Sun taste, Guanmiao Noodles

台南關廟鄉的「關廟麵」以獨樹一幟的彈性與咬勁而遠近馳名，這裡的麵條並非由機器烘乾，而是經過長時間的曝曬自然風乾而成，所以能夠久煮不爛、口感香Ｑ帶勁。走進關廟鄉，除了能夠採買好吃的麵條外，還可以一探關廟麵的製麵過程與傳統手工曬麵的情形……

“Guanmiao noodles” in Tainan Guanmiao Town has been known to be elastic and tasty. These noodles are not dried by the machine. They are dried by the fresh air and are tasty. While you enter Guanmiao Town, you can purchase the best noodles in town, and also discover the process of making these noodles….

在南台灣特有的強烈豔陽照拂與山風吹拂下，曬出來的麵不僅可以長久保存，麵條也會變得香Ｑ可口且耐煮不爛。天氣晴朗時，行走在關廟鄉到處可以看到曬麵的熱鬧情景。

Because of the sunny weather and mountain breath in southern Taiwan, the noodles dried and produced in this environment can be kept very long. Noodles will not become mushy even in long boiling and still taste fresh. Wandering in Guanmiao Town in a clear day, you could see the noodles being dried everywhere.

除了掛在曬架上的長麵條外，還有一種是捲起來放在圓筐裡的，這是為了方便風乾及收納而發明的方式。

Besides hanging the long noodles on the rack to dry, the noodles can also be dried by rolling in the round basket which makes them easily organized.

走進製麵廠，滿眼盡是層層堆疊的圓筐與辛勤工作的阿姨們。

You can see lots of women working hard and stacks of baskets as soon as you enter the noodle factory.

各家製麵廠獨門配方不同，但調配好的麵團經過壓麵機製成扁平狀後，都是利用機器來切割成麵條。

Each noodle factory has its own special process in making noodles. However, the dough after pressing will be sliced by the machines.

扁平的麵團沒一會兒就變成細長的麵條。

The pressed dough will soon become the long slim noodles.

切下來的麵條，整齊等量的被放在輸送帶上。

All these slim noodles are put neatly on the conveyor belt.

動作俐落的阿姨們，迅速的將麵條捲成一小捲，再整齊排列在圓筐上。

Workers quickly roll the noodles to small coils, and organized them neatly on the basket.

這一小捲一小捲，當地人是叫「柳」。「柳」是關廟麵的計量單位，一柳代表一份。 一柳一柳的麵捲，形成相當美麗的圖案。

Local people named the small coil “Liu”. “Liu” is the unit of measure for the Guanmiao noodles. One “Liu” is a coil. Many “Lius” become a beautiful design on the basket.

整個輸送帶全景。

Here is the view of the whole conveyor belt.

接下來，就是進行曬麵的大工程了。

Next, noodle drying will start.

一般需要在陽光下曝曬三天左右才會完全乾燥。除了攤在陽光下外，還需要不定時將麵條翻面使其日曬均勻。

Noodles need to be completely dried in the sun for 3 days. They also need to be placed upside down to have dried in both sides evenly.

除此之外，還得時時注意天氣變化。下雨了要趕緊收入倉庫，麵條若淋到雨就必須扔棄。不止陰雨天要注意，就連豔陽高照時也要小心，因為太陽若過強會把麵曬壞。因為需要仰賴老天爺的臉色過日子，關廟麵的產量多寡，就不是人力可以控制的。

Be aware of the weather changes. When it rains, the noodles need to be put away, or they need to be tossed if they get wet. Noodles cannot be over dried as well. Weather would decide the quantities of the noodles make, it is something workers can’t control.

我到訪的時候，天色不妙，沒一回就開始下起大雨，工作人員手忙腳亂的趕緊把曬麵架推進來。

While I was visiting, it started to rain so that the noodles were put away by the workers.

日曬風乾的關廟麵不含任何防腐劑，口感紮實有彈性，可以安心的大塊朵頤哦！

The sun-dried Guanmiao noodles do not contain preservatives. It tastes solid and flexiable. Please enjoy them!

