What is Melamine?

So what is this thing called "Melamine"?, you may asked.

For the layman, this is a simplified explanation of what I researched:

Melamine is a nitrogen-based compound used in industrial and commercial plastics. This chemical can cause kidney damage. This toxic substance was found in pet food in May 2007 which was exported to the US and Canada from China.

Melamine, by far is the best candidate to give a product an artificial high protein content, because it is high in nitrogen (66% by weight), non volatile (does not explode) and dirt cheap. It is an adulterated low quality wheat gluten used to pass off as high protein.in an effort by unscrupulous manufacturers to market their products.

So there you are.... now you know I hope all of us will be more aware and be careful on what we buy to feed our family...

Melamine tainted food from China

A lot of highlights have been given to the subject of melamine tainted foods from China for the past weeks. Also, a lot of time and efforts have been put in testing all products to ensure that those tainted are being removed from human consumption.

This has prompted me to think.... why does a human being or a group of people did what they did; by adding toxic into food just to elevate the protein content of their products. And to do that on milk powders, the stable foods for innocent infants and babies to that? Don't they ever feel guilty about their actions?

It really frustrates me that any fellow living human in this world could do this just for the sake of earning money. Don't they ever think about the consequences? About the poison they are feeding to the innocent? I am sure that they also have love ones around them. Would they like this to be done to their love ones.

"Do onto others what you would others do unto you" is one pillars of life everyone, especially in business should ponder when making a important decision like adding melamine to food.

I see my family and friends carrying a list of the tainted products whenever they go shopping for food and the list is never complete while more testings are being done. How do you know for sure that you are not feeding your family poisonous food. Its very tiring!! I for one will just eliminate all food imported from China.....just to be safe.

Until and unless they, the manufacturers do something about their integrity, I think we all should not do business with them; even as a consumer who might only buy one or two items once in a while.....

I rest my case!!!

Attitude of Keeping

When we keep in store,

we consider the possibility
of wanting of penury

We believe that tomorrow it may lack,
and that we won't be able
to fufil those necessities

With that idea,
you are sending two messages
to your brain and to your life;

That you don't trust tomorrow
and you think that the new and the better
are not for you

For this reason you cheer yourself up
by storing old and useless stuff

Go on ... get rid of those junks and clutters that you are hoarding for years and not using them; get rid of the hurt feelings, get rid of your negativity and live..... live life by the principle of emptiness as advised by Joseph Newton, its good advice.

dance
as though no one is watching you
love
as though you have never been hurt before
sing
as though no one can hear you
live
as though heaven is on earth

Get rid of what had lost its colour and brightness..... Let the new enter your home... and yourself!!!

Principle of Emptiness

Principle of Emptiness

by Joseph Newton

Have you got the habit of hoarding useless objects,
thinking that one day, who knows when, you may need them?

Have you got the habit of accumulating money and not spending it
because you think that in the future you may be in want of it?

Have you got the habit of storing clothes, shoes, furniture, utensils
and other home supplies
that you haven't used already for sometime?

And inside you?
Have you got the habit to keep
reproaches, resentment,sadness, fears and more?

Don't do it!
You are going against your prosperity!

It is necessary to make room,
to leave an empty spacein order
to allow news things to arrive to your life.

It is necessary that you get rid of all the useless things
that are in you and in your life,
in order for prosperity to arrive.

The force of this emptiness is one
that will absorb and attract all that you wish.

As long as you are, materially or emotionally,
holding old and useless feelings,
you won't have room for new opportunities.

Good must circulate......
clean your drawers, the wardrobes, the workshop, the garage.

Give away what you don't use any longer.

The attitute of keeping a heap of useless stuff ties your life down.

It is not the objects you keep that stagnate you life....
but rather the attitude of keeping....

Yes, get rid of those you don't want, don't use, don't need; materally and emotionally! I have always advocate the giving away of things that you have not used for 2 years, chances of you using them will be very remote. Give them to people who needs them and who might enjoy, appreciate and treasure them.

Rule of thumb: Always have this concept of replacing things! Always throw out your old stuff before buying any new ones........

Live Life Colour Blind

Nominated by the UN as the best poem of 2006 ~~ written by an African kid.

One of the pillars of life should be -- to live life colour blind!
It is so much peaceful if we can relate to everyone without seeing and identifying their colours....

Such a beautiful picture
it says a thousand words

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray

And you calling me colored?

God's Pharmacy

This information comes from one of those forward email and since they sounded so logical, I thought I share them with you......

It was said that the Creator of Earth separated salt water from fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all these before creating human.  He even gave us clues as to what food helps which part of our body.  Check this out and see how logical can it be....

A sliced carrot looks like the human eye, the pupil, the iris and the radiating lines. And now science shows that carrot enhance blood flow to and help function of the eyes.

The tomato is red and has 4 chambers just like the heart. Research showed that tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure blood food for the heart.

Grapes hang in clusters in the shape of a heart.  Each grape looks like a blood cell and research today shows that grapes are profound heart and blood vitalising food.

A walnut looks like a little brain; left and right hemisphere, celebrum, even the folds of the nut looks like the

neocortex. Walnuts help develop more than three dozen neuron-

transmitters in the brain.

Kidney beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like human kidneys.

Celery, bok choy, rhubarb look just like bones. These food specifically target bone strength.  B ones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium as well. If you do not have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it out of your bones thus making them weak.  These food replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocadoes, eggplants and pears target the function of the womb and cervix of the

female.  Physically, they look just like these organs.  Research showed that when a woman eats one avocado a week,  it balances the hormone, shed unwanted post-birth weight and prevents cervical cancer.  It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom and rippen fruit.  There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents nutrition in each of these foods.

Figs are full of seed and hang in two when they grow.  Figs increase the mobility

 of the male sperm and increase the sperm count thereby overcome male sterility.

Sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glicemic index

 of a diabetic.

Olive assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Oranges, grapefruits and other citrus fruits look just like mammary glands of the female.  It enhance the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions looks like the body cells.  Research showed that onions help clear waste material from the body cells.  They also produce tears when cut, which help clear the epithelial layers of the eyes.  A working companion, Garlic also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.

Free Rice

My niece introduced me to this site ~Free Rice~ and from what I gather it is a site where you can learn from the following topics and can trigger donors to donate rice to feed the hungry. Indirectly you are also contributing to charity while learning.

There are a few categories for your learning ~~ see below ~~.

Have fun......

Art: Famous Paintings
Chemistry: Chemical Symbols (Basic) & Chemical Symbols (Full List)
English: English Grammar & English Vocabulary
Geography: World Capitals
Language Learning: French, German, Italian, Spanish
Math: Multiplication Table

Water is Beautiful

Water is so beautiful and in such abundance ......

With global warming and the changing climate, we might be getting more water than we need and water can be a source of life also a source for the destruction of lives. So, we will have to give due respect to this thing called "water".

I read a report stating that the North Pole is now an island ... the rise in temperature has caused the ice to melt so much so that the geographical outline of North Pole is very much affected.

If the earth temperature continues to rise, it will cause a lot of havoc and chaos for the living beings on earth.... measures had to be taken to avoid such disasters.

Let us all do our bits .....every one of us!!

Water

Water

~~ a very essential natural resource !!

And a resource a lot of us take for granted, I can say...... If you are living in a country where you get clean water from the tap, if your country does not have to recycle water for household use and if you do not have to drink only from bottled water, then you are very lucky indeed.

Human is the chief source of polluting and wasting water and taking this natural resource for granted.

Take a moment, can you imagine a day with water? Delve on it and actually feel it!!

I for one will suffer greatly without water because I need to drink plain water all day long, other than coffee (which needs water as well), I avoid other forms of beverages.

So next time you leave the water running while brushing your teeth, do your washing (cars, garden etc.) with running water and watering your garden and plants excessively, think again, are you wasting water??

Treasure what nature is giving you while you enjoy them.........

GGC- New Recruits

Here they are ~~ 2 new beautiful faces to add to our very small team of Golden Girls!! :) :)

As the group gets bigger, your focus gets diluted and you tend to get into small groups chatting away and outings dragged on longer than usual because there is always something else to tell, discuss and repeat.

We found another reason to go out for lunch last Thursday; recruiting new members as well to celebrate one of the group's birthday ........ again we had loads of fun and laughter.



Sexy shoes...........













This beautiful lobster is too good to be consumed...

The Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節

The Mid-Autumn Festival {中秋節, zhōng qiū jié}; also known as Mooncake or Lantern Festival in Malaysia.

Reminiscing my younger days, how we (my siblings and I) had waited anxiously for my mother to say ... "lets go buy lantern!". Some lean years, we just had to invent our own designss using metal wires and coloured cellophane papers. Mine had always been the worst ~ totally shapeless :)

The chance to play with matches to light our candles for the lantern and the parading in our "kampungs" with drums were the highlight of this festival.

The drums beating and the racket we made were needed to call out the moon and eating of the mooncakes were secondary though its enjoyable as well.

But, sad to say, nowadays these traditions are getting very commercialised and producers of mooncakes are racking in millions of dollars especially in China, Mid-autumn festival is a big deal and big business.

Last night, my sister-in-law and I went looking for lantern for her 4-year old son and instead of the famous "animal" shape, we were shopping for famous "cartoon" characters instead. Imagine how tradition evolved....

My grandmother's version of the legendary beautiful goddess named Chang'e who drank the exilir herself to beat the evil husband, HouYi to the portion, so that he will not be immortal and so save the land from his planned eternal evil rule.

After drinking the exilir, she was lifted by mysterious hands in exile to the moon where she lives forever. In honour of her sacrifice, the people of her land started offering mooncakes to pray to the moon for putting an end to their miseries.

Eye Test for Chinese

This is an "Eye Test" for Chinese people with slanted eyes. If you are not Chinese or even if you are Chinese but without the slanted eyes, try pulling up the outer corners of both your eyes...... it works!!

