Monthly Archives: December 2012

no story, i just want to tell you this: roast a few hunks of belly pork, slowly slowly slowly, with garlic and preserved lemon all smushed up, and its heaven. crunchy crusty crackling fat on top, lean meaty meat underneath.
the secret? blanch the fatty part of the pork for a few minutes, or the whole thing, as you like, then score the skin/fat, rub with chopped garlic, lay in pan drizzle and rub with preserved lemon, sprinkle with thyme or any herbaly herb, then roast. slow. lowish heat, say 325 for a couple of hours, raising the heat at some point to make sure the top is browned and crunchy. also at some point i ladled a little consomme/broth/bouillon over the top. not a lot, a little. it liased with the juices into a yummy jus.

Sometimes a place calls to you all of your life and you finally get to visit–if you’re lucky it becomes part of your life, a touchstone to revisit for a reality check. other times its so amazing you never leave. yet other times, its okay, great, and checked off your list as a place whose visit has been wonderful, enriched your life and you’re ready to move on.

But other times you know a place is out there–maybe you’ve studied it in school, or noted it here and there for various reasons (usually in my instance to do with food!) yet, as a destination it doesn’t (yet) pull you.
and then somehow you find yourself strapped into a 747, and emerging on the other side, blinking with exhaustion. If you’re lucky you have a great trip; if you’re very lucky, you fall in love.

The moment you fall in love is when just being there zings you right in your heart, and when you feel a part of a place, taste a few nibbles of the language as if it were the tastiest of treats, and in general inhale the culture, visuals, friendliness. And sit down at the table, of course.

Its not a once in a lifetime love that leaves no room for any place else–rather, for me, it is a love that lasts a lifetime and after i’ve left i long to learn more, taste more, cook more of course, bringing it all home with me so that i can take it with me and share.  For example: Greece. the first time i visited was an accident–a sort of turning left instead of right accident when i hit the french town of Nice. what really happened was that amongst my group we voted on which direction to take: i voted for spain and morocco; they voted for italy and greece. you could say that they won the vote, but I won the lifetime love of italy and greece.

similarly there are places i go on assignment, to write a story, work on a book, and within a short time feel as if i’ve been there all of my life. Or i get invited on a food tour, step off the plane, and don’t ever want to leave. at the end, heading home, when i click my seatbelt snugly across my waist  for takeoff,  I carry my new found love with me, plotting ways to return.

And so it was with Taipei.

True, I had been writing little notes to myself as i prepared to go: mostly they read: “CHINESE FOOD!!!!!” so i was geared up in this direction. But i was unprepared for the sheer exhuberance of eating, cuisine, and the culture that is such a large part of eating. this alone was enough to make me LOVE the place. each meal was amazing, so many tastes and traditions, philosophies and histories involved with each dish; and for this certified garlic-lover the appearance of thinly sliced garlic so many places was enough to grab my heart.

But there was more, a very crucial and heart-grabbing more: though each and every guidebook said: “the people are sooooo friendly” to paraphrase, what they didn’t say was this: Marlena, you will feel so at home that within days you will be surprised when you look in the mirror and see that you’re not Chinese!