yum yum dim sum!

Nihao from Asia!

I'm here, after... 18 hours of flying, give or take? I am ensconsed in the beautiful home of my stepmother's unbelievably hospitable family.

You know how sometimes you're staying with people and it's kind of awkward cause you don't want to be "Uhh can we eat now?" but you're crazy hungry?
This does NOT happen in Taiwan!

Apologies for the horrible formatting, but I am Live Writer-less, and I have good pics I am itchin' to share! There's a description of everything... just not necessarily NEXT to it!

Lunch (dim sum!) yesterday was at I-Mei, which I think is kind of Taiwan's answer to local food. My stepmom's family would definitely give me a blank look if I used the word "locavore", but when you live on a small, agriculturally rich island, it makes a lotta sense!

This place was part bakery, part store, and part dim sum parlor. There were lots of places to look in and watch the cooks!

Bread:

The table was, according to Moony, a traditional Chinese table. The first thing was the pouring of tea, which is served with every meal here (yessss).

Steaming things:

THREE types of shrimp dumplings:

I love you, Trader Joe's, but I can never eat your sorry dumplings again. They were all UNBELIEVABLE, but the ones with the little green bits (cucumber, maybe?) get a special shoutout.

Egg custard:

Radish cake (like a hashbrown patty but a gazillion times more delish):

Sesame buns with red bean filling (sweet and delicious)

A taste of Jewel (Moony's daughter's) udon noodle soup with bok choy.

Condiment bar! The Chinese mustard here is UNREAL. Not even comparable to stuff in America.

Another table shot:

Shrimp fried rice, a squajillion times better than in the US:

Almost burrito reminiscent; corn tortilla-like wrapper filled with beef and hoisin sauce, lettuce, and cucumber.

My faaaaaaaave and apparently quite traditional: taro cake with pork. Gelatinous and fab!