20161230 Food challenges

This time our guests have very special interests in food, seriously all sorts of food.

It was a rainy day at the end of 30th, Dec, after briefly stopping by Heping park in Keelung, we headed directly to Jiufeng, which was once an old coal&gold mine town.

Nowadays people swarmed there partly because of a Japanese animation movie "spirited away" mostly because of a sense of nostalgia.

The fish ball soup with green bean noodle marked their first taste of Taiwanese food.

Several types of traditional cakes including pineapple walnut, cheese with bean, red bean, dates with taro, mocha with mochi flavors and more. 

Guess which one is chosen? To be honet, I forgot as well. 

This one is fried meat ball. Slowly, they are filling their stomach with more and more foods. 

This one is spicy braised fish ball. I figured without being spicy, it can hardly compete with other foods. 

Can you imagine two cups of ice cream with peanut butter powder rolled with thin dough? 

The pork sausage in barbecue style is too normal. So there are black squid flavor and also smaller bite-size sausage. 

The green seemingly messy stuff is actually parsley, which is a common seasoning for many Taiwanese cuisines. This one is called meat ball oil boiled costantly and will be served with pink sauce and parsley. 

Symbols work everywhere across culture. These three I guess translate into love, wealth and peace, which are abundant for everyone. 

Releasing skylantern into the night represents a light shining through however little it is, the boundless darkness finally finds a point to count on. 

When we left for Shengken from Pinxi, it was late at night and luckily this tofu stand was still open. 

Sticky tofus indeed have brothers and sisters. The baked sticky tofu brushed with soy sauce will include kimchi,cucumber, Hakka vegie depending on your request.   

Later when I recalled that night, I personally found it a bit surreal, as we bumped into a local park. While local kids and parents had fun on the playground and everyone minded their own business, we stumbled into a space not defined for tourists. 

In order to come back a little bit into reality, food is always the best bridge. 

The sweet jelly grass tea and sweet soup with jelly, fruits, taro balls and other ingreidents, which bring comfort at a chill night. 

The end of a day and coming of the end of 2016. 

The first stop--- C.K.S. memoril hall. 

Every time I brought guests here, I was amazed at different reactions when they saw C.K.S. statue and read his stories. Apparently, such an influential figure amplified his inner idea of himself into a large scale architecture too magnificent to be ignored. 

These little dragon head guards the gate into the main area. Can you spot one? 

The nearby take-out Xiao-Long-Bao instantly turns into "street food" as we literally begin our feast on the street. 

I have to admit that he is the most daring foreigner who tried stinky tofu twice and two different kinds.

This one is steamed stinky tofu mixed with meat and spicy sauce. 

You have better taste it when your nose malfunction.

Another snack on the street:oyster fritter. Oyster mixed with green onion and fried in boiling oil equals to delicacy. 

In the traditional Dongmen market, this fish ball soup according to him cleared his throat and eased his mild illness. 

It seems that food is said to cure people. 

After taking MRT for 40 minutes, Tamsui here we come.

The first stop. Try the bitter mellon juice. I guess it is not really that tasty to some people. 

Sweet preserved tomato is more acceptable, kid and adult alike.

One more try on the Icy lemon icy jelly, which seems better than the previous drink.

Does it look familiar? It is port sausage wrapped in bigger rice sausage. 

This stand sells Mochi as well as friendliness. 

The horn-shape bun tastes crisp, which functions as whisker or hat. 

Mother Goddess, the sea goddess, is worshipped in the Tamsui Fuyo temple. 

You can coomunicate with deity through a special ritual. 

Unlike the previous day, sunlight shines through the end of 2016.  

Fort Santomingo was a historical site for Spanish and Dutch colonizers. Late it was used by British as couselor office and residence. 

Back to the old town Dadacheng, traditional cakes are indispensible. 

Dried pork and beef are considered as popular snacks now and then. 

Dadaocheng made good use of river as a transportation mean to sell tea leaves abroad. 

In Japanese period, export of tea leaves sustained hundreds of households.  

As the year end countdown approached, it was the first time I saw a waiting line at the 101 ticket counter. 

The streets below looked tranquil, unaware of the coming of celebration. 

In a few hours, Taipei will welcome year of the rooster and say good bye to monkey year. 

Damper boy in front of the gigantic Damper actually kinda looks cute. 

Now still, night market sampling is inevitable.

Hot pepper cake looks more like a bun in which green onions blended with pork is served. 

BBQ squids, an option for seafood lover

This cold gelatin balls have green bean and red bean flavors. 

Chopped green onions are wrapped in pork meat paper. 

I guess it is for meat lover.  

Little steamed dumpling served in bite size occupied certain stomach space. 

Do you think these are enough for food sampling?Far from it...

 Sugar apple resembles budda's head, so in Taiwan the pronunciation is Shakya.

My favorite is various fried mushrooms. 

Personally I prefer vegetables to meat; however no strict  restriction though:-) 

Fried taro bun is a delicacy that wraps egg yolk inside taro. 

It is considered a favorite dessert. 

  I am sure I must omit certain food as I didn't take all of the photos of food. 

Otherwise, it would be much more stunning how a person's stomach can accomodate so many food in such a short time.

 Sometimes I wonder if it is a contest. That's how Taiwan come to offer the world: food, frinedliness and fun.