Pad Thai, and what I learned while making it.

Hello everybody! No, I haven't forgotten about this blog. I know I promised a post about Danshui, and I hope to deliver one soon. However, I feel I should tell this story before it slips my mind.

Dining out in Taipei is generally delicious, and VERY inexpensive compared to dining in the States. I've found that a sit-down dinner for two here costs about what a sit-down dinner for one would in Boston. And food from small stands is even cheaper: you can get a steamed bun for 15NT (about $0.45 US), and two or three of them would make a satisfying dinner.

But going out for meals all the time does get old, and sometimes you just want some home cooking. I have a fridge in my room and a stove in the common room. So I decided I wanted some pad Thai. (Well, OK, I exist in a near-constant state of wanting pad Thai.)

The fruits and vegetables of my labor.
I'll tell you how I got there, but I figured I should lead with a yummy picture.

 The recipe I had in mind is one my uncle and his girlfriend showed me how to make last summer, while everyone else in my immediate family was away on trips. They showed up at my house with ingredients and a huge wok, to rescue me from the loneliness. And they have that recipe down to a science! It's from a cookbook, with a few of their own adaptations. Since then, I've made it a couple of times with friends, and it's always been a hit.


Last night I started my shopping at Wellcome, a supermarket chain which doesn't have a presence in my part of the US, though it may in other regions. I bought tofu, fish sauce, vinegar, hot peppers, basil, bean sprouts, eggs, and hot sauce, plus yogurt for breakfast, and it all came to less than 500NT (about $16.50) US. I ended up with enough ingredients for two batches or so, with one important exception:

I couldn't find the right noodles.

Now, there were noodles to be had, for sure. Trouble was, they were all wheat noodles, whereas pad Thai calls for flat rice noodles. I considered buying some of the wheat kind and trying them out in the recipe, but I decided to be a purist. There would be time to fiddle with the recipe later.

I don't read or speak a word of Thai.
Luckily, I saw "fish sauce" written in tiny letters on the tag on the shelf.

So today, I headed to Sogo, a store by the Zhongxiao Fuxing subway station. For some reason, I was expecting a specialty grocery store, as I'd been told I could find imported food there. And I did. But as it turned out, Sogo is actually a huge department store, and rather a fancy one at that. A little stunned, I rode the escalators from basement level 1 up to the twelfth floor looking for the grocery section, only to find that it was in basement level 2. Oops.

The noodle selection at Sogo was definitely more varied. I picked out these Japanese noodles, which look like the kind I buy stateside when I want to make this dish. I was surprised at how expensive they were: about 200NT, or $6.64 US, for a pound of noodles. But then, I reasoned, I couldn't find them anywhere else, so I accepted the fact that I'd have to pay a premium. I also picked up some snow peas, which seemed more reasonably priced. On the way home, I stopped at 7-11 and bought garlic and carrots, which I'd previously been unable to find in small quantities.

At this point, it was well into dinnertime. So I got to work: soaking the noodles, making the sauce, chopping vegetables and tofu. I borrowed my suitemate's nonstick pan and used some of the cookware that was left in the suite for us by the last residents. It took some time and effort- I was never under the illusion that this was a quick, easy recipe. It's not super difficult, but especially without a sous chef, it is a time-consuming project.

At last, I ended up with a pan of fresh, hot pad Thai! I served myself a plate with basil and lime, just the way I like it. Usually I throw some hot sauce on too, but the peppers I used were pretty hot and I wanted to be on the safe side. No need; scraping out the seeds brought the spice level down, so I might include some next time.

These pack a punch.

I took a bite. It was delicious! All the bright, fresh flavors that I love about pad Thai were there. But something was definitely not quite right. Then I took another bite, and a closer look, and realized:

I still managed to get the wrong noodles.

If you look closely, and/or you're a pad Thai enthusiast, you may be able to see the difference. Tasted pretty good though.

Yes, instead of rice noodles, after all my insistence on finding the right ones, I ended up with cellophane noodles. They look similar before cooking, but rice noodles turn white when cooked and are soft, whereas cellophane noodles turn clear and very stretchy and chewy. It wasn't bad, but I don't think I'll be making the recipe with these again. I do, however, think the same recipe with rice instead of noodles would be an excellent way to make fried rice.

Not rice noodles. Cellophane noodles.

Then, of course, I had to do the dishes. With all the prep work, this recipe generates lots of dirty dishes. By the time I was done, it was nearly 10:30 at night. The cooking, eating, and cleaning took me about two hours total, and I wish more of that time was spent enjoying my dinner. I did end up with plenty of leftovers, though.

So, what did I learn? I think it proved to be a good lesson in home economics in the strictest sense of the word. The ingredients, even accounting for the fact that I only used about half of them, still cost more than I would have spent on dining out at a Thai restaurant (though perhaps not much more, depending on the restaurant). And then there's the cost of my labor and time, which gets to be a lot when you consider that I went so far out of my way to find the (ultimately wrong) noodles. Plus, I have homework, so I can't really spare the time to cook every night.

So, while I'd consider this approach to home cooking frugal in the States, in Taipei, it really wasn't. I suspect that cooking for a group would begin to make more financial sense, as would cooking in a kitchen you've stocked for the long term. That doesn't mean I regret my culinary endeavor tonight, though; it was satisfying to eat something I'd made for myself. I don't want to dine out every night, but maybe instead I can stock up on easy-to-prepare provisions, or get enough takeout on one night to have leftovers the next day.

Stay tuned for more Taipei adventures. Some will be delicious. Some may be academic. All, I hope, will give you a little glimpse of a great city.

Very Belated: Dragon Boat Festival!

