Zach and Cierra have arrived, a little bleary-eyed and travel weary. One of my goals is to take them to all of our favorite restaurants. I hope they came hungry!

First stop, Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese original. Anthony Bourdain of the Travel Channel fame calls the dumplings there "little pockets of heaven."

They're up early this morning so they've gone off to find our favorite dumpling cart to bring back some breakfast before we head off to work. Tonight we'll go to the night market. I'm pretty sure they'll need naps in between.

We have gotten into the habit of eating out many nights, and who can blame us? The food is great and inexpensive, we have an incredible variety of cuisines to choose from and, frankly, I don't really like to cook all that much. Christmas cookies, yes, but the every day not so much. But I also don't want to never cook. It's satisfying to cook a really good meal at home. Lazy Sunday afternoons are a good time to plan, shop, prepare and then have your home fill with the smells of delicious food cooking.

So today I made the commitment to roast a chicken. Not such a big deal, you say? I am not interested in preparing a chicken that still has many of its parts that I've spent a lifetime trying to imagine were never attached. The chickens at the market here still have their heads and feet. I know that they're supposed to have those parts when they're alive but I'm just not used to seeing them when the bird is ready to come home to my oven. So, no fresh chicken from the street vendors. Instead we picked up a nice, clean plastic bag of chicken from Costco.

It even claims that this was a happy chicken, running free on some chicken farm in Taiwan. All was fine and good until I opened the bag and discovered, to my dismay, that our dinner had not lost its head, or its feet either. I really, really wanted to be strong and embrace my carnivorous self but I just couldn't do it. Fortunately, Lee overcame his own qualms about beheading this poor dead bird and took care of that part. I did cut the feet off all by myself, however.

I didn't eat meat for a number of years but have been happy being a meat-eater for quite awhile. I may have to rethink that position. But not tonight. The bird is in the oven as I type this.

It smells good and I'm getting hungry. When it comes time to slice into it I may lose my appetite for an animal that just a short time ago still had its head. I'll let you know after dinner.

Addendum: I did not lose my appetite. The chicken tasted good, although not great. I think I've been cured of the desire to roast my own chicken. The next time I get an inkling that I'd like some roasted chicken I think I'll just get Costco's already-cooked version. I know those do not come with either the heads or the feet. Although you can get them in the chicken parts section of the store. No thank you.

Today has been a day to think of Paris, including the people I know and care about who live there.

The school's string orchestra put on a mini-concert the other day and boy, were they good. They set up their chairs in the lobby at the end of the school day and serenaded the students as they headed out to the buses. There are about three dozen students in the orchestra, some as young as 6th and 7th grade, as well as seniors who have their eyes set on going to schools like Julliard.

The program included three pieces by Handel, Pachelbel's Canon, and Mouret's Rondeau (well known as the Masterpiece Theater theme music). The performers were all dressed in their black performance outfits and made an interesting contrast to the swirling crowd of exiting students who would pause as they passed by. There was also a small crowd of parents and faculty who stood around and listened to the whole 20 minutes of music and went away humming the classics. Or maybe that was just me.

Earlier in the week Lee and I went to the solo performances by the IB music students. Those are the ones who end up at Julliard and Berklee College of Music. Music is taken very seriously here and they love the classics. The two music teachers at KAS take every opportunity to let the students perform and we go to every performance. These kids are not like my peers back when I was in school. There is no cringing at missed notes or being off-key. Even the kindergartners do an impressive job up on stage.

And not only are these kids good, they seem to be really enjoying themselves. There is definitely some nervousness at having to perform in front of an audience but once they get started they pretty much all seem to relax and really get into the music, smiling, concentrating, enjoying themselves. It's pretty magical.

This weekend was the Lion Dance competition. Saturday's competition was held at a swimming pool because the poles they were dancing on were 5 meters tall. I guess they figured there would less likelihood of death if the dancers fell into the water, provided they were fished out before they were drowned. We didn't go but it must have been pretty impressive.

Instead, we went to Sunday's event, which was held nearby at the Kaohsiung Arena. Here's a sample:

We learned recently that there is a tunnel on Cijin Island that leads to the point below the lighthouse. It's an area we've wanted to visit but couldn't figure out how to get to. So this morning we headed out on our bikes to find it. If you've read much of this blog you know we spend a lot of time biking around Cijin. It's got a long, quiet bike path right along the black sand beaches. There's very little traffic once you get beyond the little town and because it's such a tourist destination there are plenty of bathrooms and little shops for snacks, drinks and trinkets. Heaven.

Today did not disappoint. The entrance to the tunnel was right where we were told to look and it led to a delightful little bike path around the end of the island, right at the mouth of the harbor.

In one end....

... and out the other.

Like most places you can go, if you're willing to go a little ways off the beaten path you can find a lot of uncrowded, lovely little spots. The bike path and beaches here were splendid.

Since we were in the neighborhood we walked up to the lighthouse as well.

A walk in the park.

Fan dancers in the shade of the trees.

Next in line, dancers in beautiful, native aboriginal costumes.

New flowers were being planted along the walkways.

This gentleman was out with his family, taking his dogs for a walk.

The family was quite pleased that I wanted to take pictures of the dogs. And who wouldn't want to take their pictures? They're adorable!

This family was feeding the turtles in the pond.