HouGuo & New Friends

(click on pics to enlarge! note camera on table that is always ready to shoot!)

I've talked about "Hot Pot" meals in Taiwan before and this one had a decidedly different twist!
First a culinary lesson: the meal consists of all things known to man that can be cooked in a pot of simmering broth and then cooked in a pot at the table. Any kind of vegetable, fish, or thinly sliced meat can find its way into a "Hot Pot" meal!

Some restaurants bring the items to you to add to an already simmered pot of broth. (FYI: the egg is to be cracked open at the table. The white is added to the broth and the yolk is mixed with the bowl of rice! HMMMM!...... i know you aren't crazy about the salmonella issue, but when in Rome.....) If you scroll down to the bottom of the "Hot Pot" link, you can see the food poisoning info!


Other restaurants bring you the "condiments" in wooden buckets! I mean there was everything in there! Clams, shrimp, crab, cabbage, mushroom, corn on the cob (i learned how to eat it with chopsticks!), potatoes, and items that i wasn't sure quite how to name them!!!!

Along with the bucket of goodies came the plate of whatever meat you ordered! This restaurant offered beef, pork, or chicken. Notice the pot of broth set into the table. You take your meat or condiments and add them to the broth and eat them as they cook! (Notice the egg sitting in a wooden cradle and the rice bowl beside it!)


Now, the restaurant that we were at this evening was like a "Hot Pot" buffet! You could have anything and as much as you wanted! So, this is the first plate of the evening!

My New Friends!

I was having dinner this evening with 2 engineers from work. The family in the background had several children with them! As the evening went on, we noticed that the two older children, my guess 7 and 5 ish, were paying a lot of attention to the strange person (me!) near their table! We watched them as they went to the dessert cart take the long way around to pass by us and stare at me! then they sat at the empty table behind us facing us! it was so funny! i looked over to their parents and they smiled and sort of shrugged their shoulders. I mean, i really stand out in a crowd!

So W. asked their parents is we could take a picture and finally convinced the boy and his sister to stop by our table so that we could take a picture together! Everybody had a good laugh and i have 2 new friends!

How about this! I have to go all the way to Taiwan to enjoy homemade pistachio ice cream! (see, it's not all fish all the time!)

I really do some work while i'm there! But, i really do want to take advantage of the opportunity that i have to make an adventure out of the opportunity that i have!

Erie County Farms - West Side Market

Where ever you're from, whether you call it Erie County Farms or the Westside Market, there is nothing better than an open air market for the freshest of whatever you're looking to buy!

If its not here, its not in season. If it is here, it is FRESH!

......Come On A Safari With Me!!!

Some things just write themselves! There were no Hawaiian shirts to be seen! And the background music sure wasn't "Surfin' Safari"!

Pitchers and Catchers!

Once again, the ChinaTrust Whales are in town for spring training! And it is more than just pitchers and catchers! The whole team is staying at the hotel. It is funny that twice now we have both been here at the same time! I'm heading out in the morning to catch a cab to work and they're loading up on their two busses for their days work! One evening i went for a walk and ended up by the new ballpark! Last spring it was still under construction, but now is ready for play!

A very impressive edifice of green and clay for the worldwide game of baseball! I walked around the whole park trying to find a way in to take a picture of the field, but no luck!


It's not Slider or Pirate Pete, but the mascot is funny! I'm not quiet sure what his story is!


Quite an impressive jumbotron! Who knows, maybe i'll be back later to be able to catch a game!


A rather unique feature of the parking lot layout is the scooter only parking areas!!! there are bus loading/unloading areas and car parking sections, but the scooter parking zone is closest to the park!!

We're Not in Kansas Any More!

One of these times!

One of these times i'm going to get arrested for taking bathroom pictures! I try to be careful, but!!! I'm like a little kid sometimes when i travel. I see something and think, Oh! i just have to blog about this. And a picture is worth a lot of words. So, i have my camera with me all of the time! (Sometimes i have to wait until the crowd thins out, because i'm sure that nobody wants their picture taken while they are otherwise occupeed!
Now, this is nothing extrordinary in and of itself, but when i stood at the urinal, i noticed the name printed on top of the urinal. I'm so used to seeing American Standard or Koehler! but no, not this time!
Waiting for our connection in Tokyo, i needed the relief. and the chuckle as well!

