Taiwan feast
I hopped down to Taiwan on Sunday, and have been doing meetings all week. But it happens that the guy hosting me is fond of fancy lunches, knows all the good places, and knows that I like seafood. It's been a veritable parade of intriguing food.
Shrimp roll-ups. These are Shanghainese-- there's a mixture of cooked shrimp, green onions, and other veggies in sauce, and you load it into a lettuce leaf like a burrito.
Cantaloupe seafood gratin. It's a slice of cantaloupe topped with fish, gingko nuts, and a couple of mushrooms, then covered with cheese. The whole thing is baked to perfection, and turns out to be a wonderful combination.
Fried crab balls. Basically tempura crab. Nice and light, not like deep-fried American food.
Ginger mussels. I had to be brave to go for this one, as I am not really a mussel fan. But these were fresh, fully cooked, and marinated in a ginger-garlic-soy sauce that masked any fishiness. Actually quite edible!
Baby octopus with sweet and sour sauce. Another one where I felt some trepidation, as I generally find octopus very chewy and not very flavorful. But these little guys were again marinated, and the effect was both to soften the texture and to improve the flavor.
Holy cow, giant oysters. These were the BIG guys, with shells the size of shoes-- no wimpy little bite-sized oysters on the halfshell. They were baked with some kind of cheese gratin topping, but I could still smell the strong oysterness. I drew the line at this one and didn't eat it. They are just too slimy and fishy for me, especially when one oyster is about 3 bites.
Passion-fruit jam. A breakfast item-- it's orange with enormous black seeds that have the same texture as kiwifruit seeds. Very tart also, which was quite pleasant.
Malt juice. I didn't get to try this one, but several people ordered it at a coffee shop we went to. It seems to be sweetened non-alcoholic beer. The bottle even looks like a beer bottle and comes from Germany. I have a friend who dislikes beer, calling it "barley soda"-- I think this might literally have been barley soda!
Peach tea. You know, Asian tea is just vastly superior to the packaged imitation we have in America. They can make tea with powerful flavor that is nonetheless not overly bitter. You can buy peach tea in the US, but you have to use your imagination to taste the peach, and if you try to brew it up stronger so you get more flavor, it goes out of balance and becomes bitter. Asian tea is even better than British tea.
Coconut cream with gelatin. Sweetened coconut milk with little gelatin balls like minature boba tea balls. It's a perfect balance of smooth, thick cream with enough texture to make it interesting. Like a well-balanced soup.
California orange?. I came all the way to Taiwan to get... a California orange in my room. (This hotel provides fresh fruit each day). But it wasn't like any orange I could buy at home. It was only a little bigger than a golf ball! This is actually a really nice size for an orange, and I was wishing we could have such small ones. But Americans want everything supersized, apparently including fruit. The nice little ones get shipped to Taiwan.
I have to stop or I'll get hungry. Tomorrow I head back home!
Shrimp roll-ups. These are Shanghainese-- there's a mixture of cooked shrimp, green onions, and other veggies in sauce, and you load it into a lettuce leaf like a burrito.
Cantaloupe seafood gratin. It's a slice of cantaloupe topped with fish, gingko nuts, and a couple of mushrooms, then covered with cheese. The whole thing is baked to perfection, and turns out to be a wonderful combination.
Fried crab balls. Basically tempura crab. Nice and light, not like deep-fried American food.
Ginger mussels. I had to be brave to go for this one, as I am not really a mussel fan. But these were fresh, fully cooked, and marinated in a ginger-garlic-soy sauce that masked any fishiness. Actually quite edible!
Baby octopus with sweet and sour sauce. Another one where I felt some trepidation, as I generally find octopus very chewy and not very flavorful. But these little guys were again marinated, and the effect was both to soften the texture and to improve the flavor.
Holy cow, giant oysters. These were the BIG guys, with shells the size of shoes-- no wimpy little bite-sized oysters on the halfshell. They were baked with some kind of cheese gratin topping, but I could still smell the strong oysterness. I drew the line at this one and didn't eat it. They are just too slimy and fishy for me, especially when one oyster is about 3 bites.
Passion-fruit jam. A breakfast item-- it's orange with enormous black seeds that have the same texture as kiwifruit seeds. Very tart also, which was quite pleasant.
Malt juice. I didn't get to try this one, but several people ordered it at a coffee shop we went to. It seems to be sweetened non-alcoholic beer. The bottle even looks like a beer bottle and comes from Germany. I have a friend who dislikes beer, calling it "barley soda"-- I think this might literally have been barley soda!
Peach tea. You know, Asian tea is just vastly superior to the packaged imitation we have in America. They can make tea with powerful flavor that is nonetheless not overly bitter. You can buy peach tea in the US, but you have to use your imagination to taste the peach, and if you try to brew it up stronger so you get more flavor, it goes out of balance and becomes bitter. Asian tea is even better than British tea.
Coconut cream with gelatin. Sweetened coconut milk with little gelatin balls like minature boba tea balls. It's a perfect balance of smooth, thick cream with enough texture to make it interesting. Like a well-balanced soup.
California orange?. I came all the way to Taiwan to get... a California orange in my room. (This hotel provides fresh fruit each day). But it wasn't like any orange I could buy at home. It was only a little bigger than a golf ball! This is actually a really nice size for an orange, and I was wishing we could have such small ones. But Americans want everything supersized, apparently including fruit. The nice little ones get shipped to Taiwan.
I have to stop or I'll get hungry. Tomorrow I head back home!
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