Dragon boat festival is coming up, unfortunately after we've left. I hope to be in Taiwan for it next year. I don't know anything about it except that there is a traditional food that's made around the time of the festival, rice dumplings (zongzi).

There's sticky rice inside that's mixed with a number of different ingredients, depending on the family's traditions and the maker's inclination. Often there's a boiled duck egg in the center, with pork, dried shrimp and/or red bean paste. The one I had for breakfast had boiled peanuts. The rice ball is then wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied with a string and you steam them until they're hot and eat them with chili sauce.

They're an acquired taste. I usually like them, although it depends on the filling, and you never know what you're getting until you open them up. My Chinese teacher gave us all one from her aunt (who grows the special, traditional Taiwanese leaf wrappers) plus a colleague gave us a couple. But since not everyone has acquired the taste (including Lee), I'm finding our freezer filling up with these little packages. They're a little like zucchini in August - they're everywhere and some people work hard to give them away. Kind of like lychees now in Taiwan.