Taobao & English Books

Date:  Sep 2, 2014

I don’t go to Orchard Road so often nowadays. 

Because at home, at any time, I can shop on Taobao or Amazon.

Another goods has arrived from Taobao today.

Inside the big boxes are these.  There is an Er Hu (二胡), kid's T-Shirts, 4x Mibox 3 (小米盒子)， 2x Rainbow looms, some 3D puzzles, English books, and so on.

As long as everything is less than $300-$400, the customs will not ask you to pay tax. 

Why I buy online?  Save time save money.  

Depend on how you think you can save money.

For example, the big box of 5600 rainbow looms.  

It was RMB68 that I bought.  I saw it some people selling at Clementi mall for SGD$79.95.  (In those stall selling party gifts)

First of all, there are some selling very cheap, may be RMB 20.  Which one you will buy?

1.  I will select those that bought buy a lot a lot of people.  Transactions must be high, not necessary price is lowest.

2.  I will try to buy from Tmall.  They may have slightly better control in fraud.

3.  I will tend not to buy the cheapest one.  Because it is made from China.  

4.  I will read the comments to find out what people think about it.

5.  I will buy it from Taobao, as most of these are from China.

Let’s do some calculations here.

1.  Cost of Rainbow Looms - RMB 68.

2.  Cost of Shipping Looms to China Buyer Agent. - RMB 10.  Local Shipping.

3.  Weight of Looms = 500g.  

4.  International shipping cost for 500g from China to Singapore is RMB 190.

     EMS Rates:  http://www.ems.com.cn/serviceguide/zifeichaxun/e_zi_fei_cha_xun.html

5.  Buying Agent Fee is 8%.

6.  So, after you have done all the calculations, the goods ship to you at RMB 290.  Which is about SGD 58.

7.  Conclusion:  SGD 79.95 - SGD 58 = SGD 21.95.  You save about $22.  Which is about 27% savings.

For some people, they will get in balance.  Because

A.  Wah?  The shipping is expensive.  Almost 3 times of the goods.

B.  Wah?  8% agent fee seems very expensive.

And yes, you can buy direct from Taobao.  You can use whatever agent with lower agent fee.

But to me, those are too much work for me.

I know I can buy it at much cheaper overall price, but to me, its too much hassle to do so.

Because, I am happy with 27% of savings.  That’s only me.  And I am happy with the way I did it.

HaHaHaHaHaHa.

Now back to the story.

My friends spotted the two English books.

The books cost about RMB 58.  Local Shipping RMB 6 and RMB 16 (different store charge different price).

It is a reprint in China version.  The paper is thinner.

But the quality is OK.

If you buy it from Amazon, is about USD$43.  Wow.  That is how much savings you can save.  Shipping is about $10-$20.

 

This is where I buy the English books from.

玲珑书屋：  http://booklovers.taobao.com/?spm=2013.1.1000126.2.d5ecaF

 

海边书屋：  http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.410.wat58u&id=39563777248&ns=1#detail

Making Home Made Spinach Noodles

Date:  March 19, 2014

For those who wants to know where I bought this gadget, please see following link.

http://miniliew.blogspot.sg/2014/03/gadget-noodle-making-machine.html

And now, the story of Spinach Noodle.  Yeah!

Everyone wants to eat healthy food today.  Those noodles that you buy from the supermarket, or organic stores, how it was made?  Do they add in any preservative 防腐剂.  We all know all these preservative can contribute to cancer growing some how.  It is best to take lesser of it.

So, let’s make Spinach Noodle!

1.  You need Spinach.  Organic Spinach.  If it is not organic, then, wash it soak it clean it many times.

2.  Put the spinach into the juicer.  Add in some water.  (some water).  Today, we are going to use 500g of flour, so we need 160ml of water or Spinach juice.  So, the water you add into your veggie cannot be too much.  Just add about 20-30ml water should be enough.  

3.  Then, juice the veggie.  For a minute or so.  (ignore the time in the video.  Just juice it under 1 minute will do).

This is how much of spinach you put.

4.  Le’t juice it.

5.  Then, you need to restrain it.  We need pure spinach juice in liquid form.  You have to remove all the solids and residues.  Remove all those bubbles if any.

6.  Your juice should look like this!

7.  Thanks Jay!

8.  My JoYoung noodle making machine.  Ain’t she a beauty?

9.  Exactly 500g of plain flour.

10.  Exactly 160ml of spinach juice.  (no solids, no residues, no bubble)

11.  Turn on the noodle machine.  Slowly pour the spinach juice into the machine.  Do not leak those juice else where.  If you have wasted 1-2 drops, you need to add in those few drops of liquid back.  As you can see the mixer is mixing the flour inside.  (Video stopped because iPhone5S ran out of space… hahaha)

12.  The noodle eventually turn into light green colour.

13.  It is pretty amazing.  The noodle machine mix it so well eventually.

14.  Then, the noodle comes out.  Remember to spread some flour on it.  In this video, it shows how to cut the noodle.

15.  The noodles looks so nice.  In green.  It is fresh home made Spinach noodles.

16.  This video clips shows how the noodle machine auto stop.

17.  This is how much noodles made from 500g of flour.

18.  After use, this is what it looks like.

19.  Let’s see how to clean it.  So, when it dry, you can simply use a brush to brush all the flour away.  Do not rinse it under water before you remove all the flour away.  Otherwise it becomes very sticky.  So, after you use it, simply wait for it to dry.  When it dry, it shrink.  And when it shrink, it is easy to take it off.  Brush off all the flour and then, you rinse it and wash it with soup.  We going to make another 400g of flour.  Tonight got guest, so consumption of noodles is a lot.

