chocolate confessions

photo by parl

Chocolate covered fruit--strawberries, bananas, cherries--turns the
mouth into a festival of delight!  Just yummy.  I promise you a frozen banana
covered in chocolate tates better than ice cream!  I kid you not!!

Speaking of ice cream, even though I confessed the other day that I would prefer green tea ice cream to chocolate ice cream, I must explain the reason why.  Don't get me wrong.  Just like most every woman, I enjoy chocolate in a myriad of forms, but I prefer rich dark chocolate.  Milk chocolate bars, chocolate flavored puddings, or even chocolate ice cream do not satisfy like a small, hard square of dark chocolate melting slowly in my mouth.   I'm talking 60-80% coca here ladies.  Pure delight!

I'll make another confession too, my favorite Sonic treat is not even on the menu: a hot fudge shake.  Sounds like an oxymoron right?  But it is the richest, chocolatiest shake I've ever had.  It is like I am finally allowed to just drink hot fudge.  :)

Oh, and as long as I am making confessions . . . one more.  Chocolate chips are just too wonderful to be put into cookies.  :)  Last year, I took back to Taiwan with me a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips to bake with.  Not one of those delicious morsels made it into a baked treat, but they did all get eaten.

I am so thankful that God choose to give us coco beans and that some smart people decided to make them into chocolate.  Can you imagine what the banquet foods in heaven will be like?  I am sure my confession that dark chocolate is "pure delight" will seem silly and overstated as we drink in His presence.

This post was submitted to the Carnival of Beauty sponsored by Sallie at A Gracious Home.  This week the theme is The Beauty of Chocolate and is hosted by Ellen at MzEllen & Co.
 

photo scavenger hunt: money

I once again saw Mountain Musings' Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt and finally decided to join her and others in the fun. Today's theme was "money." 

For Christmas 2003, my sister, Sarah, came to see me in Taiwan.  In the photo above, she displays several 1000 New Taiwan Dollar bills.  Each 1000 NT dollar bill is worth about 30 something US dollars.

My brother shows me his wallet which is full of 100 New Taiwan Dollar Bills.  Each 100 NT bill is worth around 3 US dollars.

But the sad thing about money in Taiwan is "spirit money".  Taiwanese people burn spirit money (also called "ghost money" or "paper money").  They burn it believing that it is going to their ancestors who can then use the money to buy things in the spirit world.  Twice a month, I can see people in my neighborhood burning money to the spirits. 

Photos from above mosiac can be found full size on the following pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

 

Right now, it is the middle of Ghost Month, so there is even more burning of paper money than normal.  Ghost Month is a month where the Taiwanese (and others in Asia) beleive that the gates of Hades are opened and the spirits allowed to roam free on earth.  While the ghosts roam the land of the living, the living must appease them by offering them food, gifts, and money.  Morever the living are scared and try to take precautions against avoiding evil--they will not move to new houses, will not marry, will not make any major purchases, and will not go swimming or take part in other "dangerous sports."

Please pray for the Taiwanese.  Oh how they need to be set free from the lies and the fear that binds them!

the world's tallest

After spending the morning at the CKS Memorial, and the early afternoon exploring a puppet museum, Sam and I then went to the world's tallest building!!  Taipei 101.

We got to ride the world's fastest elevator--something like 84 floors in about half a minute!  At it's fastest it goes 28 miles per hour--that is FAST for an elevator!!

And, we also saw one of the three dampers that help keep the building stable--it just happens to the world's largest damper.

Sam and I had a BLAST that afternoon.  We just enjoyed the scenery, enjoyed each other, and enjoyed being silly. 

Do you know why it is called Taipei 101?  Well, because it has 101 stories/floors.  So, we started a list of 101 things we did in the world's tallest building.  But, uh, we didn't write it down, so I have no idea what was on our list now.  However, we had tons of fun making the list! :)

Oh, and just FYI, I did eat the world's best (at least in my opinion) green tea ice cream in the world's tallest building. :)  It was DELICIOUS!!  Just to let you know I think I would choose green tea ice cream over chocolate!!  It is so good!!

