On My Own

Hey Guys,

I know it's been a while since I've blogged anything new, but it's for good reason--I'm kicking butt making a Hilda costume, and there will be some great photos when she's all done, I promise! I just had my most recent fitting, and we got all 13 costume pieces on her and I now have all the information I need to finish her in all her real fabric with two weeks to opening, phew!

In sad news, my classmate/roommate/friend Emily goes home to Texas next week. I am really freakin' bummed to lose her for my last month here, but I am also really excited for her to go home and get married to her love, Andrew. Congratulations, you crazy kids! I'll be eating vegan tamales and watching weird PBS documentaries with you again next fall!

Last Monday, we had another cooking class with Angela Cheng. She taught us so many delicious dishes again, but most importantly, we learned how to make DUMPLINGS!

Tasty, simple egg dish with tomato

This was just a really beautiful display of chopped ingredients. I want to be as graceful and good at chopping as her someday! 

Fish with rice noodles

A spicy tofu dish--it made my lips and tongue numb!

Chicken with roasted peanuts and spicy chiles (Jim and Sweta really like spicy food, so she honored their request)

She also made a vegan dish for Emily with tomato and mung bean noodles. (Not pictured because we ate it all really fast!) 

DUMPLINGS!

Start with ground pork, chop it further, and mix it by swirling it all one direction

Finely chopped Taiwan cabbage (crisper than American cabbage) with the water squeezed out

Flour-dough dumplings, rolling the dough before cutting it into 1-inch coins, flattening and then rolling them out

Filling the dumplings with the meat mixture

Our little dumpling factory! :)

Well, our folding skills aren't exactly restaurant-quality, BUT they still tasted good!

Laying the dumplings in the pan

Fry them until the bottom is crispy

Then add water

And cover

OR take the other half of your batch and boil them! When they float to the top, they're done!

Our banquet (that Angela made for us, and we ate...haha)!

I just can't get over how close she lives to the 101!

After class, I went out to the National Palace Museum (where Taiwan stores many of it's treasures and artwork) on my own. I haven't really done anything on my own yet, and it was really nice taking things at my own pace. On my way there, I met a few other foreigners who tipped me off to a free English audio tour of the palace. It was really interesting, and all of the displays were really beautiful. Unfortunately, you can't take any photos IN the palace, so I don't have anything indoor to show you. I did get some nice outdoor shots, though.

From the plaza of the museum; the castle is a preschool in the town!

The NPM up close

Building #2, but there were no exhibits in that hall when I was there

Had to be a tourist

Pretty neat!

Giant arches

I walked down near the garden and the park (which were closing when I got there), but I saw these great water drainage slides (how cute)!

And a really beautiful sunset over this stage area

So pretty

Across the street was the aboriginal museum, but it was closed too, so I'll just have to go back once Hilda's done!

I'll leave you with this:

Peggie and Joey (Kao-Lien and Bai-Lan) got their annual summer shave!

Poor embarrassed Peggie...

That's Where Seafood Comes From

It was another fast-paced week, but mostly due to the work, punctuated with a few visits to the wider world. It's been really rainy (like it's the rainy season, or something) lately, so some of the...er, usually outdoor creatures have been sneaking into our apartment. We've been seeing more creepy crawlies than usual (mostly bugs), but the one advantage to that is I finally captured Larry the Lizard!

Tail and all--I released him as far away as possible, and he hasn't been back yet!

10 minutes after my return from Larry's release party, I noticed this little guy inching across my desk.

We've all been working hard to turn Ping Ping's beautiful designs into reality. Here is the foundation of Nellie's costume; she created an amazing shape!

Va-Va-Voom!

Such an elegant silhouette

My little Hilda, in fitting #2, ready for real fabric next week!

On Sunday, we had the honor of going shopping in a traditional market with our cooking teacher, Angela Cheng. It was awesome!

The entrance to the market was a tiny alleyway--you would never see it if you didn't know it was there!

We had rice noodles for breakfast, here they are preparing it.

Next door was a lovely display of rooster testicles. Mmmmm, haha!

Breakfast! It was quite good, but not something I'm used to eating at 9am!

One of the many vegetable displays

The meat stands

Some live river fish

Pork legs and intestines ready for washing

They will kill, pluck, and butcher a chicken for you, right before your eyes--you know it's fresh!

Showing us the difference between a male or female crab; I think the males have white underneath, and the females have dark, and rounder belly armor.

The lovely fish display

The stall owner, haggling a price with a customer.

With a complete deadpan, Emily (a vegan) says, "She's telling that man, 'I'll go kill this for you now'," and just as Sweta says "What?!", we hear a loud THWACK, and Sweta's face was one of complete shock, and the woman put the still-wriggling crab back together, bagged him up, and sent him on the way with the customer. #Just another day at the farm/That's where seafood comes from.

The tofu stall

Many varieties! 

They took us to the back to see the "factory" where they make the tofu.

So many OSHA issues...haha!

This little guy's name is Lucky, and he did little tricks for us!

The fish ball stall

Giant fish! She was chopping away the whole time

The noodles stall

So many varieties of greens!

Taiwanese sushi--corn sushi and green onion sushi is new to me!

Look how close we are to the Taipei 101!

MANGO SHAVED ICE! I have been wanting this ever since I saw it on the Travel channel, and it was everything I dreamed and more!!

Last night, the UT contingent of Taiwan got together and grabbed dinner! We decimated that restaurant, haha!

That's all for now!