About Me

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Yilan, Taiwan
I just returned back to the States after 11 years in Taiwan with my daughter. Taiwan is an excellent base for us explore Asia, while living in relative (gun free) safety, while benefiting from a cheap and efficient national health care system. The people are amazing too. I have Taiwanese friendships that are 20 years old and I'm always making new ones! My coworker here in CO is from Taiwan.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Monkeying around

Sherry and her brother drove down to Tainan from Taipei. Michael had to look at a property in Kaohsiung for a client. It was great seeing them both but by the end of it I was exhausted! Mostly wiped out from Z's tantrums and she being just plain mean to dear old mom. I don't think she likes sharing my attention from anyone other than her.

Saturday we spent in Tainan. They arrived at lunch time and I took them to a local restaurant that is popular with the Anping locals. Sherry wanted to see the famous Tree House, but after going there didnt want to pay to see a real old and big banyan tree, so we went to the old East Gate and Michael fell asleep under the Banyan tree there. It was Z's naptime so we headed back to mine and for dinner Sherry wanted to find some local fish place that was reccomended in a Taiwanese travel magazine she brought. We didnt exactly find that one but we found a decent fish place and ate eel with noodles, loads of fish, clams, soups, cooked every which way and all washed down with Heinekin. Then we went to a bustling night market and it being 10 or so headed home for another beer and sleep.

The next day we headed down to Kaohsiung and arrived around lunchtime. We had eaten a late brunch on our drive down and I wasnt so hungry, but Michael's client insisted on taking us to lunch, promising it would be small and quick (I was heading for the local Caves Book store). She had made reservations so I relented. Little did I know it was going to be one of those 10 course lunches in a very nice Japanese restaurant. The food was great and I ate as much as I could and drank beer with it and was ready to take a well deserved nap when we somehow headed to Chaishan Nature Reserve for a stroll.

A stroll for Z and I turned into an all out hike and once we broke our first sweat (which doesn't take long) we were itching to climb this thing. Z did great; better than I thought, I didnt have to carry her and she kept up with my fast pace. I occasionally stopped when she needed a breather but she is a natural hiker. Our first encounter with the monkeys  (really they are macaques) scared the crap out of her. I told her before the old,  "leave them alone and they will leave you alone" speech, but she moved too fast too close and one of the monkeys bared its canines at her and some mentally disabled worker, blocked the animal and yelled "NO!" which scared both Z, me and the monkey. She cried, I comforted her, we moved on. About 30 minutes from the top (prob takes 1 1/2 hour to the top, not too big), we got a text to come back, the old lady couldnt walk further, so much to Z and I 's disappointment turned around and headed down.

My foot was bleeding, as I was wearing backless pumps. I wasnt planning on hiking. I can hike in anything but I definitely had the wrong shoes (reminds me of hiking a volcano outside Antigua, Guatemala and the young dude from BC hiking  in flip-flops with zero visibility and the volcanic sand cutting into his toes.) I will go back with Z and do that walk right, to the top and wait to watch the sunset over the sea.

Afterward we drove to the Hsitzuwan beach near the Sun Yat-Sen University and parked to see some of the sunset. Some monkeys were there doing the same thing and some local Taiwanese were feeding them french fries.

It was around 4 and I was ready to go back to Tainan but Michael wanted to eat "bing" (shaved ice sweetened with condensed milk and topped with flavors like red bean, mung bean, cooked barley, fruit) at some famous bing dien near the ferry to  Cijin Island. The place was packed upstairs and down with clients spilling onto the streets. The place is covered in grafiti and we waited for a table. It was nothing special, just huge bowls of shaved ice with fresh fruit served on sticky tables.

And then we made our way home taking the longest, traffic infested way and somehow ended back in Tainan around 830  and it was time to get Z ready for bed and us ready for the following Monday.


Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Pomelo Power

It is that time of year again (Happy Moon Festival!) when I am bombarded by gifts of pomelo. I seem to collect more than I can eat and the extra ones wither and shrink away in my kitchen so I thought I would find some pomelo recipes or experiment with some of my own. It would be fun to replace pomelo juice in recipes that call for lemon or orange juice (lemon bars, custard, orange honey cake...) Any kind of salad dressings or glazes.

Tonight I made a marinade for my chicken which I grilled on our electric grill (in lack of a decent balcony or yard to BBQ like the locals). I used my juicer and juiced a pomelo and mixed 1/4c. white miso, 1/4 c. pomelo juice,  dash of shredded pomelo peel, chopped ginger, dash of red pepper, dash of mirin, dash of rice vinegar and the chicken came out beyond great. I will try this with some fish this weekend.

In fact I am going to buy a bag of pomelos since they are so cheap now and juice as much as I can and if I have the energy, invite some co-workers over for pomelo Mojitos or just freeze the juice for future marmalade, marinades, custard pudding, muffins, cake, and more Mojitos.

some recipes I found:

Thai Chicken Pomelo Salad
1 Pomelo; -=OR=-

1 Whole cooked chicken breast
1 ts Chopped red chili
1 tb Fish sauce (nam pla)
1 ts Sugar
1 sm Lime; juiced
1 Head of leaf lettuce
1 tb Chopped fresh coriander
2 tb Crisp Fried Shallot Flakes
1/4 c Chopped roasted peanuts
CRISP FRIED SHALLOT FLAKES
6 Shallots; thinly sliced
1 c Vegetable oil

Preparation - Thai Pomelo-And-Chicken Salad

Pomelo looks like a thick-skinned, oversized grapefruit, and it is sweeter than the normal grapefruit. PEEL AND SEPARATE pomelo segments. Remove and discard membranes. Gently flake the flesh. If using grapefruit, drain excess juice. Chill. In large bowl, combine pomelo and shredded chicken. Mix together the chopped red chili with fish sauce, sugar and lime juice; toss with chicken mixture. Arrange on a bed of lettuce, garnish with coriander leaves, peanuts, and 2 teaspoons of the Crisp Fried Shallot Flakes. CRISP FRIED SHALLOT FLAKES: Slice shallots into thin slices. Be sure they are all the same thinness to ensure even cooking. Heat a pan with the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add shallots and fry slowly until browned and crisp, about 5 to 10 minutes. The moisture in the shallots should be completely cooked out. Drain on paper towel. Stored in an air-tight container, the shallots will keep several weeks. From Geminis MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

 

Pomelo Mojito

Ingredients

  1. 4 peeled sections of pomelo or grapefruit, chopped
  2. 6 mint leaves
  3. 2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate or orange sorbet, or better pomelo juice
  4. 1 1/2 ounces white rum
  5. Ice
  6. Club sodas or sparkling mineral water
  7. 1 lime wedge or pomelo wedge


  8. Directions

  9. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the pomelo with the mint and orange juice concentrate. Add the rum and ice and shake well. Pour into a highball glass. Top with club soda and garnish with the lime wedge.


http://www.bigoven.com/recipes/search?any_kw=pomelo
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pomelo-mint-mojito
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/02/goi-buoi-pomelo-salad-recipe.html
http://en.petitchef.com/tags/recipes/mango-pomelo-dessert
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/02/10/2524603/recipe-pomelo-chicken.html
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/recipes/pomelo-or-red-grapefruit-granita/
http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/recipe-for-the-classic-hong-kong-dessert-willow-branches-of-aquarius-sweet-soup-with-mangoes-pomeloes-sago-and-coconut-milk-fid-567802