Chenwen Academy - the only left historic academy in Yunlin

Chenwen Academy - Civil Shrine Temple (振文書院 - 文祠廟)

The predecessor of Chenwen Academy was the Wenchang Emperor's Temple, which was initially donated and built by local official Liao Chenghe and others in 1797. In 1813, Wang Youcheng from the local poetry society in Xiluo, along with others, recognized the need for scholarly education in the area, and Liao Chenghe actively supported their cause. The Zhenwen Academy was established the following year, and during its establishment, the poetry club of Zhenwen presented a plaque with the inscription "A Thousand Autumn Book Ancestor."

In 1974, the Ministry of the Interior recognized it as a national third-class monument, and it is now the most valuable cultural asset in Yunlin County. Since its founding, the academy has undergone renovations approximately every ten years, which is quite frequent. The last major repair took place after the 921 earthquake in 1999.

Zhenshu Academy is situated in the southeast of Xiluo and has served as a gathering place for local scholars and a venue for refined entertainment since its establishment. It has also been an educational institution for local students, holding the distinction of being Xiluo's first school. In addition to its educational function, Zhenwen Academy has played a significant role in social enlightenment. It has become the cultural and educational center of Xiluo Street since its establishment.

Similar to many private academies of that period, Zhenshu Academy was built under the auspices of the Wenchang Temple and its affiliated Wen (Poetry) Society and Social Studies Institute. In Yunlin, Zhenshu Academy was the first privately established academy apart from the government-run Longmen Academy. During the Qing Dynasty, there were four academies in Yunlin: Chenwen Academy, Longmen Academy, Xiuwen Academy, and Kuiwen Academy, but only Chenwen Academy remains today.

In 1906, the Luantang Yifu Society was established with the aim of promoting tobacco cessation in the community. It is the earliest documented drug treatment group in Taiwan. During the Japanese era, the educational function of the academy gradually diminished. It was reconstructed during World War II to honor Emperor Wenchang, Emperor Fuyou, Emperor Guan Sheng, Emperor Zhu Yi, and Emperor Lu Yi.

Despite undergoing multiple reconstructions, the Zhenwen Academy has managed to maintain its original appearance. Scholars and experts were involved in the later construction projects, ensuring that the Zhenwen Academy could be restored while preserving its original essence. The Confucian Temple within the academy primarily enshrines Wu Wenchang, Confucius, and Cangjie.

Address:

648雲林縣西螺鎮興農西路6號

Read More

Delicious Delicacies: Exploring the World of Mooncakes

I had many different mooncakes this Mid-Autumn Festival, although I finished them before I got the idea of writing a blog post about them. Usually, mooncakes have egg yolk inside, which isn't really my type of food. Luckily, my son likes the salty yolk, so I can eat the rest with red bean or mung bean paste.

This year was my first time trying Hong Kong style mooncakes, and I'm in love with them! Not only do they taste good on the outside, but they also have many non-traditional fillings. We had some with banana, strawberry, and pear flavors!

What is a moon cake?

A mooncake (月餅) is a bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節) in parts of Asian countries. The festival is about lunar appreciation and moon watching, and mooncakes are regarded as a delicacy. Mooncakes are offered between friends or family while celebrating the festival.

Typical mooncakes are round pastries with a rich and thick filling, usually made from red bean paste or lotus seed paste, surrounded by a thin 2–3 mm crust. They may also contain yolks from salted duck eggs, symbolizing the full moon. Traditional mooncakes have imprints on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony," as well as the name of the bakery and the filling inside. Additional decorations may include imprints of the Moon, Lady Chang'e on the Moon, flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the Moon).

Traditional mooncake fillings

Lotus seed paste (蓮蓉)

Considered by some to be the original and most luxurious mooncake filling. White lotus paste is even more premium. Sometimes, white kidney bean paste is used as a filler due to the high price of lotus paste.

Sweet bean paste (豆沙)

There are various pastes commonly used as fillings in Chinese desserts. While red bean paste made from azuki beans is the most common worldwide, regional preferences exist for bean paste made from mung beans or black beans.

Jujube paste (棗泥)

This sweet paste is made from ripe jujube (date) fruits. It has a dark red color, a slightly fruity/smoky flavor, and a slightly sour taste.

Five kernels (五仁) or mixed nuts

A filling made of coarsely chopped nuts and seeds, held together with maltose syrup. Different regions use various nuts and seeds such as walnuts, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, peanuts, sesame seeds, or almonds. Candied winter melon or rock sugar pieces are often added for additional flavoring.

Mooncake crusts

Mooncake crusts vary widely depending on the region where they are produced. Most regions have many types of fillings but only one type of crust. While vegetarian mooncakes may use vegetable oil, many mooncakes use lard. 

