So you have moved to Beijing with your allowed luggage weight’s worth of clothes and no more. You left all your household appliances back home, because, lets face it, most of them might already have the label ‘Made In China’ and the notion of repatriating them back to their country of origin brought a chuckle out of you when you were packing. Or you might be one of those lucky few who moved here fully prepared, with a container full of your stuff from back home, couches, blenders and all. Good for you! But here’s the 411 on your move. You still have to start afresh here in China. Whether you have a mostly furnished apartment or have your own furniture from your home country, chances are you are lacking a few Beijing essentials that all natives and old hands in this city have, which will simply transform your life. Some you might not have because back home, purchasing said appliances would have been financially prohibitive, but that is one of the many positives about living in China. There are appliances to fit any financial capability.

A Trusty Rice Cooker

Unless you come from a country with a rich rice cooking history, or you attended a school for the culinarily-gifted, then you have struggled over a mess of rice in your life. Be it overcooked and soggy or undercooked and inedible, the possible disasters awaiting your pot of rice are numerous. Then you come to Beijing and everywhere you go the rice is nice and fluffy or just the perfect amount of sticky without being total mush. It’s because of this bad boy. Any Beijinger worth their salt has this in the kitchen. It takes the guesswork out of rice cooking, with consistent results every time. The only thing you might have to agonize over might be what rice to go with – Basmati or Dongbei.

Electric pressure cooker

Take it from me, since I learned the hard way just how important it is to have one of these in the house. For the times when you crave a soothing bowl of broth, or you are looking to do a slow-cooked recipe of brisket so tender it falls apart when touched, an electric pressure cooker is an invaluable appliance to have around. Having one of these has helped me fight my constant frustration at not finding the cuts of meat I am used to, and has allowed me to experiment with recipes that would have otherwise been unthinkable in the past but are a mainstay in Northern Chinese cuisine. So the next time you’re in the meat isle at the supermarket, don’t turn away from those pig trotters. Get yourself one of these and enjoy a hearty bowl of pig feet soup, with a delicious fall-apart tender meat payoff to boot.

Humidifier

When I started learning Chinese, one of the first stock phrases I learned how to say was “Beijing’s winter is dry.” And they weren’t kidding as I came to find out in my first winter here. I would constantly wake up with a sore throat, inflamed sinuses, and if I coughed hard enough, I am still convinced I would have hacked up a whole sand dune from my drying, or should I say curing, body! A humidifier is not something that you buy as a cute little addition to pull the room together. Unfortunately, in Beijing, having a humidifier makes the difference between a deeply uncomfortable winter indoors, or an easy breezy breathing experience for you and your family. Best thing about shopping for one while in China is the wide variety, ranging from the larger models ideal for an entire household, to smaller portable ones for your table in the office.

Air purifier

It’s hardly news anymore that Beijing air can get a bit dicey to say the least. While face masks are great for those days when smog levels are a bit too high for comfort, they aren’t exactly what you want to be wearing around your home. But even on days when the air is nice and crisp outside, it doesn’t guarantee the same in your house. As it turns out, the air within the home can be up to five times worse than air outside. With this in mind alone, it would be ill-advised not to have one of these in the house. It especially comes in handy in flu and allergy season – aka right now.

Blender With Soup

I will say without a shadow of a doubt that this is my all time favorite electronic purchase since coming to China. This bad boy makes the Vitamix look like a quaint notion in the world of blenders. Its multi-function features mean it is an all in one blender which essentially eliminates extra steps needed for various blender-related recipes. Want some fish soup? Just toss in the entire thing, bones and all into the blender along with veggies of your choice and choose the soup feature. This blender will not only reduce the fish and veggies into a flawless soup, but will cook it beforehand thanks to its heated elements. It also comes in handy should you wish to make your own soy or rice milk as it not only blends, but also pasteurizes the soy milk so no need to worry about getting sick after. It does the usual stuff as well – fruit juice and all that jazz – but the added cooking feature takes this blender from impressive to a must-have.

Photos:  wearefound.com ,The Sportsman’s Guide, health.clevelandclinic.org, airpurifiersrating.com, pic.1688.com

Cracked your smart phone screen? If your device is already out-of-warranty, there may be an easier way to get it fixed than taking it back to the store.

A friend just told me about Leleda, a Chinese app (available for iOS and Android) that allows users to book house calls for phone repairs. I poked around the app this morning and made an appointment. The app is in Chinese, so if you’ll need someone to help you read and type characters.

The welcome screen displays basic information about your phone. Just underneath, you can book a house call by clicking on the blue button (see first screenshot) for 我要维修 ("I want to repair").

