It’s that time of the year again, when many of us start feeling a creeping sense of dread on suddenly remembering that Mother’s Day is fast approaching. If you haven’t started shopping yet, you have three days until May 10. There are plenty of gift options with a Taiwanese flavor that are quick and easy to buy, but will nonetheless make up for the years of backbreaking, heartrending labor that it took to raise you.
If your mom has a sweet tooth, treat her to a taste of Taiwan — literally. I-Lan Cake (宜蘭餅) sells traditional pastries with a twist. Try the kumquat biscuit, which is a variation on the pineapple biscuit (鳳梨酥), a national teatime favorite. Each one has an entire candied kumquat, which is tarter and chewier than pineapple paste, nestled in it (NT$500 for a gift box). Health-conscious moms will appreciate I-Lan Cake’s Yi-lan biscuit, which are just 0.1cm thick and advertised as “the thinnest biscuit in the world.” The baked treats come in a cornucopia of savory and sweet flavors, including maple syrup, coffee, green onion and cheese. The cookies literally melt in your mouth and are a low calorie alternative to fried potato chips (NT$35 per pack, or NT$350 for a gift bag of 10 packs). I-Lan Cake’s Taipei store is at B2, 300, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路三段300號B2樓), tel: (02) 8772-7535. For more information, check
www.i-cake.com.tw.
Yuan Soap (阿原肥皂) specializes in bath products for sensitive skin made from natural ingredients and water from Taiwan’s springs. Soaps with classic ingredients like moisturizing oatmeal or astringent tea tree oil are available, but for something more unusual, try ones made with energizing mulberry and chrysanthemum (桑菊花), soothing wild mugwort (野生艾草), relaxing juniper (檜木) or moisturizing green bean and Job’s tears (綠豆薏仁). Individual soaps aren’t cheap — most are NT$250 or NT$300 per bar — but if you really want to spoil your mom, buy her a gift box of four of Taiwan Soap’s best sellers for NT$1,100 or NT$1,190 for a box with soaps that have skin nourishing properties. Go to www.taiwansoap.com.tw for locations.
If your mom likes to unwind over a nice cuppa, head over to Bee Coffee (蜂蜜咖啡) at 87, Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市復興南路1段87號), tel: (02) 2773-2072. Crowded and lit with fluorescent lamps, the combination store and drink stand doesn’t seem like much from the outside, but inside there’s a huge variety of loose tea leaves sold by weight for reasonable prices. Try the rosebud tea (粉玫瑰朵), which looks like potpourri and is supposed to help alleviate muscle aches and make your mom even more beautiful than she already is (NT$100 for 50g or NT$400 for 200g). Sets of five pairs of bone china cups or saucers are NT$950 to NT$3,500 per set. See www.beecoffee.com.tw for more information.
Liuligongfang (琉璃工房) is one of Taiwan’s top artisan glassmakers. Founded in 1987 by actress Loretta Young (楊惠姍), the gallery combines traditional Chinese glassmaking with a modern aesthetic to make colorful art pieces and jewelry. Many of Liuligongfang’s handmade glass art works, which are crafted using the lost-wax casting method, go for tens of thousands of NT dollars, but you can buy a paperweight for about NT$7,900 or heavy, richly detailed pendants on a silky macrame cord for less than NT$3,000. Liuligongfang has galleries throughout Taiwan; check www.liuli.com for your nearest location.
Yesterday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) as their Taipei mayoral candidate, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) put their stamp of approval on Wei Ping-cheng (魏平政) as their candidate for Changhua County commissioner and former legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) has begun the process to also run in Changhua, though she has not yet been formally nominated. All three news items are bizarre. The DPP has struggled with settling on a Taipei nominee. The only candidate who declared interest was Enoch Wu (吳怡農), but the party seemed determined to nominate anyone
In a sudden move last week, opposition lawmakers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed a NT$780 billion special defense budget as a preemptive measure to stop either Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) or US President Donald Trump from blocking US arms sales to Taiwan at their summit in Beijing, said KMT heavyweight Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), speaking to the Taipei Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday night in Taipei. The 76-year-old Jaw, a political talk show host who ran as the KMT’s vice presidential candidate in 2024, says that he personally brokered the deal to resolve
May 18 to May 24 Gathered on Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山) on Dec. 5, 1972, Taiwan’s hiking enthusiasts formally declared the formation of the “100 Peaks Club” (百岳俱樂部) and unveiled the final list of mountains. Famed mountaineer Lin Wen-an (林文安) led this effort for the Chinese Alpine Association (中華山岳協會). Working with other experienced climbers, he chose 100 peaks above 10,000 feet (3,048m) that featured triangulation points and varied in difficulty and character. The list sparked an alpine hiking craze, inspiring many to take up mountaineering and competing to “conquer” the summits. A common misconception is that the 100 Peaks represent Taiwan’s 100 tallest
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), alongside their smaller allies the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), are often accused of acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Some go so far as to call them “traitors.” It is not hard to see why. They regularly pass legislation to stymie the normal functioning of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) administration, and they have yet to pass this year’s annual budget. They slashed key elements of the government’s proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special military budget, and in the smaller NT$780 billion package they did pass, it is riddled with provisions that
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