Mmmmmm. Big My.

When my days in Taiwan come to their inevitable close, there are some things I'll miss and some things I won't. I won't miss washing my clothes in the bathtub and then holding my breath for two days in hope that it doesn't rain while they're drying out on the porch. I won't miss the lack of a decent steak anywhere in the country (although, having lost 25 pounds/12 kilos since I got here, I guess I shouldn't complain much about that!). I won't miss having to depend so much on nonverbal communication. I won't miss the biggest spiders and roaches I've ever seen.

On the other hand, I will miss the dirt-cheap rents and food. I will miss the adoring children. I will miss random strangers coming up to me just for a chance to practice their English. I will miss being so close to so many exotic places I never imagined I'd be able to visit on a shoestring. I will miss the sense of adventure that comes with almost every day - something I have always wanted out of a job and never had until now.

And boy oh boy, will I ever miss Big My!

Kind of a funny name, isn't it? Who knows what it means - maybe it's another one of those too-literal translations that are so common here. Big My is my favorite local restaurant. It's a hibachi-type grill place, only a little more lowbrow than the fancy Japanese ones you usually see in the States. Or, on second thought, a lot more lowbrow, and by extension a lot cheaper! They grill the food up for you while you watch - usually very hungrily. Shrimp, snapper, onions, cabbage, rice, and an onion omelette for dessert, that's my favorite lunch - all that and a drink for a bit less than US$7.50. The folks there don't speak English at all, but they do have an English menu, which I don't even need anymore since I've memorized the location of the items I always order on the Chinese one.

Local color at its finest. No doubt you don't need me to tell you that real Chinese food is nothing like what you will find at that buffet down at the strip mall, but who knew it would be this much better?! If you find yourself willing to walk to a restaurant in the rain when there's a free lunch available at work (as was the case for me today), you know it's pretty good, huh?

So, yeah. Big My has joined the ranks of Blake's in Manchester, Rube's in Iowa, Spices in DC, Mango Mike's in Alexandria, Thai Taste in New Haven and The Waverley in New York on my list of so-good-I'll-never-forget-them restaurants. (I did try to think of a place in NE Pennsylvania to add to that list, but I'm blanking here. Most of my culinary memories of there involve Arby's - which, by the way, desperately needs to open a branch in Taiwan!)