Wednesday April 17th, 2013
From morning to the afternoon, my time was primarily geared
towards one thing, reading the ‘Hunger Games’. Not only am I pressured to read
the entire series fairly soon but it’s just an engaging book. I finished the
first one today and enjoyed the author’s writing style not to mention plot
twists. Though I have a feeling the second and third books are more intensive
from rumors I’ve heard. Therefore I’m not up for debates until I complete all
three installments and I’m sure a person or two would like to discuss it. ;)
No salad today. You must be thinking ‘Whaaaat?’ Yeah, I know
it’s a strange shift but it’s all according to my new nutrition plan. Instead I
went to the B1 buffet and had a little mental party. They offered all I desired
on what you could refer to as my lunch wish-list. Therefore I loaded up the
small, shallow take-out box they provide. With my personal feast I headed back
up to my classroom with my spoils. As I predicted, students were shocked and
asking me why I didn’t have a salad today. I think they’re interested in what
the foreigner eats no matter if it’s normal or unusual for them. ;)
In this take-out box I had two cubes of stinky tofu, one
egg, a few small pieces of chicken, a handful of cabbage and tofu wearing fish
as a hat. As for the assessment of each, the cabbage was tasty as always,
chicken pretty good but not special and egg delicious as to be expected. This
variation of stinky tofu is indeed different from what I’ve primarily shown
y’all but it’s still nummy. It flavor comes mostly from the cooked outside and
light sauce. The insides are pretty much plain tofu untouched by outer spices
therefore the outer coating is the most pleasing. Last by not least was my
source of fish for lunch. Though I had planned on just getting a fish by
itself, I faced a problem at the buffet. They mostly carried smaller whole
fish, eyes, fins and all. True I’ve learned pretty well how to eat fish in this
manner with chopsticks but still wasn’t confident enough to try one completely
by myself with classmate’s eyes curiously watching me. Therefore I went the
safer way and close a cut piece of fish though strangely on top of a white
rectangle, which I assumed to be tofu. Indeed it was. This tofu reminded me of
soymilk with gratefully no sugar or added sweetness and because of the slight
similarity, I guessed it to be soybean tofu. It was good and so was the fish
but not up to par with other Taiwanese fish I’ve eaten before. The spices on
top helped give it an encouraged kick without a brutal fiery punch.
To wrap up my thoughts, I LOVED my lunch. It had everything
I wanted, gave me great satisfaction, cheaper than a salad (truly it was) and
left me mentally pleased of the total healthiness of it all. Score! In my mind
I can’t help but think ‘screw salads, I want this!’ And that’s probably the
path at I’ll take for my remaining 40 days in Taiwan (about 16 high school
lunches left). I mean, come on, not only is it healthier but it’s Taiwanese
food that I can easily and cheaply enjoy before returning to Texas. Though I
probably will attempt to learn how to cook these same foods back in the USA
because I really love them! ^_^
A classmate oh so sweetly gave me a little brown paper bag
with three Taiwanese snacks inside. Not only was this act superbly kind and
thoughtful but also the ‘Hunger Games’ oozed into my feelings and influenced a
portion. Receiving a precious little package felt like being given a silver
parachute gift from sponsors. I have no idea why that thought came into my head
but I couldn’t help but delicately carry it as if it was important as a sponsor
gift. Perhaps the blame should be placed upon the author’s magic to involve her
audience quite effectively. XD
The three contents
I was conflicted with a quite strange emotion today. Don’t
ask what it was because even I don’t know. Best I could guess was that a whole
bunch of recent tiny feelings all meshed together at once and left me confused.
It’s like having multiple bright paint colors, a paintbrush and a cup of water
when you were a kid. After dipping the brush so many times into the water with
different colors the water would turn into a sick-looking murky gray. The
colors must’ve been my feelings and the resulting cloudy mixture of so many
left me in a gray area. That’s as best as I can explain it. Don’t worry, I
don’t feel sad or depressed, just uncertain to what hormones are buzzing around
in my brain. I’ll be shiny new in no time. ;)
Dinner at the house was very nice. I primarily ate DELICIOUS
sliced onion with bits of egg dish, fish of some sort and a piece of chicken.
Host father placed a pig’s blood cake cube in my bowl so I thought it best to
at least that a bite or two. Really I didn’t taste much because it struck me as
just rice in a different form. No I’m not really a fan of it but hey, I tried
it again didn’t I? That’s what counts in the end after all.
The classmate said the two larger Taiwanese snacks could
last until somewhere in May but the small cracker needed to be consumed in less
than a week. Therefore I thought I give the cracker a shot today when it hasn’t
expired and overall had a great healthy meal day.
First bite of the cracker was just…well…cracker. The snack
is actually two crackers with a white filling sandwiched in between. For the
cracker portion it was somewhat thick and soft with a salty taste. On the other
hand, the filling was hard and its flavor was undistinguishable. Cheese maybe?
I really couldn’t tell no matter how hard I tried. Regardless the cracker
sandwich was fair. Not bad but didn’t strike a memorable impression in me.
Whether it was nasty or tasty, I’m still grateful to my classmate’s kind
gesture. Thanks chica! ^_^
Another day closes with a new one closing in. Let’s do our
best in the coming one and enjoy it! :)
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