McDonald’s: A Hamburger by Any Other Name?

by Jamie Rhein on

Over coffee with Tom Barlow, former fellow blogger from my Blogging Ohio days, the subject of McDonald’s came up. He mentioned that he came across a McDonald’s menu from India when he was doing a blog for his new digs at Blogging Stocks. That caught my attention.

I’ve been to McDonald’s in India, Taiwan and Singapore. Not one for American fast food eating as a rule, there is something comforting about going to a place that looks familiar when one is living or traveling overseas. However, despite the fact that McDonald’s may look the same, what each serves up is quite different than the U.S. version when you consider that it’s the hamburger that put McDonald’s at the top of America’s fast food nation pile. In Asia, if there are hamburgers, sometimes it’s a special style sauce or some McDonald’s don’t serve hamburgers at all.

In India, for example, you’ll be hard pressed to find a McDonald’s that serves hamburgers. I don’t think any of them do. In Singapore hamburgers may or may not be on the menu depending where in the city the restaurant is located. There are chicken burgers galore however. The special sauces appeal to the palates of the people who mostly live in that particular country. In Taiwan, it’s possible to get corn soup as a side order. If you want to get the one menu item that tastes like it’s been cooked up in the U.S., French fries are universal. The largest McDonald’s I was ever in was in Bejing, China. When traveling, besides the French fries, you can count on McDonald’s for a clean toilet. At least, that’s been my experience. Thanks to Eric Deamer on Flickr for his shot of a McDonald’s menu in Taiwan.

Bubble Tea: So Many Flavors, so Little Time

by Jamie Rhein on

Each country I’ve lived in has some food or drink item I came to crave. So, when I think of that food or drink I think of that country. Like how eating Creamsicles and pork rinds reminds me of my childhood. (Okay, I have some southern roots and I can not recall the last time either passed my lips.) Bubble tea reminds me of Taiwan. When I left there I was sure that was the end of my bubble tea drinking days, since I hadn’t seen it before I moved to Hsinchu. As it turns out, bubble tea made it out of Asia and it seems it’s the latest creation to rival Baskin and Robbins ice-cream in the number of flavors possible. In Columbus, Ohio there are at least three places I know if that serve bubble tea-two of the businesses revolve around it. One, Bubbles Tea & Juice Company, is at the North Market, a swank boutique like eatery that stalls with various offerings ranging from organic meats to high end baked goods to ethnic foods and the other is near The Ohio State University campus.

The bubbles in bubble tea aren’t really bubbles at all but tapioca balls that are so sticky if you shoot them out of a straw at a window, they’ll stick. I have never done this but I know someone else who has. The balls are black and settle to the bottom of the glass, which in true Taiwan fashion is usually not glass but plastic. The tea is served either with milk or without and comes in different flavors: red bean, litchi, green tea melon, strawberry, you name it, someone is making it somewhere. In Taiwan you can get it cold or hot. I prefer hot myself. In the U.S., cold seems to be the temperature of choice.

Here are links to blogs and articles about Bubble Tea spots in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Houston. Read them for flavor suggestions. Where do you go for your bubble tea and which flavor do you recommend? Here’s a link to a company, Boba.us where you can buy supplies to make your own.

Airplane Exercises You Can Try at Home

by Jamie Rhein on

One of the best plane trips we took when our daughter was small was a Japan Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Narita, Japan. Instead of letting you figure out what to do to amuse yourselves for the hours on end it takes to get across the Pacific, they help you out. We played Sky Bingo as part of the entertainment. Whoever wanted to play got a Bingo card and the numbers were shown on the big screen. (I think that’s how it worked.) I do remember that our daughter was given extra prizes just for being cute. I have no idea if Sky Bingo is still played, but it was a great idea, I thought.

Another fun thing was the exercises we were led through after we had whatever sleep we could snag. I loved the exercises. These were the kind you do in your seat, but meant to get your blood flowing and the kinks out. Here is a video I came across on You Tube of exercises being done on a plane you can even try at home. This is some Chinese flight, I assume. You can practice counting in Chinese while you watch.

Photo of the Day (3/7/07)

by Adrienne Wilson on


Despite the date stamp on this photo you certainly can’t deny how raw the photo appears. Okay, maybe raw wasn’t the word I really wanted to use let’s go with dope. This shot taken in Halong Bay by LadyExpat is just that. She titles it the “Halong Bay Corner Store” which I imagine there might be some house boats around awaiting the Oreo cookies, fresh fruit, Merlot and Pringles order they put in an hour ago. I don’t know, but the point is this photo is simply fresh! Great work!

Austrailian Smuggles Asian Fish In Her Dress

by Jonathon Morgan on

Usually, the residents’ line at customs is a fairly straightforward experience. While non-residents are grilled about their plans, their luggage, etc, those returning home do little more than flash their passport to customs officers as they breeze through to baggage claim.

But when customs officers hear “flipping noises,” chances are, they’ll suspect something fishy.

That’s what happened with Sharon Naismith, a 45 year-old Australian woman who was caught in June 2005 at a Melbourne airport, trying to smuggle 15 Asian fish into the country. She’d constructed an apron of 15 water-filled plastic bags, which she concealed under her dress. Officers found 14 catfish, and one very rare Asian arowana, reportedly worth tens of thousands of dollars.

She was sentenced today to 9 months of community service, pleading guilty to a charge of attempting to import regulated wildlife.

No news on whether or not the fish made it home safely.