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frecklesandthenerd · 5 years

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Our Not China Trip Begins

A quick disclaimer about this collection of blogs - during this trip we visited three regions that, while China considers them to be part of China, consider themselves varying degrees of...not China. Hong Kong and Macau are Special Administrative Regions of China, and Taiwan doesn’t have an official status because no one can agree on what it should be. The politics of these regions are all very complex, and while we tried to fact check everything in this blog, I can’t guarantee that we got everything right. If you want to learn more about these fascinating areas, there’s a ton of great information out there.

Taiwan has a pretty bizarre status at the moment. Originally Taiwan had been a part of China, but when the Qing dynasty needed an offering while losing a conflict with Japan, they offered up Taiwan in 1895. For fifty years, Japan occupied the island, which already had some European influences due to Dutch and Spanish mining. In 1945, Japan gave up the island during its post-WWII retreat. Then, in 1949, the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) took took control of mainland China. For decades, the two governments, each considering themselves the true Chinese government, existed in an uneasy status quo. Now, under the One China campaign, the PRC wants Taiwan to be officially part of China. Taiwan, which feels like it hasn’t been part of China for 125 years, generally does not agree. Taiwan has some support from the western world, but China is a force to be reckoned with. It’ll be an interesting next few decades for the island.

After an insanely busy six months of moving across the country, starting new jobs, and missing a European vacation due to a freak blizzard, Taipei felt like a gift. It’s different from the U.S., so it fed my need for new experiences, but it’s also just amazingly easy. The food is amazing, the people are wonderful, and the scenery is spectacular. The city is safe and clean, and the public transit is cheap and useful. To our surprise, there’s even a ton of great coffee available from adorable local shops. Many people speak at least some English, and everyone else was happy to interact with us and figure it out.

Our first day was spent being jet lagged, wandering the city, and eating Din Tai Fung. I had been skeptical that we should visit the original, since we have one in Seattle, but I’m glad Jason convinced me to go. Din Tai Fung is amazing everywhere, but in Taipei the menu is bigger and all the flavors are just a bit better. It’s also just a very fun experience.

One of Taiwan’s fantastic birds (Photo/Jason Rafal) A temple in the 2/28 Peace Park (Photo/Jason Rafal) Taipei 101 through the fog (Photo/Jason Rafal) At the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (Photo/Jason Rafal) At the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (Photo/Jason Rafal) At the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (Photo/Jason Rafal) A white fluffy bird (Photo/Jason Rafal) Another fun bird in the rain (Photo/Jason Rafal) An ornate cup at a wonderful coffee shop with a wonderful cat (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We stopped by the Huashan Creative Park, which is a great collection of shops and exhibits.

A Pocky...exhibit? At the Huashan 1914 Creative Park (Photo/Jason Rafal) Overgrown apartment decks (Photo/Jason Rafal) Waiting in the crowd at Din Tai Fung (Photo/Jason Rafal) A sign-filled street near our hotel (Photo/Jason Rafal)

We went back to the hotel for a bit, then rallied for a rainy (but warm) walk in the dark through some of the city. We headed to a nearby Taoist temple, then to the Ningxia Night Market. The Taoist temples have really incredible carvings on the roof, and they are very brightly colored.

Nighttime street wandering in the rain (Photo/Jason Rafal) Night at the Dalongdong Baoan Temple (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Everyone in Taiwan uses umbrellas instead of raincoats, so we got a lot of stares for wearing our Seattle second skins. Or, you know, maybe they were just staring because we’re giant white people.

Nicole follows the lines and orders a scallion pancake (Photo/Jason Rafal) The heavy umbrella use is very challenging at crowded night markets (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On Saturday we took a tour to learn a bit more about Taiwan and tea. We realized while on the tour that for all our coffee tours, we had never done a tea tour, and it was time. We only had two other people on our tour, a young couple from Manila, so it ended up being a small group. It was very rainy, with occasional gusting winds.

Our first stop was a view of Thousand Island Lakes, which is a beautiful area to the southeast of Taipei. The lakes are a water source for the city, and all of the land around them are protected with the exception of families who have been there for generations. We stopped at one such family’s farm to take a look at the lakes. It was incredibly beautiful in the rain and fog.

