Taiwan, Random Photos 1

Cathy and I went to Taiwan earlier this month for a bit of a family vacation. We met up with my mom and Eric shortly after flying in and after that, we spent time here and there with lots of different family, including my grandma, cousins (Tim and Jeff, plus their significant others), uncles, and aunts.  Great times were had.

I served as the documentary photographer.  I used a 40mm equivalent prime lens for 95% of the shots, which I feel is a good street photography length (Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7 on an E-P2). Using a single focal length can be limiting but, on the flip side, I was thinking about composition more than usual.  Anyway,  along with Cathy's photos, we ended up with an album of well over 300 photos. Here are a random few:

Shilin Night Market, widely considered the largest night market in Taipei.  Although packed with people, the crowd flowed well and it was surprisingly easy to get around.  All sorts of stuff is hawked here but the main attraction for us was the food, which included tropical fruit, dumplings, pork buns, chou doufu, grass jelly, green onion flatbread, and much more.

These guys are making the green onion flatbread. The baking method was involved slapping dough on the inside walls of a tandoor oven, aka, a barrel of fire. I thought this was mostly an Indian and Middle Eastern technique, but maybe not. Tasty either way.

A view from Yangmingshan National Park.  Apparently, there are some wonderful vistas and geologic features here, but after getting about a couple hundred meters up it was pure fog.  No big deal, since I like the outdoors in all its forms, but it's a shame I wasn't able to get a good look at the lay of the land.

After wandering around a bit, Uncle TaiTai took us to a great restaurant on the Yangmingshan mountainside.  I think the establishment's name translates to Yangming Spring Green Kitchen.  We sat on tatami mats, sipped tea, and enjoyed a beautifully plated and delicious multi-course vegetarian meal.

Another from the restaurant.  The dishes were elegant and employed a host of techniques, but generally consisted of simple ingredients.  And while I'm an unashamed omnivore with decidedly carnivorous tendencies, the vegetarian aspect of the meal did not detract from my enjoyment at all.

A tranquil walk.

There were a number of peaceful feral dogs on the top of Yangmingshan.  We also met a man there who regularly brings snacks up to the dogs, and he said that this dog had been abandoned long ago despite having a collar.  There was also a pack of what looked like a grab bag of Labrador mixes, adults and puppies.  They seemed to be doing alright.  Still, some of them reminded me bit of Quentin, so I was a bit saddened.

More to come.

Labor Day

Hope everyone had a good Labor Day. I had a nice time with the folks back in MI. The weekend just seemed to fly by for me so I was bummed I had to drive back today. Although one positive is that Q's back!

Snack Attack

We're dog sitting Snack for Sarah while my parents are dog sitting for us. A curious arrangement but it all works out. Snack is a good dog, although she's nervous as a cat and seems to have a sort of crazed look in her eyes most of the time. A basic portrait illustrates this:

The ears say "pet me" but the eyes say "I will cut you."

Spent Grain Dog Treats

One more use for a brew's spent grain: dog treats.  The ones I make are actually fit for human consumption, but I wouldn't consider them much of a treat for humans.  An example of the difference between being edible and eatable, I suppose.  The dogs love them though.

Left a bunch with the parents when we dropped the dogs off this past weekend.

Party (Brew) Time

Cathy is girling it up in New York City. Among the random shit on my weekend docket is that I plan to get some brewing done, which will probably be my last batch until sometime in the summer. This time I've put together a recipe and milled the grains for a light, malty mild, which will hopefully be good for drinking in quantity. To quench my thirst.

Drinking: Hybrid pale ale, Belgian witbier, special bitter
Bottle Conditioning: American brown ale
Fermenting: Nothing
Planning: Mild, saison

Anyway, just me and the old dogs this weekend. Speaking of which, I haven't had a photo of Kya up here in a while, so boom there you go:

She seems to know Cathy is gone, because she's refusing to eat. Happens every time.

(blank)

Dog Accordionist

(blank)

Quentin

2010

That pretty much wraps it up for 2010. That also means I've been posting assorted crap here for a full three years now, which is kind of a long time. But you know what they say: time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

Happy new year.

End of year dog photo.

Dog Pack is at Full Power

Made my way back to Michigan to get the dogs. My pack is back to full power. Also, on the spur of the moment, my parents decided to jump into the car for a Chicago road trip. It's been good times already and I'm looking forward to the usual cornucopia of eatables at the inlaws' for Thanksgiving. I plan to eat and drink too much and then pass out watching a horrible movie.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. And now for dog photos:


Quentin is an old man. He's about four shades lighter than he was a couple years ago, can barely run down the street without getting winded, and damn, he takes naps like nobody's business now. He's still a complete doofus though: I took this photo after giving him a shower because he decided to seek out a random pile of mephitic compost and roll around in it.


Kya. She's just as old as Q and white hairs are appearing all over her coat at an accelerated pace. Still, I swear she acts younger than she did years ago. Although she did not find and roll around in a pile of shit last weekend, which was good news for me.

(blank)

Massi

Temporary Doglessness

As the annual tradition seems to go, I'm dogless once again. Cathy and I have a lot of random traveling coming up for the next several weekends; dogsitting services were needed. So they're at my folks' place for now, where I'm sure many walks, naps, and treats will be had.


I let old man Q sleep on the couch the day before leaving.


Kya, giving me her best impression of an owl.

(blank)

Drunkard

Highway 1, A View, A Dog...

