Eating My Way Through Taiwan: Pot Lucks

Every Sunday afternoon we participate in a Pot Luck. Actually, they're fellowships for our church. We started them when we realized that relationships were only taking place between in one direction. Everyone in the church has a relationship with me and my family, but relationships between the people in the church not so much. People would come to church and leave right afterwards, they never got together outside of church. So we decided to use food as a way to gather people. It turned out to be a delicious and successful method. I will always opt to have food-related activities over almost any other kind. In Riverside we had pot lucks, also. They were exciting forays in to Mexican cuisine, by some of the best Mexican cooks I know. Now we are venturing into Taiwanese and Chinese specialties by some of the best Chinese cooks I know. So here is a look at last Sunday's menu:

These are the main dishes. On these platters you will see, clockwise from the top left: Sweet and Sour Fish, this is like Sweet and Sour Pork using white fish. I'm guessing it's Tilapia. Next is To Gan This is like To Fu but it has more consistancy and smoky flavor. Next is kelp. This one is marinated in a vinegarette. Then we have Xiao Long Bao, these are pork dumplings, pork mixed with herbs and spices and steamed in dough.

This is Squash in a nice sauce. It is quite flavorful. I've found, generally, that vegetables an fruits have much more taste here than in the US. I think it's because they are not grown on huge farms but small local farms. As when you grow them at home they have much more flavor than store-bought ones. Fruit and vegetables in Taiwan are excellent.

This is muchrooms, and shrimp with rice noodles. I can eat this over and over and not get enough. The noodles are interesting because they have a little snap to them when you bite them. They're not like Pasta that kind of melts in your mouth you really have to chew them. Awesome!


Cucumbers with a vinegarette dressing. It's served cold and is very refreshing. It gets hot and humid here and a nice cold moist vegetable like this is the answer to the heat wave.













Purple and white Dragon Fruit. Both served well chilled are very good. I've found the purple Dragon Fruit is the best flavor. The white one is kind of tasteless. They have the consistency of pears.

So there you have it. Quite a nice meal. Most of the food is homemade, but some people get food at the local restaurants. It is cheaper, many times, to buy food at a local restaurant then to try to make it yourself. Often, my whole family can eat a full meal for $240 NTD (about $7.00 USD). Our friend Helen, cooks different foods for us to try, and she is an excellent cook. Everyone looks to see what she's bringing to decide if they want to stay or not. I don't have to look, I know whatever she makes is going to be good.

I've read that over and I'm not much of a food critic. Critic implies that there will be a criticism. I never criticize food, I digest it.

Photo Credits: Emily & Elizabeth Banducci

Typhoon Conson: How Did We Cope?

Well it seems that Typhoon Conson was much ado about nothing in Taiwan. I don't want to denigrate the lives lost due the Typhoon. Eighty people are dead because of the impact of the storm in the Philippines, Southern China and Viet Nam. Typhoon Conson was a deadly storm, I'm just saying that it didn't come anywhere near Taiwan.

Emily was overreacting to the news that a Typhoon had formed and was heading in our general direction. The CWB (Central Weather Bureau) website is now floating this banner: There is no typhoon news now !! So the Typhoon went away.

The following is Wikipedia's report on the Typhoon Conson:

"In the Philippines, Conson produced widespread, torrential rains which triggered significant flooding. At least 76 people are known to have been killed across the country and 72 others are listed as missing. Preliminary damage estimates were placed at PHP189 million (US$4.1 million). In China, at least two people have been killed due to wind-related incidents. Hainan Province sustained significant damage from the typhoon, with damage estimated at ¥500 million (US$73.8 million). Widespread damage was reported in Vietnam where at least two people were killed and 17 others were listed as missing."

The weather here was only marginally impacted by the storm. We continued to have daily thunderstorms, and hot, humid days. But I'm sure there will be more Typhoons and we will have something to report eventually.

Meanwhile, here is this picture shows how much we look forward to the next one!

Other Posts you may be interested in:

Typhoon Conson:  Here It Comes
Storm Chasers:  Driving Into the Belly of the Beast

Here it Comes: Typhoon Conson

I have received the news that a Typhoon is headed our way. This is how I found out. Emily posted it on her Facebook page.

