ice, ice and more ice.

since its been insanely hot and humid out.. all i want to eat is ice.

here are a few recents.

first- ice monster, in taipei. the line has been insanely long lately, and i can’t bear to stand and wait in this heat, so we get takeout. it’s probably not as good, when its compacted and not eaten immediately, but its not bad! here’s the snowflake mango ice with pudding, condensed milk, mangoes and mango sorbet. there was too much sweetness, that it covered the fruity flavor- i’d ask for it without the condensed milk next time.

next, osthmanthus syrup on traditional shave ice- we had this in nan zhuang at their “old street”- near miaoli county.

this was the only option at the stand. the only topping i liked was the pineapple, so i ate around the grains and red bean.. the osmanthus flavor was really light.. overpowered by the toppings and grainy ice. overall just OK- from the texture of the fruit, i think the pineapples may have been soaked in osmanthus/sugar water before.

next: macha tea ice with mochi. also from nan zhuang old street. when we were in line, i got a look at what was in other people’s bowls, and asked for my ice without the red bean + condensed milk. so what you see here is my “special requests” version.. b hates it when i do that, because more than often the waiters get really confused… guess people in taiwan usually order AS IS with no substitutions or changes.. i know, we americans are difficult.

anyways, this was something new. the ice was fluffy and light, but not “snowflake.” the matcha green was lightly sweetened and full of flavor. overall refreshing. i’m hoping the strong green color was just matcha powder, but it may have been food coloring.. even so, it was my fave of this week!

 

xx