August 11, 2008 - Our New Apartment -- The Kitchen
My kitchen is pretty nifty. Especially for a Chinese home.
Here's an inside shot of the refrigerator. Why? Well, some of you are so curious about everything. Why not?
This is a nice shot of my oven.
But this one is much better, don't you think?
The oven can hold a 9x13 pan, and it's tall enough to bake loaves of bread without the bread touching the top of the oven (been there, done that). It's sort of a glorified toaster oven, but it heats up super quick and cooks efficiently.
Although this may look like a dishwasher, it isn't. It's a sanitizer. It simply heats the dishes to kill germs. We don't use it. I just store dishes inside it.
A kitchen related tidbit -- In America, we eat on plates and serve things out of bowls. In China, we eat out of a bowl and serve things on plates.
See that cabinet in the corner? You'll never guess what it is.
Do you know yet? Probably not.
Push this button. Once for each person you have to feed.
Pull out the drawer at the bottom, and you've got premeasured rice! This is a rice bin. You pour your rice in the top. Very handy!
Under the gas burners are drawers for storage. These are great! You can cram so much more in them than a cabinet.
This is another glorious picture. A hot water heater in the kitchen. I've lived in some apartments without hot water in the kitchen. (I would carry it in from the bathroom in a bucket.) I've had other kitchens with tiny hot water heaters under the sink. You can get one sinkful of hot water, and then it's all gone. But this is a gas hot water heater. That means limitless hot water! As the water passes through, it's heated up. The heater doesn't store water. Glorious, I tell you! Truly glorious!
Six years in China and this next feature was a first for me. Strange place for another faucet, over here in the corner.
That's not just a tray there. It's hiding a HOLE!
Under the cabinet is a huge pottery vat to hold water. This is for those (not too uncommon) times when the water is turned off. Kind of tells you something about how frequent it is that someone would install this kind of thing.
I know that you'll want to know why. Honestly, I don't understand it. I just know that the water in China is frequently turned off There's usually some general explanation about working on the water pipes. Why it's so frequent, I really can't comprehend. All I know is that when you've got no water, this big tank is a godsend! As a matter of fact, we're without water right now! :-)
Yep, in our first month here, the master bathroom has flooded twice from the floor drain--sewage. Nice. Real nice.
But I guess we're better off than the downstairs neighbors. They have sewage running down three walls of their home.
Obviously the entire plumbing design of our side of the apartment is flawed and has to be redone. So we're without water until tomorrow night (altogether about 55 hours). Our across the hall neighbor is kind enough to let us get water to fill up our tanks and buckets.
Comments
August 12, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by eclecticeducation
Wow! It's truly amazing how different cultures can be. Thanks for sharing this piece of your life. :)
Btw... your oven kinda reminded me of our oven even though ours is an actual "oven" it's pretty small. We can not use large baking sheets in our oven so baking cookies is a pain. And I'm not sure if we will ever try a turkey again. Hubby got one from work one Thanksgiving and so we cooked it up. Only problem was, it was WAY too big for our oven. W had to take the extra rack out and shove the turkey in and slam the door shut. lol!!! The turkey was pressed up against the oven door while it cooked. YIKES!
August 12, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by westward
I just gave you an award! :o)
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/westward/572159/
August 12, 2008 - Wow I am learning alot!
Posted by MichelleL
Thanks for sharing. I remember when I lived in Mexio-the ordinary things were so new and peculiar.
They cut the water off there as well. Basically I was told by locals that there was not enough water and so they just shut it off to conserve. So I guess they would target different areas of the city every week.
The longest we went without was 3 days. But it was miserable. No showers, etc. All we had was drinking water.
August 12, 2008 - Thanks for sharing!
Posted by Anonymous
I always learn so much from your posts! I really enjoyed getting to take a virtual tour of your kitchen and the info about the water was really interesting.
I like the rice bin too!
And hey, can I come and visit and have a piece of that homemade bread? lol...
:-)
~Jenn
www.OurLosBanos.com/homeschool
August 12, 2008 - watermelons
Posted by Anonymous
I've been researching watermelons b/c ours are having growing issues....so I read that in China, they grow square watermelons. Yours looked round in the picture. What's the true story?
We love hearing about the lifestyle and culture there. Please know that we really are interested, and keep sharing these things with us!
August 12, 2008 - Love the Green and White
Posted by Erika Pioneer Homemaker
I just love the colors makes it very cheery! I love Shabby Chic the way she uses white so much for some reason I love that and then add bits of color here and there. Of course my house would be black in an instant from the kiddos and animals!
Erika
August 13, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by kimalita
I've come to see what new pictures of your great Chinese life you've got up. I have to go back a while to catch up.
I hope you have water now! And I love all the 'green' things you have around your sink. I am a lover of the color green!
So does that mean, by having that rice container, that you and your family consume a lot of rice like the rest of China?
August 14, 2008 - Thanks for the tour...
Posted by Anonymous
Your kitchen is so neat!! Thanks for the tour. Don't think I'd make it in China, though. The sewer thing would send me packing for sure. LOL!! Your blog is so informative. I love it!
Stacy :-)
http://paintingbridges.wordpress.com
August 14, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Dana @ School For Us
Thanks for the amazing tour of your kitchen! I learned so much! There are so many neat "gadgets" that we don't have in the US... I just really enjoyed reading about it and seeing the photos. :-)
Dana, www.alexml.blogspot.com
August 15, 2008 - <em>Untitled Comment</em>
Posted by amtell
OK, the post was good, but the comments are even better. Womam with gas problems. LOL!
I too like princess ddung. Any relation to prince mmanure?
The womam sign reminded me of a conversation I had with a Mexican friend. She couldn't understand why women were called ma'am. To her it sounded like "man."
Didn't you post once about how the Chinese are always calling you "sir"? I wonder if that is why? My children actually do the same thing. It really makes sense if you think about it.
Edited by amtell on August 14, 2008 at 10:35 AM
August 15, 2008 - Wow! Great Pictures
Posted by Donalacasa
What I see in the pictures is that in spite of the challenges, she has made herself at home in her Chinese home. I lived overseas for 12 years. It is amazing how much we take for granted here in the USA . She was right about her kitchen sink. I didn't have a double kitchen sink for about 8 years overseas! The water heater was something I had to get used to as well. It doesn't stay on. You only turn it on a few minutes before you want to heat your water. Don't forget and step into the shower! One side effect for me is that I long to go back but I have too much emotionally tying me here. Blessings!
August 16, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by drewsfamilytx
Oooo! Oooo!!! I knew it was a rice dispenser!!! My mom has one, only it's not quite as pretty as yours. And I had no idea that each push of the button was for one serving of rice. I just kept wondering what the point of that thing was when I have to push it so many times to get enough rice to fill the rice cooker!
I bet that sterilizer was handy dandy before the hot water heater was installed. I despise washing dishes in cold water-- it still feels so dirty and gross. We have two of the tankless hot water heaters at our house too-- I totally *heart* having endless hot water! And not having the tank by the back door gave us lots of room to store all our shoes. Because wearing shoes in the house is a complete no-no. Like at any other good asian person's house.
August 18, 2008 - rice bin
Posted by shorty
I LOVE LOVE LOVE your rice bin!!! I live in the USA but can't seem to find one that is big enough and "cute" enough without paying shipping from Japan. I guess Americans just don't eat enough rice to make it worth selling them. We eat a lot of rice and use a bucket to keep our rice in. Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures. I just love getting to see how life is for you out there!
Shorty
August 22, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Keri
Green and white...it's a beautiful kitchen and clean!
The turning off the water and raw sewage part...oh,,,I don't know how you do it!!
