MJ Klein aka The Bushman isn’t a stranger to readers of My Several Worlds.  Not only are he and his wife, Hui Chen, good friends of ours, but his blog The New Hampshire Bushman is wildly entertaining. One of the things that MJ is known for is his culinary expertise. A cookout with the Bushman is guaranteed to get your salivary glands.  John and I try to take advantage of any and all invites to that come our way, and these invites have resulted in some terrific parties and get-togethers.  MJ blogged earlier this week on our Saturday excursion to Miaoli, but I couldn’t resist adding a few photos and commentary to his extensive collection.

Be sure to check out MJ’s blog for loads of photos.  He and Hui Chen were really diligent about getting photos of everything while I spent most of my time stuffing my face.

Last year, MJ posted about his BBQ bash at a Taiwan cabin in the country.  The cabin is owned by his friend, Becky and her family.  We met Becky last year through Andres, fellow friend and Taiwan blogger.  Naturally, after seeing the photos, we were desperate for an invite of our own and have waited patiently for our turn to come around.  So when MJ emailed an invite, we jumped at the chance to get some good old country living in!

Becky looked a bit confused to see a foreigner walking up to the house until we were able to figure out that Patrick had finally arrived.

As luck would have it, we ended up getting a personal escort to the cabin last Saturday after Becky contacted us for a ride.  We arrived shortly after 2pm and the Bushman already had the dutch oven ready for cooking.  As MJ filled me in on the ins and outs of dutch oven cooking, John whipped up his famous blue cheese burgers on an unusual looking grill rigged with a teppanyaki plate.

While we were waiting for the burgers to cook, Taiwan bloggers, Patrick Cowsill and Thoth Harris joined the party.  Thoth brought his girlfriend, Sharon, and her son, Toby, along for the party.  Toby immediately headed to the stream running along the side of the house to hunt for river shrimp and then on to the pond at the front of the house, where he nabbed a decent sized fish to take home.

Soon enough, the boneless beef ribs and veggies that MJ had been cooking up in the dutch oven were ready to be eaten.  Mmmmm…..everybody dug in.  As if this wasn’t enough to eat, MJ grilled up some fresh veggies as a side dish.  Then he threw a cake and cherry filling mix into a smaller dutch over for dessert!  Groan.  Naturally we washed every down with large amounts of Mekong rum and CC Lemon.

MJ squeezing his chocolate cake mix and cherry pie filling into the dutch oven.

After the meal, MJ unpacked his guitar to gave us a ripping performance, and we all settled in to enjoy the rest of the evening.  Patrick had the right idea and made himself comfortable.  Then Becky’s dad and brother brought the TV outside and hooked it up to MJ’s PA and karaoke system.  What a sweet set-up!  We had a grand old time belting out tunes all night.

We headed back to Taipei around midnight with big smiles plastered to our faces.  Thanks very much to Becky, her dad and brother for hosting the event.  Another thanks to MJ and Hui Chen for the first rate meal.  It was nice to hang with new and old friends alike.  We had wonderful time and we’re looking forward to our next weekend bash in Miaoli!