinese usually hang on a red cloth on the top of roof. (see my 2nd picture)If this is related with died people, we chinese ususally hang on a white cloth on the top of roof.

In fact, we Chinese usually write down the topic we do on the toppest sign. I know all these things maybe look the same for you. If you do not understand Chinese, that's no problem. Next time, try to find that "cloth". If it is red, that means joyful things. If it is white, that means funeral.

my favorite AD

This one is my favorite AD. Which one? Of course that one, the one with a naked man. What does it write? " Everything you want, I do" This is an AD of a cellphone. mm, really good. "Yammy, yammy" *_^ !! Especially the position of that cellphone. Can I put that cellphone away?

Mochi

Eat this before? chewy & delicious mochi ! ^_* !! This is famous snack food of Hua-lien city. But, the one I bought is in a branch shop in Taipei city. Mochi is made from a kind of rice. The texture of mochi is soft & elastic. You can not put mochi outside for couple days. The best way is "eat it now" !!

Why I bought this? Cause you can put the one I bought into refrigerator. Then, you can have "ice cream". Magic? No, they just add some new food raw materials into mochi. There are 13 flavors. They are red pea, orange, kiwi, mocha & honey pea, taro, coffee, green pea, sesame, gold jujube(famous fruit in I-lan),peanuts, pickles, pickled white carrot & fruit king(famous fruit from Tailand).

There are 10 mochi in a box which I bought. You can pick flavors you like. (See those baskets in 1st picture, different flavors mochi are in different baskets) 15 NTD for 1 mochi, red pea flavor is cheap, only need 12 NTD for 1 mochi.

whole sale market of clothes in taipei

See the sign? Wo-feng- pu market. This place is a wholesale market of clothes in Taipei. The design of clothes they sell in this market is very fashion. But, the material of most clothes is not good. Especially those which were sold in 100 NTD. (equals to 2.5 euro dollars) See my 3rd picture, this is a sign. The meaning of that sign is "special offer, 100NTD for 1"

Many people, especially those teanage girls or girls in early twenty ages like to go this place to buy clothes. Cheap & fashion. See, so many people are there. (see my 2 nd picture) Many Japanese come to this market. I heard they spoke in Japanese. Some of them are tourists, some of them live in Taiwan. There are also some western people to go shopping in this market. But, really rare to see. Koreans go shooping here,too. Maybe just because clothes they sell in this market is in small size. *_^ !!

This place is near songshan train station. See my first picture. Address is in that sign.

Shrimps

I do not know that you know this or not. Pepper shrimps? Lemon shrimps? Garlic shrimps? Hot spicy & acidic shrimps? Visiting this website http://hipage.hinet.net/prawn .

I bought hot spicy & acidic shrimps from that shop once. The price is 680 NTD. (equals to 170 euro dollars) The spice of those shrimps they sell is from Thailand. Those shrimps are bigger. The mouth feel of those shrimps is more similar to meat of crab. That means more elastic.