ABC Wednesday: T is for Tasting Tour

My sister and her husband took me on a Greenwich Village Food Tasting and Culture Walking Tour at New York City during my visit to them last week.  The tour started out with a slice of the most authentic Italian pizza in the US from the one and only Joe's Pizza on Carmine Street.

It was followed by a piece of delicious olive bread from Amy's Breads at Bleecker St.

"The Gigot" is rated as one of the best restaurant in New York City.  We did not go in to eat as the messenger boy, just had a look.  I like his matching color bicycle and messenger bag.

"The Comelia Street Cafe" is a Greenwich Village institution.  It started by three artists in 1977.

Over the years, numerous artists started out here at the downstairs performance space.  It still offers some 700 shows per year from science, poetry to cabaret.

Pesce Pasta offers very good Italian pasta dishes at a reasonable price.  A good choice for a quick meal before taking the subway heading downtown for a Broadway show.

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Today's Flowers #42: Rose

I (Bradley) visited my sister at New Jersey last week, when I was on my way from Taiwan to Washington, DC to see our daughter's family.  Grace was at Orlando, FL for her conference.  My sister has this beautiful rose bush in her garden.  The color of the pedal was so rich, almost velvet like.

Well, it used to be a hybrid tea, or it wanted to be a hybrid tea once.  The harsh winter killed the implanted hybrid tea part and left the root of the original hardy recipient rugosa.  My brother-in-law further tried to kill it as a weed.  It survives all these treatments and blossoms into a beautiful rose bush.  Thanks to my sister's green thumb!!

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Camera-Critters #60: Sandhill Cranes of Bosque del Apache

What else to do at Bosque del Apache, photographing the Sandhill Cranes!  I got this picture during the last day of our trip to New Mexico last October.  They went out during the day to the surrounding area to feed than came back en masse during the sunset, very impressive to watch.

Here is a close-up of these amazing birds.

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Skywatch Friday No. 46: Moon Rise over Bosque del Apache

We have been chasing the moon throughout our trip to New Mexico last October.  I finally got this perfect moon shot the last day of the trip at Bosque del Apache National wildlife Refuge.

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ABC Wednesday: S is for Sunset over Bosque del Apache

Both Grace and I are traveling to the US this week, thus we post a picture taken during our trip to New Mexico last October.  This photograph was taken during the last day of our trip.  Grace actually already left in the afternoon.  I and the rest of the group of photographers went to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge to photograph birds.  We stay till the sunset.  The color of this sunset let us really appreciate the richness of the color of the scenery of New Mexico and the color that we saw in many paintings of various galleries that we visited at Taos and Santa Fe. 

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Today's Flowers #41: Plumeria (雞蛋花)

I want to photograph the plumeria after the rain.  I got the chance on Thursday afternoon when Taipei was drenched in a thunder shower.  Plumeria is a plant of the New world, not native to Taiwan.  It was named after the 17th century French botanist Charles Plumier.

The common name for Plumeria is Frangipani, named after the Italian marquess, who invented the plumeria-scented perfume.  Frangipani is certainly much more romantic than its Chinese name, the direct translation of it is "Chicken Egg Flower".

We have both the yellow and red/pink varieties in our condo's garden.

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Camera-Critters #59: Black-crowned Night Heron (夜鷺), Nycticorax nycticorax

We visited Danhsui village two weeks ago.  Danhsui river is the major river of Taipei.  It flows into Taiwan strait at Danhsui village, west of Taipei.  It is approachable by Taipei metro and is a major weekend attraction for people in Taipei.  We can take a ferry to the opposite side, the left bank of Danhsui river, which is famous for coffee, fried donughts, local seafoods and bicycle trails.  Danhsui village has an old street selling all kinds of delicacies and a pedestrian walk along the river bank and harbor.

We saw the two herons landed on the local fishing boats.  They were very calm and easy to photograph.  Their attention was not on us, who they did not really care.  They were watching for the fishes in the water.  Notice the different dolor of the feet of these two herons.

