Ok, I have to admit that she probably isn't an MKL fan. I used a team of very skilled photoshoppers to put that logo in there. Doesn't she look cool? :-)
In case you're interested in cosplay, check my girlfriend's awesome photos. She went to a recent gathering of cosplayers in Taipei and took plenty of pics. The cosplay subculture is in recent years very popular in Taiwan and the Taiwanese teens are as good as Japanese, when it comes to dress up like their favorite manga characters. You can also see what the girl above really held in her hand. Have fun browsing pics. More here:
A culinary experience, that will make your taste buds explode
Dear readers, today I decided to give my girlfriend Lily another chance to be a guest blogger on my blog, because she's had an amazing dining experience in Taipei and the post she wrote was so good, I begged her to give me the honor to share her experience with you all. She celebrated her birthday and invited her friends to join her in what will later be one of their best dining experiences of the year. Let me allow Lily to introduce one of the finest Cantonese restaurants in Taipei. You can read same post in Chinese here>>
Every year on my birthday I pick a restaurant where my friends and I have dinner. This time I picked an old but famous Cantonese restaurant in Taipei named Dragon Restaurant (龍都酒樓), which has open since 1983. Their most famous dish is Cantonese roast duck, it is also the most expensive duck dish in Taipei city (one duck costs TWD 1,200), but people give it a lot of praise. If you want to eat their duck, you have to book it at least 2 days in advance and one desk can only book one duck.
I invited 12 of my friends. We were sitting at 2 tables, each with one whole duck. We also shared some dim sum together. The dinner starts, when the waiter brings the duck and asks, how we would like to have it cut.
The whole duck as it was served to us.
They have 2 ways to cut the duck, one way is meat with skin and the other way is meat without skin. Because the duck is so big, so we chose both. The waiter was so skilled, she cut the meat quickly and moved on to my friend's table. In few minutes, both ducks were cut in beautiful pieces and together with a steamed thin pancake (called 麵餅 in Chinese, literally meaning dough skin), the dinner was served.
The duck being cut into small pieces.
And this is how it looks like when they finish cutting.
The steamed dough, the cut duck and the sweet noodle sauce.
The carefully arranged vegetables.
Doesn't it look delicious?
You eat this duck by spreading the dough in your palm, you then add vegetables, the duck and the sauce on top, roll it up and eat. I have to say it's super delicious. All of us couldn't stop eating and complimenting the food, it was simply amazing!
Besides having the famous main dish, we also ordered some other Cantonese delicacies:
Cantonese fried rice: You must order this one, this is the yummiest fried rice I ever had.
Barbecued pork puffs. Yummy.
Fresh shrimp dumplings. They look perfect.
Fried radish patty, the patty was so soft, you must try it.
Steamed shaomai with crab yolk: the shrimps were so fresh!
Steamed beef ball: If you like eat beef, don't miss this one.
Steamed chicken feet with soy bean sauce: Good taste, if you dare to eat.
We also had steamed spareribs with soy bean sauce, fried spring rolls, and one cup of almond jelly. All of them were very yummy, I couldn't find anything to complain about. And we finished the main course with a soup that was made with the remaining duck bones and pickled cabbage. It was very tasty, too. We almost finished the whole bowl, even though we ate a lot already.
At the end my friend SunnyPie, who sells homemade cakes online, unwrapped the birthday cake I've previously chosen and my friends sang "Happy Birthday" to me. After that, I followed the custom of making three wishes and then I cut the cake for them. The cake had the French chestnut flavor tasted very good, SunnyPie really did a great job and so it's no wonder, that so many people buy her cakes.
The birthday cake.
It was a piece of cake to finish this.
I really had a great birthday, because not only did I receive my boyfriend's lovely gift, but also had a delightful birthday dinner and received tons of blessings on facebook, plurk and twitter. I think I was really so blessed that day. I hope I could share my luck to others and the readers who read this post.
If you want to visit the Dragon restaurant 龍都酒樓 in Taipei, follow the directions on this map (created with Google Maps). Go to Zgongshan MRT station and then go out at Exit 3. Walk around 10 min and then you should see this sign. Check also Google Maps for a detailed map. For all the dishes including the duck Lily's table paid 3235 NTD (which makes around 80 euros or 110 USD). 5 people shared the expense.
Here's a little post by my dear Lily Chen about her experience of traveling to Europe and Slovenia alone and visiting me. The embedded video is actually a slideshow of some Slovenian spots we visited (it contains music as well), I really recommend you to see it. Lily will reply all your comments.
