beach days, plum rains

You know you've had a good day at the beach when five days later you're still digging sand out of your years. Two weekends ago was absolutely lovely: clear sunny skies, great waves (for a beginner), not too hot. Alas, we've had the "plum rains" since then. Drippy, drippy drops and sometimes shots of rain. I think the idea with the plum rains are that the plum trees are supposed to blossom afterwards, but I don't even know if there are any plum trees in Taipei. At least Wednesday is a holiday - Dragonboat Festival, along with what Grace Young called "savory rice tamales." Well, that's one way to call 粽子 (sticky rice wrapped often in bamboo leaves). This is one food (along with ravioli and dumplings) that always reminds me of commonalities across the world. Besides tamales, I've also had variations in Thailand and Cambodia, i.e. take some meat or sweet filling, surround it with a starch, and then wrap the whole thing in a leaf to make a filling and yummy on-the-go meal.