20.   See can be very clean.

 

21.  There are needle tool to poke the holes too.

22.  Now its my turn.  Cooking the noodle.  Add olive oil, add salt to boil the noodle.

23.  2-3 minutes later.  Noodles are ready.

24.  Add oil, sesame oil, soya sauce, salt, white pepper & abalone sauce and green onions.  Mix it well and serve.

25.  Everyone looking at my picky son.  And Kay Kay’s verdict, “Very nice papa!”  HaHaHaHa...

Cool!

We let the kids try the second batch of noodle making.  They are having lots of fun!

Gadget: Noodle Making Machine

Date:  March 17, 2104

* Special note:  (Mar 20) **********

I have done a search on JD.Com (used to be 360buy.com)

http://search.jd.com/Search?keyword=面条机&enc=utf-8

RMB 699 seems to be the official price.

I have also done a search on sunning.com, the listed only RMB 689 which is closed to the price I bought.

http://search.suning.com/面条机/cityId=9017

* Special note:  (Mar 19) **********

A search on Taobao and sorted by REPUTATION.  

http://s.taobao.com/search?spm=a230r.1.8.4.5Q7rNu&promote=0&sort=credit-desc&tab=all&q=%BE%C5%D1%F4%C3%E6%CC%F5%BB%FA&rsclick=1#J_relative

If you search by sold volume.  There is this RMB499 version.  Which I think it may be a “refurbish” model.  So, you may not want to get that (my recommendation).  But if you feel comfortable and wanted to save $50, I guess you can get that.  Because so many people has bought it.

* Special Note:  (Mar 18) **********

Since this is a big item, 团购 will be meaning less as the shipping charges is proportionate to the weight of the total weight.

Group purchasing is good when you want to buy small things and you tumpang on other people purchases.

If you are interested to buy one, you can send your request to my Taobao Agent, Amy Li.

Her email is cinagoods@hotmail.com

You can cut and paste the web site to choose which one to buy.

I buy from this store.  It is a Joyoung (Jiu Yang) specialised store.  And it is on TMall.

It is RMB 699.  I felt safer.  I used it once, no problem.  

http://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a220m.1000858.1000725.3.5EzJZg&id=17879001235&areaId=&user_id=454397463&is_b=1&cat_id=2&q=%BE%C5%D1%F4%C3%E6%CC%F5%BB%FAjys-n6&rn=e9df30acd095f9831769a8d94ebe9d33

Of course, if you already have an existing account with Taobao, you can buy directly too.  

******** End or Note: ******

Today, we have a new gadget.  I bought this from Taobao.  And it arrives today.

The machine is quite big.  It looks like this.

It says 15 minutes you can 1) make the noodle, and 2) cook the noodle.  The noodle making process is only takes 6-7 minutes.

Let’s make noodle now.

We need either Plain Flour or All purpose Flour.  Next time, I will use Organic Flour. :)

Let’s make our first bowl of noodle.  Measuring.

We need exactly 200g of plain flour.

YES Jay!  Flour + Water = Noodle.

Next, we need water.

Exactly 70ml of water.

Pour the flour into the noodle maker.  And press Auto.

And noodle machine start mixing the flour.

Next which is very important.  Pour in the 70ml of water VERY SLOWLY.

Yes, have to do it very slowly so that the noodle will not stick to each other.

The mixer turn INWARDS initially.  Suddenly, it beeps.  And the mixer change direction.

So, when the mixer turn OUTWARDS, it pushes the flour into the hole.

It is amazing.

Quickly prepare a plate and put some flour on it to receive the noodles.

Her comes the noodles.

Wow!  It is indeed amazing.   This is so cool.  Making own noodles is awesome!  hahaha

From time to time, sprinkle some flour onto the noodle.  

It’s warm.

Here comes the first coil of noodle.

So, for 200g of flour, it makes about 2 plates of noodles.

Of course, my pot is cook with hot water, and straight away, we put the noodle into the hot water with olive oil and salt.

3-4 minutes later, restrain it with cold water.  (Wash away the excess flour)

1.  normal oil a bit.

2.  sesame oil a bit.

3.  soya sauce a bit.

4.  abalone sauce a bit.

5.  green onions a bit.  (cut some) 

6.  white pepper a bit.

7.  salt a bit.

Pour in the noodles, and mix it well.

This is the noodle I cooked using the fresh home made noodles.

As always, my biggest fan says “Very delicious!”.

So, from now on, we going to make our own noodles and we no longer want to buy instant noodles or those form the organic stores.  :)

Take a look at the youtube advertisement.  It is amazing.

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/v/yQasZxNK-ts

I bought this from Taobao.  I bought the N6 (latest) model.

http://search.taobao.com/search?q=%C3%E6%CC%F5%BB%FA+%BE%C5%D1%F4

The cheapest is RMB449.  (About SGD$90).  It weight about 5-6KG.  

But I am very scare of this sort of cheap price place.  So, I bought it from a much expensive store, 

which I know it is a good reputation store for Jiu Yang products in TMall.  It cost RMB 699.  But it is up to you to choose which one to buy.

Tip:  Buy the one a lot of people bought.

This is the operation manual.

It is so easy to use.  They don’t even have a lot to say in the making noodle section.

You can make for 3-4 people which is the maximum.

Got quality check too.

Their manual is so simple, because it is easy to make the noodle.

So, they mind as well give a booklet to teach people how to COOK noodles.  hahahaha

The noodle machine can make 6 types of different noodles.  

Very cool!

Oh ya.  You can make spinach noodle, or carrot noodles and so on too.

Amazing machine.  I like!