SNAP Challenge Day 3

Remember?  Yesterday Chris bought a 10 lb bag of rice?  So we only had $6 to spend on day 3. 
Chris and I both had yogurt for breakfast.  Lunch was leftover from the night before, so we had the whole $6 to spend for dinner. 

So we went to Chinatown to purchase cheap goodies.  Chris had a plan to make feijoada.  We already had black beans, so we bought pork belly, pork shoulder, onion, and green bell pepper = $6.30.  I thought we did pretty well. 

Mustard green in the picture is from a jar in the pantry. 

We shopped at Hong Kong Supermarket.  When you are watching your budget, it's a good place to go.  They have everything!

 Hong Kong Supermarket
157 Hester St
(between Elizabeth St & Bowery)
New York, NY 10013

SNAP Challenge Day 2

I stayed home today, so my day was a little easier than Chris's day.
Chris had drinkable yogurt and I had my yogurt for breakfast.  These are the items that we had purchased on Saturday, so we are not counting them as part of our budget.

For lunch, Chris had leftover from Saturday and I had soba from the pantry.  Therefore, we still didn't spend any money for lunch.

For dinner, Chris went to Chinatown for shopping, which is probably still the cheapest place to buy vegetable.  Chris bought a 10 lb bag of rice, which made us go over budget - today we spent $14 total, which means we only have $6 to spend tomorrow.  But remember, rice goes a long way.  10 lb rice will probably last 2-3 weeks depending on how much I eat, considering I consume most of the rice in this household.

Besides rice, he purchased, bokchoi, green beans, carrot, broccoli, and some Chinese Spam like item.

As I am writing this Chris is making Hayashi rice - from the pantry.  

The biggest problem today was hunger pain we both had.
Chris normally has snack at work, which he didn't.  And I didn't have snack until close to 7PM.

As we are doing this experiment, we are realizing how much money we normally spend on food.  Just doing basic calculation (without any receipts) we came up with the amount that we think we spend on food a week - that's breakfast, lunch, dinner and all the restaurant expenses - that comes out to be about $400 a week for two of us.  We don't go to expensive restaurants all the time, but we don't normally worry about how much we spend and we don't stop from ordering delivery.

After this experiment, we decided that we should come up with the budget a week and stay within budget.  It will be more than $10 a day but we would like to spend less on food in the future. 

This was our dinner on Day 2 - Hayashi rice. 

SNAP Challenge Day 1

I just wanted report on what we had for dinner last night - our SNAP Challenge Day 1.
Chris made pea soup.  Garnish is from the fridge.

SNAP Challenge Day 1

I was inspired by Cory Booker who is on SNAP Challenge this week.  SNAP stands for The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as Food Stamps.  According to the below website, New Yorkers are allowed $321 a month for two people living together, which comes out to be $10.35 a day for two of us.  As of today, we are starting our #SNAPchallenge. 

The above is what we purchased today (actually including a few things we bought yesterday, which are yogurts, and Shin Cup.  We already went over budget - $10.99.  But beans and peas will be used in soup which will be consumed for a few days.

OK.  We will cheat a little bit.  We will not count the things we already have.  So it's time to clean out the pantry and what's in the fridge.

A lot of Americans have never experienced hunger.  I have.  I have been there - surviving with yam and plain rice on a good day.  The only way to appreciate what you have, is to experience having nothing. 

Also, most importantly, Food Stamp system is not a government handout.  It's really not enough to feed the family.  There are those who want to cut the program.  Let's stand for the people who really need this kind of assistance. 

http://www.cidny.org/food-stamps.php

http://frac.org/initiatives/snapfood-stamp-challenges/

 

Here is story on Cory Booker:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/06/cory-booker-food-stamps_n_2251934.html

US swimmer Nyad begins swim across Florida Straits

This Olympic swimmer is swimming from Cuba to Florida. 103-mile (166-kilometer), which is supposed to take 60 hours. This sounds crazy to me.

I just started swimming from the fall last year. I started with a beginners class.
I was always swimming when I was little but never learned it properly, so I thought better late than never. I just finished my last class. Even though I won't be able to take a class starting this fall, I will still be swimming once or twice a week.

