Julia/Julie

El fin de semana pasado finalmente alquile Julia & and Julie. Queria ir a verlo en el big screen, pero lo pospuse semana tras semana hasta que ya habia salido del cine. Pues les cuento que me sorprendio mucho la pelicula y ....me gusto mas de lo que esperaba. Hasta me ha inspirado y acordado que tengo este blog pendiente, esperando por mi. Me siento un poco como ella se sentia al comienzo....que nadie esta leyendo lo que escribo, y espero anciosamente a ver si me dejan comentarios, aunque se que todavia tengo pocos lectores, quiero seguir escribiendo.

La diferencia entre ella y yo es que ella tenia una meta: No se cuantas recetas en 365 dias. Eso me puso a pensar...que es lo que quiero lograr con este blog. Fue mi amiga Xue que me empujo a comenzar esto pero me ha gustado. Lo unico que he sentido es que no tengo direccion. Asi que he decidido que este blog sera exclusivamente sobre mis experiencias de la comida de Taiwan y mis aventuras aqui.

Hoy voy a habar sobre mi comida favorita, una cosa que se llama 小龍泡 (xiao long pao), es dumpling de sopa, en ingles, soup dumpling. Es la cosa mas deliciosa que hay en esta tierra (para mi claro) y nunca me harto de ella. Dejame explicar por ke es mi favorito y tambien porque es especial; diferente al dumpling normal. Incluso, hasta tiene una manera especial de comerlo (le digo mas en detalle despues).

En los 6 meses que tengo en Taiwan, he comido este dumpling con sopa en por lo menos 7 restaurantes diferentes, sin contar los de la calle, detras de una camionetica, usualmente 2 personas, uno haciendolo ahi mismo, el otro poniendolo al vapor, cobrando y cualquier otra cosa que necesites. Estos carritos usualmente nadamas venden esto. Pero con esto basta. Te preguntan cuanto quieres, si lo quieres con salsa, sin salsa, mucho picante, poco, medio, te lo hecha en una funda y ahi estas de camino. Aqui son unos expertos caminando y comiendo. (Todavia estoy tratando de aprender ese arte pero todavia no me graduo....hago un toyo...).

Bueno pues dejame contarle que es. Como se ve en la foto, es similar a un dumpling excepto que es redondo y la coccion normal es al vapor. NO hay otra forma de cocinarlo como los dumpling que pueden ser hervido, fritos, y al vapor.

La masa tambien tiene una textura diferente ya que es un poco mas elastigo (como en la foto). Un buen dumplin de sopa, la masa no se perfora facil, guardando la sopa deliciosa dentro para que lo puedas tomar. La forma de comerlo es primero, una mano con palitos chinos, y el otro con una cuchara china. Despues con los palitos, agarrarlo por la cabezita y ponerlo encima de la cuchara china.
WARNING: NUNCA trates de comerte el dumplin de sopa entero ya que adentro hay sopa bien caliente y te quemara toda la boca.
Cuidadosamente, muerdes una esquina de la masa, como para hacerle una perforacion para que la sopa pueda enfriarse un poco (ver foto arriba). Aqui es donde la cuchara china hace su funcion: no deja que la deliciosa sopa se pierda. A mi me gusta morderlo por mitad con un poco de sopa. Algunas personas le gusta tomarse la sopa y despues comerse el resto. Pero como uno prefiera comerselo, no importa. Lo importante es que es BUENISIMO como sea.

Aparte de la masa, lo que va adentro tambien es diferente al dumpling normal. No lleva vegetales excepto un poco de puerro picadito y gengibre fresco rallado. El dumpling normal usualmente le agregan repollo o puerro chino. El origen de esta cosa tan deliciosa es de shangai. Hay diferentes formas de hacer esta delicia, pero el truco es que la sopa de adentro. Vi como lo hacen y un dia de estos tratare de hacerlo en casa =). Les dejare saber como me salio *_^

ciao ciao! hasta la proxima!

Food Food and more Food

For me, food means Joy.


When I was working as a server in a restaurant in downtown chicago, my favorite part of it all was when the clients commented how good our food was. How much they enjoyed their spring rolls, that the salmon pad thai was perfectly cooked. I felt so proud. Thats when I realized this is what I wanted to do in life. Bring this kind of pleasure to people. Its an occasion where you can share a moment with friends. Talking, laughing, taking pictures, all the while eating some really good food and making memories that last a lifetime. Up till this day, I dont think Ive ever seen someone feel unlucky when eating out.

