Reentry Depression is For Real

I don't even know how to write this post but to dive straight in, head first.  Now that we're back, the unpacking is done, laundry is washed,, and schedules resumed, the pain (not exaggerating) of being away from Taipei has set in.  We all got used to our Taipei lifestyle - riding the elevator down 20 floors to be treated to the best Americanos and lemonades right downstairs.  The line was never more than 2 people deep.  The boys would play at the playground while we finished our drinks.  On most days, C and/or I would have already made our daily breakfast runs to the 7/11, the local bakery, the soup dumpling guy, the breakfast cafe, the fried doughnut guy (actually 2 shops), the breakfast sandwich lady, or some other place I can't think of right now.  All of these places I mention are open for breakfast every day and form the block around our apartment.  There were days we visited 5 different cafes/shops to buy what every single one of us preferred for breakfast and it would take us no longer than waiting for one frappucino to be prepared here.

Lunch is even worse as most restaurants, cafes, and stalls start opening up for their first service of the day.  Eating at a food court like in Taipei 101 means each of us could get whatever we wanted to eat - sizzling steak for DD, chicken for BB, ginseng congee for me, and Korean for C.  Then I could quickly pick up a few essentials in the City Super (gourmet supermarket) located at the same place.  I was making a habit of buying strawberries there until toward the end of our trip, I realized there was a strawberry lady downstairs at our apartment.  She sold cartons and cartons of wild strawberries - so good.

But don't overeat at lunch because when in Taipei, you must parttake in the afternoon tea ritual. Whether its British afternoon tea or traditional Chinese style, you can find numerous cafes and tea bars at both ends of the spectrum and tons in the middle that mix the two.  Breaking for tea in the afternoon is so civilized, especially when a tourist out and about the entire day.  You can savory or sweet or both.  Honestly, we never had a bad coffee or tea or pastry or dessert while we were there.  

Dinner gets better still with night markets opening up and specialized vendors making soups, hot , pots, baos, buns, noodles, and all kinds of desserts.  When the weather is hot, there is a coffee or tea takeaway shop at every corner, or a juice bar, a shaved ice shop, or cut fruit stand.  We never used our kitchen once.

The funny thing is that making the best beef noodle soup is a big deal in Taiwan.  We didn't stand in line at any of the famous places; instead, we visited our beef noodle restaurant downstairs in our building and had ourselves a big satisfying bowl several times during our trip.  So good and we're craving it right now.

It was a slap in the face Monday morning when I went to the cafe downstairs from my office to grab a coffee - brown, tasteless water.  Croissant was stale and chewy.  The reentry depression extends beyond food but food is a great vehicle to express how and why things are so different there versus here (and why it's so much better there!).