Food haven, why skinny people?

It is a small island with twenty three millions people.  It is prosperous; It is busy and crowded than ever. And yet I was surprised to witness order and discipline among expected chaos.

Everyday is Black Friday

Taiwan is an updated and upgraded version of Hong Kong, full of industrious people and thriving enterprises and small businesses. Population density is outrageous. Traffic flow in the streets and inside the stores is heavy, in haste and horrendous.

Crowded but Orderly

MRT are packed with people during school and business hours. I have wondered how we survived in the past when subway transportation system was not established.  I was jammed and squeezed in bus going to school and now subway back home visiting.

However, I did not feel the pressure and turmoil that I was experienced as a student.  I went with the flow in and out of subway effortlessly. The subway train is very clean, fast and punctual. Most of the time, I got to sit down though I don’t particularly want to admit that I am the older and weaker among the crowd.  Young people are staring at their smartphones while older ones are taking their naps. It is very quiet, not noisy at all. People whisper if they are having a conversation.

Out of train, mess crowd instantly walked towards their exits, scanned their plastic tickets and vanished in minutes before the next crowd comes in. I have followed this routine for two weeks and was good at it. There are lots of walking and so exercise involved being MRT commuters. I realized why Asians consume lots of noodles and still remain skinny. In hole-in-the-wall places, it takes only about 20 minutes for you to go in, be served, have your meal and get out. If you go to a hot spot, people are already waiting in the line to get in, you have to give back your seats soonest you can.

So many choices, what's next?

If you want to enjoy a relaxed dinner, Western restaurant is the best bet, otherwise, find a more upscale Chinese restaurant. Taiwanese buffets are incredible. Our hometown buffets here are simply no comparison. I am not bragging if I say 100 different dishes for you to choose from. On top of that, many of them are cooked right in front of you, fresh and delicious.

best sushi to die for

Check out the sushi counter with at least ten varieties, all clearly marked with wasabi saucer lined up ready to go, very efficient.  Vast consumption and fast turn-around result in absolutely the freshest food supply.
I was treated in one of the most popular buffets twice, and I did not even finish browsing all the food served. The great variety makes you wonder where should you go next. I did not want to be out of control though I have been so deprived of authentic Chinese food living in Oregon. There are only three small Asian grocery stores in Eugene. Majority of the food is either canned, frozen or shipped from somewhere else. I often brought home 'fresh' noodle or cake with moles. I cannot get right materials to make authentic Chinese food. American-Chinese fusion food is what I make. I am glad that cooking is not my most favorite thing to do, so I don't feel too bad.

Not sure since when, new branded pastry and goodie stores are rising in the marketplace like snow flakes. I do not have to mention how good they are. I brought back a fancy box of Aunt Stella handmade cookies. Out of total 40 cookies, the man in my house consumed 34. It seems to be a lot, but the cookies are very thin, only half size or less of our homemade cookies. Interesting enough, I discovered that Aunt Stella cookie was created by an American Joseph Dunkle who went with US military to Japan in 1969 and made it a household name there since 1982. Mrs. Fields cookies are more popular here. I have to say it is because the cookies are thicker and larger and that's what people want here. Price can be another factor.

In a small adjacent area about 2000 sqft, there are eight best brands of various goodies. They are tempting but truly I like their packaging more than anything. I am paying $0.05-0.10 home for a plain brown bag, but these stores are giving out fancy carry-in bags for free.

Branded Goodie Corner

Next, Please

One mid-sized bakery has five cashiers plus one mobile person to stream the lines. All of them wear uniforms, keep their hairdo up in caps, wear masks and gloves. They are food serving professionals.

For a long time, I don't count the changes given back from Asian cashiers. They are too fast and so accurate. If I intend to count, I would block the next customer.

I cannot blame them to work so fast-paced.  If they don't, the line will trail and circle around. You may have experienced that Asian clerks tend to be quieter, straighter and anxious to get the job done, no bull shit.  This is why.  There is no time for nonsense and casual talks. One 'how are you today?' will make another customer wait for 3 more minutes. Rationalize that.

Yum Yam

It seems unforgivable to talk about sweet potato when we are still struggling to finish Thanksgiving left overs. But I like this pot so much and some facts about sweet potatoes are worth knowing.

Inside the pot is yam. They are slowly-roasted and the best you can ever have. Someone actually custom made an clay pot just to store roasted yam, can you imagine how popular it is? The large word means 'roast', the words inside the square is 'yam' and the tiny word upper right addresses 'flavor'. The wood lid and roped bottom make it even more classic.

