Paul bakery - now available for delivery

Woohoo!

The new Sherpa's menu came out recently. From 1 May you can order from Paul. We have the Hongqiao area Sherpa's (since we live in that area, duh - actually we live in both the Puxi and Hongqiao areas according to Sherpa's map) and I just ordered from them. It'll be sent to us from the Carrefour Gubei branch (which I haven't seen in person yet).

On the menu was "Ancien" bread but since there aren't any corresponding photos I have no idea what that is. A google search didn't find much either except for a link to Paul. LOL.

Ahh... how I love Paul's bread and pastries! drool!

ETA: Sherpa's just called me back and said they've run out of the Fougasse with olives.. d'oh!

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Edited to add: pictures!




The gorgeous looking new Carrefour store. I love the interior design. It's just like being in Paris except with Chinese sales staff!

Garfielday

I'm having a real Garfield day. I wasn't going to post about him but since I came across more than one Garfield thing... I figured that maybe I should.

When I was a child and young teenager I loved Garfield. I collected all the comic books and loved to draw the characters, and every time I went to Sydney's Royal Easter Show I had to get the Garfield showbag. Strangely I never did get a Garfield plush toy, but my sister did. He was dressed in a red devil's costume, complete with pitchfork. Very cute yet evil. Hehe. I got an Odie dog which had velcro on his big tongue and he came with a plush white bone which would stick on the velcro spot. We also had a small Garfield clip-on toy. I saw a pic of a Garfield phone in a magazine once, as well as a fish bowl and obsessed about having them. Of course I never did get them. I guess I eventually got over that.

When we went to Taiwan my sister and I would get lots of stationery and stickers as in the 80s cute stationery was non-existent in Australia and I'd always collect the Garfield bits 'n' pieces. I have so many fond memories of Garfield and my childhood!

I always said that we had a lot of similarities. OK so I'm not fat, furry and feline but I love sleeping and sleeping in, I hate Mondays and I adore Italian food. I always have and I always will. Plus I liked to kick my sister up the bum as Garfield did to Odie (only kidding!). I remember watching this tele-movie about Garfield's life before he came to Jon's house which was really interesting. He was born in the back of an Italian restaurant, which started his love of Italian food.

So anyway, this morning my sister sent me this link to a Garfield comic site called "Garfield minus Garfield." I thought it would be a funny read but actually I found it quite sad and disturbing.

This is what it says:

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

Then I found this article suggesting that Garfield died and I was like, "Wha-??!"

Anyway I shold end on a happy note and post this link. Instructions for how to make your own cute and yummy Garfield (and friends) cupcakes! (mumbles something about not having an oven...)

Do you mommy your husband?

# Story Highlights
# Caring care of husband can turn into mothering your spouse
# Some wives dress husbands, pack his suitcase, style his hair
# Experts: It can lead to treating husband like a child

Link

I came across this interesting article.

She picks out his clothes before they go out, styles his hair, makes his lunches (complete with "I love you" notes inside) and takes it upon herself to apply the toothpaste before handing him his toothbrush each night.

And then there's bathing. "When he's in the shower, he calls me in to wash his back," says Rounds, a publicist.

Over-the-top behavior? Rounds says no way. "He loves to be taken care of."

It's a scenario familiar to many relationship experts, who say that first comes love, then comes marriage, and then comes the husband in the baby carriage.

A bad idea? "It can work for some people," says Les Parrott, a clinical psychologist, an author on marriage and relationship topics, and a professor at Seattle Pacific University. He describes one couple he knows: "She packs his suitcase for him and takes care of him like a little kid. But it works for them."

"As a woman who mothered her husband for too many years, I can report it's about the worst thing a woman can do," says Franklin, 55, a writer and lifestyle coach for female baby boomers. "It makes your man lazy, unwilling to be proactive in his own health care and for the most part a boy who refuses to grow up. It took me a long time to understand you can be compassionate and loving without being smothering and controlling."

I used to be like this (to a degree), especially in the early stages of the relationship (first few weeks/months) but now I hardly do anything and I get called lazy! LOL.

I have noticed in people I know that there tends to be a lot of 'mothering' type behaviour which can be quite over the top. I've never picked out my husband's clothes, told him what to wear, or packed his suitcase. I have packed his lunch a few times though (this was mainly to save money but then he decided he preferred to buy his lunch). OK I did used to remind him to take vitamins but I stopped doing that ages ago and what do you know? He takes them every morning by himself without being prompted or reminded!

