Living Greener

The Australian Govt has come up with a Living Greener website. What I like about it is it also goes into greener cooking. It's not about organic food or air miles, but the basics like:

a) microwave use - plan well in advance for a meal and defrost in the fridge rather than use the microwave

b) stove top use - keep the flame directly under the pot or pan and don't let it run up the sides.

c) oven use - avoid using them as they use more energy than stove tops.

In Singapore, I dont' think that many of us cook at home, unless of course we visit our parents homes. Most of go to the hawker centres or food courts. Maybe someone should teach them tips on saving energy whilst cooking :-)

Photo: livinggreener.gov.au

Veggy burger

I tried making a veggy burger for lunch with a little bit of help from Helen.

I used chickpeas (about 400g) & 2 medium sized Japanese sweet potatoes. Mashed 3/4 of the chickpeas with the sweet potates and added about 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of rolled oats, 1tsp each of tumeric, coriander powder, cumin seeds and salt. Mixed in the non-mashed chickpeas. Then made patties and put them into the fridge for about 1/2 hour before pan frying them.

We had them with chopped tomatoes, yoghurt and homemade wholegrain bread. Yum! My hubby liked it and it's a change from the potato filled veggy burgers you usually see at restaurants. I've tried a veggy burger at Cedele's and that was nice, albeit a little pricey. They had a nice beetroot chutney. Ooooh, if only I knew how to make that!

The Cove

My friend has just alerted me about this movie which will be shown at GV, VivoCity. Unfortunately, I can't make it at the times it's shown.

25 - 26 Aug at 7:00pm & 7:15pm respectively.

"Japan's secret mass slaughtering of at least 23,000 dolphins...in a year just to pass off the meat as a whale meat. The poachers have tried to hide and barricade that cove in Osaka from public view, but a covert mission managed to infiltrate the area."

It looks really good! Go see it if you don't have any plans for this Tues and Wed!

If the clip is taking eons to download, go to the website - http://thecovemovie.com/

Great shark debate this Friday!!

Got this email from Acres. It will definitely generate a lot of interest. I personally think that both parties are right. I also think that the West should do something about their fishing policies as well (eg, cod).

Are sharks killed mainly for their fins, their meat or both? Some believe that it is western propaganda that sharks are killed mainly for their fins, saying instead that they are slaughtered chiefly for their meat.

However, the majority viewpoint is that the demand for sharks' fin is the key factor driving sharks towards extinction. Hear both sides of the story and watch the exciting debate between proponents of the two camps.

The debaters include Dr Giam Choo Hoo, Regional Representative for Asia (Alternate) for CITES Animals Committee, and Louis Ng, Executive Director of ACRES. This debate and public forum will be chaired by Dr Shawn Lum, President of Nature Society (Singapore), and is open to the public and media.

Date:
Friday 28th August 2009
Time:
7.30pm - 10.00pm
Venue:
Training Room P303, Spring Singapore,
2 Bukit Merah Central, Singapore 159835
Admission: Free
Info: contact@nss.org.sg

Photo: via Acres

Crude: The Real Price of Oil

Has this been shown in Singapore cinemas? I can't recall.... It's now being shown across North America, and I hope it gets to be shown in Asia.

via Eco-chick

Green Transport week

It's Green Transport week starting from today.
Check out the website http://www.blogger.com/www.greentransportweek.sg for their activities. There's even a pledge for us to take green transport. Well, I already take the SMRT (underground) and the bus for all my journeys!

It's not haze....

Lately, i've been getting wafts of smoke coming into my flat. Initially I thought someone's flat was on fire, and then I realised that it's the Hungry Ghost Festival. The Chinese start burning joss sticks, candles and paper offerings to appease the ghosts when they come out from the gates of hell. I'm not a believer in this but the fact that I'm getting smoke in my flat is not pleasant.

Natural insecticides

There's alot of news about the toxicity of chemicals in insecticides. There's even news how herbs can be used as natural insecticides. I haven't heard of herbs being used as insecticides, but in South East Asia, many households use the pandan leaf to deter cockroaches.

If you step into a cab and you smell a pleasant vanilla-like fragrance, it's highly likely that the cabby has put a bunch of pandan leaves in his cab.

Pandan leaves can be bought at the wet market or supermarket, and it's cheap! We also use it to add fragrance to our chiffon cakes (yummy!), kueis (desserts made from glutinous rice and coconut), and lentil desserts. They're also found wrapped around morsels of fried chicken in Thai restaurants.

Top pic - www.ytsara.com

Bottom Pic - Glen G from Flickr

Signed up for another 4 months!

I've signed up for another 4 months with Wardrobe Refashion. All my "new" clothes must be made from old. AND no buying new ones.

So far, I have succeeded in resisting the Great Singapore Sale (and all the other sales in between!), and the shops in HK on my holiday. It was difficult, especially when I went to HK during June 09. Aaaargghhhh.... I would start chanting " I don't REALLY need it" in my mind. My hubby, being the typical husband, would say "have I seen this one before?", or "is there a 'cousin' hiding in your closet?" I would give him the mean "I'm going to buy this anyway" look before, but now... thanks hubs!