Visiting Eric/Rie/Seigo/Roland/Clem part two. This post is really just a couple photos from a short drive we took on Highway 1. I've driven most of the 600ish miles before, using it to get to Seattle, but I rushed it and barely stopped to enjoy it. This time around it was much more engaging, since although we didn't go that far, Eric and Rie took us to a couple different spots to go out on little micro-hikes. We easily spent a whole day exploring the nooks and crannies of just a 30 mile stretch...


First stop was Muir Beach. The beach was pretty nice but the best feature about this stop was a little hiking trail that went up the side of a hill where you could get away from the beach crowd and enjoy panoramic views of the area (the photo is just a slice of it). You can also see how low the clouds are here. What you can't see though is how fast they were swirling and streaming in over the hills from the ocean, very much like a river.


Eric with Seigo in tow, hiking down the trail. I'd like to note that I was particularly proud of my mom who, despite being a bit leery of heights, went on nearly all the hikes that involved heights.


The next stop was the Muir Beach Overlook. This was amazing. Although it's known for it's wonderful views, on this day it was a bit different. Just stepping out of the car already felt like stepping into a wind tunnel, and you could "see" the wind due to the moisture in the air. There was a short, developed path running along a ridge line (see photo) that led to a small octagonal overlook platform. That day it wasn't a run-of-the-mill overlook platform but instead it a platform into a cloud. It was a fun experience to stand on this thing and see nothing but the wind rushing past you.


Anonymous on aforementioned ridge line trail.


Next stop was a random hike out to a cliff to enjoy an oceanside view. At this stop, however, I was more compelled to photograph the view behind me. I'm not sure why, but I guess I just liked it.


Next stop was Bolinas. Eric described it as a small, somewhat hermetic, community that tears down any signs along Highway 1 telling you how to get there. We checked out a big beach and saw some nice waves for casual surfing...which Eric looked at wistfully. I liked the (sanctioned) graffiti that decorated the seawalls, like this surfing droog.


This was a view from our last stop. Just a nice little trail down to some big, big rocks (though it's hard to really see how massive this thing was without a reference). Check out the blanket of clouds in the distance. There was a huge rock/boulder, similar to the one in the photo, that you could climb onto but it required negotiating a dangerously narrow trail and climbing up loose stone, all while ignoring the possible plummet to your certain death on all sides. I got about 10 feet into it before it put the fear in me and I turned around.

I left out a lot of events and photos from this summary, like eating at Chez Panisse, a random search for espresso beans, and sipping scotch at a whiskey bar in the Mission District...but I think you can see it was more than just a great time. Anyway, I would have fun visiting my family even in the most boring of places, but all this stuff is extra icing on an iced cake.

One more:


Roland is sooo cool.

Out and About

The next two weeks are going to be busy, but a good busy. First, Memorial Day is nearly upon us and I'm stoked. As usual, we're headed up to Nickbot's where good times, and I mean GOOD times, will be had by all. Right after that, we're headed out to San Francisco to hang with the family and I anticipate more good times, and I mean more GOOD times.

Anyway, that means there will be a dearth of posts/updates around here for a couple of weeks. Have a good Memorial Day and get some relaxation in...like this guy:


Q passed out on his girly chew toy. I'm gonna miss him and Kya, but someone has got to stay here to hold down the fort (along with Eddie and Alice).

Kya

Nothing of note to report. So here's one of Kya.

Belgian Shepherd Dog/Chow mix, or something like that.

Wintry Dog Mix

I'm going to have to interrupt my line of food posts for now. We were in Michigan this past weekend to relax, celebrate my mom's birthday, and ring in the Chinese New Year with Nickbot where I drank entirely too much scotch while arguing the merits of having a knife over a handgun during a close quarters bear fight, much to the chagrin of our wives. Anyway, when I'm out there I tend to do a lot of wandering around and this time was no different. I've said it before and I'll say it again, winter wandering is great in a lot of ways, particularly because there is usually no one else around. It's a nice respite from the bustling city.

Walking the dogs with pops. At this point he was carrying about five pounds of dog crap in a couple bags.

A pair of cross-country skiers created paths which Kya tended to stick to. I think she thought they were mini-sidewalks or something.

Q running through snowfall as the snow falls. His ears provide lift.

Carbon Pawprint

A while ago, my good buddy Nick sent me an article about how the carbon footprint of owning a dog is equivalent to owning an SUV. I bet that's pretty accurate, depending on what you're feeding the guy. At the least it helps make an old photograph topical:

Also has a tendency to roll over.

Happy New Year

Have fun kids. Like the past couple years, Cathy and I are having people over. This year will include such things as single malt scotch, lobster dip, and a chocolate fountain. Great stuff. Stop by if you can.

For those who haven't seen it, this year's holiday card:


If you guessed that we spent five minutes throwing this together in mspaint then you are correct. Give us a break, it was a busy year. I still think it's our best one yet.

Happy Thanksgiving

Get your thanks on. I'm here in Chicago where I'll be hanging with the in-laws along with one or two dozen other people. I anticipate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner - you know, with turkey, ham, potatoes, octopus on a stick, kalbi, kimchi, japchae, and so on and so forth. Happy thanksgiving everyone.

Here's one thing I'm thankful for. Maybe I'll sneak ol' big head some leftover turkey this year...

Undercoat

As you all probably know, Cathy and I have two dogs. Dogs need to be groomed. Quentin is a normal dog that needs normal grooming. Kya, on the other hand, has a weirdly thick undercoat that seems to regenerate itself freakishly fast.


That pile of grayish hair is from brushing Kya for maybe ten minutes (it doesn't even look like her hair, but her undercoat is gray so there you go). I get similar results on a weekly basis. It might be hard to tell from the photo, but the pile was comparable in size to a watermelon. A watermelon in its prime.