Marseille Soap

I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that Marseille soap is available at local Carrefour supermarkets. Marseille soap is a hard soap that has been manufactured in the southern French port of Marseille for 600 years. It comes in several mildly-scented varieties.

Right-click and download this photo to see all my notesMany commercial bath soaps are scented with weird chemicals that I find offensive and would prefer not to put on my body. They become disgustingly soft and yucky once they get wet.

Marseille soap, on the other hand, contains mostly healthy chemicals (I'm not sure about one or two). Don't be scared by the list of ingredients (right-click and download the picture to see all my notes). They are quite different from the ingredients in most commercial soaps. Some are merely fancy academic names for common everyday substances, such as salt and tallow. What's more, Marseille soap stays hard if you don't soak it in water.

Stinky brown soap next to fragrant French soapI am currently using honey and rosemary-scented Marseille soap, which I keep in a lovely ceramic dish I picked up for almost the same price as a cheap plastic soap box. What a pleasure to look at and smell!This dish is also available at Carrefour

More details are available from Wikipedia. English Wikipedia provides a brief article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille_soap

French Wikipedia provides much more information, including the fact that Marseille soap is hypoallergenic. It is suitable for washing one's face and hands or doing the laundry for babies or people with sensitive skins. Check it out!

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savon_de_Marseille

Le savon de Marseille est d'abord un produit de propreté dont l'usage corporel quotidien est avéré depuis plusieurs siècles, en particulier pour les mains et le visage. Il sert aussi de nettoyant ménager et au lavage du linge. On trouve des paillettes de savon de Marseille pour la lessive. On l’emploie notamment pour laver le linge des personnes allergiques et des bébés parce qu’il ne contient pas d’ingrédients allergisants.



New Name: Taiwan Expatriate Blog

This blog has been moribund for a year and a half. Time for a new direction and a modified name: The Taiwan Expatriate Blog will try to present news of interest to new-arrivals and old-timers alike. Comments and suggestions will make this blog better, so please don't hesitate to offer constructive suggestions and interesting remarks.

Atemoyas & Cherimoyas

Atemoya vs CherimoyaAtemoya season is here again. Don't forget to share with a friend.

If you don't remember the difference between slightly sour atemoyas (fenqli shyhjia) and their cloyingly sweet relative, cherimoyas (shyhjia), here is a mnemonic:

Atemoyas are slightly pointy on top, like a capital letter "A"

Cherimoyas are more rounded, like a capital letter "C"

Update on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 07:57PM by Webmaster

Atemoyas were also mentioned on this blog in January (www.hictw.org/taiwan-expatriate-food-blog/2008/1/14/atemoya-season.html)

Update on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 08:14PM by Webmaster

Hong Kong people often use less than complimentary language to refer to foreigners: 老番loufan ("barbarians") is a very common expression. Latent racism is probably also responsible for at least one imported fruit name. In Cantonese, cherimoyas are called fan laiji 番荔枝 (literally "Barbarian" lychee). This is presumably a reference to their ugly green appearance, in contrast to "proper" lychees, dainty fruit whose delicate red exterior is much more attractive.

Update on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 11:26AM by Webmaster

Notes:

1] I have only studied a little Cantonese, so I am using what I remember of Barnett-Chao romanization (tonal spelling for Cantonese, based on Gwoyeu Romatzyh/National Romanization). Before a vowel, r = low pitch and h = high pitch; After a vowel, r = rising and h = falling.

Fan laiji is probably (my Cantonese reference books are not available) spelled fann lrai-ji: The tones are [HIGH] [LOW]-[HIGH]

Loufan is probably spelled lourfann

2] Fan used in older Mandarin words such as fanchye (tomato) and fanshyrliou (guava) has no derogatory meaning

Urgent! Affordable Italian Cheese. Spread the Word!

Formaggio Parmigiano (Italian) = Parmesan Cheese (English)The cheese situation in Taiwan has been getting better, but decent cheese at non-CEO prices is hard to find, especially outside of Taipei. That's why I am so happy to share this wonderful news with my readers: freshly grated Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano and Grana Padano are now available at RT Mart (大潤發). The cheese, manufactured in Italy for RT Mart's owner (a French company called Auchan), comes in 100g resealable packets which cost only NT$49 each. The only catch is

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Tasty Taiwanese Lettuce

Some foreign friends of mine prefer to buy imported vegetables and fruit. This is really not necessary. A case in point is lettuce. Organic romaine lettuce is available right here in Taiwan, you just need to know where to look.

You also need to be able to read a few Chinese characters, which is not a given for most foreigners. The key words are:
Yeouji Shutsay (in Gwoyeu Luomaatzyh [National Romanization, Mandarin tonal spelling -- LOW-HIGH HIGH-FALL): Organic Vegetables.

Organic produce in Taiwan is independently inspected and verified (the subject of a future TEFB posting?), so it is probably better than ordinary vegetables and fruit.

However, it doesn't hurt to be suspicious. Here's an easy way to see if your lettuce really is organic: look at your veggies and check for bugs (or bug holes). Guaranteed Organic Taiwanese Lettuce: Free Bugs!Rinse all leaves thoroughly before eating or leave some bugs on if you want extra protein! If your lettuce is grown hydroponically, you don't need to worry about parasites -- enjoy a healthy salad made with Taiwan lettuce.

How can you tell if your Taiwanese lettuce is grown hydroponically? Again, very easy: the root ball will have some sort of sponge attached to it. If you don't see a bit of sponge, you might be better off briefly (~20 sec.) immersing your lettuce in boiling water -- if you . It spoils the texture, but it saves you from worrying about parasites (I've had the runs more than once after eating non-organic watercress salad I made myself).