MY WORD!: Beijng's selected outlets have a wide variety of foreign language books XINHUA

Food for your body

Today, most local supermarkets carry at least a small range of imported foods. But if you're shopping for specific products, you'll have more chance to find them in major foreign chains like Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Even better, head to April Gourmet or Jenny Lou's, two local chains that stock almost exclusively imported commodities. From canned goods to fresh meat, you should be able to find all the ingredients you need to cook that special meal. 

Lohao City is a local chain that stocks organic products like flour and grains. For organic fruits and vegetables, get in touch with local organic farms that offer online orders and deliveries to your doorstep.

If you're looking for good meat, the French butcher Boucherie Michel is a good option. Fresh meat, cooked pork meats, French cheese selection, roast chicken, wines and even organic bread, they have it all. They will take care of your special orders and will even cook your roast beef for you if you don't have an oven.

Also, check out Sanyuanli Market, where many foreign chefs in Beijing come to find, among other things, fish, beets, Thai basil, fresh limes, avocados and spices at a reasonable price.

Shops like Jenny Lou's stock more and more gluten-free products like grits, cereal or chocolate. If you intend to stay in China for a while, think about joining some local organic consumers associations, where people can offer advice on finding food for those with gluten intolerance and other special diets.

Finally, for those who have a sweet tooth, Beijing has some fine places that will most certainly satisfy your cravings. Comptoirs de France, a French bakery, produces bread, pastries and chocolate. Each one of their stores has a tea room, where you can get a good breakfast. The South German Bakery sells some of the best breads in Beijing, along with German cakes and pastries. Awfully Chocolate, a Singaporean brand, is the place for chocolate lovers since they sell only chocolate cake, in three different flavours.

Food for your brain

Feeding your body is most certainly important but so is feeding your brain! If Internet and audio books aren't enough for you, Beijing offers some interesting options for you to get your hands on books, magazines or foreign newspapers.

The Bookworm, a bookstore-library-restaurant, is a great place for book lovers. They stock over 16,000 second-hand English books and magazines on numerous themes. You can either read them there or borrow them if you have a membership card.

Incidentally, if you're interested in French or Spanish books, head respectively to the French Cultural Center or the Instituto Cervantes. They have a big library along with video and audio resources.

If you're looking for new books, Wangfujing Foreign Language Bookstore has quite a large selection of reading material. You will find imported fiction and non-fiction, as well as locally published foreign-language books. As for international newspapers and magazines, they are available at most five-star hotels, but beware, they might be pricey!

However, if you can't find what you want at those places, check out the website of the online retailer Amazon. You shouldn't have any problem getting books delivered to your China address.

Catch cold?

The famous Beijing cold or ganmao in Mandarin is a kind of flu that will leave you tired to the bone. If you don't have or run out of medicine from home, don't worry and you will find what you need in Beijing. Chinese people will advise you to drink boiled coke with ginger. You can also check out the chain Watson, which sells personal care items. Their stores usually have basic over-the-counter medications with English instructions, like acetaminophen, aspirin, eyes drops, cough syrup, etc.

Another solution is to go to a hospital with an English-speaking staff. If they don't know the medicine you want, they will look it up and find a similar drug. They will prescribe what you need and will direct you to the hospital pharmacy which is generally very well stocked.

Expat Help in Beijing

* Look out for the following expat-oriented magazines. They contain all the updated information and addresses of the places mentioned above and much more. You will usually find them in grocery stores like Jenny Lou's and April Gourmet or in restaurants catering to foreigners.

- Time Out (www.timeout.com/cn/en/beijing/)

- The Beijinger (www.thebeijinger.com/)

- City Weekend (www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/)

* A useful Chinese medical dictionary (translation of medical conditions and drugs)

- www.esaurus.org/