Happy Year of the Ox!
31st Jan
It’s Chinese New Year (again). Welcome to the Year of the Ox!
Hope you all have a wonderful year!!!!
2008 Tea Expo
4th Jan
The 2008 Taipei Tea Expo was held at the end of November, and I apologize in not getting this report posted up sooner. I’ve had some frustrating computer issues to deal with, as well as a lot of work (Taiwan kindergartens and ‘cram schools’ like to put on huge Christmas shows to show off to the parents, so there’s a lot of preparation to do). Anyway, the show this year wasn’t as big as 2007, but we still had a lot of fun. Here’s how it went:
Mystic Grove Tea Session
27th Nov
No visit to the Mystic Grove is complete without a tea session, even if it is a short one. Having Aliang along on this trip made it an absolute necessity! (Actually, having tea was the point of making the 30-minute drive up from Jiji). There’s something indescribeable about being in a bamboo forest - there is more light penetration and less ground foilage than in the traditional pine forests of the western US, and the wind rustling through the leaves create a light, airy feeling that is extremely soothing and relaxing. This particular spot also seems to have very good ‘energy’ and has always been my #1 spot for ‘getting away from it all’, either on my own or with a few select friends. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Hung’ Over?
24th Nov
WARNING! THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHS OF OVER-BREWED HUNG CHA (BLACK TEA) THAT MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME VIEWERS! IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YRS OF AGE, HAVE A HEART CONDITION, OR ARE ON MEDICATION OF ANY KIND, PLEASE D O N O T R E A D F U R T H E R ! ! ! Read the rest of this entry »
Mystic Grove
6th Nov
On the way home from our Landrover Camping Trip, we decided to make a short detour up into the bamboo groves for a visit to my favorite spot in all of Taiwan - we usually just refer to it as ‘the mountain’ - a dead-end farmer’s access in a natural bamboo forest that overlooks the valley I lived in before the 9/21 (1999) earthquake hit the area.
Tien Shr Farm
26th Oct
We went camping with my friend Billy and his Landrover club a couple of weeks ago at Tien Shr Farm in central Nantou. They have a pretty nice camp area set up, with lots of shade trees, but since we arrived pretty late in the afternoon we had to pitch our tents out in the open. That turned out to be a good thing - we were far enough away from the main buildings that it was much quieter for sleeping than it would have been otherwise. Read the rest of this entry »
Landrover Camping Trip
23rd Oct
We recently had a 3-day weekend here in Taiwan for the ‘Double Ten’ (Oct. 10th) celebration of the ROC national day, the equivalent of the US 4th of July. A friend of mine, Billy, is a well-known 4×4 driver and Landrover mechanic, and he invited me to join their Landrover Club for a camping holiday in central Nantou. Read the rest of this entry »
Pot Cleaning Part II
16th Oct
After letting my new teapot soak for a week in the toilet tank (see Pot Cleaning Part I), I took it out for inspection and a good scrubbing. I found a very soft scrub pad (Scotchgard brand) that touts itself (in Chinese) as ’safe for teacups’, so I’m giving it a go. So far it’s working very well. I start my cleaning by rinsing the pot several times in hot water. Then I fill it with hot water and let it set until the water is just warm (5-10 minutes), and then repeat several times. The hot water helps open the pores of the clay (just like skin), making it easier for odors to escape.
The second phase is to scrub the pot gently inside and out with the scrubbing pad and a mixture of toothpaste powder and warm water. I’m using a Chinese brand, but it’s much the same as denture cleaning powders used in western countries.
After the scrubbing, I rinse the pot again several more times, then put it back in the toilet tank for another week. With this pot, I repeated the procedure 3 times over 4 weeks, and am now using the pot as a replacement for the one in my travel set that got broken a couple of months ago.
Typhoon Jangmi
28th Sep
Well, I wasn’t planning to post about this typhoon - we’ve had a busy season this year, and they’re starting to get a bit old. Besides, this one was predicted to hit Kaoshiung (on the south west coast) and then move on into China.
Unfortunately, it veered north, and the center of the storm is currently (Sun 9/28 6pm) passing through Taipei county, and we have massive amounts of water leaking under our front door. The photo at right is 2pm, and you can still just see a bit of Taiwan between the outer band and the main cloud wall.
Pot Cleaning, Part I
28th Sep
I brought my New Tea Pot back from Miaoli, and was quite excited to show it off to Aliang. He felt I got a good deal on it, but noticed a strange smell, which he guessed to be from brewing pu-er tea in the pot. He suggested I give it a thorough cleaning before putting it to use on my oolongs and Tie Kuan Yins. We discussed different ways of doing this, and I finally decided to try a new method that Aliang has been experimenting with.
