Breakfast

 When I'm at home, I pretty much eat the same thing for breakfast every day- - oatmeal and fruit.  Sometimes I vary it by having yogurt and fruit.  And when I really want something different I'll have a boiled egg. When travelling in a foreign county, it's tricky to find what works for one's system.

We often go to Semeur, which is a French bakery around the corner from us.  This is where we get latte and croissant, or other white flour pastries that are somewhat French but have a Taiwanese twist.

My other favorite breakfast, is from a small stand that isn't too far from us. There are a number of items that one can purchase, but I like shoa bing, which is like an omelette tucked into pie crust.

The bread is baking on the griddle. After it's done, the cook will use scissors to cut it open on three sides.

The women are slipping the egg into the bread. 

After purchasing our shoa bing, we cross the street to 7 Eleven and get our custom lattes.

A perfect breakfast.

A Typical Day in Taiwian

We have  been in Taipei for two weeks.  Our life has achieved a comforting routine.  This routine is a help in learning about Taipei and its characteristics and customs. The following is an example of a typical day for us.

We try to get up around 6 a.m. so we can take a walk.  If we start later in the morning, it's way too hot to enjoy the scenery.  We often have a destination, like a park, but sometimes we just explore neighborhoods.

I have discovered why Asian people walk around with umbrellas. The sun is very intense.  While we do our walking at 6, when the temperature is tolerable, once the sun gets to a certain height the glare becomes impossible for me to bare.  That's where the umbrella comes into play.

Everything is of interest to us, even walking the sidewalks.

The sidewalks are quite wide, and divided into two sections.  The area closest to the buildings is for walkers.  While this area is under cover so you can get out of the sun or rain, it also has a lot of steps going up and down, so it's not ideal for baby strollers or wheelchairs. I took both of these photos early on a Sunday morning before the crowds.  Normally, it's so crowded a photo would be impossible.

This is the people portion of the sidewalk.

The area closer to the street is for walkers, but bikes and motorcycles are allowed.  This portion of the sidewalk is also where you can park your two wheeled vehicle.  There is no cover from the elements on this portion of the sidewalk.

The vehicular portion of the sidewalk.

At six in the morning all the parks are busy with people exercising.  Young folks jog, older folks do tai chi, alone or in groups.  We have also seen people practicing yoga, dancing with music, playing badminton, throwing Frisbees, playing croquet.  We have even seen ballroom dancing!

After our walk, we often go to a local bakery for lattes and croissant.  Or, we might pick up our coffee from 7 Eleven.  7 Eleven is not like the chain in the US.  In addition to interesting snack foods, they have a barista who prepares custom coffee.

After we get home, and shower, shave and shine, we eagerly await the arrival of Solomon.

Sometime in the day we go shopping for dinner.  We are a short walk to Wellcome, the local grocery chain.  Taylor tends to go there about two times a day, because we always forget something.

Grocery stores tend to be in the basement.  It took us a while to figure this out.  We would arrive at the address, see the sign and not see the store.  

Jack fruit. All the produce is interesting at Wellcome.

Which noodles shall we buy?

There is a lot of rice to choose from.

It appears that many people eat out, or buy take away food for most meals.  While this food is cheap and delicious, we have found that we prefer staying home and cooking our own meals.  We have two frying pans, and one larger pot.  So far, I've made noodles and vegetables, and rice and vegetables.  David prepared delicious dumplings that we bought frozen, from the traditional market.  We're doing just fine as far a food is concerned.

Cheers!  Notice the second fry pan works well as a lid.

As you can see, our days are full.

Asilah, Morocco

Asilah, Morocco

March  28, 2014

We woke up at La Maison Blanche, in the Casbah in Tangier, and made our way down three flights of spiral stairs, heading for the main level with its lovely fountain. This guest house was originally a traditional Muslim home and our host, Aziz grew up here with his 3 other siblings.  He has recently transformed it into a guest house with all the modern conveniences, but the feel of tradition.

Notice the lovely carved woodwork.  This was all over the house. The key hole window in the back of the photo has a wooden grill over it. That's so passers by can't see the women inside the house.

This is a view of the fountain from above.

Aziz had set the table beautifully and was eager to show us all the wonders of a Moroccan breakfast.  

Aziz Begdouri

We had fresh squeezed orange juice, a choice of coffee or mint tea and seven kinds of bread!  We had warm Berber bread which was very rustic.  We also had Arab bread, a fried bread that looked like a doughnut, croissant, pain au chocolat and a loaf of whole wheat bread.  Aziz also offered argon oil mixed with ground almonds, peach jam and butter.  We both finished an entire chunk of the Berber bread.  I think it was cooked on a griddle, and was kind of like a thick chewy pancake.  It was very tasty and the almond/argon mix was delicious.

We each have a slab of Berber bread on our plates.  The orange juice was freshly squeezed. There are 4 more kinds of bread on the sideboard.

After this heavy meal, we met Mohammad for a drive to the small fishing village of Asilah.  Asilah  is a few hours south and west of Tangier, on the Atlantic Ocean. It was originally a Portuguese fort built in the 1400s. Like Tangier, it is a walled city. We spent most of our time in the Casbah.  It is also a beach town and is probably quite lively in the summer. We walked through the Casbah with Mohammad, and he explained about the traditional Muslim windows – the women can see out, but we can’t see in.  He showed us how people are restoring the homes and turning them into elegant second homes.  It was quite lovely.

The house on the left has been gutted and is in the process of being remodeled.

Typical view while walking down the Casbah lanes.

This house has two different styles of traditional windows.  Women can see out, and get some fresh air, but the general public can't see in.

Mohammad showed us the tomb of an important saint.

Stairs from the ocean to the saint's tomb.

The dome is over the tomb of the saint.  Other graves are on the area that looks like a patio.

Taylor and Mohammad.

The ocean meets the Casbah walls.

This man insisted I take his picture.

For a special treat, Mohammad informed us that we would now have free time!!! Free time?  What in the hell is free time?  Initially, we panicked.  What would we do by ourselves in a small town where no one speaks English, there were no visible women and we had no Moroccan money?  Mohammad traded us some MADs for some Euros, so we had some money in our pockets, in case we wanted to have coffee, etc.  We then soldiered up and started off on our own.

We re-toured the Casbah, since we already had a feel for it.  We walked along the sea wall and enjoyed looking back at the town and fishing boats.

We checked out the caravan park . It occurred to us that sometime in the future our friends Mary Lee and Gary could stay in this RV park, while we stay in a hotel nearby. 

Eventually, we went to a cafe, where we had enough money to have one cup of coffee each (without milk).

All in all, it was a lovely day.  We saw a small town in Africa, we were left to our own devices, and we survived!