My little aunt arranged a BBQ party at her husband’s parents’ farm.
In the front yard is a rice paddy, and the rice was recently harvested. If you’ve ever seen a rice paddy, you’d know that the land is very, very moist. Once the rice was harvested, they allowed the land to dry. I did not know until this past weekend, that the land is basically clay. So, they let the clay dry up as much as possible and then use it to create “kilns” or “ovens” of sorts to ROAST THINGS. We roasted Japanese (yellow) yams, regular yams (orange), and taro roots. It was a lot of work (of which I mainly did not participate in because I still felt sick D: ), but it was also a lot of fun.
My aunt invited a lot of her colleagues from work, and family, of course. Some had done this before (including my older cousin, and possibly my brother), so we had some experiences roasters. Those that weren’t roasted barbecued things. Mainly corn, meat, and clams.
It was quite fascinating; such a huge process! 1. You build up the clay (mostly, if not completely dried-up) into closed-up mounds, with an opening in the front. 2. You burn wood and paper inside until the dried-up clay mound turns black on the outside. 3. The small opening is sealed off, and the top of the mound is opened slightly. 4. Yams and other roots/tubers are dropped in. 5. The mound is again sealed and packed with moist clay and possibly straw to prevent as much smoke from coming out as possible. 6. You wait about an hour or so, and then destroy the mound, digging away at the cover. 7. You dig around (GENTLY) for the yams/tubers/roots.
Making the oven.
While the oven was being made, my little cousins took the opportunity to build things with hay. They made a nest.
My brother and cousin, Ryan, breaking wood for the fire.
My cousin, Tzu-Han, chilling in the nest.
The oven beginning to turn black…
Digging up wet clay to cover the oven with.
Dropping the yams/taro roots in.
Closing up the oven.
Covering cracks and crevices.
The ladies BBQing
Eating while waiting for the yams and taro root to cook.
Breaking down the oven.
Picking out the yams and taro root.
Enjoying the fruits of their labor.
More digging and searching. OH NOES ONE BROKE~!
Chilling in the nest.
My cousin (in the nest) being silly.
My little cousins are really good at drawing/doodling. Snoopy!
There was an overabundance of really delicious food that unfortunately turned my stomach, but I enjoyed the fact that other people enjoyed it. But, really, I had a blast :]
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