Not By the Hair of My Chinny Chin Chin
The eating NEVER stops in Taiwan! Immediately following lunch, after a few steps the most important issue at hand is the location for dinner. Now, I've always been one who savors the last meal, unable to even think of what I want for dinner. Yet, the TINY Taiwanese males and females are able to eat an abnormally large meal and ask, "What's for dinner?" within SECONDS of paying the cashier. How do they remain so skinny? I've yet to get to the root of this mystery. For now, let's just investigate some of the more bizarre dishes I've come across.Let's just start simple: cake. Cake here is DELICIOUS. Not only is it colorful, it is actually semi-healthy. The icing has a hint of sweetness, unlike the pounds of sugar shoved into American cakes. The cakes also have pudding in between the layers, in lieu of icing--mmm, quite tasty. If you know me, you know that I don't like icing (really sweet things), so this definitely made a 10 on my scale!
Next, we have raw oysters. These have their occasional appearances in the States, but this was the first time I actually ate one. The mushy, cold meat was paired with a semi-sweet and spicy sauce. I could only eat one. If the oyster's meat had been smaller, I might have been able to eat a few more, but one of this size was enough!
You are in for a SHOCK! What is pictured below? If you had to guess, what would it be? Liver? Kidney beans? Misshapen tofu? Small babies? Haha, of course it's none of these. Each one of the kidney-bean-shaped items are actually delicacies in Taiwan. What makes your skin beautiful by controlling your hormones? If you answered chicken testicles you are a winner! Yes, pictured below are chicken testicles...
Below is the testicle I consumed (I spared you the grotesque picture of my actual consumption). Imagine tofu and you pretty much understand the texture and taste. Chicken testicles are extremely expensive in Taiwan, and are considered to have healing powers--they contain a lot of hormones so they can also influence/balance the consumer's hormones. As they say in Taiwan, "Women must eat more, it's good for the skin."
Below is an image of several things. Let us start with escargo (upper left). Moving counter-clockwise we have eel. Finally, we have the king of all things: fish chin! Yes, that's right, fish chin is considered to be the most delectable part of the fish. When I sat down, my host told me that I was going to be captured for eating fish chin. Everyone laughed at the table--except me. I came to find out that back in the day, the fish was divided into parts and served based on each part's tastiness. Apparently, fish chin is the most delicious part of the fish! Thus, when people came to a household to ask for money (debts/ransom) they usually went directly to the consumer of the fish chin. I won't be taken--not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!
This is only the beginning. Next time we'll have snake blood and something special! :) Stay tuned
Next, we have raw oysters. These have their occasional appearances in the States, but this was the first time I actually ate one. The mushy, cold meat was paired with a semi-sweet and spicy sauce. I could only eat one. If the oyster's meat had been smaller, I might have been able to eat a few more, but one of this size was enough!
Bon appetit!
This is definitely something that we rarely see in America, except for the few ethnic marketplaces. Each morning, around 3-4, pigs are shipped out to the street vendors to be butchered. The swine are killed hours before arrival, and turn into this:
You are in for a SHOCK! What is pictured below? If you had to guess, what would it be? Liver? Kidney beans? Misshapen tofu? Small babies? Haha, of course it's none of these. Each one of the kidney-bean-shaped items are actually delicacies in Taiwan. What makes your skin beautiful by controlling your hormones? If you answered chicken testicles you are a winner! Yes, pictured below are chicken testicles...
Below is the testicle I consumed (I spared you the grotesque picture of my actual consumption). Imagine tofu and you pretty much understand the texture and taste. Chicken testicles are extremely expensive in Taiwan, and are considered to have healing powers--they contain a lot of hormones so they can also influence/balance the consumer's hormones. As they say in Taiwan, "Women must eat more, it's good for the skin."
Below is an image of several things. Let us start with escargo (upper left). Moving counter-clockwise we have eel. Finally, we have the king of all things: fish chin! Yes, that's right, fish chin is considered to be the most delectable part of the fish. When I sat down, my host told me that I was going to be captured for eating fish chin. Everyone laughed at the table--except me. I came to find out that back in the day, the fish was divided into parts and served based on each part's tastiness. Apparently, fish chin is the most delicious part of the fish! Thus, when people came to a household to ask for money (debts/ransom) they usually went directly to the consumer of the fish chin. I won't be taken--not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!
This is only the beginning. Next time we'll have snake blood and something special! :) Stay tuned
ewww chicken testicles! :P
haha, sounds awesome though. Let me know when you discover their weight management secrets.
"I could only eat one. If the oyster's meat had been smaller, I might have been able to eat a few more, but one of this size was enough!"
really, edward? don't you know that's what she said last week?