This blue, "plaid" mug has made many appearances in my photos since I've been here ... it's not a particularly cute mug, but it gives me a sense of familiarity (in fact, I thought my friend Megan had the same exact mug and asked her about it, despite the fact that I discovered this mug in Taipei and I thought she'd had it in Massachusetts).

Anyway, I decided to give it a storyline ... here is the first installment of "Tales of A Blue Mug," with stroopwafel.

I first discovered the stroopwafel when I was in England; it sat on the top shelf of a little shop I frequented after one of my classes, and after a few times of eyeing it, I finally brought it home with me. The stroopwafel is a hard, flat, thin waffle cookie filled with caramel. The first time I had it, I learned from the directions on the package that I was to place it atop a hot drink to soften the caramel inside before eating it.

The stroopwafel seems to have recently taken off here in Taipei. I introduced one of my friends to it, and we were at a Starbucks the other day when we discovered they were having some sort of Customer Appreciation Day and their version of the stroopwafel was on sale.