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Skywatch Friday No. 45: A Stormy Afternoon

Today is a typical summer day in Taipei.  It was very humid and hot in the morning and by the lunch time we could see a gathering storm coming.  Some loud thunders and shower ensued.  Some parts of Taipei actually had hail.  During a short break of the storm, I went out to the garden to photograph some plumeria flowers after the rain.  I saw the apartment building on the opposite hill under the sun from a small break of the cloud.  The air was very clean due to the rain.  I thought it looks great against the stormy sky.

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ABC Wednesday: R is for Rice Paper Plant (通草), Tetrapanax papyriferus

This is the Rice Paper Plant we saw in the same forest of La-La Mountain where there are many huge ancient trees.  Do you know that Chinese rice paper is not made from rice, rather from the pith of this plant?  We remember that we used to use brushes to write Chinese characters on very thin rice paper.  

We were attracted by the gigantic leaves which look like leaves from the papaya plant.  The leaf can be several feet wide, with the sunlight shone through it, it was quite a sight!

This is the young shoot of this plant about to open.  The interesting thing about this plant is, before the invention of styrofoam, we used the dried pith of this plant to make models in the kindergarden and primary school.  They were often dyed into different colors.

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Today's Flowers #40: Wild Flower in the Giant Tree Forest

This is the giant tree, Chamaecyparis formosensis,  that we mentioned in our last blog.  We visited this giant tree forest at La-La Mountain yesterday.  Most giant trees are between 1,000 to 3,000 years old.  This one is more than 1,000 years old, a teenager really.

Like old people, these old trees often all wrinkled up.  This tree actually fell down many years ago, however new branches have grown out from the remaining trunk.  Life is amazing!

I know that we did not actually show any flower, so here is one we saw in the forest.  We are not sure what it is but it looks like lacecap hydrangea in the US.

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Camera-Critters #58: White-tailed Robin (白尾鴝), Myiomela leucura

We were out for a trip to a mountain forest called La-La Mountain.  We go to this area almost every year, mainly for the famous peaches that are grown in the farms high up on the mountain. The peach season usually starts from the 1st of June till mid-July.  But we will be away during that period of time this year thus we decided to visit this region today.  It is almost at the mid-point of Northern Cross-Island Highway, about 1500 meters in elevation.  Other than the famous peaches grown in the region, another major attraction is the giant Chamaecyparis formosensis sub-tropical forest.  It consists of over 20 of these trees between 1000 to 3000 years old.  They are a species almost extinct due to logging in the 19th and early 20th century. Although the outside temperature was 32 degree C, it was quite pleasant to walk in the forest with sounds from various birds in our ears.  Even we could hear them we were not be able to see them.  Then this little thing jump into view right in front of us.  Neither of us were really ready to photograph it but we tried out best.

It is a relatively rare bird distributed at the mountainous region of Indochina and Taiwan.  This one is a male of a special Taiwan variety.  It is identified by the crystal blue color of its upper body and white feathers in its black tail.  We are happy that we actually got these two not-too-bad pictures.  In case you are wondering, the peaches are very very delicious this year.

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Skywatch Friday No. 44: Aodi (澳底)

I was driving on the highway along the northern coast of Taiwan two weeks ago by myself. Grace was away for her two-week trip around the world.  I noticed a newly constructed bike path/walkway along the rugged seashore.  At the northern end of the path is a small fishing village, Aodi (澳底), with a very nice crescent shaped sandy beach and restaurants.  From the village the path continues further north alone a coastal road.  The southern end connects to another bike/foot path along the coast.  I have been quite familiar with this area and was very happy that the path has been constructed along the cliff to make the bike path/walkway complete.

  

People dive and fish off this coast, but it could be very dangerous.  When the tide comes in, if these fishermen do not move fast enough, they will be lost in the sea.  They also have to watch out for the sudden big waves, which are also famous for the region.  Maybe that was the reason they hide behind the rock.

I was quite fully equipped as far as photographic equipment concern that day.  I had with me both the 12-24 wide zone on my D300 and 80-400 telephoto lenses on the D700.  When I saw this Black Kite, Milvus migrans flying high above, I tried to get a photo of it.  The picture came out better for the sky.

