Asianmommy Reviews

We went bowling today, courtesy of Kids Bowl Free, a free summer program which offers two free games of bowling per child every day in the summertime at select bowling centers.  Asianmommy.com received a free Family Pass for review, normally a $24.95 price to cover 2 games per day for up to 4 teen or adult family members as well, for the whole summer.  

Check the website to find a local center's dates and times of availability.  Once you register online, they'll send you coupons by email each week for your free games.  You'll have to pay to rent the bowling shoes or bring your own.

We had a lot of silly fun this afternoon.  The bumper rails for the kids really came in handy.

What I liked:  What a great way to spend time together as a family, for only the cost of renting the shoes.  It's a nice way to spend time indoors in the summertime when it's rainy or too hot outside.

What could have been improved:  We are mere beginners, so we're the ones who needed improvement.  We'll be sure to get some more practice this summer!  :)

Step by Step Early Chinese Readers are a series of booklets, published by Cheng & Tsui, which teach beginning students Mandarin Chinese in alignment with the Common Core Standards.  Asianmommy received a free copy for review.

These Chinese language readers were designed by Brigham Young University's Chinese Flagship Center.  The booklets come in Simplified or Traditional Chinese versions.  Inside the front cover, you'll find the English translation of the booklet.  On the inside pages, you'll find colorful illustrations with Chinese characters on each page.  At the end of the booklet, you'll find a glossary with the individual Chinese words, the pinyin, and their meanings.  There's a companion website with audio, flashcards, a word list, and a few pages of writing practice to help non-native Chinese speakers. 

Level A is for Grades K-2 and teaches basic vocabulary words in themes including family, hygiene, nutrition, activity, plants, school, water, community, time, and math.  There's one short sentence written in Chinese characters per page, 8 pages per booklet, with 33 booklets in total.  You'll learn 8-12 new vocabulary words in each booklet, over 300 in all.

Level B is for Grades 2-3 and teaches family, hygiene, nutrition, activity, plants, geology, water, community, ecology, and math.  There are 1 to 2 longer sentences per page, 8 pages per booklet, and 30 booklets in all.  You can learn 12-16 new vocabulary words in each lesson, about 400 in all.  

What I liked:  These Level A Chinese readers start out very simply and teach useful, every day words.  There's no pinyin on the pages themselves (only on the inside of the back cover), so the kids must remember the characters in order to read the booklets.  They enjoy the challenge of it and are really excited about these books.  I think this series is a great place to start to learn Chinese.

What could be improved:   The Level B readers ramp up very quickly in difficulty, and I find myself having to go back to previous books frequently to remember how to pronounce the words.  Luckily, there is a word list online which puts all of the new vocab words in one place for review, which is helpful for those of us who are not as proficient in Mandarin.

The Epic Adventures of Princess Moonface by Wendy Yang Bailey and Brandon Bailey is a novel which aims to teach Chinese Mandarin to teens.  Asianmommy received a free copy of the multimedia kit by Epic Adventures Languages for review.  Included are a bilingual novel, a study guide, 5 audio CDs, and a writing practice book.

The story follows Mei, a fourteen-year-old girl, who lives in Flushing, Queens with her Auntie and her little brother.  Mei works for Boss at the Great Wall Number 1 Best Noodle Shop, making deliveries of Chinese take-out with her scooter.  She goes to high school with her friends, Debra and Tanya.  There's a new kid at school named Sam, who piques her interest.  One night, some men on motorcycles harrass Mei while she's making deliveries.  She loses control of her scooter and falls.  A white dog comes to her rescue.  Soon, Mei finds out that she's not who she thought she was...she's Princess Moonface.

While I found the storyline to be interesting and intruiging, I found that the level of difficulty of the Chinese in the novel was too high for a beginning student.  The novel is more suitable for someone who has been studying Chinese for a couple of years.

I liked the use of the Synchronous Translation Method, which shows English on the first line, simplified Chinese characters on the second line, pinyin on the third line, and translation of the individual Chinese characters into English on the fourth line.

The workbook is great for a beginning student. It offers a guide to pinyin, an explanation of the tones, examples of the parts of speech, as well as basic stroke types, measure words, numbers, and vocabulary words.  I also enjoyed the Culture Notes about Mahjong, Chinese proverbs, the Chinese Zodiac, Martial arts, Buddhism, the Great Wall of China, and more.

