TheNHBushman.com

Photos by MJ Klein

Many Taiwan bloggers have articles about this year’s Lunar Festival or more properly called the Mid-Autumn Festival.  So, why would I disappoint our readers by not having an article about this important holiday too?

This year, Hui-chen and I were supposed to visit her family.  Recently her mother had asked me to cook Dutch oven fare for the family as I did last year.  However, on Thursday I became ill with a virulent form of stomach flu and I couldn’t travel anywhere.  I spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday in bed.  On Monday I went out for awhile but I had to go back home early because I just wasn’t feeling well.

This year the actual event took place on September 25.  We were out the night before, at Shao-hui’s of course.  Here we see some of the food that was laid out before we got there.

One of the regular customers handles the grill.  One of the great things about hanging out at Shao-hui’s is that you can serve yourself.

Back inside, Shao-hui prepares some of her legendary marinade.  Every time she makes it, I swear it’s better than the last batch.

Didi is cutting up the pork meat after it came off the grill.

Shao-hui had her people take one of the tables outside just for Hui-chen and I!  We felt like real VIPs.

Here we see Shao-hui (L) and Hui-chen enjoying a good joke.

The fellow working the grill overheard the joke!

We had an interesting mix of the normal Thai fare, plus the grilled food.

Take a look at this Thai style fried rice.

But this combination of shrimp and marinaded grilled pork was an unbelievable as it looks!

Now, we jump forward to September 25:

Regular readers of our blog will recognize this grill.  I brought it to Shao-hui’s because we have had production throughput issues with just one grill.  I am very pleased with the performance of this design.  1/2 bag of charcoal lasted for almost 3 hours.  I am considering a commercial model based on it.  Initially it burns very hot so you have watch the food closely.

We started out with chicken wings, marinaded of course.

Hui-chen handled the grills on this night.  The grill on the left is a cheap model that is difficult to use because you can’t easily replenish the charcoal.

Yes, the shrimp really are blue.  This is just how they looked, shot in natural light.  They were still alive when I placed them on the grill.  They weren’t happy, but fortunately they didn’t know it for very long.

After consuming copious amounts of Sangsom Royal Thai Rum, I took a walk down the street to see what other people were doing.

The usual gang of suspects in various states of inebriation.

This is their grill.  I’d say the fire was a bit excessive!

This shot proves again, that one never knows what one will see in Hukou.  These are 2 Thai guys using a fork truck to move their sofa and coffee table.  Why they chose that night to move has yet to be explained.

The boss at the place where the fire happened the other night, and his grill, now well tamed.

And that, my dear readers, is the last shot that I took.  You see, I had more rum and I also had my guitar with me, so I spent the rest of the evening proving that alcohol does indeed turn you into Jimi Hendrix.

technorati tags:Taiwan, Hukou, Thai, Lunar, festival, grill, food, Shao-hui

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Photos by MJ Klein

Many Taiwan bloggers have articles about this year’s Lunar Festival or more properly called the Mid-Autumn Festival.  So, why would I disappoint our readers by not having an article about this important holiday too?

This year, Hui-chen and I were supposed to visit her family.  Recently her mother had asked me to cook Dutch oven fare for the family as I did last year.  However, on Thursday I became ill with a virulent form of stomach flu and I couldn’t travel anywhere.  I spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday in bed.  On Monday I went out for awhile but I had to go back home early because I just wasn’t feeling well.

This year the actual event took place on September 25.  We were out the night before, at Shao-hui’s of course.  Here we see some of the food that was laid out before we got there.

One of the regular customers handles the grill.  One of the great things about hanging out at Shao-hui’s is that you can serve yourself.

Back inside, Shao-hui prepares some of her legendary marinade.  Every time she makes it, I swear it’s better than the last batch.

Didi is cutting up the pork meat after it came off the grill.

Shao-hui had her people take one of the tables outside just for Hui-chen and I!  We felt like real VIPs.

