confession of my diet about Seafood

I am learning to be
 & aspired to be a
 vegetarian, vegan,
raw vegan.

Not quite yet.☺
🍣🍤🐟🍥🍢🍌

I still love chocolate, cakes, seafood.

With all I have read about the problems with modern mass-produced meat,

it is easy to ditch flesh/meat
 with 4 legged animals which have
heart, brains, eyes, mouth, ears;
emotions, feelings,
mother-offspring-ties
& games/poultry/fowl.

I am saving myself from anti-biotics, growth hormones,
GMO & accumulated pesticides herbicides, toxins, & cruelty.

Ocassionally I also read about water pollution, too.

So, for the time being, I am trying to choose seafood
which are

not farmed,
not from Pacific Ocean,
not from known polluted rivers & deltas (eg, Vietnam, PRC China).
not frozen if possible,
not defrozed if possible.
not huge size fishes 
    which are higher up in food chain
not crayfish and those 
    which feed near polluted rubbish/debris. 
not turtoise or turtle types. 

For health.  

Not expensive.
Cheaper than getting fish & chips
when I buy relatively  fresh ones
and boil at home,
serve with noodle, etc.

Of course, when I eat out,
 there is not control over
 the sources or types of seafood
 in the shops or restaurants.

Not sure when I can get over
 this Pescetarianism stage.


I know that the 
evolve stages/levels
 more or less like this:

carni vore

omni vore

flexi tarian

Pesce tarian

ocasional vege tarian (twice a month / once a week etc etc)

vege tarian

vegan , and herbi vore

fruit arian

Liquid arian (juice, water)

super long term fasting / Breath arian

Basically I would like to respect the original design of the
design director as listed in the blue print
Genesis 1:29

(I do feel uneasy buying or eating seedless produce.
 There is no long term study on the effect of eating food with the
reproductive gene shut-down, that includes some GMO )

Year End Reflections 2016A

Time to reflect upon my 2016. Experience, lessons learned...

Bad experience & challenges prompt us to desiring solution & better ideals.
(Growth / Improvement can be resulted)

Crisis / incident

1)  Short version:
after 10 months of helping a stranger (an eldery lady Mrs H) since last Autumn, eventually I found out that I was being manipulated. She is a very experienced manipulative person with strong character. I tasted the many tactics she used. (Parts of the experience was so horrible that I had to shut my ears, close my eyes and keep praying on the spot. )

I found her a carehome. Eventually, problem solved, justice done.

Reflections

Worst as it were, it also give me lessons -
 learning about & reflecting about my other relationships.

a) How to spot & handle such behaviour/people? 
    Have I been manipulated? 
    Is someone in my circle manipulative?
   (see resources below)

b) Who else I know suffered from others' manipulation, too ?
    (good to share this - so they can be informed & help themselves)

c) Have I manipulated?
    (if so, find other healthier solutions)

++  Causes of the situation:

21 years of institutional education & family upbringing
didn't equip me how to spot & handle such people/behaviours.

++ Suggestion for Solution:

Try
::  praying  +
    pray with strong feeling/emotions for protection & solution.
::  self-learning the how-tos +
    Thankful for people sharing their know-how on www & other media.
::  find ways to re-balance our emotions/moods/thoughs

:: remember that to have   FAITH, HOPE, LOVE.
There are solutions.

++ Resources : (some; good read)

"Manipulative people: how to spot them, how to manage them"
(Dan Munro; Biznews dot com; 2014.01.11)
http://www.biznews.com/thought-leaders/2014/01/11/manipulative-people-spot-manage/
(from Beginners's Guide managing manipulation; under30ceo dot com)
http://under30ceo.com/beginners-guide-managing-manipulation/#vurlLR1tZzy7RFBZ.99

"How to Recognize and Handle Manipulative Relationships"
(Preston Ni  MSBA; Psychology Today; 2014.07.13)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-success/201407/how-recognize-and-handle-manipulative-relationships

"How to Deal with Manipulative People" Part one & Part Two
(Ryan Murdock; EarlyToRise dot com)
http://www.earlytorise.com/how-to-deal-with-manipulative-people%E2%80%93part-two/

"30 Signs of Emotional Abuse In A Relationship "
(Barnie Davenport; LiveBold&Bloom dot com)
http://liveboldandbloom.com/11/relationships/signs-of-emotional-abuse

"The 15 Types of Toxic Relationships"
(Natalia Avdeeva; LovePanky dot com)
http://www.lovepanky.com/love-couch/broken-heart/types-of-toxic-relationships

"10 Unmistakable Signs You’re Being Emotionally Manipulated By Your Partner"
(Fabida Abdulla; New Love Times dot com; 2.15.09.10)

"10 Things You Should Never Overlook in a relationship"
(Siddartha Bose; New Love Times dot com; 2016.05.19)

http://www.newlovetimes.com/relationship-advice-10-things-you-should-never-overlook-in-a-relationship/
   
"The 12 Golden rules" of a Happy Long-lasting relationship"
[12 simple tips for relationship bliss]
(Alex Alexander; Your Tango dot com)
http://www.yourtango.com/200935545/12-simple-tips-relationship-bliss

Baking experiment cookie 2: non-diary organic cookie with cinamon vanilla ginger

Baking experiment 2 with cookies kit.