Have fun and a good laugh! Try laughing at yourself, its good for the soul.

It would be nice if someone with slanted eyes could verify whether this works without any help.

:) :) :)

Smile For You

Let's get the endorphins started ... I found this precious picture with a message reminding us to smile from one of those forwarded emails and was told to forward to as many as I can. So, here you are, I hope to touch as many people as those who wants to read my blog.

Yes, this is just the start of my posting categorised under "Laughter Releases Endorphins" and yes smiling is not enough but a smile is the prerequisite of a laugh. If you have nothing to smile about how can you ever laugh.

"Smile and the world will smile with you"
:) :) :)

Is Reboiling Water Bad?

One of my sisters used to come to my humble abode every Sunday morning to go for a swim and as usual after an hour swim, we were hungry and ready for a hearty breakfast of toasts and coffee. Then, I noticed my sister always pouring away whatever water I have left in my electric kettle and refilling it afresh.

When I could not retain my curiosity any longer, I asked her why she did that. She looked me in my eyes and asked "Why? Don't you know, you should because you are so widely read?" Then she continued to chirp "Its bad to reboil boiled water". When I asked "Why?", her reply was just "It's bad la". I was always skeptical about statement without any logical explanation, so I left it at that and humoured her whenever she was around.

Then this email found its way into my mail box recently with this newspaper report in a Chinese daily. Hah, now that I do have something in black & white, its time to investigate.

I found no evidence of any detrimental issue on reboiling water except this article written in another personal blog on the 10 tips for a better cup of tea; also someone intrigued by this issue which states that:

"The more oxygen that is dissolved in water, the better it tastes. So, to make sure you use water with the maximum amount of oxygen, don't re-boil any leftover water in your kettle. Water that is boiled too much becomes poorly aerated because oxygen atoms escape in the form of steam. By always filling your kettle up afresh, you are ensured fully aerated and tasty water."

Frankly, I can't find anything else anywhere that has evidence of such a claim.....more like the boy who cried wolf or one of grandmother's tales.

Most grandmother's tales come without any supporting evidence or reason for their sayings or claims, however, it is notable that many of their claims are useful hints to live by and also very interesting to analyze in.

Shepherd's Pie - "the family all-time favourite"

The GGC gathering on Saturday brunch was at my humble abode while I thrilled my friends with my simple cooking skills .... my family all-time favourite shepherd's pie with a touch of Asian taste. It is a complete meal by itself always enjoyed by the whole family and now I hoped that my friends had enjoyed this very special dish as well....
The ingredients shown on the first picture is good for 4 hearty eaters:=

Ingredients are
5 big potatoes (boiled and mashed, add butter n a pinch of salt)
5 big onions & 5 red chillies (diced)
500 gms meat (pork, chicken, beef or mutton)
(left over meat can also be used)

Method
1. Boiled meat till slightly cooked. Keep stock for cooking later. Dice cooked meat (or left over meat).
2. Fry onions in heated oil till fragrance, add chillies and fry till you can smell the chillies.
3. Add diced meat and fry till slightly brown, add pepper, salt and L&P sauce to taste.
4. Add the stock, stew till meat is tender and until mixture is dry.
5. Dish into a pyrex dish. Top with mashed potates and smooth over.
6. Brush with 2 egg yolks.
7. Bake in oven(normal temperature) till the top of pie is golden brown. Serve hot.

"Nasi Lemak" Bonanza

Do you believe that we were at it again? ~~ this time around its lunch in a cool place built above the sea, its mud more like it probably because of low tide. Its no big deal because we enjoyed our meal tremendously......

Doesn't this looks delicious!!

And the company is even better. The Golden Girls strike again; doing the things they do best ~~ eating, chatting, laughing and improving on picture taking. This time around the pictures are more natural.

See, everyone is looking happy and smiling!!

We even met our beautiful friend, "Soo Mei" and I hate to think that someone is about to come along and pick her for their next meal....its a sad sad world :)

Look how beautiful she is on a close up picture, beat the Golden Girls flat!

Our next outing is already on the drawing board and this time around we are going to have new recruits and we can't wait to meet again in a few days time......

Golden Girls Club

We are hooked! We did it again! We got together for brunch and had our laughing bouts one more time. The only negative side of this gathering for me is the eating; we have to be careful not to let that get out of hand; otherwise its all fun, fun and fun.

We unanimously agreed to form the Golden Girls Club and the positions of President=LO, Vice President=SK, Honorary Secretary=MT and Honorary Treasurer-AL have been filled. We even discussed on the next activity. How serious can we be?

Being golden girls we are a bit disorganized and distracted and although it has been discussed no date was fixed for the next event. No fear, we will touch on this during our morning walks.

Our main activities are eating, chatting and laughing but we have other activities like massage, yoga, breathing exercises, trying out clothes and card games thrown in.......all the fun things we can think of.

Hey girls.... we need more fun pictures.....