Jodie's journal

Many of my guests have asked me, "what do Taiwanese people drink when they have dinner?". Because they notice Taiwanese people often don't drink wine or beer when they eat. I thought it's quite normal not to have alcohol when eating, like we sometimes do in Taiwan. Then I realized that although we don't drink wine, we do have tea while eating.

Very often my guests from other countries like to ask me, "do you always drink tea like this", when I serve them tea with tiny tea pots, tiny tea cups and tea leaves. To them, it looks like very time consuming, and too much effort to go through just to have tea.

Yes, I always make tea with those tiny pots and cups, especially when I want to slow down and get my mind together.

In Taipei's many vegetarian buffet restaurants, you'll find tables covered with delicious dishes. Many of them are almost perfect re-creations of non-vegetarian dishes, in both appearance and flavor – so don't worry about getting tasteless, warmed-up salads. The buffet style makes it easy if you don't speak Chinese.

If you like walking and you want to visit Danshui, this is a great day trip. You will see amazing views of the river, the ocean, the mountains, and the city, and you can enjoy shopping, sightseeing and a delicious meal at one of the many great restaurants in Danshui before taking the Metro home.

Jodie　小姐

在日本大家都知道台湾的捐款活動。
那麼多的捐款讓我們非常感動。
我們日本人非常感謝你們的愛心。


Yoko

Yoko小姐很喜歡到台灣玩，愛上台灣的小籠包手工麵條，2011年初還特地來上了台灣料理的課程。

Following the change of governing party, the 228 Museum was closed down and then completely rennovated and redesigned after this article was written, so the exhibits described here are no longer available, and the description of it here is no longer accurate (2012).

Sichuan flower pepper oil combines the spicy hotness of chili with the unique numbing sensation of flower pepper to give almost any dish an authetic Sichuan (Szechuan) flavour. It's very simple to make, taking only five or ten minutes - although flower pepper can be difficult to buy in some places.

This is the tea ceremony as traditionally conducted in Taiwan and China. It's different from the traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

This is a list of some of the morning markets in Taipei. Taiwan's morning markets are ignored by most travel guide books, magazines and websites. In Taiwan, most families shop for fresh food in the morning markets two, three or even four times a week, that's how they get the freshest ingredients. Taiwanese people really care about fresh ingredients, for health and taste reasons, and because small homes don't have storage space – they want vegetables the day they are picked, noodles the day they are made, fish the day they are caught, and so on. Read more about Taipei's day markets here.

The wet markets of Taiwan usually are not on the regular tourist schedule.Most guides or local people would never think of bringing their customers or friends anywhere near them. The floors are wet, vegetables are still dirty with the mud from the fields, slabs of meat are cut open on the stands, all kinds of smells float in the air.