Back to the subject of the post, I decided to drive down to Su’ao and Nanfangao where a big fish market is to have some lunch and pick up some fish to bring home and cook up for dinner. Friday night, a few of my friend’s in the area expressed interest to join, but after waiting to hear from anyone for an hour and a half after waking up, I decided to go it alone. It was grey out all day, but thankfully it never broke out into a proper rain storm.

The drive down was pretty uneventful, but I did finally decide to stop and take a picture of/with a huge dragon sculpture along the way. Once I got to Su’ao I decided to drive around for a bit and see more of the town before going to the fish market for lunch. I walked a really short trail to a lookout point (unfortunately it was too foggy out to make for a good picture), stopped and walked around a big cemetery that kind of weaves through the city, and came across some picture-worthy roadside quirks. After an hour or two of adventuring I drove over to the fish market.

After browsing about, watching a few loads of fish dropped off from the boats (many still wriggling), and taking some photos, I was ready for lunch. I picked out the best looking mackerel and had some sashimi cut from it. For a hefty strip of mackerel (just off the boat) sashimi and some condiments (freshly pickled ginger, wasabi, soy sauce, seaweed salad) from the fish market, and a black tea from the café on the hill I spent about $6US.

I walked along the beach for a bit, and decided to stop back by the market to get some fish to cook up for dinner. I decided to try my hand at making a whole steamed fish. I pretty much just winged it, and had to MacGyver a steamer big enough for the fish out of a walk an a large flat strainer meant to work for draining pasta directly from the pot. I was really just winging it as I went along, but it turned out quite well. It was a decently sized white fish (honestly I couldn’t tell you what kind, as I didn’t recognize the Chinese name and I lost the paper they wrote it down on so I was unable to look it up), and I chopped up some cilantro, quartered a lemon, and ginger and crammed that all into the hollowed out body of the fish. I also made a sort of ginger, lemon and cilantro rub for the outside of the fish. I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out. It was juicy and tender, and the flavors weren’t overpowering – they just added an extra little refreshing burst to it.  I didn’t take any photos because the fish lost it’s beauty and fell apart a bit as I attempted to get it off of the strainer with a spatula a third of the size of it.

I hosted an impromptu potluck that night, which was really pleasant. A few friends from other areas of Taiwan came into town, and none of my friends who live in the same area could decide what to do for dinner, so we settled on meeting at my place in an hour and for everyone to bring a dish. Just another moment of apartment bliss, and successful cooking adventure.

Most of the group took a bus down to Nan Fang Ao from Yilan, but I decided to just drive down on my scooter because I spent Friday night out at the beach apartments in Luodong, which is like halfway to NFA, and it is just off of the coastal highway that goes straight to Nan Fang Ao. In the end I was glad I took my scooter instead of the bus.

I have a previous post about the fish market in NFA, I visited it with Sarah and we picked up Sashimi. We were all under the impression that we would have a chance to go to the fish market and get some dinner or at least snacks, but this was not on the agenda. So I was really happy that I had my scooter and could go there as the bus was taking off. I went there and got a little bit of mackerel, salmon, and tuna, had them put it on ice and I went to Sara’s apartment in Luodong and made up some dinner. All in all, a good day, but I really would have been bummed if I went all the way out there, and walked in a parade dedicated to fish, and then couldn’t even go to the fish market, lol.

Kids we walked with in the parade.

After kicking about Su’ao for a bit we decided to venture back to Luodong to meet up with Sarah’s friend Jody for dinner.  He took us out to a PHENOMENAL hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant.  Jody knew about the restaurant because the owner of it was his nurse for a few months after he was in an accident and had to have surgery on his leg.  The food was not too greasy and was perfectly cooked.  It was also nice to eat something that used slightly different seasonings from the standard Taiwanese ones.