Tim’s Ramblings

Last night in Japan. Was getting dinner when I ran into a street performer. She really wasn’t that good…but it takes a lot of guts to do this AND it looks like she has some fans so, what do I know? :)

I posted a photo from the other side of the bridge before. This is facing towards the station. It was also a good test of my new camera with the 20mm (40mm full frame equivalent) f/1.7 pancake lens. :)

Just a random street in the more quiet parts of Tokyo (Tamachi). This is the street across from our Tokyo office.

Vending machines are everywhere and in Japan, can coffee is a huuuuge market. It’s too bad it hasn’t caught on in the US. It’s great. Most vending machines here have both hot and cold drinks as well. But this made me laugh. A new type of coffee. Black – The Hard! HA!

Yes. I’m still immature in my head. I was giggling inside when I read “the hard”. I mean…what kind of man will buy some sweet latte when you can buy coffee named “Black The Hard”? Eh heh heh heh…

So, the reason why I’m doing this insane travel thing is, starting on Wednesday we’ve been at the Tokyo Big Site for a trade show. We have our own booth, a bit bigger than last year, and we got 4 demo stations, some pens and baseballs to give away, and lots of pamphlets and such to talk to the attendees about our software. I’m also there with the CTO since on Thursday and Friday he is giving an hour seminar talk about different aspects of our software technology and I’m there as the interpreter.

So. Since by now where I work and such isn’t much of a secret, I’m posting these pics. BUT, I’m also posting food (again…) so click the link to see everything!

So first, the main part of the booth!

It’s pretty big actually and looks pretty nice.

And I like this graphic of the little guy giving a “banzai” wave to the world. :)

Now for dinner today. Dinner was at a tempura restaurant. I was translating pretty much the entire time so I’m pretty tired and since this was the first thing I ate all day, now I’m paying for it with some an upset stomach but the food was excellent. My stomach issue is from being tired and stressed and not anything to do with the great food! This is tofu with a toasted walnut and walnut sauce. Mmm.

Click the link to see the rest :)

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Ok ok. I know I’ve posted lots of food stuff but today was a travel day and I’m just too exhausted to go out or really do anything other than work a bit and relax. Things will kick into full gear with a full day including early morning, a presentation, and a business dinner with tons of business meetings in between tomorrow and Friday. Ugh…

So, after eating some seriously exotic stuff, it was nice to come back to Japan and have some Japanese comfort food. Yup. These are noodles for sure but it’s FAMILIAR yakisoba noodles from the Lawson’s convenience store. It really made me relax and feel at home in my tiny cave of a hotel room :)

Just 2 more full days to go before I’m back at the airport…

Today is my last full day here in Taiwan. The meetings went well and I now have to pack and get ready since I have a car taking me to the airport at 6:30am tomorrow morning. Erk…

Today’s post of what I had for lunch today has been described as “Fear Factor”-like. Soooo I will put most behind the cut. Click the link to see what I ate!

But first! The normal pics.

If Japan is known for our trains and public transportation and lots of walking and China is known for the bicycles (though not as much anymore I hear), Taiwan is known for the scooters. Lots and lots of scooters…

This was just a small portion waiting for the light. There were TONS more behind and next to them!

Here is a cute mascot for a sushi joint by the partner’s office. I liked her. It’s wearing a shrimp sashimi on her head!

Now for lunch. It was in a narrow alley. The cart and “kitchen” was outside. It really was like a scene out of a movie or a Travel Channel show. You walk over to the cart and pick what you want out of the cart. The guys I was with looks at me and tells me I can pick what I want. …This is what I see.

Barely recognize anything except the squid on the right and the red Chinese sausage. They realized I was speachless but asked me if I will have anything and I said yes so they ordered. Click the link to see the lunch!!

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Day 1 in Taiwan is done. The meeting went well. The presentation went well. We didn’t sign the prospective customer of course but it is moving in a very good direction. Met the team here too and they are doing a great job. So far it’s been a good business trip.

So. On to the photos. Food again. I was in an office most of the day and then in a business meeting as well. So what else will I take a photo of?

First off, lunch. Lunch was rice with minced beef, various dishes, and this soup. Mmmm. What was in my soup that I ordered? Well. There was lentils and some sort of grain like barley or something. The soup was pretty thin but tasty. And the meat portion that probably also provided most of the stock? Well…it’s what you see here floating up.

…what is it? Well…some of you may have guessed already. It’s pretty much what it looks like. Pork intestine. Yum.

It’s not for everyone. If you’ve ever had it you know the taste. The texture is KIND of like tripe in a way…kind of… But it was good :)

For dinner they asked me if I wanted to try Taiwan beer. I said “sure” thinking it’s Taiwan made beer like Fosters made in Australia or Sapporo in Japan. But nope. They weren’t asking me if I wanted beer made here. They were asking me if I wanted the actual brand!

Taiwan Beer :) It was pretty good too.

And like many Asian countries, they give you these tiny little glasses so you never know just how much you actually had…

And dessert was ice cream. When I got it I first though “huh…chocolate”. Then I noticed the color was lighter so I thought “huh…coffee?” Then I tasted it and realized it was peanut butter! I never had peanut butter ice cream before. I have to say it was pretty damn good!

