Tag: Food

  • Boring Pie

    It has been a little while I posted anything outside of the Taipei Times, so that must mean that it must be time for … Gratuitous funny packaging shot!

    This is for Taiwanese brand ‘Boring Pie’ spicy rice crackers, which was hilariously funny, right up until someone pointed out the Chinese name ‘無聊派’ means the same thing! Hilarity ensued.

    “Digging into boring pie
    Getting out of boring time”

    The Taiwanese do see eating more as entertainment, and with packaging like this, who can blame them?!


    Boring Pie


    Please whoever checks English – never ever check this packaging.

  • Hot Crossed Buns


    Inexcusable behaviour by ‘fake’ flat eric and the Easter chicken

    Here I am, sitting in Hong Kong airport eating a hot crossed buns
    (two, if I am being truthful) for the first time in four years. Part
    of the collateral damage of living abroad is losing connections with
    the festivals and annual habits from home that help form your own
    personal calendar.

    I am no religious person, but Easter is one of those times of the year
    that helps punctuate the start of the good weaker, and living in a
    culture where that does not exist can be quite hard -especially as the
    disappointment usually sinks in on November 6th that you just missed
    Guy Fawkes night. Again.

    And Easter? Well I don’t even like chocolate that much, but what I do
    love is a toasted hot crossed bun laced with melted butter and served
    steamy hot. I didn’t get the toasted bit, but I did make up for it
    with the butter. Happy Easter everyone!


    Destination: Shanghai (Secret) … photo by the Helds

  • Raw Thursdays

    Thursdays has become a regular eating session amongst my friends and I. In tribute to Nick’s very particular stomaxh problem, where he cannot eat cooked food, we have labelled these weekly feasts ‘Raw Thursdays’. Just a bunch of guys eating raw food, basically.

    It’s quite interesting and a challenge to find food that Nick can partake in. Sashimi figures highly in our menu, and this week we headed to one of my favourite little laneside eateries near 101. Excellent ambience at night time, topped off as it is by 101 poking up at the end of the street.

    Sadly, the raw food extended into a raw head the next morning, the result of rather too much sake. But that’s just a demonstration of the lengths we go to to appease Nick’s belly.


    Toby dishes out the goods


    Nick sheds some light on the subject


    Okay, stop now


    Lane 101

  • Assorted Photos

    Some assorted photos over the last week or so in Taipei.


    Nelson looking pretty in PS Cafe while hanging out pretending to study Chinese


    Messing around with the RAW settings on my camera while downtown at night in Taipei


    Mister Donuts is a Japanese confectionary chain in Taiwan. The quality is poor poor poor, but every time a new one opens expect a line up around the building and down the block. People like donuts here in Taiwan.


    Markus and I out for some quiet (mid-week) beers at Underworld on ShiDa road. The place shut down a few months ago and we were happy to see it humming again (and our heads the next day).


    A night time street vendor is either stopping or starting work for the day


    Rich and I head north as I make my first trip on scooter in about five weeks. We stop to admire the paddy fields.

  • Salad

    I just had the best salad i have eaten in about 2 years. I was laughing it tasted so good.

    I hate myself for it, but I even took a photo.

    Now it’s time to read again for the next few hours.


    Salad – the food of Kings

  • Spotted

    I need to kick start my blogging again so the best way to do this is to simply upload some photos. So, here are some amusing things that I have seen on my travels of late.


    A labrador seen near Danshui – shaved clean of any dignity


    Dad bought this in Hong Kong … amazing


    On the way home, I snatched this photo of a guy who could hardly turn he had so much foam loaded onto his scooter


    One of the local tradesmen specialises in brooms and hats and taps and bowls. As you begin to tune into Chinese you begin to hear the sounds of ‘buo li’ (glass) and other household items blairing (is that a new verb?) out of pre-recorded loud-hailers


    Taiwanese people like food. Taiwanese people like weapons. Taiwanese people like food shaped like weapons. (stretching the truth for the benefit of the blog)

  • The Great Sausage Experiment

    My Mother sent me a hilarious package of things which arrived this Friday. Key among the items was a pack of 6 Newmarket sausages which we wanted to send via post to see if they survived the journey. Or, at least, if I survived when I ate them.