Last Wednesday, June 12th, was Dragon Boat Festival (端午节,  Duānwǔ Jié)! It's a national holiday here in Taiwan. I had heard a little bit about it, including in my Chinese textbook, but had never before had the chance to join in the festivities. So my friend from Williams and I decided to go to the river and see what was going on.

We got up bright and early that morning and got on the subway stop nearest to the university. The races were held at Dajia Riverside Park, which is a bit of a ways away. We had to take the MRT (Taipei's very nice and clean subway) for a while, change trains, and then get on a bus. Although we missed our stop, there were a bunch of middle-aged women on the bus who were very kind about helping us find the way. We ended up having to cross a bridge to get back to the side of the river where the fun was. But from the bridge, there was a good view of the dragon boat races!

As seen from the bridge over the river.

The day was somewhat overcast, but still pretty hot and humid. That's Taipei for you. I still think it was a nice day.

This picture makes it look less well-attended than it was. There were more tents!

 There were several boat race divisions; I think it was open, masters, and high school. We saw teams fielded by high schools, universities, companies, and other organizations. The announcements were given in both Chinese and English, which surprised me. There were certainly other foreigners there too, many of whom were speaking English, but not in huge numbers.

The crowd on the riverbank included people of all ages. There were plenty of families with little kids, and fun activities for the kids to try, like practicing the drums that the rowing teams use to keep time! But it wasn't a "kiddie" event by any means; there were plenty of younger and older adults having a good time too. I didn't see any alcoholic beverages for sale, but there still might have been. Some people brought their own, but no one seemed to be drunk or rowdy.

From the riverbank, I could get a closer look at the boats as they went past.

加油！

 

If anyone wanted a break from watching the rowers, there were lots of food stalls serving some things I'd seen before and plenty I hadn't! Some of it was concession-stand fare you'd see in the States, like fries, ice cream, and fried chicken. But you could also buy grilled squid-on-a-stick, fresh-made fruit drinks, and stinky tofu, which does smell quite strong. I'm told it's an acquired taste, but I think I'll try it at least once before I leave.

For lunch I bought something I'd never tried before- at least not in this form - which turned out to be delicious. It was a rolled-up green onion pancake with egg, cheese and corn folded into the middle. I'd had the pancake （葱油饼, cōng yóubǐng, if I'm not mistaken) but I had no idea it could be made with filling! Highly recommended.

Slightly blurry deliciousness.

There was one snack I wish I'd tried, and hope to at my next opportunity. The elderly man running the stand had a bunch of thin rice crepes laid out on a table. He used a large grater to shave flakes off a huge brick of peanut brittle, and then spread them out over the rice crepes. Then he topped the peanut brittle with fresh cilantro and your choice of ice cream flavors! We asked a woman who'd bought some whether it was good, and she said it was. It's on my list of Taiwanese snacks to sample.

Peanut brittle ice cream rolls!

Possibly the coolest stand, though, belonged to a guy who was selling glass ornaments. He had a torch set up right there and was making more items while a small crowd gathered to watch! I've always thought glassworking was pretty amazing stuff, but after my Winter Study class on it I'm even more impressed by the craft.

Those apples must be hard to make. Thick glass pieces are tricky.

There was a dragon boat set up for people to take pictures on. I didn't pass up the chance.

I wonder if this boat was used in last year's races.

We left around noon, when it got sunny and hotter. I did miss out on a couple of traditions, like eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and balancing an egg. Right as we were on our way out, we passed a long line of people waiting for eggs. I assumed at the time that the eggs were a famous tasty snack. Turns out (at least according to the Wikipedia article linked above) that if you can make an egg balance on one end at noon, it's good luck! Maybe next year I'll be back to give that a try...

Greetings from Taipei!

At long last, a post from Taipei! After a 15-hour flight from New York, I arrived in the city at the crack of dawn on Saturday, with another Williams student who's also studying here. However, I only got Internet access recently, since I had to subscribe through my university program.

So far, my impression of Taipei is as follows:

-It's hot.
-People here are really nice.

The first part, of course, didn't take long to figure out. Here it's pretty much non-stop heat in the eighties Fahrenheit and up, and usually pretty sticky and humid. When it rains the heat subsides a little bit, but I think I'd still take the heat over a huge downpour like the one I was caught in yesterday.

As for the friendliness of Taipei's residents, let's say we discovered that in less-than-ideal circumstances, but were nonetheless grateful. After arriving at the subway stop closest to the university, in the aforementioned humid heat, we tried following the directions I'd gotten from Google Maps, and couldn't manage to find our way to the dorm. So we lugged our suitcases around the perimeter of campus for an hour or so, making our best effort at asking strangers in Chinese how to find our address. All the passersby we asked were very kind and helpful, and one guy even spent ten minutes trying to figure it out with the help of his smartphone. Even when people didn't know the way, they were generally very polite (though we were confused when a slightly brusque cab driver didn't know where the place was. I think it's a very new building). Still, we were having trouble finding our way, and the heat was starting to get to us.

Finally, we found a student who not only knew the way, she actually walked us all the way to the dorm! We thanked her profusely and offered to buy her dinner. I hope she takes us up on it later- we would have been totally lost without her help.

Since then, I've been getting settled in, taking care of administrative stuff, and meeting some other foreign students. Consider this my arrival update, because today merits its own. Stay tuned for a post about Dragon Boat Festival!

View from my window in the morning. To the right there's a huge construction project, but I prefer this cityscape. You can see the mountains in the background!

大家好！/ Hi, everybody!

I'm about to spend a summer studying Chinese at the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University. This is where I'll chronicle my adventures in pictures and words.

Stay tuned for more!