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.

I love the idea of reusing, reducing and recycling just like any other tree hugging Joe, but this, my friend, is a bit extreme. But it’s too funny not to share.

What is it?

It’s a video of a cheapskate genius cutting away the crotch of his old underwear to fashion it into a sports bra. I shouldn’t show this to my husband. He might actually think it’ll work, thus saving him tons of money.

Me? What would I do with an old unwanted underwear? I’d cut the thing up and use it as a rag. Maybe to wipe an engine oil stains out. Yeah, it’s boring, nothing what that outrageous guy is doing, but that’s just me.

I have been reading with much interest about the length people go through to make their stuff darn ugly, just so that other people will not steal it.

Take your home packed lunch at the office pantry for example. There’s always some weirdo stealing someone else’s lunch, prepacked fruits, homemade chocolate cake or that yogurt tub from the office fridge. Apparently, just writing down your name on your prepacked food is not enough to deter these thieves. Some of the more creative ways to deter a thief is to make the plastic bag you stored your food in to look like it has mod in it. Or, you could put a pre printed “best by date” on the packaged food to make it look like it has expired.

Then, there’s Jimmy P Rodgers who took a really pricey camera and messed it up real well just so it wouldn’t get stolen on his trip to Brazil.

Then, there’s these two ways to uglify an iPhone. Ughhhh!

Now, if only there’s a way to uglify my pen in such a way that I won’t keep losing them!

Typical Malaysian Wedding Dinner (usually 40 or more tables!)

From now until to the New Year, I’ve got parties and more parties to attend. A cousin is getting married on Saturday and my dad’s very close friend, we call him Uncle Cheah, is celebrating his 80th birthday this Sunday. My son’s preschool has this really fun 4 day Church camp, culminating with a pre Xmas concert tomorrow. Also, this coming Tuesday is the Chinese Winter Solstice Festival. This is the day when family members gather at the head of the family’s house, in my case, that’s my in-laws house for a big dinner. My little boy is also born on Xmas day, so we’ll definitely have a super duper party.

Parties and big family gatherings are so much fun. And there’s always an opportunity to bring all sorts of tasty food to share at these parties. For example, my kid’s preschool had asked for parents to bring some pot luck dishes for the kids to share. I’ll be bringing maybe 2 dishes to my in-laws house for the Winter Solstice Festival. My sister-in-law will probably bring a few of her fabulous dishes as well. My cousin’s wedding dinner probably calls for a Chinese sit-down affair that probably includes a 10 course meal. Uncle Cheah is having a huge buffet at his house. Meanwhile, let’s not even talk about Xmas party. It’s pretty much a food fest right here.

The problem with food, I realize, is that most of the time, when we buy food, especially pre packaged food, it’s all pretty much laden with artificial coloring, additives, preservatives, all the yucky stuff that can really make you sick; many nice holiday wrapped chocolates for example. How about soft drinks like Fanta, Coca-cola, Dr. Pepper? Yes, even those reconstituted juices at the cold section of the supermarket that tries to pass off as fresh juice. Fresh juice in my opinion is anything just juiced from a juicer or a blender. Anything else is not.

Can you believe this poison sugar water isotonic drink is recommended by doctors for those who have diarrhea?

El Fresco night market juice shop

So anyways, this holiday season, give everyone the gift of love by showing your concern for your friends and family. When you go out and buy food, do stop an extra minute and read food labels and buy safe food.

You could make your own food using natural products, which by itself is free of additives, as presents. What I mean by that? Look at the package labels the next time you go to the grocery store. Notice something as basic as flour has preservatives in it.  The bottom line is, whether it is approved by the whatever government agency, we are still eating bad-for-you preservatives. Buy something that doesn’t have any preservatives if you can help it.

Alternatively, you can buy additive free cookies, cakes and any other food from a place you know serves good food, and I don’t mean, just tasty food. My friend Sui Wei sells preservative free, oh so good, choco chip cookies. I’m sure you probably know someone who does as well. Not only that, lots of gourmet specialty shops sell food that are free of additives, organic food as well.

You see, food is a great vehicle to get everyone closer. And if you show you are concerned about people’s health, they too will reciprocate and take care to feed you healthful food as well.

