High Speed Rail Around Asia Two Kinds of Chee The Oily Chinese Food Debate: Healthy or Not? Asian Food Markets Stir-Fried Udon Noodles
High Speed Rail Around Asia High Speed Rail (HSR) is not new to Asia, although the biggest network is now being constructed in China. HSR has been in Asia for decades and is getting upgraded all the time. As you experience various countries across North Asia, it is important to get familiar with these amazing trains and be sure to […]
Two Kinds of Chee “Chee” is one of those concepts that floats around in the English-speaking world, but is rarely understood outside of its cultural context. I’ve written about this before in Ginseng and Ginger posts. There are loads of potential benefits to your health if you consider Qi in your daily life. But, first we need to get […]
The Oily Chinese Food Debate: Healthy or Not? As the world turns its eyes on China, and all parts of developing Asia, increasing numbers of Westerners are traveling here and getting a taste of it for themselves, literally. As tasty as the dishes may be, foreign guests have started deciding for themselves that Chinese food might just be “a little too oily to […]
Asian Food Markets Most cities with at least 50,000 people in America are bound to have some kind of Asian market. It might be Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, or any other Asian nationality. That shouldn’t be a problem because all Asian food is awesome! The map to the right will help you find your closest Asian food […]
Stir-Fried Udon Noodles Pronounced “Wu Dong Mian” in Chinese, this stir-fried version of U-Don Noodle soup is awesome. The vegetables can be substituted by any other vege that’s in the house. The dish is about 40% noodles, 15% meat, and 45% vegetables. I don’t really use measurements in cooking, so please don’t worry about being specific. Here is […]

Eating Seaweed Soup for Cancer Prevention

miyeok guk 300x200 Eating Seaweed Soup for Cancer Prevention

Korean seaweed soup with mussels (Recipe below)

 *This post is dedicated to AL.ME’s #1 fan – Thank you Saba

A few years back I visited a little island off of the coast of Zhuhai (China) and found an elderly couple collecting seaweed. They were bending over and reaching around rocks that were covered in barnacles and salty sea grass. When I asked why they were collecting this brownish, bumpy seaweed and putting it into big plastic bags they said, “We’re going to make soup with it.” And I just thought… Chinese people have horrible taste buds… Slimy seaweed in homemade soup must taste awful!

But then a couple months ago I was on the phone with my mom who was walking along a beach near her winter home in Florida. She was looking for sharks teeth, as she does most mornings, when she bumped into a fellow snow bird gathering seaweed into a shopping bag. When she asked what he was doing he said that he was a doctor and that the seaweed has great medicinal properties. By the end of their chat, she had realized she was talking with a doctor who gives speeches around the country on cancer prevention. And this man in particular was sending all of the seaweed he collected to his brother’s clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

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BAD Review of Register.com for Domain Name Services

registerdotcom 220x105 BAD Review of Register.com for Domain Name Services

Beware…

Since AL.ME is a blog, and requires a domain name, I thought I might share some comments for those of you who are also interested in creating your own site to share your stories. If you are looking for a Domain Name register, make sure you AVOID Register.com. (I’m not receiving any compensation from anyone for this article.)

A couple years ago I purchased the domain “S4SpeakingPro.com” because I was developing a site for American English accent lessons and services. When I shopped around for the domain I looked everywhere and found a decent sale at Register. Aside from the fear tactics, misleading warnings, greyed out “next” buttons, etc. I navigated my way to check out. I pointed the domain safely to my host, and that was that. At least I thought that was that… Read More…

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The Ultimate List of East Asian Festivals for your Bucket List

Welcome to my list of the major festivals and holidays celebrated across Northeast Asia- Japan, North and South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Mongolia. This will be a continuously updated list as I keep exploring new and interesting festivals that have evolved in the East Asian cultural sphere, also known as Sinosphere (including Vietnam) because they are all historically influenced by Chinese culture.*

Consider adding some of these to your bucket list and I’m sure you’ll never regret the effort to cover them all!

bucketlist 150x150 The Ultimate List of East Asian Festivals for your Bucket ListAndroid Users
Bucket List app
i wish app 150x150 The Ultimate List of East Asian Festivals for your Bucket ListiOS Users
iWish app

NOTE: Celebrating some of these festivals usually requires physically being in the country. If travelling that far is impossible, see if you can get to your local Chinatown or East Asian neighborhood on the date of the festival.

 CHINA

Chinese New Year (Spring Festival 春节, Seollal in Korea, ) is celebrated across the world by Chinese diaspora. In 2014 it will be celebrated on January 31 and the final day occurring on February 15- see the Lantern Festival below. This is the most exciting festival I’ve ever experienced. It feels like American 4th of July but more dangerous! Get a more detailed overview on this amazing festival here.

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East Asia’s Culture of Learning and Higher Test Scores

shanghaiStudents 300x215 East Asias Culture of Learning and Higher Test Scores

A Culture of Learning

In reaction to the recent PISA 2012 results, this week’s panel GPS with Fareed Zakaria discussed the educational leg up that East Asian countries seem to have over American education. His guests included Sal Khan (Khan Academy), Tom Friedman (New York Times author), Wendy Kopp (Teach for America), and Arnie Duncan (US Education Secretary). The discussion was dominated by a sense of ‘those guys got it right’ which unfortunately is not the over-arching reason for China’s higher test scores, in my opinion. Let me explain… Read More…

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Will Students still come to America after PISA 2012?

Pisa full results graphic 008 Will Students still come to America after PISA 2012?

Chart courtesy of theGuardian.com

After American 15-year-olds scored 36th overall on the global Reading, Math, and Science test, will parents continue to send their students to study in America? Test-obsessed parts of the globe may look at the 2012 results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and determine that our K-12 education does not compare to theirs. Or parents might not care and just send their kids to America anyway. (We’ve still got the highest ranked universities in the world…)

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