A month ago I went to Europe to visit my boyfriend and I must say it was an amazing and wonderful trip, even beyond my expectations. I didn't go to Europe before, so for me, when my boyfriend described the food, buildings or things related to Europe, it was hard for me to imagine. Although I saw many images from all kinds of resources like travel books, online photos, even some TV shows which introduced how fascinating it was to travel to Europe, for me they were just plain images, I don't have any feelings to connect with them. And I also missed my boyfriend a lot, after he left Taiwan, because he had to return to his country. So I decide to visit him during summer time, to reward myself with a Eurotrip and to visit my dearest man.
I flew with KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) and I have to say that the ticket price was quite reasonable during summer and the service they provided was also good. They had a whole variety of in-flight entertainment (with the latest movies) and the food and drinks they offered tasted really good as well. The flight was quite long for me (all together around 20 hrs), but at least I felt good and had nothing to worry about. But the biggest change for me was the fact that it was my first time to travel so far and fly by myself. For the first time I only had myself to rely on. Before my flight, I really had fears about that. I didn't have full confidence in my English, but it turned out that the journey was quite smooth. Even when I had to communicate with other Westerners, they still could understand my English and gave me what I asked for (or ordered).
Another thing I thought prior to the trip was the food. I thought I may miss our food during the trip, but the truth is, the food I tried in Europe was so yummy for me, I enjoyed it a lot and didn't miss the Taiwanese food at all. The only thing I did miss was our tea (I'm used to drink tea everyday), but they had good quality fruit teas and all kinds of milk products, so I still can enjoy drinks there. And my boyfriend's mother is a great cook, she prepared several traditional Slovenian dishes for me and they all tasted quite yummy, I couldn't stop eating and always finished all my portions. I didn't know I could love to eat Western foods so much, so the experience made me know myself more.
Another thing I noticed was how old Europe is. The modern Taiwan only has around 300 years of history, so when I saw the hundred, even thousand years old buildings there, I was stunned and speechless. Those buildings indeed amazed me and humbled me. I especially liked the details of the historical buildings, those adornments were so vivid and delicate. I was amazed that from so many years ago, Europeans were already able to make things look so beautiful and dainty without any convenient modern tools, all arts were totally hand-made, which is really incredible.
In conclusion, this Europe trip meant a lot to me, not only did it broaden my view of this part of the world, it also gave me the precious experience to know how Europeans live and I got to know myself a little better. I feel so appreciated to have the chance and time to go there for 2 weeks. And also I have to thank my dearest boyfriend, who guided me and drove me across Europe during this wonderful trip. Without him I couldn't have such great experience there.
Travel is really like a key that opens door to other parts of the world. I wish I could always have the chance to travel around the world and open many doors!
My friend Amy Star left a great comment on my blog and I am reposting it here:
"I think that people who are generally hostile online feel powerless in their lives and use the anonymity of the internet to lash out at strangers, because they feel unable to deal with the people they know. Like that troll you mentioned on Twitter today: I'm sure that individual envies anything good in others' lives (like your blog) and tries to trash it. It's a misguided attempt to make her/himself feel better by trying to make others feel worse. These people don't realize that happiness isn't a zero sum game: more happiness for one doesn't necessarily mean less happiness for another. In fact, happiness and love breed more happiness and love. Love is so much more powerful than fear."
I had the honor to be a guest blogger on the fabulous blog Insomniac Lolita owned by my friend Andhari. It's my first time, so please forgive me my typos and ramblings. I hope it turns out well. I mean, she has currently 270 followers, so I'm a bit nervous. But I feel it will turn out well, because of the topic I chose, hehe [*I'm so smart]. If you want to read that post click here.
Hello fellow friends and readers of My Kafkaesque Life. It's the ex prezident the of USA, George W. Bush, hehe. I am writing instead of MKL today. Thank you, MKL, for giving me the chance to be the 2nd guest blogger on your respectful site, hehe.
