Free time? What's that?

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Last few days have been a bit of a blur. I couldn't sleep much yesterday. Only 4 hours...seriously not enough for me. Work has taken over-are you shocked 😊

I have experimented with more interesting food...
I had some kind of soup with pork meat battered in a fish coating. Ok, not something for me. I know that for sure!! Also, I had the rice sticks (Hsinchu is also well known for this-big exporter of them.) They were very very good. Basically it was very thin spaghetti like strands made of rice. Soy sauce, chives, garlic, and fried onions were added to the top. I even managed to eat them using chopsticks. I am seriously becoming a pro. Trust me, if I can eat spaghetti with them, I am a pro in my book.

By the way, privacy is definitely not treated the same way here as at home. While eating with my friend, Susie, a couple came and sat at the same table as us. They then proceeded to stare at me the entire time I was eating. Needless to say I think I probably had them giggling on the inside as they watched me attempt to eat spaghetti with chopsticks. Glad I could be of service...

The food court was so hot and full of smells-it was definitely a site in and of itself. In fact, the most popular hut at the food court was not food at all. There was a huge gathering of people in the back corner. Turns out they were all waiting to have their fortunes told. Oh my!

We then headed to the temple. It was ornately carved and very beautiful. The first thing I noticed was you had to cross over a large 1 foot high threshold to get into the temple. Apparently this is to ward off ghosts that sneak in under door cracks. Then, the second thing I noticed were the extremely creepy giant statues at the door and throughout the temple. Apparently they are there to ward off the evil spirits by scaring them out of the temple. It certainly scared the heck out of me!

The temple smelled of incense and had people milling about preparing offerings of fruit and flowers. It was a wonderful experience. I suppose I should have prayed for traffic safety because after this trip we headed across the street to check out a few more shops. Crossing the street is a bit like playing frogger-only worse. Its really your life. Apparently they have plenty of people in Taiwan because they certainly don't mind losing a few to car accidents. The cars are pretty easy to navigate, its the crazy motor scooters. I kept searching for the cross walk so I could at least pretend to be safe. They don't even bother painting stripes on the street as it is a lost cause. You are on your own.

We headed to another vendor and sampled the potstickers. Yum. Similar to the ones at home only much better. The dough is a little thicker and the potsticker is packed full of pork and cabbage. It was so fresh and you could really taste the vegetables. I don't remember that being the case at home.
After this, we headed to the bakery-yeah-it was a great lunch can you tell 😊

The bakery had wonderful green chive buns. A very oily (too oily) bun covered in a sauce made of cream, chili, garlic, chives. The sauce is amazing. If only the bread didn't melt in your mouth and turn into an oily buttery mess. Also tried the Taiwan peanuts. Weird-a bit like bbq peanuts maybe? I"m not sure, I just know that I do not like them.

OK, enough about the food. Sad, if I am not talking about work, I am talking about food here. But it is just so different from the "Chinese" we have at home. Really fresh and wonderful... Can't wait to get to the night market. I'm ready to pass out for the night.

Hope you are all well.
Take care,
FC

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Comments

[Marcus]

FC inthe hizzy
Looks like Susie and you are having a good time. Do they have any good Italian food? haha