BTW, there are some awesome photos of 'Taipei One-oh-One" on flickr.

www.flickr.com

a puppet museum

After visiting the CKS Memorial, a subway ride and lunch but before visiting the next famous Taipei landmark, Sam and I headed for a lesserner known museum in Taipei: The Puppet Museum (also called the Puppetry Art Center Taipei or 台北偶戲館).

We learned that there are three types of traditional puppetry in Taiwan: glove puppets, string puppets, and shadow puppets.  It was a cool museum that had all the information about the puppets translated into English.  However, it was also really interactive.  After learning about each type of traditional puppet, they had a some that could be played with. 





See these and more full size photos from our trip.


These puppets--especialy the glove or hand puppets--are very popular in Taiwan.  In fact, there are lots of shows on TV which star an all puppet cast.  At first Sam thought these shows were strange and very fake, but after the museum trip he decided that if he could understand Taiwanese he would watch the shows.

In order to reach the Taiwanese in a very culturally relevant way, there is one missionary (one that I know of at least) who envisions using traditional Taiwanese glove puppets to tell Bible Stories.  I think that is an awesome idea!  This missionary, who works with OMF Taiwan, has an informative powerpoint about her vision online.  How Cool!!

P.S. If you are actually thinking about going
the museum, I would make one caution, it is rather small, as in not a
lot to do/look at for individual visitors.  It seemed to be more
structured for preschool and elementary fieldtrips with much space
being devoted to craft rooms where young stundents could make and take
puppets.  However, Sam and I enjoyed what were able to see and do
there.  I am glad he was there to go with me.  I always love learning more about the Taiwanese culture.

The CKS Grounds in Taipei

02; Originally uploaded by Blue-Interface.

I found this really cool photo on flickr. 

It shows how all the buildings I talked about in the earlier post are all laid out in real life.  Now you know why it is one of the most popular siteseeing stops in Taiwan.

I also loved the photo below taken by the same photographer.

04; Originally uploaded by Blue-Interface.

Sam's First Day in Taipei

It's been a while since our whirlwind trip to the north, but I still wanna share about it.  So, please join me as I show you a little about Taiwan and all the things there are to sightsee. 

After we went shrimp fishing, the next day we went to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. However, we didn't stay in Taipei, we stayed at my friend's house.  So, each day we took a bus to Taipei. 

The first day we visited perhaps the most popular landmarks to sightsee in Taipei. In the morning we went to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.  On the same grounds are the National Theater and the National Opera House.  These buildings are beautiful! (To see any of the pictures bleow larger, please click here.)

Even though it is just noon, Sam is obviously tired.   It must be the humidity.  It certainly wouldn't be because I made him take lots of pictures!!

Regardless of why, I made sure he got something cold to drink.

In the afternoon, we continued to have fun.  We went to our next destination by subway.  Come back tomorrow to see where we went that afternoon!!

I forgot to say thanks

Back in the middle of July when I was in travelling, Sallie announced the Blogs of Beauty Awards. 

I was actually a finalist in the "Best Encourager for Singles" category, but the award went to, as it rightly deserved to, Carolyn at Solo Feminity.  Most of my posts on singleness of late were all quoting her blog or her book!  And, like I have said before if you are a single female, go now and find a copy of Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? and start reading!  You'll be very glad you did!

Also, I was nominated for "Best Encourager in General." And that award went to another blogging missionary living in overseas: a very joyful Joy from Joy in the Journey.

I've been meaning to post on this and say two things.  First of all, thank you to whoever nominated for me for these awards.  It is great to know that people are actually reading my words and as a result are being encouraged.  All honor and glory goes to the Father!  Second of all, if you haven't checked out the nominees, finalists, and winners, you should!  You will find your list of "must-read blogs" growing by leaps and bounds!!  Thanks to Sallie for undertaking such a huge task that blessed so many women in so many ways!!