Fishing for Shrimps in Shilin Taipei 釣蝦場

Last week when I was in Taipei, I was brought to this shrimp-fishing place in Shilin (釣蝦場). You fish for shrimps and you cook them later on. We had to go by car because there's no MRT nearby.

The rent for 1 fishing rod for 1 hour was 350 NTD, while for 2 hours it was 600 NTD. We used the fishing rods to fish for shrimps in this murky pool. As for the bait, my friend bought it for us.

釣蝦場 - Shrimp Fishing Place

There's a certain "art" to catching a shrimp. You have to move the bait slowly around, as if it was moving like a fish. I had to be reminded several times - "that's not how a fish moves!". The bait movement needs to be slow and steady. According to my friend, the shrimp will first test the bait for danger by using its claws (I only found out this day that shrimps actually had claws!). After testing, it will start to nibble the bait and pull at the hook. When it does, I jerked the fishing rod and the shrimp gets hooked! (Ouch). Then I pull out the fishing rod.

My friends, posing with the shrimp they caught

After catching the shrimp, my friend had to pull out its claws (double-ouch! :( poor things). If he didn't pull it out, it would be hard for him to remove the hook from the mouth. I didn't take photos, but there's a bunch of shrimp claws/arms all over the floor. I only tried pulling out the shrimp's claw/arm once.

This is me, posing with the shrimp I caught

For the 2 hours that we've been fishing, I managed to catch 8. Not bad for a first-timer. At the earlier parts, a lot of them managed to get away, along with the bait from the hook (waited for too long before jerking or pulling too slow).

I cleaned those 8 myself. By cleaning, I mean pulling out its legs and the long thing from its snout. I felt really bad doing it... it must be torture for them.

Ready for skewering

After the shrimps have been cleaned, the next step is to skewer them with the BBQ sticks from the tail up to the head. While I'm excited to eat grilled shrimps, I just feel really bad for them. After skewering them all, we lined them up and poured salt to coat them.

Grilling shrimps

After this, we grilled them! I think we overcooked some, but majority of the shrimps were grilled correctly. Of course, the shrimps were fresh. We bought drinks, rice, and other food after this. For the shrimp sauce, they gave us soy sauce and wasabi. For me, I had my shrimps with Heineken.

Cooked Shrimps!

Overall, I had fun! Mixed feelings of excitement over the fishing activity but guilt for torturing shrimps (according to scientific studies, shrimps do feel pain). If I were to do this again, I would probably just behead them from the start and then bring over some pesto, chopped garlic, and lemon for marinade prior to grilling. Yum.

Quick recap of the whole thing!

Kinect at the New Eagles Nest in Banawe

We got invited to the new Eagles Nest. It used to be in Amoranto St. but it was moved to 168 Apo St. They've got Magic Card games and Kinect games. It's not open yet, but it will be open soon!

Here's a couple of photos of us playing Just Dance, Dance Central, and the Avengers.

Playing the various songs in Just Dance

Watching people dance is entertaining

Do the Hustle!

Teach me how to dougie!

I forgot which song this was

Playing Marvel Avengers!

Photos of My Anvaya-Subic Trip

Over the weekend, I went to Anvaya and Subic with my high school friends. We went on a day trip in Anvaya and stayed overnight in Subic. We stayed in Seorabeol Grand Leisure Hotel (family room) - it's our favorite go-to hotel when I go to Subic with college friends.

Here's a collection of the Instagram Photos I've taken.

Having breakfast in KFC in a gas station in NLEX. I had the Chicken Tocino meal. I will most likely not go back to KFC for their breakfast.

Arriving at Anvaya mid-day :) 

My friends attempted to play frisbee but failed because the sand was too hot.

We availed some of the activities. The ping pong was free. Some of us rented bikes for 150/hour. I fell off the bike. See my bruise in the later pictures.

We went around the place to take photos. 

The backdrop of the lake and trees were really nice

There were a lot of white ducks roaming around the place. One person was chasing it around to see how fast they can run. Another friend had a video which we're not posting online.

Now that it wasn't too hot, my friends played some light frisbee catch

I took a photo of a random couple watching the sunset

Joan again, chilling

They still had their Christmas decors up!

Back in Subic after checking in at Seorabeol, we had dinner in Xtremely Xpresso! We had bibingka after.

The following day for lunch, we went to Meatplus. The Rib Eye steak was AWESOME. It tasted very similar to Mamou. I heard somewhere Meatplus is a supplier. :P

See my bruise from falling off the bike

Pasalubong for my pamangkin: 2 Chicken Alphabet soups from Puregold Subic and the paper bag that came with it that I decorated as a puppet!

Kanto Freestyle Breakfast in Mandaluyong

I had dinner today in a new place! Kanto Freestyle Breakfast in Mandaluyong :) I was with my new teammates. :D Meet JP's new friend as well, Barbie the dog. My tuyo meal was Php 90 btw. :P

I hope you dont mind my short writing, but i'm too lazy now... But i had a good time here and I wanted to share so here goes!

Didi and I, Tuyo & Kesong Puti, Barbie the Dog, Leo and JP

My meal: Tuyo, Kesong Puti, Scrambled Eggs, Pesto Tomato, and Garlic Rice for PhP 90

3 pieces of Bacon as additional viand, Php 60. Sorry, takaw.

Didi's coffee which smelled very cinnamon-y for PhP 25. I wish I got one too.

Menu Page 1

Menu Page 2

I took a screenshot of my phone for documentation. I'll be back! This is the Boni Ave side where there's Tapa King.

Update: Apparently, they're already famous and they've got their own Facebook fan page. :) http://www.facebook.com/kantofreestylebreakfast 

Next time I go, i'll try to pancakes.

Potluck and Quick Easy Tomato Cream Soup Recipe

Porkchops, Tomato Cream Soup, Wine, Whoppers, Havannets for Dinner

My friends and i got together for a "potluck". Chux made barbecue porkchops and brought red wine. Lance brought Hershey's Whoppers Ice Cream. Debbie brought Havannas all the way from Argentina! I made Tomato Cream Soup. :D We watched Friends with Benefits after (Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake).

So here I am - sharing the quick and easy recipe for tomato cream soup! It's quick, easy... this is the shortcuts and cheats version. It's not exactly healthy since I just used bouillon cubes (high sodium) instead of chicken stock, but I needed something quick.

Ingredients (Serves 4-6):

• 3 cups of water
• 1 chicken bouillion cube (or more, if you feel like it)
• 1 big can of tomatoes (sometimes i use diced, sometimes whole - i prefer whole)
• 2 cloves of garlic and 1 small onion chopped
• 1 pack of all purpose cream
• a teaspoon of dried rosemary (or anything you feel like adding, maybe basil)
• freshly ground black pepper and extra virgin olive oil at the end
• Croutons (my friends requested for croutons but I didn't have any)

How to:

1. Dissolve the bouillon cubes with the water in a soup pot and let it boil in medium heat
2. Add the canned tomatoes in with rosemary and the chopped onions and garlic. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat and wait for it to cool a bit. Add the cream in and mix.
4. When it's not boiling-hot anymore, transfer it to a blender but only up to half of the blender at a time to prevent it from spilling when you blend. Transfer the blended soup into a soup bowl.
5. Once everything is blended, it's ready to be transferred into the smaller bowls.
6. Add black pepper and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on top. If someone requested for croutons, add it as well. :)

UPDATE!!! [Nov 18] Here's an even better recipe for the Tomato Soup, but it would take a lot more effort than this one. http://myhobbycollection.blogspot.com/2012/11/italian-cooking-spree-we-made-chunky.html