Photos by MJ Klein Caution: Food Photos!
As most of you know by now, Hui-chen and I went back to the USA for about 3 weeks. The reason for this trip will become apparent in future parts of this series. In Part One, I want to introduce you to a few people and places.
Photos by Huang Shao Mao, Hui-chen and MJ Klein
This article has it all - music, drinking, food, and babes!
I am producing the Fong band’s new recording sessions. This is the first production gig I’ve had in Taiwan, and I hope to get more. I’ve really missed producing and it felt great to get back into the studio, although these days “the studio” is a lot different from the 2″ analog tape and huge mixing consoles I’m used to.
In the past, given my considerable experience, I sometimes have performed on records that I’ve produced. This is nothing unusual, and in the case of the Fong band sessions, I played the backing guitar parts, mainly because it would be faster and much more consistient. It remains to be seen whether either of the two guitar players will add some parts to the recording, but at this writing, I personally played all the guitar parts. Needless to say, I won’t be doing any singing on these records because the songs are in the Thai language. I’m sure that I could learn the phonetic pronunciation and fake it but there isn’t any need for me to do so. These guys can sing quite well and we used 3 of them in a “gang vocal” configuration that you’ll see later (with photos taken from video stills).
So I hope you enjoy this article about what we did over the weekend. I enjoyed doing all these things for sure!
Bryan Chen, owner and engineer of Wellrick Studio
It was a weekend full of music and fun. It all started out on Friday (which was a holiday here in Taiwan). First, it was guitars, guitars, Burns and VOX mayhem and more guitars!
Food Photos by MJ Klein
I know it’s been awhile since we showed you any homestyle Taiwanese cooking. So, we’re going to make up for that right now! Hui-chen’s sister Hui-ling and her son were visiting. The sisters decided to do some cooking, so they made a ton of dumplings, including wontons.
Without any further delay, let’s get right into the photos!
This is the base meat, consisting of ground pork and spices.
Photos by MJ Klein
On our little trip to Wulai, we’ve seen that there is a lot more to the place than simply the waterfall for which it is famous. Wulai has hot springs, a river that is used for bathing, a downtown shopping area and an historical passenger railroad, in addition to the waterfall. Also many people don’t realize that you can see several other waterfalls within a few kilometers of Wulai. There are some excellent trails in the area for hiking.
We’re going to take a look at a few things on the way down to the waterfall. One of them is another shot of what’s been called “the cutest little train” the Log Cart.
Hui-chen and I decided to go out for some Western style food last night. We like steak and in nearby Jhubei is the Outback. We’ve blogged on it before and we’re convinced that this will be the last time, unless they seriously upgrade their menu and service.
First, I ordered their “jacked potato” which is a stuff baked potato. 10 minutes later I was told that they were out of all potato items except “chips” (french fries). He asked me what I wanted.
“I want you to go out and buy some fucking potatoes!” was my literal response. I was pissed mostly because it wouldn’t occur to the waitstaff to check with the kitchen first so they can rely that information to the customers as they are ordering. When he asked me what other stuff I wanted instead I told him I didn’t care (in Chinese). Also, in Taiwan, restaurants are always going out and getting more stuff from the local grocery store. I guess it was just too much to ask for them to have what I want, get what I want, or tell me when I’m ordering that they don’t have what I want.
The really weird part is that all of their boned steak items are gone. You cannot get a T-bone or a Porterhouse steak at Outback. This is stupid! A butcher told me that Taiwan cannot import steak from the US with bone. OK, so give me a choice! I’ll take an Australian T-bone or Porterhouse steak over a NY strip any day of the week. Out of desperation, Hui-chen and I ordered prime rib. OMG, that was an exercise in diplomacy in itself. You can’t get the grilled prime rib medium rare because the base roasting is medium. We spent almost 10 minutes in 2 languages to finally figure out what combination of crap we needed to order so we could get a couple of decent medium rare steaks. I was ready to go to My Home Steak and get some shitty T-bone fried on an iron plate and buried with pepper sauce, like our Monday night market.
What arrived on my plate was a quivering mass of fatty flesh that looked so awful, I shall spare you any photographic evidence.
Next time we’ll blog on Ruth’s Chris in Kaohsiung!
Recently, Mark went to the US to take care of some business. While he was there, he blogged on the size of fountain drinks at a gas station on the way to Boston. Mark says:
I’ve been living abroad for a while, and it’s given me a slightly different view of stuff at home than I’d have if I’d stayed…. I’m used to the large size [drink] being 22oz or something like that. Even drinking the second biggest size drink I saw at the gas station left me feeling like I’d just put my pancreas through a strainer. I mean… who drinks half a gallon of soda in one serving? Seriously…
I talked about that article with my friend Mike back in New England and he told me about some giant sized portions at some local restaurants. Mike got some shots and the story behind these monster dishes for us. Are you ready for this?
Food Photos by MJ Klein
Hui-chen and I are off in China and Hong Kong on business for a few days. We’ll be back soon with some great photos and stories to tell! In the meantime we’d like to show you some dishes that Hui-chen’s mother cooked during Chinese New Year.
By now, everyone knows that these are the family specialty. Hui-chen makes her own version too, and they are great.
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!
Check the Geotagged Articles Map to locate Shao-hui’s.
Food Photos by MJ Klein
At this time of year there are many articles about people in Taiwan attending their company weiya or banquet. I don’t know why but most people write badly about them, as if they hate them. Personally I like weiya banquets and Hui-chen and I were invited to one recently. I like these banquets because it gives me a chance to meet with workers and bosses in an informal manner, do some drinking with them and get a chance to rub shoulders without any pressure. I’ve seen a few bosses get drunk and let loose and even sing a little karaoke. This article will stick to the food though, because although some people hate the weiya, I like the weiya food!
First out of the chute was this appetizer dish, consisting of (clockwise from the bottom) imitation crab meat with a Hollandaise sauce, fish skin, sliced noodles, some kind of seafood skin stuff, and sliced duck meat plus beef.
Photos by MJ Klein Food Photos!
I lit a fire, put on some food and the guests started arriving. Yup, it was another party at Shao-hui’s. Do we ever get tired of them? No way!
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