Nobody I've met in Asia seems to like 'moon cakes' (not my colleagues, friends, family). The exceptions are my sister Amy and my grandpa Weng Yup Hooi. However next week is "Mid Autumn Festival" where its customary on this holiday to buy fancy moon cakes for one another. So my traditional Taiwanese colleagues are carrying big fancy gift bags with designer metal tins to all our customers. When in fact, they just can't wait to pass on the gift (one of their excuses is they cannot fit into luggage!). Moon cakes are not cheap either. I think the tradition stems from rebels hiding notes of a revolutionary day inside cakes (or is that another Chinese holiday)? Anyway, if you read this, save your money as I don't want your fancy mooncake - especially not with the egg inside! On a positive note, I get to meet even more extended family (Young / Hwang side) next week in Hong Kong on this holiday occasion.
The Western food in Taiwan is really sub par (Except for KFC). As I am starting to feel homesick, I ordered a hamburger today. The beef was not good, my burger had a fried egg on it, cold onions ... but the worst part was they don't serve ketchup! Its "Tomato Sauce". Not pickled, and definitely not Heinz! I barely touched it and just drank my pork broth soup appetizer. Yuck.
The lunch culture in the Taiwan office is far more traditional than Hong Kong office. The girls eat together at their own tables and have coffee together in the morning or afternoon at Starbucks. Same for the men. Am I in grade school again? I would say high school but my school was all-girls....
Off to a conference call... have three customer visits tomorrow then a few on Friday, following by my team dinner in Taipei, hopefully meeting some MBA classmates ... i'm so tired!! bye!
Irene! I think you need to get moving on setting those personal boundaries... sleep is key! I'm sorry to hear about your burger, it's sad if KFC is the most acceptable Western food you can find. The random shout-out's to sushi are hilarious, as is your blog in general. I will not save my mooncakes for you, in fact I learned over the years that Anthony's family enjoys them far more than I do. To be honest, I don't think I've ever actually tried one but I'm sure it's right up there with my disdain for red bean soup and various other Asian "desserts". Miss you very much and keep blogging so we can continue to feel like we're right there with you!
ReplyDeleteI hate moon cakes too! Although I like the ones with the egg better than without. It helps break up the texture of that pasty goo.
ReplyDeleteAnd yay KFC! I used to eat that at least once a week when I was in Asia. :)