Sichuan Dou Hua

 Two plates of keropok being served before our meal, a good variety! Yummy!

 Love the spiciness of this spicy pork belly with garlic! Our one and only spicy dish.

 Didi kept saying, "It gotta swirl." Well, it did occasionally :P

 I kind of like the tenderness of the beef, sizzled with lots of garlic, spring onion and Chinese parsley. My father said that too much of those seemed to have stripped the beef of its natural flavour. Hmm, I would not disagree though although this is my favourite dish for the evening.

Every one of us got a fortune cookie at the end of the meal and this is mine! Trying to make meaning of it.

It was a family dinner at Sichuan Dou Hua and I kind of expected to taste lots of spicy stuff but it seemed that my family members are not really into spicy stuff nowadays. Besides those mentioned above, we also had steamed fish, roasted duck, asparagus, seafood noodles, soup. Hmm, after the meal, I think we unanimously felt that when it comes to Cantonese cuisine, Hua Ting and Asia Grand can do a better job than Sichuan Dou Hua. But then again, we did not really get to try some of the traditional Sichuan dishes that they do serve so I guess not much generalisation could be made.   

Pretty little gift

I can still remember clearly the blanket which my grandmother made for me using her near antique sewing machine many years ago. In those years that I had that blanket, I was kind of like Linus and his security blanket, one of the characters in Peanuts. That blanket provided much warmth and comfort not only physically but I must say, emotionally and psychologically. Once in a while, I knew I just got to sniff it a little and a whiff of it never failed to soothe, especially before I slept every night. I had used it for many years and it soon reached a stage where no matter how stitches one can sew, they could never stitch up all the tears. It was really worn out and torn after many years of being such a great companion in my sleep. One day, Mummy decided that it was beyond 'repair' and dat would mean it got to go into the trash bag. Many years now, I know I really still miss it. I think I had not really received any handsewn items since then. You know, it's really a joy to know that there are lovely people in my life who sew and handmade gifts are always much treasured. It started with Erinna's handsewn lunch bag and then subsequently there were quite a few gifts from Mark that were handsewn too. The recent one was a tissue pouch :)   

Thinking of food and discipline

 Never judge a kind of food by its smell!

This is really a good enough one-dish meal for me. Okie, stop shouting "Yucks" in my ears, I got you. But sorry, they are my love whenever I am in Taiwan.

One must be wondering why this silly gal had gone to Taiwan and yet there was no much mention of food at all. Well, I would say food in Taiwan, especially in those night markets, had really kind of put us, or at least me, in a spolit-for-choice 'predicament' as I looked at each and every kind with bewilderment. But unfortunately, there was really so much that the stomach could take. I must say that we had been eating so much that the overeating seemed to have caused some memory loss in me, ha, or was it more of the laziness of the brain? But I must admit that those two in the above pictures still kind of flutter past pretty much in my memory occasionally after my holiday trip. Hmm, no, no, no, silly gal, think it's time to stop thinking and wondering about food and time to get down to some serious stuff like detoxing, dieting and exercising. Well, in short, I guess it's discipline. Hmm, the relationship between food and discipline seem like a good connection to explore.   

A little secret

Would you believe that every photograph contains a little secret? And that little secret takes patience and watchfulness to unravel. 

The train ride

 Hmm, sure miss sipping almond milk

 As I had mouthfuls from this Taiwanese lunchbox, I kinda miss preparing my own.

Somebody indeed

 Is conformity the way to go?

 Not the tastiest sandwiches in town but I think it's still comfort food on a rainy day and a quiet afternoon :)

 Traces of "Somebody" in the food

 I am somebody who loves to sit by the window so I chose a seat for all of us by the window. Are you that somebody too?

 Do you know why I love sitting by the window? Do you see what I saw? Ain't they beautiful? 

Beautiful memories captured

I remember it was 2008 that Cheri, Mark and I last visited Somebody Cafe in Taipei and we even spoke to the artist. Four years later, glad that we were back there again. Nothing changed much actually. Well, I know I am somebody who can spend the whole afternoon in this lovely and cozy little cafe. Do you happen to be that somebody too?

Traces of Autumn

My trip, my gifts

 I was pleasantly surprised that the travel journal that I had received as a gift came with a handsewn pouch again and to me, every pouch seems to depict different moods.  What do you think this would depict?

 Got this handsewn plush toy as a gift during my trip to Taiwan. Hmm, ugliness is a form of beauty. Do you see the beauty in it? Know what, I think I do :) 

Art is not always about something new but I think it's the ability to make use of what's available to create originality. I thought this label attached to the handsewn plush toy was really a brilliant idea!

Selfish Gene Cafe

 Putting parts together and recreating, notice anything familiar?  

 I knew I had to have B.O.B! Nice runny poached eggs on smoked salmon, such a delightful meal! PY had scrambled eggs on thick toasted brioche. Hmm, I think Selfish Gene certainly knows what it's dealing with when it comes to eggs :P

 I think banana cake is a must-try. Each mouthful is full of banana flavour and I like the fact that it's warm and moist. I must say that the crumble and peanut butter sauce with the banana cake was definitely a match made in heaven!

I like the lemon tart too, glad we ordered that. The lemon curd was not too overly sweet or sour, just the right balance of both.

Love the idea of brunch, oh well, not unless you get to wake up a little later in the morning (Note: being woken up NOT from the shrill of the alarm clock). To me, having brunch means you basically get to enjoy the luxury of time, without any schedule to follow or having to rush for another activity. Sure hope I get more of such time and enjoy such 'luxurious dining'. PY and I decided that we had to meet up for brunch before we flew off for our holiday this early December and we did! As usual, PY dearie came up with a suggestion for our meet up. Gosh, she seems to have endless suggestions and I would not be surprised if she has backup plans :P We had our brunch at Selfish Gene. Not many people in that cozy cafe and quite a lazy late morning I would say. Oh boy, when it comes to good food, I guess there's place for selfishness. What do you think?