WebMD obsessives will find the next screen intuitive to use; just tap where it "hurts" (click 正面 on the top right corner of the screen to see the back of the phone) and an itemized list of services for that phone part will pop up. 

For instance, tapping the Multi-Touch screen gives you two options: replacing the screen (RMB 380) or trading in your Multi-Touch screen (RMB 180). Note that the screen can be cracked but the LCD liquid and touch function must be intact to qualify for Leleda’s recycling program. To pick a service option, tap the orange 维修 button next to it.

Next, you’ll be asked to provide a short description of the problem (your Chinese-speaking friend will come in handy here) as well as specify the color of your phone, if applicable.

To book a house call, select 上门服务. Enter your mobile number and address in Chinese, then specify a preferred time and date for the repairman to come by. Double-check your appointment details and tap 提交.

Note that the house call service costs an additional RMB 68 on top of the repair fee. A customer service agent will contact you within 24 hours to confirm the repair details.

I made an appointment to repair my iPhone 5, so I’ll update this post after the house call.

[Update September 21, 2015]: Success! My iPhone 5 is fixed. It needed a new battery; if I woke up with a full charge, it would be dead by 3 or 4pm the same day. The Leleda repairman came to my house and replaced the battery within 30 minutes. He was friendly, efficient, and gave me his mobile number in case the phone had any further issues. The repair cost RMB 143 in total, including parts and the service fee for the house call. My iPhone can now hold a full charge and is as good as new.

Sijia Chen is a contributing editor at beijingkids and a freelance writer specializing in parenting, education, travel, environment, and culture. Her work has appeared in The Independent, Midnight Poutine, Rover Arts, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @sijiawrites or email her at sijiachen@beijing-kids.com.

Screenshots: Sijia Chen

Yes kids, it’s that time of the year again … time to pay homage to your Dear Old Dad with expensive gifts. Granted you are both still too young to actually be able to afford the gifts on my wishlist, but there’s always that college fund to dip into (just kidding).

But just in case you (or your mother) want to surprise me this weekend, here are just a few things I’d love to get in no particular order:

The Goflex Satellite wi-fi external hard drive
Don’t get me wrong, I love taking you guys on trips abroad whenever we get the chance, but cradling you in our laps and constantly changing your diapers and taking you to potty on the plane gets to be a bit much after a few hours.  I dream of the day when I can simply hit recline, order a glass of wine and pop out this baby – an external hard drive with up to 1 terabyte of storage that can stream media and movies to the good old family iPad. If anything, think of this as an investment for yourselves on those long trips – be nice to me and I’ll upload a few of your favorite cartoons and shows in there as well. Available on Taobao for around RMB 1,000-1,500.

The Canon S-95
My non-existent photography skills aside, I’d love a point and shoot camera to take better photos of your little cherubic faces. As my esteemed father-in-arms Christopher Lay pointed out in this post, this "remarkable bundle of photographic capability has a beautiful screen, 10-megapixel sensor (enough to take care of any typical users needs from online to enlarged prints), facial recognition, 2.0 f-stop, RAW mode, and HD video capability to boot. Not to mention a lot of creative shooting modes to get your creativity flowing. All of this comes in a package that is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket or a small handbag and has a street price of USD 400 (I don’t recall the local going rate, but it fluctuates with the exchange rate)." Available at camera stores around town and online for around RMB 2,680.

Your dad could always use some more custom-made shirts to keep up his dad-like appearances and Beijing has no shortage of tailors (both brick and mortar and online) to fit the bill. Check out this post on thebeijinger.com for some options and don’t forget my measurements: 42 length, 17 collar.

Every man needs one fine pair of leather shoes and although it can’t be compared to Italy, Beijing has its share of custom shoemakers. Cobbler Yu in Gulou has a loyal customer base and his store is open until 10pm seven days a week. As with everything else you can also look online for a shoemaker, although I can’t vouch for their quality.

Beer. Nectar of the Dads. Your dad wants a tall, cold one now. Order me a case of fine imported beers from 88beers.com and while you’re at it get me a couple of juicy steaks and some fine South American coffee beans from Baode Home Delivery.

My list could go on and on (and on), my dear offspring, but I’ll spare you the details for another year. You now have about 36 hours left. I’ll look forward to seeing you (and your mother) on Sunday.

Jesper Lodahl is a serial entrepreneur who has been working on mobile internet and education in China for more than 12 years. His latest project, SmarTots, recently won the seed award at the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) and is also winning over parents, educators, and most importantly, children, with its innovative approach to education. Jennifer Thomé met up with Lodahl shortly after his success to learn about his inspiration for this project, and what he thinks the future of education will look like.

Read the entire interview on Agenda here.