Sweet Potato and yam are all vegetables but not related. Sweet potato grows in US while Yam is from Asia or Africa. However, they are both loaded with nutritions that we commonly overlooked.  Most of people think starchy vegetables make you gain weight. In fact they are both low in calories, rich in potassium, magnesium fiber and trace minerals. Sweet potato has abundant vitamin A also E. Yam has Vitamin C and B6. From nutrition viewpoint, Sweet potato scores even higher than Yam.

open longer, work harder

The girls working in hotel reception are so thin and elegantly gestured. They are so fit that they make me feeling jealous. How can they live in this food haven, consume so much noodle and gourmet food and still stay in such great shape?  I think there is definitely something to do with Asian diet and how people live their daily lives.

Just like in Hong Kong, noodle shops are everywhere in Taiwan. Often times you see people eating big bowl of steaming noodle soup. You may think, wow, how many calories are in there?  In fact, a noodle soup contains mostly water, lots of vegetable, probably 1/3 is noodle and a few small slices of meat. If it is not that famous Taiwanese beef noodle soup, meat consumption is very low. Here in Oregon, many know Vietnamese beef noodle (pho) soup, Korean Bibimbap rice bowl and Thai food, but I believe very few have tasted authentic Chinese food and Taiwanese noodle soup. If we say Vietnamese beef pho resembles Starbucks' latte, then Taiwanese beef noodle soup is a carmel brulee latte, a fancy version, fun and utterly delicious.

Pastry and steamed buns are popular, but pastry size is usually small and steamed buns have lots of vegetable inside with very little ground meat. Steam buns sold in US China towns are mostly stuffed with barbecue pork to cater American's sweet mouth taste, so half meat and half bread are what's consumed here. Over there, people eat buns with approximately 1/3 bread, 1/3+ vegetable and 1/3- meat.  Food items are smaller and more delicate there, but bigger and bolder here.

The other big impact on a skinny body is heavy, fast and constant walking. It is tough to find parking in the city. MRT subway is primary commute tool and therefore tremendous amount of fast walking becomes mandatory on daily base. I would say, the calories gained from a bowl of noodle soup can be burnt out in one day walk that I was experienced. For us who live here, we drive to work and play. Parking is easy. Life is easy. Pace is slower and our body is not put to work as hard while food intake is larger and the diet is higher in fat and calories.

In case you have been wondering why Asians are mostly hard-working, straight-forward, practical, fast, efficient and brief (very little time for bull shit) and why they are so skinny.....

End of the day, good food is great, I like to enjoy it when opportunity comes. Nature is what I really desire and where my heart is. I step on my regular walk path and breathe in the cold chill, it is rejuvenating. Nothing is like home where I find my comfort zone.

I call this Home

Copenhagen, Denmark - travel journal (2)

While I have never been a tour fan, it is the only way to have a quick glance at six countries in 17 days.  Except Norway, we spent only one day at each capital city. It is not fair for me to make any personal comments on a place when I had only a little taste of it. I can only talk about my first impression and the things I have witnessed or some facts mentioned by the tour guides.

Knew so little about Scandinavia, I had no expectation what to see in Denmark.  This is also exactly the reason why I am here to explore.  Norway strikes me with the extreme beauty of their fjords country among everything else. Denmark impresses me with their high tech and modernity while magnificent and historical buildings and palaces are displaying their architectural beauty.

Contemporary facade

One thing I like the most is Danish design mind and Danish design style – functional with an edge. I sensed the fine design mind in every single thing that I have used, touched and encountered. Like most of the Europeans, they are practical and efficient and yet they seem so driven to make everything beautiful and pleasing to eyes.

Wherever I stopped, I saw designs of something. Not mentioning art hangings at the hotel rooms, contemporary decors are carried on throughout the whole reception area. There are large light pillars, colorful and beautiful lamp shades, lips stool back, wood blinds with 

contemporary paintings underneath and graphics on all the aluminum door panels along the lobby.

One design led me to the other and I was brought to the basement where I walked into a couch seating area that turns out to be women and men’s restrooms. Most of the restrooms require you to go in and out as quickly as you can, but this inviting environment actually made you wanting to stay. 

