A day in your parents' life include relaxing on our sofa together watching TV. Thank you for introducing Netflix in our life. We also enjoy watching news summaries of current events on YouTube. They provide quick updates across various global and local topics. We also watch entertaining short videos especially if they are funny.
I read that shared laughter can improve the overall relationship satisfaction. It is often described as the "secret spice" or "emotional glue" of a happy and long-lasting relationship. I hope it will strengthen our bond and reduce our stress.
It can be addictive. I limit the hours I watch them by setting a timetable. For instance, I watch short videos when I am:
-waiting for someone. -having my lunch in my bike shop. -walking around for exercise (to make sure that I complete the course, I usually watch an interesting video like true crime stories that runs close to an hour or longer).
I thought about sharing this aspect of our life after answering this question on Quora:
So, don't cancel your Netflix subscription plan for us if you think we are too addicted. As you can see, we will know what we should do if we have reached that stage.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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:
