The food is a thing of beauty...

But don’t get me going about China, pigs and their incredibly abusive use of antibiotics...

 

Whether we like it or not, we live in a connected world and globalization is a reality notwithstanding the political and nationalistic rhetoric. For letters of the laws and regulations I am under the impression the country has stricter food safety requirements and more restrictive on the used of chemicals that have not been proven safe, compared to US.

China bought out one of US biggest pork producers Smithfield Food back in 2013 and it has been shipping entire pig carcasses to bridge the insatiable demand for pork of the country during the pig epidemic. A country wide shortage of pork, especially for the lunar new year can cause civil unrest more than anything there.

For the impact and ecological damage by the agribusinesses one excellent documentary is The Milk System on Netflix. While it deals with the globalization of milk industry, the same can be found in most food commodities that are under the controls of multinationals.

 

Not a whole lot is going on on the automotive front except I order a few suspension parts for the GT4 taking advantage of the black everyday all week sales. I also bought myself a couple of iDevices including a pair of AirPods Pro which will be a great travel gear.

So what does this post has to do with the street car named Desire? It is highly relevant as it shows Desire's other personality - being a street car. She is my faithful mule in hauling just about everything, including groceries. Prior to Desire my daily was a Mazda MX5. Compared to the Mazda Desire has the utility of a SUV, in cargo capacity. You can fit most 8 foot long lumbers into her too as well as conduits and plumbing pipings. In this post Desire hauled home the groceries for my dishes that are inspired or contrasting to my recent trip to the whole of Taiwan.

I enjoy travel and one of my passion is cuisines and food cultures of the world, in the historic, cultural, and geographic contexts. Travel opens my eyes and add experiences and enriches my culinary experiences and makes me a better cook. There is no trip that I do not expand my culinary width and depth. Every country has some sort of noodle or pasta dishes, and Taiwan being an Asian nation is no different. One cannot visit the country without trying the Taiwanese beef soup noodles. While there I had this in about six occasions, and most were shops that are embraced by the locals and tourists alike.


this shop is not well known but it serve up a great bowl of beef noodles; I found it in Google Maps out of desperation and it surpassed my expectations







they use of carrots in the braised beef is most unusual for me and I take inspiration; the broth is rich and flavorful



this shop is owned by an Iranian expat and he made news with his use of Middle Eastern exotic spices in this Taiwanese beef soup noodles











a typical sign of a good eat is limited items in the menu



Taiwan has such strong foodies cultures, even school kids regular joints like this as their social gatherings



their side dishes often eaten as appetizers



I visited this place twice. it is always packed and with a waiting long line with the locals



their bowls are characterized with the clear but yet umami packed broth



I ordered a side dish of tendon



did I say clear broth?



this was my second time back to this noodle joint



there were locals as well as international foodies - mostly Asian countries including Japan



again, it has very small menu; and I'd like to think I am as much local if not more as I was the few that worn a pair of flip flops and travelled by (a higher power than most) scooter, no less



this time I order a tripe side dish which came right away







I order a dry type beef noodle (lou mei) this time



it is not exactly dry as in most lou mei in other Asian countries; it just has very little broth and the broth is more concentrated



this shop has a Michelin Bib Gourmand Award (note the automotive relevance of the famed Michelin award ; I stand by my view most French knows merde about Asian cuisines and the tire company is no different) and obvious has a long line outside



you can bet it is on most foreign travel guides to Taiwan



it is the most pricy compared to all other placed that I tried; and the menu tells you a lot about the clientele



again I ordered a side of tripe and a large bowl of soup noodles



the use of miso in Taiwanese beef soup noodles has a historic context that was the Japanese occupation of the island nation



a peek into the high volume kitchen of he money making machine



I have been making beef soup noodles for a very long time, and I taught myself how to; my recipes evolves constantly and improve with each iteration; what travel enriches mine is I learnt to be more open to the use of nontraditional ingredients and techniques



I add PNW's razor clam to my beef noodle soup



Asian chives



some of the ingredients but not in the photo is my braised beef and broth



my bowl of noodles presented with cookwares and services from my travels



this is one bowl of the dry type that is like that I had in Taiwan



this is a bowl of the wet style; and I know most would be very skeptical that mine is no less than the shop with the Michelin Bib Gourmand Award, but in fact better

Oh, and Desire is very sore that there is not one photo of her in this long post.