I have slowed down in my refashioning, but I have planned out my projects for the next 4 months:

a) refashion one dress from my wardrobe

b) make/improve the shorts from my son's wardrobe

c) do some crochet, which I picked up from mum.

Oh, want to say a big thank you to my mum. She taught me all my sewing, knitting and crochet skills. My skills still need improving, especially when it comes to pattern drawing. My mum told me that when she went to school, they were taught how to sew, knit, crochet and draw clothes patterns from scratch. She even made me my wedding dress :-) Nowadays, I don't think kids get taught these skills. My nephew and niece are taught how to use a computer instead. What happened to the joy of arts & crafts? Sad.....

Recons so far (if memory serves me correctly!):

a) Panda costume for my son

b) Trousers

c) Vintage top (well, it looks like one)

d) T-shirt for work

e) Twirly whirly bolero

f) oh, and my socks....

Mobile phones (ok, cell or handphones)

My hubby has been complaining about why I don't want to upgrade my mobile phone. Why would I want to? It's working perfectly fine and I've had it for 5 years now (my 2nd phone since 1999). I don't need the extra gadgets that come with it (ie. snazzy camera, when I already have one, or music functions). Mine is the idiot proof and ever so bulky Nokia 3100, and I don't have to go through layers of applications before I can send a text message, thank you very much. Just in case you can't remember what the old models look like, I have posted one at the top :-p

So, because there's only a phone application, it doesn't need to be recharged as often. My hubby's phone, which has everything that I don't need, needs to be recharged twice a week. Mine only needs to be charged up once! :-p My hubby has been thru, let me think, 5 phones, and all because of new functions, size, weight blah blah blah blah....

In Asia, mobile phones are all the rage, and it's a lifestyle. In Singapore, almost everyone over the age of 15 has a mobile phone. Just imagine how many of phones they will go through before they hit working age!! According to a Nielsen survey done 3 years ago, Singapore has almost reached saturation point (89% own a mobile phone). In Korea it's 93%!!! Because of this, telecoms companies are enticing Asians to switch brands and upgrade our phones. To attract the greenies, Samsung has come up with a "green" phone that is 80 percent recyclable and made mostly of corn-based bio-plastics. They also have a solar-powered one.

Well, my motto is that if something is working fine, it doesn't need to be replaced. I shall not be enticed to buy more and more and more. The marketing evils shall not go to me. To me, my mobile phone is not a lifestyle. It's a communication tool.

If you are thinking of recycling your phone, you can drop it off at Nokia or Motorola. Sorry, I don't think the other brands have such programmes. If you're stuck, you can sell your used phone to the smaller retailers and if it is in good condition they will sell your phone on the 2nd hand market. Make sure you keep the box and user guide!!

ChocolateRain

I thought there weren't any designers in HK who would recycle and reuse materials.... until I came across ChocolateRain

I really like how Prudence & Janice share their ideas at the workshops they hold at their shop.

I wish I was in HK now.... :-)

Lee web

I stumbled on this Japanese blog on refashioning and DIY. Unfortunately, I can't read Japanese but I think their sewing skills are great!

There's a tutorial for the flowers. The blogger sewed them onto her curtains! I think they'd add a nice touch to a hairband made from scrap fabric :-)

I also like the way this lady DIYed her kids kitchen from cardboard (courtesy of a translation from my friend). That's really creative and it's a good project for the kids. I think I might try that. You may remember my cardboard drawing board for my son..... not as exciting as this one!

It's nice to see how other countries are doing their reconstruction and DIY :-)

Ion, organic stuff and lice.

A friend and I went to the new Ion shopping mall for lunch. If you are familiar with Orchard Road, a nice garden used to occupy that spot, but someone, somewhere in the upper echelons of society decided that Capitaland and Sun Hung Kai could tear everything down and replace it with a wierd looking structure. It looks out of place, like something out of the Godzilla series from the 70s. Maybe even outer space.. doo dee doo doo....

There were some wierd things that we observed. #1, it was really cold in the mall even tho it has been awarded the BCA Green Mark Gold certificate from Singapore’s Building Construction Authority, and #2 we spotted a stuffed deer head hanging from a wall at the food court. We're hoping the deer head is a fake.

We went to check out the 360 supermarket on the top floor as we heard that they sell a range of organic products. The prices are rather steep. In fact, I'm so shocked I can't remember the prices. I'm sure you can find similar organic products elsewhere and at more reasonable prices.

We did see a whole range of Burts Bees products at Sephora, and I saw something which I think I would buy if my son were to ever get lice .... eeks. It's the eco.kid Lice Bomb, and a different type of treatment from when my mum used to remove lice from my hair when I was a kid :-) I would say the old way is more toxic to kids with all the chemicals. Actually, my friend told me that when she was a kid, her mum poured kerosine on her hair and wrapped a towel over her head to suffocate the lice. I'm surprised she didn't suffocate too considering all the fumes and volatile organic compounds in kerosine. Can you imagine what would have happened if someone lit a match!?!?!Let's hope this practice has been banned in Singapore ...

