This is the final story of Vicky’s series on Taipei. I’ve never really understood the point of aphrodisiacs. Oysters are included in this group of food items that allegedly stimulate sexual desire. Sure, there are certain foods that really do suggest a bit of romance more than others – strawberries or chocolate, for example. Perhaps [...]
Traditional Taiwanese desserts can be a difficult sell to the uninitiated. They usually don’t come from the oven, so they cannot rely on wafting, warm scents or soft, crumbly goodness to draw admirers. They don’t travel very easily in forms suitable for a happy memory, like those of a whimsical cupcake, pretty ice cream cone [...]
I like the slogan, “Taste the Rainbow.” Unlike M&Ms’ “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand,” it’s not overly practical. “Hungry? Why Wait?” doesn’t necessarily encourage someone to eat a Snickers bar, but rather anything that’s lying around nearby, which could be a Twinkie, for all we know. And slogans like “Two for me, [...]
The chip butty, found mostly in the UK, is a sandwich of chips, a.k.a. French fries, stuffed between two slices of sturdy bread. To be honest, the concept was a bit confusing at first. One cold winter morning, I pondered while munching on the ridiculously satisfying layers of deep-fried golden potatoes, ketchup, bread and mayonnaise: [...]
The basic purpose of food is to provide sustenance; the body needs it to function. Today, food serves many other purposes: social activity, hobby, art. Innovation with regards to food has been stupendous, as the variety of techniques used to render raw materials into a meal have expanded to add textures, bring out flavour combinations [...]
The National Palace Museum in Taiwan showcases a variety of ancient artifacts, from scrolls of calligraphy to bejewelled hairpins. Two sculptures serve as the museum’s equivalent of the Mona Lisa, showcase pieces that draw in the tour buses. One is a brilliant piece of white and green jade carved into the shape of a cabbage [...]
There’s something to be said for having everything in its right place. Organisation with regard to food is usually done in two places: in the cupboard and in the refrigerator. Boxes are used in both, but more so for dry foods like cereal or mac and cheese. If the user of the fridge in question [...]
Lunch in Anglo-Saxon offices is usually quick. Scores of articles in lifestyle magazines have been written for busy working men and women on how to make their lunch a bit more exciting than the sandwich bought from around the corner. Nevertheless, when readers are just too busy to prepare food at home, a sandwich hastily [...]
The nice thing about food places on the second floor is that they tend to feel like someone’s living room or attic: automatically homey, no matter what craziness is going on in the streets below. While walking through the unending streams of people in the Shinjuku Sanchome area of Tokyo, an orange sign caught my [...]
A diamond is, on its face, just a rock. Of course, it is a very hard rock, but it’s essentially a solid mass of carbon (also the main ingredient of graphite, the mineral used to make pencil tips). After the rock is cut, it becomes another story completely. The gem is judged by the four [...]
