2010 Taiwan Trip - Day 7

Today will be our last sightseeing trip before us going back to Singapore tomorrow late afternoon. Like I have mentioned before, fun and happy moment always past by so fast without us realising that it has already being seven days since we first arrived in Taiwan. Our itinerary for today will be visiting Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall - 国立中正紀念堂, National Palace Museum, National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine - 国民革命忠烈祠, Taipei 101 and Xi Men Ding - 西门町.

After morning breakfast, we arrived at our 1st stop at the "Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall - 国立中正紀念堂" which is a famous monument erected in memory of "Chiang Kai-shek - 蒋中正 / 蒋介石" the former President of the Republic of China. The monument is surrounded by a park, stands at the east end of Liberty Square whereby the structure is framed on the north and south by the National Theater and National Concert Hall.

Inside the Memorial Hall building, there are some exhibition halls whereby you can take a short tour on the cars, furniture, books and etc that has being used by the late "Chiang Kai-shek - 蒋中正 / 蒋介石".

Next we take a short ride to the "National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine - 国民革命忠烈祠" which is a shrine in Taipei City, dedicated to more than 300,000 civilians and soldiers killed in struggles with the Qing dynasty, the Japanese and the Communists. Most of the tourist are attracted to the hourly changing of the guards which are extremely exciting affairs that last for about more than fifteen minutes.

Lunch was served at "Top-Chef - 阿忠师台湾小吃" after our visit to the "National Palace Museum - 故宮博物院" which do not allow us to take any photograph during the entire museum tour. Although I can't show you much on the Palace Museum but if you are interested you can click on the link above to know more about it on their official website. The food for our lunch today is nothing really fancy of what we expected. As you can see from the photo above it seems like all the dish has the same sauce base because all their colour is the same :p Out of so many days, I guess this is the most average meal we have despite that it is from a well-known restaurant.

After lunch we arrived at the former official residence of Chiang Kai-shek and Madam Chiang which is known as “Chiang Kai-shek Shilin Residence Park - 士林官邸” that is located at the triangle of Fulin Road and Zhongshan North Road. This place is a garden is full of plums, chrysanthemums and roses that are favoured by the Chiang couple. There are also a lot of beautiful flowers blooms according to season that make for a stunning view throughout much of the year.

In the park, there is a little private chapel for Madam Chiang which is still looking good. According to the tour guide the resident of Madam Soong Mei Lin might be opened to public access in a few years time.

After about an hour or so at the Park, we headed down to "Wu Fen Pu Wholesale Centre - 五份铺" which is a fashion district area where you can shop for low-priced clothes from the wholesalers directly. Mum managed to get 2 dresses and a coat which is really at a good bargain price. Em.. for us, we didn't get any desire clothing but instead we pamper ourself with some wonderful dessert at one of the stall known as "Ku Cha Zhi Jia - 苦茶之家".

"Taipei 101 - 台北 101" is one of their local attraction that we have being looking forward to. The building is supposed to be ranked as the world's tallest building from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground whereby there is a multi-level shopping mall adjoining the tower houses hundreds of fashionable stores, restaurants and clubs.

Tonight's dinner was at "Koriya - 可利亚" where we get to try their 2-in-1 Hotplate plus Yuanyang(鸳鸯) Steamboat. There are a lot of varieties of meats, vegetables and etc which you will find something that suits you. And this is also the 1st time where we get the chance to try out Taiwan famous "Ma La Steamboat - 麻辣火锅". Although the soup might appear to be clear after adding the Ma La sauce, but it taste so hot and spicy which far beyond our imagination.

Other than ingredients, there is a self mixed sauce area where you can mix and match the ingredient to come out your very own dipping sauce. To our delight mum mixed a very nice dipping sauce that consists of pickles, crash peanut, oil, chili and etc which is very refreshing.

To end our day after a hearty dinner, the tour guide drop us off at Xi Men Ding - 西门町 is the epicentre of Taiwan’s youth culture. There are a lot of cute fashion stalls, varieties of food can be found here as well. And to our surprised we spot "Daiso" outlet there there too :) Other than that, we also found a very unique restaurant known as "Modern Toilet - 便所主题餐厅" where all the food are served in toilet bowl design cups/plates. I will get share with you more about this special restaurant in my next post :p Stay tune.......

