Day 1 - Taipei Trip - Shihlin Night Market (Dinner)

After a good nap to recharged ourselves, we were full of energy to go for food hunting at Shihlin Night Market.

Located just opposite of our hotel, there are few famous hawker stalls. First, we saw the Cheese Potato stall. Shirley took the chance to queue up and buy. It is not the famous stall which had been introduced by the local TV Show and newspaper but according to the locals there, the portion of the Cheese Potato at this stall are bigger and the taste is comparable with the famous stall.

Cheese Potato NT$60

Basically it is a baked potato drenched in cheese sauce and topped with ham, corn and egg wedges. It was very creamy and flavourful. We enjoyed it so much that we polished up the whole pack.

While Shirley was queuing up at the Cheese Potato stall, we searched for other famous street food.

Someone told us that the Fried Chicken Chop at this stall is famous and tasted very good. It cost NT$50 each.

I bought one, it is as big as a shoe (Paul called it Size 10 shoe). Honestly, it is not good. The batter was quite thick. It was crispy but a little bit chewy.

We went separately buying food. While Shirley buying the Cheese Potato, I went to buy Fried Chicken Chop and Angeline bought the Fried Mushrooms.

I think we had spend at least half an hour just by queuing up and buying food at the roadside. Finally, we gathered together again and went into Shihlin Night Market.

When Shirley saw the ''Her Fen Gao'', she was tempted to buy one. It cost NT$25 for one.

It tasted like our local "Wun Chai Gou" (Steamed Rice Cake) but with pork fillings. Not bad but not really special.

Not long after we walk around at Shihlin Night Market, we found Ar-Chung Flour Rice Noodle. One of the famous chain store in Taiwan that serve good "Mian Sian".

Patrons non-stop coming to the stall. Each time a bowl of "Mian Sian" being put on the serving counter, people will pay and took it away (without queuing up) without bothering whose turn it was. To be smart, we ordered the big bowl, nobody dare to take except us.Hehe...cunning?

The "Mian Sian" with pork intestine was fragrantly good. With the extra condiments of garlic sauce and black vinegar being added at your own preferences, the "Mian Sian" tasted more flavourful. Condiments, paper bowls and plastic spoons are placed at one of the serving counter for the conveniences of the patrons (self-service).

Just like our locals "Pasar Malam", you can also find a lot of stalls selling a variety of goods such as clothes, shoes, bags, cosmetics and tit-bits.

Attracted by the long queues, we curiously went on to have a look at the stall. It is the famous "Wu Jiao Ping"(Black Pepper Pastry) stall.

The "Wu Jiao Ping" was freshly made at the stall.

Shirley was there for almost an hour lining up for the "Wu Jiao Ping".

Paul and I walk around to search for other famous street food again. We were looking for some desserts.

By looking at the stall, the pancake do look quite interesting. So, we bought the pancake. Taste wise, nothing to shout home about.

Being a foodie, Angeline was quite alert with the good food around.

She was attracted by the Grilled Stall

After taking a survey, she ordered the pork roll stick, glutinous rice cake stick and beancurd stick.

If you think that our local popiah is good, wait till you try the Taiwanese popiah.

The popiah skin was freshly made on-the-spot. It used a variety of ingredients such as cabbages, bean sprouts, eggs and pork meat as fillings.

It was delicious. Really flavourful. You will never get bored with the taste. No wonder the stall's owner can be so cocky. They refused to sell the popiah to us when we requested them to cut the popiah.

I was told by the fruit stall's owner where we bought NT$900 cut fresh fruits from her that the Oyster Omellete stall (which is shown at the photo below) serve the best Oyster Omellete at Shihlin Night Market.

To tell you the truth, we kind of back-off and regretted for ordering the oyster omellete and the fried Chinese Cabbage here. The people were quite rude especially the cook who throw the spatula everytime we try to snapped a photo.

The Oyster Omellete doesn't tasted good. It wasn't crispy and quite doughy. Tasteless.

The Stir-fried Cabbage was good. The cabbages was crispy and sweet.

 

We ate the Fried Mushroom that Angeline bought previously. It was crispy, fragrantly good and tasty.

 

The "Tian Bu  La" tasted quite good. The fish cake was chewy and it was topped with sweet sauce and pickles. It tasted like our local beancurd roll that we can find at the "Chu Cheong Fun" stall.

 

We were finally satisfied with the food we had consumed. We spend about NT$2000 just for food at the night market, which included NT$900 for fruits.

This shop sell local designers clothes. Angeline bought one T-shirt (RM109) design by Circus (Taiwanese Group Singer/Artist), Shirley bought 2 shirts, one design by Jay Chow (RM109) and another by a Group called "Wu Yer Tien" (RM159).

We almost missed out the Taiwanese Sausages. We bought the "Da Chang Bao Siao Chang". It was good. Not really sweet nor salty and it kind of tasted like "Loh Mai Kai"(just an idea to let you know how it taste).

Angeline bought some pancake from this stall. Not because it is famous nor it is delicious but because she saw the husband and son was there to help around and they were trying hard to pull more customers to their stall. Anyway, the pancake tasted not bad.

The Herbal Tea Shop had a history of 50 years selling herbal teas in Taiwan. Shirley dropped-by to takeaway some herbal teas.

Before headed back to our hotel, we walked around Shihlin District.

Opposite of the Jiantan Mrt Station, we saw another happening place. So, we crossed the road and went in to check out the place. It is still considered within Shihlin Night Market. There are a some stalls selling a variety of goods and some hawker stalls.

 Today's a day full of food hunting, been eating non-stop since we touched down in Taiwan, time to go back to the hotel and hit the sack. Goodnight! Tomorrow will be another great day!

Today's Meditation:

We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes. The situation that we hoped to change because it was intolerable becomes unimportant. We have not managed to surmount the obstacle, as we were absolutely determined to do, but life has taken us around it, led us past it, and then if we turn around to gaze at the remote past, we can barely catch sight of it, so imperceptible has it become.

Marcel Proust

It's nice that we grow up. As pleasant as the idea of holding on to our youth or childhood is, there are so many nice things about maturing and gaining a strong sense of perspective on the world. Our perceived wants and needs change, and the things that used to seem so important to us, the things that we allowed to cause us so much pain, later seem to be completely unimportant. All of the time that we spent worrying or agonizing over them now seems to be wasted time. And hopefully, we mature enough not to repeat that kind of mistake.

One of the greatest joys of growing up and maturing is the strengthening of our ability to let go. When we let go of our desire for things, our desire to have other people do and act as we wish them to, our desire to "take care" of things no matter what they are, we grow stronger, more peaceful, more aware, and more able to spread our peace to others. We're able to pull away from competition for things that don't truly matter, saving our energy and our focus for things that do.

Today's desires one day will seem small and insignificant, but that doesn't diminish their importance for us today. But we don't have to diminish something's importance to be able to face it with a clear mind and a readiness to take care of it. If we can back off and look at it from a perspective of seeing a bigger picture, though, and realize that it won't be the end of the world if this desire goes unfulfilled, then we'll be able to put this desire in its proper place.