7th Month Family Gathering

7th month, or otherwise known as the 鬼月, is a big thing here in Taiwan. In Singapore, it's because we have to be religiously sensitive about such matters, hence all festivities or ceremonies are moderated a few notches.

I was riding along 忠孝東路 (I have a long-hate relationship with this bleddy road, I love it because I need it as a landmark to navigate around using the map, I hate it because it's a darn long stretch of road and traffic here is....) Anyway, as I was observing, from Rolex to Giordano, from Citibank to 玉山銀行, from Swensens to some atas Italian restaurant (well you get the idea), all merchants were making offerings outside their shop-fronts. The incense burning + the exhaust fumes from the gazillion scooters/buses/cars (in that order). not a pleasant day to be out making deliveries.

The belief is that, the more you offer to the 好兄弟, the more prosperous and smooth your business will be. My observation that in Taiwan, such Chinese beliefs are on full-scale and it's interesting to compare them to what we have in Singapore.

So when I say 7th Month Family gathering, it might sound eerie to most but it's not. From the offerings that families/and businesses make, it has to go somewhere right? In this case, dishes ordered from the small-local restaurant for prayers, ended up on our dinner table in the form of a family reunion dinner. It's like when we look forward to all the good food we bought to use to offer to our late Ah Kongs and Ah Mas.

So here we are, there was steamed glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves, a cold dish of lobster salad, steamed crabs and marinated cuttlefish. I liked the fragrant rice, there's really something about Taiwanese rice that makes you sit up to enjoy to fullness of every grain.

Next, eggs. Doesn't everyone love eggs? Not when it's ROOSTER TESTICLES! Ewwwww. 雞蛋蛋 as it is affectionately referred to, happens to be a Taiwanese delicacy. Now being the guest at the table, I was offered to try one. When in Rome, do what Romans do. (So reluctantly I might add) I'm still trying to forget the taste so I'm not going to add to the description here. NEXT!

Braised Pig Trotters, now that's more like it. Below it was baby kailan for good measure, but it soaks up all the flavour of the pork juices. Oh so good! But the pig trotter itself was kinda a letdown though, it's not as tender as I'd have imagined it to be.

I love my soup, and this chicken broth was perfection. I think they used the equivalent of Kampung chicken in this soup, the chicken was tender yet lean. My only gripe was that they left the claws on my favourite part of the chicken. Soup was thick, robust, sweet.

The fish-dish was a steamed red-snapper. Again, I have yet to taste a lousily-prepared steamed fish-dish here in Taiwan. Meat was succulent and sweet. Chinese love their seafood I must say.

The next highlight is this ancient looking urn of goodies otherwise known as the 佛跳牆. There was scallops, sea cucumbers (mmm mmm), pork ribs, seaweed, chicken and lots more! *coming soon to a restaurant near you*... I'm sorry, cos that sounded like some food-advert.

Next, is fried sakura prawns with egg and tau-kuay bits. This is a defiitely a 下酒菜. You wrap it in a crisp, juicy, crackling lettuce leaf, and you savour the different textures and flavours within. The seafoodie taste of the sakura prawns, the eggy flavour plus the savoury tau-kway bits. *slurp*

Not sure how the Taiwan BiRu (as they pronounce it) comes into the 7th Month picture, but what's a good dinner without their famed 台啤 =) Ten Green Bottles, Hanging on the wall *Burp*

Healthnut Rating:
Comments: Again, another HUGE dinner with all sorts of good food (MINUS the ROOSTER TESTICLES, I'm scarred for life here). Give me strength, I must resist over-eating... Must... resist....