Alleycat's Pizza

This weather just makes me sluggish. All I want to do is lay on my couch (huddled under several thick blankets - it's cold!), drink hot tea and watch crappy TV. I also want to tell you about the pizza at Alleycats, but my brain can't form very long sentences right now. Blah.

Anyway, Alleycats. It's pizza, it's good, it's pretty cheap (a basic Margherita pizza is 80NT, and then it's 15 or 25NT depending on the topping you get; there are also several pre-set pizzas for 150NT), it's piping hot out of the oven, what more do I have to say?


Oh, and if you really can't get off your couch, they even deliver - well, at least the the Zhongxiao branch does (not sure about the other branches). Unfortunately, though, their radius seems to be fairly small, as we live pretty close to the Zhongxiao branch, but we're still outside their delivery zone.

Alleycats
www.alleycatspizza.com
various locations at:

Nei Hu
Cheng Gong Road, Section 5, No. 67-1
(02) 2630 - 6278

Tien Mu
Chung Shan North Road, Section 6, Lane 35, No. 31
(02) 2835 - 6491

Li Shui Street, No. 6 B1
(02) 2321 - 8949

Zhongxiao East Road, Section 4, Lane 248, No. 2
(02) 2731 - 5225

Song Ren Road, No. 285
(02) 8780 - 5421

Forkers

I know that in my last post it made it seem like I'm miserable here, but the truth of the matter is that I'm not. Sometimes I just get grouchy, I guess. In fact, there are a lot of things I appreciate about Taiwan, such as how easy and convenient it is here. Like, let's say I get a craving for a good hamburger. Then I can just hop onto the MRT, take it to Zhongxiao Dunhua on the blue line, and right around the corner is a fantastic new hamburger joint named Forkers where I can stuff my face to my heart's delight. It's ironic because back in the States, if I were to get this same craving, the only choices I'd have would be between McDonald's, Burger King, or TGIFridays. Funny how I had to move all the way across the world to get a good burger.

Forkers has been open for about a couple months now, though by the way their business is doing you'd think they've been around for longer. But it's not surprising that they're doing well. Just take a look at this hamburger here:


That's the Australian burger (260NT), which comes topped with bacon, cheese, a fried egg, beets, grilled onions, and a special barbecue sauce, as well as the usual lettuce and tomato. Yeah, it's a lot, but as Luke says, "Delicious!" I've also had their mushroom cheeseburger (good) and their fajita burger (good, but spicy). All their burgers come with fries (which if you add an extra 40NT or 50NT depending on what you order, you can get poutine, tex-mex or chili cheese fries). You also get a choice of salad with your meal (I like the Hawaiian Pasta Salad) and a drink.

If you're not in the mood for a burger, Forkers also offers other non-burger fare, like the grilled chicken quesadillas (260NT) that I ordered last time we went. It wasn't bad, but I do think that their burgers are definitely their strong point.


So if you're ever craving a hamburger with all the works, head on over to Forkers!

Forkers
www.forkers.tw
Zhongxiao East Road, Section 4, Lane 223, Alley 10, No. 8
(02) 2771-9285

What I'll Miss

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I'll miss about Taiwan when this adventure comes to an end, and the answer is...not all that much, actually. Sorry, Taiwan. It's nothing against you personally - well, ok, it is, but the amount of bitchin' and moanin' you inspire in me is too much for this post, and probably even this blog. Anyway, I guess I've been feeling rather homesick lately - I just miss my family and friends and Target so much. Then I read on Shu Flies about how she too has been feeling homesick, so she tries to think of things that she'll miss about Taiwan when she leaves. So I decided to try the same thing to try to make myself appreciate it more here, but my list looks like this:

1. the food
2. ?
3. ?
4. Come on, there has to be SOMETHING you'll miss besides the food! God, is that all you think about?
5. ?
6. Yeah, I guess I'll mostly miss the food.