So this story of a 61 year old woman swimming for 60 hours is absolutely inspiring. Even though, that's not my goal - is that even humanly possible??? - it would be nice to have a goal. Once I graduate next year, I would like to take a scuba diving class. This is a huge goal for a girl who freaked out with a scuba gear in a 2 feet deep water. Let's see... Maybe after scuba lesson, I may have a reason to go to Australia!!! Now that's a goal!!!


Here is more story.

Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Anthony Bourdain has a new book out: Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook

Read more.

Gaza Blockade

Those of you who know me well understand where I stand on Israel and Palestine issue.
But even those who know nothing about the issue or don't care about the issue should have heard about Flotilla. Today another Gaza-bound vessel was seized.

Gaza's 3 year old blockade is uncalled for and inhumane. I found a list of prohibited items into Gaza.

Here are a few items that caught my attention (that are ridiculous):

1. sage
2. cardamom
3. cumin
4. coriander
5. chocolate
6. dried fruit

There are the things that got me very upset:

1. notebooks
2. newspapers
3. toys

Israel's excuse for the blockade is for Hamas to have no access to weapons. But above items have nothing to do with weapons. How is Israel getting away with this? Israel's existential threat has nothing to do with coriander and chocolate. Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous?

Monsanto

I am writing a paper on Monsanto. I knew a bit about Monsanto but now I am finding more and more about Monsanto and it's very disturbing.

Here is a helpful link on what I am writing about.

You need to know. You know how much I love to eat and how much I love to talk about food, but it's important to know what we put in our mouths.

It seems like Europeans care... But it doesn't seem that we give a crap... Maybe we should!!!

Turn off your light for an hour!!!

Turn off your light for an hour today for an hour at 8:30PM to take part in this global movement to bring attention to climate change!!!



https://www.earthhour.org/

Life on Discovery at 8PM tonight

Amanpour Leaves CNN

The saddest news this week for me to find out that Christiane Amanpour was leaving CNN.
As my hero, she's been on CNN for over twenty years. She's covered most of major events in my lifetime. Plus I enjoy her current show, Amanpour, very much (Podcast is a great thing).

But I can understand why she's decided to make a move to ABC. Although "This Week" is currently more focused on Washington politics, ABC is willing to change the format to cover more foreign affairs. Plus she will be a major contributor on ABC World News and will be given chances to create documentaries. This will give her a chance to be in front of broader audience and more options to use different channels of sharing foreign affairs.

Good for her! Even though I am sad to see her leave CNN, maybe this will give me more chances to see the Great Amanpour!!!


From Los Angeles Times:

By turning to Christiane Amanpour -- one of the world’s most recognized journalists -- as host of “This Week,” ABC hopes to send the message that Peter Jennings’ legacy endures even as the network is slashing its news staff and scaling back foreign operations.

Jennings, who died in 2005, projected a sophisticated worldview developed during extensive overseas reporting assignments. Amanpour brings with her similar international sensibilities.

Amanpour, who was born in London and grew up in Iran, has worked at CNN for 27 years, including the last 20 as a foreign correspondent, traveling to such strife-torn countries as Rwanda, Iraq and Afghanistan. Amanpour, in an interview, said she intended to increase the focus on foreign affairs on the Sunday-morning program. Previous host George Stephanopoulos made his insider's knowledge of Washington the show's hallmark.

Continued

Harper Gives Beer From Obama Olympic Bet to Hockey Hall of Fame

March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will donate to the Hockey Hall of Fame two cases of beer he won from U.S. President Barack Obama as payment for an Olympic bet.

David Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador in Ottawa, delivered a case of Yuengling Lager from closely held Yuengling Beer Co. Inc. and a case of Molson Canadian from Molson Coors Brewing Co. to Harper’s official residence, as settlement for the wager.

Obama had bet Harper the U.S. men’s hockey team would beat Canada in the gold medal game at the Vancouver Olympics. The U.S. lost to Canada 3-2 in overtime.

The Canadian women’s hockey team also beat the U.S. 2-0 to win a gold medal. U.S. press secretary Robert Gibbs wore a Team Canada jersey to his daily briefing on March 12 as a settlement for a side bet with Dimitri Soudas, Harper’s chief spokesman.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=av9mHsZsDZgk

Good bye, Facebook

I decided to close my Facebook account.

I was spending too much time on Facebook and not spending enough time on doing something productive - such as studying...

