Temple close-ups

incense

intricate paint

jiaobei, or moon, blocks

Tea eggs

A pot of tea eggs brewing away at 7-11.  Wikipedia says this about tea eggs in Taiwan:

"In Taiwan, tea eggs are a fixture of convenience stores. Through 7-Eleven chains alone, an average of 40 million tea eggs are sold per year.

Also some people would say that the tea eggs' flavor is very addictive. It tends to linger in one's mouth because of the star anise used in the preparation. This spice has also commonly been used in teas from other countries, where they also report a similar addictive quality. Tea eggs can be made with or without cracks, but will still have the same flavor, but a different appearance. The most traditional way to prepare them is simply to make cracks in the shells after they are finished hard boiling, but before one soaks or boils them in the brine made out of tea, sugar, soy sauce, star anise, and cinnamon. All of these ingredients can be modified depending on a person's preference. Soaking the eggs for longer will result in more flavor."

We haven't tried them yet, but will soon!

Happy Year of the Dragon

Saying goodbye to the rabbit and hello to the dragon.  We celebrated yesterday with friends with lots of food - bbq for lunch and all sorts of traditional foods for dinner!

Cheeto fail

Seaweed flavored cheetos.  We bought them.  Ate a couple.  Decided they were gross.  In a moment of desperation ate a few more and confirmed they were gross.

Voting day

People lined up down the street from our apartment to vote in Taiwan's presidential election.

Next Stop...

Kathmandu!  Over winter break, Allison and I flew to Bangkok with baby T and were offered jobs to teach in Kathmandu, Nepal.  We'll be sad to leave our friends in Taiwan, but can't wait for the next step of our adventure.

Missing home

This was the first Christmas both Jeremiah and I spent away from our families.  We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year with Tegan, however we definitely missed our families and Portland.