Mid-autumn Gluttony

It is the time of the year again. I always look forward to this. Mid-autumn festival, the night of lanterns and mooncakes. It always fall on the 15th night of the 8th lunar month. I won't go into details of origins and what-nots.

Way before the actual date arrives, mooncakes in various shapes and flavours start to enter the consumer market. There are now out-of-this-world flavours like blackcurrent and cheese, green tea melon, dragon fruit, lychee, amongst the many that the flood the market. No matter how crazy the flavours and colours come and go, the originals remain. Lotus paste (with and without yolk), green beans, red beans and mix nuts (a.k.a 5 nuts) (with or without bacon).

I did not take a liking to mixed nuts as I need to really chew on it and it can be quite sweet and sticky. It has been known as "elderly mooncake" as there are a dearth of younger generation savouring this nutty concoction. I was one of the younger generation, but now, my liking has changed. Oh no, not that I am elderly but it is a certain mooncake that steered my liking to this.

Recently I was given such a mixed nuts with bacon. It is not any of the famous mooncakes or from any well-known bakery. It was from Batu Arang, a small coal making town in Malaysia. The packaging was simple, though a lot fancier than the olden days of card box. It is still a card box anyway.

Eagerly, I cut open the mooncake. The nuts mixture with crytalised winter melon and melon seeds smiled at me. The traditional nuts ingredients amongst others are walnuts, almond (h'ang-yan), olive kernels (lum-yan), melon seeds, sasame seeds and crystalised winter melon.

The hindsight of eating this is that it sticks to my teeth, especially on the molars. Never fail have I got to vigorously brush my teeth after a bite of this. However, over the last two years which I have learned to enjoy this, never have I regret biting into this little "pastry".

Many a time I told myself I would love to bake my own mooncake, but looking at the recipe (courtesy of Amy Beh) it is just too much trouble.

I think it is time to have my break now, a visit to the FayFoong mooncake shop should be able to satisfy my craving. Yes, this is the only mixed nuts mooncake I take, not that I am publicising for FayFoong.

Enjoy..

Monks and Recession..!

I got this story via email recently and it reminds me of the 3Rs, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Note that the last option is recylce. Most people think of recycling first, which seems to be the current fad, but our first thought should be "reduce". By reducing our usage to only neccessity and when neccessary, it would do a lot for Mother Earth by not digging more into her body for landfills.

When comes to the point of one has to use something new, which we could not "reduce" to being not using, then next step is "reuse". Why need to buy a new bag or new container when there are means to repair or use/modify another container.

Last resort, only when we can't reduce and/or reuse it, then the object should be sent for recycling. Many people do use the term recycle and reuse in the same context. Well the two words are very different. Recycle involves breaking down of the original component and to come up with a new product altogether. Reuse is when the component does not change. A piece of printed paper soaked, mashed up, bleach and comes out as recycled paper, paper all the same but not the same paper it was. A piece to paper reuse to as wrapper, origami, shreded into kitty litter..now that is reusing, just like the monk who wante the new robe. The cloth in the cycle was reuse over a cycle of different purpose to the very end.

An Elder Monk, one day, was on deep thought about the worldly activities and the ways of instilling goodness in human. The following is the text of conversation between him and his disciple.

One of the disciples approached him and said humbly

"Oh my teacher! While you are so much concerned about the world and others,

why don't you look into the welfare and needs of your own disciples also".

Elder Monk: OK.Tell me how I can help you?

Disciple: Master, "My attire is worn out and is beyond the decency to wear the same.

Can I get a new one please?"

Elder Monk found the robe indeed was in a bad condition which needed replacement.

He asked the store keeper to give the disciple a new robe to wear on.

The disciple thanked Elder Monk and retired to his room. Though he

met his disciple's requirement, Elder Monk was not all that contended on his

decision. He realized he missed out some point. A while after, he realized,

what he should have asked the disciple? He went to his disciple's place and

asked him "Is your new attire comfortable? Do you need anything more?"

Disciple: Thank you my Master. The attire is indeed very comfortable. I need

nothing more.

Elder Monk: Having got the new one, what did you do with your old attire?

Disciple: I am using it as my bedspread.

Elder Monk: Then.hope you have disposed off your bed spread.

Disciple: No.no.Master. I am using my old bedspread as my window curtain.

Elder Monk: What about your old curtain?

Disciple: Being used to handle hot utensils in the kitchen

Elder Monk: Oh.I see.Can you tell me what they did with the old cloth they

used in Kitchen?