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More on

• Regular bread is full of additives
• What would you bring to a pot luck party?
• Is food making people around you crazy?
• Flowers, the natural food coloring
• Homemade, handmade butter

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Try this cook book that calls for preservative free ingredients
that has been garnering
rave reviews by home cooks all over

Impress Your Family and Friends With Exact Replicas of The
Following Famous Dishes Without The Excess Fat and Preservatives:

The Book Will Teach You the  Jealously Guarded Secrets Behind Dishes
From Billion Dollar Restaurants Like The Cheesecake Factory®, KFC®,
The Olive Garden®, PF Chang’s®, Red Lobster®, Chili’s®…
(plus many others) and Show You How to Easily Make Them at Home!”

America’s Most Wanted Recipes in Your Own Kitchen…

-Kenny Roger’s recipe Page 75

- KFC Original Recipe Chicken Page 77

- Mrs Field’s Peanut Butter Cookies Page 91

- Pizza Hut Original Pan Pizza Page 125

- White Castle Burgers Page 157

So, ok. Today’s topic is not exactly about health, but I promise you, it keeps you sane.

What’s really gets me often times is when I can’t find things that are misplaced, things I use maybe once every few years. But here’s a useful tip I saw on the internet I’m pretty sure you’l love as well.

Tape small tools (like an Allan Key) to where you’ll use them.

Makes me wanna run out and take the Allen Key to my Ikea bed right now.

By the way, when I was a college student, I’d use to store my TV warranty card and receipt in a small, clear plastic bag and tape it to the bottom of the tv. You see, I would buy all my stuff from Walmart, and they had a superior return policy. I’d tape the same stuff to my table fan and a couple of other large items. That way, I’d remember where I kept it, especially since I kept changing accommodations every single year. Nowadays, I have a very, very large file for just warranties which I keep in one of the cabinets. Hope I’ll remember where I keep it when I move house! I’ve got a pretty bad memory, hubby will tell you.

So, where do you keep your important, hardly used items?

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Tips to reduce blood pressure

• Cucumbers help reduce my mum’s high blood pressure
• Jicama reduces blood pressure
• Cats love lemongrass, dogs hate it
• Yummy honey dew melon

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Here are a simple breakdown of our well loved sustainable things Malaysians use everyday that are eco friendly. An Australian buddy pointed out that the choices are kinda quirky, but darn interesting.

1. Sweeping the floor with a natural fiber brooms

These brooms are usually make from corn fibers

The Penang Island Municipal Councils cleaning the streets with
Lidi Brooms (brooms made from the spine of the coconut leaves)
after the Tsunami aftermath

2. The 3-in-1 motorbike experience …. cheaper and more efficient than a Prius, trust me, although not as safe

Sorry about the quality of the picture, but look at the way this man is putting his 2 children in such danger. Click on the link to read about the dangerous things motorbike riders do in Malaysia.

3. All You Can Eat Durian Buffet. By not cooking, these guys are using no fuel, thus in their own way, saving the environment. And since the diners don’t use plates or utensils, there’s not much water needed to clean as well. Check out the All You Can Eat Durian Buffet article.

4. LRT trains – which translates to less cars on the road

5. Eating with our fingers and using banana leaves as plates. Less chemical dish washing liquids polluting our waterways.
Note: Try using enzymes as a washing detergent for your utensils and plates

6.Tiled or marble flooring in Malaysian homes. Malaysia is a tropical country and anything that helps cool the house without electricity is very welcomed. Stone and tile radiate coolness, and this is what really helps. Also, this type of flooring is so easy to clean. Just use a broom and a mop, and you are ready to go! (See how to use your garbage to make cheap and cheerful enzymes floor cleaners)

Malaysians love their houses top-to-bottom tiled all over

Another example of a house with tiled flooring

A tiled kitchen flooring

The Plot Building Washroom with tiles all the way up to the ceiling.
The Plot Building was an old bungalow house at Bangsar.
Click on the image to see more pictures of how they design the entire space
to make one beautiful area, yes, with lots of stone flooring!

7. Solar water heaters

If everyone used a solar water heater, they would save and use less electricity to heat up their bath water.

8. Drinking and eating straight from a coconut

Here’s my then 2 1/2 year old kid eating straight from the coconut.
No need to juice nor wash any juicer machine. Healthful and good for you.