I came to Taiwan with high expectations of the food here. The times before, I hadnt really paid much attention to the variety of foods. But this time, with my camera and my stomach ready, ready to eat anything that looks interesting, to capture anything different. Let me tell ya, its been a rollercoaster ride.

To simply put it, there is SOO MUCH FOOD. Its everywhere. You will NEVER go hungry in Taipei. Wait, no....you will never go hungry in Taiwan! You can pretty much find food at any time of the day, anywhere.. There are these convenient stores (7-11, Family Mart, Hi-life to name a few) that sell all kinds of food. Fresh squeezed orange juice, tuna sushi roll, salads, sandwiches, a million variations of tea, and chip. Then theres the hot food. They have a big pot of tea eggs always steaming in a corner, hot dog, with three different flavors. Then theres the Ramen.....oh soooo many varieties of ramen. Beef flavored, pork, seefood, vegetarian, thick noodles, fried noodles, rice noodles, cups, packets....endless i tell ya....had to ask help from the store keeper..... Then theres the 7-11 latte....its actually quite good, surprizingly better than many of the coffee shops around (which that in itself is a crime) for a very afordable price of 40NT (1.20US). Much more afordable than Starbucks, thats for sure...and tastes pretty much the same. (They are the same representatives in Taiwan).


Then theres the night markets. Although im not a big fan of it, cuz I hate eating standing up or walking around, But its fun to cruise through after dinner. Here is why:


These are a bunch of shelled oysters
to make this very traditional taiwanese
dish. A few oysters, an egg, corn starch
a bit of veggies. Delish....










I was gonna buy one of these shrimps until I saw that they were still alive while being grilled.


















Then theres the array of seafood displayed. You just pick out whatever you want and they sautee it for you right then and there....yum....
Now this below is probably the most interesting thing I have ever seen. Its lots and lots of oysters in a dough skin, with an egg. You seal it then deep fry it.....crazy..........

CRAB LEG FEST

Thats it for now. There are still lots of pics from where that came from! Hope you guys stay posted. Til next time =).

MUA!!!!!

La verdad que he notado algo ke me viene pasando con la comida. Lo mas que se, mas picky me convierto en lo que como. Mis gustos son especificos, mi paladar super sensible y sin hablar de mi nariz. Con mi nariz puedo detectar que especie se ha usado en un plato, aunque a veces no se el nombre. Siempre he sabido que mi nariz es un poco fuera de lo normal, pero desde que he comenzado a cocinar, mas aun. Ahi siempre andan relajandome que tengo una nariz de perro, pero yo creo que fue predestinado, moldeado para lo que eventualmente sera mi vida, la comida.

Por esta pasion mia, me mude a Taiwan, para descubrir el otro lado culinario que aun todavia no sabia lo suficiente: la comida Asiatica. La verdad que mientras el tiempo pasa, mas cosas descubro de este lado del mundo. Los sazones son completamente diferente, sin hablar de la forma de coccion. Aqui les encanta una sopa, lentamente cocinada por horas, con muchos vegetales de hoja. Pero ni idea saben de un locrio. Le trate de describir que cocinamos la carne con el arroz y me miran, con una cara de confusion, y me preguntan, " y a que sabe eso?" y le contesto rapidamente...." OHHH, buenisimo!!" y de una vez me invitan a su casa para que se lo cocinen.

Aqui la gente comen de TODO. No tienen miedo en probar cosas nuevas, sazones nuevos. Hice unas croquetas los otros dias y lo traje al trabajo para que lo prueben. Casi me lo arrebatan de la mano. De una vez comenzaron a decir que deberia poner un carrito, solamente vendiendo croquetas. Que riza!! Lo primero que se me vino en la mente es el carrito de Kipe en la esquina de la 27 con Defillo....jaja....

Bueno..Primero, dejame hablar ahora un poco de la comida que estoy estudiando ahora: la comida Taiwanesa. La comida de Taiwan es tan variada como la ciudad de Taipei. Esta lleno de vida, de colores, de movimiento, de un sinfin de cosas. Son creativos, siempre inventando comida diferente. Desde que llegue, no he salido de mi casa sin mi camara, con miedo de que pierda alguna foto excepcional. La verdad que tengo MUCHAS. La estare subiendo mas adelante.

He tenido la oportunidad en estos ultimos 4 meses viajar por varias partes de Taiwan y probar la comida de cada region. Y aunque este es un paisito mas pequeno de la RD, te digo que los sabores de cada region son indiscutiblemente diferente. En el sur, le gustan las cosas dulces, creo que en casi todo los platos le agregan azucar, sin mentir. Aun hoy, todavia no me he podido acostumbrar a eso. Los primeros dias cuando llegue pase mucha hambre por que nadamas comia arroz con la carne que cocinaban salado. NO ME GUSTA la comida dulce. Para mi, lo dulce es para postre, el helado, biscocho, cheesecake, brownie. NO en mi pollo frito.

