What do you eat?

For some reason, this question never fails to stump me. I've gotten it a lot since living in Taiwan, in different variations--"What do you eat for dinner here?" "What did you eat at home?" "What do Americans usually eat?"--and I never know how to answer.

I had the same problem at home--I would say I cooked for myself, and when people asked what, I would answer with an oh-so-dignified "Uhhhhh...." followed by something equally inane, like "chicken?"

Obviously, I eat. I would even go so far as to say that I eat pretty well, with a decent, though not chef-worthy, level of variety of meats and veggies and cuisines. But what are they, exactly? That, I couldn't say.

Some categories are easy: spaghetti, stir fry, meat and potatoes, salads, breads, tacos, soups, sandwiches. Beyond that, I often rely on a few steady cuisines: Italian, Thai, Mexican, some sort of "fusion" American (though I'll be the first to admit I have no idea what that means).

The problem, especially here, is that when I'm asked what I eat at home and the first things that come to mind are spaghetti and stir fry (which, in all honesty, I eat maybe once every two weeks), I'm then hard-pressed to explain to my Taiwanese friends why, exactly, I miss food from home. After all, most brunch shops here offer spaghetti, as do numerous other Western restaurants; as for stir fry, you'd be hard-pressed to go more than a few blocks here without hitting a dedicated restaurant. So why, they ask, and rightly so, do I miss food from home?

And that's where I get stuck. Why is it so hard to explain that everything, from the raw materials to the seasonings to the preparation methods, are different here? Or to mention how vastly the absence of things like convection ovens and non-American cheese (ironically the local favorite) affect one's ability to cook? Even now, I have a Taiwanese chocolate pudding in my fridge--a "pudding" the preparation for which required only water, not milk, and whose final consistency is closer to that of strawberry Jell-O than real, American-style pudding.

And what do Americans eat at home? As I tell my questioners, the answer to that is simply too vast for me to touch on. Americans eat everything. Every cuisine, tweaked a bit and catered to the American palate, shows up on American plates on a regular basis. Sure, here people may frequently treat themselves to other cuisines, but I don't think they realize just how prevalent other cuisines are in American foods.

One reason for this, of course, is that without other cuisines America doesn't have one--we have, after all, defined ourselves as a nation of internal immigrants, each of whom brought their own unique flavors with them when they moved. It's what makes American cuisine so nebulous and hard to pin down as anything other than diverse--and what makes answering "what do you eat?" such a ticklish task.

Unless, of course, you narrow it down to a simpler question, like "what did you eat today?" And that one, today, was a fun one for me to answer, as well as one that highlights America's culinary diversity. Today, I celebrated my aunt and uncle's family by cooking a dish that originated in their adoptive country of Bolivia. I didn't have potatoes today to round out the dish, but I did have the other component parts (beef, rice, eggs, salsa) that make up the wonderfulness that is SILPANCHO!

(The rice is under the meat patty, which is under the egg)

So yes, I miss the deliciously bad for you and fantastically diverse cuisine of America. And what do I eat? Well, today, I eat silpancho!

Kimchi and Snowflake Ice

I wonder how many of my blog posts are named for food items. I would speculate at least a good 10 percent...Anyway, just a random thought. Expect plenty of those from me tonight, as it is currently 1am on a Friday night and I am afflicted by three things: end-of-week exhaustion, planning-ahead befuddlement, and food-induced coma.

So let's talk about that last one.

Tonight, my lovely host family took me out to dinner. It'd been planned a few days ago, as Emily Facebooked me and invited me to go eat Italian food with them. "Great!" I thought. "Italian food!" Tonight, they picked me up, as promised, at 6pm, and announced that we were not, in fact, going to Italian food, but would rather be sampling Korean fare, a first for all of us.

And it was great! We went to a Korean BBQ Buffet at Dream Mall (largely patronized by Koreans tonight, Margaret pointed out to me, which may have explained the stares), and had essentially a DIY BBQ/hotpot device in the middle of the table which I promptly filled with beef and veggies--yummm. Kimchi was soon summoned and found to be a most willing compatriot to the beef, and side dishes of kimchi pancake and (very spicy) hot rock rice followed.

Cooking in progress

Kimchi pancake

This was 太辣的 for me...

Despite the epic fullness this meal produced, Emily, James and I cured our burning mouths with some ice cream, and then we moved on--to get more food, of course!