 

I’m impressed. In addition to the wonderful looking food, the places are amazingly clean. My wife is the foodie so she gets to see the pictures too. Now I may be “stuck” with dinner out tonight... Mine is not so elegant...

 

Of all the Asian countries and cities that I'd been to, Taiwan and Japan are the cleanest when it comes to street food and needless to say restaurants. I'd not been to Singapore and I infer it too is very tidy and clean. I observed in multiple occasions how diligently they scrub down everything including the sidewalk when they close for the day. The same cannot be said with most SE Asian countries, with the exception of Singapore.

To stay on topic of the forum here are some mini and Mini photos.


I happened to come upon this Mini specialty shop in Kaohsiung looking for the Costco; yes, Costco in Taiwan











the cooling fan under the boot piqued my interest on this red mini







there is a R50 sitting by the road















a mini theme customer lounge



and they service scooters too



my ride in this city was a 150cc


I tell you, riding scooter in the island nation I must had used up all my nine lives. I narrowly escaped being throw into a jail cell like this. There are special rules for scooters on the road unlike most other countries, and no scooter lanes. There were countless occasions that Google Map tried to had me killed or arrested.


a deluxe accommodation with running water

 

Were those “mini bikes” at the MINI/Mini speciality shop....

Sorry, couldn’t resist...

I know - “scooters”.

Just finished shoveling 20+ inches of snow off a 20x30 foot flat roof in prep for the inch of rain we are supposed to be getting... I need a bad joke to take my mind off what I am going to feel like in 24 hrs... Ugh

 

I neglected to point out the scooters in this shop are not the typical ones in Taiwan. They are Vespa which command a premium. I had ridden the classic Vespa with the manual shifter on the left hand side handle with clutch too. In those days the clutch cable tends to fail on them so you just bang them into gears to get home. On wet roads they are as safe as an air cooled Porsche 911 . Oh, and the engines were two strokes which you have to remember to manually add a quantity of 2-stroke oil into the fuel tank at each refueling. Now all modern scooters have CVT and 4-stroke motor so anyone with a pulse can ride one.

Interesting you have flat roof in your neck of woods. Snow and flat roof is not the best combo. You have my sympathy as I too had my episode of dealing with winter H2O but in different state. While reading in bed I could hear the downspout backing up which is not a good thing. Uncontrolled roof drainage can wash away the foundation so I was forced to investigate in the pouring rain. That led to a 3 hours of work using a long snake to clear blockage from sediment in the drainage pipe on that side of the house. And like you I have a flat plus low pitch combo roof due to the mid century modern architecture. I even had to bring a garden hose up onto the roof to feed running water to facilitate flushing out the sediment and debris.

The nice thing about a low pitch or flat roof is it is much safer to maintain, and you can even have barbecue on it if you so choose.

 

In its days the early Vespa's were innovative and elegant in their own right. Here is one nice photo and article.



a gorgeous classic Vespa

 

The Italians make beautiful machines...

And I note, they raced scooters in Europe... Go figure. Anything that gets ridden, gets raced.

Ya, the flat roof, odd for the NE, is an addition that extends off a 1 story sloped roof. Your predicament sounds like it was a real pain but worthy of dealing with when noted. I wonder how many people in your case would have said “tomorrow” and found a bigger problem. I expect I will hear about some collapsed roofs after the rain comes.

 

A few interesting rides that I captured during the trip. As I spent a lot of time on scooters and the iPhone was nearly always in the cradle or pocket the opportunity for photography was greatly reduced.


there are some electric scooters - mostly in larger cities like Taipei and Kaohsiung; they have special green plates















my dream Lotus not imported here - supercharged V6 Exige

 

Being a foodie I could not help but to notice the ubiquity of foodpanda scooter delivery men and women in Taiwan. I have seen them all the time waiting in front of restaurants, and very often for an order at a street food cart. Often they are the more aggressive scooter riders, being willing to take chances. The majority of riders there are quite considerate, and very rarely they will act to endanger a fellow rider.



