Goo Food

I just got hit with a bout of depression/sadness. I think it is because my job today has been at best boring and at worst grueling. All we did in classes was have students correct a semester’s worth of workbooks, which is more troublesome and unnerving then one might expect. In the afternoon after some grade data entry, I went to a workshop that I didn’t have to go to that was about something I already knew, but in Chinese. I went because I didn’t know what else to do with myself. I will cheer myself and entertain with stories about funny Taiwanese food, one of which I got at the workshop. I have grown to like these things without really recognizing that they might come off as very strange. The first is douhua. It is a very very soft tofu in a bowl with some slightly sweet liquid. To this can be added a number of things boiled peanuts, red beans, green beans, taro or chewy things like the bubbles that come in bubble tea. At my favorite place they will also add some liquid ginger that gives it a real kick. It took me a long time to try that one because I didn’t know the word for ginger and the proprietor kept describing it as la, or hot. I thought who wants hot in a dessert, but apparently I do. The second food is a little stranger it’s called shao xiancai. It is a gooey black liquid, well it starts as a liquid, but f you wait too long the good stuff turns into a jelly. This is also a little sweet and apparently made from boiling a grass like herb. You can also add all the above-mentioned chewy things to it as well. I call these things dessert and I think I may have finally found another dessert besides fruit that is good for me. This may be more of a hindrance than a help, but if anyone comes to Taiwan I will show you this really yummy goo.