Rousong Onigiri

Another artifact of the unique co-mingling of cultures in Taiwan: a rousong filled onigiri. Molded rice balls wrapped in nori, onigiri are a popular convenience stork snack in Japan. They're also widely available in the convenience store chains of Taiwan (many of which, like 7/11 and Family Mart, are in fact Japanese owned), a sign of the influence Japanese culture has on Taiwan. But this particular rice ball is given a distinctive island flavor with its very Chinese filling of rousong, a dried fluffy pork product known also, less appetizingly, as pork floss.

Salty Leek Steamed Bread

One of my favorite neighborhood spots is a thin little shop with a few tall glass cases pushed nearly onto the sidewalk. Inside are rows and rows of puffy steamed breads and plump filled buns. One of their delicacies is the above 'salty leek' steamed bread, which I like more for its appealing spiral shape than for its taste-- personally, I prefer steamed bread when its mild flavor is complimented with a savory filling of mushrooms or oily pork.

What is this? #1

When I saw this vegetable at the market I decided I would buy it, paint it, post it online to find out what it is, and then eat it. Unfortunately, painting it was a lot harder than I expected. If you can recognize the above vegetable, good on you- it came out looking a little too ethereal to be edible, more cloud than vegetable. So after struggling to paint it in watercolors (it's essentially all a glossy white, which is a bit of a challenge to paint), I never posted it online, and eventually had to throw the poor vegetable into the food waste. Well, maybe it's not too late-- can anyone help me figure out what this is? I'd like to head back to the market and pick up another.

Happy New Year

Hello 2011-- I've made it my resolution to really try and focus on the food of Taiwan this year, so hopefully that will spill over into this blog in the way of lots of sketches, drawings, and recipes. For the weekend though, I'm doing like my Frenchie above, and taking it easy.

Happy new year!