I want to talk about current events around the world and my personal life in the past week. I went to the sawna with my best buddy John McCain, hehe. Check the photo here. Some people there were really buffled. They thought we're like BFF, because we got along so well. He told me that when he looks in the mirrow, he sees my face. We're like brothers. I like him, he's a funny guy. His demeaning jokes about women crack me up, hehe. Anyway, besides the sawna with Mac, I've been pretty busy. I went to the circus with my dad. I loved the monkey, hehe. Dad bought me a lolly pop (I won't tell you the flavour, but it was definitely a sugar overdose, hehe). Yesterday I went to the movies with my wife Laura. We watched 'Hangover'. It really cracked me up. I thought I'm watching the old me from 20 years ago. but Laura didn't like it. She frowned the whole way back home and pulled my ear and scolded me. That damn dry pretzel (pardon my French) got me choking while I was laughing, so people complained behind me. What could I do? It was hilarious! Since I used to be a politishan, MKL asked me to tell you something about the current political situation. Well, I don't know, if I wanna get sick in the future, since our hospitals will be socialized. I'm for small government. I only give money to big business. The money should trickle down to the rest. It worked until the system collapsed. I still don't know why it happened. I must ask Dick, he's smart. He has "the brains for mass destruction", hehe. And his riffle is no joke (no pun intended). While I'm writing this, I'm trying to find prezident Obama's birth sertificate on Google. I don't know what to think, even if the republican governor of Hawaii says it's a valid Hawaii state birth sertificate, you know, republicans lie! So, I don't really know what to believe. But I've just retired recently and I'm writing my memoirs and watching reruns of Golden Girls. So I don't have the time to speculate about these matters, I let others decide. I'm not the decider anymore. Oh, I'm feeling great today! Thank you MKL for this opportunity to write a little something on your well-respected blog.
And thank you, dear readers of MKL. I may write a regular column on this blog from now on.
Hello fellow friends and readers of My Kafkaesque Life. It's Misha, MKL's cat. I am writing instead of MKL today. Thank you, MKL, for giving me the chance to be the 2nd guest blogger on your respectful site. I must add, I have hired a human, who translates my cat language to English. I want to share a little about my life and the current events. First I have to give a warm meeyow to all new MKL readers. I was told that there's so many new ones who come here and comment. Sometimes when I sleep near MKL, I see how he's blogging hard and he's always happy to get some appreciation for his effort by your comments. Many times he takes a small break and comes to me and rubs my belly. I really enjoy that. But I don't like when he kisses me. I don't understand the concept of kissing. Sniffing, yes. But kissing? It just makes my fur wet. Eew. Anyway, so MKL told me that lately there's so many awsome bloggers out there. So he asked me to be a guest blogger and now that I had the chance to check the blogosphere, I know that he was right. He said I should send some warm meeyow-wishes to all the awsome bloggers out there. Meeyow, my friends! I hope you keep coming on this blog, so that my master MKL will always be happy, ok? ^^ It's so hot these days. So I love to sneak into MKL's room, because it's cold and I can sleep there and nobody bothers me... Except MKL. But I like it. Sometimes I also snuggle with him... Oh, it's so nice to be a cat! And I have to tell you, a week ago, he bought Whiskas for me! Can you imagine? A small tin that cost 1,30€. Whiskas is the Mercedes among cat food. It had the salmon flavor. Me and my mummy were eating it like there's no tomorrow, but MKL's sister complained that the whole house smelled like salmon. I don't know why the big fuss. I love salmon. MKL didn't smell anything either. Some humans are so sensitive. I also have a very sensitive nose, but I never complain about human smells, but I could! Hmph! I think I'm gonna end this now. I heard something in the bush outside. It might be a mouse! Yummilicious!
Was nice to be a guest blogger today. Who knows I might become a regular writer here.
A long sweet meeyow from Misha
[NOTE by MKL: I don't think so.]
This is me after blogging. That noise in the bush was my mummy. I didn't catch any mice today :( So I went to rest on bed and purr.
Hello fellow friends and readers of My Kafkaesque Life. It's the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il. I am writing instead of MKL today. Thank you, MKL, for giving me the chance to be the 1st guest blogger on your respectful site.
I want to talk about current events around the world and my personal life in the past week. Let me say first, that I became sick and permanently constipated, because of the Great Satan's pig flu, that was spread around the world from his Mexican brother to destroy Korea. Our government strengthened safety measures and took all the needed precautions to make sure that the great Korean nation is safe. If pig flu becomes wide spread in our country, we will bomb Hawaii! Or just Japan. Death to the Great Satan!
Let me tell you how my week passed. It was really a week full of lovely events. I went to the Korean national sunglasses fair. I was the only one attending and I bought all the models. When I was home, I went online and read about Lady Gaga. She has revealed recently, that she used to tone down her crazy look when she was teased about it in high school. I was shocked! Because I thought she was a rebel like me. I never toned down my look. Only recently, when I lost a lot of weight and now I look a little skimpy. I miss that sack o'potatoes around my waist, it made me look like a Yakuza boss, the women loved it. But sadly, the debauched days of reckless sexual and culinaric greed are over. Lil Jongy does not work anymore. That's why I am writing memoirs and watching reruns of Golden Girls the most of my day. I am delighted though, that today I was able to scribble this little post. It was hard to sit still. Wait... I'm feeling something's moved. A muscle is suddenly feeling lose. I have to go.
Thank you, dear readers of MKL. I may write a regular column on this blog from now on.
