there are dumplings on the horizon...

11.06.2011

Weird food update!!!

Sometimes I feel as though I'm living in a Chevy commercial.  At least it seems that way since we have come to Thailand where the people here looooooove their trucks.  I guess people loved their trucks in Taiwan too, but at least the trucks there were cute and iconic.  They were all either bright blue, small, and twenty-year-old mitsubishis OR they were simply a set of wheels with a flatbed and a three-bar halfshell seat that jutted out impossibly far from the rest of the truck, seemingly offering up its driver to be blindsided when pulling out or crushed when the truck rolled forward over him.  Here in Thailand all of the trucks are neoned, metallic rigs with sound systems you normally only find in minivans.  I guess over-ornamentation is the norm.  Here's a picture of our beloved Taiwanese blue truck:
Oh yeah... the weird food update.
Thailand makes up for its trucks with its food.  After all our hard work we have finally found the mecca of all weird food travellers's searches:

BLUEBERRY HAZELNUT PRINGLESSSSSSS!!!!
oh wait nvm.  It's really...

GRUBS!!!

 We found them deep fried along with crickets and grasshoppers at the Krabi, Thailand night market.  They actually don't taste like much (sorta nutty) but with a bit of salt and spice they make a great little snack.  The kids love 'em!

With a start like this, I can't wait to see what they are surviving on in Bangkok these days!
As a parting gift, please enjoy this tea in a bag:

10.18.2011

Tigers VS Peach Apes for the Championship

As all of you American viewers get ready to watch the World Series, Laura and I will attending the Taiwanese equivalent, the Taiwan Series.  I purchased two row 13 tickets for Game four just three days before the game at a typical neighborhood 7-Eleven for a non-whopping total of thirty us dollars.
Gooooo APES!

TAIWAN PART TWO: Landscapes, skyscapes, and other scapes (but no garlic scapes)

Taiwan has been rainy. It seems even more rainy because our only mode of transport is by scooter, on which we (and all of our stuff) are regularly exposed to the elements for long hours at a time. Between downpours, generally in hazy conditions, Taiwan has some pretty unreal sights to offer. Here is a very pared down selection.



Kaohsiung


Sun protection and vines. Victorian Tarzan.


Roots scape


yup birds


Motorcycle and tank scape


Neal and Chinese tank prevention beach


Neal in tea bliss


Teletubbie tea scape on 60 stone mtn


drivin'


Mountain on rice paddy in east rift valley.


Rice scape


train on bridge on rice


maybe I should have put this one in the food related post...


Shitiping harbor


Highway 11 after it stopped raining on us


Somewhere in Lishan


Lishan (Pear Mountain)


THE Lishan high mountain tea.

The bottom of Toroko gorge.
It is marble lined and the river is the color of wet cement.


Marble cave hotspring (in Taroko) in cement colored water with Jonas, the Swede.


Ladies who convinced us to go to the hotspring.
They were on a 20 year reunion tour of Toroko.


This is the landslide that caused us to spend 2 extra days driving through the mountains back to Hualien. It was bigger than it looks.


The first wild monkey I ever did see.


More Toroko


And Toroko


Temple roof in Taipei. At this temple, you can go to pray to Buddha, Daoist gods, and Taiwan folk gods all at the same time!

TAIWAN PART ONE: FOODSCAPES

THERE IS A LOT OF FOOD IN TAIWAN. A LOT OF IT IS GOOD. WE DIDN'T GET PHOTOS OF EVERYTHING CRAZY WE HAVE EATEN (for example, polenta stuffed deep fried cuttlefish with spicy sauce, or steam buns shaped like hot dog buns and stuffed with pork, sweet pickled cabbage, and peanut PowDER), BUT WE DID SOMETIMES REMEMBER TO STOP SHOVING IT IN OUR MOUTHS IN ORDER TO CAPTURE A GREAT FOOD/FOOD RELATED MOMENT.

Here are some of them:


At a highway stop for Buddha's head fruit (custard apple) - deliciouso!


Tiny Tuna! Crazed Neal.


Some sort of crazy roasted chestnut shaped like a moustache!


Good food at a small town restaurant whose owner claimed a new government would be taking over Taiwan with the help of the American army in December.
We'll see about that - but the food was delicious.


This is where they make all the mochi we buy in the US! Yeah mochi!


This is Neal's spit. It is not blood, but the pigment of your saliva for several minutes after chewing a carcinogenic nut called Betel nut that grows in a very tall and straight tropical tree. Many truck drivers, farmers - whoever - chew this in Taiwan for a quick buzz and hotflash.


Farm stand at the top of some mountain we had to scooter over after the landslide prevented our intended exit from Taroko National Park.


Coffin bread at the Hualien night market.
It is what it looks like: french toast filled with spicy, saucy pork.


Your typical frozen section at the supermarket contains fish balls and other items for hot pot.


An aboriginal classic at Wulai: millet (and stuff) cooked in bamboo


Preserved egg covered in dirt. Neal tried to eat the dirt.


Neal drinking seaweed beer.
It was a little weird and very sweet and didn't taste anything like beer.


Our first meal in Taiwan.
Saggy dumplings filled with SOUP (!), sprout salad, and FRESH soymilk. YUM.

SOME PICS FROM CHINA WE SHOULD HAVE PUT UP A LONG TIME AGO



Hey everyone - we finally got some time/internet to put up some photos (these from China, Taiwan to follow) after almost a month of blog inactivity. These are displayed in reverse chronological order. Enjoyyyyyyyy...

ON OUR WAY TO TAIWAN!!!!


Bunkers in Xiamen (Southeastern China)


Xiamen raised highway/otherworldy lights/plants


wedding (photo) crasher on Xiamen beach


fresh seafood at old town market (Xiamen)


more Xiamen


Huangshan (Yellow Mtns)










Tangkou village entering Huangshan
Shanghai scape