Lychee - 荔枝
The rumor has it that the major element of my deciding to visit Taiwan in June is the Lychee fruit. The rumor has it all wrong - - it is the only reason. I’m kidding of course...or am I ? I do love this gloriously extraordinary fruit. Here is a Wikipedia link for more information about it.
A Lychee tree - right in front of my nieces' house.
These are ripen chilled Lychee. YUM!
A closer look. Truly a beauty inside and out... taste awesome, too. I have made up my mind that I lack the ability to describe the taste of Lychee. The first adjective comes to mind is "Heavenly!" and it still seems insufficient. Do not make the mistake of comparing the taste of the fresh Lychee to the canned version of this fruit. It is borderline sacrileges and I mean it.
Shoes 鞋子
I shall admit that I love shoes regardless of where I find them. The ones I found in the department stores in Taiwan are simply amazing. The selections, designs, qualities and best of all, the prices are outstanding and so fabulously attractive. I wish I had more room in my suitcases and a higher credit card limit ;)
Check these out!
How do I describe the sound of cicada? Let me try. If good-bye and hello; friendship and love; memory and loss have a sound and it would be the sound of cicada… screechingly loud, intense, full of longing yet so tender and patient. I could never tell how many of them together can create such a sound or if just one cicada can make a music so strong, so touching and magical. It’s a sound I haven’t heard for many years; and when I heard it this time around, I closed my eyes to make sure that it will stay with me always.
I finally found a live cicada on the tree. It looks like a giant fly on the main branch of the tree closer to the top.
Thanks to Zack, here is a closer look at the cicada.
Shaved ice - 銼冰
Nothing better than a bowl of shaved ice topped with cooked mung beans or peanuts or fruit or milk or all of them in the hot summer afternoon of Taiwan. This one is sold at Costco (Yes, I did go to Costco...three times.) The shaved ice is topped with mango chunks, mango jam and vanilla ice cream. It's a very clever and delicious combination.
Juicy dumpling - 湯包
Mostly served at breakfast but I could easily have it for lunch and dinner. The filling is similar to the fillings of dumplings 水餃 or pot stickers 鍋貼 which is a mixtures of chinese cabbages, green onions, ginger roots and ground pork. It is shaped like a bao (包子). Though I don't know what the trick is to make it so that when you take a bite out of this steamed dumpling, the flavorful juice of the dumpling flowing into your mouth and you are in love instantly.
Rice paddy field - 稻田
I love the view of rice paddy. The stories that grow from it, the whispering of the crops on windy days and the ever changing color - so many different shades of green - except when it's time to harvest then it's golden.
The two pic above were taken the first few days when I was in Taiwan; the next one was taken the last day I was there. By the end of July, early August, the rice field will be ready for harvest and the color will be an intensified gold.
3 comments:
Those lychee fruit do look heavenly!! Also I love the sounds of cicadas! I remember every few years they would show up in Ohio, although I am still in shock that I was once able to hold one in my hand without becoming squeemish. The shaved ice and dumplings sound do good! And the rice paddy is just beautiful! Maybe someday I'll make it to Taiwan...
Megan, if you do want to go, we can make a trip together : ) Maybe I'll brave another visit in June so you can try Lychee ;-)
Nice, I would love to try that fruit sometime. Probably nowhere good to get in in Washington, though. Jefferson said some of these things reminded him of Japan.
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