The most popular types of crusts are:

Chewy

This crust, commonly used in Cantonese-style (Hong Kong style) mooncakes, has a reddish-brown tone and glossy sheen. It is made using a combination of thick sugar syrup, lye water, flour, and oil, resulting in a rich taste and a chewy yet tender texture. Maltose syrup can be added to increase chewiness.

Flaky

Flaky crusts are indicative of Suzhou- and Taiwan-style mooncakes. The dough is made by rolling alternating layers of oily dough and flour that has been stir-fried in oil, resulting in a texture similar to puff pastry.

Tender

Mooncakes from certain provinces of China, such as Shanghai-style mooncakes, have a tender crust instead of a flaky or chewy one. The texture of this crust is similar to the shortcrust pastry used in Western pie crusts or tart shells. It is made with a mixture of sugar, oil, flour, and water. This type of crust is also commonly used in other types of Chinese pastries, such as egg tarts.

Crumbly

Yunnan-style mooncakes have a dense, crumbly crust made using a hot water crust pastry that combines different kinds of flour with oil, salt, and hot water. This type of crust is uncommon in other regions.

Less traditional types of mooncake crusts can be made with:

Glutinous rice

This crust has a texture similar to mochi and is known colloquially as "snowskin mooncakes".

Jelly

A crust made from gelling mixtures such as agar, gelatin, or konjac, flavored with a wide variety of fruit flavors.

Left: Hong Kong style mooncake with banana filling
Right: Taiwanese style mooncake with red bean paste and salted egg yolk

Thousand layer mooncake with taro and egg yolk
Photo by: whisknfold.com

No bake mooncakes with outer layer made of jelly
Photo by: eatwhattonight.com

Snow skin mooncake

Snow skin mooncakes are non-baked mooncakes originating from Hong Kong. They can also be found in Macau, Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Unlike traditional mooncakes that are baked in ovens, snow skin mooncakes are not baked. Additionally, while traditional mooncakes are typically served at room temperature, snow skin mooncakes are typically eaten cold.

The snow skin mooncake emerged in the 1960s when a bakery in Hong Kong developed it as an alternative to traditional mooncakes, which had high sugar and oil content due to the use of salted duck egg yolks and lotus seed paste. To address customer concerns about the oily nature of traditional mooncakes, the bakery used fruit for filling and reduced the amount of oil, creating a mooncake with lower fat content. In the 1970s, snow skin mooncakes gained popularity and were also referred to as "crystal mooncakes" (水晶月饼). The name "Bing Pi Yue Bing" (冰皮月饼) appeared in advertisements in the early 1980s.

The crust of snow skin mooncakes is made from glutinous rice, which is frozen. This crust is similar to the ones used in mochi ice cream or yukimi daifuku, as they all have glutinous rice crusts and need to be kept frozen. Snow skin mooncakes are typically white and served cold, hence the name "snow skin". However, mooncakes can have other colors due to added flavors in their crusts. While traditional mooncakes are commonly filled with salted duck egg yolks and lotus seed paste or red bean paste, snow skin mooncakes can be filled with a variety of fillings such as mung bean paste, fruit, green tea, jam, strawberry, chocolate, coffee, and cheese. Other flavored fillings include durian, sesame, mango pomelo sago, and purple yam.

Snow skin mooncakes
Photo by: eastcoastpodiatry.sg

History of Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, as well as by overseas Chinese and Vietnamese communities. Similar holidays are observed in Japan (Tsukimi), Korea (Chuseok), and throughout Southeast Asia. It is one of the most significant holidays in Chinese culture, with a history dating back over 3,000 years. The festival is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, which usually corresponds to mid-September to early October on the Gregorian calendar. On this day, it is believed that the moon is at its brightest and fullest, coinciding with the harvest season in the middle of autumn. In Taiwan, outdoor barbecues have become a popular tradition for friends and family to gather and enjoy each other's company.

Read More

Why sometimes I hate doing my own business?

Selling cakes or any other food-related business can have its ups and downs. On one hand, I can partially control when I want to bake and take time off. If it's busy, I can refuse orders to give myself some rest. But there are also times when there are no orders and no income, like during the three-month-long lockdown in Taiwan. During those times, I worry not only about the lack of income (fortunately, my husband has a job), but also about ingredients that can't be stored for a long time. Cheese, in particular, poses a problem because I can't sell cakes if I have it in storage. Since everything reopened, people have started ordering again, but for the past month, I haven't been able to buy cheese, and nobody knows when the shipment will arrive.

Sometimes, my customers tire and annoy me. I never know what to expect from people. Some people book cakes and forget to pay, which is okay, as I'll just earn less. Some ignore reminders or cancel orders, while others promise to pay right away. However, "right away" sometimes takes several hours, or it simply doesn't happen at all. Sometimes, I'm short on time, especially in the evening when I need to bake for the next day, but I have to wait for someone to make the payment.