The beautiful view at Thousand Island Lakes (Photo/Jason Rafal)

From there we went to another view and tea plantation area, where we learned some more about tea. Taiwan only grows small amounts of tea, which is mostly oolong - they have a lot of regulations about quality and everything has to be organic, so they end up importing a lot as well. Taiwanese tea is considered pretty special.

Our next stop was a traditional tea shop in Pinglin, where a tea master made three types of tea for us and our guide translated. The first was green tea that had 10-12% fermentation, the second was a black tea with 100% fermentation, and the third was a green tea with 25% fermentation. Green tea is delicate, while black tea doesn’t care how long you steep it or at what temperature.

We were taught to use the sniffer glass to smell the tea and warm our hands (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our guide explained that the honey black tea that we were drinking had become popular because of a bug, the green cicada. Every late summer, the green cicada would bite the tea leaves and ruin them - the flavor of those leaves, when made into green tea, was apparently not appealing to anyone. At some point, though, some tea farmer thought to make them into black tea, and there the cicada saliva (?), or oxidation of the leaves, or something, could really shine. It created a smooth, slightly sweet flavor that added a lovely complexity. We promptly bought some after trying it.

Our instructional tea ceremony (Photo/Jason Rafal) A cat who didn’t care about us at all (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Finally, we went to a tea museum, where we learned about all of the steps in tea processing. Tea processing takes quite a while, and requires either a few different machines or a lot of manual labor. The tea has to be dried, fermented to the desired amount, and kneaded. The type of kneading depends on what type of tea is desired - kneading back and forth results in long strings of tea leaves, while kneading in a circle produces round beads. We also learned a bit about the different tea roads - not just the traditional European one I learned about in school, but also the Russian tea road and the common practice of trading horses for tea.

An old circular tea kneading machine (Photo/Jason Rafal) Teas with their relevant details (we had to put them on a sensor to see the translation) (Photo/Jason Rafal) ...I have no explanation for this bowl of bubbles (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After our tour, we wandered around in the rain in Taipei and ate a ton of great food. We started with one of the popular places for beef noodle soup, which was the type of hole in the wall that had a 20-person line at minimum (but you only had to wait about 20 minutes to get cycled in). Taiwanese beef noodle soup, when done right, is incredibly delicious - rich brown broth, thick homemade noodles, and tender chunks of beef. The traditional toppings include a sort of pickled vegetable mix, vinegar, soy sauce, and hot oil. It’s amazing.

Waiting in line for beef noodle soup (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After lunch we wandered across the city to try a coffee shop that was on our list (we never quite figured out who had recommended it). Taipei is very walkable, and also has an outstanding metro system - cheap, clean, convenient, well-used.

Let’s get into coffee for a minute - as I mentioned before, we were a bit shocked at the amount of quality coffee in Taipei. Much of Asia is not especially into coffee, and when we were in Vietnam, when there was no Vietnamese coffee available, there was often only instant coffee. From what we can glean from people we talked to and the internet, Starbucks brought reasonably good coffee to Taiwan, and then Taiwan attached to coffee and took it from there. Every specialty coffee shop we tried was between somewhat and incredibly good.

A lot of the coffee shops are also hang out spots that serve beer, snacks, and even full meals. I tried a craft beer, which was really solid. All of the desserts were amazing, as expected. The delightful trilogy of coffee, dessert, and beer (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After some more walking through the rain we stopped by Raohe Night Market, which I highly recommend. Taiwanese night markets are evening markets that feature street stalls selling all sorts of things, depending on which market you’re at. My favorite night markets have a lot of street food to try, but it’s also pretty common to see clothes, toys, and gadgets. We tried some pork pepper buns from a stall - ground pork is mixed with spices and a whole lot of pepper, then wrapped with a lot of scallions in a thin dough bun, then stuck on the side of an oven (very similar to a tandoori oven) to cook. When it’s golden brown, it’s scraped off of the side of the oven and handed to you in a paper bag. It’s as mouth scalding and delicious as it sounds.

