Sunday morning, Yuanli

The north wind was gusting something fierce this morning but I didn’t feel like millet porridge and eggs, so I bundled up the boys and headed out for some Taiwan-style American breakfast. There are probably as many versions of ‘American-style’ as there are countries in the world. And the Taiwanese version gives the original a run for its money. The wind was so strong for once Pax didn’t try pulling off his hat. The place was packed, but mostly people taking out. We got a table on the sidewalk, arcaded like lots of older Taiwanese buildings. Sort of outside and inside at the same time. There was white pepper on the scallion pancake I got for Pax, so I fed him Toby’s noodles instead – a challenge using chopsticks. Bits of noodle fell onto his fuzzy black ‘ape suit’ jacket, onto my jacket, onto the sidewalk. Sometimes he bit down hard and I had to really pull to free the chopsticks. Usually I use my fingers to feed him, but I’m trying to be more careful about germs, probably infected by my in-laws’ protective ways.