Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Archaeology in the News - December 29, 2009

I'd like to apologise to my regular readers for the lack of updates in the past week. My mother is staying with us over the Christmas period so I won't be posting much on the blog till after she's gone back home.

I thought I'd just share some links to some news articles which concern recent archaeological discoveries in China and South Korea, including an article on the discovery of what archaeologists believe may be Cao Cao's tomb.
Since this will probably be the last entry I'll be posting on this blog this year, I'd like to wish all of my readers a happy new year and all the best for 2010!


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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Farewell, Ramen Girl

I was sad to hear that Brittany Murphy passed away earlier this week. While I haven't seen many of her films, I remember her best in her role as Abby in The Ramen Girl, perhaps one of the most underrated and overlooked films of recent years. I posted a review of the film on my old blog, Dreaming in Kanji, some time ago and thought Brittany gave a very heart-warming and heartfelt performance.

I'm not one to worship celebrities and certainly didn't know her personally, but it's always a shame to see someone pass away at such a young age (32). One can only imagine how difficult it will be for her family and friends during this festive season and I hope they can find the strength to come to terms with their loss.

Rest in peace, Ramen Girl.


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Sunday, December 20, 2009

Blog Roundup - December 20, 2009

That's all for this week. There won't be a blog roundup next week due to the Christmas holidays so the next blog roundup will be on January 3, 2010.



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Saturday, December 19, 2009

New Additions to the Blogroll : December 2009

Here is a list of the most recent additions to the Eye on East Asia blogroll :

If you have an East Asia-related blog or know of one that you feel should be added to the blogroll, feel free to leave a message with a link to the blog(s). Please note that a blog will only be added to the blogroll if it meets the following requirements :
  • The blog's main theme must fit into one of the categories listed in the blogroll.
  • At least half of the blog's content should be on a subject related to East Asia.
  • The blog must be at least 3 months old and must be updated on a regular basis. Blogs which are not updated at least once every 2 months will be removed from the blogroll.
  • Blogs containing racist, sexist or other offensive material will be rejected.
A return link to this blog is not a requirement for inclusion in the blogroll, but it would certainly be appreciated.


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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A Date with Destiny

The China Daily has recently posted an interesting article about the Taosi (陶寺) archaeological site in Shanxi Province (山西), China, a site which dates back more than 4,100 years and which archaeologists believe may contain the ruins of the world's oldest observatory.


Photo taken from the China Daily.

The article, Date with Destiny, is a short account of archaeologist Professor He Nu's research at the Taosi site. Professor He is a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Science's Institute of Archaeology and he believes that the excavations being carried out at the Taosi site may yield clues about China's Neolithic past and help archaeologists determine whether the legendary emperors Yao (堯) and Shun (舜) really existed.*

* Readers may be interested to know that I have translated numerous articles and documents for the CASS Institute of Archaeology. The Institute of Archaeology are always on the lookout for volunteer translators, so if you are looking for a fun opportunity to boost your Chinese language and translation skills, feel free to contact the site's webmaster Qiao Yu for more information.


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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Restaurant Review - Sake Almere (NL)

Name : Restaurant Sake Almere
Location : Brouwerstraat 15, Almere (The Netherlands)
Type : All-You-Can-Eat Sushi and Teppanyaki Buffet
Prices : 19.80 euro per person (Mon-Wed), 22.80 euro per person (Thurs-Sun)
Opening Hours : 16:30 - 22:00
Contact : +31 681592252 (mobile)
Website : http://www.sake-almere.nl/ (in Dutch, under construction)

Rules :
You have up to 2 hours to eat as much as you want. The staff will give you a form which lists all of the dishes available and shows 6 columns labelled as "Round 1", "Round 2", etc. You may select up to 5 dishes per person per round for a maximum of 6 rounds. Once you have finished making your selection for that round, a waiter will come to collect your form and the food will start arriving at your table within 15 minutes (it may take a little longer if the restaurant is particularly busy)

Dishes : The standard menu lists 52 different dishes, including a wide variety of nigiri sushi, maki sushi, grilled meats and vegetables, deep-fried foods, salads, noodles, rice and miso soup. You can also order salmon and tuna sashimi but you will need to pay a little extra for these (4.90 euro for tuna, 3.90 euro for salmon). The restaurant also serves a wide range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Highly recommended : Salmon nigiri, octopus nigiri, hokkigai nigiri, teriyaki chicken, grilled salmon, mushroom kebab, gyoza.

Review : My partner and I visited the restaurant in its opening week and while I cannot vouch for the quality of the food and service a month later, we were both pleasantly surprised at the variety of food on offer and the excellent service from the extremely busy staff. The restaurant is owned by the same team who run the Kimono Almere restaurant (you can see my review of that restaurant here) but the food served at Sake Almere was far tastier and there was a larger selection of dishes to choose from.

My only warning would be to limit the number of deep-fried foods and meat dishes you order. Try to leave these for the later rounds as these can be very filling. It's also a good idea to only order as much as you can eat as you will be charged for any food that is left uneaten : 1 euro per piece for sushi and 2 euro per piece for all other items.

We will be paying Sake Almere another visit next week to see if the food and service are still as good as they were the first time around. Watch this space..

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Blog Roundup - December 13, 2009

  • An American in the Far East - Graham shares his thoughts of his recent visit to Kashgar (喀什) in China's Xinjiang Province (新疆).
  • Konnichiwa - Bartman905 posts some beautiful photos of the autumn foliage at the Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens (小石川後楽園).
  • Shiawase - Robert shares some useful information regarding the new format JLPT exams.
  • Shizuoka Gourmet - Dragonlife explains the best way to eat edamame (枝豆).
  • The Japanese Food Report - Harris shares a recipe for kurama mixed rice ().
  • Wandering Taiwan - Micki and Kirsten go oyster farming in Tainan County.
That's all for this week. The next blog roundup will be on December 20, 2009.


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Saturday, December 5, 2009

Blog Roundup - December 6, 2009

  • An American in the Far East - Graham spends a day on China's Huangshan (黄山) mountain.
  • Ben Ross' Blog - Ben learns some Chinese colloquialisms from the show 奋斗, "Struggle".
  • Daily Onigiri - Rok explains the significance of the Japanese tradition of senbazuru (千羽鶴), or "a thousand paper cranes".
  • Goddess Carlie - Carlie talks about some of the Japanese children's books she has read recently.
  • Just Bento - Maki shares a recipe for stewed winter vegetables with kouya dofu.
  • Shizuoka Gourmet - Dragonlife shares tips for making tempura (天ぷら).
  • The Japanese Food Report - Harris shares a recipe for chestnut rice, or kuri gohan (栗ご飯).
  • The View from Taiwan - Michael explores the issue of ethnic identity in Taiwan.
  • Tsukublog - Avi talks about the mube (むべ) fruit and the origin of its name.
  • Wandering Taiwan - Micki and Kirsten learn about Hakka oil-paper umbrellas (紙傘).
That's all for this week. The next blog roundup will be on December 13, 2009.


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Regular Posting Will Resume Soon

Attentive readers may have noticed that there have been few updates over the past couple of weeks. I've been working on an essay which needs to be handed in by next Friday (December 11th) so I haven't really had much time to post any new content, save for the weekly blog roundup.

Regular posting will resume once I have finished and mailed off my essay. This week's blog roundup will be posted tomorrow morning.


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