Black Bean Brownies to Quarantine Cuisine • 從黑豆布朗尼到隔離餐

Hello, my name is Halden Levin, and you are listening to Little Dragon’s Journey. 你好！我叫李靜辰，你正在聽小龍的旅程。

Transition Music（音樂）

At this point, I’ve been in quarantine in Taiwan for just a few days. We arrived in Taiwan on Saturday, February 6, in the afternoon, between 4 and 5 pm. After arriving at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE), we registered for quarantine, went through customs, and picked up our checked bags. The airport was very empty for a Saturday afternoon, but it makes sense. Taiwan has done such a wonderful job handling the pandemic that not many people are eager to leave, and Taiwan is not letting many people enter the country. Despite how tired we all were, in order to get to Kaohsiung, we had to take a three-hour to four-hour bus ride from the northern part of Taiwan all the way down to the southern part. Spring, our lovely local coordinator, greeted us at the airport; It was so nice to see a friendly and familiar face. After a group photo or us weary travelers, we piled onto the bus and headed for the hotel.

On the bus, in an effort to adjust to the time difference as quickly as possible, I forced myself not to sleep by reading a little and talking. By the time we arrived at the hotel, I was ready to pass out. Spring, having followed us there, told each of us our hotel room number and told us that, as soon as we stepped into our room, we could not leave for another two weeks. As I walked towards my room, I looked at Kira and Fiona and said goodbye; it felt so weird because we’re all so close yet so far away. I don’t think I’ve ever said who is a part of our NSLI-Y program. There are five girls, Kira, Fiona, MJ, Augusta, and I, and five guys, Pierce, Eric, Harold, and Jason. We recently created an Instagram account called @kaohsiungnine if you’re interested in following our adventures through IG.

Obviously, since I’m in a hotel room in Taiwan, I can’t make dinner for my family on Monday night as usual, so I’ll share a little bit about the last dinner I made for my family in America, as well as my plans for my culinary adventure moving forward.

On Monday, February 1, I decided to make one of my favorite recipes that my family had yet to try, one of my family’s favorite recipes, and one new recipe, as well as leftover quinoa and steamed green beans on the side. Try to use your leftovers; wasting food is no fun (not only wastes money, but also increases the amount of trash in landfills). For a delicious protein, I created a warm batch of tea eggs. Since we were low on soy sauce, I re-boiled the marinade I created the weekend before and submerged a fresh batch of soft-boiled eggs in the marinade on Sunday. Based on the numerous times I’ve made tea eggs based off of the Omnivore’s Cookbook’s recipe, I’ve discovered tea eggs taste the best with a fresh batch of marinade and after marinating for at least three days. However, I was working with what I had to make a still delicious batch of tea eggs. On Monday night, I warmed up the marinade and tea eggs because I think warm tea eggs, that still have a soft yolk taste best.

For the new recipe, I tried making peanut brown rice milk from a recipe created by Nora Tsu-Barrel Leaf. As I mentioned in Taiwanese YouTubers (Part 1), Nora Tsu shares mainstream vegan recipes, as well as vegan versions of popular Taiwanese treats. When I encountered her peanut brown rice milk recipe, I was honestly very curious because I’ve heard of almond milk, cashew milk, soymilk, oat milk, but never rice milk. Rice milk isn’t something you can really buy at a conventional America grocery store. The ingredients are super simple: roasted peanuts, brown rice, brown sugar, a little salt and water. All you have to do is soak the peanuts and brown rice in water in separate bowls for about 8 hours, blend the peanuts and brown rice, and incorporate the two together and let thicken in a saucepan. Add sugar to taste. The result was a slightly sweet, peanut buttery drink; I really loved the flavor, so after making this peanut brown rice milk on Sunday, I reheated it to share with my family on Monday evening. One thing I will say is that I wish our blender was able to more finely blend the peanuts and rice; the texture would be smoother that way.

