Most Popular Food in Beijing

Most Popular Food in Beijing
Most Popular Food in Beijing

As a heaven of food, Beijing has so many kinds of snacks which have attracted a lot of people from home and abroad. The most popular food are the following.

As a heaven of food, Beijing has so many kinds of snacks which have attracted a lot of people from home and abroad. The most popular food are the following.

 

Clay Oven Roll (Shaobing)

Shaobing or Huoshao are baked layered flatbread with sesame on top. They are usually made in two flavors: savoury or sweet. According to Mandarin cuisine, Shaobing are served with hot pot in winter.

 

Fried Bread Stick (Youtiao)

Youtiao sometimes called fried bread stick, is a long, golden-brown, deep fried strip of dough in Chinese cuisine and is usually eaten for breakfast. It is also known as (Guozi) in northern China. It is also a popular breakfast food in Myanmar (Burma), where it is called e kya kway.

 

Steamed Bun (Mantou)

Mantou sometimes known as Chinese steamed bun, is a kind of steamed bun originating from China. It is typically served in Chinese cuisine. Made with milled wheat flour, water and leavening agents, they are similar in nutrition and eating qualities to the white bread of the West.

 

Soybean milk

Soybean milk is a healthy alternative to cow's milk. Soybeans are composed of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, fiber, and a powerful array of phytonutrients, and have been known to help reduce blood cholesterol, thereby promoting cardiovascular wellness.

 

Eight Treasures Rice (Ba Bao Fan)

Ba Bao Fan is a traditional Chinese dessert with more than a thousand years of history. This dessert is made in all regions of China with their own local ingredients and recipes; however, all recipes are based upon the ingredients of sticky rice and eight different dried fruits. The most famous Ba Bao Fan recipe is from “Jiang Nan”, a southern area of China.

 

Boiled Dumpling

Jiaozi are believed to bring fortune and good luck to their eaters, perhaps because of their appearance as shoe-shaped gold or silver ingots. There is no doubt that Jiaozi will appear on most tables during any given Spring Festival. Generally, people prepare them before midnight on the last day of the previous year, before eating them after the New Year's bell is sounded

 

New-year’s Hard Rice Cake

This staple food is made of glutinous rice flour and comes in thumb sized nuggets. Its popularity during Spring Festival has come about since it has a homonym, which translates as "getting higher and higher year after year." This preserved food is therefore a must-eat in many parts of China, especially its southern provinces.

 

Full-moon Dumpling (Yuanxiao)

Yuanxiao is a special dumpling in China for the Lantern Festival (the 15th night of the 1st lunar month). It is a "ball" made of glutinous rice flour. As the 15th night of the New Year was later called "Shangyuan" and the "Yuanxiao" festival, so the dumplings came to be known by the name of the festival

 

from - http://news.at0086.com/China-fine-dining/Top-8-Most-Popular-Food-in-Beijing.html

The best food in Vietnam

The best food in Vietnam

My favorite memory of Vietnam: Pho. It was offered at breakfast at every hotel I stayed at in Hanoi, Hoi An, Da Nang, Hue and Saigon, so I enjoyed it every morning. Because I’m not a bacon, eggs or cereal type, it hit the spot.

The further south I went, the stronger the flavor got, even though the basic ingredients — noodles, bean sprouts, herbs and beef or chicken — were pretty much the same. It was the broth that got richer. I’m looking to duplicate what I found here in the Bay Area, so if you have suggestions, please let me know. The best I’ve found so far is at My Father’s Kitchen on Divisidero.

While lots of interesting foods can be found on the streets and in restaurants, here are my favorite dishes, beginning with the fish curry at Cha Ca La Vong in Hanoi (above). The restaurant has been in business more than 110 years. I went there 10 years ago when I was in Vietnam and it hasn’t changed a bit, although the city has considerably. You still walk up the impossibly steep, rickety stairs to get to the dining room. There’s only one dish offered, and that’s the whitefish,

 yellow from turmeric that’s sauteed tableside with scallions and dill tops, and served with a pile of cold rice noodles, peanuts, chiles, herbs, shrimp paste and fish sauce. There are many copycats in Hanoi — one day I tried the version at Cha Ca Thang Long, which was filled with locals, but I found the original was still the best.

