Comments on: Wonderful Food on Walkabout http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:14:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Cookin’ | Cosmic Variance http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-14571 Cookin’ | Cosmic Variance Thu, 02 Mar 2006 23:19:10 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-14571 [...] So here is the ultimate “what I had for dinner last night” post. (Except it was not last night, but some nights ago.) People asked for this, and so here it is….. It is the promised report on my noodle dish experiments, inspired by my wonderful Walkabout culinary experiences in Taiwan, described in several posts earlier (see e.g. here, here, here……) [...] [...] So here is the ultimate “what I had for dinner last night” post. (Except it was not last night, but some nights ago.) People asked for this, and so here it is….. It is the promised report on my noodle dish experiments, inspired by my wonderful Walkabout culinary experiences in Taiwan, described in several posts earlier (see e.g. here, here, here……) [...]

]]> By: The Search for Coffee | Cosmic Variance http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-14346 The Search for Coffee | Cosmic Variance Sun, 26 Feb 2006 05:28:41 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-14346 [...] At some point in my stay in Hsinchu on my Walkabout, I began to look for places that served good coffee, where I could sit and do a bit of thinking and some work, (sometimes both!). Both coffee and atmosphere are two important fuels for this type of work, at least for me. (This was before moving to Taipei and finding the various excellent tea and coffee places near National Taiwan University that I began to haunt regularly. I think I mentioned those in earlier posts about the trip. See e.g. here and several others.) Apparently coffee bars took hold rather recently in Taiwan and become quite popular (often in combination with tea bars, but even as a thing unto themselves), although this was so evident in the part of Hsinchu I was in. [...] [...] At some point in my stay in Hsinchu on my Walkabout, I began to look for places that served good coffee, where I could sit and do a bit of thinking and some work, (sometimes both!). Both coffee and atmosphere are two important fuels for this type of work, at least for me. (This was before moving to Taipei and finding the various excellent tea and coffee places near National Taiwan University that I began to haunt regularly. I think I mentioned those in earlier posts about the trip. See e.g. here and several others.) Apparently coffee bars took hold rather recently in Taiwan and become quite popular (often in combination with tea bars, but even as a thing unto themselves), although this was so evident in the part of Hsinchu I was in. [...]

]]> By: Culinary Dreaming | Cosmic Variance http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-13644 Culinary Dreaming | Cosmic Variance Wed, 15 Feb 2006 05:57:17 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-13644 [...] Well, all you other single types out there on Valentine’s Day night, why not dream with me a bit about food? It’s rather pleasant to share my memories of more excellent food from the south of Taiwan, the city of Tainan. I’ve already told you a bit about it in previous posts, (see here, here and here) so this continues the story. Recall that - after dashing off after my seminar in Tapei, a four hour bus journey - I’d just arrived in the city late at night, and was promptly taken off to an excellent restaurant, where we spent some considerable time eating into the wee hours (and a rather drunk restaurant hostess was trying to seduce me with the aid of Taiwan beer)…. [...] [...] Well, all you other single types out there on Valentine’s Day night, why not dream with me a bit about food? It’s rather pleasant to share my memories of more excellent food from the south of Taiwan, the city of Tainan. I’ve already told you a bit about it in previous posts, (see here, here and here) so this continues the story. Recall that - after dashing off after my seminar in Tapei, a four hour bus journey - I’d just arrived in the city late at night, and was promptly taken off to an excellent restaurant, where we spent some considerable time eating into the wee hours (and a rather drunk restaurant hostess was trying to seduce me with the aid of Taiwan beer)…. [...]

]]> By: More Tasty Morsels, or, Sorry PZ Myers! | Cosmic Variance http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-12800 More Tasty Morsels, or, Sorry PZ Myers! | Cosmic Variance Fri, 03 Feb 2006 21:06:21 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-12800 [...] Just so you don’t get into too much of a comfort zone with the wonderful tasty food I’ve been describing to you recently (see here and here and more to come) from my Walkabout, here’s a scene perhaps a bit less familiar (at least to the Western eye) from a street market in Tainan: [...] [...] Just so you don’t get into too much of a comfort zone with the wonderful tasty food I’ve been describing to you recently (see here and here and more to come) from my Walkabout, here’s a scene perhaps a bit less familiar (at least to the Western eye) from a street market in Tainan: [...]

