Big City Nights

I am going to have to break my promise to you all a little bit. I said in yesterday's post, that I would go today to ORTV and post all about it tonight, but extenuating circumstances have prevented me from visiting today. In lieu of that excursion, I traveled once more to Ximending to revel in the lights and partake in the celebration of consumerism. This time, my aunt and uncle dropped me off and I got to fly solo. Here are some pictures from today's visit:

small fruit stand
 those are "wax apples" on the left

another food stand making what appears to be some kind of fried dough balls

sausage stand

Typical half inside/half outside restaurant

more such restaurants

 I got to try this delicious dessert: They are little cake "eggs" that are stuffed with different tasty fillings. The eggs taste kind of like waffles, but the batter is more dense and moist like cake.

You could choose what kind of filling you wanted inside. The choices were custard, cheese, chocolate, hot dog, strawberry, red bean, and peanut. Being of the "when in Rome" mentality, I went with redbean, peanut, and strawberry. In the U.S., we typically don't associate beans with sweets, but here sweet red bean paste is a very common dessert item. It has a more subtle sweetness than some of the other types of fillings, but it is wonderful, nonetheless.

 The lady who ran the stand allowed me to take pictures of her process:

here is the griddle 

 She pours a thin layer of batter into the griddle's molds. Then she adds the filling.

strawberry

peanut 

red bean

 Then she covers the filling with more batter...

...and voila, some tasty cake eggs.

This was a juice stand, that featured bitter melon.
I did not try that. 

A group of street performers 

Then, something strange happened... See all of these food stands?

fried stuff

meat on a stick

roasted corn on the cob

Suddenly, a whistle blows, and they all pick up and rush off.

Here they are leaving the area

I have seen something similar in the Shilin night market, but with tee-shirt vendors. The tee-shirt vendors don't pay the rent on their store front, so they get kicked out. They then take their business to the street. They get a dolly and a big quilt, and they hawk their wares from right out in the middle of the street. Suddenly, at the bidding of some signal, they all pack up their wares and move to another part of the market before the police can give them a fine. I would assume that the food vendors at Ximending operate in a like manner.

Here is a lady drawing manga-style caricatures for people 

The street artist who did the amazing spray paint work, (see "Writing on the Wall"), was back!

Before we part tonight, please click the link to see my video of the artist's fascinating process:

spraypaintartistvideo