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The beautiful Minnan styled villages, Kinmen

天，好藍好藍，是海島渡假勝地才會有的，那種乾淨清爽、徹徹底底的藍。只是這樣的藍，襯著的不是白沙椰影也不是茅草涼亭，而是農夫扛著鋤頭走過的綠畂田疇，飛鳥停駐的燕尾馬背屋脊，及貓咪輕巧躍過的紅瓦與石牆……這裡是金門，有著美麗聚落景致的迷人小島。

The deep, clean blue sky can be only seen on the island resort. However, this blue sky is not lining up with the white sand beach or pavilion. It is the green farm field with farmers’ footprints; cocktail roof ridge with birds’ dock, and the red tiles and stone walls where cats like to jump over….This is Kinmen, a charming island with beautiful scenery.

金門位於中國大陸福建省東南方之廈門外海，西距廈門約10公里，東距台灣約227公里。從中原五胡亂華開始，大陸漳泉地區先先後後因亂世、因拓墾、因征戍移民至此，在這裡落地生根，興建一幢又一幢的宅第、祠堂與廟宇，而形成獨特的聚落文化。金門，就是由這樣大大小小一百多個聚落連接而成，這些聚落至今仍密集保留了傳統閩南古厝，少的有五十棟，多的甚至有二百五十棟以上。

Kinmen Island is located south-east of Xiamen of Fujian province of China. It is located about 10 km west of Xiamen and 227 km east of Taiwan. Beginning from the Fifth Century’s invasion by the northern nomads in the central plains of China, people in the Zhang Quan region started to immigrate to Kinmen to escape the chaos of wars and look for new opportunities. They started to settle in here and built houses, ancestral hall, and temples, which formed a very unique village culture. Hundreds of large and small villages were connected together to become Kinmen. Kinmen still retains 50 to 250 traditional Minnan ancient houses.

傳統閩南古厝的基本型式，大多以三合院或四合院的一落、二落建築為主。相當特別的是，只要資金夠多、腹地夠大、這些建築可以無限的增建。

A traditional pattern of Minnan ancient house has 3 or 4 courtyards. The type of architecture allows the house to expand if money and space are available.

古厝建材以紅磚、白石與花崗石為主，有的古厝底部以花崗石或白石平砌，上半部再以磚瑰斗砌。另外，還有一種相當獨特的「出磚入石」砌法，利用形狀各異的石材、紅磚與瓦礫交錯壘砌，組成冬暖夏涼且堅固耐用的牆體。

The building materials of the ancient house are bricks, white stones and granite. Some of the houses were built with granite or white stone on the bottom of the houses, and bricks on the top. In addition, there is an unique assembly method, named “brick, stone combination”. It used different shapes of stone, bricks, or rubble to stack together to create a very sturdy wall which keeps cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

許多在外經商成功的鄉人賺了錢，就匯款回鄉興建或翻修宅第與宗祠，以光耀門楣，而發達的程度就顯現在古厝的屋脊、馬背、山牆、窗眉及檐柱上。這些精緻的裝飾，讓每一幢建築都成了珍貴的藝術品。

Most of successful business men abroad sent their money back to their hometown for construction or renovation of the houses and ancestral halls. These renovations are reflected on the roof ridge, horseback round arch roof, wall, windows, and pole. These delicate decorations made each building look like a precious art.

金門古厝的裝飾以木雕、磚雕、泥塑、砌磚、彩繪、貼瓷及剪黏等不同手法表現，其中以剪黏這樣的鑲嵌藝術最為著名。

The decorations on Kinman ancient houses included wood engrave, brick engrave, clay sculpture, color painted, paste porcelain, and cut-stick methods. The cut-stick method has been a famous embedded art.

１－木雕 (wood engrave)

２－磚雕 (brick engrave)

３－剪黏 ( cut-stick)

４－組砌 (puzzle style cut)

鮮豔無比的彩面釉磚，也是相當美麗的裝飾藝術。

The colorful porcelain bricks are also a gorgeously decorated art.

燕尾脊是金門閩式建築中很常見的屋脊形式，居民會用立體雕塑或漆上美麗的圖案裝飾。飛翹的燕尾屋脊曲線優美，讓聚落裡的街巷成了一道迷人的風景。

The cocktail roof ridge is often seen in the Minnan roof ridge. It is made with a three dimensional sculpture or painted with beautiful design. The tilted roof ridge made the street a fascinating scene.

山牆與馬背的裝飾，以灰泥雕飾、剪黏或彩繪等形式呈現，相當的多變。

The decoration of the walls and round arch horseback roof are clay sculptures, cut-stick or color painted with different styles.

