Saturday, June 04, 2005

Taichung report of Friday night, June 3

Ow, my head.

Went to the new pub/bar/whatever that opened upstairs from Frog. The band Baked Beans was playing. They are a country band. How much did I have to drink? Well, I danced to country music. That's how much I had to drink. Somebody please let Simon know that the vodka shots at 1:00AM were not, strictly speaking, necessary.

Odd thing last night. There was chili. And I ate a bowl. Now understand that when it comes to victuals and beverages, I am not what you would call picky. Is it made from a grain, carbonated, and contains alcohol? It's beer, and I'm not gonna get all hung up on things like flavor or formaldehyde content. Is it brown, hot, and contains caffeine? It's coffee, and I'll take four cups please, especially this morning. But for chili, I suddenly get imbued with this set of standards by which the chili must be evaluated. Not sure why this is, since I can't even cook my own chili any more, but they're there. Flavor, texture, consistently, spiciness, color, etc., even after four beers last night, I'm sitting there slowly eating this chili with a thoughtful look on my face... "Hmm. Bold, but not overbearing, with a touch of exotic sincerity." I don't think the chili would have won first prize at a U.S. chili contest, but it might have placed in the top five, which is pretty good for a chili in Taichung, Taiwan.

Imagine my shock to discover that the chili was made by Paddy. As in Canadian Paddy. As in, the Paddy that is not from the United States, because he is from Canada. So now I'm kind of conflicted. I ate chili made by a foreigner, and I liked it. A Canadian foreigner. Who made chili. That was pretty good. Go figure.

3 comments:

Robin said...

Canadian chili? Oh, the horror.

Bread said...

think your tastes buds might have been swayed by the alcohol. that chili would not have won any contest i've ever been to, though it was palatable at one in the morning.

Chaon said...

No. I am right and you are wrong and there is no room for discussion. That was damn fine chili.