Taiwan

Catherine left Taiwan at age 22. When she was growing up, she spent summers on her grandparents’ farm where they grew rice, fruit, chickens, and pigs. Her after school programs included ballet on Mondays, drawing on Tuesdays, piano on Wednesdays, and so forth. Piano is still a large part of her life. Her mother was a seamstress who owned a large shop in Taipei and came home when they were finishing dinner. Her father was an electrical engineer who traveled to Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore to help develop their grids. He would take notes on the food he experienced and then find it in Taiwan to have his family try it. When Catherine was in college, she went with him on some of his trips.

Catherine told me that Taiwan was originally populated by exiled Chinese scholars because Confucius taught that you can’t kill the scholar, but you can send them far away. Taiwan was also under Japanese control for some time. Catherine’s grandma was educated in the Japanese system and could only read Japanese, but could speak three languages.

When I asked Catherine how to experience Taiwan in Southern California, she took me on a day long tour. First we went to S. G. Superstore in San Gabriel where the first generation of immigrants came. There are small businesses in booths in the front. We stopped at one that had beautiful hand embroidered clothing. At the grocery store the back, Catherine pointed out the cartons of still hot soy milk, as they had just been delivered. She also helped me choose appropriate groceries for a dessert spread for the next day with my cooking group, Taiwanese pineapple cake, seaweed cookies, freshly made mo chi, dragon fruit, and tang xin apples. Catherine tells me that putting a cover on the apple while it grows keeps the sweetness near the core instead of under the skin.

Next we went around the corner to Lu’s Garden and picked six dishes to share: scrambled egg and tomato, edible tree fungus (agaric), spinach pan fried with garlic, Chinese eggplant, seaweed salad, and green beans with chili. They were all so good!

Then we went to Rowland Heights, where the second generation moved. We shopped at 99 Ranch Market, one of a chain of stores across California. The owner is from Taiwan. I saw things in the meat section that I had never seen before like silky chicken, which is black, and a huge variety of live fish and seafood. Catherine says this reminds her of shopping in Taipei.

Nearby is J. J. Bakery, Catherine’s favorite, where Catherine picked out a variety of desserts for us to try: jjbakeryusa.com/rowland-heights

Next we traveled the short distance to the Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, which is sponsored by a mother temple that moved to Taiwan after communism spread through China. We enjoyed seeing the many visitors and the fabulous decorations for the last day of the Chinese New Year. Catherine bought me a red ribbon with a Chinese blessing printed on it for a harmonious home. This temple has many events that are open to the public including a Cultural and Arts Festival that I went to a few years ago. It is well worth attending: hsilai.org/en

Our last stop was for a Mango yogurt drink at Hui Lau Shan in Rowland Heights. We saw palates of mangos in the back, so they must make it fresh. Thank you to Catherine for the fun day and the interesting tour!

The next day with my cooking group, I actually did cook. I made a Taiwan Sponge Cake which is steamed in the oven (so that’s how all those bakery items have such a soft texture!). I served it on a tray with the many other Taiwanese items that Catherine helped me choose. Everyone had fun trying a little of everything. The cake is very light and not very sweet. Just a warning about the recipe – it calls for oil and never says when to add it. I think it probably is to be added with the milk and egg yolks, but I never put it in and the cake was really good without it: https://onthegas.org/food/taiwanese-sponge-cake/

Other great Taiwanese meals I have enjoyed include:

· Tasty Pot Taiwanese Cuisine in Ontario with Kaitlin and Andrea. We split the veggie pot, and added rice, tempura and vermicelli. Kaitlin and Andrea also had the macaroon ice cream sandwiches.

· A&J Restaurant in Irvine. I had the vegetarian delight (a cold dish, so I wasn't expecting much, but it had great flavor), the scallion pancake, and the thousand layer pancake. I didn't really need two pancakes, but wanted to try them both. My favorite was the scallion pancake.

· The Taiwanese booth at Haven City Market in Rancho Cucamonga with Karina. I had the mah jiang noodles with sesame peanut sauce, sliced soy sauce bean curd, cucumber and peanuts (it was really good). Karina had the mapo tofu (it’s just as spicy as I remember from other places) and the braised pork belly (she ate some of each and took leftovers to Cole).

· Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks in San Mateo with Mom, Dad, and Suzy on the way home from Half Moon Bay. I loved the sweet plum fries, mom loved the crispy mushroom, and we all loved the fried tofu, broccoli, and carrot. Dad inhaled the mango shaved ice, the sour vegetables were interesting as a condiment, and the popcorn chicken was good. Mom pulled out some of the noodles before I added the fish balls to the fish ball noodle soup. Mom said Taiwanese food is her second favorite so far. (Nursel was her first favorite, and I’ll write about that next week for Tajikistan.)

Places I haven’t tried yet, but are on my list are:

· Yuh-Chi recommends Mama Chen’s in Cupertino. She says there are a few low reviews due to people expecting Chinese food. Taiwanese food is different.

· Paul recommends Southland Flavor Cafe because he likes plate lunch.

· My colleague Thai recommends Noodle House in Chino Hills.

· I see great reviews for Iceskimo's Taiwanese Shaved Ice on Convoy Street in San Diego. I hear they have flavors like black sesame and matcha green tea and they are topped with lychee, bananas foster, Nutella, or oolong milk tea. Vonnett and I will have to try this on my next trip to San Diego.

Food is important in Taiwan, so it deserved all that space, but let's move on to movies. Ang Lee is a Taiwanese filmmaker who is well known for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Life of Pi. I went looking for some of his films that are more obviously Taiwanese and found these:

· Eat Drink Man Woman: https://tubitv.com/movies/302158/eat-drink-man-woman

· The Wedding Banquet: https://tubitv.com/movies/303018/the-wedding-banquet

For more watching, A Taiwanese Tale of Two Cities is a Netflix series in which a doctor from Taipei and an engineer from San Francisco trade homes and cultures. I love both the views of Taiwan and the Bay Area.

I picked up two books about Taiwan for young people at the Los Angeles County Library. Dumpling Days by Grace Lin is for ages 8-12 and The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. Pan is for teens, but they both cover the night markets, art competitions, temples visited, and Ghost Month on a trip to visit grandparents. The second book also dealt with the serious subject of depression and the mother’s suicide. Both books were good in their own way and for their own audience.

To cover just a little more literature from Taiwan, here is a collection from women writers: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/collection/august-2016-women-writers-from-taiwan/

For some beautiful Taiwanese music, see:

· W.M.L and Vicky Chen sing I'm Alive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVR0oi_N4U

· Hebe Tien sing It is the Hour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fme_FNdfVCs

· 831 feat sing Hug: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3R2JTNk3us

· The National Taiwan University Chorus sing Spring Rain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWtHy5D-Td0

Here are just a few of the many great places to visit in Taiwan: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-day-trips-from-taipei/. I would love to go! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Taiwan and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Kelly Doroteo https://unsplash.com/photos/Gc13FslBFJY