happy holidays!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Happy holidays! Happy new year! Wishing everyone a happy and delicious holiday season and lots of good eats throughout 2015! Stay warm and see you at the night market!

snapshot/bakery: i recommend FLORIDA BAKERY's HALLOWEEN COOKIES

Halloween is around the corner! Get your tricks and your treats ready. If you haven't binged on the Reese's Peanut Butter cups at Costco yet, you can get these cute and spooky cookies from Florida Bakery, or Halloween cupcakes from The Cupcake Shop or Les Bebes Cupcakery.

I haven't written about the Cupcake Shop yet, but have enjoyed their baked-to-order cupcakes immensely. Their playful and colorful designs are so creative and the Halloween Olaf is too funny! 

Krispy Kreme Halloween doughnuts 

where can you find cinco de mayo (aka mexican food) in taipei?

As I was munching on my carnitas nachos and fish tacos last night from Macho Tacos (Yay, Cinco de Mayo), I was thinking about how this meal would have not been possible ten years ago in Taipei.

Those of us who have been here long enough, know that we've had our ups and downs with Mexican food in Taipei, and can appreciate the options and type of stuff that's offered now compared to 5-10 years ago. Before, I would just shake my head and sigh at things like gross guacamole made with Taiwan avocados and count the days until a trip back to LA. Nowadays, I'm pretty happy with the carnitas and chimichanga options around town.  I can even find some supplies at the fancy supermarkets and corn tortillas (at Florida Bakery) to make enchiladas at home!

Just for fun, here's a rough list of the evolution of Mexican food and restaurants in Taipei (not a strict timeline but in the order that I discovered it). Not all of these are Mexican restaurants, but some are restaurants that featured dishes that I tried during the dearth of Mexican food in Taipei. There are a few more I have to try, like Libre and King Burrito, but I've linked to those that I've reviewed for info and addresses. As you can see from the number of places that opened and then closed, it's not easy to educate, market to and serve consistently good, affordable Mexican food to locals and picky expats in Asia.

• Amigos (Taiwanese Mex)
• Tequila Sunrise (Taiwanese Mex)
• Chili's (American chain Tex Mex dishes)
• TGIF (American chain Tex Mex dishes)
• La Casita (Closed! Had good enchiladas)
• Good Day
• Jake's Country Kitchen
• Bongos (Moved)
• Eddy's Cantina- Danshui (Closed! Moved to Tianmu)
• Mexico Sabroso (Is this place in Taoyuan still open?)
• Yuma Southwestern Grill (Tex Mex/ Closed!)
• El Gallo  (Closed!)
• Oola Mexican (Closed! First to introduce Chipotlesque fast casual burritos to Taipei)
• Macho Tacos - DaAn (Fresh mex. First to have baja style fish tacos, California fries and California burrito)
• Taco Bar - Shida (Closed!)
• Taco2Go
• Macho Tacos- Shida (Fresh mex) 
• Mayan Grill (Moved to Xinyi)
• Cactus Mexican Restaurant (Closed!)
• Eddy's Cantina Tianmu (possibly the only one to have Mexican owner/chef at helm)
• Juanita (Fresh mex. Most blatantly inspired by Chipotle)
• Barrito (Closed!)
• Dos Chinos (Closed! Ultra popular made to order tacos until it closed)
• Pig and Pepper (serves Cinco de Mayo specials annually in late April/early May)
• Libre Burrito (a branch of a Japanese chain of California Mexican?)
• King Burrito (Organic Mexican)
• Churro K (serving lots of, yup, you guessed it, churros)

Seriously, I would have never believed you if you had told me when I first started this blog there would be so many places to get burrito bowls, soft tacos and a whole restaurant serving churros! Lol.

snapshot/bakery: FLORIDA BAKERY's Halloween cookies

Only one more week until Halloween! There might not be candied carmel apples or candy corn in Taipei, but you can get a little into the Halloween mood with some of these cute cookies spotted at Florida Bakery.
 

Also if you've ever wondered where to get Halloween costumes in Taipei, after eating at Ippudo, I stumbled upon a whole street of shops selling grown up and kids costumes and Halloween decorations, near Chengdu Road, on Changan Rd (長安路). There's also some rental shops in Ximending for more elaborate costumes, near the Police Station/Ximen MRT exit 6. I remember hearing in years past about Halloween parties at various restaurants, or special menus, like at DN Innovacion, but haven't heard much this year. Anything fun happening this weekend or next week?