Foodpanda is a German company which operates in over 40 countries, but not here in the US. I have been very curious what the typical delivery charge is there in Taiwan. Today I did some research and found some interesting data.

A typical delivery costs $29 NT, which is just under $1 USD. Sometime the cost is borne by the customer, and sometime by the vendor. 90% of Taiwanese surveyed said they eat or order out at least once a day. For a country of per capita income of NT$435,326 (US$14,273) they spend NT$99,978 (US$3,159) on average. Note that eating out in Taiwan is very inexpensive compare to here. But like most gag economy participants the delivery men and women must make a meager living.

here a Taiwanese man spotted riding NT$400,000 BMW naked supersport motorcycle to make Foodpanda delivery made news headline

 

The gig economy is very interesting in my line of work. The pending litigation on this really makes my work life a bit of a nightmare, thankfully not very often. It's strange because the companies do not see or even call the people that make them money employee's but when the stuff hits the fan, (sexual assault/assault) of driver or passenger, they somehow treat them like employee's, kind of. It is the same for all the food delivery companies here as well. They wipe their hands clean of any liability if there is an accident of any kind leaving their non-employee to flap in the wind all the while taking in vast sums of money. Clever, I will admit, but highly questionably legal and in my opinion very unethical.
I work for the State as an Unemployment Benefits Adjudicator - which is the most you will get out of me in writing about my work.

 

is your soup broth recipe a secret? I have a thing for soups of all kinds, I'm particularly fond of 5 spice soups, this one in particular, in fact I might make it sunday

http://userealbutter.com/2012/02/12/...e-soup-recipe/

 

Wow that was yours?!?! Crazy money indeed and congrats! The 98specR was always my fav! I got a 2017 CTR and had it for a bit but had to let it go. Just grabbed a 195k 05 MCS. What a fun car! This thread is a great resource to Mini noobs like myself. Thanks for posting!

 

My sentiments of these gag economy "tech" companies are like yours. Rich people getting richer on the miseries of the underprivileged, as well as houses of cards that built on lies. I was so happy to see the collapse of Theranos, and the reckoning days of hyper-hyped companies like Uber and Lyft, and WeWork. I have not use any of these once. As to WeWork and its We company , I prefer iWork of the I company that is me doing everything myself, and taking personal responsibility.

I am wondering how long are these hyper valuations of eScooter "ride share" companies going to last.

Oh, BTW, have you receive the delivery of the MX5 yet. You are welcome to share some photos of it in my thread.

 

The fact is I have an extensive food, travel, toys, and hobbies blog since 2012. However I don't do recipes as I don't cook with recipes except those conceived in my head. I did spent a good deal of time assess the recipe in the link and the cooking skills and depth of the writer. Too many ingredients and way too complicated. More is seldom better.

Here are a few of my recent meals. Some inspired by the dishes I saw and had in Taiwan. None were made with a preconceived recipe.


oyster soup noodles 蚵仔麵線 - a Taiwanese and Fujian, China dish


NY strip steak with oyster demi-glace and wild scallops


a stir fry of Alaska lingcog Cantonese style


a stir fried noodle with Alaska lingcod - Hong Kong tea restaurant style


danzi noodle 度小月擔仔麵 - a Tainan snack


another stir fry of Alaska lingcod with varied vegetable and ingredients

 

This is one memorable shot I managed but only a family of three. I have seen countless times a family of four, consists of husband, wife, and two young children all fit nicely on one scooter.

 

Yes I have. I have had it just over a month now and just over 600 miles. Its just as toss-able as the R53 and just as planted. A bit more body roll but apparently that is factored into the suspension to keep all 4 tires nice and flat with the road. The power targa top or Retractable Fastback (RF) as Porsche's copyrights will not allow Mazda to call it a targa, is a bit theatrical when in operation. I got all the factory bells and whistles as was allowed. I would have preferred to get the Brembos and Recaros with this car but to get that I would have had to get the 30th Anniversary Edition which is only colored in safety cone orange or as Mazda calls it Racing Orange - neither of which I like and it carries a large price increase. With the Club, I couldn't get all the other do-dads that I wanted so GT-S it was, kind of almost the best of both GT and Club specs. Gone are the days of individually spec-ed cars like my R50 and R53. Oh well, it doesn't bother me. The car is a lot of fun. Even with the traction control on, you can kick the tail out a bit before it reigns in the fun. Mazda calls this Machine Grey. I call it asphalt grey. It's a really nice color in person.