]]> By: The Southern Reaches of Heaven | Cosmic Variance http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11921 The Southern Reaches of Heaven | Cosmic Variance Tue, 24 Jan 2006 08:46:17 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11921 [...] So you’ve got the idea by now (if you’ve been reading about my Walkabout) that Taiwan is wonderful for food. Taipei is said to be the most important city on the world map of Chinese cuisine for the sheer quality, quantity and variety. That may well be true enough….. [...] [...] So you’ve got the idea by now (if you’ve been reading about my Walkabout) that Taiwan is wonderful for food. Taipei is said to be the most important city on the world map of Chinese cuisine for the sheer quality, quantity and variety. That may well be true enough….. [...]

]]> By: Clifford http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11445 Clifford Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:16:06 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11445 Hi David, I forgot to mention the important role of one's (latent?) ability as a mime artist! Pointing and signing and generally looking pathetic (all done with politeness, good humour and a smile) can really help get the food you want into your stomach. I would not do it if anyone I knew was watching!! Cheers! -cvj Hi David,

I forgot to mention the important role of one’s (latent?) ability as a mime artist! Pointing and signing and generally looking pathetic (all done with politeness, good humour and a smile) can really help get the food you want into your stomach. I would not do it if anyone I knew was watching!!

Cheers!

-cvj

]]> By: David http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11431 David Wed, 18 Jan 2006 10:44:49 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11431 Count Iblis, Generally conference banquets are stingy with the food in my experience too, but not so in Taiwan: they really lay it on! Even the "afternoon snacks" sessions are feasts in themselves. JoAnne, It sounds like you were unlucky. I had a similar experience in Paris once, so I guess it can happen anywhere. Better luck next time! Count Iblis,
Generally conference banquets are stingy with the food in my experience too, but not so in Taiwan: they really lay it on! Even the “afternoon snacks” sessions are feasts in themselves.

JoAnne,
It sounds like you were unlucky. I had a similar experience in Paris once, so I guess it can happen anywhere. Better luck next time!

]]> By: David http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11430 David Wed, 18 Jan 2006 10:36:53 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11430 Clifford, Yes, the checklist system should be fine once the basic characters have been learnt. It's more challenging though in the case of food stalls which serve different versions of a dish and you need to say which one you want, or some small restuarants where the the menu is written on the wall and you need to order verbally (although i suppose writing out the characters and showing it to the staff would work here). My partial solution so far has been to first go to a place with a local, find something good with their help, and then get them to write the name of the dish on a piece of paper which i can show when i go back alone next time. Of course, this isn't much use for exploring new places. Another approach I've used occasionally is to walk into a restuarant, check out what people are eating, and signal my order by pointing at something that looks good. (Not very polite I suppose, but people are tolerant of the poor foreigner...and I do try to be discrete when using this approach.) Btw, also had a very enjoyable visit to Tainan at one point. We were fortunate to have a local host who took us around to the best eating spots - turns out these can often be recognised by the queue of people outside them. At one place we had to queue (probably sic - is that spell-checker ready yet) for over half an hour for some seafood-type dishes, but it was worth it. Anyway, now I feel motivated to follow your example, learn the food characters and start exploring a bit more on my own. Cheers, David Clifford,

Yes, the checklist system should be fine once the basic characters have been learnt. It’s more challenging though in the case of food stalls which serve different versions of a dish and you need to say which one you want, or some small restuarants where the the menu is written on the wall and you need to order verbally (although i suppose writing out the characters and showing it to the staff would work here). My partial solution so far has been to first go to a place with a local, find something good with their help, and then get them to write the name of the dish on a piece of paper which i can show when i go back alone next time. Of course, this isn’t much use for exploring new places. Another approach I’ve used occasionally is to walk into a restuarant, check out what people are eating, and signal my order by pointing at something that looks good. (Not very polite I suppose, but people are tolerant of the poor foreigner…and I do try to be discrete when using this approach.)

