Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Perseverance

"He conquers who endures."
Persius

I'm bound and determined to conquer this A-Z challenge. Eleven letters remain so let's get crackin'!

P is for peachy, palatable, pleasant, polite.

All are words I could use to describe a fun and fabulous dinner I experienced in Taiwan. Yes I did eat goose on the bone in a bowl of broth one night and noodles in sauce with a mystery ingredient purchased from a food stall one afternoon-

Me: The noodles and sauce are good but what else is in here?
E: I'm not sure but there's something else in here.
Me: It doesn't smell fishy...is it squid?
E: Could be. Could be intestine.

I seriously could have gone the rest of my life without ever hearing those words. Especially worrisome when you hear them said aloud as you stare into a bowl of noodles + mystery ingredient already half eaten. By moi.

Just typing that makes my gag reflex kick into overdrive.

Let's return to peachy, pleasant, palatable, and polite. I joined hubs and some of his Taiwan team for dinner one night in a Japanese style barbecue restaurant. One thing I found interesting in Taipei (and also in Shanghai) was the idea of going to a mall for a nice meal. This is not something we'd normally do in America. Our malls tend to have mostly chain restaurant and fast food style dining options, but the malls here had lovely places to linger over a meal.

Vegetarians look away-


That's a whole lotta beef and this was just the first course. The white ingredient you see atop the thinly sliced steak in the foreground is finely diced daikon (radish). It was spread onto the thin cut of beef and then the beef was rolled up and grilled at our table. So good!


We also had some wonderful prawns of the jumbo variety. They were preceded by several different cuts of pork and more vegetables. The food just kept a comin'.

We must have had seven people waiting on us and they were all concerned about my happiness. Did I like the beef? The pork? Need a fork? (No Way!) Enjoy the shrimp? Was I ready for the special Waygu beef?


Definitely! Waygu beef is known all over the world for its marbling and tenderness. From what I understand Kobe beef comes from a cattle breed called Waygu. In order to be called Kobe beef the Waygu cattle must come from Kobe Japan. Any meat from the Waygu breed is called Waygu beef.

What's the big deal you ask?

Well, if you tasted it you would understand completely. It is melt in your mouth kind of good. Perfectly perfect if we're going with P words.


No he's not a doctor-he's the chef.

In the US seeing your chef wear a mask would possibly be cause for concern but face masks are commonplace here so let's get back to the bbq please.


We give it two thumbs up!


This was one of my favorite evenings. Such a nice group, relaxed and interesting and funny. I can see why my hubs enjoys working with them. You'll often see people in this part of the world flashing the V sign in photos. It sometimes means peace and sometimes victory. For today I'm going with Peace. Letter P remember?

21 comments:

  1. That looks delicious, I'm glad you mentioned the other in the beginning, it only got better. Beautiful post! It looks like they believe in making sure everything is perfect! Really enjoying your posts! Are we going anyplace else in the near future? lolol I still say you could make a portfolio of your pictures and get a job as a travel writer.
    until next time... nel

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  2. Gosh, everything looks so good! It's almost like being there...almost. :D

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  3. Very yummy P Post! And yes, we are over the hump aren't we? I think the middle letters were the hardest.

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  4. I have heard of Kobe beef! I'm so worldly now:)

    Just curious what your husbands colleagues thought of you photographing everything?

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  5. that was a bit scary at the start but wow, that Japanese food wow!

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  6. I'd probably go through a lot of protein bars if I visited the Orient. lol Fun reading this post. glad I didn't have to Participate.

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  7. Maybe that's one big reason I don't travel. I'm picky about food and I won't eat anything mysterious. LOL You look so pretty in that blue in the last picture!

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  8. oh yum! That looks great. I love japenese!

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  9. Quite honestly I would have had a real problem eating on this trip. :)
    Just sayin'

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  10. Now that I see chefs in face masks I think I want U.S. chefs to wear them too!

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  11. Looks and sounds good! At least the beef and pork part. Prawns and intestines...no thank you! lol

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  12. That beef steak looks really good.
    Flashing the V sign in pics is what my niece always does when her pic is taken. Since they live in China she has adopted their traditions.

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  13. I would have starved!

    Stopping by from the A to Z Challenge!
    Giggle, Laugh, Cry

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  14. What a fun 'P' post sweetie!!! Hummmm, face masks for chefs....I think it should be mandatory!!! Great idea.

    I bet the food is absolutely amazin'!!!

    God bless ya and have a sunshiny kinda day!!! :o)

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  15. I would love to visit a Japanese restaurant ... in Japan ... like the one you've shown here.
    I've heard of Kobe beef and how excellent it is. I've never tried it, though. Actually, I've never seen it in the stores I shop at. I've got to be on the lookout for it now.
    Thanks for the tasty "P" post. :)

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  16. I really enjoyed this post. (Not that I don't enjoy all your posts) I guess it's all the food and red meat!

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  17. My hubs would have been in heaven. I would have tried. :)

    What's the mask for? To keep his germs off the food?

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  18. I am so jealous. Man alive, that beef looked real good.
    Best regards.

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  19. Oh wow. Yeah, not veggie friendly but it looks like it was quite the experience!


    "I seriously could have gone the rest of my life without ever hearing those words." -that had me laughing so hard!

    Anna@Herding Cats & Burning Soup

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  20. That was a "cultural treat" - thanks for sharing. Gurl, you are waaaay more adventurous with your food than I am. Oh.My.Goodness.

    "P" is for "post" - this was a great one! :-)

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  21. I loved your warning line, "Vegetarians look away." Thank you so much for sharing your adventure with us. Traveling to the Far East is on my wish list. :)

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