The Budding Planet » Responsibility

Plastic caps!

jasmin — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:48:54 +0000

I just discovered something awesome!

A pink terry cloth shower cap which I bought from Daiso for RM5 (USD$1.50). I’ve always been using plastic cap all this while. Can you imagine how much of these goes to the landfill?

I feel so guilty now.

Clean ice cubes

jasmin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:30:23 +0000

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.

Make a sports bra out of an old man’s underwear. Yes you can!

jasmin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:05:19 +0000

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.

Make your stuff ugly to protect it this year!

jasmin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:20:38 +0000

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!

Buy Additive-Free Food As Gifts!

jasmin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:32:05 +0000

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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Lower Blood Pressure By Keeping Things In The Right Place

jasmin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:14:25 +0000

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

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