Doing some ordering online.

In Korea I loved shopping online. I used G Market mainly because I didn’t need a Korean credit card, but also because they provided an English site and had a lot of items that was quite hard, if not impossible, to find in Korea. I bought my oven from there, as well as an endless supply of foreign ingredients and computer hardware that would have otherwise been difficult to purchase. It was a nice little haven for me.

In China I haven’t, yet, found a replacement, although I have come across a number of online sites that I could use if I wanted to buy some items. The biggest problem, naturally, is that everything is in Chinese which means I need Em next to me at all times to translate. While there are some English online shops, like Carrefore, they’re expensive and for the most part the site is created by local Chinese people who will simply go into the store and buy the merchandise on your behalf (thus the relatively high prices of each item).

Em does know a few Chinese sites which are pretty good. Today we managed to order ourselves an oven, because let’s face it, a wok isn’t going to roast me a chicken. True, I can buy a roast chicken (or a numerous amount of different flavoured and spiced chickens) from any supermarket here, but at times I want a chicken the way I want it (which would be a way that most Chinese people wouldn’t want their chicken to be cooked).

The reality is, in Beijing you can buy just about everything. Awesome types of bread, pastries, meats (cold and hot), and the restaurants are feel are second-to-none from anywhere I have lived previously, so an argument could be made that I don’t really need an oven. You could also argue that my roasts and pastries don’t taste as good as those as you could buy, but the truth is, I love to cook and to have an oven give me opportunity to do something I really enjoy doing, cooking.

So, we ordered an oven. At 294 yuan (about $50 AUD) for a 28-litre electric, with a rotisserie for chicken, almost identical to the one I had in Korea, it’s a real bargain.

I hope to be getting it tomorrow afternoon. I look forward to cooking some delicious meals with it in the coming months.

Fake goods in Beijing.

One of the things China is infamous for is the peddling of fake and phony goods, such as you high quality merchandise from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada. It’s so bad that when you see someone wearing a Louis Vuitton bag, or a pair of Gucci sunglasses one immediately  dismisses it as a fake without even giving it a thought (let alone a second one). Having personally shopped in such stores with my lovely fiancée (be it as it may on strictly window terms) it’s not hard to understand why people would buy fakes. Who in their right mind would pay $4,000 US for a ‘mirror’ bag when you can get it for $80 from Miss Wu down the street and have it look almost identical (identical to me, but not to the trained eye of Em who can spot a fake a mile away)?

I have to admit it makes me not want to wear my very expensive Prada sunglasses that I bought in Australia a few months back (yes you moron, men do wear Prada) simply because everyone will just assume that it is fake and think I’m a phony trying to wear it. Damn it, I even have a special Prada card to say it’s real, but do you think I can show that to every damn person who sees me wearing them?

The black-market in fake item have even gone so far that it’s affected our lovely daughter, Mille (yes, the blasted rabbit). No, we didn’t buy her a Tiffany’s necklace (although someone suggested we should, thanks sweetheart), but something of nearly (NEARLY) equal importance, her food. We have always made it a habit of buying Millie the best rabbit food we could find (or the cheapest one online, you know, whatever is easier) and in China it’s no different. While we’re away in Australia, Em’s best friends bought Millie some of the expensive food as well, from a company called ALEX, American I think. The food is slightly brown/orange in colour, and Millie seems to have no problem eating it.

Of course she prefers eating unhealthy treats over normal, healthy food, which is a nasty, nasty habit. But hey, who’s calling the kettle black?

Anyway, she was running low and we managed to find a pet store (by accident) that was selling some of the same, premium, food. While I was of playing with the store Chinchilla (I kid you not!) the storekeeper was chatting away with Em telling her that a lot of fake food was on the market. She showed Em a packet of the fake and real food, and compared the quality of the ink used on the plastic bag. While it wasn’t immediately obvious, you could definitely tell, on a closer inspection, that one was certainly inferior to the other.

And of course when we got home, we noticed that we had some of the fake food that Em’s friend had bought. Of course she wouldn’t have had any idea about that, nor do did we until we’re told, and on opening the real pack of food, the difference in food quality was obvious. The new food had plumb, green, fresh pellets, much more appetizing than the brown/orange ones Millie had been eating previously.  She thoroughly enjoys the new ‘real’ food over her previous imitation food, and who can blame her? I mean have you seen the stitch work on those fake Louis Vuitton bags?!

Suffice to say we need to be extra careful when buying our rabbit food. Now that we have found a store with an owner who actually seems to like animals (you’d be surprised the amount of pet stores and veterinarian clinics in Beijing where the people working there seem to actually dislike animals) we can go back and buy our food from there, even if it is a bit of a hike.

