Pillow Pets, who ever invented this is a genius and probably a millionaire! It’s a stuff animal made with ultra soft chenille fabric, with what seems like hundreds of different designs. This one to the left is the panda, (of course, we LOVE pandas) but there are also other cuties such as Ms. Lady Bug, Wiggly Pig, Friendly Frog and many more.

The trick to this stuff animal is that it is fastened with a velcro. Once undone, the animal all the sudden flattens out and becomes a cozy pillow. On a recent trip, we brought with us Sir Horse and Wiggly Pig, picked out according to the kids’ Chinese horoscope signs, and it was an instant hit!

Cute cute cute….mini panda pillow by mymimi, available at ShanaLogic.  Each pillow is 7″ x 7″, perfect to decorate any little kiddie’s room.  My other favorites include a cute little owl and the mini Geisha.  Thinking of that, we have a birthday party coming up for an eight year old girl, this will make a perfect gift!

Ice Cream Bar – 雪糕 – xuě gāo

Chinese language is very interesting, as many of you already know. These two characters, if translated separately, means snow and cake respectly.  In addition, Ice cream, is known as 冰淇淋, bīng qí lín, totally different from ice cream bar, or 雪糕.

Anyway, I found these adorable 雪糕 from H Mart, a local Korean grocery store. These 雪糕 have the shapes of a panda, almost too cute to eat!  There are also many different flavors of 雪糕, including green tea, red bean, green bean, taro, in addition to the traditional vanilla and chocalate flavors.  

My favorite flavor as a child is red bean, what’s yours?

My cousin’s wife recently introduced me to a great pair of training chopsticks for kids. Well, actually, I was impressed with her 2 year old and 4 year old’s ability to master chopsticks while my almost 8 year old is still much better with forks and hands. To make matter worse, I’m Chinese who grew up using chopsticks and she’s not, so natually, I was a bit embrassed at my kids’ incompetencey.

Anyway, it turned out her secret is the Edison training chopsticks for kids. These training chopsticks, unlike the other ones on the market has finger positioning loops, to help kids get used to the placement. While the company claims these chopsticks are good for both kids and adults, I think  the loops are too small for grown  ups.

Give it a try and let us know if it works for your kids!

As you all know, we love Lisa See’s books.  We’ve talked about Shanghai Girls before, so it’s no surprised that we are extremely excited when we found out Fox Searchlight picked up the Snow Flower and Secret Fan’s movie distribution rights for the States.  Wayne Wang is the director of this movie, and one of his best known work is The Joy Luck Club.  In this movie, Hugh Jackman also has a small appearance performing a song.  Double Yum, looove Hugh Jackman.

Anyway, the book is set in the 19th century, chronicles the lives of two women, Lily and Snow Flower, and their lifelong, intimate friendship.  It tells the story of their imprisonment by rigid cultural codes of conduct for women.  It is an English language film, with Chinese actress Li Bingbing, and Korean actress Jeon Ji-hyeon.  We will definitely keep you posted on when it will come out!  Can’t wait.

I was at Costco last week, and saw this Chinese style BBQ pork rib. This is the first time I’ve seen this product, especially at Costco. Pretty impressive. I am tempted to try it, but am still having a little difficult time buying Chinese food at non-Chinese stores. Part of the reason is that I am just not sure if it had been altered to be more American and commercial, therefore lacking authenticity. Anyone tried it out there? Please let me know.

One of my husband’s cousin took this picture from a local pastry shop in Taipei. They are almost too cute to eat, and at NTW$35, it’s cheap too! Unless of course you add on the plane ticket!

If you know of any great Chinese pastry shops, please let us know. We at My Panda Paws loves food, especially the sweet kind!

Easter is this Sunday.  This year I’ve been pretty lazy about decorating the house, until this week.  Finally, the boys and I decorated about one and a half dozen eggs.  It was so fun.

All the egg painting activities reminded me of Cloisonne Eggs that my parents had in our house for decorations growing up.  They are not for Easter though, just for everyday decorations.  They look very similar to the Russian enamel eggs, but mostly with traditional Chinese designs such as flowers, birds, etc.

Chinese Cloisonne is one of the oldest kind of artwork made of red copper roughcast and decorated colorful glaze. It was well known in the time of Jingtai of Ming Dynasty (1450–1456) for the most exquisite production.  Chinese Cloisonne is also called “Enamel with copper roughcast and inlayed copper wire” abbreviated for Enamel and usually called cloisonne.  The ancient “Cloisonne Technique” is a unique procedure of hand painted and applied brass wire and enamel. This technique is associated most often with Chinese beads and with Fabrege eggs.

Anyhow, these eggs are beautiful.  I would love to find them from my parent’s house, why not give a little Chinese twist to Easter.  You can also find these mini ornaments from Smithsonian Stores as well!

Yes, you read it right, potato chips in one of the most popular Chinese food flavors.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them, and I can’t wait to try it.

I actually never had General Tso’s Chicken until our family moved to the States, and until I was old enough to eat out with my friends by myself.  You see, we never had this dish in Hong Kong.  Then my parents would never order this dish because they think it is for non-Chinese people.  I love them.  Very much like all the other dishes I would order at Chinese take-outs, and that my parents would totally disapprove.  Egg drop soup, Beef fried rice, Egg rolls, to name a few.

Anyhow, this maybe worth a try.  Available at Amazon.

Portable Kites!  How fun!  It’s getting to be that time, the sun is out, and you are at the park enjoying the beautiful weather.  The wind is strong, and it’s a perfect time to fly a kite.  Of course, you will remember to pack a kite every time right?  NOT.  This portable kite measures 3″ in diameter, with a keychain to attach to your bag or jeans!  Available in 6 vibrant colors, and you can find them at Plasitca.