Emily Marie Banducci: A TYPHOON IS COMING AHHHH!!!!! I KNEW THIS DAY WOULD COME BUT I DIDENT KNOW I WOULD BE THIS SCARED!!!!

So I looked and sure enough a typhoon is headed towards us from southeast of the Philippines. People have asked me about the difference between a typhoon and and a hurricane. So I am going to do a two-part series on Typhoons. The first part is going to be explanations and information about Typhoons and the second will be our experience with this one…IF in fact, it actually impacts us. Emily is a little frightened, but I’m not for several reasons:

1st. We live in Northern Taiwan; the majority of typhoons have the greatest impact in Southern Taiwan.
2nd: Our house is a safe and comfortable place, with a 1,000 gallon cistern on the roof. So we have water for a while if there is a problem.
3rd: The cistern is gravity fed. If the power goes off we will still have water.
4th. The community has a system in place for early warning of emergencies, and our neighbors care about us and will let us know what we need to know.

So, no big deal…Yeah, right. Emily’s friend Betty (Chinese name is Pei Yu Sun (pronounced Pay You Soon)) had this to say about Emily’s fears

Pei Yu Sun: haha dont be scared its very normal!

She grew up here and so she looks at typhoons like people in Southern California look at earthquakes. So let’s talk Typhoons:

A typhoon basically is a hurricane that takes place in the region of the Philippines or the China Sea.

How are They Formed?

Sunlight warms the water surface, which in turn results in high temperatuires and high humidity in the air just above the surface of the water. The air as it is warmed is inflated in other words the volume of air increases and the warmer air begins to rise or “soar.” As it rises and begins to cool it begins to drop and warms again and rising. Think about what this means as the air rises it leaves a lower pressure area below it. More air is taken into the place and as the air begins to warm again a greater flow of air is pulled into the low pressure area. As these things happen a coumn of air is formed that is of high temperature, light weight and low density (pressure) This is called a Tropical Depression. The air flows from high pressure to low pressure as the air rises and the pressure lessens the air will flow from the high pressure areas surrounding the column of air creating the winds.

In Summer the area of high temperature moves to the north. If you look at the angle of the globe in relation to the sun the area north of the equator receives more direct sunlight causing temperatures to rise in that area. That’s why May, June, July, August and September are warm in the Northern Hemisphere and cold in the Southern Hemisphere. As the air in the Northern hemisphere heats up it pulls the Souhteasterly Trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere up into the Northern Hemisphere. This is the cause of the Monsoon Season. There is head on contact between the Southeasterly and Northwesterly Tarade winds. Causing more air to “soar” once again lowering pressures and drawing more air in. The disturbance of air flow caused by the meeting of the trade winds results in turbulence and can create a vortex, that is copntinually fed by the low pressure vortex draws more air in and increases wind speed. Whne the wind speed reaches or exceeds 62.5 kmh (39 mph) it is upgraded to a typhoon. Average wind speed of a typhoon is 140 kmh (88 mph).

Where do They Start?

If you look at a map of the Pacific Ocean find the islands of Chuuk, that’s eems to be the starting point for most typhoons.

Tracking

There is a website, www.cwb.gov.tw that is the weather site for taiwan. They track and project the path of all typhoons in the area. This picture shows the direction of the typhoon heading toward us now. The defined points are the actual direction of the typhoon to date. The circles are potential direction in the near future, as you can see this typhoon will miss Taiwan by a good margin probably. Although we may get a lot of rain.

Typical Typhoon Tracks Follow Three Directions:

1. Straight. A general westward path affects the Philippines, southern China, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
2. Recurving. Storms recurving affect eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.
3. Northward. From point of origin, the storm follows a northerly direction, only affecting small islands.

Ketsana

Right after our arrival in September 2009, there was a major Typhoon called Ketsana. (Hurricanes are given people names, but typhoons are named after animals, zodiac signs, and other things.) The typhoon cuased huge disaster on the Philippines. 1.09 billion dollars worth of property damage and 747 people killed. The President of the Philippines declared it a National Calamity. The Photo at the top of the page is Typhoon Ketsana.

The typhoon lasted seven days from September 23rd to 30th with sustained wind speeds of 140 kmh (88 mph) and gusts up to 165 kmh (105 mph). People died from floods and landslide.

