Bushman's Blogtoberfest!

Last Saturday was the second installment of M.J.'s blogger get-together. It's always fun to see the authors of my favorite blogs in the flesh. Catherine and I are honored to be included in the group. M.J. (The New Hampshire Bushman), is the guy who put it all together and the party was a hit!

Had to start out the photo run with Michael and Catherine. We both enjoy spending time with Michael. He is a very cool guy and encourage all of you to check out his outstanding blog, The View from Taiwan.

Andres, purveyor of Andres in Taiwan, and his wife thankfully brought along Olivia. She is so adorable. Catherine had fun entertaining the little cutie.

The food at the party was awesome! We are hoping to make a trip back down to Hukou for some killer Thai food...I will be calling soon M.J.!

Catherine and Carrie, the architect of My Several Worlds, chatting and noshing. Carrie and her fiance' John have been great friends of ours since their arrival here in Taiwan. Cath & I value their friendship and we wish them lots of luck with their upcoming trip home to get married. Click over to Carrie's site for details, it's crazy!...lol

We were treated to some serious singing courtesy of Carrie and M.J.. Sitting towards the rear end of the table is Todd, scribe of The Daily Bubble Tea, and his soon-to-be wife, Cathy. We had the pleasure of riding the train back to Taipei with them. They are a cute couple. Their wedding day is quickly approaching. Check out Todd's blog for some stunning photos.

The man with the plan. M.J. pulled off another great shindig. Thanks pal.

Taiwan Blogger's Shindig in Hukou

On Saturday night, a bunch of the prominent Taiwan bloggers got together at MJ's place in Hukou. It was an excellent opportunity to get to know some the folks that have a knack for capturing life here on the island. MJ, (check out his blog here) was gracious enough to host this get-together of characters. His home is just a stones throw from an excellent Thai restaurant, where most of the action took place. The party was a lot of fun and went off without a hitch. The conversation and food were top-notch. Despite coming from all parts of the planet, it's remarkable how much the group has in common.

I will attempt to tell the story of the evening through the following photos:

Early in the evening the drinks were going fast. It was great to get a chance to pick the brains of my fellow bloggers.

Carrie (check out her blog: My Several Worlds) and MJ. I believe MJ was espousing the virtues of the Taiwanese rum that was the preferred drink of the evening.

The much anticipated barbecue. It didn't disappoint.

My cutie pie enjoyed the Thai-style barbecue. Shao-hui's cooking nearly brought tears to my eyes...great stuff.

A close-up of the various dishes that were served. The food didn't stand a chance in this group...we did some serious eating.

Carrie and Micheal (Michael's blog can be found here: The Taiwan Chronicles). Michael & I spent a good bit of time comparing war stories. He is also a former Peace Corps Volunteer and was born in Cleveland...small world. He gave me some excellent advice regarding higher education here in Taiwan. Essentially, he said I would be crazy not to get my Master's degree from one of the universities in Taipei...more on that in future posts.

That's Andres, of the one-and-only Andres in Taiwan blog, on the left. In the foreground, with his back to the camera, is David. David has a great blog, check it out at David on Formosa.

John, Carrie's future husband and good buddy of mine. He is damn near 7 feet tall so you can imagine what kinda of looks he gets here in the land of short people.

Later in the evening we made our way inside to take part in some karaoke.

Todd, sitting to the left of Catherine, also has an excellent blog...his photos are killer. Check his blog out at The Daily Bubble Tea.



Michael was making the moves on my girl!...lol I had to step in and put an end to that! After we got home, Catherine told me that Michael was a very interesting guy and his Chinese was impeccable...what a lady killer!...lol.

What a great time. Again, thank you MJ. I certainly hope we can do this again in the near future. I know that Catherine and I will be heading back that way to visit MJ. It would be worth the trip just to dine at Shao-hui's.

I'm Ready for Fear Factor

Last night, we had our company dinner to celebrate the new year. Remember, the new year here is based on the lunar calender, which was celebrated last month.

The dinner was held at a traditional Chinese restaurant. Almost all of the food was seafood cooked in ways that are inherently Chinese. At this particular restaurant you pay by the table and they serve you pretty much everything on the menu. It allows you to try a little of everything.

It started out with fish eggs, lamb, and some other stuff that I care not to think about...

Not long after the fish eggs plate, the servers brought out the lobster. I am not a big fan of seafood, but lobster is good stuff. I was psyched to eat lobster until it was set on the table...it was raw and there was an interesting glass full of a greenish liquid leaning up against the dead lobster...hmm. I tried the raw lobster, it was alright. As I was chewing the kinda gummy fish, I asked my boss Gavin what was in the glass next to the lobster. With a grin on his face, he told me it was the lobster's blood!! He proceeded to tell me that it's tradition for a man to drink the blood of the lobster...yikes! After some hemming and hawing, I did it. I drank about 6 or 8 ounces. It really wasn't that bad...kinda tasted like vodka.

I have earned my place at the table! I never want to catch any flack for my eating habits ever again!

The entire evening was an adventure in bizarre cuisine. Fish eggs, fish with it's head still attached, raw lobster, lobster head soup, raw crab meat with sticky rice, bamboo(which tasted good), and some other stuff I am blocking from my memory. Thankfully, they brought out a stew made with pork, mushrooms, and bamboo that was terrific. Also, a perfectly cooked whole chicken that I gorged myself on.

The party was a blast. We played a bunch of silly games, had a raffle, and drank an obscene amount of tequila. I won two-hundred Taiwan dollars in the raffle...don't get excited, that's about $6 American.

I brought Catherine along and she had a great time. Everyone was chatting with her. She seemed to be pretty comfortable even though she was amongst complete strangers. I am not sure where our relationship is going, but thus far, it's been a lot of fun. We have spent every Saturday and Sunday evening together since our first date...

Check out the pictures below. They are a few of my pics from the party.

Pictures!

Here is some of the umm, tasty things we had to eat the other night. Love the fish staring at me while I'm eating. The plate on the opposite side of the lazy susan had some fish eggs and other insane seafood-related items.

A group shot. There were 4 full tables, nice group. Lydia, in the front of the picture hates to be photographed, hence the napkin veil.

A bunch of the teachers noshing. If you click on the picture to expand it, you'll see the glass of liquid on the lobster plate...it contains its blood...still can't believe I drank the whole glass!

Pretty much every female that attended the shindig. What an awesome group. They can't resist doing the "peace" symbol...ugh.