Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Lunch on this pleasant flatland Sunday was at a small restaurant by the name of Peifang Hand-Cut Noodles 北方館, located just to the north of Chungcheng Park 中正公園 in beautiful downtown T'aichung 台中:


Beef noodles are one of the more popular dishes in Taiwan, and when you think of this island, one of the things that comes to mind...well, it probably isn't beef noodles, let alone any of the other so-called "famous" things of Taiwan. But I digress. I'm not a big fan of anything Taiwanese beef noodles, as the beef is often too fatty for my liking, and the noodles frequently leave a peculiar aftertaste. But as my wife explained, the noodles at Beifang Hand-Cut Noodles are sliced by knife and hand (as opposed to a machine in many establishments), resulting in a thicker version than you would normally find. The meat was also chunkier, with very little fat. All in all, well worth the NT100 ($3.30/¥250) cost for one bowl:


Also worth the investment, in this case NT219 (/$7.20¥550), was this box of Cap'N Crunch cereal, which Amber and I discovered at Jasons Market Place, an upscale supermarket selling a number of food and drink items from Japan, the U.S. and other Western countries. Their Taichung branch can be found on one of the basement floors in the Chungyu Department Store 中友百貨公司:


Anticipating future sugar rushes, Amber strikes a pose outside Chungshan Hall 中山堂. We're going there this coming Tuesday to see the Moscow City Ballet perform "Swan Lake" because this family is really into all that culture and stuff:


At Pamela's strong urging, I volunteered to donate blood this afternoon. I felt really good about myself for doing so, and I look forward to doing it again. As for my wife, she'll do anything for an hour's worth of free parking, especially if it means having her husband drained of some of his vital life essence. My daughter, meanwhile, managed to capture the exact moment the needle was stuck into my arm:


Zhongzheng Park appears to have a serious rodent problem. As the afternoon sunlight began to fade, the park's resident rats started to appear, emerging from their well-placed hiding spots:


波ちゃん and the Asian urban park experience:


2 comments:

  1. I don't know if you've heard, but due to food police intervention and fears of anti-sugar backlash by manufacturers, all the sugar cereals have had their sugar content drastically reduced. Most are now down to 10 grams of sugar per serving. I just had a TASTELESS bowl of Count Chocula! So if you want Amber to have the REAL Cap'n Crunch experience of old, you're going to have to dump some sugar on top of it before serving :(
    Have a great week!
    Rich

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  2. I had my first bowl of the Cap'N Crunch this morning, and you're right, it didn't taste as sweet as I remember it. I guess the days of Calvin's Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs (http://calvinandhobbes.wikia.com/wiki/Chocolate_Frosted_Sugar_Bombs) are over!

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