You can't make mac and cheese without dairy.

So it turns out that lactose intolerance is common in Asian populations and, as a result, dairy products are not very common in places like Taiwan. We discovered almost immediately that cheese is essentially a luxury, and when buying milk at random you have about a fifty percent chance of picking up a container of non-dairy (soy, rice, etc.) milk.

Well, I made it about two and a half months before I finally broke down today and went for the ultimate: macaroni and cheese. My parents will describe this as perhaps my all-time favorite meal since my childhood, and honestly I'm surprised I didn't try making it sooner.

So, I headed to Wellcome, the grocery store that carries the widest array of western products and at the cheapest prices. Though it took some locating, I was able to find all of the necessary ingredients (basically an arm full of dairy and a few bags of pasta). The one exception, though, is cheddar cheese which seems to be a delicacy. The (comparatively) well stocked cheese section at Wellcome has everything from five types of shredded mozarella to brie to crumbly blue. What this recipe could benefit most from, though -- cheddar -- seems to be virtually non-existent, at least in Luodong. Still, borrowing some ideas from Alton Brown and using what I could find, I was able to improvise a delicious Taiwanese-style Mac and Cheese. Enjoy!

Taiwanese-style Mac and Cheese
500 g. elbow macaroni
3 tbsp. butter
2 eggs
1/3 c. milk
salt and pepper
mustard (a few squirts of the yellow stuff)
1 package shredded cheese
ground chili pepper to taste

Boil water and cook pasta according to directions on package. Drain and return macaroni to the pot. Melt in the butter. In a separate bownl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and mustard. Add to the pasta. Mix in the cheese. Stir over low heat for about 3 minutes or until cheese is creamy. Make sure to not let egg mixture sit on the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle ground chili pepper on to taste.