Here we see Shao-hui (L) and Hui-chen enjoying a good joke.

The fellow working the grill overheard the joke!

We had an interesting mix of the normal Thai fare, plus the grilled food.

Take a look at this Thai style fried rice.

But this combination of shrimp and marinaded grilled pork was an unbelievable as it looks!

Now, we jump forward to September 25:

Regular readers of our blog will recognize this grill.  I brought it to Shao-hui’s because we have had production throughput issues with just one grill.  I am very pleased with the performance of this design.  1/2 bag of charcoal lasted for almost 3 hours.  I am considering a commercial model based on it.  Initially it burns very hot so you have watch the food closely.

We started out with chicken wings, marinaded of course.

Hui-chen handled the grills on this night.  The grill on the left is a cheap model that is difficult to use because you can’t easily replenish the charcoal.

Yes, the shrimp really are blue.  This is just how they looked, shot in natural light.  They were still alive when I placed them on the grill.  They weren’t happy, but fortunately they didn’t know it for very long.

After consuming copious amounts of Sangsom Royal Thai Rum, I took a walk down the street to see what other people were doing.

The usual gang of suspects in various states of inebriation.

This is their grill.  I’d say the fire was a bit excessive!

This shot proves again, that one never knows what one will see in Hukou.  These are 2 Thai guys using a fork truck to move their sofa and coffee table.  Why they chose that night to move has yet to be explained.

The boss at the place where the fire happened the other night, and his grill, now well tamed.

And that, my dear readers, is the last shot that I took.  You see, I had more rum and I also had my guitar with me, so I spent the rest of the evening proving that alcohol does indeed turn you into Jimi Hendrix.

technorati tags:Taiwan, Hukou, Thai, Lunar, festival, grill, food, Shao-hui

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Today I got this comment from Shan:

SJL said… hi Bushman I just want to tell you about my blog. Please read the most recent one “Chiang Kai-Shek and me” and tell me what you think! peace!-Shan

Blogger: The New Hampshire Bushman in Taiwan - Post a Comment

Thanks Shan. As for CKS, I thought the old terminal smelled funny, but the new terminal is modern and a pleasure to visit.

OK, that was a bad joke.

In a twist on the same-same “expat blogger” theme we see worked to death, Shan is a Taiwanese now living in the US. Shan runs a blog and here is an excerpt from the post mentioned:

In the Culture Center of the second largest city in the South of Taiwan—Kaohsiung, sat an eight-meter, 26 feet statue of the former ruler Chiang Kai-Shek. Chiang was active in of the early twentieth century in Taiwan and China, whose influence shaped every aspect of the Taiwanese society. Chiang was also at fault for the drawbacks and defeats of modern Taiwanese history; the damages he’s done to the country and the regression he brought about, as we can see, will take generations of Taiwanese to repair and overcome. This week, the 26-year-old statue in the Kaohsiung Culture Center will be disassembled, removed and relocate to the city close to the burials of the Chiangs in North Taiwan. This is one of the many moves that the Taiwanese government made as part of the process to distinguish Taiwan from China. At the same time, the Taiwanese government is making clear that the modern government is different from the former authoritarian, military dictating rulership. Most importantly, this is an effort to separate politics from culture institutions. Outside the Kaohsiung Culture Center, which was recently renamed from Chung-Chen* Culture Center, a riot took place.

mindgration

I particularly like this paragraph:

Growing up in Taiwan in the 80s and the 90s, many things I did in school, which I couldn’t understand at the time, were the leftovers of Chiang’s military dictatorship. As the principle of my class in elementary school, I was responsible for ranking my classmates into straight lines every morning before we sang the anthem and raise the flag. I was instructed to call out “attention!” and “at ease!” simultaneously in Zhejiang accent. It took me years to figure out why the two words had to be pronounced in such a way that sounded completely out of place in a native Taiwanese’ ear. Turned out, the Zhejiang born former ruler’s accent and the way he stressed the two words when he drilled the troops were passed down by the officials who wanted to sound like him. Overtime, “attention!” and “at ease!” sounded only natural when pronounced with Zhejiang accent for all the people of Taiwan.

mindgration

Good stuff, well written and worth reading. Thanks for letting us all know about your blog Shan.

