Message for my children

Stop thinking that a future event will occur that will make our life better.

Generally, we think that life will be better:

-only after we have completed our education.
-only after we have established our career.
-only after we have found our soulmate.
-only after we have started a family.
-only after our children are all grown up.

The list never ends if we keep waiting for an external event to improve our circumstances. We should focus on what we can control.

This mentality can prevent us from finding value in the present moment and be grateful for what we already have.

Today, I read the following quote from James Clear's newsletters:

American novelist Ursula K. Le Guin reminds us that change always begins by taking responsibility for how you live:

“You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.”

This is what I have gathered:

If you are looking for a rapid change in your life, don’t wait for things to happen. You may be waiting in vain when you could be the wheel of your own revolution.

To start this revolution, we must have a purpose to achieve.

Once we have achieved it, we should not rest on your laurels. What we need to advance further is inspiration. We can begin by looking around for it because it can add years to our life.

P/S:  I am glad to be able to use these quote posters I have created to share a life lesson.

I love teaching with metaphors

This is a good metaphor to use to teach the young to watch their attitude.

It implies that the feeling or behaviour that someone is displaying is not acceptable as it can be perceived by others as being:

-disrespectful or
-negative or
-inappropriate

If you do a search for example of bad attitude, you will see the following listed:

-being pessimist
-always blaming others for your mistakes
-always resisting change
-always complaining
-have tendency to procrastinate
-being selfish
-being combative
-a general unwillingness to cooperate
-displaying victim mentality
-being self-centred
-being unapproachable
-displaying condescending behaviour
-openly displaying feelings of jealousy or resentment
-being impatient

What are the chances of your getting the support for what you want or need from friends or relatives if that is the kind of attitude you are displaying?

It is good if you are being taught at a young age to watch your attitude. Then you will learn how to control yourself and change your behaviour. Developing the ability to change or adapt your attitude is considered a valuable interpersonal skill. It will help you to:

-foster better relationships.
-improves collaboration.
-increases overall effectiveness in personal and professional settings.

There are many positive attitudes you can adopt. In fact, from the following link, you will be able to find 101 examples of positive attitude that you can use as skills in your resume or in an interview.

101 Examples of a Positive Attitude

What is the best way to improvise a tortilla press?

As I cook mainly Asian dishes, it is not likely that I will consider buying a tortilla press.  However, if you need one, I will suggest that you try to improvise with the kitchen utensils that you have on hand.

Do you have two wooden rectangular cutting boards similar to the one shown here?

If you place one on top of the other, they can work like a tortilla press. If you like how your tortilla turned out, you can make it a permanent device by attaching a hinge at the end without the handle.  Then follow the tips shared in the video I found to make sure that you use your press correctly so that your tortilla puff up perfectly when it is pan fried.

If you are into woodworking and you have the required tools, you can make your own tortilla press from scratch by watching this video.

However, even if you do not have a press, you can roll out your dough with a rolling pin.

If you do not have a rolling pin, you should not have any problem using an empty wine bottle.

You can also use your bare hands and work on the dough like you are trying to make a base for pizza.

Watch this video to learn how to prepare your dough correctly and roll it out without a tortilla press.

What's the best way to cook ribs if I'm trying to save time and money?

I love answering questions like that because that is the kind of cook I am.

This is my cheap and easy way to cook spare ribs which I shared on Quora.

I boil soup on a daily basis with soup bones or chicken. On days I want to cook with spare ribs, I will add about 6 to 8 pieces of them to the pork or chicken soup I am boiling for the day as this will help me save time. I like it that the additional spare ribs added will also enhanced the flavour of my soup.

You will be surprised to know that the ingredients I use in one of my regular soups is similar to what you would use in making Western soup stock. Check out the recipe I shared at the following link if you would like to do the same.

What is the recipe for Chinese soup stock?

If you do not plan on making soup or soup stock, you can just boil the spare ribs in a pot of water. You want to boil them till they are soft enough to bite into but not falling apart, which is about 30 minutes on high heat or about 45 to 60 minutes on low heat.

