Hot pot

A pretty common question I get whenever I have a mildly in-depth conversation with Taiwanese acquaintances is, "so, what's your favorite food here?"

Well, let me tell you, it's hot pot.

Spicy hot pot

Hot pot, legend has it, was invented by the Mongol hordes over or around 1,000 years ago. The story goes that, vegetables and whatever food was available was cooked in boiling water or broth, using a helmet as the "pot."

National Day

10/10/10 is a pretty auspicious day.
So, since this year's national day happens to be a trifecta date force, there was a huge party put on by the government.

Taiwan is a bountiful land

The date itself is pretty cool, but 10/10 happens to also be Taiwan's National Day. It's a little convoluted as far as the difference be "national" and "independence." 10/10 in Taiwan commemorates the Wuchang uprising, which eventually lead to the fall of the Qing dynasty, and the creation of the Republic of China, on the mainland, in 1912. When the KMT came to Taiwan in 1949, they brought the same national day with them.

So convenient

One thing that's been making it difficult for me to get in a lot of cooking or learn many new recipes is the convenience of eating out in Taiwan. Eating out is so convenient, that a majority of the Taiwanese that I have met do not cook. Restaurants are ubiquitous in a way that is quite different than the US. It's plain hard to not find a restaurant within sight. Maybe I haven't lived in enough big cities back in the states, and my conception of eating out is too formed by a smaller town dynamic, but, eating out is just, well, ridiculously convenient here.

Ruifeng night market