For me and I'm sure most people it stems from the need the control and be controlling. The woman was probably brought up by (a) controlling parent/s and is now (unconsciously) exhibiting the same type of behaviours on her significant other.

I guess in the end though - whatever floats your boat!

Asthma drugs

Nothing about Shanghai or the world...

9 days later I am still sick. I'm so over this. I have no energy and need to sleep all the time yet I have insomia and can't sleep. At night I cough non-stop and have to sleep sitting up at a 135 degree angle.

I'm pretty sure I'm over the non-descript URTI (upper respiratory tract infection) and it's progressed to its asthma-like state where I just cough and cough and cough and my chest, back and stomach ache like crazy. ARGH.

They say it's very common in Australia (asthma) but the strange thing is I hardly know of anyone with it. My grandfather on my father's side and my mother have it sort of, and I think maybe my cousin does as well but as for other relatives, friends, acquaintances, nope. Noone. Trust me to get the bad luck! :(

A few days ago I accidently stumbled across some news articles which said that the asthma drug Singulair has a suicide risk. WTF?? I thought. Thank God I've never taken that drug.

I'm on Symbicort which is strange in that I can't taste or feel a single thing (unlike billions of other 'puffers' I have tried in the past). I always worry if it's actually working and getting into my system. I guess it's working though because I only started using it yesterday and today I seem to be coughing less. I hope this goes away soon, it's really quite debilitating.

People making up sh|t about China

I'm getting really really tired of all the Western countries being ignorant and making up sh|t about China. It really is a joke.

I just stumbled across a Facebook group. This is what it said

Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Search results re-routed. Websites blocked.

Try to search for blacklisted sites like Amnesty International in China and you will get an error message or be re-routed to an authorised government site.

The same thing happens when you search for terms like democracy, Tibet, Taiwan or Tiananmen Square – timed out, connection reset.

The Great Firewall
That's Internet censorship, China's 'Golden Shield Project'. The Government is watching you.

Behind what has been dubbed the 'Great Firewall of China' citizens can be imprisoned for sending emails, posting blogs or passing on information deemed to be sensitive, a threat to national sovereignty or a state secret.

In China the Internet has become a new frontier in the fight for human rights.

Thousands of Internet police
China has reportedly employed between 30,000 and 50,000 special Internet police who, with the aid of Western-provided technology, read private emails, conduct surveillance, remove blogs and block banned websites.

On screen, Internet users looking at China's most popular websites will see a cartoon cyber-police officer appear every half hour. The cartoon officer reminds them not to view censored material.

In Internet cafés users have to give their full name and an identification card before a using computer. Many cafés, which are subject to random checks, have installed extra censorship software to make sure their customers don't break the rules.

New rules are regularly created to keep up with the pace of the Internet. In January this year licence agreements came into force dictating – in reaction to video-sharing sites like YouTube – that all video material on the web must be approved by a government regulatory body.

Breeding fear
There is no list of what is censored or what authorities are looking for – it's kept deliberately vague and is constantly updated – this instills fear and uncertainty in Internet surfers in the hope that, on top of all the other controls, they will censor themselves.

China is helped by the Internet companies – global giants Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft, and Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Baidu – who have signed a pledge with the Government, the contents of which have not been made public.

The pledge allows the companies to operate in China, but only under conditions that involve censorship of their users.


For more information, go to: http://www.uncensor.com.au/

OMG. Please. Blocked or banned for writing about Taiwan or Tibet? If that were true I would've been banned many times already (rolleyes).

Anyone living in China for longer than 2 weeks and with half a brain would've already found a way to circumvent TGF by use of a proxy or VPN or other means.

China is NOT the only country with internet censorship (get your facts straight people!!)

I used an internet cafe when I first moved here. I also paid for in-room broadband internet in our hotel. They did not ask me for ID or a passport or anything. The only asked me for a refundable deposit.

Cartoon police officer? WTF? I've never seen this! Where do people even get this information from?

Yes YouTube has been blocked (and I admit that sucked) but it was never for longer than a few days at a time, it's never been constantly blocked. Right now it's working fine.

Yes I agree that human rights issues in China stinks, blocking/firewalling websites stinks particularly ones like Wikipedia or innocent blogs or Flickr (!!!) but geez, I just can't stand how the world thinks that China is the WORST country right now and all it does is BAD things and every OTHER country is so great by comparison and is 100% totally INNOCENT and GOOD in every way, shape and form.

PUH-LEEZE, people!

When I read dumb things such as the above example, all it shows me is the stupidity and ignorance of the authors.