How to IM and get Microsoft to Donate to Charity Organizations~!

I really think this program organized by Microsoft should be publicized more. You can now help the world by just chatting using MSN Messenger! It's easy, you just have to do your part to 'change' (you are really just adding text) your nickname to incorporate Microsoft's text code and it will appear an 'i'm' logo in your nickname. That is all you have to do and Microsoft will share its advertisement revenues from MSN Messenger to the organization in which you have chosen in the text code. The minimum an organization gets is USD100,000!

For more details on how to do this and help do your part to contribute to charity, read on for instructions, or just click on this link.

If you think this post was great, do leave a comment ;-)

Click here for the text code

Jay Chou Potato Chips & Icy Mint Sprite

Was at Carrefour again shopping for food and lunch too. Grabbed a pack of Jay Chou endorsed chips! :) (Talk about celebrity power eh? Almost everything in China is celebrity endorsed). There's also a Jay Chou endorsed eye drops, I'll see if I can get that on a picture or video :)

And then here is my first Icy Mint Sprite, the packaging was absolutely eye-catching interesting but when it comes down to the taste, it totally turned me off. Yeah, it had a hint of mint but overall it tasted like medicine with mint flavoring! I think I'll still stick with the lemon-flavored Sprite

And as for the last photo above, although it may seem like a usual Carrefour Supermarket but what's special about it is that all these people are queuing up for rice! Carrefour started a promotion here which goes something like RMB1.00 for 1KG / 500g of rice (can't remember which one exactly) only on designated times of the day. So, if you happen to be there at that time, you will usually see a very long queue at the rice counter.

Paper-Thin Video Display

Came across an article by USATODAY, which reports that Sony has developed a paper-thin display screen. Makes me wonder what kind of gadgets will be available once they get this technology into the mainstream market.

More at this link :- USATODAY : Paper-Thin Display from Sony

McDonalds China Style! (Part 2)

Continuing with McDonald's China Style, I bring to you their version of our Quarter McPounder (don't really recall the exact name except the Pound part). I don't know what they call it in Chinese but for those who can read Chinese please be my guest to leave the name in the comments. Pay attention to how thick their beef patty is! Malaysia's McD really needs to BEEF UP!!!




And then there is the Sweet Taro Pie (sweet potato). I don't really fancy sweet potato but those who do should find it really tasty, and the color looks appetizing too :). I still love the orange pie though.




Lastly, I'm not sure if we have it Malaysia but even if we did it was only during some promotion period, but the Pineapple Sundae is part of their standard menu here in China. I think I better stay away from this, the pineapple cubes tastes more like plastic cubes and the syrup tastes so diluted

Will leave you all with so much for now, till next time then.

KFC Zinger : Big Mac Style!

While I was walking in a shopping center in China, I saw this ad for a new burger for KFC and it's really BIG! I'm gonna try it some day when I have the time and tell you all what I think about it but for now, have a look at the sheer size. I think one serving without fries will do it for my breakfast AND lunch. By the way, it's considerably cheap at RMB11, which works out to be around RM5.50.

Dim Sum Galore

As promised earlier, today I had a chance to take pictures of all my Dim Sum endeavors :). I'll start off with my all-time favorite, the Eggyolk Bun (they call it 'Liu Sa Pau' in Mandarin).

If you have a sweet tooth then this is definitely the one! Hot steaming sweetened egg yolk oozing out from the bun, and once you taste it, it starts off with a savory taste and ends with a sweet aftertaste.


Besides the Eggyolk Bun, I had a chance to try another bun, which if I am not wrong is called the Oatmeal Bun. It basically tastes like steamed buns with Horlicks (not to my liking).



Well, all was not sweet in the morning. I guarantee you'll be full if you just have the steamed buns for breakfast! Now, what we need for this Westerner is a steak! And a Miniature Steak it is! China's not famous for their beef, so I can't compare it to Australian and American beef, but I guess it's still OK.



