(yea, I know you weren't expecting that one, Taiwan is a tropical country after all...right?)
Well, it's cold here. Despite common sense.
Sorry I've been out of it for so long, things are always crazy here, and I got the flu last weekend, so I've been sorta dragging myself uphill since then.
But on to my topic.
(Side note, at some point, someday, i'll continue my 'Be Prepaired' series, but for now, I'm stuck between ISIS and the Bible, and which, what, where, when...etc.)
Anyway, my topic:
TAIWAN
Well, right now, she's cold, sorta wet, and actually pretty darn awesome.
But there's more to the topic, than my redunant mentioning of the cold. (AMAZING cold, remember?)
Cooking in Taiwan.
It's so very interesting!! I have a toaster oven, hot plate, crockpot, two rice cookers, and a blender to work with. Not too bad...unless you consider the fact that the toaster oven doesn't always work, the crockpot dial is all in Chinese, and the hot plate periodically goes on the fritz. In the middle of my pouring milk into a white sauce, stirring tuna, cooking noodles...BLAM and HEAT like none else.
But all of them still heat up, or cook, or do SOMETHING. So I'm pretty happy with it. :)
So toaster oven cooking...I wanna bake muffins? Yay...amuffin at a time...(actually six) in individual little pans...hmm...why not cut the recipe in half you ask.
Well duh.
But for some reason, that 'duh' was a long time coming to me, and it was only today that i discovered other people DO use toaster ovens, and they DO have recipes for the toaster oven!!
(Wow, what a revelation, right? Right.)
So I 'might' be getting smarter. (might)
But there's a reason why we only have a toaster oven here.
In Taiwan, people do not cook their own food, unless it's barbecue, and in that case, only meat and vegatables. Never bread, cakes, cookies...etc. (no blanket-statements here, it's true, there ARE people that cook their own food, but it's rare.)
Instead, most food is bought from the night markets, little resturants, or the local bakery.
Therefore, no need for an oven in every house, like in America.
I personally would prefer an oven, but the toaster oven works pretty well, and it's not like I can't cook. I just learn to be...creative. :)
Oh, and food. Before I came here, everyone was telling me that because no one cooks, there really aren't grocery stores. Well...bah humbug to them. 'Cause at least where I live, there's a morning market, two grocery stores, at least three organic stores--somewhere...idk where, can't find them--so no lack of fresh food, or meat. (and flour is getting easier to find as well.)
Suffice to say, unless it's something like 'specific' American foods, you can buy pretty much anything and everything here. Taiwan is, after all, a first world country. We even found powdered sugar here last month! (talk about making icing a whole lot simpler to mix up.)
There are some places here, that feel so like America, it's almost comical. We have a Costco in Chiayi--just like American Costcos. It even smells the same. Carefore (A French grocery/clothing/everything else store) is about a half-an-hour's walk from the train station.)
Oh, that's another thing about Taiwan, the train is how one travels. Everywhere, anywhere. Trains, buses, and taxis. (hehe, the taxi drivers drive like maniacs, and road rules are...somewhat...followed.)
That's...all I can think of saying today...I'll post pictures of all this at some point this weekend, so to one and all...
Happy New Year from Taiwan!!
I'll talk to you all in 2015!
Shalom
Yeshua be with you all!
~Marissa