Oh, the food in Taiwan. So tasty and so cheap. I will definitely miss so much eating good food, food that is simply prepared and just so honest, you know what I mean? I was recently watching Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations," and he said something along the lines of how you can tell a lot about a country by how the poor eat, and I think that's so true. I mean, we're not poor by any means here, but we're certainly not making the big bucks. And yet it's so easy for us to go out and eat a meal that fills our tummies and tastes good and is healthy, and all at such reasonable prices. Like last night, we went to Tu Hsiao Yueh, and our meal came out to 370NT, even after ordering two bowls of danzhi mian (50NT) with a meatball (10NT) and a hard-boiled egg (15NT) added on, plus a plate of tofu (30NT), some vegetables (40NT), and fried shrimp rolls (100NT).

See, these are the times when I feel warm and fuzzy towards Taiwan, instead of the weeping and gnashing of teeth of usually occurs when I think too hard about what I'm doing here. I miss my meal at Tu Hsaio Yueh already.

Tu Hsiao Yueh
www.iddi.com.tw
Zhongxiao East Road, Section 4, Lane 245, Alley 32, No. 36
(02) 2773 - 1244

Mmm, cookies!

Today was rainy and cold, the sort of weather I thought I'd left behind back in the East Coast. But it's also the sort of weather that's perfect for baking cookies. Here's a recipe from the 2001 Food and Wine's Best of the Best cookbook - a cookbook I highly recommend, by the way. Food and Wine compiles what they deem to the 100 best recipes of each year, and this particular recipe for snipdoodles is from Christopher Kimball's The Dessert Bible.

Snipdoodles
makes 20 to 24 cookies

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon

1. Beat the butter and 1 1/2 cup of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or with a wooden spoon until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes. (Having neither an electric mixer nor a wooden spoon - I know, we're really rolling ghetto style here in Taiwan - I just used a rubber spatula, and I was prepared to be mixing all the live long day, but it wasn't too bad.) Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated. Add the milk and stir to incorporate.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the next five ingredients (flour through nutmeg) and then stir into the butter-sugar mixture. Chill dough for 2 hours. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

3. Shape dough into large, walnut-size balls, about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Mix together the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip tops of dough balls in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Place balls 3 inches apart on lined baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 6 minutes. (I actually didn't do this because my oven is so small I didn't think it would make a difference, and it didn't seem to.)

4. Cookies will appear undercooked when removed from the oven; the centers will still be very moist and light. Remove cookies to a rack; as they cool, they will firm up. Repeat with a new sheet of parchment paper until all the dough is baked.

And enjoy!

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Stinky Tofu

I remember the first time my mom bought home stinky tofu when I was around nine years old, my brother and I flipped out. "What is that smell?!" we shrieked, and proceeded to make non-stop commentary about the tofu, which mainly included the words "gross" and "poop." 15-something years later, when I went to Taiwan for the first time since I was a baby and tried stinky tofu again, my description of it still included the words "gross," "poop," and perhaps some other more colorful language.

Then recently Luke and I were contacted about writing an article about Taiwanese street food, and what's an article about street food in Taipei without a mention of stinky tofu? A friend recommended that we try Kou Xuan Pin in the Tong Hua Street night market, and off we went, with me bracing myself all the while.

What a pleasant surprise! The tofu we had wasn't what I expected at all. The first bite was flavorful and spicy, but not too pungent. The "stinky" flavor was still there, but more in the background, not overwhelming the way I sometimes find it to be. It was really good. As the owner explained to us, they simmer the tofu in a broth with 37 different kinds of herbal medicine (don't worry, the tofu doesn't have a medicinal taste at all, and in fact herbal medicine is very common in Chinese cooking). And for 65NT for two generous pieces of tofu in said broth, it's really a bargain.

So thanks, Kou Xuan Pin, for making me like stinky tofu now!

Kou Xuan Pin (look for a brightly lit yellow storefront)
Tonghua St. Night Market
Lijiang St., No. 19-1
(02) 2707-1739

Shin Yeh Table

About a month ago, Luke and I got to meet the awesome joanh of a hungry girl's guide to taipei, and we decided to have dinner at Shin Yeh Table, since none of us had ever been there before. Shin Yeh Table is sort of like Shin Yeh's hipper, younger sister. It offers a lot of the same things as Shin Yeh (like our all time favorite, the gua bao), as well as a drink menu (which I believe Shin Yeh doesn't have) and a more extensive dessert menu. The prices are cheaper also - between the three of us, we ordered about seven dishes and the bill only came out to be around 1000NT. Also, Shin Yeh is open until 2am, so if you ever get the late night munchies, it's the perfect place to go to satisfy your hunger. I'm not sure if it's like this every time, but the one time we went after 10, all drinks were buy one get one free, and all dishes were 40% off.

