Gourmet Chocolates

June 13th, 2008 at 23:11 · Filed Under At Work, Blogging, Food, Gifts, Marketing · 1 Comment 

I love chocolates! Recently, I craved for chocolates because of the increased brain activities. Chocolate is the favorite food while I am working on computers. Besides providing more energy for my brains, I love the way it melts in my mouth. LA has baked some chocolate cookies last week and I almost finished them.

I found a site which sells delicious gourmet chocolates. Gertrude Hawk Chocolates is made of fresh and finest ingredients. It is dedicated to create the best gourmet chocolates which include dark chocolate and other mouth-watering, delicious Chocolate Smidgens, caramel-dipped apples, gourmet summer taffy and many more.

Gertrude Hawk Chocolates also provide gift giving service. Their beautifully gift-wrapped assortments and pre-made gift baskets add more values to your gift-giving needs. Besides, you can also create your own personal gift with their Create-a-Basket program.

Hmmm… I wish to receive a Gertrude Hawk Chocolates gift basket.

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Yummy bread!

April 22nd, 2008 at 11:03 · Filed Under At Home, Dietrich, Dominik, Food · 3 Comments 

LA baked another loaf of bread this morning to make garlic bread for Dmitry’s birthday party tonight. This is the second loaf of bread she baked since our Princess’s bread maker is back last Friday. LA baked a milk bread. The house was full of fresh bread aroma.

Read more

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Nice bread!

April 21st, 2008 at 9:11 · Filed Under Blogging, Family, Food · 1 Comment 

Finally, our Princess bread maker was back last Friday. The authorized service center, Pensonic, had its service man to deliver to our home. Read about the stories here and here.

Today, we woke up with a loaf of fresh and hot wholemeal bread.

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Dead twice!

April 4th, 2008 at 13:00 · Filed Under At Home, Blogging, Critiques, Days in My Life, Family, Food, WTF · 3 Comments 

Our Princess bread maker came back yesterday from Pensonic service center after almost 4 weeks of warranty claim. Read about the first warranty claim here. According to the service center, they had baked a cake to test if it was working. So, I went home with the bread maker happily. But when I was coaching half way through, LA called to let me know that it was not working. The kneading blades were not turning at all. Another waste of ingredients.

This morning I switched on the bread maker without any ingredients in it. It was not working. I left it turned on for almost an hour and it was not working. So I called the Pensonic service center and one of the lady told me immediately that their headquarters called them to get the unit back to have the circuit board replaced. They offered to collect from my house. Hmm… otherwise I would have the chance to shoot them.

Anyway, Pensonic service vehicle came to collect after noon. Next time when it comes back, it better works. Otherwise, I am going to take this to consumer court and have them to reimburse the material wasted.

If you are planning to buy a bread maker, don’t buy Princess bread maker! I hope Princess will be reading this blog. Beef up your quality, Princess!

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Our Princess Bread Maker is dead!

March 17th, 2008 at 11:51 · Filed Under At Home, Blogging, Critiques, Days in My Life, Family, Food, WTF · 5 Comments 

WTF! It is only about one month old and LA had only baked 3 loafs of bread and the spinners was dead! She got it on February 11. Read here. She discovered that this morning when she was trying to bake a loaf of bread for her mother and all of us.

We chose Princess among other brands like Kenwood and Sharp. We chose Princess because it was better (solid) built (and look nicer) and the pan was bigger. But it is so fragile and of low quality. It is dead for just one month and baked 3 loafs!

I will send the unit back for warranty claim this afternoon. I will demand a new unit swap. No repair is acceptable by my standard.

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Our Princess Bread Maker

February 21st, 2008 at 8:08 · Filed Under At Home, Blogging, Days in My Life, Family, Food · 1 Comment 

LA has got her Princess bread maker on February 11. She had made a few breads and they all tasted very good. Today she made another one after she managed to buy some special ingredients for bread making. She made a wholemeal bread with the wholemeal flour she bought from PJ. Here is the photo of the Princess bread maker and the delicious fresh hot wholemeal bread.

