a walk down memory lane

fifteen years ago i attended chientan, a summer camp in taiwan, run by the taiwanese government, for children of overseas taiwanese. it was a great summer and i made many friends with whom i did a lot of crazy stuff. sadly, it predated the age of mobile phones, emails, im, and facebook, so i don't keep in touch with many of them.

this camp is situated right next to shilin, one of the largest night markets in taiwan. i used to hate the food they served in the camp (it was very generic) and would head to the night market to stock up on authentic taiwanese cuisine. and that's where i headed last night.

most people go to the night market to shop and buy stuff. everything is ridiculously cheap, and if i were the shopping type, i'd write about that. but i'm the eating type.

first up, the stinky tofu place. they've been open for 30 years and i remember that i used to love how they made it. how does it taste now? i like it still. the skin is crunchy, and its a huge plate for NT$40 (approx US$1.25). the tofu itself is not as flavorful as the one near my aunt's place, but i think its because the tofu is bigger, so the flavors are not as infused. but the crunchiness of the skin really makes up for it.

i then found a vendor selling pig blood cake on a stick. i liked the guy, as he was just standing there, in the midst of a crowd, reading a book. all the other vendors were screaming at you or otherwise trying to get your attention. for NT$35, i got this huge block of cake, covered with hot sauce, covered with peanut powder. it was so big that i could barely finish it.

i had wanted to order an oyster pancake afterwards, but was too full. besides, had to order dessert. which was shaved ice, topped with taro, chewy rice balls, sweet butterfly beans, and passion fruit extract. for NT$40.