Trip out of Taipei to Dasi
The Twins' girlfriend, E, came over this morning and we went out for breakfast at around 10:00 am at an eatery at the local "open market" down the street. On side of the building has these small eateries along the wall. The one we went to is frequented by the Often and the proprietress quickly started chatting with them as we quickly took over the 4 available (and only) tools in front of the place. We each had a bowl of rice vermicelli soup flavored with spices and pig intestines and cilantro. The Twins had asked ahead of time if I was "okay" with pig intestines in my meal. Surprisingly, I'm sure I've had intestines before as they are eaten grilled or fried an known as "Tripitas" in the Mexican diet (aka as Chitlins in the South). These were small strips in the soup that added a nice flavor.
We then headed out in E's families' car to the city of Dasi (about 30 kilometers away) which used to be the innermost port city in Taiwan before the river was damned up. There seemed to be something going on in town as there was a lot of traffic going in (the most traffic I've seen in Taiwan since I've been here. We parked the car and headed down to an old main street that hosts lots of street vendors. The street had been closed off to traffic on both sides and we walked up and down the crowded streets checking out the street vendors.
I sampled a small dessert made of small pancakes (like small half-dollar crepes) that are pressed around a mung bean past filling and then enjoyed a refreshing drink of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice.
We staked out which stalls we would visit later for lunch and then made our way to a local Historic residence that was a nice 20-30 minute walk past fields of wild flowers on a very well-maintained road. Per the Taiwan Tour Bus website from which I cribbed this description:
Li Teng-fang Historical Residence
Built in 1860, this sprawling residence comprises five connected living quarters divided by two courtyards. Taoyuan's only grade 2 historic site, it is richly adorned with expertly carved wood and other artistic embellishments that reward closer inspection.
The grounds large and impressive and very well-maintained but we were left figuring out what all the rooms were for since there was minimal descriptions of what each of the rooms were used for. I counted myself lucky to have found the kitchen and to have been able to identify it as such. We took a slightly brisker walk back into town (the heavens were threatening to rain on us and although we were well bundled up, we didn't have an umbrella among us).
For lunch, we enjoyed bowls of steamed rice bowl cake topped with mushrooms and strips of meat that have been grilled together with spices. The bowls are made of rice flour that is steamed in a white bowl which bakes it into a congealed white bowl shaped mass (it tastes much better than my poor description of it) and is then eaten with a flat two pronged wooden stick, you kinda break it up and scoop the bits with the seasoning and some soy sauce that you've drizzled over it all into your mouth. Quite filling.
After Twin#2 collected her favorite peanut candy from one of the local vendors (she's been hoarding it ever since, and makes sure to offer some only after she is sure I'm full ;) we heading back through the traffic and the now pouring rain back to Taiwan.
We had dinner in downtown Taipei at a very nice restaurant, non-descriptively called "Lee's Restaurant", and enjoyed dumplings, scallion pancakes and diced rice cake (different kind of rice cake than lunch). For dessert, we had something sweet which looked like a quesadilla if the tortillas were covered in sesame seeds and instead of cheese the filling was sweet date paste. It was warm off the grill and a nice end to our day, especially since the rain kept pouring in the evening and the temperature had dropped to were we were now shivering in our light weight coats, hats and scarves.
-Del
We then headed out in E's families' car to the city of Dasi (about 30 kilometers away) which used to be the innermost port city in Taiwan before the river was damned up. There seemed to be something going on in town as there was a lot of traffic going in (the most traffic I've seen in Taiwan since I've been here. We parked the car and headed down to an old main street that hosts lots of street vendors. The street had been closed off to traffic on both sides and we walked up and down the crowded streets checking out the street vendors.
I sampled a small dessert made of small pancakes (like small half-dollar crepes) that are pressed around a mung bean past filling and then enjoyed a refreshing drink of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice.
We staked out which stalls we would visit later for lunch and then made our way to a local Historic residence that was a nice 20-30 minute walk past fields of wild flowers on a very well-maintained road. Per the Taiwan Tour Bus website from which I cribbed this description:
Li Teng-fang Historical Residence
Built in 1860, this sprawling residence comprises five connected living quarters divided by two courtyards. Taoyuan's only grade 2 historic site, it is richly adorned with expertly carved wood and other artistic embellishments that reward closer inspection.
The grounds large and impressive and very well-maintained but we were left figuring out what all the rooms were for since there was minimal descriptions of what each of the rooms were used for. I counted myself lucky to have found the kitchen and to have been able to identify it as such. We took a slightly brisker walk back into town (the heavens were threatening to rain on us and although we were well bundled up, we didn't have an umbrella among us).
For lunch, we enjoyed bowls of steamed rice bowl cake topped with mushrooms and strips of meat that have been grilled together with spices. The bowls are made of rice flour that is steamed in a white bowl which bakes it into a congealed white bowl shaped mass (it tastes much better than my poor description of it) and is then eaten with a flat two pronged wooden stick, you kinda break it up and scoop the bits with the seasoning and some soy sauce that you've drizzled over it all into your mouth. Quite filling.
After Twin#2 collected her favorite peanut candy from one of the local vendors (she's been hoarding it ever since, and makes sure to offer some only after she is sure I'm full ;) we heading back through the traffic and the now pouring rain back to Taiwan.
We had dinner in downtown Taipei at a very nice restaurant, non-descriptively called "Lee's Restaurant", and enjoyed dumplings, scallion pancakes and diced rice cake (different kind of rice cake than lunch). For dessert, we had something sweet which looked like a quesadilla if the tortillas were covered in sesame seeds and instead of cheese the filling was sweet date paste. It was warm off the grill and a nice end to our day, especially since the rain kept pouring in the evening and the temperature had dropped to were we were now shivering in our light weight coats, hats and scarves.
-Del