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又是肉干飘香时

February 1st, 2008 at 23:17 · Filed Under Blogging, Chinese, Diet, Food · 3 Comments 

春节来咯！大街小巷每个角落肉干摊子林立，烤肉干的香味四处飘。又是肉干飘香的时侯。平时卖肉干的摊商零星可数。春节一到，可说卖肉干的人全都趁时机卖肉干大捞一笔。

肉干可是我的最爱。小时爸爸常买肉干让我夹面包当早餐。小时肉干还相当便宜的。现在肉干的价钱可要比我小时候贵了好多。这也是平时不买肉干吃的原因。不过偶尔会食指大动，买一点来吃。前两个礼拜就已经吃完一盒肉干。我那三个恐龙也很爱吃。不到三四天就吃完了。昨天朋友送来一盒肉干，晚上按耐不住，把它开了，吃了两片半。刚刚又吃了两片。

我喜欢单吃肉干，由其是猪肉切片的。如果配啤酒味道更好。肉干夹面包也美味。肉干拿来炒饭也很好。过了年，又要节食了。唉，一年一次吗…

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适量食用柿子可治疗风热咳嗽预防动脉硬化

January 15th, 2008 at 15:15 · Filed Under Blogging, Food, Health, Medical · 1 Comment 

我在十月写了一篇有关柿子的英语短文。我在网上看到了一篇关柿子的中文文章，转载在此和大家分享。

柿子（Persimmon）是柿子树（柿科柿属）的果实，原产于中国，柿子在中国大陆已有好几千年的历史，至今还有很多国家把柿子称为“中国的无花果”。不过现在许多国家也有，中国、日本、韩国和巴西是主要产地，以色列也逐渐赶上，发展出一种叫做莎隆果的新品种。美国各地则有野生的柿子。在中国，柿子是人们比较喜欢食用的水果，甜腻可口，营养丰富。不少人还喜欢在冬季吃冻柿子，别有味道。柿子既可生食，也可加工成柿饼、柿糕，柿子果脯、柿子果丹皮等，并可用来酿酒、制醋等。柿子营养丰富、色泽鲜艳、柔软多汁、香甜可口、老少喜食。

柿子营养价值很高，营养成分主要为糖类、果胶、蛋白质、脂肪、碳水化合物、微量元素和多种维生素。每100克熟柿中含有糖28克，其中主要是蔗糖、葡萄糖及果糖，含有碳水化合物15克，蛋白质1.36克，脂肪0.2克，碘量49.7毫克，以及钾、铁、钙、钠、镁、磷等矿物质和维生素C等。

科学家在用现代科学手段将柿子和苹果所含的营养成分进行对比之后，认为柿子在某些方面的优势要明显得多。例如，柿子的葡萄糖含量比苹果高出60%，膳食纤维含量等于苹果的2倍。而钠、钾、镁、钙、铁、锰的含量也大大超过了苹果。特别值得一提的是，柿子含有一种“酚类化合物”（苯酚或称石炭酸），对预防动脉硬化，降低心血管疾病发病率有很好的效果。柿子含有的膳食纤维、矿物质和石炭酸（一种抗氧化剂）成分，都是预防动脉硬化的要素。如果每天能食用柿子100克，便能有效地预防动脉硬化和心血管疾病。柿子预防心脏血管硬化的功效远大于苹果，堪称有益心脏健康的水果王。柿子富含果胶，它是一种水溶性的膳食纤维，有良好的润肠通便作用，对于纠正便秘，保持肠道正常菌群生长等有很好的作用。柿子含碘，所以因缺碘引起的地方性甲状腺肿大患者，食用柿子很有帮助。