It circled high above then dived down suddenly into the ocean to catch a fish.  Here it came out behind the cliff.  

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ABC Wednesday: Q is for a Quick Tour Around the World

Three weeks ago, I (Grace) went away for a business trip that took me around the world in two weeks visiting six cities.  I first arrived at Hong Kong airport for transit.  After an overnight stay at the airport hotel, I flied to Frankfurt to see our contractor.  I then arrived at Heathrow airport in London to have the company's scientific advisory board meeting.  When my colleagues were at Windsor Castle sight-seeing, I flied to Washington, DC to have a weekend with my daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law.  After the weekend, I had a conference in Boston then visited our partner at San Francisco before flying back to Taipei.

I had with me the Nikon D90 with the new 35mm 1.8 lens.  Here is a Quick Photo Tour of my trip.  The first picture is Hong Kong airport, an airplane, a fitting start of my trip.

A scene from my hotel room at Hong Kong airport.  Not the usual scene that one would associate with Hong Kong.  The new airport is very far away from the city and sits on its own island.

A view from the hotel lobby.  A sign showed "No Stopping" on either side, the only way was flying away!!

At Frankfurt, we went to a German Restaurant Kartoffelhaus, which is famous for its potato dishes.  It is a charming traditional restaurant with beams and many chicken paintings on the wall.

The other side of the restaurant has a mirrored window.  I liked the mood, which was almost like in a painting.

The table setting was very romantic with a candle and a single tulip.

This is the ultramodern lobby of Hilton Hotel that connected to Terminal 4 of Heathrow airport of London.  The lightings of various colors give interest to this atrium.

In England, besides fish and chips, roast beef, etc., people like to have either Chinese or Indian meals.  We went to the Memories of India, which uses many interesting wooden structures (doors, columns, etc.) as decoration.  The gentleman above in the Indian restaurant saw me with the camera, took me to the Thai restaurant called Tiger Lily across the street.  

It is owned by the same owner.  It has a beautiful carved traditional wooden door.

But the bar of this restaurant is very modern.

We came back to the Memories of India for our meal.  Here is a beautiful wooden commode at the entrance of the restaurant.

All the clients were having a good time at Memories of India in front of the wooden panel hand carved and shipped from India.

Here is our adorable 20-month granddaughter eating a waffle!!  I spent a weekend with her at my daughter's home at Washington, DC.  It was way too short.

My final stop was San Francisco.  Whenever possible, I always have an American breakfast at Sears near the Union Square.  There is often a queue waiting to get in.

This is the ticketing booth for the car park at Hilton hotel, which shaped like a cable car.

The mural painting makes the parking a lot more interesting place.  

This comes to the end of my Quick Tour Around the World. It seems the only places that I have been were the airports, hotels and restaurants.  I was glad to be back home in Taipei.

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Today's Flowers #39: Arum Lilly (海芋), Zantedeschia aethiopica

Today is mother's day.  We went out for a late lunch at the mountain spa that we frequently visited.  It is at the back of Yangmingshan facing the Taiwan Strait.    Yangmingshan is a dormant volcano, thus it is rich in hot spring.  It is also quite often called as Taipei's back garden.  We took the way across the mountain to come back to Taipei.  I mentioned to Grace that it should be the season of Calla Lilly now.  There it was in front of us a Calla Lilly field.  We stopped to shop for some, and to photograph.

We thought the flower's name is Calla Lilly.  But after reading through Wikipedia, it seems the correct name should be Arum Lilly, Zantedeschia aethiopica.   The pure white flower is a very dramatic flowering plant.  We brought two cameras, one is D90 with 16-85 lens, and the other is D700 with 70-300 lens.   We hoped that we would have the 105 macro with us.

All through the photographic session, we had the paintings of Calla Lilly of Georgia O'Keffe on our mind.  She has depicted the flower many times in very provocative and sensual ways.  We visited her museum during our trip to New Mexico last year.   

Here is a close-up of a small frog taking a nap inside a flower!

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