I’ve decided the thing I most reget not having brought here is a lettuce crisper. Currenty I keep the lettuce in a large plastic bowl that doesn’t have a lid, wrapped in paper towels, and after a week the leaves dehydrate and get thin and floppy. The alternative is to keep it in a bag, but then it turns to slime which is far more disgusting to deal with. Even in the US they’re not easy to find; you can find salad spinners, which presumably work fine but they cost a fortune, $30 or $40 or $70. I just want to store lettuce, not gold. I have no interest in centrifuging my lettuce; after I take out the core and wash it I just let it drip dry for a while and that works fine. I want something like old Tupperware model I have at home, that I bought because my mom always had one and when I moved away I realized the flaws of other methods. It has a spike that the lettuce sits on (a separate piece, though I don’t think it would have to be) and a domed top. I found one at the Container Store for under 410, but they don’t ship outside the US, so I’ve asked if my mom could send it, if I order it and have it shipped to her. Come to think of it, those things are light and we’ll be in the US visiting my uncle in February; I suppose I could just get one shipped to him and bring it back. (I intend yarn-shopping on that trip too.)
One very good piece of news out of Iowa (well, two – I like Obama reasonably well): from AP news, “Strikingly, none of the Democrats ran television commercials attacking one another, and the result was a remarkably civilized race despite the stakes.” On the other hand I find it really fucking scary that it sounds like Huckabee won by attacking Romney’s religion. I hope I have the wrong impression about that.
Julia Child recommended storing lettuce in a pillow case (all cotton, I presume). I don’t use special storage any more, because we eat so little — U.D. and I both have smaller capacity — that the small amounts I buy can be stored with paper toweling.
I seem to have perfected the storage of lettuce without anything fancy containers other than a large sized zip-lock bag. After I de-core the lettuce and wash it and dry it, I wrap it in paper towels, put it in a large zip-lock bag, press as much air out of it as I can by hand, zip the top to within about 1/2 inch of the end, then squeeze together that last little bit of zip space to make a round hole, and suck out the air by mouth (I know it sounds gross, but it works great) until the lettuce is vacuum-sealed in that bag. No fancy machines or tools necessary. My lettuce stays crisp and fresh for a long time that way.
Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but I have been insanely busy with course work. I have been looking for the business card I had for a couple of yarn stores in Taipei as well. Haven’t found them yet and not sure what I did with them between Taipei, traveling, and here. Word to your wallet, do not buy yarn from the department stores. And there is/was a yarn store on FuXing Rd that is very expensive. http://shuflies.blogspot.com/ this is the blog of a Taiwanese American in Taipei who has found yarn stores I didn’t. She might be able to give you better directions. The two yarn stores I remember, one on Change An Rd, Taipei Main Station MRT and one on ChungShan N Rd, Sec 4 I believe. I can’t remember the MRT stop. I will continue to look for the business cards as well. Best of luck, Erin