2010 Taiwan Trip - Day 6

Isn't this look familiar to you??? Yes! Yes...... This is the famous Hot Star "Large Fried Chicken - 豪大大雞排" from Taipei "Shilin Night Market - 士林夜市". We have saw this a few time from the TV program in Singapore whereby they introduce the Taiwan Trip and their local food. So this is a must try when you visit the night market in Shilin.

The itinerary for the last few days trip was rather rest and relaxes with less traveling time but more sightseeing and shopping. This morning we are going to one of their Tomato and vegetables farm, which is known as “Chin Yong DIY recreational farm - 金勇DIY休闲农场”. This Leisure Farm is located in one of the town in Hsinchu - 新竹, where they have more than thirty species of tomatoes from around the world that is of different shapes, colour and nutritive value. This farm is admission free with guided tour and as well enable you and your family for fruit picking activates.

Today's lunch will be something interesting as we are going to try out some of the Taiwan Local delights such as "Pork Belly Stuff Bun - 割包" which is quiet similar to our "Kou Rou Bao - 扣肉包" but for their version there is crushed peanuts and pickled vegetables in it. There are also pan-fried carrot cake, rice dumpling, deep-fried yam paste, seafood beancurd and etc. This is another great way for us try out their local delights.

After lunch, we head off to Dan Shui - 淡水 where there are a few attractions such as Tamsui Fisherman’s Wharf - 渔人码头 , the Lover’s bridge - 情人桥 and Dan Shui Lao Jie - 淡水老街. The weather was pretty windy and cold when we reached the Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf. Everyone of us was shriving because of the big wind and drizzling weather, but since we already arrived at the attraction we take the courage to go down and have a quick walk and glance on the area.

"Dan Shui Lao Jie - 淡水老街" stretches from the nearest Danshui MRT station all the way to the ferry docks where you can find a lot of their local foods including “Iron egg - 铁蛋”, beancurd, black bean soy milk, mochi and also the "Strange Museum - 搜奇博物馆". As it is a rainy afternoon, we suddenly crave for deep-fried durian pastry when we walk past the stall :)

The famous stall there is known “Grandma’s Tie Dan - 阿婆铁蛋” which you try their black and chewy little quail egg. At first glance I still thought that these are little "Century Egg - 皮蛋", but they are not. These eggs are stewed in spices and cooked repeatedly and air dried to achieve that chewy and black effect.

From Dan Shui - 淡水 we travel for another 45 minutes or so before reaching Shilin Night Market - 士林夜市 where it is divided into food centre and night market area. There are so many food stalls available inside the Shilin market ranging from snacks, drinks, noodles, hotplate and etc. We love to drink their special “White Jade Bitter Gourd Juice - 白玉苦瓜汁” which is surprisingly sweet rather than bitter when “bitter gourd” is mentioned.

Out of all those stalls, we tried some of their famous local food such as "Oyster Mian Xian - 蚵仔面线", "Oyster Omelette - 蚵仔煎" and "Wanton Noodle - 云吞面". All these 3 items looks and taste so different from what we have over here in Singapore, especially their Wanton Noodle. Their noodle is very "Q" and the soup is full of flavour. And one special thing about their wanton noodle is they use "Sha Cha Sauce - 沙茶酱" instead of the chili paste, tomato sauce and etc that we have in Singapore.

While waiting for the Oyster Omelette to be served, I went around the area to look for this must try Fried Chicken Cutlet which is very well-known in the Shilin Market. This is the "Large Fried Chicken - 豪大大雞排" from Hot Star stall where you will always see a long queue even during rainy days. The chicken is very crispy on the outside and yet tender and juicy when bite too.

After dinner, we went over to the Shilin Night Market across the street where they have all kinds of small stalls and shops selling the latest fashion on clothes, accessories, shoes, bags and etc. Guess what, I saw one of my friend's favourite Korea brand "ETUDE House" over there too :p

KFC - 2 Pieces Meal Set

I am sure you are familiar with this........Yes Yes!!! This is the "KFC - Kentucky Fried Chicken" which most of us love to have it either regularly or once in a while. I remember vividly that my 1st encounter with KCF was during my Primary School days which is almost twenties over year. During that time fast food restaurants were not as common as these days and we don't really get a chance to visit it unless during special occasions.