金門聚落大多是單姓血親共居一地，興建宗祠共同祭奉，以凝聚宗族力量。宗祠無論在風水、建築或裝飾，皆為上上之選。各家的宗祠可以說是聚落建築中，最為精雕細琢、富麗堂皇的。

The residents with the same last name lived in the same community. They build ancestral halls in order to strength their unity. The ancestral halls they built have good fengshui and architecture and are decorated with art crafts, creating a magnificent look in the village.

清末民初，巴洛克式建築的熱潮吹至金門，經商成功的鄉人匯款回鄉，紛紛興起氣派華麗的的洋樓。

During the late Ching Dynasty and early years of the Republic, Baroque-styled architecture became popular in Kinmen. Business men abroad sent their money back to build the ornate western style houses.

聚落裡處處可見這樣閩南大厝與西式洋樓並存的畫面。

You can see the Minnan styled and western styled houses next to each other on the street.

每一間古厝、每一個聚落的組成，都是祖先們辛苦開疆闢土而來的。走訪金門聚落，欣賞這些美麗的建築的同時，也等於是在閱讀金門人的開墾史。

Every ancient house and forming of the villages were the results of diligent ancestors. Wandering in the villages in Kinmen, and enjoying this beautiful architecture at the same time provide a taste of the history.

More pictures…..

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Taiwan Story Land

Among all the tall buildings in the city of Taipei, across the street from the Taipei Train Station, a fairytale looking entrance would take you back to the old time of Taiwan…

This is an absolutely unique place; named “Taiwan Story Land”. It contains many exhibitions; each exhibit shows you a story of a traditional Taiwanese culture. This place would fulfill your childhood memories or give a close look at how local living was like in the Taiwan history. Ready to ride a time machine, and take you back to the old good time?

In the past, Ka-Ma-Tiam store could be seen on streets almost everywhere. It sold food, household items, toys, snack, and can food. Now it has been replaced by a 24 hours Seven-Eleven and a supermarket.

I loved to go in there when I was a kid, because it looked like a Disney store to me! Although I don’t eat sweet that much since my parents trained me well enough not to eat sweet in my childhood time, I still love the “Milk Candy”. Until now, I can still buy this historical brand in the Asian market here.

The “Cigarette Candy” was a mint candy with a long roll shape, just like a cigarette. I don’t know why they made candy in cigarette shape for the kids, but it indeed was one of the most popular candies. In the old time, cigarettes were in fashion perhaps that was the reason?

Remember the paper round cards and paper dolls? Very interesting, boys played and collected paper round cards and girls paper dolls in the old time. Paper doll set that came with all kinds of colorful clothes were very expensive at that time, so handmade paper dolls kept me busy after school. Ha!

In the past, shoppers brought their own grocery bags to the grocery store. We really should go back to this tradition.

Whenever we went to the park or night market, I always wanted to play “Ring Toss” game although only in one out of 100 times I could take home a small prize.

The classroom desk reminded me lots of silly childhood memories. Almost all the desks in the classroom had a deep pencil scraped line in the middle of the desk to divide the desk in half since each desk was shared by two kids. “Don’t cross the line” was the way to maintain its territory on the desk.

To organize the “Book Pack” the night before the school always gave me headache and pressure, since that meant all my homework had to be completed by that time, and I did not like that logic at all.

Wandering on the street in the Story Land here, you can also see the inside of a family room, a barber shop, a theater, a police station, a hot spring hotel, a drug store, a dentist place….etc. In order to reduce the kids’ anxiety to see doctors in the old time, a coin electric rocking animal was placed outside of the doctor’s place and drug store. Even with the rocking animal, I would not even have gone in just by looking at the dental equipment in the exhibition.

Before wash machines, all clothes were washed on this “washing board” that left so many mothers handprints and memories.

Guess, what is inside of this cart? All the yummy “Lu-Wei” (soy sauce and spicy flavored snacks) were in the cart. It was a mobile street vendor. It came to the neighborhood with a tempting smell; however, I don't quite recall this..

After the last exhibit, we returned to the reality in just a few steps up on the stairs. It was a traffic time; I did not want to return to the current time, but…

It is definitely an awesome place to discover and recall Taiwan’s history. Read More