Chinese Hawthorn Tree 山楂树

This is one of those I'm Chinese and I'm addicted to stuff that I can't find in the US things. I LOVE Chinese Hawthorn Berries. Chinese Hawthorn Berry Kabob is a stable snack for Chinese kids and I grew up with it. The fresh berries are not available in the US, which has been a really big annoyance for me for years. Now I have some outdoor space, I'm thinking that I can plant one myself. Instead of waiting for 4 years for it to flower and fruit, I found a website that sells the semi-grownup tree. Well, we have to wait until spring for it to be available, but hey, at least I know I can get it somewhere :).

Here's the medicinal effect of Chinese Hawthorn Berries, it's good for high blood pressure (lowers blood pressure). If you don't like eating the fruit, you can dry them up and make tea with it too, which also tastes excellent :).

Finally, Shu Shu Clean!! 超电水

http://www.yf.com.tw/cleanshushu/

Alright, so I was in Tokyo walking around Tokyu Hands and got sucked into a demonstration by a Japanese sales man for this cleaning product 超电水 (translated to "Super Electric Water"), and the English name is apparently Clean Shu Shu (so cute). The demo looked something like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqg5myRtkdM&feature=related. The product looked amazingly effective (of course it cut the grease right off the old kitchen vent fan since it was a demo!), but the most convincing part is that after all that, the guy sprayed it into his own mouth--it's supposedly completely healthy and chemical free. I did some research online later and found that alkaline ionized water (which is what this product is, relatively stable alkaline ionized water with an expiration date of about 6 months) is an amazingly effective cleaning agent and disinfectant and it's chemical free! Well luckily, I bought a bottle and smuggled it back from Japan, and it had been really great in the kitchen and it saved my cat pee stained rug--yes it removed dried up cat urine like a miracle with no odor left behind--much better than Nature's Miracle. Oh yeah, in Tokyo Hands, this random clueless white tourist girl handed her metal watch to see if the watch demo is for real, the towel came off disgustingly yellow and black--worse than the original demo watch, and she turned beet red, lol.

Well to make a long story longer, I used up my bottle and can't find more in the US. After a lot of research, I realized that they sell it in Taiwan, and I E-Mailed the Taiwanese branch company to see where I can buy this product in the US. Apparently it's has a name change (PH12.6) and an uglier bottle in the US, but you can buy the same thing here http://www.ph12-6.com/store/. Talking about shady looking and no marketing...

Well, time to restock on Clean Shu Shu!

Reverse Osmosis System

Stumbleupon brought me to this site http://waterlife.nfb.ca/ which really started me thinking that maybe we should get a reverse osmosis system under our sink for better quality water. After a lot of research, the Watts Premier Zero Waste Revers Osmosis System seems decent, even though the longevity of it is questionable (the low reviews all site problems after 1-2 years). I'm also going to look into Waste Maid Pro-6 System when I get around to it, and look at the lower cost Watts Premier 3 Stage System, and maybe more features like this one with "ultra violet disinfection" (that could very well be not that useful though). Overall, the criteria is good quality water, less waste (usually takes 4-5 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon, which is such a huge waste) and longevity. I'm also going to see if the Point-to-Use Instant Hot Water System is going to work with the RO setup so eventually I can get instant filtered hot and cold water at my sink thus free up some counter space. Yay for kitchen gadgets!

The Perfect Travel Pillow?

Seems like I'll be flying a lot in the upcoming months, and I got sick of my leaky travel pillow, time to get a new one.

This one

http://www.amazon.com/TravelRest-Ultimate-Inflatable-Travel-Pillow/dp/B001DYDAEK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298772218&sr=8-1

or this one

http://www.amazon.com/Lewis-N-Clark-Adjustable-Pillow/dp/B000SKXROI/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1298772218&sr=8-8

Kinda in the mood the venture out for something different like the Travel Rest, but I'm somewhat wary of it leaking in the future, as that's how my last one died, granted that the last one was from Daiso (Japanese dollar store). I think I'll give Travel Rest a shot just to try something different.

According to the review, there are many ways to configure this pillow. It doesn't work too well with international flights if you want to attach it to the seat, though you can wear it on yourself like a shoulder bag. This one review says "All in all, if you like the neck pillows then you probably don't need this. But, if you are a side sleeper, want a larger surface area, or like to hold on to something when sleeping, then you should definitely check this out." I'm a side sleeper and always hold a pillow when sleeping, so this sounds pretty convincing to me. I think it's a buy, what do you think?

Update: I ended up buying this, and so far so very good. I slept really well on my domestic flights, and I can see it working well on international flights as well. It worked well for me because I'm a side sleeper, I don't know how it would work with back or belly sleepers though. Maybe I'll test it out on my husband next time we fly together.

Is Shadora as Shady as They Look?

Well, rest assured that you get what you pay for--they are not going to be top quality jewelry.

Picture is this piece http://shadora.com/products/black-diamond-accent-belt-buckle-ring-in-sterling-silver which I think has a cute design

http://www.vuthy.com/blog/2010/11/23/jewelry-from-shadoracom-review-and-photos/

According to the review above and my own experience, when you see a diamond encrusted piece on this website, what you will get will most likely be diamond chips with studs in a lot of the slots where diamonds are suppose to be. Still, if you get small pieces (I got a key necklace with a flower shape on top similar to this one http://shadora.com/products/silver-plated-key-pendant but it has diamond chips on the flower petals, I like it), and pieces that only has one or two stones, you won't be missing that stone. Granted they are not top quality jewelry, for how often they appear on deal websites, you can often get some okay piece for not much money. I would avoid large pieces and stick with the smaller ones.

Layered Hoodie

I've always been a fan of long hoodies, they give a cute and casual feel and when implemented right can be complimenting to both skinny and rounder figures. This particular set of hoodies have some great colors, but the best part is that they also provide that catchy layered look without the extra bulk. Thumbs up :). http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=8494819760

On a side note, I also love the shoes. I'll keep an eye out for them. Let me know if you know where I can get those shoes :).

I saw this picture in a store in China and really liked the outfit. Then I realized that this particular photo shoot with this outfit is posted on just about every other fashion blog in China. Reverse searching is hard, but I finally was able to find the sweater+hat combo online.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=3568718586

Looks pretty different from the pictures though...the brand is 先潮后人, and they seem to have a really big collection of Korean sweaters.

All the pictures of this outfit is here http://www.yinghuashop.cn/views.asp?hw_id=1820

The Taobao link seems to be the cheapest entry for purchase.

As for the pink skirt, this is the best substitute I could find http://www.yesstyle.com.au/en/shy-shy-pleated-skirt-pink-one-size/info.html/pid.1023787282 but it's out of stock :(.

I guess there's this one http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2440195290095881252qTuIWG and this one http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=8620585093 though not ideal.