First day in Taiwan

After the great food on the plane, I had no expectations for the first day. My driver met me and was nice about helping me with all my things, but there was no Delicious Sandwich offered this time. There were, however, many tiny (237  ml) bottles of Kirkland Signature water... which earned a WTF? from me... there's Costco in Taipei!!

Once in the suites, I had to deal with several little snafus and eventually changed clothes and headed for the shuttle bus. After way too much Diet Coke, I was finally on the bus! I worked for a few hours, got my new badge, and then it was lunchtime.

Lillian took us to the only restaurant that they consider good near the corporate HQ, which is in Taoyuan. I can't remember the name of it now, which is really frustrating me.. Maybe someone reading the blog can remind me... it's a beer that's brewed in Taiwan but sounds vaguely German... they are definitely courting the brew pub atmosphere and have some pub classics on the menu. It being Taiwan, I veered away from the relatively familiar pub-grub.

For starters, we got a little plate of things that looked like dark green candy wrappers (seaweed) and a plate of little spicy pickles. I guess I was hungry, because I liked them both! I broke out my red trainer chopsticks and they were examined and discussed...  nobody had ever seen trainer chopsticks before. The spicy pickles were exactly the maximum spicy I like... hot enough to have an afterburn, but no sweating.

There were a number of things on the menu that looked good. Everyone was ordering "sets" -- that's just how it's done. You get a main meal, soup, rice, and a few little sides, plus dessert at most places. I ordered the Premium Pork Chop set which was NT$260 ($8) -- VERY pricy for lunch in Taiwan, where many places have lunch for NT$100, or about $3. There were several other options for pork chop, including deep fried, but who can resist "premium"? Ironically, it was not the most expensive pork chop set offered.

My soup was miso -- no can do, soy -- but I traded with Joe, who had gotten a pork-knuckle soup. That was OK; a tough little meaty bone in some broth with a little bit of egg swirled in and some chopped green onions. The pork chop was really nice; the sauce was between a teriyaki and regular soy sauce. It was cut into reasonable pieces (by Taiwan standards; I would have cut each piece into three, but I am fussy about things like that). The rice was good, sticky enough for me to use the trainer chopsticks with reasonable success. I gave away the tofu cubes that were on my tray. The bamboo shoots were in sort of a tangy sauce that was just OK for me. I ate about half of those. The most interesting thing was what I THOUGHT was julienne-sliced green beans and shaved carrot. The texture was amazing; very firm and dense... and it tasted GREEN... turned out to be a different kind of seaweed and shaved carrot. I really liked it. Did the flight change me somehow? I am so *not* a seaweed kinda gal!

Dessert was again a slight challenge... Lillian (my manager) ordered me a soft spun tofu thing, but of course, I can't eat tofu. I traded with Joe, who had ordered ginger ice cream with tapioca... and that was fantastic. I'm lucky that Joe, the UK expat on the team, is so good-natured about trading food.

Utensils: trainer chopsticks (mine, used with success), spoon for soup, fork and knife provided by restaurant but not used

On to dinner... I didn't really eat dinner. I was just too tired. I sat at the computer and ate a big bag of Cheetos, and then later, a bag of Doritos, both purchased in the Sea-Tac airport before I left. Very lame.