Once they are ready, you can remove them from the soup or stock and stir fry them in a wok with:

-8 to 10 table spoons of water (or soup/stock)
-1 Tbsp of white or brown sugar (or honey)
-1 Tbsp of garlic oil.
-1/2 Tbsp soya sauce.
-1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce
-Dash of black or white pepper or
-1 Tbsp BBQ Sauce

Stir fry till the liquid is reduced and the sauce thickens to glaze the ribs. If you have been too heavy with the sauce, just add more water. You can then thicken the sauce by whisking together 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 2 tablespoons of water to create a slurry. Once the sauce starts to boil again, add the slurry in bit by bit while stirring till it thickens.

This dish can be eaten with rice.

Spare ribs tend to be more expensive. Here is another way to reduce cost to purchase a larger quantity if you plan on cooking for more people to eat. Boiled spare ribs can be kept in the freezer. Each them you use them to make your soup stock, you can store them in an airtight container. Once you have accumulated enough in your freezer, you can thaw them to marinate for a day before you airfry them to serve as shown in this video.

 

You can watch the video from the beginning if you would like to know how the Char Siu Sauce (BBQ Sauce) is prepared and how it can be used to cook other dishes.

These are the ingredients used in the video to make the Char Siu Sauce (BBQ Sauce) for 1kg of spare ribs:

You can omit the following ingredients suggested if you do not have them:

2 Tbsp Onion Powder

1 Tbsp Five-spice powder

2 Tbsp Cooking Wine

1 Tbsp Sesame Oil

3 Tbsp Shallot Oil

Your other alternative if you do not have all the ingredients is to use ready-made Oriental BBQ sauce. My go to brand is Lee Kum Kee.

This is how you prepare the spare ribs to airfry with the homemade or ready-made sauce:

Other than spare ribs, this sauce can also be used to make char sui with the following parts of the pig:

-pork butt or shoulder

-pork collar

-pork belly (very fatty)

-pork loin (leaner option can turn out dryer when cooked)

If you like the way I cook my spare ribs, you should also like the way I cook pulled pork.

What is a simple and unexpected way to use leftover brewed tea?

Do you know that tea has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties? You can brew your tea to drink or leave it to cool down to use as follows:

-as a toner for your skin to calm redness, reduce puffiness or minimize pores.
-to fight signs of aging.

Don't throw the tea leaves away as you can add them into your face mask or scrub to use. If you brew your tea with tea bags, you can also chill them and use them as compress for your tired eyes. So, don't throw away your used tea bags either because you are going to discover many more ways to use them after watching this video.

Now that you are aware about this, here is a cost saving idea for you.

When you are on a holiday, do you keep the complimentary sachets of coffee or tea in your hotel room? I have a collection of tea bags and mini sachets of instant coffee like this at home.

You will wish you had collected them once you know that you can make Dalgona Coffee or Dalgona Milk Tea with them.

You can learn how to make Dalgona with what you have at the following link:

How to Make Dalgona Coffee

Love reading anything about gardening

Though I love reading about gardening, I cannot say that I am proud about the way I landscape my garden.  But I am definitely prouder than neighbours who have weeds growing all over their gardens.

Currently, my favourite job at gardening is weeding.  I like to weed barefooted.  I then collect them and throw them in the compost pit I have dug in my garden.  Once I have covered that pit with soil, weeds will start growing over that patch.  If I am lucky, sometimes seeds from my kitchen waste grow out from it.  

If you follow the correct procedure for creating compost, you will know that you have to aerate it by turning the material in the pit occasionally. However, I have never done that for my compost pit but cucumbers managed to grow out from it successfully.

I am happy if they grow but I am fine if they do not as they make great compost.

This winter melon was another surprise I found in my compost pit. It was harvested just in time before it turned into compost.

I like the idea of planting over raised beds and through my experience, the cheapest way to build a raised garden bed is to dig a compost pit at the spot where most of the weeds are growing in my garden.  These are information I shared on Quora in my answer to, "How do I build a raised garden bed cheap and easy?".