Next up, SPARE PARTS! (YUCK!). Not a fan of spare parts, but all the Chinese here seem to fancy them, on top you will see a bowl of COAGULATED PORK BLOOD and also BEEF INTESTINES (Gotta find a better name for it, but they call it 'Niu Bai Yeh' in Mandarin).

Will sign off for now, meanwhile I will keep the blog updated with more China experiences. Have to get back to work right now (thankfully I am enjoying the food here so I can keep my mind off work for a while at least).

McDonalds China Style! (Part 1)

Since McDonalds is one of my favorite fast food chains, it would be a sin not to visit them in another country which I am in. Among the variations that I have seen in China, I will document each of them when I have the time to try all their offerings.

For now, I will show you 2 different things that you will most probably not find (if you have then lucky you, though I know Malaysia won't have it anytime soon).

First up, ORANGE PIE! I was so excited at the sight of an orange pie when I was there for a 'to-go' order. My first thoughts on cooked orange, was "Wouldn't it taste bitter, as oranges usually would after they are heated up?". But because orange is one of my favorite flavors, I decided to just try it out. To my surprise, it was sweeeeeeeeet and really tasty! Not only did that manage to maintain the orange taste but you can feel the texture of the orange peels, a definite must-try for those visiting China. Hmmmmm, now I'm wondering do they have a MdDonalds strawberry pie somewhere around the world?



Secondly, is really nothing special. In Malaysia, we call it Spicy Chicken McDeluxe (most probably you have other names in different places), a simple fired-chicken fillet with spicy flavoring in burger style. But the reason I highlighted this is because its fillet is so much bigger compared to the ones I have in my country! It's at least 2cm bigger in length and width, and its thickness it most probably 0.5cm more then what I have in Malaysia. Too bad I don't have any pictures of the Malaysian version for comparison but for Malaysian pals, judge it for yourselves from the picture.

Dinner Outing in China

I'm currently in China and on my second day of arrival I was greeted with a lavish dinner of 'exotic' and rare food. I forgot to bring a camera during breakfast and lunch so i can't share with you the wonderful 'dim sums' yet, but don't worry I'll definitely show them once I have a chance to. Meanwhile enjoy the following:-

1) Fried Chicken - Plain old ordinary chicken but fried to perfection with fattening high cholesterol pork oil :) (YUM YUM!) HAHA!



2) Roasted Goose - I initially thought this was roasted duck (similar to those Beijing roasted duck) but turns out when one of my friend pointed out to me that it was a goose and not a duck. DELICIOUS as you can see from the picture, its texture is akin to silky smooth skin and when bitten the juices that flow out of the meat simply fills your mouth with the tantalizing herbal juices used to marinate it. Definitely on my favorite list of Chinese delicacies.



3) Shark Meat Stir-fried With Vegetable - As for this dish, the only unique part was the fact that it had shark meat in it! Never thought that they would make a dish out of shark meat but I guess anything goes in China right? (I mean since they are killing the shark for the fins, why not utilize the meat too so that it doesn't go to waste). Well, if any one of you reading this wants to give it a try, I strongly DO NOT RECOMMEND it. It resembles your familiar taste of the ordinary fishball except with the difference of a very high price tag.



4) Duck's Feet Webbings - Initially this dish wasn't on the order list, but when the people on the table realized that my tolerance of alcohol was higher than they expected, they did not hesitate to add on another few rounds of liqour with this dish to serve as an 'appetizer' to the alcohol. I have to admit that it wasn't really spectacular, given that it feels more crunchy than anything else.



5) Duck's Intestines (I don't know how else to describe it) - For the finale, like the name suggests, we had duck intestines. I usually don't take animal's 'spare parts' but in this case I was in China and everyone on the table was urging me to try some..........so in the end I obliged. To my surprise, it was actually quite nice when dipped with a sauce which tasted similar to your salsa sauce. Although it looks kinda soft, but it's actually crunchy when you take your bite on it. So, for all those 'spare parts' lover, this is a recommended dish.