We set out for Yangchengpu, to eat at Kaohsiung's most popular shave ice place--popular, as I learned tonight, for a reason. It's absolutely scrumptious. Emily and I split a strawberry milk ice, done snowflake style (wispy bits of ice, just like snow), while James grabbed a red bean one and Margaret, as always, opted for a hot option of jelly and sweet glutinous rice ball soup.

Before we ate, we also paid a little visit to the gold street--so called for its vendors and, based on this picture, anyway, its lighting. :)

Yummmmm

So now, with all that food resting lovingly in my tummy, it's time to give in to the forces at work against me and sleep off all that good food.

Into the Wind

Today I boarded a bus for Kenting, Taiwan's coastal paradise; to the city which is named "eternal spring." I was super excited to finally get a taste of a tropical beach, since I have never before in my life been to an ocean warm enough to get into, or blue enough to see through. I was thorough in my packing--grabbed my 30 SPF sunscreen, two swimsuits, shorts, sundress, sandals--and, just in case, a rain coat and tennis shoes. I was ready for a beach unlike that in the Pacific Northwest--one that did not involve wind and rain.

But, as it turned out, wind and rain is what I got.

I pictured this (actual picture of Kenting from the Internet)

And got this (actual picture of Kenting from hostel window. Note the raindrops)

The whole trip down to Kenting was overcast-ish outside, but could still see patches of sun, and I grew more and more excited as I saw the coastline appear and realized that, when I got out, it would still be warm.

Then we got closer. Right around 5 minutes beforehand, it started raining. And it didn't stop. I put on my raincoat before we stepped outside, and then began the sprint for the nearest 7-11 so Brittany, Rachel, and Karina could buy ponchos. And I discovered that my thinking ahead was actually not the best of plans, since they were now better covered than I was. Which became a big regret as our taxi driver couldn't find our hostel and we wandered back and forth within a few blocks of it for a while asking people before we finally found it--and my stuff, and everything not covered by my raincoat, was soaked. Around this time, the rain began going sideways.

By the time we were in our room, the wind was gusting against the screen door and I was wondering how we could possibly do anything. Did I mention that a typhoon recently just missed Taiwan and hit Hong Kong instead? Turns out these are the edges of it. Today I've felt exactly like I'm at the Oregon coast--all wind and rain--but with the thermostat turned up about 40*. Very odd, yet oddly homey. Wind and rain: normal!

So with that wether, naturally, we rented scooters and headed for the beach!

And oh yeah--when our hostel owner drove us to get the scooters, he got pulled over. Seriously, this day was shaping up to be a combination of the least likely events ever. Rain and wind in Kenting? Check. Police involved? Check. What next?

Still don't know what they wanted...

The beach was not quite doable, so after lunch (delicious Italian), we decided to do some shopping, then head up to the Southernmost point of Taiwan and see the lighthouse there around sunset. But there were...complications, beginning with the marginal typhoon-strength wind. Driving a scooter in driving rain and wind is somewhat less than fun, and then Rachel and Brittany, who were leading, went past the turn-off for the Southernmost point, and then up an unprotected mountain. It had a GLORIOUS view, but Karina and I turned back--it was impossible to keep a straight line.

And we headed back to the Southernmost point! It was wonderful, and the winds were actually a boon there--high winds equal high waves which are beautiful to look at. Then the lighthouse, where we met some roving dogs who were also watching the sunset. Rachel and Brittany eventually made it back, and while we waited for them by the lighthouse, we were guarded by an adorable little golden dog, who reminded me of the cat in The Horse and His Boy, when Shasta is by the tombs. (If you don't get that reference, you're probably more normal than me, but you'd best go read that book.)

Trail to the Southernmost point

Looking south at the tip

LOVE the waves in the wind!

Eluanbi Lighthouse

Sunset. :)

On the way back, we stopped through at the Kenting night market, which had filled with people who had materialized out of nowhere--the streets were all but empty earlier today--and had a bit more shopping time. Tried on numerous hats, none of which quite worked, and bought a sweet travel coffee mug with Taiwan stuff on it, and--of course--watermelon milk. I have to say, too, that Kenting night market is a bit of a nightmare: a bunch of people at a market are annoying no matter what, then add in the vacation aspect, and it's not good. Still great time, though.

This doesn't even begin to cover the epicness of the day--I'll do more later. But the wind is still beating on our door, and we're getting up early tomorrow to enjoy what will hopefully be a less storm day in Kenting, so that's it for now. Turns out the "eternal spring" in Kenting is currently stuck in April, with no chance of May.