The final recipe I made was one of my family’s favorites: black bean brownies. I’ve made this black bean brownies recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie many times because my family loves it. As weird as black bean brownies may sound, don’t knock it until you try it; it’s a great way to add a little extra fiber to your diet. As proof that this recipe is worth trying, this black bean brownie recipe has over 1,500 reviews and is still over 4.9 stars out of 5. To make these black bean brownies, all you have to do is throw black beans, cocoa powder, oats, salt, maple syrup, olive oil, vanilla extract, and baking powder into a blender and blend, pour the mixture into a greased or parchment-lined pan and fold in chocolate chips of chunks and throw a few extra on top for good measure. Cook for 15 to 18 minutes, and then let cool for about 10 minutes. The beauty with these brownies is that, since they are completely vegan, you can eat the batter straight up and not worry about undercooking the brownies. If you like extra ooey gooey brownies, go for it.

My last Monday meal was perfect: a personal favorite, a family favorite, and something new. All delicious, homemade, and healthy! Now, being in this period of transition, I’ve put some serious thought into how I will continue my culinary journey moving forward. These are my thoughts at the moment:

1. Before this gap year, I was never very big into taking and sharing pictures of the food I make, share, and eat, but I’ve slowly warmed up to the idea. While in Taiwan, I will try to take pictures of most, if not all, of the meals I have. I already created a folder called "Taiwanese Cuisine" “台灣菜🇹🇼” on the Photos app on my phone with multiple albums to organize the different types of food I try.

2. I don’t aim to share every picture I take, but I will share a few with links to recipes I would like to try that relate to that picture. For example, I already have a couple pictures of danbing 蛋餅, which is like a crepe with egg and sometimes meat or vegetables inside, so I’m going to look for danbing recipes online, share one of the danbing pictures I’ve taken with one or a few recipes, and post the picture and recipe on the “Culinary Adventures” tab on my website, which I recently created.

3. Once I move in with my host family, I will certainly ask to help out with cooking. I would love to learn a recipe or two from my host family and engage in cooking authentic Taiwanese cuisine in Taiwan. I am also all for sharing some of my favorite recipes with them too.

So, with that said, how’s quarantine cuisine? So far, not bad. We’re provided three meals a day. Around 6:30 am to 7:00 am, 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm, and 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm, someone knocks on our door and leaves a meal from a local restaurant either on a cardboard box outside our door or on the door handle. Sunday and today, I’ve been served danbing, the egg crepe I mentioned above, for breakfast. They also give us a drink with go with our breakfast, such as orange juice or sweet tea, but since I’m not big into sugary drinks, I opt for hot tea or water. danbing tastes pretty good, but I still prefer a warm bowl of oatmeal and fruit. Overall, traditional Taiwanese breakfasts tend to be a bit more savory than their Western counterparts.

For lunch and dinner, I’ve been served bento boxes, not Japanese bento boxes, but Taiwanese bento boxes or boxed meals. Each bento box has a sizable pile of rice, fish, sometimes a tea egg, and three different vegetable sides or sometimes two vegetable sides and one side of tofu. Overall, the boxed meals are pretty balanced and healthy, but my one complaint is that everything is rather oily. The fish is either fried or just oily, and the cabbage, water spinach, and carrots, although good flavor wise, are smothered in oil. I personally prefer fresh, steamed, pickled, and fermented foods because they are rich in flavor and also don’t produce that heavy, greasy feeling oily foods do.

I’m truly grateful to be here and grateful for every warm meal we’re provided. I make sure to say thank before each meal even if though no one can hear me; it’s good practice, so that even when you would prefer something being a different way you still express gratitude for the beauty in reality.

Transition Music（音樂）

Please visit haldenlevin.wixsite.com/littledragonjourney to access the transcript of this episode, and know you are always welcome to contact me through my website, email, or social media. Thank you for joining Little Dragon’s Journey. 謝謝你們參加小龍的旅程。拜拜！