In Hue, the fixed price menu at Y Thao Garden includes many elaborate presentations such as tiny crisp spring rolls stuck into pineapples and whole shrimp hanging artistically off the edge of a stemmed glass. Pate is wrapped in tofu skin and studded with green beans and other vegetables.

When it came to Bahn mi, I found Bahn Mi Phuong, a little cart set up opposite the market in Hoi An. The sandwich included gooey pate, fatty pork belly, herbs and what looked like an onion-studded sauce, all stuffed into a baguette with a crisp exterior and a tender interior. It cost the equivalent of about $1.

In Saigon, my friend Bobby Chinn took me to one of his favorite restaurants, Hoang Yen, where I had excellent sweet and sour seafood soup, claypot pork and chives with clams, but my favorite was the shrimp with pumpkin blossoms. The shrimp were fresh and sweet, but the pumpkin blossoms made the dish. They had the texture of wilted spinach and a flavor reminscent of okra, without the slime.

I could go on and list 10 more, but I’m adhering to advice from a good friend, who says five pictures of any vacation are more than enough. However, I will cheat a bit: Tomorrow I’ll share a few of my favorite food scene photos from the streets, rivers and markets of Vietnam.

Top 10 Maxim Hottest Women in 2011

Top 10 Maxim Hottest Women in 2011

This hugely popular calendar is back again for 2011. Maxim is known worldwide for its revealing pictorials of the hottest actresses, singers and models. This 2011 Maxim calendar features full-color photos of the sexiest women on the planet. This is not a original calendars,

 

 

 

 

 its displays only calendar girls & models names & photos. For Original Maxim Calendars 2011, You can see at its original website. These models looking hot and sexy in Maxim Calendars 2010. Watch and Download hot & sexy models on maxim 2011 and top 10 hottest maxim women 2011 photos & pictures. Here you will also find maxim 2011 wall calendar, maxim sexiest calendars 2011, New Maxim Calendars 2011 for your computer backgrounds and mobiles. Each Maxim calendar definitely shows off some of the most beautiful women in the world.

 

from - http://ineraissa.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/top-10-maxim-hottest-women-in-2011

Junk food delicious Are there Really Any Junk Food

Junk food delicious Are there Really Any Junk Food ‘Value Meals’

If you want to eat a delicious organic Fuji apply you might have to spend around 75 cents. However, commonly value meals are provided at the cost of merely 99-cents. The cost of the food itself might be only 24-cent if general expenses are considered. If a big delicious Fuji apple cost 75 cent how is it possible to provide a whole meal at the cost of only $99 cents.
How is it possible to sell a meal for less than a dollar knowing that providing the meal carries various expenses like; ingredient, table & chairs, wages for cooks and servers, refrigeration equipment, restaurant rent, advertising and utility bills?


The real question is, how is it possible to sell wholesome food at 99 cents while equally generating a profit?
In America nearly 70 percent of the population is overweight. Other developed countries are also slowly adjusting to the trend. There are hundreds of junk food dealers like Pizza Hut, Mars, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Kraft, which are selling foods to attract customers. Humans are genetically programmed to consume delicious food and junk food has captured this unique feature of having a nice flavouring taste.
Humans are genetically programmed to store fat. In the past, our predecessors lived under periods where they were exposed to famine. Those people who had the best ability to store fat were those who survived. This is why our genes have this inherited ability to save food when there is a surplus of food available. This is why junk food is a problem to society. It is cheap and available in quantities. Moreover, carbohydrates of junk food are easily changed and stored as fat. This is why an increasing number of people are obese and children are now suffering from Type II Diabetes.
In other words, those commercial deals entitled value meal are causing damage to our body. They are also triggering premature death, not directly from the food but from pathologies that develop with time after consuming junk food.





Additionally, food dealers have found that people are effortlessly addicted to sugars as well as simple carbohydrates. So marketers find simple but tasty food solutions for customer. They are not necessarily healthy but rather tasty. This is why there is an increasing volume of junk food on the market.
In fact, the “value Meal’s” that is being sold by various food dealers do, in reality, poison our body. Companies claim that they are providing great affordable products; however, what’s really in the food is another question

travel in japan

travel in japan

 

Akihabara first started specializing in electronics when people dealing in black market radio parts began setting up shop under the elevated JR railroad after World War II. As Japan's manufacturing technology and economy grew during the 50's and 60's, the shops starting selling televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and other consumer household goods.

