oh, what IS that smell?!

This is a pic of stinky tofu (fermented and deep-fried), a Taiwanese delicacy, one that you can smell from a mile away! It is usually found at night markets or around food stalls during the daytime. We stopped by a food stall and picked some up.

Initially Hiro did not want to try it but being the challenger that he is, he finally took a stab at it. He thought nothing of it - tastes just like regular fried tofu. He even said, "Hmm, what is the point?" It is said that these days stinky tofu is mass-produced, so the manufactured taste is not as authentically stinky. Much alike Japanese natto (fermented sticky beans), which over the years has become less and less full of sock-wreaking stench. After that we tried out Chinese 'liang-ban mian,' sesame paste and soy sauce seasoned cold noodles.

At any rate, kudos to Hiro for surviving another freaky food test in Taiwan... Grandma made lots of things for him to try, all tasty and not freaky foods at all - apple pie, red bean rice dumplings, meat rice dumplings, taro rice cake, pumpkin rice cake, and more. It's amazing we did not gain more weight than we did!

At night we got to meet up with Auntie Debra, in Taiwan for a class reunion. It was nice to catch up with her for just a bit since it'd been so long!