Fun Food Day!

My most notable adventures today were all alimentary, my dear Watson.

First on the menu: Stinky Tofu.

You can practically smell it from here.

We went to some district/area that is famous for their stinky tofu.  Before coming to Taiwan I had heard lots about the stinky tofu, and definitely mixed reviews.  When we first arrived, I caught a whiff of it, but it wasn't nearly as fragrant as I was expecting, and I thought it smelled more like food that smelled like feet than the intense dumpster odor about which I had been warned.  Our group sought out the stinkiest of all the tofus, this barbequed style with lots of stinky sauce.  This is not the only way to serve it; they also make it stewed in sauces or fried.  The picture above was the actual slab of stench that I myself purchased.  There sure was a lot of buildup - and we all took pictures of our first bites.

Mmmmm!

I took my first bite, and I have to say, it was not what I expected.  That is primarily because everything I had heard about stinky tofu was that it smells really really bad but actually doesn't taste bad at all.  My first experience was the exact opposite.  It was a little pungent, I admit, but I only got the full blow of the stink when I actually took a bite.  And boy, was it stinky.  As soon as I swallowed, I informed the rest of the table that it does in fact taste like poop.  Not that it was the worst thing I had ever eaten, just that it had a definite poop flavor.  Two of the other CIEE students at the table took teeny bites and promptly spat them back onto a napkin.  I then tried a second bite, which was actually worse than the first, but only because the other girls at the table were whispering things about how it tasted like vomit and looked like diarrhea and the like.  Phuab was the only American at the table that actually gave it a good try, and she proclaimed that "it was okay."  At some point we looked over, and the other table of students from our group (visible in the background of the photo above) had all finished theirs and were already leaving.  Perhaps it was this realization that inspired me to give it another try.  I had a few more bites and it did actually get better, especially when I scraped some of the sauce off.  My final evaluation was that it did grow on me, and wasn't actually that bad, but I didn't really much like it.  Try though I did, I only got about half or a third of the way through it, but did make some progress, as shown:

Next on the menu: Pig's blood.
For dinner we ate at a night market and went to this crazy restaurant where you take a basket and fill it with all the fresh vegetables, meat products, noodles, tofu, etc etc, that you choose from a stand, and then they cook it in front of you by sticking it in a boiler, and then toss it on a plate and you're done.  The whole experience was actually really stressful because we were in a group of three Americans and one ambassador and we were holding up the whole line, all asking Una (the ambassador) what every single item was... and boy, did they have some stuff!  Chicken testicles, pig intestine, cow tongue, lots of crazy food.  I did not choose pig's blood - I didn't even see it up there.  I got a bunch of stuff (some good, some definite regrets), but it wasn't until I asked what the mysterious greyish blob on Jessie (an ambassador)'s plate was that I encountered the pig's blood.  She told me I should taste some, and so I did.  I found that it didn't really have much flavor on its own, it just tasted like the sauce.  The texture was pretty much like jello, so it was alright, but not something I expect to be getting a craving for any time soon.

Last on the menu: Lucifer.
Psych! sort of.  But this really was exciting because it was (momentously) my first legal beer in Taiwan!  Not that I was drinking illegal beer in Taiwan, but just that I will be legal from now until forever, and this was the start of it all:

I wasn't kidding about Lucifer

After the night market, we went to a bar, which was really more like swanky cafe.  This was my first and only beer of the night.  And I didn't even get carded! ;)  Exciting stuff.

Those were my food adventures of the day.  But it does bring me to a point I have been wanting to make.  As most of the Rice frisbee team knows, I like to show off my chopsticks skills.  But the truth is, I have been awesome with chopsticks.  We use them for every meal (except the Italian food - I asked they used forks instead of chopsticks, and Afore said, surprised, "Why?  Do you eat this with chopsticks in America??"), and I have been a total champ.  The very first time I used them, on that first day with our first meal, I had a moment of panic when I picked up my chopsticks and though of how embarrassing it would be if I struggled, and I even took a second to fit them correctly in my hand, but since then it has been totally smooth sailing and I don't even notice them anymore.  I know I am bragging.  But I am so pleasantly surprised with my performance, and if I can't share that here, where can I?

Here are some more photos from today:

Street near campus, waiting for the bus

Here's some of the group at dinner - site of pig blood consumption

School kids on the bus

Scooters are popular here

Tomorrow we embark on our "three day two nights" trip.  I am really excited - it involves some sightseeing, lantern festival, a scenic bike ride, cool hotels, potentially karaoke?  Anyway, I am not sure if we will have internet at all, but I will be taking lots of pictures and will share all about it.