CantaloupeAlone

One of the biggest road blocks in my adventure to figure out what I've been eating here in Taiwan is nutrition labels. The labels offer similar nutritional information as the USA but not identically, and not in the same order, in Traditional Chinese, and serving sizes are metric. There are a few conversations on the age-old Formosa boards that offer some non-helpful tips, and some tips that are totally wrong. No, 7-11 does not list nutritional information in English, *sigh. I also ran across this very detailed but also confusing pamphlet from Hong Kong. The nutrition labels usually offer the following facts, and typically in this order: 熱量 (Re4 Liang4) Energy   ( units = 大卡 / da1 ka3 / Kcal)  蛋白質 (Dan4 Bai2 Zhi4) Protein (unit =  公克 / gong1ke4 / gram ) 脂肪 (Zhi1 Fang2) Total Fat  (unit =  公克 / gong1ke4 / gram )   飽和脂肪 (Bao3 He2 Zhi1 Fang2) Saturated Fat  (unit =  公克 / gong1ke4 / gram )   反式脂肪 (Fan3 Shi4 Zhi1 Fang2...

Chillaxia Aquaponic bones  Taipei is a pretty green place. Figuratively, literally the mid-century ugly style Japanese buildings are softened by lush greenery sprouting in and around every crevice and surface. Its common to see patches of dirt cultivated into vegetable gardens. Until recently there was small farm across the street from Taipei 101 the world's second largest building in the smack center of Taipei's commercial area. Recently I've been seeking the stories behind these gardens. I don't have a space to garden, but I thought I'd draw some inspiration from what is happening and share it for everyone to see. Facebook has been a remarkable resource in Taipei for locating groups. A post in Green Taiwan  led me to learn about a woman named Tammy Turner with permaculture garden in Xindian, a large Aquaponic garden called Avata , and a gentleman named John building his own aquaponic system on his rooftop dubbed Chillaxia . I immediately requested a tou...

Eat healthy on $200 NTD a day  Finding healthy food in Taiwan isn't much different than in America. Just like in America the healthiest food isn't the one jumping off the shelf in a bright colored box or advertised on the side of a bus. You have to seek it. Moving to an Asian country, especially Taiwan, creates a large language barrier. It take some time and I'm here to give a little guidance and inspiration. What am I calling healthy? We could bounce ideas around for ages on that very subject. I am going to say a mostly "clean" diet of vegetables, fruit, lean proteins, complex carbohydrates is healthy. The foods here are mostly gluten-free, in case you are so disabled. I'm pointing out vegan and vegetarian options. Taiwan loves its pork and seafood, but due to a high buddhist population there are tons of options for vegetarians and vegans. Without even trying most of these foods are found locally. Living on a small island encourages that! Food is r...

Done! 8 months is a long time, but NO, I have not forgotten my little corner of the internet I call Cantaloupealone. You may recall I took a chance and opened a restaurant called Loft Bistro and Wine Bar Cafe  in 2012. The food was good! It was a special year for my partners and I. Crossing a sea, starting a business in a foreign country, pulling off a menu that people liked, paid money for and came back to eat over and over again. It was hard, too hard, or ambitious for a first move. Food prices went up, our identity, menu, and pricing floundered, we had bad customer return rates. Recently we sold to another restaurateur who has renamed it Aug. Bistro Cafe. I haven't been in, but I believe its serves brunch. I like to think of all this as an amazing entry to entrepreneurship and don't have any regrets.  Some of the amazing reviews we received on Trip Advisor . Wow, I mean WOW. This guy gets it. For the record this was our number one customer....

 How many pies does it take?  Before I resume recipe writing I'd like to get a few things out there on owning and running a restaurant. The first thing you should know is opening a restaurant is stupid. Its an easy way to lose money, or as I like to think of it, pay to work really really hard. If your friends ever say to you, "Everything you cook is so good, you should have a restaurant." slap them. Slap them hard. What they are really saying is, "Hey you should invest a lot of money/go into debt by opening one of the riskiest businesses there is, so I can maybe pay to eat your food every 2 months, or every month if I am actually a good friend." Or if they are really shitty friends, assume they can eat for free. There are lots of great ways to bring food to the world, catering, wholesale and retail food sales, dinner parties, dinner party clubs, fancy food markets and on. Taking care of a brick and mortar restaurant is just silliness. Sure it works some o...

The garden of my restaurant I share with my 2 Taiwanese partners Over the last 6 months I have entered the crazy, exciting, and rewarding world of becoming a restaurant owner. I have remarkable less personal time. Some days I only have enough time to sleep, 7 hours maybe. And yet I still here from the peanut gallery that some of you I manage to see/email with want more blog posts. Thank you guys for your support! I like this blog, even if its been in the back seat for a while Here it is, pretty right? We renovated and decorated it.  Bar seating with open kitchen Introducing Loft Wine Bar and Bistro in Taipei, Taiwan. We opened the first week of October 2012. You can check our contact and yadayada on our website . We serve a refined menu of New American classic dishes including BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches (a favorite with Taiwanese), a Lamb Burger (very popular with foreigners), sour dough Flatbread Pizzas, Bacon Mac and Cheese, Ribs with Sticky Sweet Balsamic ...

I am a food tourist. Cultures have a lot to teach our taste buds. Bangkok is a dense sensory onslaught. Monks in rich saffron, tuk tuk drivers hanging, packs of students among hoards of international tourists and feral dogs weave and twist, elbow to elbow among hundreds of food stand lining every street, river, sidewalk, and corner during the daytime.  Stand in one spot, stretch out your arms and you'd be able to reach 5 different food carts all with several versions of some incredible dish you never knew existed. Its exciting. Mix with an enormous sweet icy Thai coffee and blast off. I count 16 trays of... something.... curry? The variety is immense. And what's in each? Tens to hundreds of ingredients. You could spend a lifetime eating everything in Bangkok.  Here is a great example of what the heck is that? I think its a banana leaf bowl with white congee looking stuff with more meaty brown good stuff. I didn't eat it. I want to go back and get it though....