This is how some of the UHT milk packets look like
I was thinking of how schools were given UHT packets of spoilt milk last year, thinking why was this happening. Milk is truly expensive in a country mainly exports it’s dairy products from Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The act of packing the milk in pricey UHT packages. The cost of transporting milk from packing factories to schools.
There are food just as good or better than dairy milk, and cheaper to boot too.
Why not make soy bean milk, barley water or red bean drinks instead for kids from poor families? Low cost, easy-to-make, full of protein and other minerals, filling, FRESHly made. Pay the canteen operator and skip the middle men who makes all the profit from distributing milk.
Just soak the beans overnight, dunk the beans into soy milk machine with water, sugar N pandan leaf. Fresh food in 1/2 hour.
While we are on the subject of healthy school food, why not ban sugary soda drinks like Coca-Cola, Pepsi and all those artificial drinks, hook up a water cooler machine and sell healthy drinks instead to kids and teens.
I love writing about food, so let me tell you about this cute festivities we have in Malaysia where Mandarin oranges play a huge role in getting masses of single men and women hooked up.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Hokkien Chinese celebrated the 15th day of the Chinese New Year festivities with what is considered their version of the Valentine’s Day. More than 50,000 people headed towards the Penang Island Esplanade, where the Chap Goh Mei (15th day) celebration was held last night to mark the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.
What the women singletons do on this particular day is to grab a couple of fresh Mandarin oranges, write down their names in ink on the oranges and throw them into the sea or a lake, hoping some young handsome, and we hope, single men (not dirty minded lecherous guys) will get hold of the oranges and give them a call.
I’ve been told that this was a form of flirting in the old days as eligible young women were usually not allowed outside their homes. This is the only day throughout the whole year where the young maidens would be allowed to walk the streets but they must be accompanied by a chaperon. The young men would also go out and in hopes of catching a glimpse of the young maiden and taking their hand in marriage. Obviously this does not happen anymore but the concept of match-making still lives on.
Can you believe this is really good looking reusable sandwich bag was once an old shirt, a piece of scrap cloth and a clean Ziplock bag?
How cute. I love it when old stuff are brought back to live as a new and so reusable item.
So gorgeous, you’d want to bring it to work Every. Single. Day.
The bag just folds up and snaps shut with a piece of velcro
The inside of the bag is a gallon size Ziploc bag (cut apart)
It’s a breeze to make, doesn’t take much time at all. Best thing is, you can just drop it in the washing machine, and then hang it up to dry in time for the next use.
Apparently, there’s a new strain of rice that does not need to be cooked at all. Super duper crazy stuff for all you lazy cooks out there! Downside is, you gotta wait for the agri scientists in India to sell it to ya! This soft rice is called the Agihoni Bora rice.
Apparently, it just requires a long soak (45 minutes), and that’s it!
Can you imagine? Finally, we are able to eat raw rice that has not lost all the great enzymes that might have been destroyed during the cooking process. Also, it’s definitely environmentally safer because we don’t have to use any fuel to cook it. It’s a boon to the poor who can’t afford to buy fuel, that is if the Indian farmers decide to price the rice grains within the reach of the poor.
Image taken from http:/macrocosm-magbook.blogspot.com/2010/02/rice-grains-that-need-no-cooking.html
In the old days, restaurants used to buy blocks of ice from ice vendors who would make ice probably from tap water. And once the blocks of ice is made, they would wrap the ice in saw dust before transporting them over to the restaurants in motorbikes and bicycles. Once the guys get the ice blocks, the would bring out the ice picks and hack away to make smaller pieces of ice to put into drinks.
Thankfully, that’s all in the past. Today, vendors are very professional. Their crew members run around all over town carrying clean ice cubes in large clear plastic bags stored in refrigerated vehicles. These guys bring in ice, once a day, twice a day, or even more, based on the quantity and frequency required.We may take things for granted, but they really provide an important service to the community. By offering clean ice to street vendors, for example, they are really reducing the level of food poisoning in the community. Think about it. I would cringe if I saw restaurant workers breaking up ice in kitchen sinks, and who knows, even at floor level if someone allowed them, at the back of the kitchen. It’s unsanitary, and you know, in the old days, nobody would have bat an eyelid because it was pretty much the norm.
Anyways, I’m just reminiscing, for it’s nice to look back and remember how it was done in the old days.
Some of the Atlas Edible Ice crew members. Atlas is one of the biggest ice manufacturers in Malaysia.
That’s one of the vehicles that carry ice, shown in the background.
Video of the Taman Universiti Sathya Sai Baba Centre celebrating pongal in 2007.
Two days ago, Tamil Indians all over celebrated the start of the Thai Pongal festival. The Thai Pongal is a harvest festival event which coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated in various other parts of India. Pongal in Tamil means “boiling over or spill over.” The act of boiling over of milk in the clay pot is considered to denote future wishes for the family.
Traditionally Thai Ponggal is celebrated at harvest time, it’s a celebration of the prosperity associated with the harvest by thanking the sun god, rain and the farm animals that have helped in the harvest. In villages, new clothes are worn and people owning cows find this festival more important.
The saying “Thai Pirandhal Vazhi Pirakkum” (தை பிறந்தால் வழி பிறக்கும்) meaning “the birth of the month of Thai will pave the way for new opportunities” is often quoted regarding the Ponggal festival.
The Ponggal festival is at least 1000 years old although some believe that the festival is older. As per epigraphic evidence, it used to be celebrated as Puthiyeedu during Medieval Chola empire days. It is thought that Puthiyeedu meant the first harvest of the year. Tamils refer to Pongal as “Tamizhar Thirunal” (meaning “the festival of Tamils”).
The moment the rice boils over and bubbles out of the vessel, the tradition is to shout of “Ponggalo Ponggal!” and blowing the sangu (a conch), a custom practiced during the Ponggal festival to announce it was going to be a year blessed with good tidings. For Tamils, it is considered a good sign to watch it boil over, …since it means that good luck and prosperity is forthcoming.
Quoted from Mr. Sivakumar Varatharaju, the first ethnic Indian to become the speaker of a Malaysian legislative body.
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Jasmin says,
The cooking of milk in the claypot with a variety of ingredients is an important part of the Pongal tradition. The end result is the yummiest (eggless) rice dessert ever. Here an easy recipe which can be recreated at home over the stove.
Ingredients :
Rice – 1 cup
Fresh milk – 3 cups
Jaggery (A traditional Indian sweetener) or Brown sugar – 1/2 cup (I don’t like it so sweet but you can adjust to taste)
Cashew nuts – 1/4 cup
Raisins – 2 tbsp
1 Cardamom pod – pound the cardamom pod to get the seeds. Pound the seeds to powder using a mortar and pestle
Ghee (clarified butter) or butter if you can’t find ghee – 4 tbsp
A spash of Rose water (you can get this from an Indian or Middle Eastern grocery store or you can omit if you don’t have it)
Method :
1. Wash the rice.
2. Boil the milk, add rice.
3. Add sugar and stir for few minutes until sugar is dissolved. Add cardamoms powder, stir for few minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat the ghee in a frying pan, add the cashew nuts and raisins. Fry till fragrant.
5. Pour into the rice mixture. Add little rose water to the rice and stir gently. Keep simmer in low flame.
6. When the rice mixture looks like it’s almost dry, turn off the fire and close the lid for another 5 mins. The secret to this dish is that the dish is not sticky but shiny looking.
7. Serve hot.
