Strange Food in Taiwan!

Frosty winter wind swept around streets in Taipei. It is a blessing to eat a hot pot with friends, isn't it?
In Taipei, the common ingredients in a hot pot are tofu, cabbages, mushrooms, bird eggs, meat balls, pork/beef, chicken/pig/duck blood rice cake, etc. For foreigners, blood rice cakes made from chicken's, pig's or duck's blood sound strange and bloody.(God pardon me for using the word "bloody")
The traditional making of blood rice cake is quite easy. First put some raw rice in a bowl to hold the blood of a dying chicken, duck or pig. Next, wait for the blood to cool down. Eventually, cut the rice blended with blood into slices and boil them in water to solidize the shape. Then blood rice cakes are ready to be served.
Today, I had a strange but tasty( I consider) food in my hot pot. It is definitely a common dish for the Taiwanese and Hakka but a strange food for my foreigner friends.
It is a sliced cord of a cow's intestines. I don't dare to eat those boiled intestines though they make good dishes in Taiwan, for they are sometimes improperly delt with. But this time the cook in Shih Ping Restaurant makes the cow's intestines a delicious dish. The intestines are turned inside out and washed thoroughly. Then they are cooked in the soy bean sauce with lots of spices and herbs to rid the borrible smell of intestines. Then they are served in slices either put in the hot pot or eaten as a dish. It is a remarkable insider stew!
At my description my foreign friends will be greatly amazed!

Making the final countdown with those you belove

(Picture above: A big display of firework, lasting 108 seconds this year, lightening up the night sky in Taipei. The splendid firework dashed out into all directions from the new Taipei landmark, Taipei 101, greeting in the first minute of the year 2007. Picture below: Some of my students joined the rally in front of Taipei City Hall with their foreign friends, ready to make the final countdown.)

Year 2006 out and year 2007 in.
How did you celebrate the last minute of the year 2006? With your beloved family? Or with some intimate friends?
Anyway, the year 2007 represents new wishes and resolutions which are surely to be left unfulfilled in the year to come. But who cares?
Tell you what........My wish for the year 2007 is to make the final countdown in Sydney at the last day of year 2007. See the big firework of the year 2007 in Sydney herehttp://plsthx.com/Misc_videos/717_Big_firework_in_Sydney.html
What are your wishes for the year 2007?