There have been times when people wanted to pay upon picking up their cakes, and we agreed on it. However, they didn't show up or respond to messages or phone calls. I don't want to be left with cakes that will be difficult to sell, but I also don't want to lose money. Now, I only bake after receiving payment, which not everyone likes. But if someone wants to order ten cakes and doesn't want to pay upfront, I'm sorry, but that's too much risk for me to take. How lucky can I be to sell the cake that was left? Some people ask for cakes that are already in stock, but when I offer them one, they say it's not the flavor they want and don't buy it. Nonetheless, my information is pretty clear that orders need to be made two to three days in advance. You can't expect me to have a hundred cakes for you to choose from at any time of the day or night. It's not a factory.

For Taiwanese people, being late is quite normal. I always mention the pick-up time to ensure I'll be available (with an extra 20-30 minutes in case someone is early or late). However, I can't be available 24/7. Cakes don't bake themselves, and ingredients don't magically appear at my home. I still need to take my child outside to play, shower, and put him to bed at night. But people only want to come when it's convenient for them, not during the times I said I'm available. Interestingly enough, the people who don't follow the agreed-upon timing are usually mothers themselves. About two years ago, when Adrian was napping, and I was in the middle of baking, a mother came to pick up her cake. It was totally outside the designated pick-up time, and she didn't even send a message earlier. Her excuse was, "because my baby just fell asleep." Well, my baby was sleeping and left alone at home for several minutes, but apparently, that wasn't important to her. Those several minutes could have caused my cakes to burn in the oven. Some cakes require constant stirring to prevent them from burning. I also encountered a situation where a girl messaged me at 2 PM, asking if she could order a cake and pick it up at 5 PM.

Several times, people didn't come on the day they chose. Some people book a month in advance, and I understand that unexpected things can happen that prevent them from being there. I wouldn't be angry about that. However, lately, people have been making me furious. About two weeks ago, someone booked cakes for Friday (our weekend off), but they didn't come and didn't answer my messages. As it was getting late, I told them they could only pick up until 9 PM because I needed to put my child to sleep. They promised to come the next day before noon. However, on Saturday afternoon, there was still no message from them, and they didn't show up. I had to remind them again, and I wasted the whole day waiting when it was the only day I could go shopping usually.

During this long weekend, there was an even worse story. On Saturday night, I received an order from someone, and we clearly stated that they could only pick it up on Monday or Thursday. They agreed to pick it up on Monday. We sent a message stating that payment needed to be made by 2 PM the next day. However, the payment didn't come, so I told them I had to cancel the order. They said they would rush to make the payment. An hour later, the payment was finally made, and I baked the cakes. Monday came, and everyone had already picked up their orders, so we reminded them to come that day because we wouldn't be available until Thursday. They informed us that they wouldn't be back until Tuesday night and asked if they could pick up the cake at 6 PM. I don't know which part of the message wasn't clear, stating that we weren't available on that day. 🤦 I was extremely angry at that time. I couldn't understand how they knew they wouldn't be there the next day but still chose that date. They weren't happy that they couldn't pick up the cake when they wanted to, or that we couldn't store it in the freezer for them (we only offer refrigerated cakes). In the end, they asked someone else to pick up the cakes that night. Just today, they left a one-star review stating, "I won't buy anymore." Well, I'm happy. I didn't want to sell to them anymore either. We posted the whole story on our Facebook page and were happy to see how many people commented and supported us!

I always worry about getting bad reviews, but there have to be some rules.

Read More

Chiayi Travel: Qingyun Falls and Dapu Lake

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

This year, there is no festive atmosphere surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival. My husband is working the night shift on the weekend, so we won't even have the chance to visit his family and have a BBQ. Public barbecues are banned this year due to concerns about Covid-19. Because of his work schedule, we have had very little time to go out this month. However, after three months of staying home with nothing to do, life is slowly returning to normal. My husband no longer needs to work from home, and I have resumed selling cakes. Although the business isn't as good as before, at least I don't feel bored anymore. It was quite depressing to stay home and do nothing.

What's even more saddening is that nobody seems to understand my feelings of sadness. My husband thinks I'm perfectly fine. However, it's not just because of the Covid-19 situation or the fact that I haven't been able to go back to Poland for two years. Often, I find it hard to find a reason to smile. I can wake up feeling randomly sad and even burst into tears. I don't like feeling this way, but there's nobody I can talk to. I think many people can't understand the emotions of someone living abroad.