What I liked:  Mei's story is engaging and well told.  I like how the authors incorporate Chinese culture into the storytelling.  It can be a little bit confusing at first, but I really like the fourth line of text in the Synchronous Translation Method, which offers the translation of the individual Chinese characters into English.  This results in broken English, but it helps to break down the sentences into digestable pieces.  I also liked the illustrations by Qianqian Liu--wish there were more of them.

What could be improved:  Due to the Synchronous Translation Method, when opening the pages of the book, the reader is overwhelmed by a heavy dose of text.  More spacing between the lines and perhaps color-coding of the English, Chinese characters, and pinyin text would help.

The Great Race:  The Story of the Chinese Zodiac by Dawn Casey, illustrated by Anne Wilson, is a story about the origin of the Chinese lunar calendar and how the order in which the animals appear was determined.  Asianmommy received a free copy of this book from Barefoot Books for review.

The story begins with the Jade Emperor deciding to start a calendar in order to measure time.  He determines that the animals will have a swimming race across the river to see which order the animals should be placed in the calendar.  Rat, Cat, Dragon, Tiger, Monkey, Snake, Ox, Pig, Dog, Hare, Sheep, Cockerel, and Horse all participated in the race.  Somehow, the clever Rat betrayed the Cat, and they have since become forever enemies.

What I liked:   This old folk tale is nicely retold and illustrated with brightly-colored characters.  There's an explanation of the Chinese Calendar and Important Days in the Chinese Calendar at the end of the book.  The Characters of the Twelve Animals are also presented, and you can find the year you were born in to find your animal sign.

What could be improved:  I would love to see more books such as this, retelling old folk tales and providing cultural lessons.

Enter for a chance to win The Great Race.

Simply visit www.barefootbooks.com/shop and leave a comment on this post naming your favorite title.

Extra entry for following Barefoot Books on Twitter.

Extra entry for liking Barefoot Books on Facebook.

Please enter a separate comment for each extra entry.  This giveaway is only open to US or Canadian residents (no P.O. Boxes).  One entry per person.  Contest ends at midnight CST on February 6, 2013.  A random winner will be selected.  Please be sure to enter an email address so I can contact the winner.  The winner has 3 days to claim their prize.  Thanks for entering!

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Congratulations to Tracey Black, the winner of our giveaway for The Great Race!

Thanks to everyone for your participation.

Jaden Hair has a newly published cookbook entitled Steamy Kitchen's Healthy Asian Favorites:  100 Recipes That are Fast, Fresh, and Simple Enough for Tonight's Supper.  Asianmommy received a free copy of this book for review.

I've been following Jaden's blog, "Steamy Kitchen," for years.  This cookbook provides Jaden's recipes for delicious Asian dishes, such as miso soup, hot & sour soup, quick kimchi, chicken-tofu pot stickers, Chinese hot pot, miso cod, Mapo tofu, seafood fried rice, dan dan mien, and mango brulee.

I had a chance to try the salmon-honey teriyaki.  It only has 6 simple ingredients and was quick and easy to make.  My family all enjoyed it, and we look forward to having it again soon.  I can't wait to give the other recipes a try.

What I liked:   Jaden makes Chinese cooking healthy and accessible for people like me, who are not a whiz in the kitchen.  The recipes are for familiar foods, and require only a limited number of ingredients with simple instructions to create a fabulous meal.

What could be improved:   Another cookbook with even more recipes would be great!

Salmon-honey teriyaki
Serves 4

   3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

   3 tablespoons mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)

   3 tablespoons sake

   2 tablespoons honey

   1 pound fresh salmon fillet

   2 teaspoons cooking oil

Combine the soy sauce, mirin, sake, and honey in a resealable bag. Add the salmon and mix to coat. Refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 8 hours.

Remove salmon, reserving the marinade. Heat a frying pan or sauté pan over medium-high heat. When hot, swirl in the oil. Sear salmon, 
2 minutes per side. Turn heat to low and pour in the reserved marinade. Cover and cook for 
4 to 5 minutes, until cooked through.

Reprinted with permission from Steamy Kitchen’s Healthy Asian Favorites by Jaden Hair, copyright © 2013. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.

Photo credit: Jaden Hair © 2013