The Rainbow Bridge (Photo/Jason Rafal) Making the pork pepper bun (Photo/Jason Rafal) Buns in the oven (Photo/Jason Rafal) Owls guarding the Raohe Night Market (Photo/Jason Rafal) There were a ton of mopeds in Taipei (Photo/Jason Rafal)

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deborahaphillips54303 · 4 years

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Cooking on Zoom Helps My Family Cope With Grief

Everyone has a different starting point for when this year went south. Some might look to the day their favorite sports league canceled its upcoming season. Others might remember the day their employer sent them to work from home indefinitely, which for VICE employees, was March 9. It’s nearly universal that people half-jokingly pinpoint a moment in 2020 that the world started ending, and everything changed irreversibly.

My starting point came a little earlier than that, on January 31, 2020, the day my aunt Jeanette died suddenly in her home in Sugarland, Texas. A central part of our family's world ended that day. Her death feels like the only thing to happen this year besides Black Lives Matter protests and a pandemic that, so far, has resulted in over 155,700 deaths in the U.S.

On March 1, I found myself at SFO around 10 p.m., waiting to board a flight back to New York after attending my aunt’s memorial service in the Bay Area, a small gathering at a restaurant in Oakland for family and friends who weren’t able to attend the funeral in Texas. The TV at our gate was tuned into CNN, and the chyron said something about a virus. I didn't pay it much attention, and then I sat in my middle seat and passed out, mouth agape, for the majority of the redeye. In retrospect, this seems like extremely risky behavior; If I had known what I know now, I would have worn a mask and paid extra not to sit in the middle seat.

Jeanette was a matriarchal figure in our family, a successful small business owner, teacher, and a licensed professional counselor. Her faith was extremely important to her, and she always took pride in her family and friends, continuously stressing the importance of staying in contact, even if you weren’t physically together. This was a challenge for a family that originated in India but then scattered across the United States.

She was also an excellent cook. In the 90s, along with her sister, Annabelle, she opened a successful deli-bistro in California called Amelia's. The deli introduced Indian ingredients like tandoori chicken and chutney to Bay Area staples like Dutch Crunch bread. At the time, these were more radical concepts than they are now. But even then, tech workers flooded in to enjoy them before heading back to their large beige computers. (The first Amelia's was near a Sun Microsystems office.)

On the few occasions I visited Amelia's as a kid, the order would always go the same way. I'd ask for a BLT, and my Aunty Jeanette would suggest I try something less boring. There were great options, she'd tell me, like the tandoori chicken or salted tongue sandwich. I'd refuse and get a BLT anyway, taking some comfort in knowing my little sister would order a "BLT without bacon."

My palate became more adventurous later on. On any trip to visit Jeanette, we could return on a plane with an immaculately packed beef tongue sandwich, if requested. Her banana bread was so good and treasured in our family, a valuable commodity wrapped in a tin foil brick, that I became confused later on when I found other people treated this delicacy as a way to salvage bad bananas.

Shortly after the funeral, Jeanette's husband, Sri, spun up a WhatsApp group to ensure our family stayed close as we returned to our various corners of the world. Eventually, we began to have weekly Sunday Zoom calls. At first, these calls were an extension of her memorial. We shared our favorite stories and made tentative plans of when we'd get together again—plans that have since been rescheduled because of COVID constraints.

Then we pivoted our calls to jointly prepare some of her most popular recipes, brainstorming in our WhatsApp group what to cook the following Sunday. My uncle John would share a recipe with a veg and non-veg option, and everyone would log into the call on Sunday, with their mise en place, ready to cook. The weekly call is now complete with a Spotify playlist and cocktail pairing. We are also currently in the process of collecting Jeanette's recipes to make a cookbook that will also double as a memorial for her; there are the hits from Amelia's Deli, such as the Dutch Crunch bread and tandoori chicken; Indian classics like chana masala and shrimp curry; and miscellaneous hits like her American chop suey. One must-make dish that we have not collectively conquered is sorpotel; the simmered pork masala is a top-tier breakfast dish alongside a fried egg and fresh roll, and it was one of Jeanette's most requested dishes.

Our family is like a closed-circuit Indian Food Channel, one that I can directly relate to much more than any recent Indian reality show on Netflix. Together we prepare other family favorite dishes, like potato chops, a dish my late grandmother (Jeanette's mother) made from mashed potato cutlets stuffed with minced beef (or vegetables.) This prep-intensive dish, that many of us avoided for its inconvenience, we now did with intent, even happiness.

