On Sunday, we took a stroll in the neighbourhood to take advantage of the stellar weather of bright sunshine and wafting cool zephyrs. The park and courtyards of the SOGO complex, known as Dexing Park, are artfully designed and sculpted by bushes, tiny grass-coated rolling hills and established trees for some shade and interest. The open space is cloistered by Lego-like blocks of apartments, department stores and banks which marvellously have just appeared in the past short while after a couple of years hidden behind green corrugated iron fences, beyond which milling ant communities of workers scurried and worried over the construction of the glass shrouded main buildings.
We bought some sandwiches from Flavor Field (their spelling!) and drinks from 7/11 before settling at an outdoor table to enjoy some people-watching and soak up some vitamin D. Families with little kids were entertained by a macro-cephalic "Happy Lamb" who was accompanied by some daggy assistants who were necessary to support his ballooning head in the swirling breezes. The assistants with their idiotic head-ware, ranged from being embarrassed with their costume to being embarrassing as they embraced their strange look with skipping and singing and giggling. Kids ran too fast and fell over with attendant parents rushing to pick them up and dust them off, dogs trotted and frolicked, and couples cooed to each other in hushed songs as they ate and drank in the sunshine.
On Saturday we'd been to Wendel's Backerie to experience their sensational melt-in-your-mouth high end steak. It is quite an exquisite meal and we can't recall having a better steak anywhere in the world: a big call, I know! It's partly the lead-up to the main course which sets it apart. A glass of bold, meaty red for me and a classic Margarita for Cass is followed by our shared entrees: a plate of mixed freshly sauteed mushrooms with a couple of bruschettas and a trellis pattern of balsamic on the plate, along with a smoked salmon salad, lettuce tomato, olives, cucumber of the most generous proportions. The steaks are fist high and cooked to perfection inside and out with a rich peppercorn sauce, tiny broccoli are coated with crumbs and an egg and potato mini flan is surrounded by cherry tomatoes....ahh!
The scooter had to be kick-started into action afterwards and the starter motor appeared shot. Never knowing your luck in the big city, we called past my little regular neighbourhood mechanic on the off-chance he was still open on a Saturday night. Not only was he open, but after some rudimentary Chinese explanations and some dramatic over-acting, we were asked to come back in half an hour. We left the bike and had a fantastic brew at the Coffee Museum which has just moved to a location round the corner from us, arriving back right on time to a new starter motor, new spark plug and even an adjusted brake, all for the princely sum of NT$650 ( a little over $20 Australian: how will we ever cope back home?!)
Photos: Cass had her regular stint at the manicurists pre-conference time, so her nails are on show above. Virgil is interested in one of her conference outfits, Wal had a disastrous time getting his kids to make pottery Halloween pumpkins, Margaritas, SOGO parkland and the mercurial monkey, Chee Chee, appears to be in love (at least according to one of the kids!)