Gastonomic Homecoming: A Gallery (12/19/10)

Forthwith:

A sweet, dessert-y soup with red bean and, I think, Chinese sorghum.



And the long anticipated sugar-apple:



Which is peeled like so:



Revealing a partially segmented fruit--what springs to mind is persimmon, sort of:



And what does it taste like? Slippery like persimmons, slightly grainy like a pear, and like it's cuz, the cherimoya, what Mark Twain called "the most delicious fruit known to men." Which doesn't help. Okay, it's been described as "banana, pineapple, papaya, peach, and strawberry" or "commercial bubblegum." In fruit form.

Really, what it is is fireworks in your mouth, and then, when you've drawn the fruit off the seed with your tongue, the black seeds, which resemble lychee seeds, but smaller.



And then your mom tells you to stop being such a fat fuck and save the rest for later:



So that you can have room for boiled goose--rich, salty, gamey, smokey, all dark meat like duck:



And meet your first cousins, once removed, whose names are Moe, Larry, and Curly:



Ain't they cute? (And still--not interested in having kids, biological imperative be damned.)

And then after a note-taking session where I am informed what titles to call my aunts and uncles and older cousins, we're off, through the market and a "steakhouse" to visit another cousin.

My aunt's house. Note the four stories--to fit three generations under one roof.




Delicious, chewy, moist cakes in preparation, I think, for the Winter Solstice Festival. I didn't have the energy/appetite to get one, post-jet-lag malaise and all.


I do not know what these are called or what they're made of. I think they're also Winter Solstice foods--with the common thread being chewy, gooey, gelatinous, choking hazard foods. Also: delicious.


We stop at a dou4hua1 counter--it's tofu pudding, super-silky tofu in a ginger-flavored simple syrup, served warm.


The black bits are tapioca balls. Mm, deerishus soft tofu.

And finally, we arrive at the restaurant my cousin manages.



These types of steakhouses are popular in Taiwan. Basically, you go in and order whatever cut of meat you want, sirloin, tenderloin, and a sauce to go with it, and you also get access to an all-you-can-eat-buffet with 95% Chinese-y dishes. For something around eleven bucks.

I have this:

Dong1gua1tsa3--winter melon tea. This is like drinking liquid caramel. Butterbeer ain't got nothin' on winter melon tea.

I sit and cogitate while my mom chats with my cousin, who's closer in age to her than me, when suddenly, Su2 Zhen1 bolts out the door, returning with a bag...



filled with...

two boxes of freshly roasted, still-steaming sweet potatoes. [squint] O-kay.

To be continued...