As I dig the pit, I will pile the weeds I have dug out on one side and the soil on the other. Once the hole is at least 3 feet deep, I will dump any of the following waste I have on hand:

-weeds that I have dug out or pulled out by the roots.
-cuttings from my garden.
-grass clippings.
-dried leaves and twigs
-kitchen waste, such as, fruit and vegetable peels or scraps, egg shells, coffee or tea grounds or bags.
-shredded paper like newspaper or used paper towels or napkins or empty egg cartons.
-cardboard from my bike shop or from shopping online.

If I want to increase my collection of green or yard waste, I can look out for them along road sides or at parks in your neighbourhood.  Sometimes, the municipal workers cut grass in our neighbourhood and leave bags of the clippings behind for collection later.  I can also tell my neighbours to keep their cuttings and grass clippings for me the next time they trim their plants or mown their lawns.

There are other ways I can increase the composting material.  I can be friendly with the staff at food stalls I often eat at or at grocery stalls I tend to buy from. From such places, I should be able to collect:

-coffee or tea grounds.
-egg shells.
-kitchen waste.
-coconut shells and husks.
-pet shops (ask for pet/fish food that have expired)
-cardboard boxes.
-ash or small bits and pieces of charcoal leftover in bag or grill (eg, satay stalls or Korean BBQ restaurants that use charcoal for grilling)

I found out from reading the following article that adding charcoal to a compost pile quickens the composting process. You can also burn coconut shells or wood to create your own activated charcoal:

4 Surprising Ways to Use Charcoal in Your Garden, According to Experts

I like this composting guideline provided by the City of Yellowknife in Canada. You can learn how to layer your composting material by looking at this diagram they shared:

Since the intention is to create a raised bed, once the pit is heaped full with compost material, I will place sheets of cardboard to cover it before adding the soil I have dug out. Then I will add potting soil over it so that plants can be grown over it right away. You can save on buying fertilizers as over a period of time, the material in the compost pit will have degraded to add more nutrients for your plants. The sheets of cardboard will prevent the top soil from sinking too much into the pit as the material degraded. Once the plants you have grown have taken roots, they will hold the top soil together. You can add more soil over the raised bed as it sank further into the pit over time.

You can watch this video if you want to follow the right procedure for creating compost for your raised bed. By following the instructions, you will also be able to speed up the process of composting.

Do you know anyone in the timber industry? Check with them if they have any of the following timber waste from logging or from processing their end product:

-sawdust

-bark

-chips

-slabs and offcuts

One of my neighbours had a company building wooden furniture and gazebos. I had received many free bags of wood chips from his factory. I use them as mulch in my garden to prevent weeds from growing in my planter box. All such timber waste can also be added to the compost pit.

I have seen logs like these in my former neighbourhood park before.

Some are from trees cut from the homes of residents living there. Sometimes municipal workers cut or trim trees by the road side that would pose a hazard to public safety as they have overgrown to obstruct traffic signals, streetlights, and signs. If you can get your hands on logs like these, you can build a raised bed the German way. It does not matter even if the logs have rotted to a crumbly pulp as it will help to retain more water for growing your plants so you do not have to water your plants as much.  The technique is known as Hugelkultur and you can learn how to go about it by watching this video.

If there is space constrain in your garden, you can build your raised bed upwards in a spiral manner with:

-bricks

-stones

-cinder blocks

-chunks of concrete

-logs

-bottles

Though it is called a herb spiral, you can grow flowering plants if that is what you prefer. If you do a search at Pinterest for “herb spiral”, you will find many methods to build one. Here is one I found built with stones and cardboards laid down at its base, to prevent weeds from growing through the spiral.

This diagram shows the type of plants that should be grown around the spiral to optimise growth.

This is how the herb spiral will look like if you use bricks or cinder blocks.

Watch this video to see if this is what you would like to do as it provides a very clear tutorial on how it should be build.

You can then refer to GrowOrganic blog for written information about the material you need and the steps to do it.

If you use your creativity, you can re-use many material that would have been discarded to build your raised beds. These are how raised beds can be made with coconut husk.

