After an insanely long day of traveling yesterday, I went NYC-Detroit-Tokyo-Taipei, I set myself up for success with the jet lag by staying up when it was day time. I arrived at my girlfriend Maggie’s beautiful townhouse in downtown Taipei and passed straight out.

I woke refreshed, and ready for the day at 8am… not too bad for day one. As I walked into the kitchen, I began to smell an incredible mix of warm rice, soy-shallot stewed pork, and garlic sautéed greens. It was miles away from the pancakes and waffles of home, and EXACTLY what I needed to start my busy day.

Maggie then explained to me that this stewed pork is a famous family recipe and was a staple of hers growing up. We poured the delicious secret family heirloom over a bed of rice soup aka congee, think of rice as an oatmeal consistency. We then poured a sweeter “breakfast” soy concoction over our over-medium eggs, added the hallow-stem greens and totally went to town.

We topped it all off with small dashes of fish floss, I know it sounds insane but it's actually amazing. Think of it as an Asian version of bacon bits, only made with fish. This was the best way to kickoff my time in Taipei and a definite must try while on this amazing island.