A Spring Onion Pancake in Taiwan

October 2011

Yi-lan (宜蘭) is an area of intensive farming on the northeast coast of Taiwan.  My first impression was of a peaceful, beautiful place with fresh air.  It is famous for its spring onions.  There are bigger than my finger, and twice the length of the ones in Hong Kong.  There was a small exhibition devoted to the cultivation of spring onions.  This was quite simple, but interesting.  I never knew spring onions could be used in so many different ways.


The small exhibition, Yilan, 2011

Inside the exhibition, Yilan, 2011

Spring onion pancakes are one my favourite savoury snacks in HK.  When I saw they were popular over there, I tried many of them from corner stores or street vendors which I passed along the street in the first two days.  After trying lots of pancakes, I found the best ones were sautéed in oil, not deep fried or burnt.  Eventually, I found a street vendor in Taipei, whose pancakes were delicious.  His handcart was surrounded by people, and he grumbled at a man for taking pictures of him.  I wanted to do the same thing, but I was anxious he would object.  Fortunately, he did not get angry with me, but smiled instead.  I thanked him for making good food and gave him a thumbs up.

The best pancakes in Taiwan, 2011

 

A Malteser Lover

An extremely fat man got on the MTR. He must have been three-hundred pounds. He was so big he took up two seats. He was carrying a large white plastic bag and holding a box of Maltesers. The box was a new design; the opening was just big enough to get one Malteser out at a time. Eating is not allowed on the train, but he ignored this. 

Evidently, he was enjoying the chocolates and he stuffed them into his mouth one by one. He had eaten them all by the next stop. He threw the empty box in the plastic bag, and took out a new box. When he finished that he took out another box. Who knows how many boxes he ate. He carried on his journey gobbling down his delicious Maltesers.

I could not see how many boxes there were in his bag, but there seemed to be about half a dozen. How many boxes had he had before he got on the train? How many boxes had he bought? How many times a week did he treat himself like this?

Maltesers boxes with new design, HK, 2015