(btw is that you in the header photo?)

technorati tags:reader, comment, Shan, blog

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We love Asian food. All kinds - Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Indian, etc. We eat it all the time, and think about it when not eating it. Here are reviews of places we eat, foods we try, experiences we share. Please comment and let us know what you are eating.

All Taste Same

We want to thank All Taste Same for their sidebar listing. Please visit their blog and check out the numerous reviews. They employ a unique rating system of “1 to 5 grains of rice” for their reviews. Lots of entertaining reading and it’s all about Asian Food!

technorati tags:blog, listing, AllTasteSame

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I personally find this shot very distasteful. Obviously someone died, but not this scammer’s father, and he is using this family’s photo to commit crime.

Then a bunch of documents attesting to his current status:

This has got to be the winner of the “Worst Photoshopped Fake Document Ever!” award.

Then, Kenneth made sure that I knew he was not a scammer and really did have a bunch of money ready for me to claim! He sent me a photo of the money!

Woah, Kenneth’s dad left a buttload of money for some “foreign partner.” I sure hope that’s me!

This guy is holding the cash.

Now, I sent my own fake documents to Kenneth. He insisted that his sister was sick, and that necessitated a quick response and conclusion to this business transaction. He said he wanted to move to Taiwan (which is where my alter-ego is from). I sent him some photos of “Taiwan” and talked about the political climate in “Taiwan” - Taiwan being too small and too unstable for his MUGU ass.

This internet photo was used to show political unrest in Taiwan, as our church member “Dr. Chandler” was hauled away by (LOL) “Taipei Police.”

Eventually I gave up on Kenneth as he was boring me with his constant whining about his sick sister and needing me to send him so many thousands of US dollars.

This video is priceless.

technorati tags:419, scambaiting, scammers

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This week’s travel blog is The New Hampshire Bushman in Taiwan. Every so often we come across something really special and this blog is one of those rare gems. It is written by M J Klein and details his adventures in Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Laos, China and Borneo.

PC2Paper - This Weeks Travel Blog – The New Hampshire Bushman in Taiwan

PCP2Paper has some very nice things to say about our blog! We thank them for the honorable mention and urge our readers to check out their site, dedicated to “travelling, keeping in touch, penpals and sending letters.”

technorati tags:PCP2Paper, article

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Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I went back to the old neighborhood where I used to live when I first moved to Taoyuan.  On the way I took some shots out of the car window (that’s what I’m famous for!).

This duck take out place in Danan is really excellent.  The duck is slow roasted over smoldering coals that give it a smoky glaze that retains the natural moisture in the meat while making the skin slightly crispy.  A rice box with sliced duck meat is less that US$2.00.  You can’t beat it!

This roadside stand is selling sugar cane.  The smoker-looking burner on the right is for burning the husks that are removed from the cane.

Once we arrived, we went to the San Q (a chain of fast deep-fried foods in Taiwan).  This is an order of squid tentacles and chicken nuggets (with bone).  I like this combination a lot.

This is, believe it or not, deep-fried chicken skin, and it is delicious!  Hui-chen wouldn’t even try it though because she says she already knows what it tastes like and doesn’t like it.  I can’t image that!

I ordered a bowl of wonton soup (which never photographs well, so I didn’t bother) and some standard Taiwanese noodle shop fare.  From left to right (with overlap) we see pig intestine (really great), dried tofu (togun), Chinese sausage, and seaweed roll.

The good news is that my friends all say I’ve lost weight since I last saw them!

technorati tags:Taiwan, Taoyuan, duck, sugarcane, SanQ

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Photos by MJ Klein

Hui-chen and I went back to the old neighborhood where I used to live when I first moved to Taoyuan.  On the way I took some shots out of the car window (that’s what I’m famous for!).