Disciple: They are being used to wash the floor.

Elder Monk: Then, the old rug being used to wash the floor.????

Disciple: Master, since they were torn off so much, we could not find any

better use, but to use as a twig in the oil lamp, which is right now lit in

your study room..

Elder Monk smiled in contentment and left for his room.

Moral:

If not to this degree of utilization, can we at least attempt to find the

best use of all our resources at home and at office..??

It becomes imperative in the critical time of Recession...

Living Frugal

I was just shared by a frugal friend to this website and just thought to share it with others.

http://www.wisebread.com/not-driving-your-less-frugal-friends-crazy


I am in a similiar position like not eating lunch out, bring my own lunches, refuse to get rid of my m'bike, shop in rejects section, do not keep up to the latest fashion, etc ...but if it helps to save, why not?

I live by these sayings,
if it can be use, why throw it away?
if I shop in rejects corners, it does not bring harm to anyone or harm to myself, why not?
why pay full price for something if I can get it much cheaper and the quality is still reasonable and it brings no harm to anyone? But not to weasal one's way into getting free stuff
I don't need a DKNY when I can get a SS2.
I don't have to eat top grade food as long as it is edible and bring no harm
I am not stingy but frugal.
Pls don't equate frugal with stingy or selfish. (yes, i have come across many who do)

I am thankful to have friends and my mother who understand the meaning of frugal and actually practise living as such.

Want not, waste not.

Can I not be strict?

It was an uneventful day. I was indirectly told that my review was too much and it was the reason for the staff not able to clear their work fast enough. Heck, I was just doing my job. It is my job to review to ensure work done is up to the standard quality required by the profession. And now I am to be "blamed" for that.

What has the current Y generation come to? They complain to a superior that my review is too time consuming to clear. Well, if work was done satisfactory, I would not have raise those queries. Now I have to take the rap.

Somehow this mentality is spreading, from the rumours in the universities and colleges and now to the workplace. The standard of quality have to be lowered to meet those who cannot acheive that level set in the first place. It is like telling, well, you cannot pass at 50 marks, we let you pass at 40 marks.

And who is to take the rap when some hoo-haa crops up and then the finger is pointed that the work done did not meet the quality standard set. I am just doing my job, i have already close one eye, now I am told to close 90% of my other eye. Can I do that? Shoud I do that?

Well, I said "No". I just told the person who gave me the instruction, "No, I will not do it. Just tell your staff to get it right the first time"....If they do get it right the first time for even 50% of the time, I will be out of job...and maybe I will be happy about that.

Join the wagon of enzyme

I had put off making garbage enzyme for quite a while. I was wondering what all the hype was about. Was it such a wonder liquid? It was reported to be a fantastic cleaning agent, a fertilizer additive, etc, stop short of saying it is miracle water. My skepticism got the better of me and I told myself, I will not jump in the wagon of garbage enzyme.

Then came the turning point. I was introduced to meet the enzyme itself, It did not look as bad or smell as bad as I had imagine it to be. So, armed with the recipe, I trotted home and started my first enzyme. That was slightly 6 weeks ago. Now I am just waiting for the first of my 3 bottles to complete the fermentation cycle.

Upon furthering reading up on the enzyme, it is nothing more than vinegar. Making vinegar is the similar process of making enzyme. It then dawned upon me that many of the uses of vinegar have been replicated in the uses of garbage enzyme. Haiya, why all the trouble to collect my garbage then? Well, the plus side of this is I have less organic waste to pass to by garbage man and less organic waste for my dogs to dig up when I composed them.

The “fragrance” emitted from the ferment is dependant on what organic waste is used in the fermentation process. I stuck mainly to citrus fruits peels, pandan leaves and mango skins (because it was mango season and I had abundance of the peels).

Next on my agenda was fruit enzyme. I have heard too much about dragon fruit enzyme and it cost a bomb to buy it. This is one of the few moments I enjoyed surfing the internet. I found various “recipes” for making fruit enzyme. Most of the recipe guides used sugar and fruits only, no water. I decided to join this wagon too. Since the fruit I had on hand was pineapple and a green apple, I decided to make 2 fruit enzymes. I only had to go out to buy my lemon.


Well, it is now 2 weeks into my fruit enzyme and it is turning out well. I can’ wait for the 3rd week to come when I can drink my enzyme. I intend to continue fermenting half of the fruit enzyme and hopefully turn out some alcoholic drink out of it.