据《本草纲目》所载：柿子味甘性寒，能消热去烦、止渴生津、润肺化痰、治疗热咳。中医认为，柿子味甘、涩，性凉。具有清热去燥、润肺化痰、止渴生津、健脾益胃、软坚、治痢、止血等功效。适用于风热咳嗽（不适用风寒咳嗽）、胃热伤阴、喉痛、吐血、甲状腺瘤、甲状腺肿大、大便干结、痔疮疼痛或出血等症。柿子是慢性支气管炎、高血压、动脉硬化、内外痔疮患者的天然保健食品。柿子有很多的药用价值，鲜柿、干柿饼、柿霜、柿蒂、柿叶都是很好的药物。柿饼：味甘，性平。具有润肺化痰、补脾涩肠、止血等功效，适用于燥痰咳嗽、脾虚食减、腹泻、便血、痔疮出血等症。柿霜：柿霜的成分主要是葡萄糖粉末。味甘，性凉。具有清热润肺，生津止渴，宁心泻火，凉血止血，消痔疗漏等功效。适用于肺热燥咳，咽干喉痛，口舌生疮，吐血，咯血等症。柿蒂：味甘，性平。具有降气止呃功效，适用于呃逆不止等症。柿叶：味苦，性凉。柿叶能软化血管、降低血压、防止动脉硬化、增加冠状动脉血流量，对高血压、冠心病、消化系统癌病有一定的效果。适用于各种急慢性炎症和出血等症。对肺结核咯血、胃溃疡吐血、眼底出血、血小板减少性紫癜和肺气胀满、咳嗽痰喘等有较好的疗效。由于嫩柿叶有利尿作用，所以柿叶茶还可以用来解酒。柿叶茶是利用夏季采摘的鲜柿叶经加工制成，与一般茶叶不同，柿叶茶呈弱酸性，而普通的红茶、绿茶和花茶呈弱减性。柿叶茶不含茶碱、咖啡因，晚上饮用不会因喝茶兴奋而导致失眠，反而可安神，是日常茶疗难得的健康饮品，深受国内外消费者的青睐。

吃柿子虽然有很多好处，但是有几点特别需要提醒：

1.空腹不能吃柿子。

因为柿子含有较多的鞣酸（或称单宁酸）及果胶，在空腹情况下它们会在胃酸的作用下形成大小不等的硬块，如果这些硬块不能通过幽门到达小肠，就会滞留在胃中形成胃柿结石，小的胃柿结石最初如杏子核，但是会愈积愈大。胃柿结石会愈结愈牢，不易粉碎，会引起胃粘膜充血、水肿、糜烂、溃疡，严重者可引起胃穿孔。

2.柿子皮不能吃。

柿子中的鞣酸绝大多数集中在皮中，在柿子脱涩时，不可能将其中的鞣酸全部脱尽，如果连皮一起吃更容易形成胃柿结石，尤其是脱涩工艺不完善时，其皮中含的鞣酸更多。

3.不要与含高蛋白的蟹、鱼、虾等食品一起吃。

在中医学中，螃蟹与柿子都属寒性食物，所以不能同食。从现代医学的角度来看，含高蛋白的蟹、鱼、虾在鞣酸的作用下，很易凝固成块，即胃柿结石。要避免发生以下情况：螃蟹＋柿子＝腹泻；白酒＋柿子＝会胸闷；红薯＋柿子＝会得结石。

4.糖尿病人勿食。

柿子中因含有糖类，而且大多是简单的双糖和单糖（蔗糖、果糖、葡萄糖即属此类），因此吃后很易被吸收，使血糖升高。凡体弱多病，脾胃虚寒，风寒咳嗽，妇女产后，女子月经期间，均忌食柿子。

5.适量使用。

柿子中的鞣酸能与食物中的钙、锌、镁、铁等矿物质形成不能被人体吸收的化合物，使这些营养素不能被利用，因此多吃柿子容易导致矿物质缺乏。一般，不在空腹的情况下，每次吃柿子不超过200克为宜。

6.食后漱口。

柿子所含的糖类和果胶，食用后总有一部分留在口腔里，特别是在牙缝中，加上弱酸性的鞣酸，很易对牙齿造成侵蚀，形成龋齿，因此在食用后宜喝几口水或及时漱口

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A basket of rotten fruits

January 7th, 2008 at 21:32 · Filed Under Days in My Life, Food, Karate · Comment 

It’s Monday again, another week of teaching and training. As usual, I was looking for something to eat in the evening before going to dōkōkai. I thought of having some fruits so I look into the fruit basket on the table. Guess what?