This duck take out place in Danan is really excellent.  The duck is slow roasted over smoldering coals that give it a smoky glaze that retains the natural moisture in the meat while making the skin slightly crispy.  A rice box with sliced duck meat is less that US$2.00.  You can’t beat it!

This roadside stand is selling sugar cane.  The smoker-looking burner on the right is for burning the husks that are removed from the cane.

Once we arrived, we went to the San Q (a chain of fast deep-fried foods in Taiwan).  This is an order of squid tentacles and chicken nuggets (with bone).  I like this combination a lot.

This is, believe it or not, deep-fried chicken skin, and it is delicious!  Hui-chen wouldn’t even try it though because she says she already knows what it tastes like and doesn’t like it.  I can’t image that!

I ordered a bowl of wonton soup (which never photographs well, so I didn’t bother) and some standard Taiwanese noodle shop fare.  From left to right (with overlap) we see pig intestine (really great), dried tofu (togun), Chinese sausage, and seaweed roll.

The good news is that my friends all say I’ve lost weight since I last saw them!

technorati tags:Taiwan, Taoyuan, duck, sugarcane, SanQ, fried, food

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Photos by MJ Klein and Hui-chen - Cross posted from the NH Bushman in Taiwan

This story is about the design and building of a smoker, and cooking in Thailand.

I’ve been kinda bored lately.  This is the longest time I’ve been in any single country in the past 4 years.  I’m used to being on the move.

Recently I blogged on some cooking adventures, and also some industrial photos, so I thought I would to back through my vast archive of photos and find some that combine both cooking and industry, lol!  I blogged on my wood smoker a few times since I had it built in June of 2005 in Thailand.  Back at that time, I wasn’t using flickr.com and the photos were a lot smaller in the blog.  I also didn’t get too much into the details of how the smoker was built.  I won’t bore you to death but I want to revisit this topic and provide more details as there seems to be some interest in the industrial photos.

The guys start out by cutting the sheet metal on a machine called a sheer.  Here they are cutting a sheet that will form the main cooking chamber of the wood smoker.

Now the workers are using a machine to roll the sheet metal into a tube shape.  After each pass of the sheet through the machine, the guy in front adjusts a knob for a deeper bend, and they send it through again.  After several times, the tube is formed.

This is the smaller wood chamber in the forming machine now.  You can see the cooking chamber on the ground in the foreground behind the men.

Covers and hinges were fabricated and welded onto the chamber bodies.

Here I am making some measurements for the interconnecting holes in the chambers.  I located the hole positions and also the relative positions of the chambers and the guys welded them together.

Later, a frame was built and welded to the main assembly.

One of the young workers checks out the joint between the 2 chambers.

Some of the men working on my smoker were only 16 years old.  It seems that they preferred to learn a trade than attend school.  These 2 guys were really good even though they were young.

This is a detail shot of the air dampener.  This door can be pushed open or shut to regulate the air flow to the fire.

This is the cutout for the air dampener.

All finished, and with a fresh coat of silver paint (not my idea!).  We took the smoker to our friend’s resort in a small village.

The smoker needs to be burned out before it can be used.  This is the first burn fire, before we add the cooking wood.

Awhile later, the cooking wood was added and the cooking fire was burned down enough to start preparing the smoker for use.  This is one of my favorite photos, showing some village women brushing the grate with cooking oil.

This is the first load of food ever cooked in my smoker (L to R): chicken, marinated in a village favorite sauce, pork cutlets, and salmon.

This is the food coming off the smoker.  Notice that more pork has been added (in the rear) and is still not fully cooked.

