ON THE MENU: RAT-A-CHEWY

A 58-year-old Taiwan eatery offers rat meat as winter tonics to welcome the Year of Rat.

Rat meat, also eaten in China, became popular in rural Taiwan in the 1940s and 1950s among people who could not afford chicken or pork. Ho-la, a rural eatery at Taiwan's Chiayi county, serves 10 rat-themed dishes, including rat soup, black pepper-dipped and deep-fried rat. The diner goes through around 18 kg (40 lb) of rat meat per day.

"GONG XI FA CAI" TO ALL THE CHINESE VISITORS TO THIS BLOG

Gadget toilet made for modern kings and queens

Gadget toilet made for modern kings and queens

SINGAPORE, Feb 7 (Reuters Life!) - Think you deserve a throne? A U.S. plumbing firm has created a luxury toilet equipped with laptop computer and flat-screen TV which it plans to give away in an online sweepstake.

Ohio-based Roto-Rooter says its "Pimped Out John" is designed to "fulfill all your wildest bathroom dreams." Special features include an iPod music player and speakers, an Xbox video game console, a refrigerator filled with drinks and snacks and a cycling exercise machine.

"The bathroom is the perfect place for your very own throne. It shouldn't always be regarded as the room of last resort," said Steven Pollyea, Roto-Rooter vice president of marketing, in a press release emailed to Reuters.

"The average person spends 11,862 hours in the bathroom, which equals one year, four months and five days in a lifetime... a toilet should be the most wonderful location in your home."

Roto-Rooter spokesman Paul Abrams said the firm spent about $5,000 on parts and components to customize the toilet.

Any resident of the United States could win this "gleaming monument to personal convenience" by entering the sweepstake at http://www.rotorooter.com/ before April 2.

You might never want to leave your bathroom again.

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