Ching Guang Market 晴光市場 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 

I know Taipei has many, many, many, many markets, but the one just a block away from where I used to live, that one is my favorite.

Ching Guang Market 晴光市場 is the reason I survived my first few years in Taipei when I still didn’t know my way around the kitchen.

It is also the culprit behind my then 180-pound obese body. EGADS, JIN!!! Did you really just announce that to the WWW???

 

This was my eating pattern during my balyena years.

It is still the eating pattern I follow on my recent Taipei trips.

Well, what can I say. I am still a balyena.

 

Breakfast is Spring Onion Pulled Pancake, Frances’s obsession

 

Pan fried on both sides until nicely browned then scrunched up to make it all fluffy

 

We like it with egg and lots of basil

 

Lunch starts with Yilan Spring Onion Cake

 

Crisp and pillowy and quite tasty

 

We follow it up with dumplings and noodles from this food cart that has been in business since Chinese year 55, which is equivalent to 1966.

 

Don’t you think those on the right are suspicious-looking things?

 

Sesame Noodles

 

Sesame Noodles, mixed

 

Dumplings

 

Our meat course is no other than Auntie Babie’s favorite, Ah Wan’s Goose Meat.
That’s Auntie Babie and the now gazillionaire owner.

 

Ah Wan’s Goose – so rich in flavor there’s no need for sauce

 

We eat it with ginger and fresh basil

 

Our rice course is this Roast Pork & Roast Duck Lunchbox, a complete meal in itself

 

Me and Frances and our good morning faces

 

For sweets after lunch, I love Ding Xiang’s Dou Hua (Taho)

 

Choose your poison

 

The bean curd is eggy, smooth and silky. I like it with peanuts and shelled green beans.
Thank you, Ninang Ann Marie!

 

And my favorite all-day snack is steamed Taiwanese peanuts

 

They’re huge and soft and oh so tasty

 

See what I mean? Each nut is perfect in every single way.

 

And what most people dread, but is very close to my heart… and mouth… Stinky Tofu!
That’s Auntie Babie caught sneak-eating right before dinner.

 

Fried stinky tofu. Smells like heaven!

 

Dinner is at Huang Ji Lu Rou Fan.

Then we grab some dessert on the way home.

 

My favorite sweet soup stall

 

You can mix and match up to four ingredients

 

My fantastic four: red bean, lotus seed, barley and grass jelly soup

 

I think I seriously want another bowl

 

And probably my most favorite of all stalls is Lu Wei Hsiang
(Yoohoo, Ritchie! This is for you!)

 

I pick golden mushrooms, bean curd skin, meatballs and fish dumplings, and the lady boils them for me in this rich and heavy stock

 

YUMMEEEHHH!!!!!! Thank you for still being open at 1:30am.
You are the perfect midnight snack.

 

Ching Guang Market 晴光市場: Intersection of Nong An and Shuang Cheng Streets, Chung Shan District, Taipei, Taiwan. 臺北市中山區農安街2巷及雙城街12巷