One of my favorite places and times….

technorati tags:Thailand, Khonkaen, smoker, grill, SabuaResort

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Photos by MJ Klein - Cross posted from the NH Bushman in Taiwan

I love the outdoors, and I especially love cooking outdoors. Food just tastes better when cooked outdoors! Recently I’ve posted on some Dutch oven style cooking, my wood smoker in Thailand, and of course I’ve blogged on grilling here in Taiwan and Thailand too. Now, I’ve been indoors for 2 days and I’m already whining about it! I can handle wintertime and lots of snow, and that doesn’t stop me from cooking. But this awful typhoon rainy weather is depressing, so I’m going to blog more on one of my favorite topics:

Outdoor Cooking!

Mmmmmmm….. Dutch ovens on the fire! I have these 2 (plus one more) with me in Taiwan. I do miss cooking with them as much as I used to back in New Hampshire. This shot was taken at my friend Kim’s home. I have friend in the US that like to hang out just for cooking!

This is my first gill invention before I designed my first large system. The ring keeps the fire from the center of the grill so you can put something like a whole chicken on the grill and have the heat indirect. But before I get into that, I have to clear up something about the definition of the word “BBQ” however. If you are cooking directly over a fire, and the heat is high and the cooking is fast, you are absolutely not barbecuing. You are grilling. BBQ is a slow cooking process using indirect heat. I will show you examples of this later.

The ring in the above shot allows one to do real BBQ on a grill because it allows the heat to be indirect, on the outside of the cooking chamber. The ring can also be used to concentrate a small amount of charcoal or wood in the center for small batches of food.

This is a shot of my wood smoker in my backyard in Derry, New Hampshire. Notice the wood pile. You can buy log wood at any convenince store in NH.

This smoker (just like the one I had made in Thailand) has an offset fire box, which means that the firebox is below the level of the cooking chamber.

Here you can see what I mean. We are looking through the cooking chamber through the hole in the firebox and into the firebox on a lower level.

In this shot you can see my tripod leaning on the right side of the table. The tripod is used to hang Dutch ovens over a fire just like in the movies.

There really isn’t any reason for me to post this photo at all. Except that I’m going crazy being indoors and this shot is of something I love to do outdoors!

Once the fire starts to burn down you can add the food. Many people don’t realize that burning wood is poisonous (like a house fire, duh!) and cooking over burning wood can make you sick unless its charred over. In the case of the photo above, the logs are just about charred over. Only the ends are left to char and then the food can go on.

These are Arkansas style pork ribs. What I wouldn’t give to find a butcher in Taiwan that knows this cut. I’ve tried to find one, unsuccessfully. These are the best smoking ribs, IMO!

OK, the wood is charred over, the meat is on, the damper is down and the process begins. You want to keep the smoker close to 100C. Unlike grilling, cooler is better. Wintertime is the best season for real bit BBQ!

This shot was taken from my back door. People have told me that they can smell the smoked meat for miles around. I’ve made deals with local restaurant owners, trading a plate of my smoked pork ribs for their food! Properly adjusted, the smoke should have a bluish hue to it. When its running in the zone, I call it Barbeque Blue smoke.

A few hours later, this is what you get!

This is the beauty shot. Man, I miss that smoker!

Now, you thought I was joking about cooking outdoors in wintertime, didn’t you?

This is my back door in winter.

A side shot of the yard. That is a car underneath the snow.

This is the cooking area of the yard, in winter. Notice the smoke coming out of the smoker? Yeap, that’s right! We’re smoking pork ribs!

This is how I spent my winters in New Hampshire - out by the smoker and drinking Jack Daniel’s Hard Cola (no longer made I hear). Notice the needle on the thermometer, right where I want it to be, a cool 100C. The smoker runs so cool in wintertime and you never have to worry about it taking off and going out of control with a breeze.

Most of the time I would have a second fire going so I could burn down the wood for adding it to the firebox later. Remember adding unburnt wood is dangerous and makes the food taste bitter.

The parting shot: Snow falling, charcoal fire burning, Chinese wok in the snow, used for vegetables cooked over the firebox, machette handle sticking up out of the snow (behind the wok) used for splitting wood, and the smoker going nicely.

technorati tags:USA, New, Hampshire, smoker, Dutchoven, grill

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