New Plan, New Blog

Colin and I are now sharing a blog at www.curryandyurts.blogspot.com. Check it out.

Almost the last post

Well it's Tuesday. I just closed (well removed all money from) my bank account, got travelers checks and Thai Baht, wired money home, picked up our passports from the curt Russian bureaucrat and am now in search of an ideal box to send a tripod home in. Pretty successful, but now I'm tired and don't want to go to my 3rd to last tutoring. I doubt the kid wants me to come either, but I have new books that I can engage him with. All this and we still have time to cook.

I made a really pleasant pasta sauce yesterday, unfortunately I didn't photograph it. We often make pastas with tons of lightly satiety veggies, but I never fell like there is anything that holds them together. This time I hit the nail on the head. I'll reproduce what I did primarily for Robert as he is the only one to have expressed interest in the cooking and food pictures I occasionally post. So Robert listen (or read?) up:
- Start the pasta water and steam cut up asparagus over it. When it is steamed start the pasta.
- Sautee some onions and eggplant. I like the long skinny Asian eggplant, but if you use the American kind you can cut the bitterness and wetness by soaking the cut eggplant in salt of 20 minutes or so and then rinsing it before cooking.
- Add some fresh tomatoes and the asparagus, cook very briefly.
- In a small dish press a bunch of garlic. Add some chicken bouillon. Make a thin sauce by adding a bit of the pasta water and some olive oil.
- you can put in half this mixture to your pan of sauteed veggies before the pasta is finished, to cook and absorb other flavors. When the pasta is done add it to the veggies with the rest of the sauce and a little bit more pasta water just for mixing.

The flavor is really yummy and garlicy and everything is tied together nicely. I could make it again tonight!

Also Colin requested that I put up one more photo from our wedding shots. This is from when we were at the waterfall and a bunch of Taiwanese College kids wanted their picture taken with us. We obliged and then our photographer stepped in to take a shot of us with them. Here is the result.

Heated Hiking

So I guess my last hike was not actually the last in Taiwan. The weather is still brutal, but I've gotten used to it a bit and since we only have 2 more weeks here, we simply had to get out and see a few of the things still on the list. Even though staying inside in the air-con sounded like a good plan for Sunday, Colin and I took the trip down the East coast to RuiFeng. They have a small rail train there that runs up through several towns in the hills. The train was not as cool as we thought it would be. Train buffs think the train is exceptional, but if you don't love trains it seems just like any other. We did have many children interested in us and our presence in this out of the way tourist sight and an old man who came on the train with two bags balanced over his shoulder on a pole. We bought some rice cakes from him.


We rode the train to the last stop and got off. The main attraction was the remains of a coal mine closed in the 70s. From the looks of it you would think it was closed in 1870. That took only about 20 minutes and then we went off to find a hike. Like all travels I've gone on in Taiwan there was not a lot of great signs and our map was a 10 year old's interpretation of the area. We ended up walking on the highway for some time and I was working to make myself satisfied with that and then we found the trail. It was a typical Taiwanese trail meaning that it was all stairs that went straight up to the destination. When we got near the peak the steps became notches carved into the rock with ropes to help you up. I thought this was the most precarious peak I'd ever climb without a safety harness until we came to the next peak. By that time I was pretty tired, but while we were deciding whether to go up or not this couple in their late 60s or early 70s came down from the second peak. We asked them how it was and they said it was easier than the one we had just climbed down from and that it would only take a half hour.

I think it took less than 30 minutes, but it wasn't easy. When we came to the final stretch we had to wait for those at the top to come down. Then we climbed up some steps carved in the rock to a metal ladder. There was a ladder because there was a deep crevice on either side. Had I slipped it would have been a long way down. After the ladder there were more, near-vertical carved steps. I got to the top, but part of me wished I hadn't because getting up meant getting down. There were statues of Guanyin at the top and I kissed one before going down again. Colin teased that I had actually just kissed the god of wrath, a joke he could have saved for after we got off the peak. In the end we made it with no problem and I'm proud of Taiwan for making such a perilous climb. As Colin pointed out these are the peaks that in the US you might see at a national park and think, "that would be cool to get up to," but you wouldn't be allowed.

We finally got back on a train and decided to skip the other sight, waterfalls. Unfortunately our train didn't go all the way to the end of the line and turned around before we figured it out. We got off at the next stop and figured out that we would have to wait another hour. Luckily we were right next to the river. We followed a family down and Colin read while I soaked my feet (what I had wanted of the trip all along) and watched a family of nine- dad, mom and 7 naked kids, play in the water.

Wedding photos

All is well here. We have cleaned up the room so it don't seem like there is as much to pack and get ready to go. Last night Colin and I went out and had a splurge night. We spent as much on dinner at a cute little Japanese grill place as we would in the states. We had sake and took turns toasting each other. Then I tried to surprise Colin by taking him to a Gelato place I saw from the bus once. Unfortunately I gave too many clues and he knows Taipei too well. He guessed. We mozied around and had a lovely relaxing evening. Today we are showing a string of people the apartment. We're really leaving soon. I alternate between being exited and being anxious- what's not done?

Well no time for worries. Here are some photos from our Taiwanese wedding shot as promised. Like I said before, we're not actually married yet. I know, it's sacrilege to have our photos ahead of time, but not so in Taiwan.

Weights lifted

This week has felt really good. There has been a lot of movement and weight lifted. To start, we've decided to just let Bonnie the wedding planner do the official part of the wedding. I was tired of not getting responses from her and not feeling like she was doing what she had said she would. So we're doing the hotel and dinner part on our own. We may or may not have her photographer and florist. It's really more convenient. Now instead of having to relay thing through Bonnie I can write to hotels directly and ask them if they have room for our group and about details like if they an elevator for Colin's grandmother.

I'm actually not thinking about that now because I'm back in Yilan visiting. I didn't realize it until we got here, but I really needed to get out of the city. The second we got out of the mess of ill conceived buildings that is Taipei I felt a weight lifted. Space, sky, green. For a girl who wants to make buildings I certainly like places without them. Colin and I went with one co-teacher, Kirsty, and her husband up to Taipingshan on Sunday. It was a very Taiwanese trip, lots of driving and stopping, but not stopping for very long. It was beautiful, and the first real escape from the heat I've had all summer. I was even cold at points. It was also so quiet. I forgot it could be so quiet. We got to one place on a little hike and if the four of us didn't talk or move you didn't hear anything but the occasional bird.

Now I'm at Roxanna's house, my other co-teacher, hanging out with her and her family. She has these adorable little boys. One just came up to tell me that we are having pizza now. He described the pizza and I asked now? Because I hadn't heard the door or anything. I went downstairs to discover that the pizza store had just been called, but he thought I should know. I'm glad I came down because it reminds me that I do have real friends here that are not just situation based like I would have eventually come to think.

tomorrow, Julianna and I will give a speech to the new Fulbrighters. That is also a bit of a relief, passing the torch as you will. I had a good time this past year, but I've been reminded of the bureaucracy and problems and miscommunication that they will just be beginning to experience and I'm glad that they are doing it and not me.

Also got our Taiwanese wedding photos, will post when I get home.