We have now been in Asia for 8 years. Our appliances are slowly dying. Soon all our Hong Kong plug appliances will be replaced with China plugs. The only problem is we still can’t bring them home to America with us due to the different voltages – 220V in China, 110V in the US.

We had just replaced the toaster oven when the blender died. The after school snack in our house is a smoothy EVERY night. Emmy loves them and they are nothing but healthy – filled with fresh fruit and milk. A blender replacement was VERY important. Jim hopped on his scooter to Babaiban (the Chinese department store). He calls to report the cheapest blender is $150. Hum, I don’t mind buying good quality that will last, but I don’t need it to last! I could get by with a cheap, plastic one. However, with no options, our new blender has “more power” with a beautiful glass container. Of course, all the instructions and buttons are in Chinese. Good thing it only has a few buttons and we only care about the on/off and more speed!

My smoothies do have one frozen fruit – frozen strawberries at 78rmb/$12 for one small bag! My smoothies might be equal in cost with Jumba Juice, but they are healthier!