Taiwan Blog Review: Taiwan Duck

I’ve completely given myself to Taiwanese food and snacks.  I can’t help it.  There’s something about Taiwanese food that just grabs me.  So, even though I’m not much of a cook, I still like to look at Taiwan Duck.

I guess I’m into food.  Well, actually, I’m definitely into food.  I like to read about it. I like to talk about it.  I like to hear about it.  I like to look at it as I go by.  I like to smell it, (even Stinky Tofu). I mostly like to eat it.  One of the categories I have for Zite Magazine on my iPad is food and cooking.  So, this type of website is attractive to me.

Taiwan Duck is a website that shows you how to prepare many favorite Taiwanese foods.  They give you a recipe, and the steps to make it, then as an added bonus, they do a video where Joanne shows you how she prepares it.

Joanne is cool; she’s a Taiwanese woman who has been transplanted into the UK, by marriage.  She’s obviously a very good cook, and has quite a charming personality.  I don’t even cook, but my wife and I enjoy watching her videos and listening to her explanations of how to do it.  Sometimes as I watch the video, I can just imagine the delicious smells in that kitchen.

She will also tell you where you can find ingredients, usually found only in Taiwan, in the area where they live.  She tells you her secrets for preparing the food and shows you how it’s done.  At the end of the video she shows you the prepared food and those are the only times I wish that I lived in the UK, so she and her videographer husband, could invite me over to help them eat it. 

Her husband stays mostly in the background.  I can’t remember ever seeing him in any of the videos I’ve watched.  Occasionally, he’ll prompt with an English word or two, but mostly he just hides behind the camera.  I suspect, all though I don’t know for sure, that he writes all of the recipe descriptions and is the tech guy for the website. 

The recipes are varied from Taiwanese snack foods: Oyster Omelets, Salty Chicken (Yen Si Ji), Taiwanese Beef Noodles (Niu Rou Mian) to Beef and Spinach Lasagna.  Lasagna?  Well, apparently not all of the recipes are Taiwanese, but with a name like Banducci, I can eat some Lasagna, too. 

The website is easy to use, and really an enjoyable experience.  You can even slip over to the store and buy some nice Taiwan Duck apparel, so you'll look good in the kitchen.

So, if you have some time and want to  learn how to cook some of Taiwan’s favorites, then take a few moments, grabs some nice Taiwanese Oolong Tea and a notebook and learn how to cook Taiwan Duck Style…then call me up and invite me over to help you try out the meal you made.  I can tell you right now, without equivocating I’m going to like it.

Visit Taiwan Duck at www.taiwanduck.com.  Tell them the Taiwan Adventure sent you.  Taiwan Duck is very high on our list of favorite Taiwanese (and apparently Italian) websites.  Check it out.





Other posts you may be interested in:

Taiwan Blog Review:  Shuflies

Screen Captures from Taiwan Duck Website www.taiwanduck.com
Video from Taiwan Duck TV

Promotions and Gratitude: Friends of the Blog

An interesting thing has happened.  This blog is running between 3,00 and 4,000 hits a month.  Since it has become somewhat popular, (It's still a small blog compared to others), I have received numerous requests to advertise things for people.  A lot of people want me to write posts on their particular website, product or link to their page.  While I’m flattered to be asked I have to say, I’m probably not going to write or post posts that are unrelated to Taiwan, especially if you are trying to make a profit.  

I don’t want to be harsh, but this blog isn’t written to make a profit.  It isn’t written to advertise products.  It certainly doesn’t exist to benefit anyone.  It is written to promote the culture, beauty and people of Taiwan.  There have been times when I have written a post that promotes a local restaurant or something, but those are written in the spirit of helping someone with making a successful living for their family.  Generally, these are people that I care about for one reason or another.  I have never asked for or received any compensation for any posts promoting some place.

So the policy of this blog is that we will not promote other websites or organizations, except the following:

Christian Fellowship Ministries – This is the organization under which I am here in Taiwan.  I feel a great sense of gratitude to The Door Christian Fellowship in Tucson, Pastor Harold Warner, and The Door Christian Fellowship in Colton, Pastor Eric Strutz, because of the investment they have made in the people of Taiwan, through this ministry.

We Blog the World – This blog has carried and promoted the Taiwan Adventure for a couple of years.  Renee Blodgett has kindly allowed us to be a part of We Blog the World, even though, my posts are probably not up to the quality of the others who are professional writers, or at least have a basic understanding of English Grammar. 

The Expat Blog – This blog is designed to help expats to find services, jobs, housing and other needs while living in a foreign country.  There is no charge for their service.  They carry The Taiwan Adventure as a blog about life in Taiwan. Use the link to find out all you need to know to live in Taiwan or other places.

Go Overseas.com – Similar to the expat blog, but is aligned toward teaching and educational opportunities in many different nations.  They carry the Taiwan Adventure in their Top Taiwan Blogs section.

Radio Taiwan International – International radio “The Voice of Asia.”  The Taiwan Adventure was promoted by them on their radio show, “Taiwan Today.”

Taiwan Gongfu Tea – Is a website that I own and use to sell Taiwanese Tea on the internet.

The Bard and the Bears – This is one of the groups that has written to me to write a guest post.  I agreed because they will be competing in the Mongol Rally to benefit Children’s Hospital in Orange County California.  As an infant, Children’s Hospital helped me through a surgery that saved my life.  I’m happy to provide this small bit of support back to benefit them.

There are others bloggers whom I support.  They are small blogs or blogs that promote Taiwan from perhaps a different perspective.  I’ve never personally met any of them but they’re the blogs that I enjoy reading.  They are:

Taiwanderful.net – They provide lots of useful information on life in Taiwan for expats, as well as carrying a number of English language blogs. 

Shuflies – An excellent blog written by Catherine Shu.  She is an American Born Taiwanese woman, who writes for the Taipei Times. 

Vagabond in Taiwan – This blog is a photo/written blog by another American Born Taiwanese woman who blogs from her perspective; 16 year old teenager.

Taiwanna Eat A Lot – Kind of cool photoblog about food. 

Taiwan Duck.com – How to cook Taiwanese food.  I love Taiwanese food.  A couple in the UK does this recipes and videos.  She is the star of the videos, her personality is delightful and food is delicious and authentic.

So there it is.  These are the things I promote on this blog.  Please feel free to write me with things you might want to promote, but bear in mind the criteria that I mentioned.  If it doesn’t promote the culture, beauty and people of Taiwan it probably won’t be selected for a post. 

I want to take a moment to express my gratitude and appreciation to the following individuals. These are  people that have helped and supported me either personally or through promoting the blog or being a faithful reader and sometimes critic.

Ps. Harold Warner            Ps. Wayne Pelren

Ps. Eric Strutz                   Henry Wang

Renee Blodgett                 Natalie Tso

Jennifer Kalmbach            Mordeth 13

David Reid                        Yvette Pelren

Valerie Gomez                  Julien (expatblog.com)