Btw, also had a very enjoyable visit to Tainan at one point. We were fortunate to have a local host who took us around to the best eating spots - turns out these can often be recognised by the queue of people outside them. At one place we had to queue (probably sic - is that spell-checker ready yet) for over half an hour for some seafood-type dishes, but it was worth it.

Anyway, now I feel motivated to follow your example, learn the food characters and start exploring a bit more on my own.

Cheers,
David

]]> By: Clifford http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11415 Clifford Wed, 18 Jan 2006 05:57:48 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11415 JoAnne, Interesting. I have to admit surprise here. One pair of words I cannot imagine in the same sentence (other than one such as this) in the context of Taiwan is "bad" and "food". Hosts seem to go out of their way there to make sure the the food is of high quality and from what I've seen you'd have to be really trying to find bad food there..... odd. But I don't disbelieve you..... I imagine there must have been something unusual going on. -cvj JoAnne,

Interesting. I have to admit surprise here. One pair of words I cannot imagine in the same sentence (other than one such as this) in the context of Taiwan is “bad” and “food”. Hosts seem to go out of their way there to make sure the the food is of high quality and from what I’ve seen you’d have to be really trying to find bad food there….. odd. But I don’t disbelieve you….. I imagine there must have been something unusual going on.

-cvj

]]> By: JoAnne http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11412 JoAnne Wed, 18 Jan 2006 05:45:48 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11412 Obviously, I hit a wrong key and ended up submitting twice! Just wanted Clifford's comment list to grow.... Obviously, I hit a wrong key and ended up submitting twice! Just wanted Clifford’s comment list to grow….

]]> By: JoAnne http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11411 JoAnne Wed, 18 Jan 2006 05:44:44 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11411 David & Clifford: nice try, but no, the conference banquet food was just plain bad (fancy venue too). Unfortunately, that's not such an unusual occurance. David & Clifford: nice try, but no, the conference banquet food was just plain bad (fancy venue too). Unfortunately, that’s not such an unusual occurance.

]]> By: JoAnne http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11410 JoAnne Wed, 18 Jan 2006 05:43:57 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11410 David & Clifford: nice try, but no, the conference banquet food was just plain bad (fancy venue too). Unfortunately, that's not such an unusual occurance. Ah - David & Clifford: nice try, but no, the conference banquet food was just plain bad (fancy venue too). Unfortunately, that’s not such an unusual occurance. Ah -

]]> By: Clifford http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11397 Clifford Wed, 18 Jan 2006 04:17:23 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11397 David, Knowing a few characters was enough. Attempts at pronunciation gave mixed results....depends a lot how open an ear your server has. But -as you must know...right?- most places allow you to sit and then they bring you a checklist of things so that you can check off what you want. So you can spend as long as you want figuring things out and then make checks next to waht you want. No locals or wives needed for that. Where locals are needed (and gratefully acknowledged...and pined for!) is to get things that you don't even know about. So noodles and buns are easy. But I would never have known about so many things without locals to help me. Some thigns are not even on the menu unless you know how to ask for them..... This was my experience in Tainan. Subtle things about food go on there are a quite high level.....I would have been oblivious to them without expert knowledge. Sure, I would have tried excellent noodles and buns and dumplings there....but not all the other stuff...... my goodness. But bottom line is that you can eat well with a few characters and a sense of adventure....and the system is set up to make it easy to do so without having to talk. Cheers, -cvj David,

Knowing a few characters was enough. Attempts at pronunciation gave mixed results….depends a lot how open an ear your server has. But -as you must know…right?- most places allow you to sit and then they bring you a checklist of things so that you can check off what you want. So you can spend as long as you want figuring things out and then make checks next to waht you want. No locals or wives needed for that.

