Dish 01: Russian Pirozhki

What have I gotten myself into? I’ve just started a new series called “52 Dishes: A Year in the Kitchen,” and that means I need to find 52 different people to each teach me how to make a dish — one dish every week for a year. Yeah, sure, I know 52 people, but I don’t think the mailman is going to want to cook me dinner. Fortunately I found the perfect person with the perfect dish, and she agreed to help us launch our new series.

Midwinter: an excuse to eat sweet dumplings!

Has it really come to that? Are we really looking for excuses to eat something? If the answer is yes, then today (Dec. 22, 2009)  is the perfect day for you!

It’s Midwinter (“冬至” or “dongzhi” in Mandarin), and that means everyone has to force him- or herself to eat chewy mounds of glutinous rice packed with velvety black sesame paste, bobbing in piping hot bowls of sweet red bean soup. If that doesn’t sound like your thing, then read no further. I’m happy to bear the burden for you!

Eating my way through Hong Kong

Ahhh, dear egg tart. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Oh, hello there, reader! Sorry, you caught me gazing at this photo of a Cantonese egg tart (aka: “dan ta”). It’s hard not to lose yourself in one of these, especially if it’s the edible kind, not a photo.

Fortunately this story has a happy ending, because mere seconds after I snapped this photo, the egg tart was beginning to dissolve on my tongue. And I have Choi Fook Royal Banquet in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong to thank. It was the perfect way to cap off an all-too-short stay in one of Taipei’s nearest neighbors.

Putting food on your face

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” by Judy Blume. In particular, it was the chapter where little Fudge’s parents couldn’t get him to eat, so they brought him up to the bathtub and dumping food over his head. That inspired the phrase “eat it or wear it” which has stuck with me until this day.

It’s also the phrase that inspired us in this week’s edition of Feast Meets West. I thought to myself, ”How can we create a program in which we can get away with putting food on ourselves instead of in ourselves?” The safest answer, we discovered, was the ever-popular food-related facial. Keep reading to find out what I look like with a squash (loofah) facial plastered to my face and to get tips for creating your own facials from edible ingrediants.

We need your help getting out of bed!

Ellen and I have been having a hard time waking up in the morning and starting the day on a fresh note. So we’re holding a competition to learn about your suggestions for creating the perfect morning routine.

The deadline is midnight on Sunday, Nov. 8th (no matter where you are in the world), so send your entries ASAP! Keep reading to find out how to enter.

“Ideas worth sharing” from Taiwan

When Taiwanese living overseas think of “home”, they often reminisce about food. For Kevin Peng (pictured at left), who was born in Taiwan but grew up in Malaysia, those foods include oyster omelets, pork balls, and rice vermicelli among other things. Now that he lives in Taiwan, his food memories of Penang, Malaysia  include durians (the stinky fruit shaped like a spiky football) and nasi lemak (coconut rice).

More often than not, those foods are connected to other memories, stories and images of life in another land. Since returning to Taiwan several years ago, Kevin has been interested in learning more about the island of his birth.

Now, at TEDx Taipei (which will be held on Saturday, October 17th), Kevin and his collaborators Jason Hsu and Eric Tsai will showcase some of the most interesting people and stories from Taiwan. Together, they have curated a day-long event that aims to bring “ideas worth sharing” from Taiwan to the rest of the world.

How Taiwan’s national flower inspired a new way of eating

In 1964, Taiwan’s Cabinet adopted the plum blossom as the National Flower of the Republic of China. It’s a fitting pick for a government that was composed of the Chinese Nationalists who retreated to Taiwan after defeat by the Communists. That’s because the flower is known for its resilience in the brutal winters of Northern China.

Today it can be found on government signage, along the national highways, on Taiwan’s currency, and it’s even the logo of the national carrier – China Airlines.

The plum blossom was also the inspiration behind a way of eating that was popularized in Taiwan by former President Chiang Ching-kuo (Chiang Kai-shek’s son) in 1982.

Water, water, everywhere…

It’s hard to overestimate the importance that water plays in daily life here in Taiwan. We are surrounded by water, and yet there are often water shortages. Typhoons can bring enough rainwater to fill reservoirs, but it often comes at a price:  flooding and landslides like the ones that devastated southern Taiwan in August.

In the September 19th edition of Feast Meets West, we take a closer look at water. We’ll find out how the Chinese word for water — 水, “shui” — is used in idioms; discuss some unique water-related facts, plus introduce some great natural ways to add flavor to water.

Keep reading to find out which Feast Meets West host is pregnant!

“Sticky Rice Corn” from an Aboriginal Village

I’ve always associated corn with Native Americans. But indigenous Taiwanese serve it up too — and not just the mini-corn husks you see in stir-fry dishes.

In fact, big husks of sweet (and sometimes not-so-sweet) corn are sold on roadsides throughout rural Taiwan. It’s usually boiled or steamed with the husks intact. In urban night markets, you can find freshly-barbecued corn with Chinese herbs, sesame or sachar sauce.

In the US, only a small number of corn varieties are available to mass-market consumers (in part due to mass-production spurred on by fast food chains, and an overwhelming demand for sweet, yellow corn). People hoping to sample other varieties have to grow it themselves or look for it in farmer’s markets or specialty stores.

Blended food for dinner, yet again.

I arranged to have dinner with my friend Lars. After all, that’s what friends do – you eat, you have a few drinks, you chat.

But Lars has his mouth wired shut, so that puts a bit of a dent in the works. It means that Lars will be drinking his dinner, and I will be carrying the conversation.

We decide to order takeout from an Indian restaurant in the heart of Taipei. Lars had tired of the steady diet of blended yams and oatmeal that he’d been eating every couple of hours since he broke his jaw a couple weeks earlier. He’d become well acquainted with his blender because everything had to be pureed to a consistency that was thin enough to fit through the long, thin straw on his plastic water bottle.