Are you good at woodworking? If you are, see if you are able to get your hands on pallet.  You maybe able to find them discarded at factories or at industrial estate. If you can get them free, you can build a raise bed with the planks. Here is a good example I found on Pinterest.

You can learn how to make one by following the instructions provided at the following link:

DIY Wooden Planter

You can easily find other designs on Pinterest by doing a search for “make raised bed with pallet”. I like this design as PVC buckets are more durable than liners.

If you are bad at woodworking, you can just lay the pallets on ground and fill them up with potting soil. You can also place your pallet vertically against a wall to grow your plants. You can watch this video to learn how to prepare it for your garden.

You can use the planks from the pallet to build a 4’ by 4’ bottomless box to grow your plants, the square foot gardening way.

You are good to start, once you have located a spot that has good drainage and 6-8 hours of direct sun per day. This simple concept will make it easier for you to harvest what you need. It will also help you to:

-cut down on your gardening chores.

-save space, money, water and seed.

-grow healthier plants.

You can learn how to go about it at the following link:

Easy steps to square foot garden success

I usually save (pin) articles, useful hacks or tips about it on my Pinterest board about Gardening.  

Here is a tip that you should take note of.

Do you know that coarse builder's sand used for mixing concrete or laying paving can be added to garden soil to improve drainage and aeration? Buy them bagged from a plant nursery that you trust. It is not a good idea to take them from construction sites. My husband took back some leftover sand for his job site and spread it all over our garden. He was not aware that there were seeds in them. Within a few days, weeds that we have never seen in our garden before started growing.

Looking for a particular book to read online?

Are you searching online for a particular book to read? 

Do what I always do when I am looking for a book recommended by others. Google “the title of the book” followed by “author’s name” and end it with “.pdf”.

I came across this question on Quora, "Where can I download The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell) Third Edition in PDF format?" and took up the challenge to find it.

I googled “The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell .pdf” and found many links related to it.  If, like me, you are not willing to pay for it, don’t click on links to bookstores or Amazon. 

I found one posted by “rosenfels.org”.  I am always wary about downloading books from sites that are unknown to me.  I did a google transparency search on “rosenfels org” to make sure that it is a safe site to browse.  This book was first published in 1949 and this is the link to its third edition printed in 2004 and noted as a Commemorative Edition:

The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

If you do not have time to read a whole book, find summaries or reviews about it. Do the same search but end it with “summary” or “reviews”.  In fact if you google "rosenfels The Hero With A Thousand Faces", you will be able to read an AI overview about it.  This is what I have extracted from it:

"The Hero with a Thousand Faces; the book was written by Joseph Campbell. Campbell's 1949 book argues that many world myths share a common structure known as the "monomyth" or Hero's Journey, which involves a hero who leaves the ordinary world for a quest and returns transformed. 

About the book

Author: Joseph Campbell, a mythologist and writer.

Publication: First published in 1949, it became widely known after a 1988 PBS television special with Bill Moyers called The Power of Myth.

Core Concept: The book outlines a universal "monomyth" or "Hero's Journey," a recurring pattern in heroic myths across cultures.

Influence: It has been highly influential in fields like literature, psychology, and film, famously influencing George Lucas's Star Wars saga. 

The Hero's Journey

The journey is described as having three main stages, though it can be broken down in more detail:

Departure: The hero receives a "call to adventure" and crosses a threshold into the unknown.

Initiation: The hero faces trials, battles, and temptations, often being tested in profound ways before achieving a form of enlightenment.

Return: The transformed hero returns to their world with a gift or newfound wisdom, which can benefit their community."

I am glad I made the effort to find it.  It was introduced by Screenwriter, Michael Lengsfield, who teaches scriptwriting at the University of East Anglia. I was then taking his free online course on “AN INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING” at Future Learn.

I noticed that whenever I try to help others find answers, I have a tendency to find leads to answers I have been looking for.

So, the phrase "one good deed deserves another" is true for me in a reversed manner:

Helping others helps me (in many interesting ways).

On top of that, I am a hoarder for (free) information.