Jonathan Biddle – Made in Taiwan

Tag: Minsheng

  • 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 story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Zuo Fan

    Writing is rather sporadic at the moment – no internet connection at home at the moment, which is a bit of a pain.

    However, last night was the momentous event of being able to cook for the first time in a whole year! I now have a kitchen and want to get back into the habit of cooking for myself. Slightly rusty in the supermarket as a result of being catered for for a year now, I seem incapable of buying things for cooking. I still managed to escape from the place with a pack of spaghetti, some garlic and olive oil, plus the closest thing I could get to a courgette.

    Unfortunately, I ended up frying a cucumber, but still it tasted good and I appreciated it alongside a nice glass of red wine in the new apartment, which is slowly getting better.

    I’ll post some other events soon. My digital camera is off for repair and I am weighing up buying a new one instead. The humidity of Taiwan destroys electronics, and in my case the menu buttons have stopped functioning, which is handy.

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…

  • Meeting the folks

    I had already met some of July’s family the previous weekend, but this was a regular large group reunion for some of the cousins and extended family. So, quite a high stakes affair and a chance to meet July’s father. Yikes!

    All was smooth, however, and I had a great time. The food was good and I did language exchange with July’s improbably cute cousins. I became their new play station, and was asked at the end if I could possibly move into their apartment because they wanted to see more of me … so I passed an important test!


    Nosh – a hot soup where you add ingredients as you like. I had done a similar thing with Michael some time ago, but this was much better with the guidance of some people who knew what they were doing (ie: we did not set fire to anything this time).


    Nio Nio – a delight


    … and plus Ge Ge

    The story of a British Industrial Designer in Taiwan…