As promised, continuation of 淡水 (part 2)

They're pretty aren't they? For those who are unaware of what that row of gorgeous apple looking skewers are, they're called 冰糖葫蘆 (bing tang hu lu) which Wikipedia explains as candied fruits. Basically you take these things called mountain hawthorns and dip 'em in maltose sugar. End result, sugary goodness on the go. They're traditionally winter candies and are incredible when still kind of warm. I didn't get any on this trip, I just thought the image was a nice one to keep. Unfortunately, as much as I love eating them, I had priorities, and I had to reserve stomach space for less healthy items. No matter what you coat them in, fruits are still fruits are still fruits. Sigh... another time I guess. According to the sign, the shop that was selling them was the first in Dan Shui. Sure. I believe you, along with the other 4 shops that said the same thing (they must've all opened simultaneously, it's crazy).


Following that, I came across a street cart (seriously NYC, step it up) that specialized in something called 珍珠包 (pearl bao). They're basically crossed between soup dumplings and fried dumplings. Now I know what you're thinking, isn't that just a 水煎包? Yeah, something to that effect. Except these are freakin' bite sized. They're deceptive in the sense that they make you wanna pop them 1 by 1 into your mouth, but they hold the same amount of soup to meat ratio as a soup dumpling. End result, burnt tastebuds. For that slight moment before you lose all sensation though. Pure, unadulterated, oily ecstasy. Highly recommended... especially when you consider they're 12 for 50 NT ($1.50). Suck on that Joe Shanghai.


Oh noes! It's child labor at its finest! Honestly, it's fine in my opinion. If you can teach a kid to work hard nowadays, I don't care how you do it. Kids are freakin' lazy, myself included. Don't think about it as abuse, think about it as character building. The same kind you get at private elementary schools, but at 1/4 the cost. What are his comically small hands making you ask?


THIS THING. I don't remember what the name is, and I'm too lazy to consult someone more Taiwanese than myself at the time. All I know is that it's a delicious blend of egg and flour batter engulfing mass of chives and oysters. It's kind of like a self contained oyster pancake that gets fried. Basically if you like fried things, and you like oyster pancakes... you'll love... whatever this is. You know what? I bet you it wouldn't taste half as good if an adult made it. So there. I advocate the use of children to make me delicious things.


Oh crap, it's more stuff on skewers. First up was some of those awesome octopus balls. No better, no worse than the other place. I just assume it was fresher because I was next to a wharf at the time. Honestly, I realized, it doesn't matter who makes these things anymore. I love them (I seriously contemplated starting a food truck to sell Taiwanese street food, if anyone wants to join me, and is rich... let's talk). I finished off my day at Dan Shui with 1 of my forever true loves. Ever since I was a kid, I remember loving having Taiwanese sausages with rice. Continuously, I could eat bowls of white rice as long as there was a plate of semi-sweet sausage available. Nothing has changed. My love for these carcinogenic sticks of pork fat hasn't diminished, not one bit. This particular sausage was no exception. With that, I think it's a pretty good ending to a long winded blog post no?