Despite the busy baking schedule due to some Middle Autumn Festival orders, my husband will have the weekend off. I really wanted to go out, so I woke up early to finish baking the cakes. Yay! We still managed to drive to Chiayi to visit Qingyun Falls (青雲瀑布) and Tsengwen reservoir (曾文水庫). We only had six hours to spare, and the drive took about 1.5 hours. We didn't have much time there, but it was definitely worth it! The weather was really good, although it was a little too hot. The water at the falls was a bit chilly for me, but our son still had fun playing. He used to be scared of water, but today he only cried a little and it seemed to get better. At least he went in the water and played for some time. The only issue was when the water splashed on his face or he couldn't feel any stones beneath his feet. He would start screaming like crazy.

We had been to this place two years ago, and it had changed a little. The road seemed newly constructed, which made us wonder if we were in the right place. Additionally, there was a landslide blocking the road to the waterfall, with several stones falling down the mountain probably due to the latest typhoon or earthquake. However, it wasn't difficult to climb over, so we still had a lot of fun. It was great to visit on a weekday when there were no other people around!

After visiting the waterfall, we also made a stop at Tsengwen Reservoir (Dapu Lake). It was different from the last time we came. Previously, the water level was very low, but this year, there had been plenty of rain, causing the reservoir to overflow! As a result, parts of the land and pathways in the park were submerged underwater.

For more information about Tsengwen Reservoir, you can check out the post HERE

Address:

1. Qingren Falls: 600嘉義縣東區市9鄉道0"N號青雲瀑布
2. Tsengwen Reservoir - Qingren Park: 607嘉義縣大埔鄉雙溪100號情人公園

Read More

Tainan Travel: Jiangjun Fishing Harbour

We had a disappointing experience trying to go to the beach on our trip. Initially, we found a beach pavilion in the northern parts of Tainan. However, the road leading there was narrow, and we drove almost until the end where it seemed like the road came to a dead end. We decided to turn back. Although the road sign indicated an alternate route, we tried it, only to find that the road was under construction and inaccessible.

Since our beach plans didn't work out, we drove a few kilometers away to Mashagou Beach. Unfortunately, it wasn't free to enter, and I preferred not to spend money on a beach we had never visited before without knowing if it was worth the 100 NT per person.

Disappointed with our beach attempts, we drove to Jiangjun Fishing Harbour (將軍漁港). It could be due to the impact of Covid-19 or the time of day, but there wasn't much seafood available for purchase, and the prices were higher than in the past. However, there were a few shops selling various seafood dishes if anyone was interested in visiting.

Address:

725台南市將軍區將軍港將軍港

Read More

Tainan Travel: Wanpi World Safari Zoo

Wanpi World Safari Zoo (頑皮世界野生動物園) 

Wanpi World Safari Zoo is the only zoo in Tainan. It was established in 1994 and holds the distinction of being the first wildlife zoo in Asia and the recipient of the tourism medal. The zoo focuses on research, conservation, entertainment, and education. It covers an area of 20 hectares and is home to over 300 animals from around the world. To navigate the large space, a shuttle bus service is provided, and there are plenty of recreational facilities throughout the zoo. Tourists can find pavilions and seating areas where they can rest at any time. The zoo also features a restaurant, snack shops, a kids' playground, and a small amusement park.

One notable feature of the zoo is its collection of amphibious reptiles, which is the largest in the world, housing more than 200 species from various regions. Additionally, the zoo is home to some endangered animals. Visitors can also enjoy performances by trained animals. Vending machines are available for purchasing food, and some animal enclosures allow visitors to interact with the animals. However, certain animals can only be accessed through appointments, such as the opportunity to feed capybaras for an additional fee of 200 NT.

Unfortunately, there is a sad aspect to the zoo. Reports have surfaced that four giraffes have died in the past decade, and currently, there is only one giraffe remaining. The zoo had plans to import 20 more giraffes this year, but the government halted the procedure due to concerns about their well-being. Animal rights groups advocate for a pause in animal imports until the environmental factors are thoroughly considered.

I had wanted to visit Wanpi World Safari Zoo some time ago, but the ticket prices were quite high compared to public zoos. The adult ticket costs 480 NT, and the kids' ticket costs 280 NT. The zoo operates from 9 am to 5 pm. However, recently, when meeting with my friend, she informed me about some promotions offered by the zoo. Some science park companies offer discounted entrance fees (although not at my husband's workplace). Fortunately, they also have a birthday promotion, so in the end, we only paid 350 NT for an adult ticket.

Upon entering the zoo, you are greeted by a group of macaws. Peacocks, black swans, and ducks can be spotted throughout the zoo. Unfortunately, some kids tend to chase these birds, causing them to become frightened and scatter around. Unfortunately, our son is still too young to fully enjoy the amusement park, with the exception of the merry-go-round. Overall, it's a nice place to spend an entire day!

Address:

726台南市學甲區頑皮世界野生動物園

Read More