Seaweed Ice Cream Cones

Lookie lookie. Another sleepy day. Thanks to my over-sleeping-self I missed an opportunity to go to the hot springs with another exchange student and their host family. Darn it! Oh well. At least I'm getting sleep to prepare for my coming school days. Tomorrow I have to take the Mandarin test. Wish me luck! Though I think it won't really matter if I ultimately fail. :P

Skipping all the way to dinner, we went out to the family's favorite Japanese restaurant that they go to at least once a week. It was in the sushi moving table form that looped around the tables. I've seen many pictures of this type of restaurant but never have I been to one up until today. IT WAS SO EXCITING! Absolutely fascinating to say the least. The way the dishes worked was the pink dishes cost 39 NT dollars each, roughly $1.00 in US currency. What a bargain!

The dish to the left was a kind of egg pudding consistency. But boy was it delicious! Almost like a dessert even with its natural sweetness!

 This interesting piece of art was rice sushi with nuts, raisins and beans on top. I don't think there was any fish on it but the nuttiness was fantastic! A very nice spin on sushi!

To the right is tuna sushi with corn inside. Yummy yummy!

Ok...good lord this egg soup was mouth-watering!! Infused with tofu and vegetables, this creation of genius only cost a buck! Cheap cheap cheap for something so great great great! There was a good amount of volume to the soup too! I perhaps see this soup in my near weekly future :P

Here was something completely new to me. A traditional Japanese food that looks like a healthy ice cream cone. A seaweed wrap with several vegetables inside with an amazing sauce that was similar to a sweeter kind of mayo. OH SO DELICIOUS! If you ever come across this, try it!

 These are yummy black beans with a bit of sugar in them. My host mother said Chinese people eat these to lengthen their life. I'm guessing it's the type of bean that does that rather than the sugar. Otherwise I'm going to live to a hundred with all the sugary pastries I've eaten in my life. :P

I snuck a picture of my brother Larry counting the number of plates we had (33 total). He's very shy so it's not easy to get a picture of him. I'M A CAMERA NINJA! FEAR ME! >:D So we had all but one pink plate, the yellow one being more expensive. But a very satisfying, filling meal for four people was 33 plates. My mother told me she had a friend who in one sitting ate 30 plates all by herself, no problem. WOAH! What an amazing appetite! I would probably only eat 5. I didn't really count and most plates I shared with my family. I look forward to the next time we eat here! I was such a great restaurant!


After such a lovely meal, I continued the night by going to Starbucks with my mother. Yes they have Starbucks in Taiwan. A good amount of them too. She often goes there to study and have coffee. She so kindly invited me to join her in her trips to Starbucks. So sweet of her! The trip tonight was such a pleasurable time. A Rosetta Stone Mandarin session with chinese character lesson on the side, accompanied with a frappuccino? I'll take that anytime! It's a great bonding time too as I study Chinese and my mother studies psychology.

*impersonates the Crocodile hunter* Cri-key! It's a wild Andrea practicing writing Chinese characters! Look at that beaut! Those strokes of the pencil! The focus she has! I've never seen anything like it!

Ok I'm done. Sorry. :P I shall sleep now as my test is tomorrow and I have to wake up early. So good night my peeps! Sleep well/have a good day (whichever time zone you are in).