Lucky rabbit.

Apple to possibly introduce a new reading table next year.

I’m happy to see that Apple may be releasing their first type of reading tablet early next year. According to the news report, the tablets will flood into the market challenging the dominant Amazon Kindle, probably the most popular reading table on the market at the moment.

APPLE is preparing to launch a tablet personal computer in late March or April, with manufacturer partners poised to roll out as many as 1 million units per month, according to an Oppenheimer research note.

The highly anticipated tablet is expected to pitch Apple into the digital book market popularized by Amazon.com’s Kindle e-reader. Apple declined to comment.

Source: news.com.au

Great! While the introduction of an Apple tablet doesn’t make the Amazon Kindle any better, nor will Apple’s likely be that much better, if anything it’ll bring the $259US price tag down somewhat. It’s something I’ve wanted to get for a while, seeing as I read many books electronically on my PlayStation Portable, although the screen on the PSP is considerably smaller and the controls can be a little too sensitive to use.

Of course I’d be happy to see if Apple’s tablet, should one even be released, will support both color and different source types such as PDF and Word, like my PSP software can but the Kindle can’t. Not all books are black and white, especially instruction manuals that I download with both illustrations and colour.

And you know, guys, with Christmas around the corner, it’s never too late to order me one.

Or you may just wait and find out how good the Apple one is. It may look nice with the iPhone I plan to purchase next year in Beijing.

Weekend Report: Shopping downtown and Yorkshire Pud’s.

It’s been a cold and wet weekend, a vast contrast to the weather over the last couple of months and no doubt an indication that winter is just around the corner. Despite the overcast conditions on Saturday, Em and I decided to spend the day downtown. We don’t go downtown that often, so we do like going there when we get the chance.

We had a nice sleep in during the morning, so we only got downtown by early afternoon, just in time for a late lunch. Beforehand, I made a stop at Kyobo books, one of the few places in Daegu that have a large selection of English books. I bought two books seeing as I have recently extinguished my supply of books at home thanks to an extended 2 hour break I have every second day at work.

For lunch we enjoyed a delicious meal of Korean seafood shabu shabu (해물 샤브샤브), a meal that both Em and I really enjoy.

We spent the rest of the day shopping around and admittedly way too much time in the three 1,000 won stores (dollar stores) that I know my mum would have absolutely loved. I didn’t buy much else, nor did Em, but it was nice to walk around in the sun, which had managed to escape the confines of the clouds. We ended the day with a trip to Coffee Bean, where I enjoyed a Chai Latte and Apple crumble (did I mention that I was off my special diet for the week, 4 kg’s in the last week alone!) while Em had an orange and mango juice and a slice of Chicago cheesecake (her absolute favourite).

It was a beautiful way to spend a Saturday.

On Sunday we spent the whole day at home while it rained for, quite literally, the whole day. It gave me a good opportunity to clean out Em’s notebook, format everything, and reinstall Windows and all her other software (it’s quite fun testing your Windows installation knowledge when installing it in Chinese). I even got her wireless connection working ok.

In the late afternoon I made an absolutely delicious and scrumptious beef casserole, served with pipping hot, fluffy, homemade Yorkshire puds that I felt rather proud of, seeing as it was my first attempt to make them.

On a cold, rainy, wet, Sunday afternoon, nothing beats the smell of Yorkshire puds cooking in the oven. Served in a nice bowl, and then covered with a generous amount of casserole on top (a little variation from roast beef, admittedly) it was surprisingly one of the most delicious meals I’ve had in a long while.

Although my diet of rabbit food over the last months probably isn’t the greatest compliment I can pay the dish, but I think you get the picture.

It was also, we think, the first time Em has ever had Yorkshire puddings and was greeted my Em’s trademark ‘MMMmmm!’ of delight upon trying them. There can be no greater compliment for me.

And so today is another week. This week is also my co-worker’s, John, last week at the academy, before he heads back to Gwangju. I believe Rob, the new teacher (and one of the blokes I went camping with earlier this year) starts today (or at least will be coming in to say ‘Hello’).

I have also promised by 6 o’clock class that we’ll be having a dok-bok-gi (떡볶이) party today for the great work they have been doing over the last couple of months.

All in all, should be an interesting day. How is your day looking?

Downtown shopping.

What a busy weekend shopping, cleaning, and cooking. On Saturday Em and I decided to spend the day downtown shopping for some clothes. Not so much for me, but for Em, who is in dire need to fatten up her spring collection (which I’m told all women need to do).

Without going on too much, I took a handful of photos from the weekend for you all to enjoy.

