I think you should go to 7-11...

Wait what? Why would I recommend a convenience chain store for food? Maybe because 7-11 here isn't what Americans are used to. I know when I hear 7-11, I immediately think 'Big Gulp,' and while they do have that here in Taiwan (in way awesomer flavors like mango, guava, lemon lime soda, and hey song sarsparilla), that's not what they're awesome for. No... what they're awesome for is a variety of snacks you really can't find elsewhere. For the person on the go, they have those puffy pillow buns at dim sum places (I don't know wtf they're called in English) called 肉包子... as well as a dizzying array of chips and cookies in flavors you often don't want to know (but would eat in fistfuls without question). Come on... they even have bags of chips where monkeys make love to chips, or perhaps it's a monkey anatomically defective, I honestly couldn't tell you. What really makes me love 7-11 is the fact that they make bentos. That's right... prepackaged lunchboxes for those who are too lazy to walk a few more minutes to a proper restaurant. For that, I salute thee 7-11.


I'm actually only making this post because someone I know happens to love bento. In my opinion, the food probably isn't good enough that I'd really blog and recommend it to someone, but the novelty that 7-11 sells it is good enough for me. Also it might seem like this entire post in written in jest, but really... the food isn't bad. For all of 59 NT (less than $2), you get your choice of a few bento boxes, fried chicken cutlet, a tonkatsu glazed pork chop, soy sauce chicken, and a few others I don't remember. Each is served over rice with pork sauce (yes the kind you get at pork chop places in NYC), and accompanied by 2 or 3 side dishes... either tofu, seaweed, some greens, or a tea egg. In addition to that, you also get your pick of any 600 ml drink they offer, usually a bottle of green tea, oolong tea, or uh... grape drink (dead serious). The food is decent... really. They heat it up for you in a microwave behind the booth, and within a minute, you have lunch, vs. 20 minutes at the NYC cravings truck, which honestly, I find to be about the same in quality. If you need further endorsement, I eat it like... 3 days a week for lunch, partially because I'm lazy and it's the closest thing to my lab, but also because I kinda like it. Anyway, if you come to Taiwan, you'll probably eat one out of convenience, so yeah... enjoy!

So I took another day off yesterday. My aunt went nuts with the karaoke, and I ended up staying up until 2... late, I know right? So yeah, this morning I did a mid length distance. Finished at 7.03 miles at around my half marathon pace. Pretty good, all things considered I mean.

distance for the day: 7.03 miles
distance biked for the day: 0.00 miles

distance on the year: 438.55 miles
distance biked on the year: 142.68 miles