DearOne Photography: A progressive meal- Taiwan-style!! (And some touring!)

A few weeks ago a couple friends/ coworkers took Dave and I on a 'progressive food tour' of Tainan. Surprisingly, I didn't take an photos of the food, but Dave certainly did!!

First up, this interestingly looking dish. Technically, it's a meatball. And yes, it did taste better than it looked. Dave tells me it's made from the starch of sticky rice!

Okay, terrible photo of me, but I'm eating LAVENDER ice cream!! It was probably the highlight for me. A few weeks later we went back and tried the mango ice cream- I may have to find a way to make it when I come home!!

This was the super-cute decor outside the ice cream shop. I love it more every time I walk past it!!

Any guesses? Beef heart and lung soup with Chinese medicine. Note to self, lungs are as gross as they look and feel. Heart, not so bad. Apparently it's good for the immune system though!

Danzi noodles. Dave tells me this is a Taiwanese staple. They are traditionally served in smaller portions, as a snack and originated from a fisherman. You can read more about it here. Taiwanese food all seems to have a story, some of them are SO interesting!

This is called the Blueprint. It used to be a bar, but is now just a sweet tourist spot. It's fallen into a bit of disarray, but I think it adds a certain charm to it!

I'd love to do a photo shoot against this wall. Dave acted as my stand-in model for now.

Fish noodles. Literally fish + flour. I didn't know I could dislike somethings so much until I tried it.

Until moving to Taiwan, I had a huge distaste for tofu. Whether it was the idea of eating soy, the pieces I had tried were unflavourful or I just couldn't get get over the texture, tofu was not on my 'good eats' list. But I did say until I moved here. This was my first experience with really tasty, well-cooked tofu (thanks Fin!!), and I even accepted a second helping of tofu at school last week.

I never considered myself a picky eater. I'm still not, I've just learned some things do NOT agree with me, and some chances just need to be taken.

Fish dumpling soup. Nope. Dave liked it though, and the broth was good!

I'm not even sure what to call this, except shaved ice with stuff. You choose what goes in it, but we had soy custard, pineapple, red beans and taro. You can put more or less in, whatever you like!! We've been taken out for it twice by Taiwanese friends- it's just one of the local's favourite treats!!

After we had (mostly) eaten our fill, we drove to Chihkan Tower (or as we foreigners sometimes say, Chicken Tower!). From Wikipedia "Fort Provintia or Providentia was a Dutch outpost on Formosa at a site now located in the West Central District of Tainan in Taiwan. It was built in 1653 during their colonization of Taiwan. The fort was surrendered to Koxinga and later destroyed by an earthquake in the 19th century. It was rebuilt as Sakam or Chihkan Tower afterwards. Its name derives from the Taiwanese aboriginal village recorded by the Dutch as "Chaccam," "Sakam," "Zaccam," etc.^[1]

In addition to the site's architectural and artistic significance, its library of dictionaries and business transactions documents the Siraya languagespoken by the native inhabitants of the region during Dutch rule."

We didn't know it until we moved here, but the Dutch actually invaded Taiwan at one point. There are still some Dutch buildings (mostly forts) around.

Koi feeding time!!

Our lovely tour guides taking their turn to feed the fish.

SO picturesque!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we may be seeing a pro at work.

The tower itself!

For a details person, these are beautiful!!

We live in the Republic of China, people.

On our way out (and back home) we encountered a parade going on for the temple across the street from the Tower. It certainly was an experience! There were firecrackers, loud music, and tons of people.