 

Nice! If I were to be in the market for a car in this price point, MX5 would definitely be in the short list. I would have to factor in the total cost of getting it track ready which would include a roll cage and the Edelbrock SC kit too, plus the suspension and wheels. the RF designation has always seemed strange to me. Is it AM, FM, or SW?


2019 kit is under development

 

It's a long way from the next track season and Desire is singing the blue. I dug out this photo from the favorites in Photos.


Desire im Abendrot


To ease her winter blue I put Desire to work. She is my all time favorite SUV (Small Utility Vehicle). We went across the river here in the Bridgeport to do grocery shopping. We are very particular when it comes to grocery. Each ingredient is carefully curated with all the senses. We came home with surf and turf ingredients. Among which are the ingredients for making beef soup noodle. We are very efficient and in one trip we hit three stores and came home with week's worth of grocery.




first stop at a seafood store to see what are available



second stop to get some cuts of beef



untrimmed beef flanks and whole shank are the tickets to authentic beef soup noodle



some bone, and may be ox tail are icing on the cake



third stop to get some Asian produces and live seafood



the best SUV ever - Desire came home with a week's worth of grocery and more so she earned her keep for the month

 

Love the utility of these little cars. As good as and maybe better than my Wrangler in some respects.

Sounds fun. Getting heavy into ski season here. Summer cars only go out these days when it is dry and reasonably salt free. This is the time to buy pieces and parts for those cars for next season.

And we have this fun available to us...
https://www.scdareg.com/events/scda-...ciation-661168

 

I agree, the RF is strange moniker. I blame Porsche as it really is a Targa. Though Mazda makes no claims that the factory roll hoops will do anything. It seems that as far as PIR and Track Night in America are concerned, they pass muster for track use.

The SC may not be all that needed. Mazda did everything to the motor that I was going to do to my R50 along with 7500 RPM red line/fuel cut off. Not an S2000, but this motor revs up and down like a racecar. The MX5 is tips the scales at nearly the same as the R53 and has 181hp, so an S with 15% pulley intake and exhaust. The power to weight ratios between the R53 and MX5 are very close. My super accurate Buttdyno says that they are. The difference in 0-60 times I would think would be because of which wheels are putting the power down.

Its very strange. The two cars almost couldn't be more different but have a very similar feel about them. I still need to Sakura up on jack stands and play with the wheels that I have to see if I need to buy more wheels and tires. I am hopeful that the Panasports will clear the brakes on Sakura. Not so concerned about the holies as they will have been the dedicated winter wheel/tire set up. Would like to know if they X-lites (v spokes) will fit the MX5. But I need to get pinch weld adapters for the floor jack and the jack stands first.

The R53 is so much more practical than the MX5.

 

That is one reason I bought a MINI over fixing up the predecessor to the Miata that I had; that was a Fiat 124 spider. Plus the MINI had almost 2x the Hp...

 

Fiat 124's were the most under-appreciated sports cars ever especially in NA. The joke Fix It Again Tony. They were mega-kilometers ahead of any NA cars of the era with all the right checkoff items of a proper Italian sports car and yet very affordable. My 124 Sports Coupe was one of my best drivers' cars together with the humble Desire.

 

One can always day dream in the dead of winter for another dream car in the track heaven. The biggest obstacle is there is no room for another car in the stable. For the last few days I have been working hard trying to figure out a way to get one of these Lotus. It seems I missed the train by just a hair on a few of the V6 Exige for sale recently. There were very few imported into the US over the years. Of course if you want one for track use only, you can order a new Exige Cup 430 directly from Lotus in UK, or through a dealer.

Here is one that I would be happy with on BaT but was sold last year.



My track buddy Red Baron has ordered with confirmation of a very limited Mini GP3 so I want a scalpel to slice it up. The arms race is on.

my Mini track frenemy is getting one of this

Oh, and some dreams take a lot of work and wanting a V6 Exige is one. I have been reading up as much as I can find to get to know the quirks of and challenges of owning these Lotus cars.