For me, I have a habit to test out different fast food outlets whenever I am overseas. Because I find each country will somehow or rather served some unique items which represent as their signature dish. So far whenever I visit KFC, I will always ordered their 2 Pieces Set Meal which I can enjoy my favourite side dishes and chicken and at the same time catch up with some of my childhood memories where my dad will give us a treat if I do well in my exam.

I have always fancy their "Coleslaw" which is fresh and yummy and it really goes well with those deep-fried chicken.

Look at their Whipped Potato which is so smooth and creamy. I love to dipped my fries in it and eat together which will give it extra flavour.

If I would have to choose between Original or Hot & Spicy, my choice was always on "Hot & Spicy". I love the crispy outer skin which is marinated with spicy herbs and fried till perfection.

Pineapple & Bitter Gourd Chicken Soup

I get the idea of cooking this soup from my recent Taiwan Trip which we have a similar soup during one of our lunch meal. From the soup ingredients that they served, I replicate a similar soup, which taste just as closed as what we had. I was delighted with the end result even though initially I was still worrying about the outcome due to the different type of Bitter Gourd that we have in Singapore.

During my trip at Taiwan, what we mostly saw is this White Bitter Gourd which is available at their supermarket or vegetable stall. It is kind of different from the Green Bitter Gourd that we have over here. This White Bitter Gourd is cultivates by Taiwan agriculture and is known as “白玉苦瓜” which is a very common vegetable used in most household or restaurants. It is very popular among the Taiwanese because of its colour and it does not have any bitter taste at all too. It is normally used to cook this soup dish known as “Pineapple & Bitter Gourd Chicken Soup -凤梨苦瓜鸡” which is what I am going to share today.

Since we cannot find any "White Bitter Gourd - 白玉苦瓜" in Singapore(if anyone of you know where we can get this in Singapore, please share with me) we have to focus on another key ingredient which is the "Pineapple - 凤梨". Try to get the good grade pineapple which is golden in colour and most important it must be sweet and fragrant so that your soup will be burst with that light and refreshing taste. And according to the fruit seller, what I got over here is known as the "Honey Pineapple" from Thailand which cost S$2.00 for half of the portion.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
4 Chicken Drumsticks
1 Medium Size Bitter Gourd, 500g
1/2 Thai Honey Pineapple, cut into big chunks
1 Medium Carrot, cut into chunks
8 - 10 Red Dates(红枣)
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries(枸杞)
1.5 Litres of Water
1/2 Chicken Stock Cube, optional

Method:
1. Trim the fat and remove the skin from the drumsticks, rinse and set aside.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil, blanched the drumsticks for about 5 minutes in boiling water, removed and rinse again.
3. Add 1.5 Litres of water to the soup pot and bring it to boil.
3. While waiting for the water to boil, cut the bitter gourd length-wise into half, scraped off all the seeds and white pits in it then cut into 1"/1.5" thick slices.
4. Place the bitter gourd slices in a big mixing bowl or so, add in 1 teaspoon of salt briefly rub it/massage together with the bitter gourd slices for a few seconds. (this is helps to reduce the bitterness of the bitter gourd)
5. Next, rinse it well and drop it into the boiling water together with all the above ingredients except the wolfberries.
6. When the soup mixture comes to boil again, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer it for about 30 - 40 minutes.
7. Add in the wolfberries in the last 5 minutes and you can season the soup with some salt or chicken stock cube to taste if you prefer.


If you are curious with the taste of this soup, I can guarantee you that it is not bitter at all. And when cooking this soup, you will be delighted with the fragrance that is being release from the pineapple as it smell so wonderful. But a point to note:- as this is a very cooling soup due to the combination of bitter gourd and pineapple, for those who is weak, just recover from sickness or after menses perhaps you should avoid taking this soup or if you want just take it in small amount. If you do try out this soup, please leave me your feedback and share with me your opinion :)