Paradox Blog

Lin-shi, "Odd Food", that's what we call snacks in Chinese. Instead of chips, cookies, cheese and popcorns, we have sugary preserved fruits, seasoned pressed tofu (dry bean curd), jellied bean cakes and sticky rice cakes. We have ice cream, but that pretty much is a borrowed idea. We do make them with special flavors, though. It used to be we have to transport our favorite "odd food" in our suitcases whenever we came back from a trip across the Pacific. Nowadays, they are made fresh right here in California and there are many sources to get them. The sweet and sour taste of those preserved plums. The spicy and hot sugarcoated ginger slices. The golden-colored mango and guava strips. They remind me of my childhood in Taipei. There were these candy stores by the bus stops that had jars and jars of preserved goodies. With pocket money about two pennies worth today, I could treat myself to five salty sweet plums that colored my tongue red. Somehow buying them ready-packed from the shelves of Ranch 99 market is not quite the same. That's why I like to buy them in bulk from the dried goods store, like Chun Tsou City, where they also sell medicinal herbs, dried seafood, and mushrooms.

It was more than twenty-five years ago; a bunch of us junior high school girls went to see Jaws, the movie. It was tense and gripping as I remembered it. When the background music quickened and we nervously anticipated the shark's appearance, we passed flavored pressed dry bean curd among us, instead of popcorns. Believe it or not, here in Bay Area we can get freshly made flavored dry bean curd from Taiwanese food specialty store like Champion Stable. And there are a dozen or so different flavors to choose from. Beyond bean curds, they also sell Taiwanese style sausages, beef, pork, fish and squid jerkies and preserved fruits.

Jellied adzuki bean cakes and sticky rice cakes with adzuki bean paste found in local Asian supermarkets are mostly imports from Japan. There is however, a little store called Shuei-Do Manju Shop in San Jose Japan Town, where they are made fresh daily. Be there early on weekends, because they only make a set quantity for each day and there is a steady stream of customers on weekends to clean out the supply early. The little shop has about a dozen different flavors and styles of bean and rice and wheat cakes on display. Bean paste comes in smooth or chunky, adzuki bean or kidney bean. I would suggest you try one of each before deciding on your favorite.

"Ba-bu, Ba-bu", the rubber horn on the street peddler's tricycle sounded. The sound translated to ice cream vendors who sold their home-made red bean, peanut and taro flavored ice cream right out of their portable ice boxes mounted on the back of their tricycles. They travel from town to town, stopping from time to time outside the walls of schools or whenever a customer waved them to stop. In bay area, Asian supermarkets carry several brands of special flavored ice creams. Besides red bean, taro and peanut flavors from Taiwan, there are green tea and adzuki flavors from Japan, mango and taro flavors from Philippine, and other South-Asian local favors. Even San Francisco's own Double Rainbow ice cream parlors have a lychee ice cream, which is my favorite.

Food Sources: 

• Chun Tsou City, 10959 N. Wolfe Rd. Cupertino, (408) 343-1388 and four other Bay Area locations
• Champion Stable, 10887 N. Wolfe Rd. Cupertino, CA95014, (408) 865-1188, www.championstables.com
• Shuei-Do Manju Shop, 217 E. Jackson St. San Jose, CA 95112, (408) 294-4148 
• Double Rainbow ice cream parlor, many locations, check your local yellow pages.