Some of the dishes that I enjoyed:

(deep fried soft shell crab)

(fried rice with salted radish)

(fried mushrooms with mussels)

(egg omelet with salted radish)

(I didn't try this, but I was wondering if anyone could clear this up for me - do people really drink vinegar as a beverage? Is it good? I don't know, but "prune tea vinegar" doesn't really sound all that appetizing.)

Shin Yeh Table
www.shinyehtable.com
Zhongxiao East Road, Section 4, No. 201, 2nd Fl.
(02) 2778 - 8712

Ruth Reichl's Mushroom Soup

Speaking of mushrooms, here's a recipe for mushroom soup from Ruth Reichl's fantastic memoir Comfort Me with Apples. In the book, Reichl talks about how she made this soup every day during a particularly hard time in her life, because it's the most soothing soup she knew how to make. "It is the most perfect prescription for those in need of solace," Reichl writes. While I'm not experiencing any particular hardship now - well, I am sad that the writer's strike is still going on and there are no more new episodes of Heroes and 30 Rock for me to watch - this recipe is still great, especially for cold weather.

Mushroom Soup
Serves 4

1/2 lb mushrooms
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 small onion, diced
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup beef broth
2 cups half-and-half
salt, pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 bay leaf

Thinly slice mushrooms.


Melt butter in a heavy pan. When foam subsides, add the onion and sauté until golden. Add the mushrooms and sauté until brown.

Stir in the flour, and then slowly add the broth, stirring constantly.

Heat the half-and-half in a saucepan or in the microwave. Add it to the mushrooms, along with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and bay leaf. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes; do not boil.

Remove the bay leaf and serve.

The only problem I've encountered making this recipe has been in Taiwan, where beef broth is hard to come by. I've substituted using this beef stew paste I found in the Mitsugoshi supermarket (which came out fine) and vegetable bouillon (which wasn't so good). I guess you can also try using mushroom broth as a substitute? In any case, I still highly recommend it!

Mushroom Hotpot

What is this new and unfamiliar feeling I've been experiencing for the past few days here in Taipei? Is it -- could I actually be...cold? I can't figure out if I'm legitimately cold -- I mean, it has been in the 50s (my East Coast friends in the States, don't hate me) -- or if I've just grown so used to being hot here that anything below 60F feels cold to me. (I drove my parents nuts when I went home over the summer to visit: "What? Why do you have the AC on? It's only 85 degrees out! I'm freezing!)

In any case, yesterday we had the perfect meal to fight off the chilliness and our resulting sniffles: mushroom hotpot! Seriously, I could not think of a more perfect meal on a cold day.


Doesn't that look good? Don't you all want some mushroom hotpot now? The broth is fragrant and because it's chock full of mushrooms, it's also super healthy! Our server explained that the various mushrooms prevented cancer and wrinkles and aided in digestion.

There are different types of set meals that you can pick from, depending on how big your party is, how much you want to eat, and how fancy you want your hotpot to be. Our set meal for two people was 520NT, and for that amount we were served an appetizer (cold mushrooms with soy sauce and wasabi dipping sauce), man tou (steamed buns with condensed milk), three different kinds of mushrooms that went into the broth, a plate of sliced beef, vegetables, and gong wan (which are sorta like meatballs) made with mushrooms and meat. Plus dessert (some kind of sweet soup). AND, the best part is, you can take the leftovers home, AND, they'll even add in extra soup! Some of you are probably rolling your eyes at my broadcasting this like it's groundbreaking news, because apparently this is standard practice at hotpot places, but I didn't know that and was super psyched. Plus you know you're all glumly eating your bein dongs for lunch, all jealous of me happily drinking my delicious mushroom soup.


Oh, and Happy New Year, everyone! May this year be filled with many more good eats.

Mushroom Park Restaurant
www.baigu.com.tw
various locations, but the one we went to was at:
Renai Road, Section 4, Lane 71, No. 17
(02) 8773-3160