Downtown Daegu. The 4 and a half years I’ve lived in Korea, there’s always been some sort of construction at the main intersection where Burger King is. When they finish it, probably in another 4 and a half years, I’m sure it’ll look quite spectacular. As you can see, there were quite a few people around, but compared to most weekends, it wasn’t too busy at all.

Later in the afternoon we stopped by our favourite cafe, Coffee Bean, and enjoyed the wonderful weather outside. We managed to score the table after stalking a couple we knew would be leaving soon. Em ran and got the table once they left.

As you can see, it’s a nice building and reminds me a little of the cafe’s back in Perth. Of course, in my humble opinion, nothing beats the cafe’s back home, especially in Fremantle.

As you can see, the cafe was filled with other couples enjoying a coffee and cake. I enjoyed my iced latte while Em enjoyed a freshly made grapefruit drink. The strawberry cheesecake was also most agreeable.

Everywhere we went downtown there were a lot of couples out and about, including a lot wearing couple shirts. Em and I decided not to wear ours… I even refrained from wearing my pink hoodie.

We briefly thought about having dinner downtown, but seeing as we had delicious shabo shabo there, we decided it might be nice to go home instead and have something to eat (and save a bit of dosh too).

I quickly whipped up a batch of Indian bread (came out perfect with added mashed potato as instructed by my mother), cooked some spicy chicken sausages I had made last week, and some fresh salad and made some wraps. Super delicious.

Yesterday was our shopping day, something we have neglected from doing seriously for the past 2 weeks. As a result our shopping bill ballooned out to over 100,000 won ($100 AUD). At night we had a BBQ with some tasty ribs coated in bulgoggi and smokey barbeque sauce. With a bit of egg salad it was a top meal.

I also indulged and bought some raspberry makgeolli which, as a result, cause my stomach to inflate like a balloon full of gas later during the evening. It didn’t really taste all that nice either, but hey, what does one expect for 990 won? ($1AUD).

We also bought Millie some spring clothes while we’re downtown, too.

Who said a rabbit can’t model?

And this morning I enjoyed some freshly brewed coffee in a small cup filter Em bought for me earlier in the week. I should also mention she bought me a very lovely new leather wallet on Saturday too. Cost a pretty penny, but she’d have it no other way.

As a result I can no longer use my trusty Beijing Olympics Mascot wallet.

One angry rabbit.

And that was our weekend.

The weekend so far.

A pretty good weekend so far. Last night after work Em met me outside the hagwon and we headed down to the university area. On the way there I stopped in at McDonald’s and bought myself a Big Mac. I don’t usually eat McDonald’s these days (for no real reason) but I just felt like a Big Mac.

We also stopped at HomePlus Express where we bought some snack food, a couple of juices for Em, and a couple of cans of Hite beer for me. Heh, I’m sure sometime in the past I’ve posted about how much I dislike Korean beer. I started drinking Hite beer about 4 or 5 months ago as it’s what my co-worker John likes to drink when we go out. I had a few, and well, its not really that bad. Actually, everyone I have makes me dislike it less, and to be honest when I’m smoking a cigar with my beer, I’m fairly sure my taste buds have shutdown for the next 12 hours.

So Hite it is these days.

Once at the university area Em bought herself some fried sandwiches (토스트) and we headed to our usual DVD room. Last nights movie was Zodiac, which I have to confess to saying I have a fascination with real life serial killers. Without trying to sound too strange, I’m always found it amazing how they manage to avoid being caught for so long.

We spent today shopping in the morning, and this afternoon spend an hour or so doing so study. Seriously, I’m not used to studying like I did before. My brain has accumulated a nice coating of rust on it I think, but hopefully I can knock that all of in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow will be a nice relaxing day. I’ll do about an hour study in the morning, and then John will pop over in the afternoon and we’ll have a BBQ and beer on the roof, assuming of course it doesn’t rain. It’ll be nice to have a cold beer and a chat.

But for now, that’s about it.

Roses, movies, a walk, and a broken cart.

I have to confess I was happy the weekend came about. The week at work, for no exact reason, had me a little exhausted by the end of it and I was happy to call it Friday evening. Instead of going home and cooking, I decided to meet Em at her hagwon and, better yet, surprise her with some beautiful roses. There’s an ahjushi who sells flower in a small van that are absolutely stunning that I just couldn’t say no to. And of course, what girl doesn’t like to receive roses for no other reason than she’s the one person who makes your life fantastic? Em was chuffed and that alone put a smile on my face for the rest of the night.

