Leaving Hualien soon...

We are going back to Canada to spend summer, so we have a few days left here and friends are saying goodbye.
We invited two of Frankie's school mates to lunch.....

Then I took Frankie and two other friends to Ocean Park for some R&R....

With the weather so nice here, it is a real pleasure to go downtown on the weekends to rub shoulders with the locals. For such a small town, Hualien really comes alive in the evening as the balmy climate is very inducive to outdoor crowds.....

Frankie was craving for a steak tonite, so I took her to Hualien's best, and also most expensive. Food is very good, and the steaks are North American style, charbroiled to perfection. There is a choice of USDA and Australian beef. I like USDA better, the Aussie steaks are quite gamey and slightly chewy. This is my first steak since my weight loss program. It was nice, but I really do not miss it. In fact, my 10 oz steak dinner with two jumbo Canadian oysters sat in my stomach for two days. How do I know that? I purposely weighed myself before and after dinner, and my weight increased by 3 pounds. That happens too after a vegetarian buffett, but the glaring difference is: by bedtime, those 3 pounds from a vegetarian meal is gone; but with the steak dinner, those 3 pounds stayed with me until three days later....isn't that amazing? Think what the meats will do sitting in our stomach for a few days....yes, toxic waste is right!

Our friends treated us to Brunch today, a farewell gathering so to speak. We have formed a very cordial relationship with our new found friends, and we will miss them for over two months.....They took us to a vegetarian buffet and it was awesome. The variety, texture and taste is beyond what most folks think is possible without meats.