Many computer stores started opening stores in Akihabara during the PC boom of the 80's and 90's, and otaku obsessed with computers and anime poured into the area. Japanese electronics manufacturers sometimes send prototypes of new products to Akihabara stores in order to see how popular they are with consumers there before release them into the national and international markets.

The urban legend that Coca Cola was originally green when it was first created is actually false (according to the company itself), but the idea still lives on in the hearts and minds of many of us. So it was with no little excitement that I first beheld Asahi's 'Green Cola' sitting on the convenience store shelves. It didn't take me long to figure out what was wrong though, it's not actually green. Sigh. Turns out that the 'green' isn't referring to the colour, but to the supposedly ecological way it's made. However there doesn't seem to be anything particularily environmentally friendly about it, unless the assertion that the drink's lack of colourants, caffeine and preservatives is supposed to equal green? Maybe Asahi is hoping people would focus on the gimmick instead of asking questions.Mt. Kumotori is Tokyo's highest mountain at 2012 meters. The route Kumi and I took started from Mitsumine shrine (Chichibu), finished in Kamosawa (Okutama), and required an overnight stay in a mountain lodge called Kumotori Sanso. The day started grey and overcast (as many Tokyo weekends are prone to do) but we decided to bite the bullet and just go, having planned this hike a number of weeks ago. We arrived at Mitsumine shrine (above photo) at around 11am (about 3.5 hours from our apartment) and took a quick look around the complex. Although the 2000 year old mountain shrine is supposedly worth a second look, we didn't stay long as it was already late in the morning and we had a 6 hour hike ahead of us. Although it wasn't raining, there was a dense mist surrounding everything.Kumi registers us for our hike at the beginning of the trail (below shot), in case we get lost or eaten by bears.

Akihabara now has over 250 electronics stores, from huge megachains to small part suppliers. Most of the shops are gathered around Akihabara Station and along Chuo Dori (Chuo Avenue), and many of the bigger ones have staff that speak English, Chinese, and Korean. Prices can vary significantly between stores and, unlike most places in Japan, are sometimes negotiable.
Many of the electronics in Akihabara are for use in Japan only and overseas shoppers should be sure to check voltage and warranty requirements before buying electronics to use at home. Duty free shopping is also available to foreigners (passport required) on purchases of more than 10,000 yen at some of the larger stores

BMW changes lanes

BMW
changes lanes
by Aaron Danzig

For over three decades, BMW built its brand to be synonymous with performance and the driving experience. The brand character and tone (serious, focused, and engaged) remained unwavering for the most part, while drivers enjoyed innovative, high-performance-yet-accessible vehicles that connect them with the road, rather than isolating them from it.

BMW created a highly coveted brand franchise by successfully cultivating an extremely loyal following of luxury-performance automobile consumers, especially in the face of stiff competition from Germany and Japan. Looking across the global automotive industry landscape, the premium automobile manufacturer from Munich has the most to lose, should the integrity of its brand begin to falter. Yet recent changes in BMW’s product development and marketing strategy leave us wondering whether the Bavarians are deliberately veering from their familiar route, or if they will in fact be caught off-guard as this otherwise finely-tuned machine drifts into another lane. The Brand in Context First, let’s take a look at BMW in context of the global automobile industry. In recent decades, the industry has undergone significant consolidation among manufacturing enterprises. From multiple acquisitions by Ford to the Daimler-Chrysler merger, many automakers now enjoy economies of scale and global distribution networks that afford significant advantages in procurement, R&D, manufacturing, and distribution. The synergies borne by these scale economies allow larger manufacturers to better weather fluctuations in the macro-economic environment, yet profit from the evolving needs of the car consumer. For instance shifting production away from gas-guzzling SUVs to more economical automobiles helps manufacturers profit in years where oil prices rise; while developing innovative brands and designs can satisfy new segments of consumers who will pay premium dollars for differentiated features and styles. Manufacturers that cannot rely on scale to deliver profitable returns need to ensure that their brands and limited product lines remain highly differentiated and relevant, and continue to aggregate a growing consumer following in the face of sophisticated competition. Even without a degree in microeconomics, you can get a sense of the relative advantage among various manufacturers by examining the sector chart below. The chart plots relative automobile unit share and growth rates of the major manufacturers.