Two weeks prior to our arrival in Taiwan, there was a typhoon that hit Southern Taiwan floods killed many people and required the military to evacate thousands of people.

This is a video of a typhoon hitting Taiwan in 2008. Looks like fun, huh?


Other posts you may be interested in:

Typhoon Conson:  How Did We Cope?
Storm Chasers:  Driving Into the Belly of the Beast

Eating My Way Through Taiwan: Hei Tong Cuo Bing

Taiwanese Shaved Ice

The temperatures have kicked up here in Taiwan. It has been about 35C which is about 95F for you Americans. It is interesting that most Americans, unless they have studied college-level science classes have little or no understanding of what the temperature in degrees C means. C stands for Celsius. It is named after a Swedish Astronomer named Anders Celsius. It is used in countries that use the metric system. In the US, the metric system is only used in science. The common usage in America is the English system. That is inches, feet, yards, degrees Fahrenheit, and weight in oz and pounds. The metric system measures in millimeters, centimeters and meters. That is One thousandth, One hundredth and one meter. It extends to Kilometers, which is one thousand meters.

Using Fahrenheit temperatures, the freezing point of water is 32 degrees. Using the Celsius sytem, the freezing point of water is 0 degrees. Using Fahrenheit the boiling point of water is 212F; using Celsius it is 100C. So temperatures in Celsius are based on the freezing and boiling point of water. The basis for Fahrenheit temperatures is strange. A man, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, based 0F on the lowest recorded temperature outside his home in one year. He based 100F on his own body temperature. (Either he had a fever or his thermometer was not accurate.) When he laid his scale next to the thermometer’s mercury at the freezing point of ice it recorded 32 degrees. Next to the mercury at the boiling point of water recorded 212F. That’s it. Which scale seems to make the most sense?

There is a formula for calculating Fahrenheit temperatures from Celsius temperatures. That formula looks like this: C * 9/5 + 32 = F. So when the temperature is 35C the formula computes out like this: (35 * 9) = 315; (315/5) = 63; 63 + 32 = 95F. When converting from Fahrenheit to Celsius the formula is (F-32) * 5/9 = C. (95 – 32) = 63; 63 * 5 = 315; (315/9) = 35C.

So I said all of that to say “It’s Hot.” The humidity is very high, about 98%. So it’s also “sticky.” I don’t seem to mind that too much, but the rest of the family does. So we were looking for a way to cool off and our friend Ken, suggested a nice Taiwanese Shaved Ice. In Chinese it’s called Hei Tong Cuo Bing (Hay Tong (o makes sound like in home) Tsuo Bing) It means Black Sugar Shaved Ice. Although it really uses what Americans call Brown Sugar. It’s served in a bowl, and the ice with Brown Sugar Sauce is placed on top of a number of other things.

Buried under the ice is the following:

Tapioca Balls (Fen Yuan or Zhen Zhu (They’re the same thing)): These are the little balls that you find in Bubble tea or Boba tea in the US.

Red beans (Hong Dou): These are a kind of semi-sweet bean. They’re sold in the US but we usually use them to make Chili or something. In Taiwan, they are often used as a sweet. Chinese and Taiwanese people don’t have the sweet tooth that Americans have. (You can find Red bean ice Cream, here, not bad by the way.)

White Dutch Runner Beans ( Da Hua Dou): I have no idea what these are. I wouldn’t have recognized them if I did. One thing that worries me about that, is that apparently I will eat anything, whether I recognize it or not. That could be sort of dangerous.

And

Small Rice balls (Xiao Tang Yuan): The literal translation of the words xiao Tang Yuan is small Soup Circle. These don’t resemble Rice, they seem to me to be made of the sticky portion of rice. Probably it’s starch. They are very, very sticky and have an interesting consistency. They are often used in desert soups. (Ken’s wife is an excellent cook and has made foods for us using these things a number of times.)

The shaved ice is obviously served very cold. I found it to be delicious and refreshing. I think the rest of the family thought that a little bit goes a long way. They didn’t like the surprises hidden under the ice. Oh well too bad for them. I thought it was great.