Tambien he descubrido algo de los Taiwaneses. Ellos viven por comer. En cada area, hay una tienda famosa por algo especifico, sea sus noodles, dumpling, arroz, dulce, tanto que una vez hice una fila en esta tienda llamado Chia Te, para comprar sus postres: por casi 2 horas. cuando finalmente llegue al la entrada de la tienda, vi para atras y la fila estaba aun mas larga de cuando comenze a esperar. Solo pense....BUEH....espero que esten bien descansado por que estaran aqui por un BUEN rato....lol. (miren esa fila de gente...y eso que ese dia taba mas o menos largo)

En fin, mi experiencia hasta ahora ha sido interesante y sorprendente. La variedad de comida aqui es extraudinaria. En los proximo posts estare poniendo mas fotos. Hasta la proxima!

I started my culinary career just 2 years ago. I was shopping around town to see what school was going to teach me what I hungered for....knowledge about food, its tastes, combinations, you name it. I finally found it in the PUCMM. When I first visited the campus, I saw the other students, with their cute chef uniforms, knife bags, and aprons. All I thought was.....Im home. Although the 2 yrs I spent there was not always smooth sailing, it was the best time of my life, almost more than college. I worked a full time job, monday through friday and sometimes saturday and then school from 6-11pm 4 days a week. By the time friday rolled around, I was dead on my feet but happy as a bee. Thats when u know u found ur calling.
As graduation was approaching, I was in part happy to be finishing but sad because my learning experience will be over. But I still felt like I was missing something. What ive learned is not enough! So I decided a month before graduation, thinking since ive spent the last 2 yrs studying western and carribean food, it is time to go back to my roots - Asian Cuisine -. What better way to learn the cuisine than to move there. Its like they say...you wanna learn french- move to france. I wanna learn chinese food, move to where they have it.
And now here we are, 4 months into my trip, taking pictures like crazy, and tasting all that I can stomach. Taipei is just something else. You cannot walk for more than 3 minutes without running into a cafeteria, restaurant, coffee shop, or convenient store. Taipei revolves around food. you can find food at any time of day, night, morning, middle of the night. Its crazy. Thats all I gotta say................

Its the first monday of this new and hopefully, better decade. I am also a decade older and wiser (I would like to think so anyway). A clean slate. The economy is looking up too! yay!

Looking back, so much has happened in the last 10 years, I sometimes wonder if its just been 10 short years. Beginning with the anticipation of the new millenium, people running around like crazy worrying their computers wont make it past Jan 01, 2000. Then 2001 rolled around, my last semester in college, where I was expected to find a job before graduating. But by then, the job market wasnt cooperating. Its like it knew something was going on. I did eventually find a job, right around graduation time, to my relief, but nothing to do with the dream job I had anticipated of having all my life. But hey....it was better than not having any at all.

Then, just 3 months after graduating, 2 months after starting this new stage of my life, the world came to a standstill. LITERALLY. 9-11. Im sure most of you remeber what you were doing exactly at that moment, in those long minutes, where we stood there, watching intently at the TV, wondering....is this for real? I was living in Chicago at that time, working in the downtown area. They told us all to go back home because there were rumors that a plane was heading straight to the Sears Tower. WOW. Not only did u have to worry about some turbulence, but also fear that it will be used as a weapon again. People started reverting back to ground traveling. Trains and buses became popular again. This led to airline bankrupcy, layoffs, which for me was the start of the declining economy.

But in between all of this, I found my passion, my calling, My mission in life. FOOD. I didnt know it then, at the time. It took me another 5 years to realize it. "This is what I want to do in life - anything related to food". Its my favorite topic to talk about. Ask any of my friends. I can go on and on and ON about food for hours. RELENTLESSLY. Ive been meaning to start a blog for years now, but havent gotten around. Until Today. January 4, 2010. This is a bit of an intro for my future readers, of my reflexion on this new year, new decade, new stage of my life.

Before I end this first post, let me explain the title of my blog. Buen comer es buen vivir is -Good eating is good living. I truly believe that. I come from two cultures that are vastly different yet the same when it comes to food. For Dominicans, Wheres theres a party, theres food. For Taiwanese, the FOOD is the party. Both cultures show their love towards good food, but in very different ways. Come along for the ride and discover the differences through my words and pictures.

Hasta la proxima!