The seatings at the lobby are either hammock-like rattan loungers or the velvet benches with four corners secured by the drapery ropes which are fastened to the ceiling. Contemporary Resort mixed with classic Victorian.

contemporary and comfortable

Europe is packed with historical cathedrals, palaces, castles, and museums. After seeing 3-5 of them, they all start to look the same. I wish I had more chances to walk down the street and walk into local crowd to explore what I am more interested in, culture and people. Besides for a tour like this one, I had barely good photograph opportunities. 90% of the time I was taking snap shots through bus windows. My husband always made sure that I sat by the window, but there was not only dirty glass, there was glares and reflections. Bus was in motion and there were endless electric poles and traffic lights. Worse of all, perpetual people traffic. Sometimes I even stood up and shoot across the aisle, crazy enough. I am happy if I can get one decent shot out of 50-60 attempts.

Denmark has a total 5.4 million population, 1.4 million in Copenhagen metropolitan area. It has 443 islands and the highest sea level is only 500 ft. There are 22 miles of walking path and tons of bicycles. As far as I know, at Copenhagen city alone, there were about 800,000 people while there are 1.6 million bikes. Men ride bikes to work at the parliament and women ride bikes to shop in fashion district. Bicycle is almost the most popular transportation tool.

Parking lot inside the palace

China has long been thought to be the bicycle nation, but now I say, it is before I visit Denmark.  Car drivers are aggressive and they seem to challenge the daring pedestrians. Pedestrians’ right, in my opinion, is weak comparing to home. We had to walk fast through the zebra lines, otherwise, soon the light changed, car engines start to roar.  Pedestrians not only have to watch cars, they have to look out the bikers, too. We were told that the bicyclist could speed up to 60 miles per hour, and they have become one of the two biggest threats (and pick pockets) to pedestrians and tourists.

Government imposes 180% tax on cars. People tend to drive small cars like Italian Fiat or simply ride bicycles.  I was happy to see many American cars in the streets.  I also learned that US has a strong relationship with Denmark. President Clinton, George W Bush and Obama have been there. Among many statues in the streets, I was surprised to see President Roosevelt. Guess our friendship went back long ways.

In Norway, I saw dominating red on houses. In Denmark, this dominating color becomes terra cotta color. Almost all the roofs are tiles that remind me of Mediterranean styles except that the roofs are steeper purposely designed to ease snow loads. Other than a few large houses, most of them are smaller in size. If I want to find a word to describe it, I say, ‘cute’ and manicured.

Typical Danish house (no window glares)

Danish pastry is the first thing we tried while we were in transit at the airport.  It costs $4-5 each (the price we can buy half dozen at home), but it is worth it.  American calls it Danish; it is actually called ‘Vienna Bread’ here. It is a true pastry, fluffy and not very sweet. Size is also smaller.  I would call what we can buy at our grocery store Danish style bread because it is more like bread, butter heavy and very sweet.

Everything is bigger and serving volume is larger at home. Is it the vendor who push us consumers to eat more or is it us who want more and vendors are catering towards our needs?  We all want to be thinner, but we seem not to have controlled consuming habit, what we have is big weight-loss and 24-hour gym business. Our food is so inexpensive in comparison, and we may perceive ‘whatever I want’ as a form of freedom and food intake has become an uncontrollable desire?  When our gas price rise, we stay home more. If our food prices are higher, we will buy less and consume less.  Maybe this is what we need? I am envious watching slender people walking in the streets here....

A few facts may be interesting to you:

Danish is one of the original developers of popular SKYPE. The other two are from Estonia and Sweden. All three are from Baltic Sea region. The world’s largest ocean carrier company Maersk Line is initiated and headquartered in Copenhagen. I knew Maersk Line since I had my first job out of college, but I have never known they are from Denmark till this day. 

Same as Norway, Denmark has great social welfare program. Government offers one year maternity leave for pregnant women and it is guaranteed that women won’t lose their job due to pregnancy.  It is even better that this one-year break can be split between wife and husband.  Wife can take 6 month off and husband the other 6, how cool is that?  Scandinavia countries have large lands but there have not been enough working population to boost a even stronger economy. This explains why the maternity leave program is so tempting.

At the same time, drunk driving costs a whole month of salary plus three weeks of traffic school.

I was on the cruise in the last week of the trip. Internet access was expensive and not very accessible. This blog was planned for last Wednesday, but I have not been able to post it till today. I finally downloaded all my pictures. I hope to share more in the upcoming blogs. Just grab a few below to show the classic aspect of Denmark.

Amalienborg Place (Danish royal family winter palace)

Inside Trivoli Garden, world's oldest amusement park

Christiansborg Palace (Royal family's summer palace)

Carlsburg Art Museum