I would like to spend more time on studying, reading, and catching up on current events.
And of course, I would like to spend more time on this blog as well.

Good bye, Facebook...

Malaysia says its local dishes 'hijacked': report

Malaysia says its local dishes 'hijacked': report

(AFP) – 2 days ago

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia will lay claim to its signature dishes like laksa and chicken rice which are being "hijacked" by other countries, the tourism minister said according to a report Thursday.

Those on the list include the fragrant coconut milk rice 'nasi lemak', spicy soup noodle 'laksa' and pork ribs herbal soup 'bak kut teh', Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen said according to the Star newspaper.

"We cannot continue to let other countries hijack our food. Chili crab is Malaysian. Hainanese chicken rice is Malaysian. We have to lay claim to our food," she was quoted as saying.

"In the next three months, we will identify certain key dishes (to declare as Malaysian). We have identified laksa... all types of laksa, nasi lemak and bak kut teh," she added.

Ng said her ministry will announce a strategy on how to brand the dishes as Malaysian.

"That is Part Two. We cannot reveal it yet, but we will let you know soon," she reportedly said.

Ng did not name which countries were hijacking the dishes, which are popular around the world and particularly in neighbouring Singapore and Indonesia.

Her comments came amid a diplomatic row with Indonesia, where protesters have accused Malaysia of stealing its cultural heritage.

The dispute erupted in Indonesia in August after erroneous reports emerged that Malaysia had screened tourism advertisements featuring the traditional "pendet" dance of Indonesia's Hindu-majority Bali island.

The ad was actually a promotion for a Discovery Channel programme, but despite an apology from the network, protesters vowing to "crush Malaysia" have burned national flags and thrown rotten eggs at the embassy in Jakarta.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman will meet his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda in Jakarta Thursday in a bid to cool the tensions which Malaysia has described as a "grave concern".

Ties between the two countries are regularly punctuated by rows over cultural issues as well as the welfare of Indonesian labourers and maids working in Malaysia.

Link to actual report

The Cove

There are very few movies or documentaries that have changed my life.
Even some movies or documentaries that have moved me tremendously are easily forgotten after a month or a year.

However, after watching the Cove, I have decided to change my life style and tell others about it. The Cove is about a fishing village in Japan called Taiji. This fishing village kills dolphins. They sell a few to aquariums around the world as show dolphins. Then the rest is killed and meat is sold disguised as whale meat, which is a delicacy in Japan. The issue is not only the fact that 230,000 dolphins are killed a year, but also meat with high concentration of mercury is sold.

This movie not only brought the attention of over fishing but also made me think of factory farming, which I have been against for a long time.

We are not only polluting the earth, but also we are eating fish that live the water that we polluted. However, the bigger issue is that we are eating too much of everything. We are eating too much fish and meat. To accommodate our appetite, we had to invent factory farming and we are eating sick animals that are barely alive with hormones and antibiotics. Let me tell you, eating meat does more harm to environment than driving your SUV's. Yes, it is true...

After watching the Cove, I lasted 10 days without any meat and seafood, even fish sauce and dashi. (Update: After those 10 days, we have decided to eat meat or seafood one day a week.
OK, we couldn't give up eggs, cheese, or dashi)

We are feeling great that we are doing something about global warming and we actually feel great. We are losing weight too.

So what's greater than having healthy diet and do something good for environment at the same time. I urge you to try it - eating meat one day a week. Or if that's too much for you, just reduce the amount of time. Instead of eating meat once a day, eat eat once every other day.

I gurantee that you will feel much better.
And of course, I don't have tell you about not eating fast food.





http://www.thecovemovie.com/

iTunes U

As soon as I started school, I have given up on my true love - reading.
I still try to read, but I don't read as much. Plus it's hard carrying text books and my hardcover books.

Therefore, I discovered a lazy way to learn: iTunes U
This has changed my life. You can find lectures or panel discussion. And most importantly, it's FREE!!!

You can search by subject or by institutions.
So far my favorite institutions are:

LSE
CSIS
Stanford

Try it! You will love it!

Go to your iTunes then click on iTunes Store.
Click on iTunes U

Election Day!!!

Oops!

This was taken on September 4th.
Watching CNN International, I realized that CNN forgot where Hong Kong was...

Hong Kong is now in Europe... HAHAHA

November 4th - Historic Day!!!

VOTE

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