Wax Apples & Eating Grass • 吃蓮霧和草

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。

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If you know me, you know that I love eating fruits and vegetables. I was one of those weird kids that just loved broccoli right out of the womb. Brussel sprouts, broccoli, cucumber, cauliflower; all good choices. During quarantine, I certainly didn’t get my fill of fruits and vegetables. As I mentioned before, breakfast was usually was an egg crepe, so there typically weren’t any fruits or vegetables served at breakfast. Lunch and dinner, being those boxed meals, always had two or three small sides of stir-fried vegetable, and at lunch time, we were given a sizable portion of fruit, but not enough to satisfy my appetite.

Typically, I eat oatmeal for breakfast with peanut butter and banana, a post-workout snack of fruit and peanut butter or soft-boiled eggs, a lunch consisting of whole grains, protein, vegetables, and fruit, possibly an afternoon snack if I’m extra hungry, and a dinner comparable to my lunch. At some point in the day, usually after lunch or dinner, I’ll drink tea with 100% dark chocolate.

At some point, I told my host mom, 宋媽媽, that I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast and I love fruit. I shall confess, I love fruit with a burning passion. While in quarantine, on New Year’s Day, my host family stopped by the hotel I was quarantining at to drop of some fruit. I was honestly so surprised. At the time, I was eating lunch, and then all of a sudden, my host mom called me and was like look out your window. Down on the sidewalk was my entire host family 宋爸爸, 宋媽媽, Cheng-gang, Cheng-han, Cheng-zhen.

On top of three, or was it four, I honestly forgot, apples, American apples, they also gave me an entire Buddha’s head fruit. Buddha’s head fruit looks like Buddha’s head. The outside is green and covered in bumps, and the fruit’s flesh on the inside is sweet and creamy. There are a lot of seeds though.

Before I moved in with my host family, my host mom prepared all the ingredients necessary for oatmeal and even asked me to tell her how to prepare it. I told her that I make oatmeal myself. I want to be as helpful to my host family as possible and also not interrupt their lifestyle, since I am so grateful to them for allowing me to live under the same roof.

I’ve been living with my host family for two weeks now, and they are wonderful. Since they now know the extent of my love for fruit and vegetables, they’ve been buying copious amounts of fruit and vegetables. Also, since I don’t eat meat, my host mom has been serving fish more often, and she even got her hands on pre-prepared soft-boiled eggs after I mentioned that I prefer eggs with a softer yolk, as well as brown rice after I mentioned that I generally prefer brown rice over white rice. I feel like if I say anything to my host family, they take it to heart; quite touching honestly. When I mention my preferences, I don’t mean them to be critiques on their lifestyle, but I am certainly grateful for the accommodations.

One thing I must mention is that, as far as I can tell, most Taiwanese people prefer to pan-fry their vegetables over eating vegetables raw, and those vegetables include cucumber and carrots, which I must say aren’t commonly cooked vegetables in America. When I told my host mom that I enjoy eating cucumbers and carrots raw and have eaten corn and onions raw as well, she thought I was some sort of animal. According to her, the flavor of raw vegetables is comparable to that of grass. I’ve never eaten grass before, so I can’t say, but I feel like cucumbers don’t taste like grass and neither do carrots.

The thing is, if you cook cucumbers or carrots, they typically become soft and mushy. I personally prefer my vegetables fresh, crispy. However, I do think cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach all taste better cooked. There are others of course, but I don’t think I should bore you with a list of vegetables.

While I’m on the subject of fruits and vegetables, I would also like to mention that there are so many different types of fruit available cheaply and conveniently in Taiwan. In America, I would typically eat apples, oranges/tangerines, bananas, and maybe frozen mangos or blueberries on a weekly basis. I also love grapefruit, but grapefruit aren’t in season for very long. In Taiwan, so far, I’ve had the opportunity to try dates, fresh Chinese dates, wax apples, star fruit, star fruit juice, Buddha’s head fruit, as I mentioned before, passion fruit, Taiwanese tomatoes, pineapple, and bananas, as well as grapes, apples, and oranges from countries outside of Taiwan.

I had the opportunity to go to Costco with my host family once, and it honestly seemed quite similar to the Costco I typically go to in the United States. The Taiwanese Costco sold many goods imported from America, including apples, carrots, pork and beef, as well as dry goods, such as bread, grains, and sugar. Of course, there were some goods that I’ve never seen before, products you can likely only find in Asia.

So, life is good. Also, would like to mentioned, this week the recipe of the week is danbing 蛋餅 since that was a common quarantine breakfast item. If you are interested, go to “Culinary Adventures” and check out the pictures of the danbing I ate while in quarantine, as well as the related recipes I found. I have yet to make danbing myself, but I will certainly try at some point in the future.

Alright, so life is good, and that is all.

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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！