:)

Well, my meeting tonight got cancelled since the other guy got stuck in traffic so that gave me the one free night I needed to check out the gigantic Shilin Night Market up in northern Taipei. It’s huge. HUGE.

This post will have a total of 41 photos. So needless to say, after the first two, click on the link to see the rest!

The Night Market from the MRT platform.

By the time I got there around 6:30 it was already packed!

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Made it to Taiwan. You can always count on a Starbucks. This one is down the street from my hotel. I didn’t stop in but I might later. Maybe. Though if the ones in Japan and the Philippines is any indication, it will look EXACTLY like the one in Westlake…

Late lunch. It was in the underground shopping area at Taipei Station. I had no idea what the hell I was ordering. The place smelled good so I stopped in. I ordered the dish that had the characters for “3 types” and “beef”. I guess it meant 3 cuts of beef in a beef broth with noodles. You can see the tripe. Inside were other cheap chunky fatty lumps of meat. But you know what? It was really good. :)

For some reason there was this impressive statue of the Predator made out of scrap metal in the shopping area.

Incredibly detailed!!

I had these too (the ones on the right). It was good but I have no idea what the heck it was. It was just bread but it was really really fluffy and fresh baked and chewy too and I think it had butter in the middle and was slightly sweet. Really really tasty.

…hopefully someone that can speak and read Taiwanese can help me out.

A restaurant by my hotel. I just liked the name the dude in the sign.

When I got home mom had some locust tsukudani :) It’s basically locusts cooked in soy sauce and other ingredients until it’s very marinated, salty, and tasty. Went well with rice. You really can’t find these much anymore. Tsukudani is mostly fish now. But you can still get them at places like Narita-San right by the airport.

Mmmm…buuuugs….

Long day. Morning conference call and then a 2 hour presentation in the afternoon. By 4:45 or so I was on the train back to the hotel when they called and asked me to come back… Keep in mind, it’s not like a car ride…I have to get off the train, get to the other platform, get back on the train in the other direction, then a good 7 to 10 minute walk from the station to the office. *sigh*. Ended up leaving the office at well past 7 and didn’t get back to the hotel until around 8:15pm. Just another Friday working in Japan.

Anyway, the partner’s office building has a big fountain in the middle of the lobby and they had a nice little flower garden in the middle. It was pretty.

Dinner was noodles. “Tsuke-men”. You’ve seen this before. Yup. It’s a repeat. It’s tasty though. Good test for my new camera too. I have to admit though…while eating they started playing Bon Jovi on the radio. I have nothing against Bon Jovi but…something about sitting in a tiny ramen shop’s counter slurping up noodles in Japan with Bon Jovi? It was a bit…surreal.

Got some gyoza too. They were awesome but they were huge! It was too much almost. Almost. But I ate it all. I mean…it’ll be rude not to right?

Tomorrow morning I have to pack again… Blah. Pack up what I don’t need in Taiwan and take it to the office and then take my luggage, check out of the hotel and head to my parent’s place to spend the night so I can head out to Taiwan (and hope to miss the typhoon) on Sunday morning.

*sigh*… Well. At least it’s the weekend! (And I will try not to read any work e-mails tonight… Try…)

Back in Japan. It’s almost like home really. Philippines was nice but here I’m used to everything so it’s more relaxing I guess.

But with all the traveling and such I’m exhausted. So yes, this is a food post. Kinda. Stick with me though. There’s a new limited edition Pepsi at the end! You’ll never see this in the US. Ever.

But first. Dinner was at a tonkatsu place. Basically deep fried pork cutlet. But you’d be amazed at how much variety one theme can have.

You have different types of pork cuts, and you also have some shrimp and such too. Some are rolled with special red miso. Some are more seafood.

I had this one.

It’s a pork cutlet with finely chopped scallions. It was tasty. Real tasty. And with rice and miso soup, this is comfort food for me. :)

Speaking of miso soup, it’s not just the standard miso soup. It’s made with clam broth with the tiny clams still there. Mmmm.

But now, the new Pepsi flavor. This follows their recent trend of new limited editions. In the past it was “iced cucumber”, “yogurt”, “beefsteak leaves”, and now…well…

Pepsi Azuki or Pepsi Red Bean. Yes. I’ll let that sink in a bit… Take your time…

Now. Any of you who have gone to a Japanese restaurant probably have seen green tea ice cream but usually there is red bean ice cream too. It’s that red bean. Traditional sweets in Japan is made using sweetened red bean. Typically called “an” or “anko”. The bean is called “azuki”.

So. After attempting to defend this. I just have to tell you. The initial impression is “ew…” It’s very artificial and chemical tasting. BUT after about 30 seconds all of a sudden the after taste hits and it IS azuki!!! It’s weird. But you don’t taste it while drinking. Anyway I have tried it. Will I have another? Maybe. Just to make other people at the Tokyo Office try it :) But see. They got me to try it. And just like “iced cucumber” where most people thought it tasted nasty and the best review said it tasted like a watermelon rind soda, everyone tried it once just to see how awful it is and Pepsi sold out! So…well…good for Pepsi I guess.

:)