East Asia Blog Round-Up : 29/8/2010

Here is this week’s East Asia Blog Round-Up :

• Aeri’s Kitchen - Aeri shares her recipe for garlic chive kimchi (buchu kimchi, 부추 김치).
• An Acorn in the Dog’s Food - Paul talks about his latest visit to the Uijeongbu Immigration Office.
• Asia Shock - Patrick reviews the Korean boxing drama,  Crying Fist.
• Beijing Haochi - Jen teaches readers how to make their own Cantonese roast pork (siu yuk, 烧肉).
• Bendilaowai - Rachel writes about a lead poisoning incident in the small village of Beiya (北衙) in Yunnan Province.
• Contemporary Japanese Literature - Kathryn reviews Thomas Lamarre’s book, The Anime Machine : A Media Theory of Animation.
• Fili’s World - Fili talks about Shanghai’s ancient water town, Qibao (七宝).
• Hiroyuki’s Blog on Japanese Cooking - Hiroyuki shares the recipe for his award-winning dried enoki fried rice (干しえのきチャーハン).
• New Worlds to Conquer - Anuan talks about a recent day trip to Nara (奈良).
• On My Way to Korea – Matt writes about his recent visit to the island of Ulleungdo (울릉도) off the east coast of South Korea.
• One Fork One Spoon - Grace tries to figure out which is the best commercially made doenjang (된장).
• Sinoglot - Kellen and the Sinoglot readership discuss the trend of adopting a foreign name when living abroad.
• Sinosplice - John shares his thoughts on the online dictionary/translation database, Jukuu.
• Speaking of China – Jocelyn answers a reader’s question on how the Chinese view gay couples and  families.
• The China Beat - Mengfei Chen interviews author Deanna Fei and asks her about her recent novel, A Thread of Sky.
• Tsukublog - Avi writes about the Tsukuba Matsuri festival and its nebuta float procession.
• Wandering Taiwan - Micki and Kristen go cycling through the streets of Jingliao (菁寮) in Taiwan’s Tainan County.

That’s all for this week. Readers should note that this will be the last East Asia Blog Round-Up until October 2010 due to the fact I will be in China for most of September.

Plenty of informative and interesting blogs can be found listed in the blogroll so feel free to check them out.

East Asia Blog Round-Up : 22/8/2010

Here is this week’s East Asia Blog Round-Up :

• An Acorn in the Dog’s Food - Paul talks about the Korean festival known as Chilseok, the Korean equivalent of China’s Qi Xi and Japan’s Tanabata festivals.
• Bruce Humes - Bruce shares his tips and recommendations for the upcoming Beijing International Book Fair (30th August to 3rd September 2010).
• China Hope Live - Joel and his sister enjoy a Tianjin-style breakfast.
• Danwei - The Danwei staff interview Lisa Brackmann, author of Rock Paper Tiger.
• David on Formosa - David talks about some of the election posters he’s come across in Taichung, Taiwan.
• Fili’s World - Fili shares some of the photos he took during a visit to the Hongfa Buddhist Temple in Shenzhen.
• Going Places - Diana reviews the book We Married Koreans, a book on bi-cultural marriages in the 1960s.
• Life on the Tibetan Plateau - The author talks about his month-long tour of the Kham and Amdo regions of Tibet (the second part of his travelogue can be found here).
• Maangchi - Maangchi posts a video recipe for Korean-style steamed pork buns, or jjinppang mandu.
• Notes from Xi’an - Richard talks about his recent visit to Xinjiang Province.
• Shizuoka Gourmet - Dragonlife talks about the different varieties of edible seaweed and their use in Japanese cuisine.
• Speaking of China – Jocelyn gives a reader some advice on online chatting and dating.
• The Japanese Food Report – Harris shares a recipe for delicious home-made teriyaki sauce.
• Waiguoren Critic of South China - Matthew talks about his experiences of a long-distance bus trip between Chengdu and Songpan.
• Wandering Taiwan - Micki and Kristen visit the beautiful old village of Jingliao in Taiwan’s Tainan County.
• ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal - Shinshine teaches readers how to make their own soy milk, soy pulp and tofu at home.

That’s all for this week. The next East Asia Blog Round-Up will be on Sunday 29th August 2010.

East Asia Blog Round-Up : 15/8/2010

Here is this week’s East Asia Blog Round-Up :

• Aeri’s Kitchen - Aeri shares her recipe for Korean-style twisted donuts, or ggwabaegii.
• Asian Ramblings - Stevo talks about the story and symbolism behind Qi Xi, or Chinese Valentine’s Day.
• Beijing Haochi - Jen treats herself to a bowl of delicious, but pricey, zhajiangmian at the Xiaolumian restaurant near the Mutianyu Great Wall.
• Fili’s World - Fili shares some of the amazing photos he took at the 2010 Fulong Sand Sculpture Festival.
• Mandarin Segments – Greg lists some of the resources he uses for his Anki flashcard collection.
• Running into Myself - Roger explores Manali, a touristy town in the Himachal Pradesh in India.
• Shizuoka Gourmet - Dragonlife visits Utogi, the mountain village believed to be the birthplace of wasabi, or Japanese horseradish.
• Sinosplice - Jon celebrates his 10 year “Chinaversary” by posting excerpts of his early observations of life in China.
• Speaking of China - Jocelyn talks about Chinese regional cuisine and the problem she has with the term “Chinese food”.
• The Hopeless Romantic - Claytonian posts a sample of some of the interesting words he came across while reading The Otaku Encyclopaedia.