Taiwanese Traditions: The Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat festival is held each year on May 5 of the Lunar Calendar. This year May 5 (lunar) was June 16. The lunar calendar is made up of fewer days than the solar calendar, which we use, so the date changes from year to year. This year it happened to be June 16. The name of the Holiday in Chinese is Duanwu Jie (Dwanwoo jeeuh). The name literally means double fifth festival (as in 5/5 May 5). The festival celebrates the life and death of Quan Yu a scholar and poet.

The Legend

Quan Yu was a scholar who served in the government of the King of Chu in approximately 300 B.C. He was a loyal subject and minister to the King for many years. He had great favor because of his faithfulness, but because of the favor he had with the king the others in the government began to plot to rid themselves of this man. So they trumped up a charge of conspiracy against the king. The king bought into the conspiracy charge and had Quan Yu removed from his position in the government and exiled from his homeland. As you may imagine this caused a bit of distress for Quan Yu. He used his talent for poetry to write a number of angry poems about his exile, the damage to his reputation, the loss of his homeland and the people of that homeland. Finally, in a state of depression, in the year 278 B.C. at the age of 37, he threw himself into the river with a huge boulder clasped to his chest and drowned.

The local people, recognizing his righteousness, ran to the river to find him. They took out Dragon Boats to search for him under the river. They also threw a type of Rice Dumpling, called Zong zi into the water so the fish would feed on these rather than Quan Yu’s body.

The Modern Holiday

Currently, in Taiwan The Dragon Boat festival is celebrated by racing Dragon Boats. Teams from around the world converge on Taiwan and China for the annual races. This year the 1st place team in Taipei was from the Philippines. The race was held in the River that dissects Taipei.

People also prepare and eat Zong zi. In China they still throw Zong zi into the river, as well. But the people of Taiwan don’t do that. The Zong zi is prepared and eaten by the people. Zong zi changes a little by location, but most contain Pork, S\spices, herbs and Chestnuts covered by sticky rice and wrapped in Palm leaves. One family in the church brought Zong zi to the church's weekly fellowship. They were made in the Hua Lien tradition. (That is they were made as they are made in the city of Hua Lien) They were delicious.

The Zong zi is a dumpling that is made into the shape of a pyramid, in folded palm leaves. Often you find them hanging. One day last week, it was raining so hard that we took shelter. in the traditional market and I found myself sitting in the company of an elderly Taiwanese woman who had prepared Zong zi. I bought a couple from her and enjoyed them when I got home. Zong zi are everywhere during the run up to the Dragon Boat festival. You often see them hanging in clusters in the Traditional market


Not just for Duanwu Anymore

The eating of Zong zi is no longer confined to the holiday. Taiwanese people eat them throughout the year, but they are still the traditional food of the Duanwu Jie.



Other posts you may be interested in:

Taiwanese Traditions:  Chinese Valentines Day
Taiwanese Traditions:  Ghost Month
Taiwanese Traditions:  Chinese New Year:  The Legend of Nian

Random Asianess: Election Time...Again

Well…it’s election time here in Taiwan. We’ve been here for 9 months and this is the second election we have gone through. Elections are somewhat different here than we’re used to in the United States. I’ll walk you through the process for just a moment.

Every body here is running for a number. I have no idea what the number means. It’s like living on Sesame Street. “I’m Oscar the grouch and I’m running for the number 5.” See the sign in this photo. That “lady” is running for the number 5. There are lots of banners and signs and posters on every signpost. By the church there is a light post that has signs plastered all the way around it. But so far, I haven’t seen anybody walking around the post and looking at all the signs. Maybe like in America, people are apathetic about voting.

The candidates have all kinds of events to get people to vote for them. Last Friday night we came home to find our street completely blocked off by a huge tent that our neighbor put up. (He’s running for the number 2.) And the next morning he had a huge event. He set up a karaoke machine and people came from far and wide to sing, really loud off key Chinese songs. I recorded part of one for you.



I think this is a risky campaign event. Sure the people who got to sing, they might vote for you, unless another politician had better songs and let you sing louder. But what about the people who have to listen to the singers? They have to be thinking to themselves, if this guy would allow this in our neighborhood, what other atrocities will he force us to endure, in our own neighbor hood. On the other hand he served this delicious fruity type of soup, It has Leachy nuts and plums in it along with these little gooey balls made with rice flour. The neighbors came out of their homes and swooped down on the event for that. Even I got a bowl so maybe it was a trade off. If you put something good into someone’s stomach, they can handle a lot more offensive noise.

