Reunion in Kaohsiung
Janae and I spent New Years on Kaohsiung going to the new "Dream Mall." Yes, that is the actual name. Yes, the mall is quite dreamy. The place was packed with people for the free New Years concert and it took us a long time riding home on Janae's little scooter (called motorcycles in Taiwan even though it's only 50cc). It was nice to be stationed at her parent's place, meet up with friends, and eat lots of good food with her extended family!
Food with Janae's family
We had the good fortune to be treated to some of the best seafood I've had in my life! One of Janae's cousin, Mei-mei, who visited us while we lived in DC, married into a family of renowned seafood chefs. Her husband's father ran a very successful seafood restaurant and parted his knowledge to his three sons. Mei-mei married the most talented of the three who now owns his own restaurant. Unfortunately I didn't catch a photo of Mei-mei or the chef as both were busy attending to the restaurant.
Their daughter, Ting-ting, about half a year older than Verene, is extremely cute. She speaks in complete sentences and welcomes customers into the restaurant as they walk in. She was kind enough to feed Verene through dinner and push her around in her little car. Whenever the camera was pulled out, she'd have her 2 fingers out with her photogenic smile ready.
The other family pictured is Ji-hua and his wife, who own a very successful bakery in Taiwan. We joined them for their company's year end banquet. They're the first bakery to go online and are becoming a household name! Even my relatives in the North know about their bakery, famous for a particular pasterie with melted butter at the core. A bite into the heart of the bread and the perfect amount of butter fills the palette - not too hot and oily and not too hard. You have to wait 3 months to get your hands on one of these butter perfections - that's how far they're back-ordered. Fortunately we got the relative special and had a couple dozen hand delivered.
Catching up with old friends
Janae caught up with old friends from her school days and even took a girls weekend in Taidong. I was able to meet up with Amy and Becca, friends from my mission in Sydney. Amy was kind enough to treat us to a new style of Japanese grill that was delicious! Janae was so impressed we took her parents back to try. Becca was so generous with her time and took the day off to visit. With the economy doing poorly in Taiwan, and her company downsizing from 90 to 5 people in the last year, I was touched by the gesture. Being one of five left from the massive downsizing speaks a lot to her abilities at work! Her husband was very pleasant and a great chef. We look forward to eating more of his cooking the next time we visit. Becca's son (Brandon, I think was his name) only a month older than Verene, was very kind in sharing is toys with her. Becca was kind enough to send us to the airport where Verene enjoyed playing in the little playground and helping with our bags.
It's so nice seeing friends from the past that remind us of fond memories and we have the opportunities to meet often and create new ones!
More pics of Verene playing