Continue to use the 2nd half of the cookie kit from Scratch & Grain Baking but with a small variation.

I replaced dairy butter with coconut butter & coconut oil.

I used less flour, less sugar.

Smaller free-ranged happy egg. 

Egg whrisked with sugar, add sieved flour.

Melted coconut butter, vanilla, 

baking powder, then add flour.

Mix the two.

Added a hint of cinnamon powder 8 ginger powder. 

Dusted with sugar crystals.

....I did not use parchment "paper" or baking "paper", so as to avoid synthetic resin chemicals or alike. 

I only greased the glass tray with raw organic coconut oil.

The first time I took it out, it was not quite done. Maybe because I only put it near the oven door. 

I put it back nearer to the fire.

Again on top rack.

Nice scent fill the whole house.

It is more like 

a crossover between cookie and maccaron. Ha !

Why try to extend our lifespan?

A close friend and family have asked me
why go to that length and be bothered
with all those avant garde healthy diets choices,
avoiding harmful food/chemicals/pollution. ヽ(ˇヘˇ)ノ
Many people mistakenly thought that life is tough.
Why extend lifespan?
    
1. 💰 MONEY $ € £ ¥  $ £ ¥ € $ £ ¥ $
    Health is part of our wealth,
    reduce our medical expenses.
  
2. 😌 Good to avoid, or minimise,
    physical  pain / discomfort.
    Enjoy longer active life.
 
3. Responsible & Love  ❤
     maximise health
    = prevent illness
    = minimise the 😓troubles & emotional pain
       caused to family & friends.

4. 📢⚠ There are greedy & ignorant
    corporations & gov't officials
    (whose priority is financial profits).
   💢 The use of
  cheap harmful chemical ingredients,
   materials & processes,
   jeopodising people's health,
   & polluting our biosphere,
   food chains & food supplies.
  💢 No effective monitoring, control,
   labelling or prevention yet.
   So  💪  It is up to us
   to protect ourselves & our loved ones.  ❤
   Some awareness, alertness, sense of crisis
   are needed to do so.

5. We are civilized well-educated people
    with ability to learn 📝.
   Not to be misled or fooled
   by corporations, propagandas, etc.
   Let's try to be smart consumers.  (⌒_⌒)
   We can try to live the best.
 
6. ⭕ We can rectify / re-balance: 
   (I confess  my weakness
   with dessert & chocolate)
   Have you been eating...
   junk food, too much sugar or salt?
   Too much alcohol or cigarretts chemicals?
   Defrosted frozen food deep fried in week-old bad oil?
   We can un-learn wrong info,
   wrong eating habits & bad lifestyle,
   We can balancing the book
   with more healthier choices
   eg, learning real correct info,
   establishing better eating habits,
   & living better life style.
 
7. Respect our 🌟 design director 🎨,
    creator of our universe, ur God :
    eat, drink, live properly;
    be healthy, stay healthy
    physically & psychologically,

    Ever fancy the user manual of our bodies?

    A) Try search this verse: Genesis 1:29
    (HINT: food = plants which bear seeds) 🌱

   B) Try search this verse : 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
    (HINT: rejoyce, pray, be thankful)  ♬♪♫

    And the Old Testament: 
    Back then, living 200 years is not a dream.
    Even given our heavily polluted food chains & food supply,
    if we try our best, 100 should be easy.
  
8) 💎 Rationally, scientific evidence🔎
  💡Our whole biological designs are not for eating meat.
  💡Release ourselves from the brainwashing propagandas
     of the meat industries/ food corporations.

9. 🐾 Tried path, revived  O:)
    Around the world
    throughout the past few millenniums, 
    the typical way of life or path
  ~ to improve the ☆ well-being 
      of our bodies, minds & souls;
  ~ to increase "energy"☆ levels,
  ~ to be more sensitive and receptive :
   easier to receive enlightenment & spiritual wisdom
   // to be more spiritual ☆
   💋 eating real unprocessed food like
    eating more raw vegan,
   💋 stop eating corpses
    (which have antibiotics, medicine, GMO feed,
    growth hormons, puses, corpse toxin),
   💋 fasting occasionally,
   💋 simplicity/stillness/quietness/calmness,
   💋 joy, thankfulness, pray/faith/hope, etc,
              
10. We want  ❤
  more healthy happy time
  with our 👫 loved ones💑,
    don't we?
     
11.    :)  🎺📷🎱🎤🎡♨✈🍸🐬✌
Get more out of life living healthier longer!
   
