Leave a comment by next Wed., June 9, anywhere on this blog, and I’ll mail the winner a big package of Hi-Chews. (They’re only the best candy ever.)

[EDIT] The winner was Paul! These yummies are coming your way soon!

Anyways, let’s get to the good stuff.

(Psst.. this plate is only $400NT ($12.50USD).)

This the sea-urchin-over-rice of which we so fondly refer. Look at all that roe!

However, if you don’t do the raw stuff, there are other things you can get.

This is some really tender pork.

You wouldn’t think the chin of a fish would be appetizing, but try this salmon’s and you might be happily surprised.

After all the ordering, this was our table:

We went on the Maokong Gondola, which I thought was going to be one of those short cable car rides to the top of a hill, but it was a rather long (about 20 minutes) ride to the top of Mt. Everest (or at least it felt like it.). If you’re brave enough, you can take the glass-bottom bar. There are four stops along the ride, and it only cost $50NT ($1.50USD) for a one-way ride all the way to the top, and once you make it to the top, you can walk around in Maokong or take it back down and stop in the zoo for a tour.

On Friday night, we decided to take my 20-year-old brother out to the Taiwan Beer Factory, which was hopping by the way, and after a couple of drinks, a bit after 10pm, we hailed a cab to head back home. Just as we’re about to merge on the highway, the entire back side of the cab was smashed in, and my brother and I were thrown against the front seats, hitting our heads with glass shattering all around us. Some car had hit a scooter, dragged it along for a few meters, then slammed into our cab (which also ended up hitting another car due to the force of impact), and continued on to bump into a third car before finally coming to a stop a ways ahead.

The police and ambulances got here pretty quickly. They took us to the hospital and had us checked into the ER, x-rays taken, seen a doctor within 15 minutes. The scooter guy hit his arm and all his skin was rubbed off for being dragged along, but he was okay. The driver of the rampant car was pretty injured.  Our x-rays were fine, just a bump on the head and some scratches from the glass, and soreness is to be expected.  We had to stay at the hospital for a couple more hours for observation and the paperwork to be settled. Luckily the fees weren’t bad; I have health insurance so mine was just $300NT ($10USD), and my brother’s, as a tourist, was about $1100NT ($40USD) for x-rays and doctor’s fees.

My poor brother, he has the worst luck with cabs. The last time he was back, he got clipped by one when walking in an alley, and this time, he gets beaten up in one. It’s also scary that seat belts are not required here in the backseat, just in the front, so a lot of cabs don’t even have them even if you wanted to buckle up.

Then Saturday night, the dinner of my parents and the boyfriend’s parents first meeting took place. It was stressful, but at least we got that first meeting over with, and both sides approve of us and all is good in the world.

This is my after-workout meal. It’s light, it’s simple, and it tastes good.

How much would you pay for this in the States? I’d say $10-$15.

Guess how much I got it for?

$70NT ($2.24USD) Each of those bad boys are $10NT($0.32USD) each. Granted, they’re not grade A quality sushi, but still not bad for the price. Ahh, life on a island.

(For the Chinese readers, the address is 台北縣石碇鄉彭山村崩山12號 (石碇交流道往華梵大學方向) (02)2663-4276

I can’t translate that into English, and since it’s so local and Taiwanese, it’d be a bit hard for non-Chinese speakers to go, so bring a Taiwanese friend!)

Afterwards, we had tofu ice cream! It’s literally just soybean based ice cream, but it tasted like the tofu dessert (豆花 dohua) but frozen. It’s totally healthy, not too sweet, and really light, and I would eat it every day if I could.

Then four hours later, but still full from lunch, we had dinner at A Cut Steakhouse in the Ambassador Hotel. (Definitely pricey and costs more than Ruth Chris in Taipei) The steak was pretty good, but I’m raving about the dessert. (Again, no camera no pictures, sorry!) There’s this chocolate ball thing where they pour heated chocolate over a chocolate ball filled with cappuccino ice cream. The top of the chocolate ball will melt so you can get to the good stuff inside. The soufflé was also superb. (I totally miss having a kitchen with an oven so I can cook and bake dessert goodies!)

To top it all off, since we were celebrating a birthday, we got a Caramel Banana Chocolate Cake from Black as Chocolate, and this is the only picture that I can actually post (which is taken from their website but it’s linked). I love Black as Chocolate cakes (careful with the pronunciation there) because I’ve been fairly disappointed with the dessert/cake selection in Taiwan, not counting the ones from American-styled restaurants. Their cakes are made from dark chocolate so they’re just the right amount of sweet (and healthy!) but don’t taste like they’re sugarless like most of the other cakes here.

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