OMG! Some fruits had rotten in the basket! They rot and got moldy. What a waste! I threw them away instantly without a second of hesitation. But I am glad that I’ve managed to save several from rotting in the basket. Perhaps they are lucky that I found them (or they found me?).

What a bizarre coincidence!!! :P

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Balsamic Vinegar

January 5th, 2008 at 22:38 · Filed Under Food, Shopping · Comment 

I had searched all the hypermarkets in Melaka but couldn’t find any balsamic vinegar. Finally, I have found it in Carrefour! Carrefour is a new hypermarket located in the second phase of Dataran Pahlawan.

The building design was really out of taste. The construction is not totally completed yet. The cement odor fills the building. Many shop lots are still vacant. The Carrefour hypermarket is located too high up. It occupies level 2 and 3. Groceries are found in level 3. It is rather inconvenient to push a heavy shopping cart full with groceries from Level 3 way down to ground floor although there are escalators. The lifts will be useless with huge crowd. Do you want to wait for the car to arrive?

The arrangement of goods is a little more messy than Tesco. The price? We find that Tesco is cheaper for its groceries. But, nonetheless, it is the only place in Melaka I can find balsamic vinegar.

I learned to eat bread with balsamic vinegar while I was on Okinawa. It is absolutely delicious!

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Smooth Yogurt

December 3rd, 2007 at 10:39 · Filed Under At Home, Food, Health · Comment 

Many of the local brands of yogurt are heavily sweetened and I don’t really like them. Certainly, we don’t like to give them to the kids. All these local brands including imported brands of yogurt are really smooth. All the while, I enjoyed smooth yogurt. This becomes the opposite not long before I read in Purely Random about yogurt. LA has told me about stirring yogurt some times ago.

Don’t stir the yogurt! All the yogurts on the shelf are stirred and blended with bits and favors of fruits to enhance the taste. In the process of adding fruity favors and bits, the yogurt has to be stirred. Stirring breaks up the solid texture of the yogurt.

The Sunglo’s all natural yogurt contains all the solid texture. It tastes great when mixed with fruity jam!

The price of the yogurts are getting more expensive now. I am thinking of making our own yogurt. I will write about our experience making our own yogurt later.

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Persimmons

October 20th, 2007 at 10:15 · Filed Under Blogging, Food, Medical · 4 Comments 

I love persimmons! When I was a kid, I did not like the fruit and wouldn’t even want to taste it. But now, it is one of my favorite fruits. It’s sweet in taste and seedless. My kids love it too.It comes in variety of shapes according to its species. It may be spherical, acorn- or pumpkin- shaped. Pumpkin-shaped persimmons are most common here.

Persimmons

Do you realize that too much of persimmons is bad for your health?

According to the Merck’s Manual, it can cause epidemic of intestinal bezoars. Persimmons contain tannin shibuol, which polymerized in the stomach, is the cause of bezoar. The bezoar caused by persimmons is called persimmon bezoar. 90% of the bolus that occur from eating too much persimmons require surgery for removal.

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Cold Soba

August 27th, 2007 at 22:51 · Filed Under At Home, Days in My Life, Dietrich, Dmitry, Dominik, Family, Food, General, Okinawa · Comment 

Besides karate and yoga, I learned to make Sushi rice ball and cold soba during my first trip to Okinawa. Actually, the one I ate on Okinawa was not soba. I can’t remember the name of the noddle but it was white in color. I learned to make the dishes from Sumako sempai.

