A bowl of grass jelly, and the childhood memories associated with it, is perfect for taking the edge off of the sweltering summer heat. Grass jelly is made by boiling dried mesona plants and adding a gelling agent such as agar to the mesona tea.
This summer, the traditional treat has been given an artistic, dreamy new look with the National Palace Museum’s (NPM) “Ink-painting Jelly,” a collaboration with the Taiwanese company BlackBall Grass Jelly. When cream is poured over the jelly, a mountain design imprinted on the top of the black jelly emerges, forming a mountain scene with misty clouds swirling around the peaks, a classic theme for traditional East Asian ink paintings.
This is a winning design of the National Treasure Merchandise Design Competition, designed by Wang Bei-en and Liu Jia-xin, then students of National Taiwan University of Arts and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, inspired by the famous black-and-white ink painting Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains by Yuan Dynasty artist Huang Gongwang, and Cloud, Mountain, Smog and Rain by Shi Xi of the Qing Dynasty.
Photo courtesy of Taipei National Palace Museum 照片:台北國立故宮博物院提供
Over the past several years, many souvenirs launched by the NPM have become hits, such as paper adhesive tapes inscribed with zhen zhidao le (“Thou art understood!”, the signature note by an emperor on memos submitted by officials), and LINE stickers. Since 2010, the NPM has organized a National Treasure Merchandise Design Competition, in which the participants are invited to use the museum’s open data platform to develop creative products, so that NPM’s world-class collection of Chinese cultural relics can take on a new life of their own.
(Lin Lee-kai, Taipei Times)
炎炎夏日,來碗冰涼的仙草,阿嬤的古早味最是消暑。仙草茶是由曬乾的仙草熬煮而成,若再加上凝固劑(例如洋菜粉)冷卻,即成為仙草凍。
Photo courtesy of Taipei National Palace Museum 照片:台北國立故宮博物院提供
這傳統的平民小吃,今夏有了飄逸夢幻的姿態。「墨戲仙草」是由國立故宮博物院與台灣品牌「黑丸嫩仙草」聯名推出,黑色的仙草凍表面有描繪山麓的凹凸紋樣,淋上白色的奶油,便成了山間迷濛的雲霧,一幅饒富意境的水墨畫頓時浮現。
這是故宮國寶衍生商品設計競賽的獲獎作品,取材自清代石谿的《雲山煙雨》,以及元代黃公望的《富春山居》這兩幅水墨畫,由王蓓恩及劉嘉欣所設計,她們當時分別就讀於台北藝術大學及台灣科技大學。
故宮近年來所推出的文創商品屢掀熱潮,例如「朕知道了」紙膠帶、LINE貼圖等,更自二○一○年起,舉辦國寶衍生商品設計競賽,廣發英雄帖,參賽者可運用故宮Open Data資料開放平台,發想出各式國寶衍生商品,讓故宮世界級的中華文物收藏,與我們的生活更貼近。
(台北時報林俐凱)
Rice is an essential ingredient in Taiwanese cuisine. Many foods are made of rice, adding more variety to our cooking, such as rice cake, or “gui.” Wagui is made by steaming rice flour batter in a bowl. The term “gui” refers to a type of food made from rice, while “wa” refers to a bowl. The pronunciation of “gui” in Taiwanese Hokkien is similar to the word for “nobility” in Chinese, so it is common for people to prepare various types of gui, including wagui, as offerings to the gods or ancestors,. 米是台灣重要的主食,用米製成的食品十分多元,豐富我們的飲食,如米做成的「粿」。粿的意思是米做成的糕點,碗粿是將在來米漿倒入碗中蒸熟,因而得名。粿因為音同「貴」,因此碗粿等粿食常用作供品祭拜神明和祖先。 nobility (n.) 高貴,高尚;貴族 offering (n.) 供品 While Taiwan may not be
It’s no secret that Japanese people have a deep affection for noodles. Like in the rest of East Asia, noodles are an important staple food, second only to rice. Japanese people have enjoyed noodles for over 1,000 years. The first noodles came from China and were introduced around 800 CE. As time passed, noodles in Japan not only became widespread but also developed some unique Japanese characteristics. The three most popular types of noodles in Japan are ramen, soba, and udon. Ramen, typically made from wheat flour, is usually thin and firm. The dough is kneaded and left to
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