The weekly cooking meetings, attended by family in California, Washington, Texas, D.C., Indiana, Connecticut, New York, and Mumbai, are a way to connect with a purpose. The discussion varies, from the week's national news and the local happenings in our respective neighborhoods. We celebrate recent birthdays, and the babies on the call will beam into the camera, or growl like a tiger, or even assist with food preparation.

The process of putting together such a book is much more complicated than I'd imagined: from sorting through dozens of recipes, using a combination of shared drives, documents, and spreadsheets; thinking through the physical layout of each page, and finding a supplier to print an actual book. How do you organize the recipes? Who will cook what? Does everyone have a phone capable of good food photography? How widely do we share such a book? There's an instinct to keep at least some recipes within our circle, but I'm not sure if we're all on board there. I'll have to bring it up on a future call.

In the absence of being able to physically see most of my family, these messages and Zoom calls provide some sense of closeness and purpose.

I look forward to our Sunday cooking sessions, which provide a sense of closeness in the absence of being able to physically see each other. The weekly Zoom is the one constant and recurring event that I can count on, knowing I will enjoy it, and that there will be a delicious result on the other side. When I've been able to share a Sunday dish with a friend, or another family member, there’s a real feeling that we're honoring Jeanette. Her chutney was a hit with my girlfriend's mom, and a friend enjoyed the potato chops at a socially distant park hangout in Brooklyn.

I don't endorse using Zoom, it's simply the path of least resistance to get on the horn with a dozen or so family members. It’s one of the cases where I throw up my hands and let the riptide of convenience pull me into an ocean of compromised privacy. My dad, who is Jeanette's younger brother, told me he was sad that we had not done these Zoom cooking sessions when Jeanette was alive, as it was the exact type of thing she'd love to be part of. She loved cooking, being organized, and chatting with our family, and this activity requires all three.

My aunt meant a lot to me, but there are other people in my family for which this loss is indescribably much worse, and it’s something that feels callous to say, but weird to omit. My dad spoke to her nearly every night on his drive home from work; the loss her husband and two children feel is one I can't know. But my aunt made it a point to tell us all repeatedly how important it was to be together, and how much she enjoyed it when we were together. If I was taking a trip to visit her daughter in the Bay or her son in Seattle, she'd say how happy we were going to be together, even when she was not going to be there herself. And I'd joke that I felt like I was getting credit for doing something I wanted to do already. And as I look forward to next Sunday, there is a small joy in knowing she'd be happy we're cooking together.

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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cyberpoetryballoon · 4 years

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Cooking on Zoom Helps My Family Cope With Grief

In the absence of being able to physically see most of my family, these messages and Zoom calls provide some sense of closeness and purpose.

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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carolrhackett85282 · 4 years

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Cooking on Zoom Helps My Family Cope With Grief

In the absence of being able to physically see most of my family, these messages and Zoom calls provide some sense of closeness and purpose.

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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melodymgill49801 · 4 years

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Cooking on Zoom Helps My Family Cope With Grief

In the absence of being able to physically see most of my family, these messages and Zoom calls provide some sense of closeness and purpose.

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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carolinechanson97838 · 4 years

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Cooking on Zoom Helps My Family Cope With Grief

In the absence of being able to physically see most of my family, these messages and Zoom calls provide some sense of closeness and purpose.

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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latoyajkelson70506 · 4 years

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Cooking on Zoom Helps My Family Cope With Grief

In the absence of being able to physically see most of my family, these messages and Zoom calls provide some sense of closeness and purpose.

via VICE US - undefined US VICE US - undefined US via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

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aemondsmith3 · 2 months

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Indian Dinner Restaurant In Seattle WA

Seattle’s vibrant culinary scene is home to an array of international flavors, but when it comes to authentic Indian cuisine, Jewel of India stands out as the top choice. As an Indian Dinner Restaurant In Seattle WA, Jewel of India has built a reputation for delivering a dining experience that’s both culturally rich and gastronomically satisfying. Whether you’re a fan of classic Indian dishes or eager to explore new culinary delights, this restaurant offers a diverse menu that caters to every palate.

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#Restaurant #Indian Dinner Restaurant #Restaurant In Seattle WA #Jewel of India

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