Wheel pies, a Taiwanese street snack, delighted the guests at a banquet held on Wednesday by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office at the Twin Oaks Estate in Washington to celebrate Double Ten National Day.
The round-shaped pastries, usually stuffed with red bean paste, were one of the favorite delicacies served at the banquet, Taiwan-based online media outlet Up Media reported on Sunday.
The office wanted to feature the dessert at the banquet, but there was only one person in the eastern US who made the traditional pastry — a New York-based Taiwanese, identified only as Vivian, the report said.
Vivian said she founded the wheel pie business as a side to her regular work, and she only sold the pies on Facebook at weekends.
She said she initially wanted to decline the office’s offer because there were about 2,000 guests attending the banquet, but she could only bake 24 pies at a time.
She and her husband later flew to Washington with the baking molds and ingredients after the office said she could make the pies in advance and keep them in warmers.
The couple, arriving ahead of the banquet, stayed in Washington for three days, and they worked past 8pm on Wednesday night making the pastries, Vivian was quoted as saying in the report.
Although the office paid her for the job, it was not enough to cover the costs, given she had to travel and take three days off from work.
‘COST IS NOTHING’
“However, the cost is nothing compared with the contribution I made to Taiwan. I am willing to do it again next year,” she said.
The pies were not of the sort that is commonly sold on Taiwanese streets, as they were stamped with the Chinese and English names of Twin Oaks and Taiwan, including a creative design of the Chinese character wan (灣), with the left part of the character replaced with an image of the Taipei 101 skyscraper.
The molds were designed by a Taiwanese company, the report said.
There was a long line of guests waiting for the pies throughout the banquet and many posted photographs of the pies on Facebook, it said.
Among them were Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰) and American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty, who hand-stamped their pies with the creative designs, it added.
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