The Food in My Hometown(3)-肉粿

        I thought that some of you might have seen or even eaten Savory Rice Pudding(碗粿), which is called Wa Gui in Taiwanese. However, how about 肉粿? Do you know what is it? It is common that people mistake 肉粿 for Savory Rice Pudding because their Chinese names are quite similar. In fact, you can distinguish 肉粿 from Savory Rice Pudding through their appearances. Savory Rice Pudding based on its Chinese name is bowl-like and it is sometimes covered with dried radishes(菜脯). Different from Savory Rice Pudding,肉粿 is sliced-shape. The businesses slice the rice cakes before selling it to their customers.

        In a bowl of 肉粿, you can not only eat the soup made from milk fish(虱目魚), but also can taste the other fresh ingredients, such as meat, sliced sausage, and dried shrimps.Of course, we cannot forget our main character, 肉粿. 肉粿 is made from rice, so you can also feel the aroma of rice when you eat the chewy and palatable snack. With one bite, I am sure that all of you will fall in love with the finger licking traditional food in Dong Gang.

The Food in My Hometown(2)--Rice Cake with Brown Sugar

          After showing Rice Soup last week, this week, I want to show you something more about the food in my hometown-Dong Gang.

          When it comes to Dong Gang, some of you might associate Dong Gang with a place which is famous for its abundance aquatic products. What’s more, some of you even have heard of the three treasures of Dong Gang-Bluefin tuna(黑鮪魚), Sakura shrimp(櫻花蝦), and oilfish(油魚子). However, I don’t want to mention them today. Actually, seafood is not my favorite at all although I am a person, grown up in Dong Gang. Therefore, the main character in this week’s posting is 雙糕潤, a specialty in Dong Gang.

          According to its English name, Rice Cake with Brown Sugar, 雙糕潤is a kind of  snacks made from glutinous rice and brown sugar. 

雙糕潤 tastes like Mochi, but its texture is more chewy than Mochi. In every bite of the雙糕潤, you can feel the strong taste of brown sugar that make you cannot help but eat it one bite after another. Nowadays, in order to meet visitors demands, many businesses have launched雙糕潤 in diverse flavor, such as taro, red bean, and matcha. Nevertheless, among all of the flavor, my favorite is the most traditional one-the brown sugar flavor. In my opinion, the brown sugar flavor is the one that represents 雙糕潤 the most. Next time, if you have an opportunity to visit Dong Gang, don’t forget to try some雙糕潤. I think that you will like it as I am.

The Food in My Hometown(1)--Rice Soup

Last week, because of the three-day holiday, I went back to my hometown, Dong Gang, a town in Pingtung County. And then, it happened that there was a triennial festival, Dong Gang King Boat Ceremony, held in Dong Gang. The people in the town and the visitors all over Taiwan came to celebrate the ceremony and had fun. But what’s the connection between the food I would like to talk about today and the festival? That’s because my today’s topic is Rice Soup(飯湯).

           Maybe some of you have not heard of Rice Soup, but Rice Soup is one kind of delicious and well-known delicacies in Dong Gang. Especially during the King Boat Ceremony, the authority concerned would prepare Rice Soup to the visitors who participate in the activity and the townspeople. Now, are you curious about what the Rice Soup looks like? Let’s look at the picture. 

         A bowl of Rice Soup generally contains a lot of ingredients, such as fish balls, cuttlefish, and shrimp. Someone view Rice Soup as a sort of congee, but I think that there are some little difference between Rice Soup and congee. In my opinion, Rice Soup is not as thick as congee and you can still see the rice grains in the soup clearly. After reading my blog, are you eager to try some Rice Soup, come to visit Dong Gang!

Week 2 : Pomelos and I

        Hi, it is my second posting. In last week’s posting, some readers replied that moon cakes are too sweet and contain too much calorie. Therefore, in today’s posting, I want to show something much healthier to you. It is one kind of fruit in my favorite list-they are pomelos. Actually, at first, I didn’t love pomelos as much as I do now. Do you want to know when I started to view pomelos as my love? Let’s read on.

        The event happened on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival when I was just a child in kindergarten. Then, there was a pomelo-peeling game held in the kindergarten. Each student and their parent needed to peel five pomelos as soon as possible. The winner would get a bike as a prize. In the end, beyond my expectation, my father and l won first prize. However, much to my embarrassment, in the process of the game, I did nothing but keep sneezing. (I don’t know the reason.) Thus, with help of my father, I successfully took five pomelos and my new bike home.

                                                                            (Here is a photo of my father and me.)

         From then on, every time when I eat pemolo, the memory of this unforgettable and a little bit funny experience pops into my mind. It was the opportunity that made me feel pemolos taste better than l had ever eaten and became one of my favorite fruit.

         

         Besides, although pomelos are juicy, sweet, rich in vitamin C and low in calorie, we cannot eat too many pomelos at a time or you will have a stomachache.