Finally, the last campaign trick is to run a little truck down every street blaring your message to the people. And begging. You hear the words Bai Tuo (Bye Twa) that means, "please." So they go down the street yelling, "Bai Tuo, Bai Tuo." Our friend Elliot, who happens to be 8 years old calls them the bai tuo guys. I've made a video of the trucks that came by in about an hour. This is by no means a complete sampling.



They start at about 9:00 am and continue until about 9:00 pm. Some of them are so loud that you have to wait for them to go by before you can continue to talk. The politician, and a group of supporters, walk along beside the vehicle and drop off flyers and gifts at each house. We get a lot of small tissue packs, and notepads, that kind of thing. I even received a bottle of hand soap. The politician wears a golden sash with the number he’s running for on it and his supporters smile a lot and wear gold vests.

So let me evaluate the candidate for the Number 2.

He blocked off the street with his tent – minus 4 points
He allowed people to sing karaoke in our neighborhood – minus 10 points
He served plum, Leachy rice soup, - plus 5 points
He had a truck that blared music and bai tuo – minus 5 points
His supporters kept blocking my garage door – homicide, in this case is justifiable – plus 0 points
He’s really grouchy to customers in the store he runs, so my wife and kids won’t shop there – (This is a very important consideration.) plus 100 points.

Total Voting Points – That’s plus 86 points – It looks like we have a winner.

Other posts you may be interested in:

Taiwanese History:  Double Tenth Day
Taiwanese History:  The 2/28 Massacre
Taiwan Travelogue:  The Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine

Traveling with M13: Finding Toad Valley

(click on photos to enlarge)

There is a video blogger living in Taiwan that posts videos through the visor of his helmet while riding his motorcycle through Taiwan. I started watching some of his videos before I left the US. I watched them because they give you a real feel for what it’s like in the city and in the mountains of Taiwan. I have to tell you that the commentary is occasionally shocking, and his language is a little course, but he’s an interesting character. Recently he did a video that featured a small campground and swimming place. This is up in the mountains above Taoyuan City, about 40 minutes from my home.

I saw the video and thought it would make an interesting day trip for us. We want the girls to see some of Taiwan while we’re here so we have set aside one day a week, to do something with them outside of the house. One week we decided to see if we could find this swimming place.

I wrote M13 an email. Since I’ve been here I’ve written to him a number of times and he has responded and told me how to find places. He also told me how to find the go-kart track. The problem is that his directions are accurate but sparse. Here is the text of his response:

Your the guy with the modified scooter, right?

If you look at a map there is the number 7 cross island highway.....there is a road that connects to it called the 7 (symbol) it's a 7 with a symbol next to it....I think the symbol reads as "Ja". Anyway....that's the road that I'm originally heading up. Then I cut over to the road that's on the OTHER side of the river that the 7ja follows. Got it?

Yeah, I got it…sort of. The symbol is a Chinese character like this 乙. It looks like the the character 之.　This character is zhe (juh.) The meaning of the word in English is “this.” The actual character on the sign is yi (eee), which means the second, as in the second highway 7. I want you to know you may need to decode his directions but when I got out there I could see exactly what he meant.

We actually found the place by looking for landmarks we saw on the video. And we did find it.The place is called Toad Valley. We got out of the car, the girls went swimming and we decided we need to come back during the summer to swim and barbeque. The whole thing was a neat little adventure. Taiwan, as you can see from the pictures is a beautiful place. Don’t be fooled by the lack of crowds. We went on a Tuesday, during the spring. There aren’t too many people who will miss school or work for a trip like that. I’ll take pictures when we go with friends and you’ll see the difference.









Left: The Rock says Toad Valley: camping and Picnics Right: The river valley from the road.









Left: This is one of three natural pools. Right: The river feeds into the first pool.









Left: The water is deep enough to swim. Right: Elizabeth exploring near the bridge.









Left: Wildflowers on the path. Right: A tree with a leafy parasite growing on the trunk.

*Mordeth13 image used with permission

Other posts you may be interested in:

Traveling With M13:  The Sequel:  Return to Toad Valley
Traveling With M13:  Custom Scooters of Taiwan