Is this China product expired or not?

 This Christmas, My sister Joe came home from Shanghai and gave us some of these Waffles.  She bought it from Carrefour following my request.  Thank you sis *wink*.

 But I was a bit confused when I saw a date in the packaging that says 2012 11 14.  Can the product be expired?  But she just bought it this December, Is Carrefour selling expired products on their shelves?

 So I proceed to look at the back and found three characters 保 质基 (bao zhi ji) meaning date of guarantee for quality which indicates: 六个月 (liu ge ye) which is 6 months.

                                          
 Chinese products have their manufacturing date stamped on the front and the expiration dates indicated on the back.  So my waffles are manufactured on November 14, 2012 and they have a guarantee shelf life of 6 months which means they will be expired by May 15, 2013.

 Here is another example.  Manufacturing date stamped is September 8, 2012.

 And the guarantee of quality is 18 months which makes its expiration to March 10, 2014.

I just felt like sharing this bit of information to prevent perfectly good food products from making its way into your trash bin.

Thank you sis! The waffles are divine!

Shilin night market in Taipei, Taiwan

Taipei is all about markets, specifically night markets. Albeit I was a little sad that I was able to go to only one- Shilin Night Market,  My experience there is certainly memorable.  

On our night there, we saw this woman selling Taiwan sausages.  Her stall was packed and we had to wait our turn to get a seat.  So I got to look at what she was doing.    She broils those sausage for 10 minutes and puts them on what looks like a bun, but it is actually glutinous rice in pig casing.  She slices the "bun" and adds vegetable salad.  Very creative!

 The whole dish looked like a hotdog sandwich, Taiwanese style!

  I did not try the rice " buns" for fear that I might be too full to try the other dishes there.  The sausages  tasted like broiled meatloaf- smoky, lean and tasty.  Out of that 7 day Taiwan trip, we all agreed that her sausages are the best.  

Her business is quite good!  She has beef noodle soup, fish ball soup and oyster misua soup.  I ordered oyster misua soup with fried shallots floating on top.  The oysters are fresh and plump and the broth is so- so...

 It looked like a family business too. Mother and daughter all share the chores.  

 I also strolled around the market to get the vibe of the place.  I saw these calamansi floating on a gigantic bowl of tea.

And I thought only the Philippines has calamansi.

 Notice these albino ampalaya.  (bitter gourd)  You can have it made into bitter gourd shake. I wondered how it would taste....I don't dare try that, sorry.

The vendors chop their fruits into small pieces and puts them on a stick for you to try.  It was sooo sweet, I was tempted to buy there.  They sell the fruits for 50 nt for a 100 grams.  That is 750 pesos for a kilogram.

 It was good that the night before I bought a kilogram of sugar apple (atis) from Carrefour for 250 pesos a kilogram, so I know how much they really are worth.

We got so hooked up with the taste of Taiwan sausages that we decided to bring home these  raw sausage from the supermarket chillers.  I put them into my baggage frozen, and they came home thawed.  ( he! he!)

No matter, they really are "superior".  I poach them in water with a little oil. And we got to taste Taiwan again...