Heavy Metal

Tie dan, or roughly translated to be metal eggs is a snack whose appeal makes no sense, but also one whose appeal I cannot deny. Outside of Taiwan, it's not a very well known or popular snack (I'm not even sure if ABCs or mainlanders know about them) but it's just so darn delicious. I am telling you this now because as a way of coping with real-life responsibilities (so there's this loan I have to pay off because I went on a four-year vacation? what?) this morning, I snacked on a package of metal eggs that I had just found in the fridge, like a little post-Christmas miracle. I am alarmed at how I have eaten through at least a dozen of these little eggs in the past hour as I have surfed through the information superhighway, edited a college essay, and checked up on the sorry condition of my personal finances.

Perhaps I should explain what tie dan is. I first started eating it, the way I do so many things, because my brother liked it. (It's also how I started eating roast chicken butts. I don't think I have to tell you how disgusting that sounds, but do you know how delicious they taste?) Metal eggs are eggs braised in soy sauce and sugar for a very, very long time- until the egg is shrunken to a much smaller size, the whites sort of chewy and rubbery, and the egg yolk deliciously moist, sugary, and soy-saucey. Except I don't think that's how they really make it anymore, just as quail eggs you buy don't really come from quails, but are made from a mold. I also don't think the description sounded very appetizing (I couldn't find you a picture online and my camera needs charging... it just looks like a little black egg) but I swear it's a most delicious snack and once you get started, you will surprise yourself by how many eggs you consume in one sitting. Every time I bite into one, I have a debate with myself and try to figure out if I like the yolk or white better. It's a draw every time. And makes me so grateful to be Taiwanese of all things, and that I come from a land of metal eggs instead of cupcakes and apple pies.