That’s all for this week. The next East Asia Blog Round-Up will be on Sunday 22nd August 2010.

East Asia Blog Round-Up : 8/8/2010

Here is this week’s edition of the East Asia Blog Round-Up :

• Aeri’s Kitchen – Aeri shares her recipe for Korean canned tuna pancakes, or chamchi jeon.
• Appetite for China - Diana shares a delicious recipe for Hunanese aubergine with bacon and shiitake mushrooms.
• Bendilaowai – A short article on the shaman culture in China’s Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture.
• Brian in Jeollanam-do - Brian shares some travel tips for a pleasant weekend in South Korea’s Gangjin county.
• Just Another Day in Japan - Paul talks about the sempai-kouhai hierarchy and its role within Japanese business culture.
• Just Bento – Maki announces the release of her new book The Just Bento Cookbook.
• Konnichiwa - Bartman shares some of the photos he took during a recent visit to Yokohama’s Chinatown.
• On My Way to Korea – Matt visits the famous Gio Cat Cafe in Hongdae.
• Shizuoka Gourmet - Dragonlife explains how to make your own grilled mackerel (or yaki saba) sushi at home.
• The Japanese Food Report - Harris shares a few tips for preparing tasty fresh edamame (soy beans).
• The View from Over Here - The author explores the stunning temples at the Angkor Wat archaeological park in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
• The View from Taiwan – Michael posts a list of slogans devised by the Taiwanese government to encourage Taiwanese couples to have children.
• Xinjiang : Far West China – Guest blogger Glen shares his top 5 Xinjiang travel tips.
• 四海为家 – Maria writes about her day out at the Shanghai Expo.

That’s all for this week. The next East Asia Blog Round-Up will be on Sunday 15th August 2010.

Note : The mid-week blog round-ups will resume in October 2010.

On the Road to China..

Only 4 more weeks before I set off on my 3-week vacation to China. My partner and I submitted our visa application forms this morning so we should have our passports back next week if all goes according to plan.

A word of warning to those of you who might need to visit the Chinese embassy in The Hague in future : get there as early as possible! We arrived there shortly after 10am and spent an hour and a half standing in the queue to get inside. Had we arrived a little later, we probably would have been turned away at the door and asked to come back another day. Once inside, we only had to wait a few minutes for a service desk to become available. 5 minutes later and we were back outside.

All that remains to do now is have our vaccinations, pack our suitcases and jump on the plane to Beijing. 27 days and counting…

East Asia Blog Round-Up : 1/8/2010

Here is this week’s East Asia Blog Round-Up :

• Aeri’s Kitchen - Aeri shares a delicious recipe for “royal palace” tteokbokki, a traditional Korean dish made from vegetables and sticky rice cakes.
• As I See Japan…From L.A. - Jon reviews the samurai action-drama Taboo (Gohatto).
• Bendilaowai – A short piece on Tongkou Village and one woman’s quest to rebuild her life following the Sichuan earthquake of 2008.
• Confused Laowai - The author shares some tips for learning Chinese through watching TV.
• Danwei - An educational and quirky video that compares Mandarin vocabulary used in mainland China to that used in Taiwan.
• David on Formosa – David visits the Marqwang and Smangus communities in Taiwan’s Hsinchu County.
• Konnichiwa – Bartman visits the fashion boutiques and cafes of Tokyo’s Takeshita Dori shopping street.
• Maangchi - Maangchi shares a recipe for Korean-style grilled mackerel, or godeungeo gui.
• Osaka Insider – The author lists some of the best beaches in the Osaka area.
• Running into Myself – Roger leaves Nepal behind and makes his way to the holy Indian city of Varanasi.
• Sinoglot - Kellen shares his thoughts on Lonely Planet’s multi-lingual phrasebook China.
• Sinosplice – John joins the crowds at the ChinaJoy Digital Entertainment Expo in Shanghai.
• The Blacksmith Blog - Pete attends a protest against government policies to replace Cantonese with Mandarin as the official language in Guangzhou.
• Tokyo Five - The author talks about the differences between Japanese and American public school systems.
• Xinjiang : Far West China - Josh reviews the book Eurasian Crossroads : A History of Xinjiang by James A. Millward.

That’s all for this week. The next East Asia Blog Round-Up will be posted on Wednesday 4th August 2010.