After I picked Em up, we headed home so we could drop off our bags and her laptop, before stepping out again and making our way to the university area. We had intended to buy some chicken skewers and a couple of drinks and head to a DVD room to watch a movie. For reason completely unknown to me, the ahjumma’s that sell the chicken on a stick and ‘dokbokki’ sometimes don’t sell it on a Friday night. I mean one of the busiest nights of the week, and they aren’t there.

Instead we settled on some ‘toast’ and some rabokki (라볶이). We saw ‘Dreamgirls’ which turned out to be an exceptionally good movie, before heading home. Oh yeah, I also had a big can of Cass Red, one of the few Korean beers that I can say is ‘ok’.

On Saturday we went for our shop to HomePlus on the morning. Among our item of shopping was a new showing cart (the ones you see the old women dragging around all the time). We had one before, but the wheel fell off. That should be easy enough to fix, but no one knew how to (something I didn’t quite buy). So we got a new one with an inbuilt bag.

On the way home, and you wouldn’t believe this, the bloody wheel on the thing shattered when I went off a small step coming out of the subway. I mean, I just bought the damn thing and it had broken before I even managed to get home! *sigh*

As you would expect, we took it back the next day and got a full money refund.

On Saturday night we took my co-worker, John, out for dinner to a nice restaurant that Em and I sometimes go to. There we had, for the first time ever, galbi-jjim (갈비찜) which was incredibly tender and juicy. It really was a fantastic dinner. We also cracked open a nice cab-sav that John had given us for Christmas and that I knew I couldn’t finish alone.

On Sunday, as mentioned above, we returned the shopping cart to HomePlus and had a walk around Keimyung university (refer to previous post). We headed home and watched the movie ‘Disaster Movie‘ which really was terrible. (I forgot to mention we saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona on Saturday night, not a bad movie and well worth it purely for Scarlett Johansson).

And that capped off the weekend. Another busy week at school. I have tapes to record today and tests to get through. I should also be getting my SCSI SATA card today or tomorrow. That’ll help finish off my computer nicely. So let’s get this show on the road.

Other blogs/sites you may be interested in:

• Daegu Pockets – An awesome new online magazine in Daegu.
• The Hub of Sparkle! – A collaboration of blogs in Korea.

January ending weekend.

February already and the weather, at least over the weekend, seems to be warming up just a little. Taking full advantage of the clear skies, little or no wind, and the warmth of the sun, Em and I took a walk down to the university area. We popped into an Asian market that we had been to once before. There we bought some ingredients that one wouldn’t usually found elsewhere in Korean supermarkets.

Among the item we bought were a couple of bowls of Chinese ramyeon (instant noodles), some ultra thinly slice lamb (I’ll get to that in a minute, and some red lentils. They had some other nice lamb cuts there including cubed lamb (great for stews) and some lamb liver, which I’ve never seen before. I’m a huge fan of liver but I’ve never tried lamb liver somewhat worried that it would have that lamb ’smell’ to it that I don’t think would suit normal liver taste. Maybe next time I’ll give it a shot.

The sliced lamb, frozen and in the thin rolls, is great for making shabu-shabu, which is basically a broth where you cook meat and vegetables in. At different points of the meal you can add thick noodles and at the end, with a little of the broth left, adding fresh rice to make fried rice with the highly concentrated liquid.

We bought some broth mix (Chinese style, not Korean style which is more in the chili side) and some peanut sipping sauce, which I’m sure has the same fat content of the weekly Korean diet. We’ll buy some vegetables and fresh noodles  from the market today and cook it up for dinner tonight. We don’t have a table burner, so the stove will have to suffice, at least for the moment.

We came home late in the afternoon and let the rabbit for a run on the roof. She hadn’t been up there for at least 2 or 3 months, due to the cold weather, but with her Hello Kitty t-shirt on, she was warm enough. In the meantime, I stitched up the lining in my jacket pocket while Em enjoyed the sunshine.

We came back downstairs after about 30 minutes and I made some delicious bunny biscuits for Millie, since her last batch went moldy (when I baked them they didn’t have sufficient time in the oven afterwards to dry out, resulting in the mold a few weeks later). The current batch came out well and I put some them in smaller jars and places some uncooked rice at the bottom to ensure they didn’t get moist.

The rest of the day we spent cleaning the apartment up , followed up by a nice roast chicken I cooked in the oven. With the unopened cranberry sauce and stuffing we had from Christmas, it went down a real treat.

We ended the weekend off by watching The Millionaire, a really brilliant movie that I would highly recommend. 5/5.

Oh, on Saturday night we saw Seven Pounds. A very good movie, although you’re not really sure how you should feel by the end of it. 4.5/5.

Other blogs/sites you may be interested in:

• Life O’ Dan – Blogging about life overseas.
• Brian in Jeollanam-do – Another great Korean-based blog.