Where locals are needed (and gratefully acknowledged…and pined for!) is to get things that you don’t even know about. So noodles and buns are easy. But I would never have known about so many things without locals to help me. Some thigns are not even on the menu unless you know how to ask for them….. This was my experience in Tainan. Subtle things about food go on there are a quite high level…..I would have been oblivious to them without expert knowledge. Sure, I would have tried excellent noodles and buns and dumplings there….but not all the other stuff…… my goodness.

But bottom line is that you can eat well with a few characters and a sense of adventure….and the system is set up to make it easy to do so without having to talk.

Cheers,

-cvj

]]> By: Clifford http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11395 Clifford Wed, 18 Jan 2006 04:10:05 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11395 JoAnne (#5): - That's really sad. The food at those banquets can be truly wonderful. I think the issue might be pacing. Nibble a little bit of each thing...there will be always ten more courses to go at any time.....! -cvj JoAnne (#5): - That’s really sad. The food at those banquets can be truly wonderful. I think the issue might be pacing. Nibble a little bit of each thing…there will be always ten more courses to go at any time…..!

-cvj

]]> By: Clifford http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11385 Clifford Wed, 18 Jan 2006 03:34:48 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11385 Matrix+cmj:- The day before I could not think of food. Definitely not. But the day after I needed too. It was good for me. Thanks. citrine asked: <blockquote> BTW, do you think of string theory when you see all those noodles twirling around? </blockquote> Actually, not once, until you mentioned it just now! Nope..... I just think "mmmmm tasty!". -cvj Matrix+cmj:-

The day before I could not think of food. Definitely not. But the day after I needed too. It was good for me. Thanks.

citrine asked:

BTW, do you think of string theory when you see all those noodles twirling around?

Actually, not once, until you mentioned it just now! Nope….. I just think “mmmmm tasty!”.

-cvj

]]> By: citrine http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11342 citrine Tue, 17 Jan 2006 22:03:58 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11342 Oh, and hope you are back to normal by now. Oh, and hope you are back to normal by now.

]]> By: citrine http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11341 citrine Tue, 17 Jan 2006 22:02:45 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11341 One of the more interesting slang phrases I've picked up in the USA is "use your noodle". Clifford, this is not an admonition you need. :) BTW, do you think of string theory when you see all those noodles twirling around? One of the more interesting slang phrases I’ve picked up in the USA is “use your noodle”.

Clifford, this is not an admonition you need. :)

BTW, do you think of string theory when you see all those noodles twirling around?

]]> By: Matrix http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11315 Matrix Tue, 17 Jan 2006 18:32:15 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11315 Hope you feel better. Masses of water and no citrus and stop thinking about food - till tomorrow when you enjoy the basic foods, still staying away from diary and citrux. cmj+crew Hope you feel better. Masses of water and no citrus and stop thinking about food - till tomorrow when you enjoy the basic foods, still staying away from diary and citrux. cmj+crew

]]> By: Samantha http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11309 Samantha Tue, 17 Jan 2006 17:31:56 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11309 If Tiger Noodles still does a braised beef noodle soup - please could someone try it and report? The YY Doodles version was so good. A rare culinary joy in early to mid 1990s Princeton. If Tiger Noodles still does a braised beef noodle soup - please could someone try it and report? The YY Doodles version was so good. A rare culinary joy in early to mid 1990s Princeton.

]]> By: Clifford http://cosmicvariance.com/2006/01/16/wonderful-food-on-walkabout/#comment-11307 Clifford Tue, 17 Jan 2006 17:13:31 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/?p=581#comment-11307 Josh, Well, I think it was YYdoodles, that later changed to Tiger Noodles...but it is possible it changed again....I have not been to Princeton since 2001 (gosh). Cheers, -cvj Josh,

Well, I think it was YYdoodles, that later changed to Tiger Noodles…but it is possible it changed again….I have not been to Princeton since 2001 (gosh).

Cheers,

-cvj

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