Depicting relative “share of garage” illuminates several observations:

- In a mature category tamed by annual growth of two percent, above-average growth for one major player will come at the expense of flat to declining sales of another. Here, strong competition from Japan and Europe chips away at Ford and GM’s global dominance.
- In order to enjoy greater cost advantages as well as research and development, distribution, and marketing synergies, volume players are compelled to defend their positions by consolidating tertiary brands (for example, Mazda, Volvo, Land Rover, and Jaguar under Ford Motor Company), or joining forces (for example Nissan and Renault).
- When measured by relative unit growth, the BMW group (helped recently by the introduction of the new MINI) has enjoyed the most success in serving and aggregating loyal and new customers around its brands.
BMW succeeded in differentiating its product line to address the growing needs of its target audience, introducing the Z3 roadster and the X5 sport utility in the late 1990s. By the end of 2003, fully ten percent of all BMW sales were in the “light truck” category. The new MINI, launched in 2001 as a separate master brand yet arguably benefiting from the halo effect of its parent brand, was a phenomenal success, reaching estimated sales of over 120,000 units in 2003, or ten percent of the BMW Group’s unit sales. Nonetheless, isolating pure BMW unit sales reveals respectable five-year unit growth of 30 percent, a virtual tie with the growth of Mercedes-Benz.
Drive Diversion
But just over the last few years, some major tweaks have been churning out of BMW’s design and marketing departments. Perhaps threatened by the marketing savvy and performance-minded products from Audi, Mercedes, Infiniti and others, BMW has decided to shake things up a bit in its quest to keep the core brand distinct from the pack. And while significant shifts in design philosophy, driving qualities, or brand identity could alienate loyal consumers and damage brand equity, BMW has ironically put these very attributes into play in what appear to be some risky moves to achieve greater brand relevance.
The Bavarians certainly succeeded in shaking things up from a core product standpoint. It began in the fall of 2001 when BMW introduced the radically restyled 7-series luxury flagship, which focused heavily on form and technological innovation. The love-it-or-hate-it design introduced aggressive and controversial angles to BMW sheet metal, especially those framing the “humpback trunk,” as one editor put it. The extreme makeover went beyond body design, re-arranging the traditional driver interface from a quirky column-mounted shift mechanism to the oft-criticized iDrive multi-function control. Automotive journalists fussed for over 15 minutes just to start and engage the car in drive, never mind operate the air-conditioning. And as Frank Markus of Car & Driver wrote, “the new 7 seems less intimate, more aloof and disconnected from the driver than its forebears” – quite a contrast with traditional Bimmer gestalt.
The 7-series edgy styling and technological gadgetry set the tone for the new ranges of BMW sedans: The recent 5-series replacement features speed-sensitive steering ratios (a further evolution from traditional driver interface), and trunk design that one journalist termed “angry.” Judging by the overall flavor of trade reviews, the new flagship has ushered in more of an “ultimate technological revolution” than a further enhancement of the driving experience.
Dating back to the first 3-series in 1975, BMW has been well served in the US and UK by the ubiquitous tagline, the Ultimate Driving Machine. Today, however there appears to be a shift in North America to align with the Joy of Driving brand positioning used globally. While this move may facilitate some marketing synergies and unite today’s broader product lineup under a more accessible brand, it seems to dilute the power of the Ultimate Driving Machine associated with BMW’s core sedan offerings.

Fortunately for BMW, taking risks has not resulted in disaster yet. But the shift in strategy may already be exposing some setbacks at a time when most luxury brands are struggling through a weak first quarter. While last year’s initial sales build for the new 7-series actually exceeded that of the preceding design, sales through February 2004 for the 7-series are down 21 percent versus last year. The American watchdog publication Consumer Reports recently singled out BMW’s flagship as the most unreliable European model, with more reported problems per 100 cars than other models in its class. Among vehicles that have been recalled multiple times, the 2000 to 2001 X5 nearly tops the list with 12 recalls, according to the Center for Auto Safety.

It’s always interesting to see a tried and true brand change course. At the end of the day, while the designers and marketers tweak the Machine, hopefully they’ll continue to steer the Ultimate Driving brand down a road that’s true to its heritage

from - http://www.brandchannel.com/features_profile.asp?pr_id=171