nazi detergent

no, this detergent is not endorsed by the SS. it's China Top Brand, China's brand supervision and quality control. much like our own SPRING and formerly SISIR. but it certainly takes getting used to. In Beijing you can see the "SS" logo on buses, on advertisements and many products. In Shanghai, there was one whole walking street full of big signs with this logo. it seemed like the Nuremberg Rally! Others have been taking notice and are asking about why this lack of sensitivity.

I think it's more of a case of lack of awareness and coincidence more than anything else. even in Taiwan, there had been a nazi-style theme pub and TV ads selling something. There's even a group of postgrad students in Taiwan forming a National Socialism Association and claiming NGO status!!??

south african food

attended South African Freedom Day reception in Beijing. unlike many receptions with the usual hotel buffet food, the highlight was the delicious South African food prepared by the spouses of diplomats from the embassy. I was told the food was basically home-made and very authentic. Having grown up on a diet of Wilbur Smith books, many of the dishes were not unfamiliar like biltong and bobotie, but it was the first time I've tried them. Overall, they were delicious and tasty due to influences from Indian and Malay cuisines. the excellent South African wines went well with the food too!
my favourite of the evening was chakalaka, a vege stew of onions and beans. slightly spicy and very tasty.
the bobotie, made from beef, tasted sweet from dried fruits. it looked like lasagne but tasted like very smooth yam due to the fine texture. sounds weird but quite delicious.
Biltong, dried beef very much like jerky. lightly spiced with pepper.
Boerewors, beef sausages
Lamb tripe, surprisingly tender and yummy. there's a Chinese muslim dish in Beijing that's very similar to this South African dish, but not anywhere nearly as tender.
the steamed bread went very well with the stew and bobotie. tastes like very soft bread but not crumbly, or soggy very good texture.
Putupap, made from corn meal. very similar to "grits" from Southern US cooking, but this is smoother. it's a carbo dish like the steam bread.
milk tart dessert. light and not too sweet.

please don spike my food!

Sally up in arms against contaminated pet food! showing them the finger!

first the scare over wheat gluten, and now melamine in rice protein concentrates has led to an expanding FDA list of recalled pet foods. earlier, Royal Canin (Sally's brand of dry food) was not on the list and then came reports of dogs in South Africa dying. Now even Royal Canin USA had made a voluntary recall even though they stressed that there were no confirmed cases of illness affecting pets eating their brand. Sally's food was on the "safe" list (so far).

in any case, Sally is on a half fresh food, half pellet diet. She gets a meat stew (either chicken or beef) with vegies, supplemented with one meal of pellets for minerals and nutrients. If need be, we can switch Sally to all-fresh food, not that she will compain!

there were reports that suggest melamine was added to raise the protein content in quality tests. if this was true, this would bring bad image and publicity to China products, not just in food industries. especially now there were concerns that the products might have entered the human food chain. FDA is now investigating. with the globalised industrial product chain, such incidents will be more common with an ingredient produced from the other end of the world affecting consumers worldwide. previous food scares affecting China (too many to list) could be "exported" to the world.

What I'm puzzled with is why can't they make pet food with "REAL" food and not wheat gluten and rice protein. the short answer is that pet foods, like most processed food for human consumption are made with many chemical and processed ingredients. just read the labels. only when food scares happen then consumer will jump up in shock.
"please don spike my food!" I'm just a dog and meal times are my few pleasures...

KMY in Beijing

KMY was in town with his frens. we brought them to a foot massage session after their trip to the great wall. KMY apparently climbed up to the wall, without taking the easy way out by taking cable car. of course, he was whining all the way since it was really a tough climb. Robina and I figured that he deserved the foot massage.

after that, we brought them to buy IPR-challenged DVDs at a shop nearby. as a sign of a small world, we bumped into Diana! Diana was surprised when she turned around and spotted KMY. She comes to Beijing frequently on work trips. Robina and I had brought her to the DVD shop just a few months earlier. There was much screaming and general pandemonium that I think the other customers thot that there was a bust going on!