UPDATE: I’ve added some video to the end of the article.
It was another great weekend in Taiwan. The weather let up on us a bit and it got something approaching cooler. So, when Becky invited us up to their cabin in Miaoli, well we knew it was a great time in the making!
The ride up was spectacular as we took the mountain road that comes up behind the cabin. We brought our friend Ed with us and he’s very well traveled. His comment is that he’d never been on a road like that one before and the mountain view was one of the top things he’s ever seen. We agree! Taiwan is incredible but you have to get out of Taipei to find out.
The weather has been great for the past few days so we decided (of course!) to have a party up on our roof! We invited Andres and his family along with his friend and co-worker Rich. We had a great time with good company and good food.
I have been wanting to build some kind of an outdoor cooking table for some time. I wanted one that could hold a Dutch oven and also a grill and do everything I needed to do in connection with cooking outdoors on the roof. So, I went to B&Q and bought some stuff, and spend a few hours on Friday putting it all together. Take a look at what I built:
This is the far end of the roof at the back of the house. This is the cooking table that I made from ordinary shelfing materials you can buy in Taiwan. We also picked up the small black grill in the left corner. It’s basically a copy of a tried and true US design.
February 29 comes once every 4 years. So, I propose a party at Shao-hui’s!
Hui-chen and I have a visitor coming from the US and he will be here for the 29th. Let’s show him a great time with the legendary company of Taiwan’s bloggers, and the food and drink at Shao-hui’s.
We’ll be there in the early evening so just show up anytime. All are welcome to join us!
My honey was sick over the weekend and spent most of the time in bed resting (she is fine now). I was kinda bored on Saturday and wanted to do something.
Recently I was surprised at the number of blogs I’ve read where the blogger listed “cook more” as one of their New Year’s resolutions. I don’t do such resolutions but I do miss cooking. So I decided to do something that I haven’t done for awhile - cook outdoors in my Dutch oven. I went to our neighborhood store and picked up some stuff to cook.
I took my gear over to Shao-hui’s and set up on outside her place on the sidewalk. Shao-hui has given me permission to use her place for anything I want to cook. She’s given me free reign of her kitchen too, so sometimes you will find me in there cutting stuff up, making preparations, etc. I think that Shao-hui is interested in what I cook so she is happy when I set up outside and light a fire. Today was no exception.
Photos by MJ Klein & Hui-chen WARNING! This post contains photographs of food! It is also the longest blog post I have ever created, with more photos than any other, ever! You have been warned!
Our good friend Andres invited Hui-chen and I to visit a cabin owned by his cousin Becky’s family. Well, they are all the same family but you know what I mean. We jumped at the chance to spend some time in the beautiful Taiwan countryside in Miaoli. Let’s start off with a video that I put together to set the mood.
Now for the details!
On the way we noticed that the bing lang girls wear skimpier outfits than they do in Hukou!
This is the view from the front porch of the cabin. Simply gorgeous! (more…)
And people are just too much for me to face
I’ll climb way up to the top of the stairs
And all my cares just drift right into space
On the roof, it’s peaceful as can be
And there the world below don’t bother me, no, no
The Drifters, 1968 (I personally knew Mr. Bill Pinkney who recently passed away).
We love our rooftop cabana. It’s a great place to escape the heat and catch some air and relax with a cool drink. We like to cook up there and invite friends over to relax and enjoy the sights from 5 stories up.
Today, Hui-chen and I spent several hours “up on the roof” and I took lots of photos this time. After all I wouldn’t want to be accused of making it all up!
The only drawback is the amount of stuff that I have to carry up there every time we want to hang out on the roof. The floor below is our “party room” with all of the stuff we use on the roof. The good part of it that I get exercise hauling the stuff upstairs.