I couldn't get the camera to focus and i couldn't stand around trying to make it better! I mean, it is one of the busiest airports in the world!


The effect would have been funnier if you could read the name on the urinal, but next trip i'll try and get a better picture!


My Sunday morning walk found another opportunity to share the joke with you! The brand name of the fixture was "TOTO"!

To My Surprise!

i went online and found TOTO toilets, washlets, bidets, and sinks! Apparently quite a household name! the washlet is really amazing! a commode/bidet combination! they even have a portable/travel washlet! with video goodness too!

I couldn't believe it myself!

found this article in Fark that is just what i mean! click on link to read! High-tech toilet article

Total Recall!

When you are an island nation of 20 million people living in very close proximity, you take epidemics very seriously!
Upon arriving in Taipei you are directed from the gate area to immigration. One area of the concourse has industrial mats on the floor that are wet with an antiseptic/antibacterial of some sort or another! There are signs along the way that ask if you are in good health or not "feeling well"! If you are not feeling well they would like you to go to a quaranteen area and meet with a health offical. Near the end of the concourse you are funneled around either side of a kiosk where health workers are watching arriving passengers on infrared monitors watching for passengers that are running a fever!
Next time i'll try and snap a picture of me on IR-TV!

Crunchy and Omega3! HMMMMM!

This is another of those post for my Kerry! I've written before about what a good sport she has been as we have introduced new food groups to her. Well this time i found the grand prize! No way i could pass this up!
I was first introduced to this one of my early trips at dinner. We were at a seafood restaurant and eating family style! They bring out platter after platter and put them on a turntable in the center of the table. This one dish i sampled was kind of a vegetable. As i was eating it, i thought hmmm, good with crunchies mixed in! I know, must be like a potato sticks! WRONG! Potato sticks don't have eyes! It was dried minnows! Technically, i'm sure it qualifies as a sardine! I've also had it in the famous box lunch with peanuts! When i found it in the store, i just had to bring some home!
I'll post more later about how it went over (with pics!). But, where else can you get the nutritional value like this!




Well i have a new found admiration for Kerry and Kaitlyn! With some trepidation about what Uncle Mike brought home this time, they were both up for a treat. Alright, i'm not sure that Kerry actually ate any, but Kaitlyn really dug in. Her only request was that she didn't have to "eat the eyes!" How can you go wrong with an adventurous spirit like that!

HMMMMMMM GOOOOOD!

Another of my favorite food posts! Walking around in the evenings, you can find anything that you could ever want to eat at any of the multitude of food carts on the street! I've seen this before, but i just had to share it! I mean, who wouldn't want Duck on a Stick? Wings please!


I mean, that's using everything but the "Quack!" from the duck!

Rumble In The Mountain!

After a long day in the shop, Wednesday evening after dinner i'm laying on the bed watching BBC. I have some clothes hung up in the wardrobe in the room. All of a sudden i hear the hangers dinging like a little wind chime. OH NO! I knew exactly what that meant after having lived in California for 3 years! EARTHQUAKE! Suddenly the whole room is pitching and heaving back and forth! This lasted for almost a minute. With another minute of less, but still substantial aftershocks things quiet down. (it was only a 6.2! not much!!!) I'm staying on the 9th floor of my favorite hotel! When the locomotion/commotion settles down, i go to the window and open up! The two guys in the room next to me are hanging out their window too! The city square below is lit up completely and people are out and about like nothing happened. I thought, enough of this and headed down the stairs! Last thing i wanted was to get stuck in the elevator! I went for a walk for an hour or so to let my heart slow down! I remember in California that you'd feel a quake in the middle of the night and say "not that bad" and go back to sleep! When i was at work the next day, i commented on the activity and everyone was underwhelmed! They said it wasn't that close and nothing was damaged locally! I guess that is what you come to live with when you live on an island in the "Ring of Fire"!

City Art vs Citizen Art

The local and express train tracks run through the center of town. Some main street crossings have guards that drop down to hold traffic. In this particular street, the tracks are at ground level, and the road goes under the tracks. The underpass has two levels. The lowest level is for cars, trucks, and buses!

The upper level on both sides is for scooter traffic! How sweet is that! As part of city beautification, the city has painted murals of aquatic scenes!




There is a separate passenger underpass to one side of the roadway. Now, here is where the citizens have put up their art! Tagging is an international art form!