    They certainly did not smell bad, and there seemed to be a good trick – included in the parcel was a pack of Cadbury’s chocolate. The shape had been maintained, so I can only assume that the temperature during transit never got too high.


    Slap Up

    The final test of course came in the eating. I had all the ingredients for a full English breakfast, which I woke up George for as I bounced around the apartment cooking. Sausages, Bacon (American Style), Mushrooms (Grilled with Olive oil and Thyme), Beans (HP, sadly), HP Sauce (HP, gladly), Tea (Tetley’s), and Orange Juice.

    I am hungry again thinking about it!

    It was all fantastic, but the sausages certainly had a certain special additional … bouquet. Half way between lemon and vinegar in the background, they did taste a tiny little bit strange. However, I have had more than my fair share of dodgy kebabs without (many) problems so I ploughed straight through them and enjoyed every last bite.

    So, if I am still alive tonight and my gizzards have not fallen into the toilet I’ll make a sausage salad or something tomorrow. Yum.

    Full English

    As a post-script to this exercise, I went to Taipei’s newest high class restaurant a few weeks ago – ‘The Frying Scotsman’. Taipei’s first Fish N Chip shop! Not bad, but the owner, a heavy Glasgwegian guy, has managed to make the entire place authentically AVERAGE. It is not even really very great. Which, in a way I was rather pleased about. No Haute Cuisine. Just a nice nosh up. I think I’ll be heading back when I feel the need, but it is not the same as my Histon Fryer.

  • The Chinese New Year Party (to end them all)

    Asus held a truly astonishing Chinese New Year party for every one of its employees from all the sites in Taiwan. Figures ranging from 4,000 to 13,000 were mentioned – I am not really sure myself, but it was really cool to be lumped in with senior management, the Thai factory girls (some of which were frighteningly attractive) and so many Chinese people celebrating. It was held in one of the local schools near my house under a huge tent, and the cooking logistics were frightening.

    It is traditional to have a large number of prizes given away. We had about 6 cars, dozens of notebook computers and other Asusish things plus quintillions of NT$ worth of Carrefour vouchers. Can you imagine winning 100,000 NT$ in supermarket vouchers? That is about 3200 US$ ! Lots of Brie.

    This went on for some … time. In between the bedlam of people winning prizes, there was plenty of entertainment on tap, including our directors singing some songs in Drag, dressing up as a boy band, a truly awful German magician (who is for some reason head of Fujitsu Taiwan) and lots and lots and lots of Thai dancers with feathers and lasers from the factories.

    The food was not too bad, but of the soup and steamed things variety. The highlight of the evening was the lobster. I am sure that in Europe we would dress the lobster with, say, a nice crunchy salad, or maybe a light sauce. Here? Here it is dressed with tri-colour LEDs …. !


    “Zulus … Thousands of ’em” (and check out the bamboo roof structure)


    Truly impressive levels of investments in the employee’s entertainment


    The locals are so easily entertained


    The food, ready for delivery


    The lobsters, ready to roll (and notice the school running track and steam cookers in the background)

  • Andrew’s Birthday

    We had a nice wee celebration for Andrew’s birthday in the office today. It gives me a chance to introduce some people, too.



    Claire, Andrew, Cesare and Diego in festive mood



    The Incredible Fukang works it for the camera



    … and Mitch looks after the details (with Debbie in the background)

  • Shrimp Fishing

    One activity that is truly Taiwanese is to go shrimp fishing. A swimming pool area is reserved for the wee crustaceans and we fire at them with bits of liver and smaller shrimp babies on the end of rods. Now, these babies really are quite a bit bigger than you may expect… and in fact are the largest shrimp (and most aggressive) I have ever come across. Not quite lobster sized… but big enough to hurt when they grab you, and grab they do, as you pull the hook out of their little mouths. Here is the pool… “come in – the water’s lovely!”

    Here is the lineup of the team at work (we had a whole pool booked for our pleasure)

    Michael hard at work drinking:

    The lovely, appetising bait:

    Rod’s eye view of proceedings (plus Lorenzo in the background):

    FOOD