Saturday, March 17, 2007

Lunch with Grandpa

Melanie and I met with my grandfather for lunch again, this time at a restaurant in Ximen.

The restaurant was down in the basement of a department store, down in the B1 food court. It was very delicious and affordable - mainly serving Beiping-style (Northern Chinese) cuisine. This includes great stuff like Dao Xiao Mien (knife-cut noodles) in a delicious beef broth, Xiao Long Bao (steamed dumplings), etc.

It was great to see my grandfather again. It had been a few months since we last had a chance to get together - mainly because we live on opposite sides of Taipei, and neither of us actually drives here. We did not have a chance to spend a whole lot of time together because he was a little tired due to the trek from where he lives over to Ximen, but it was still fun to get to hang out and chat for a while.

Monday, March 05, 2007

Beer Dispensing Machine

This is a little gem that I just wanted to share with everybody - the Incredible Beer Dispensing Machine!

The first time I saw this was during a layover en route to Asia. The United Red Carpet Club in the Tokyo-Narita airport had a few of these sitting next to the soft drink and coffee dispensers. At first, I wasn't sure about exactly what it was I was looking at. I stood there and stared at this machine for a good 30 seconds before a fellow traveller walked up next to me, pulled a frozen glass out of the freezer next to the machine, loaded it up and pushed the beer button.


At this point, I heard the heavenly chorus, cherubs descended sprinkling laurels and rose petals, and a bright spotlight came on from up above. I had just witnessed my first automatic beer machine!!!

The way it works is simple:

  1. Place the chilled glass onto the small stand
  2. Press the button with the beer icon
  3. The machine tilts the stand at a 30 degree angle and starts to pour in the beer
  4. When it is 4/5 full, the machine then tilts the stand back to the starting position and pours in ~1.5 inches of head
  5. Remove the beer from the stand
  6. Enjoy a perfectly poured frosty Japanese beer

There really isn't any better way to pass the time in an airport...