March 9, 2011

We had a light snack this morning of this very interesting cake (the aunt we are staying with bought it for us).

It has sponge cake in the middle and is wrapped with puff pastry. It was pretty delicious.

Then after Simon woke up, we went for breakfast across the street. Egg crepe.

Ron’s favorite: rice roll.

Both were okay but not spectacular. We had plans to eat a bit more anyways since we were going back to Uncle’s corner place again to try their homemade taro cakes. Those were delicious but they made way too much for us to eat. We probably all had too much carbohydrates so got a little food coma.

We then met up with Ron’s aunt, uncle, and cousin for lunch at a more contemporary restaurant. I ended up having this fish set meal. The fish was in broth being heated over a small flame plus there was rice, miso soup, seaweed, pickled vegetables, crab salad, a croquette, and red bean soup. It was a lot.

Ron had the bi bim bap.

After lunch we went to Ron’s uncle’s place to pay our respects to his ancestors and grandmother. This is Ron’s “little” uncle, the youngest brother of the siblings.

Then we went to visit one of Ron’s dad’s relatives and we spent the afternoon and evening with them. They took us on a tour of the courthouse and prepared us dinner then dropped us off at the train station to head back to Taipei. Bye bye Hualien!

We arrived in Taipei and took a taxi to our hotel. Simon enjoyed climbing on our bed. Doesn’t he look a bit mischievous?

He also enjoyed jumping on the bed.

After some time to stretch his legs and have a bath, Simon went to sleep in the crib provided by the hotel.

I feel a little better with him being in a crib rather than on a bed, which he could roll off and hurt himself.

March 8, 2011

The next morning, we visited Uncle’s corner breakfast/luncheon place.

We had some of their special dishes, my favorite being the eggplant.

Simon enjoyed eating something too.

I believe they are cooked daikon strips.

Simon was a hit with Uncle’s wife.

Simon had a taste of his first rose apple (aka wax apple). I love these so I can understand why Simon really liked them too.

We had a wonderful breakfast, Simon says thank you Grand Uncle and Grand Aunt.

After breakfast, Ron’s aunt picked us up to take us around Hualien and show us some sights then take us out for lunch. We went to this kind of rural restaurant but it had unique and fantastic food. We had a roast chicken which came directly from their farm. The meat texture was different than we are used to, a little more tough and much more flavorful.

Delicious greens. No idea what they are…

Purple greens. Tasty too but no idea what they are…

Fish from their pond.

Deep fried vegetables of some sort. The batter is a bit sweet and has black sesame seeds. I’ve seen the vegetable before in Korean appetizers but still don’t know what it is called.

Chicken gizzards.

This is a roasted fish cheek, complete with scales. The scales are almost crispy enough to eat like chips but not quite. The rest of the fish is for dinner tonight.

In the late afternoon, we went for a walk around the city. We stopped by 85C, a coffee and pastry shop. I had heard about it on the news, known for their salted latte. They had a really cute dessert case.

I decided to try the crepe cake. I ordered the salted latte and Ron had an iced coffee. The salted latte seems like just the foam is salted. It’s a bit weird at first but after you get used to it, it tastes pretty good and can be addicting.

The crepe cake isn’t as good as the one from Lady M and I daresay, not as good as the one I made with Virginia. It tastes like it is machine made. The crepes are tough and the cream is hard.

After our walk, we went back for a little rest before having dinner with family. They cooked us a feast! I felt bad that we couldn’t eat much because our stomachs haven’t adjusted yet.

The room we are staying in has two beds, both a little bigger than twin size. One of us has been sleeping with Simon, just in case he rolls too much and maybe off the bed.

March 7, 2011

We made it!

Welcome to Taiwan!

Our welcome party were these statues in the terminal.

Shortly after our arrival, we caught the high speed rail to Hualien to visit Grandma Chung’s family.

After a few hours on the train, we arrived and were picked up to be taken to lunch.

After lunch, we spent the afternoon at auntie’s store. We are also staying at her hotel/hostel next door. Thank you auntie for letting us stay, we really appreciate it.

Simon entertained us with his Superman impression.

I spent the late afternoon and evening sleeping with Simon in our room. The jet lag finally caught up with me. Ron was nice enough to bring me some light dinner so that I wouldn’t wake up starving. Hopefully we can call adjust quickly to the new time zone.

March 6, 2011

Simon fell asleep in my arms before takeoff.

The attendants set up the bassinet after the plane altitude leveled off and we secured him tightly in with Ziggy.

He is obviously a little warm as he took his arm out and you can see he is a bit sweaty. We didn’t want to disturb him too much though since we didn’t want to be *those* parents that have a screaming baby on a long-distance flight.

He did pretty well for most of the flight except waking for a few hours in between. Ron ended up walking him around the plane until he was tired enough to go back to sleep.