CKS Memorial take 2, jade market, flower market & famous dumplings

October 18-19, 2008

Another weekend has passed without raindrops or typhoons or even toddler naps to dodge! While there is still about 6 weeks left in typhoon season, those wicked storms seem to have quieted down for the time being. The "fall" weather is still in the mid to high 80's, but the humidity is low and the tropical breeze helps keep us cool. We've been out and about making the most of this optimal weather. I hear we won't see much more of it until this time next year.

On Saturday we set off to the Chang Kai-Shek (CKS) Memorial again in hopes to see it sparkle in the sunshine. What a difference a few days make! The grounds were alive with the flutter of a carnival. There were floats, costumed dancers and drum lines. Of course we weren't there long before Caitlin's paparazzi arrived and it was through an English speaking photographer that I learned what we were witnesses was a carnival. I asked what the purpose of it was, but I don't think he knew. Anyhow, the festivities took place on the entrance grounds where there was absolutely no shade to be found, so we scooted off to the gardens where there was lots of tree cover to protect us from the heat. And far less paparazzi.

Video of the drum line (top) Video of Caitlin's paparazzi (bottom)

For an out-of-towner, or perhaps better stated, an out-of-countryer, I find so much wonder when I walk out our door. My eyes rest upon architecture that is just so uncommon and I find myself in a constant state of amazement as I take in all the layers and details and know that there are probably more delicate details too embedded into the culture for me to ever find alone. For example, Fung Shui is quite popular in Taiwan and it's not like they label it so you know why there's a pond here to perhaps drown your sorrows in and a mirror there to reflect good luck upon your family or that the building is facing east because your spirit rises in that direction...It truly is fascinating. Thankfully, the grandeur of these sights helps to relieve my disappointment in the simplicity of the gardens at the CKS Memorial. Given the popularity of the memorial I had envisioned gardens straight out of Longwood Gardens or the Duke Gardens or the Hershey Gardens. It's not like that at all. The gardens are well kept, but very low maintenance. There are very few flowers and no intricately carved bushes. No bonsai trees either. Still, there was much to be amazed by. I've included a link to our pictures from this outing. You'll see what I mean.

From CKS we moved onto the flower & jade markets. These two markets spring to life on the weekends. They are each about one very large city block in length and they are located under the Jianguo flyover (basically, a highway...or so I think). The flower market consists of hundreds of small booths staffed by growers from as far away as central Taiwan to sell their blooms. Everything from the simple cut sunflower to the exotic bonsai tree can be found as well as seeds, vases, compost, pots, garden tools and ornate wooden plant stands.

The jade market is dubbed northern Taiwan's "mecca for jade lovers." It's set up exactly like the flower market and boasts some 900 or so sellers of the stone. According to the Discovery Channel's guidebook on Taipei, this jade market may be one of the largest in all of Asia. There is jade in all forms, statues, jewelry and au naturel. Antiques and contemporary-a little something for everyone can be found here. The downside...well, we don't happen to know all that much Mandarin. In addition, we really don't look Taiwanese either. it's really helpful if you speak the language and look Asian. I believe the prices the vendors typed into their calculators were jacked up for us western-looking folk, so ultimately, I walked away with nothing. I think I'll convince my new Taiwanese friend to come along with me someday and help negotiate.

While Matt & I were navigating our way in the markets under the highway, Caitlin took a 2 hour nap! This totally worked out in our favor because I'm sure she would have torn that jade market apart. All of the tables were right within her reach and there was little room to distance her grasp. She woke up shortly after we were out in the open again...on our way to get the most famous dumplings in Taiwan!

All about Din Tai Fung...

I'm not even going to try and restate the facts. This passage is straight out of Wikipedia. "Founder Bingyi Yang was born in Shanxi, China but moved to Taiwan in 1948 as a result of the Chinese civil war. After working 10 years at Heng Tai Fung, a cooking oil retailer, he found himself unemployed due the store's closing. Thus, he and his wife, Penmei Lai, founded Din Tai Fung (also a cooking oil retailer) in 1958. Around 1980, tinned cooking oil became prevalent, and business diminished drastically. In order to survive, Bingyi Yang and his wife began making and selling steamed buns, commonly known as dumplings to westerners, on the side. The buns/dumplings were so popular that the store stopped selling oil and became a full-fledged restaurant in the 1980s." In 1993, Din Tai Fung was named one of the best restaurants in the world by the New York Times.

And Tara says...

The New York Times was really onto something here. I really do not care for Asian food. It's not like anything we have in the US. In some ways I think it might be healthier over here, but then you factor in the common use of MSG and the fried you name it, it's fried and stuck on a stick (sort of like in the south, minus the fried Snickers bars). I really don't think it's all that much healthier. Overall, I don't like the smell of anything cooked here and I find most everything I eat unsatisfying and start craving my grandmother's macaroni and meatballs. Nothing like culinary satisfaction in good old Italian carbs! Mmmmm, I haven't had those in a while.

Din Tai Fung may have fooled me into thinking that they are the best and the healthiest dumpling establishment in Taiwan. First of all, they serve spinach. Spinach is something I can't seem to find here. Either that or I don't know what Taiwanese spinach looks like, because it sure doesn't resemble anything I would label as spinach. Whatever the case may be, this place serves spinach in all of it's crisp, bright green wonder sauteed in garlic. (You could probably win me over with anything sauteed in garlic.) For those of you nodding off over my obsession with spinach, hang on there's more. You might want to grab something caffeinated here...I'm about to get all long winded about food. I think in a former life I was a food critic. I should rename this blog to, "Tara eats her way through Taiwan." Okay, enough of that.

The dumplings...there are all different kinds of dumplings. We'll start with the different shapes. There are cute round ones that are about the size of a donut hole. They are stuffed and twisted at the top so they look more like a creamy white, dainty, sweet confection rather than a doughy meat and veggie filled salty wonder. Then there are crescent moon shaped dumplings that are equally as intricate in the folding of the dough at the seam. It's a fanned sort of twisting...hard to explain. You'll have to take a look at our pictures to really get the idea of what I'm trying to explain. These, too look pastry-like, but the dough is thinner and you can see the colors of the food stuffed inside. Then there are steamed buns which is a bigger, thicker, doughy-er bun-ish thing filled with saucy meats of your choice. They too are neatly twisted at the top and look like cakes. Then there are won-tons...most of you have seen these before. They are similar to those in the US, but the dough is less pasta-ish and quite thinner. I'm probably missing something here, but you get the idea. Onto the stuffing! Well, there's your choice of pork, shrimp, crab, mushrooms, spinach...you can even have "soup" in your dumplings! My memory is running short on the stuffings. They probably had more fish and therefore I skipped over it and didn't commit it to memory. We mostly ordered pork and veggie stuffings and then dipped our dumplings in one part soy sauce, 3 parts dark vinegar, fresh grated ginger and (of course) some oily hot pepper concoction. Pure salty heaven. The menu also has fried rice, all sorts of soups and steamed cakes, but unfortunately our stomachs could only hold so much. We stuffed ourselves silly and had a hard time sucking in our full bellies on the train ride home. Mmmmm.

I think that's enough blogging for tonight. Here's the link to our pictures from Saturday. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/taralheller/20081018CKSMemorialFlowerMarketJadeMarketDumplings?authkey=OQ25DDlCMV4#