Photo: Mediacorp

Dynamo Eco-ultra

I saw this in the supermarket and actually thought it was an environmentally friendly laundry detergent because it said "eco-ultra". When I checked the package, there wasn't anything on it that indicated it was environmentally friendly. It didn't have the Green Label on it either. This one's misleading!

DIY socks 2

I managed to finish the left foot and remember to take photos of the whole process. The only problem is that the 2 socks are a little wonky as I didn't use a pattern. Does anyone have a pattern? I think I will just wear these at home as "mini" slippers :-)

Step 1 - take your scrap material and cut it so that it's slightly longer than your shoe.

Step 2 - place the material over your shoe and insert your foot into the shoe.

Step 3 - cut off any excess fabric but remember the seam allowance! Thread the ruffled bit at the toes to fix their position. Then use your sewing chalk and draw around the shoe. I wanted my socks to peek out of the shoe a bit so I drew my chalk line slightly above the shoe.

Step 4 - fold the seams of the sock inward along the chalk line and sew. Sew the ruffles too.

Then, wear your sock inside out and pinch the back to see where you need to sew the back. Once you've sewn the back, you'll need to make a neat heel. Again, wear your sock inside out and you will see how much you will need to sew to make the heel (see pic above). This is similar to sewing a nice corner for a bag. Cut off any excess fabric, and you're done!

The natural way

I found some more natural beauty recipes from here. Actually, they took it from a book called Ecobeauty, but they revealed some of the recipes, like the Honey Hair Pack, Blackhead scrub (with baking soda, sugar and water), and a Lemonade Toner.

I think the one with baking soda might be worth trying. I'm using it on my hair once a week with apple cider vinegar rinse. I also heard that you can dip cotton pads into baking soda solution and apply it to your face as a mask for about 10 minutes. It's supposed to dissolve the blackheads. You can only use it once a week though.

A top from trousers

This looks nice, although I don't think I would be able to carry it off. Might look nicer if the material was satin.

Photograph: Ness Sherry/Junky Styling: Wardrobe Surgery

Haze has come back

It's been really hazy in Singapore. Had to turn on the air-con last night even though it was really breezy. Tried to do without the aircon but ended up coughing..... a lot of my colleagues went into work complaining of sore throats...

A wee in the shower?

I don't think PUB will go to the extremes of encouraging Singaporeans to wee in the shower. :-)

Brazil has done an advert encouraging Brazilians to wee in the shower to save water. Hmmm, according to reports, if a household avoids one flush a day, it can save up to 1,157 gallons of water a year. I'm just worried about all the germs. Do you wee before you start running the water, or during? Eeks! I think this would only be appropriate if you wee in your own shower, and not if your a guest. Oh, they shld set some rules for all this. Btw, anyone going to Brazil for the summer hols? He he!

Recipe for the Mushroom & Barley Dish

Some friends asked for the mushroom & barley dish. Here it is! It's from a Chinese recipe book.

According to the book, the barley and the mushrooms are supposed to cool you down in hot weather. Great stuff for hot weather in SIngapore!

Ingredients
Pearl barley 100g
Mushrooms (button, oyster and shimeiji, or any other type you fancy) 400g
Fresh lotus seeds 50g
Oil 2tbsp

Sauce
1/2 tsp salt
Sugar 1 tsp
Vegy Oyster sauce 1tbsp
Sesame oil a dash
Cornstarch 1 tbsp
Water 2 tbsp

Method
a) soak barley in water for 30 minutes
b) Steam them for 30 minutes
c) Heat 2 tbsp oil in wok
d) Add the cut mushrooms and toss well
e) Add fresh lotus seeds and pearl barley
f) Mix sauce and pour into the mushroom mixture. Simmer for 10 minutes.
g) Serve hot!

Toy rental

My friend told me that there's loads of places to rent toys in Singapore. Wish I had known about it before so that I wouldn't waste on getting toys for my son.

Here are some sites I found:
http://toysamonth.com.sg/
http://www.toyrentalclub.com/
http://rent-a-toy.com/shop/
http://www.rent-that-toy.com/
http://www.toys4rent.sg/
http://www.mygrowingtoys.com/main.sc

Socks

I tried to make a pair of socks for myself. It took me half a day just to make the right foot, and I haven't touched the left side yet....

I don't have a pattern but after trial and error I realised that the easiest way is to stuff your foot into the shoe and trim round it :-p Not exactly the best way! I used fabric from a top that I have. The green material was getting a bit "furry".

The mess in bedroom when I was doing the sock!

I'll be doing the left side next weekend and hopefully I'll have some pics of the recon in action!

Update - I've decided to remove the bow at the back as I'm having problems keeping it out of the shoe! I will sew it on as an elasticated strap instead like a ballet slipper.