Sun Moon Lake (Part SUN)

Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan. View from the sightseeing ferry.

With the number of trips I have taken since I last posted, I doubt I'll ever catch up. But let's start with Taiwan!

Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) is a 3 hour drive away from Taipei. The drive is easy and smooth as long as you avoid rush hour. There are plenty of well maintained service areas along the way.

We named it the Hollywood service area. It even had music streaming from speakers.

The last stretch to Sun Moon Lake is full of curves, but it's not particularly difficult to drive, even in the dark. There is only one major road along the lake, so you can't get lost.

Excuse the lo-fi photo. View of Sun Moon Lake from top of the mountain at the first ferry stop.

There seem to be several sightseeing ferries servicing Sun Moon Lake. They're an inexpensive way of traveling around the lake. Ticket prices range up to NTD$300 (approximately $10USD) per adult, but some of their sales associates are willing to offer a deep discount (we got on for NTD$600 for 4). If you understand Mandarin, the ferries can be a lot of fun. The guides either have an excellent sense of humour, or their scriptwriter is used to writing comedies.

Some restoration work at the temple at the first stop.

The temple is (maybe) a 20 minute hike from the dock. I don't know the name of the temple, but it offers a good escape from the crowds and a good view of the lake.

Tea egg store in front of temple.

There's a store in front of the temple that sells delicious 茶葉蛋 (tea eggs). However, the more famous tea egg stall is the one by the water. Didn't bother trying both, because this one in front of the temple was mighty good already.

The floating plantation extends quite far into the lake.

背包雞 (lit. backpack chicken), a Shao specialty. (cough* is it blurry? pretend you can't see that *cough)

At the second stop, you get off the ferry to enter the area of the Shao tribe. There are lots of Shao delicacies to be had. I recommend the boar sausages and 背包雞 (see above)! Also, Assam tea is native to the area, and should not be missed.

Sun Moon Lake will be continued...

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San Francisco Food

My three stars of San Francisco food, like how three stars are named after each hockey game. Keep in mind that there are many other restaurants in San Francisco that offer delicious food.

Pizzeria Delfina (Mission)

stringy cheesy pizza from Delfina

Delicious thin crust pizzas the way I had them in Italy. The cheese had the perfect gooey texture, the flavours were in great harmony. Thoroughly enjoyable fare! I also had the Brodo with asparagus, rice, egg, and parmagiano. It does look like the menu changes regularly (with the season, presumably), naturally the offerings will differ with each visit. Arrive early, or the line does get long! We got in at about 1730, just before the rush. It's worth the wait, but why wait if you can avoid it? Register on the chalkboard at the entrance to be seated!
 
Blue Bottle Café (Various, including SoMa)

Locally sourced goodness. I don't want to get into the local vs global debate, but I do think there are pros and cons to both sides. The pro for locally sourced food is that Blue Bottle Café serves amazingly delicious breakfast. I liked the steel cut oats and waffle a great deal, just look at the fine icing sugar that topped the waffle. Delactable. That said, I wasn't completely a fan of the cinnamon toast (I'm not used to really crisply toasted bread).


They offer a small selection of caffinated drinks, including two types of iced coffee. The coffee was fragrant, but just a touch strong for my taste. I'm not really a huge coffee drinker, but I do like sweet drinks. I ended up opting for hot cocoa; no better way to start the day! Bumhead liked the coffee, though

Muracci's Japanese Curry & Grill (Financial District)

sooooo crispy and moist.

I think Katsu Curry is an art. Your katsu has to be crispy without being overcoated with panko, your curry can't overpower the katsu. On top of that, you can't let your katsu sit too long lest it become soggy (this is all written by fish-ii who has no training whatsoever in cooking katsu). That's why this one definitely takes the prize. I'll let your tastebuds do the talking, because my words simply won't do it justice. They also offer different types of curry (vegetarian version available), and options for rice (brown and white). You can also choose the level of spiciness. I was blown away.

veggie curry with brown rice

The downside is that the store is ridiculously warm, so it wasn't the best setting to enjoy the food. One more thing to note is their short operating hours, perhaps due to its location in the Financial District. They only open until 6 on certain days, so if you're not going for lunch, you're in for an early dinner.

The San Francisco series will conclude with one last post on Marin Headlands and Sausalito. Stay tuned!

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fishii's Must Visits in San Francisco (Part 1 of ?)

 I loved a lot of San Francisco, and even though everything is getting a little blurred around the edges by now, a few things still stand out. This post will feature one big attraction for me...

Farmer's Market at Ferry Building

it's more than just Thursday, but should check the Ferry Building website before going

This Farmers Market feature local farms and their produce. It does seem like there's considerable variety in the produce (both organic and not) offered. Looked really fresh to me, the samples they offered were more than satisfying.

i miss those cherries.

As a visitor, though, it's difficult to keep these delicious goodies until you get home. But don't let that keep you from visiting the market! On top of that, there's a plethora of restaurants inside the Ferry Building. I would definitely recommend Boulette's Larder, bumhead brother and I both enjoyed the meal a lot. The interior was also beautiful; there's an open kitchen so we could watch all the action! Extremely fresh ingredients. Unfortunately they asked us not to take photos.

the action inside. another see those two coffee cups? blue bottle café, not to be missed.

Blue Bottle Café has a few locations in San Francisco. I quite liked their coffee (and it was an attempt to stay away from the ubiquitous Starbucks), and they sourced (almost?) all their food locally (more on that in another post). Out the Door is a casual version of Slanted Door, and it serves Asian cuisine. Their porridge / congee was featured on the San Francisco 7x7 Big Eats list. I thought it was OK, but felt that the cilantro was a little overpowering. Please note, however, that I am not a fan of cilantro! Do give it a try. Slanted Door also has at least one more location in San Francisco.

 bay bridge

The other side of the Ferry Building opens up to the Bay Bridge. It's worth the extra few steps through the building, I promise!

Afterwards, we just went to a few museums and walked around a little. Dinner will be featured separately! (though this already turned into half a food post)

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