May 30th, 2015

The 90's was a great decade for t-shirts. It's Spring cleaning time and felt the need to do some wardrobe culling.  Had to say goodbye to a few that had gone from prized formal wear, to baseball practice phenoms, to pajamas.  Noticed that they all came to me during the Clinton administration and have been stalwarts of the shirt drawer for 20 years.  RIP my friends.

Perhaps ditching this Clips shirt will finally change their luck.

The Plum rains arrived in Taiwan this week.  That means that it'll be raining more on than off for a few weeks.  My favorite quote from that Wikipedia entry is, "The high humidity in the air during this season encourages the formation of mold and rot not only on food but on fabrics as well."  Ahhhh.  Add that to the increasing heat, and one is reminded of the first Naked Gun movie...Jane breaks into Franks house to cook dinner.  She is boiling a roast and seductively asks Frank how hot and wet he likes it.  Frank replies, "very hot...and awfully wet."

How hot is it?  It was so hot today, I saw the Mormons handing out pamphlets with their tie knots loosened.  The other day, the boy told me he was going over to a friends house and wouldn't be home for dinner.  When he got home, asked what he ate and said that they made burgers...regular ones and black bean burgers.  He chose the black bean ones and that they were really good.  Told him to get me an invite as I love a good black bean burger and would love to get their recipe.  He said that I probably wouldn't want to go as the family is Mormon and that they tried to sell him on the church...even gave him his own Book of Mormon.  Luckily, he has been taught to be wary of religion, but he is still polite about it, played along and got himself a black bean burger.  

Read an article that was something about 10 ways a woman knows she has been married a long time.  Can't find it and don't remember much except for one of them...In a dark room, you are able to identify your husband just by the sound of his farts. 

Mad Max Fury Road is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen.

Thought I'd take a few minutes to introduce you to some of my friends at the Shi Dong Market.  A couple of blocks from the apartment, the Shi Dong is an indoor farmer's market that sells all kinds of food items. 

I'm there daily grabbing something...with the weather rotting food so quickly, you have to buy fresh. This is the place that sells rice and legumes.

Relatively new, this is the dim sum vendor and one can get some cha sau bao (bbq pork buns) and lou bo gao (turnip cakes).

In between the rice and dim sum stalls is my favorite coffee guy.  He takes a lot of pride in his beans, knows just how much cinnamon I like in my cappuccino, and his price for one is 75 cents cheaper than the Japanese place across the street and $1.50 less than Starbucks

The fruit lady...she'll carve us up pineapple and/or mangoes, which the family likes for breakfast.

And this is the veggie stand.  Unfortunately, can only identify about half of their offerings, but they have asparagus, carrots, etc.

And if the above stand is out of something or their supply looks wilted, will take my biz to this place.  Not as big a selection, but their stuff is typically very good and their English is excellent...they always try to flag me down.
The smoothie shack...their English is not so good, but they make a damn fine 5 veggie smoothie.

It's not all good though.  Next to the veggie stand is what I think is the hot pot shack.  People love this stuff , I've eaten it a lot, but just don't get the attraction. 

The chicken part stall.  A far cry from the way I grew up buying chicken at the Sierra Madre Albertsons. 

But the place that I see in my nightmares is the animal part stall.   The tongues and hearts are easy to identify, but the fun is trying to guess the other parts.  Pretty sure that pancreas, lung and penis are featured.  It smells just as you'd think it would.

Likely the last installment until August.  School ends next week and we hit the road...coming to a town near you.  You know I hate the humblebrag, so will just brag as to how awesome our schedule looks.

June 8 - 13 - Head to the Japanese island of Hokaido.  In the north, see the coastal town of Otaru and the famous Nikka whisky distillery, a couple/three days exploring Sapporo (beer and baseball for sure), and then two nights in hot spring area called Noboribetsu. 

6/13-24 - SF.  Taking mom to Vegas for a couple nights, seeing some old friends and eating spicy Korean chicken

6/24 - 7/1 - LA.  Staying in Venice, seeing my oldest friends and eating burritos in Arcadia, and catching a Padre/Mariner game in SD

7/1-7/5 - Seattle...popping in for a few days before we head east

7/5 - 7/19 - NYC to DC - The Paul College tour kicks into high gear, but we are catching home games at the Yankees, Pirates and Nats along the way.  Betty joins the fun on the 10th and it will be a college reunion tour for us. 

7/19 - 8/9 - Seattle time.  Hoping our friends still remember and have time for us.  On the night of July 24th, there is a huge blowout at the Orient Express in SODO.  Everyone is invited and please message me for details.

Have a bitchin' summer.