I rode on the back of his motorcycle to get lunch. Seriously, whenever I go eat w/ my tang ge, Hong Yi, I eat sooo much. FYI: he weighs over 230 lbs and it's NOT muscle...I should take a picture...
Hong Yi always takes me to the the hole-in-the-walls, the authentic, informal street side places where you can get real local Taiwanese food. While my aunt and uncle take me to the more formal Chinese places. It's an interesting juxtaposition.
Anyways, he ordered pig's blood soup (zu xue tang), marinated pig's feet (zu jiao-top right in photo immediately below), Chinese cabbage (lu bai cai-bottom left), marinated hard boiled eggs and tofu (lu dan he you dou fu-top left), cao mi fen (stir-fried rice noodles/vermicelli-bottom right) and lu ruo fan. Oh and the soup has free refills and yes I got a free refill....
pig's blood soup (zu xue tang)
pig's feet (zu jiao)
cao mi fen (Stir-fried rice noodles/vermicelli)
Oh and after that huge lunch...we went across the street and Hong Yi bought large green tea boba/pearl milk tea/bubble drinks for everyone. Then when I got back to the house they started giving me fruit (mangoes, longans, and passion fruit).
Bai xiang guo (passion fruit)
This is the first time I've ever had fresh passion fruit (bai xiang guo) and I love it! I love the tangy flavor.
mangoes
Hong Yi's girls:
You can't really see but the girls are holding their hands like that bc they have 3 acupuncture needle in them! It's for their eyesight-they have slight myopia and the acupuncture is supposed to prevent further progression in their nearsightedness. It's weird because neither of their parents have glasses...Hong Yi said it's bc they watch so much TV.
That's one of the green tea boba drink Hong Yi bought.
They were really hyper and fun to be around.You Kai Qi (the one w/ longer hair) pointed out the stubble on my upper lip (didn't shave today) and my hairy legs and proceeded to say that "hairy people are attractive." I found this quite surprising and asked where she heard that. She went on to say that she knew a girl who had squinty eyes and hairy legs and was beautiful...well I told her she doesn't sound very beautiful and that she still hasn't told me who told her this. Well, I eventually concluded on my own that she just came up w/ this theory herself. Once again I'm reminded that I am in Taiwan since I've never been considered "hairy" in America before...
It's qing ren jie and today they have to bai bai, pay respects to their ancestors.
My other paternal cousin burning money
The smoke and heat from the burning money was intense.Homemade dinner:
Shogun (cuttlefish) on the left. That white mass is cold bamboo shoots with mayo drizzled over the top (I'm not a fan of mayo so they brought me some bamboo w/o it. Bottom right corner is ma you ji (sesame oil chicken) but the flavor from the rice wine overpowered any sesame flavor. There was also a pot of something w/ pork.
Organized the room:
My aunt bought these wooden drawers you seen one of them next to the Sampo fridge. (It was not fun carrying up all the wooden furniture up 5 flights of stairs). This meant I could finally unpack and now my room looks so fresh, so clean.
So this evening when my aunt took me to return my "Alias" DVD and subsequently check out Disc Two of the Season 4 set...we ended up going shopping briefly since the DVD rental place is located in ShiDa ye shi (night market). I was surprised how difficult it is to find something I can wear here! Why is everyone so thin here? People eat like pigs and yet everyone is so thin and lanky. A lot of people are taller than me but they probably weigh the same or less...Anyways, I finally found a few shirts that fit me (it was buy 2 get 1 free, so I got three 2 T-shirts and 1 button down casual shirt-most of these clothes are American vintage tees but cost half the price as in the states).
Shopping for clothes was the spark that led me to decide to start this project. Since I couldn't fit into most of the clothing in Taipei I'm wondering what will happen after a few months..
From the way I have been eating and not exercising at all I am predicting a great change in my physique and visage. So I have decided to undertake a before and after project. I don't feel like taking off my shirt and and stuff so you can just judge based on what I say and my head shots.
One of the last things my mom told me before I left was, "Please don't eat so much that you will let yourself become a fat ass...I want to still be able to recognize you when you return a year later..." Well, I 'll try mom but I dunno...I lack discipline in the self-denial department.
You would think I would be walking a LOT since I don't own a car or bike or anything here in Taiwan and I live in an urban environment. However, I haven't even been on the famous Taipei MRT (subway) yet! Why? Well, my tang ge (cousin) is a taxi driver so he has been picking me up everyday-sometimes multiple times. So I haven't had much chance to even walk anywhere besides a few miles around my immediate vicinity. Maybe when I finally meet up w/ Zach I'll start my kungfu training. He called me today to go to a electronics market, which he said was near my apartment but I had already left w/ my cousin to Shilin.
I have to wake up early tomorrow bc Hong Yi is picking me up in the morning and taking me to some place...don't really know where...so I should go to bed, but I think I'm going to watch one episode of Alias before I hit the hay. Now it's time for my shower.
Speaking of shower...
my aunt brought me this loufa, but it's like one I've never seen before...
She also brought me a hot pink bath towel, but I have to draw the line somewhere. I went and got my own bath towel at Watson's. This lady has obviously never had a son; she means well though.
1 comment:
hmmmmm..perhaps it is the angel of the photo, but it appears the intense eating has changed your face shape a bit :D or at least you look different from the other picture I have of you (sticking your tongue out with a peace sign)
maybe it's because you're not smiling in this one! SMILE!
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