Today, I prepared the two dishes for the kids and LA. They loved it so much!

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Farewell Dinner

August 18th, 2007 at 19:51 · Filed Under Days in My Life, Eating Out, Food, Karate, Okinawa, Training Journal · Comment 

Aleksander and I will be going home tomorrow. After the last training in this afternoon, Sensei and Sumako sempai took us to an Italian restaurant, Marcaroni & Grill, at Camp Foster. Together were Sumako’s friend and her daughter. The food there was really great! My tummy was really expanded. What a dinner! Thanks to Sensei and Sumako sempai.

“一期一会” (ichi go ichi e), one meeting in one life time. This is our first meeting in our entire life time. Every meeting has to come to an end. To an end so that another can begin. We will meet again.

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Yummy crab

November 14th, 2006 at 0:57 · Filed Under At Home, Days in My Life, Dietrich, Dmitry, Eating Out, Family, Food, Malacca · Comment 

LA likes to eat crab. I like to eat crab too but I am lazy to peel its shell and I dislike the messiness. LA ate quite a lot of crabs before she delivered Nik. The Chinese believes if the pregnant woman thinks of eating something, her husband must get the food she likes. Otherwise, the baby will become greedy when she grows up! It’s Chines folklore.

After LA’s massage at my parent’s, we passed by a restaurant beside a temple. I went down to buy her a crab in sweet and sour sauce. I bought a small bottle of Guiness Stout. It has been a long time since my last Stout in the mid 1990s! While I was waiting for the crab at the restaurant, I saw an old man ordering Stout. I did not know why I had the urge to drink Stout after so many years.

We came home and set in the dining room to eat the crab with toast breads. Umph… yummy! :P D and R like the crab and the sauce with toast breads too!

Michal, if you are reading this, can you remember we took you to this restaurant for seafood? You were so enjoying the crabs! We wish you will come visit us again and we can have crabs party. I can’t remember if I made you a picture eating crabs. I am going to go through my CD archives to find out.

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Dmitry was disappointed

October 26th, 2006 at 21:43 · Filed Under At the Movies, Days in My Life, Dmitry, Eating Out, Family, Food · Comment 

Open SeasonDmitry and I had a date for a movie, Open Season. You know, it’s dad-and-son kind of thing.

We were very excited from home and Dmitry behaved very well in the car. We left our home at 16:30. We were to catch the 17:40 show. When we arrived at the ticket counter at 17:05, there was only one ticket left. Third row from the screen. I hate to sit so close to the screen. There was no choice left and I decided not to go for it. Dmitry was quite disappointed as I could see it through his eyes. :(

However, we decided to go to our usual hang out place (Coffee Bean) to get a drink. I ordered a Taro Ice Blended. Not bad the taste. After the drink, we went hope.

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The best Tandoori chicken in Malacca

July 20th, 2006 at 17:13 · Filed Under Eating Out, Food, Malacca, Malaysia, Travel · 5 Comments 

It is hard to find a good Tandoori chicken restaurant in Malacca. By chance, I came across a restaurant in Taman Kota Laksamana serving Tandoori chicken and other Pakistani cuisine. First, I was just going for a tea with a friend one night. I saw many people came to this restaurant and ordered Tandoori chicken and Naan. Next, I decided to give it a try one day with my family.

The chef himself some staffs are from Pakistan. The Tandoori chicken, Naan, and other Pakistani cuisine have gotten the authentic taste and style. We especially love the spinach potato, Tandoori chicken and their curry.

We think this is the best Tandoori chicken restaurant in Malacca which worth a try. If you visit Jonker Street on Friday, Saturday or Sunday night, try to find this restaurant and have a nice supper before return to your home or hotel.

If you enjoy walking at night, a walk from Jonker Street to this restaurant is not too far away. I am sure you will have satisfaction after a delicious meal.

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