Kaohsiung: Food, Karaoke & Wine

Photos, including FOOD PHOTOS, by MJ Klein & Hui-chen

A few weeks ago we went to visit the family down in Kaohsiung.  Of course we had a great time because we love Kaohsiung and our family knows how to enjoy themselves.

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We went to this cool restaurant and covered the table with food, basically.

I didn’t white-balance the camera, so you’re going to have to deal with a slightly yellow tinge to the shots taken in the restaurant:

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Man, this dish was great.  I just love duck meat.

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Crispy pork.  Unbelievable.

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I told you we covered the table with dishes!  This is just the beginning.

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Taiwan is known for fantastic greens and this is just one example.  I could live on this alone, I think.

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This is the end of the meal.  Notice the big bowl of custard that I have in front of me.  Taiwanese call this “pudding” and it’s virtually the only flavor available – caramelized sugar flavor.

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Hui-chen (left) and Hui-ling sure are happy after that “greeze-back” session we just had!

Hui-chen’s parents had this old DVD player.  It wouldn’t play some discs and it was acting up really badly when I wanted to play some stuff for them.  So, we went out and bought them a new DVD player, a Tobishi brand.  It was just about the cheapest model on the store floor, and featured 2 microphone inputs.  What the heck?  We bought 2 mics too and brought everything back home and hooked it up.

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Right away, Hui-chen’s parents popped in a karaoke VCD and they were off!

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Can’t beat how the Tobishi plays back discs.  They look and sound great.

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Hui-chen belted out a few, too.

Recently we had been to Thailand, where I found a rare alcoholic beverage that I had enjoyed once before, several years ago.  Mind you, we have the colors jacked up on our camera and my skin tone really doesn’t look like this….

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This is village style Thai hootch.  A traditional style vessel, packaged up as you see.

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First order of business is to break the plaster seal….

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Upon opening the seal and the inner bag, the fragrance was familair.  Then Hui-ling said “sheao mi jeow” and I remembered that yes, it did smell like millet wine.

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One simply adds whatever mixer one would like to have with the wine.  The jar is basically dry inside and we had no problems taking it back with us into Taiwan, in our carry-on luggage.

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There was a pinkish white paste on the top, and I have no idea what that was.  You can see the millet husks in this shot.

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Once filled with whatever you want (soda, sprite, or our choice: coconut juice), one thrusts the bamboo straws into the millet husks and waits for the alcohol to come out of the husks and precipitate into the solution.

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I had 6 straws but I only put in 3.  In the village, many people drink together out of one jar.

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Hui-chen’s dad takes a swig to start off.

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“Not bad!” he exclaims.

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Next, it’s my turn.  I found it a little too sour, and someone suggested that we use Sprite instead of the coconut juice.  Adding Sprite did help a little but, but it was still a lot more sour than I remember.  Perhaps that is just the way this brew is because I bought this jar in a different place than where I got the original jar, back in 2005.  Each village has it’s own recipie of course.  Hui-chen’s dad has refilled it several times, as it’s good for several infusions of mixer.  The Thais tell me it will last for a long time.  I’ll let you know what I find out.

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