Taipei: Monday – Friday It’s a joy to live an easy 2 hour flight away from Taiwan, a country boastful of its cheap eats and nights on the streets (in reference to its famous night markets of course). I spent a good working week in and around the capital and was left satisfied and saturated with holiday fun. There was nothing mundane, repetitive or routine about Taipei; everyday was different, a change from my usual “repeat after me” world of
チャーハン An easy and delicious dish that goes perfectly with gyoza! Ingredients serves 4 3 cups of rice (uncooked amount), cooked in the rice cooker 2 eggs 200 grams of sliced meat – beef, chicken or pork, even shrimp is ok 1 onion ¼ of a carrot 1 pack of mushrooms (I recommend shimeji – small mushrooms that are joined together at the base) ¼ cabbage ¼ bunch of spring onions salad oil salt
Mimuroto-ji is known as the “Flower Temple,” so it’s a great place to visit during blooming season. Although the gardens managed to look nice even at the ending-edge of winter, my personal recommendation would be to visit during May or especially June, for the blooming of their spectacular ajisai (hydrangea) garden (containing ten-thousand flowers in hundreds of varieties and colors). They also have twenty-thousand azaleas, which bloom in May, and plenty of lotus flowers, which bloom later in the summer.
Japan in spring is a veritable treasure trove for locals and visitors alike. My family therefore decided that it would be the perfect time to visit for a good dose of culture and travel. However, as the years go by, the parents do tend to prefer a relaxing holiday and avoid city breaks. So this, coupled with my father’s dodgy leg, made me rather nervous about what the heck they would do in the unremitting urban sprawl I currently call
So, you might have met him on the train, at the supermarket (no comment *guilty look*), at work (no comment, again), at the gym, walking home from the movies, at the movies, at your Soho hair salon, while shopping for that ‘must have’ scarf to match that ‘needed to have’ sweater you bought last year, at church (no comment, again), at a friend’s BBQ, while partying with your girls, or just sitting at the park. But one thing was sure:
Bringing you yet another yatsuhashi instalment of The Mochi Diaries, this is Chapter 4: Haru Yatsuhashi 春八つ橋. Although the sakura have come and gone, spring is certainly in the air and all over Japan at the moment (my hayfever can attest to that) and so during a recent trip to Osaka I decided to pick up a box of the spring themed variety of yatsuhashi (speciality mochi of Kyoto, see chapter 2). The box contained two separate and unique
Oh the great outdoors! As it finally starts to get to a reasonable temperature (for what – about 3 weeks?) I find my eyes drifting towards the mountains (I’m a country lass, for now at least) and my feet itching to bound upwards. I used to hate my parents for dragging me out walking when I was younger. I wanted to stay at home where I didn’t have to haul myself up a load of hills, drink bad soup from