 

baking experiment cookie 1

This is just a note📝 to jot down my learning process.
This was the first attempt with cookies, using half of a cookie kit.

I saw a lovely cookie kit
from Portland, Oregon, USA,
which use organic ingredients.
All ingredients are packed in
 individual well-labeled transparent bags.

User only needs to add egg & butter.
Straight forward. Easy.

But since it is my first attempt,
I did not want to eat a full load of stuff myself.
I went by half.

 However, I didn't measure but go by proximity.
 So, I used a little more egg & butter than needed.

The result is imaginable, softer than cookie.
The thin parts are like cookies.
The thicker parts are like... soft cookies.

No proper cookie tray.
I use a glass tray.

No baking sheet or parchment paper.
I notice that many have synthetic materials.
I just oiled the tray well.

 It was meant to be a quick experiment.
I did not use or do the icing part.
I just sprinkle those naturally coloured sugar crystals on top.

I use a fork to add perforation.

Break them apart along the dotted line before cooling.
 

I learnt 2 lessons:

1.  when the batch is small,
   the exact quantity of ingredients is important.
   
2. where  the tray is placed inside an oven matters.
   Not just upper, middle or lower rack,
   but also nearer the source of heat,
   nearer to the door, or
   in between.
   
   Temperature affect baking time;
    and both affects
   the colour & texture.
   
3.  Using coconut butter makes the cookies coconut cookies. 

Okay.
Wisdom increased.
o(^.^)o

Fish lemon sole

Lemon sole

I usually remove all those "paper" bag and wrapings,
just boil the piece of fish...

Today I served
half with the butter,
half with a bit of corrianda,
soy sauce, e.v. olive oil, sesame oil.

I am trying to choose as careful as I can.
This is not farmed.
Not from PRC or Vietnam or Pacific ocean.
Line-caught.

Do the management or
people in catering or
food production/retail
know about
endocrine disruptive chemicals?

Baking7 GlutenFree Banana Cake

I like banana & cake.
My sister insisted me to try the recipe she found in pots & pans website.

I am making a smaller batch. So, I reduce some of the ingredients.
For some, I use alternatives. I did not follow the original video*.
(recipe below)

Soaked the flax seeds with hemp milk.
Crushed some mixed nuts.
Melted the butter and added in the sugar.
Whisk the eggs.
Meshed the banana. Then mixed.
Sieved in the flour & sodium bicarbonate.
Sour cream, vanilla extract, salt.
(if you use yeast, add salt later in the process)
(here, doesn't matter)

I use half the flour & sugar. Still so much!
I need two baking containers.
My first time trying a ciruclar stoneware bowl.
Well, it is just a relatively low temperature this time.

 Actually I checked from time tot time.
After 20 minutes the whole house
is already full of lovely smell.
The cake has grown in size.

The colour is partly because of the sugar
and partly because I start with slightly higher temperature.

The bottom view of them...
Some websites recommend cooling some type of cakes upside-down.
I will try, though it doesn't matter for this cake.

 I have made with a higher proportion of butter & extra hemp milk.
The rectangular one come out like this.

I stored the other half in sealed bag in fridge.
Still moist the next day.

I eat the round one the day after (middle slice)
Just stored in kitchen in a stoneware pot.

Recipe of my gluten free sour cream banana cake/bread

Ingredients	P&P original	Some I use less & some I use alternative
Butter, melted	0.5 cup	Coconut Butter 4 tbsp aprox.
Sugar	1 cup	Demerara Sugar 8 tbsp
Egg *	2	2 medium/small, whisked well.
Flour, sieved	1.5 cup	13 tbsp Gluten free flour, sieved
Baking soda	1 tsp	1 tsp
Banana, ripe	2	2
Sour cream	0.5 cup	8 tbsp
Vanilla extract	1 tsp	1 tsp
Nuts (chopped/crushed)	0.5 cup Walnut	0.2 cup mixed nuts & 2 tbsp of flax seeds soaked with 3 tbsp of hemp milk
Salt	0.5 tsp	0.5 tsp
Mixing	Mix all with electric mixer	Mix with folk & spoon manually; in separate bowls, in particular sequence.
Oven	Preheated. 375F bake for 60 minutes	Preheated. Gas Mark 6 for 10 min, Gas Mark 5 for 30 minutes, Gas Mark 4 for 20 minutes, Turn off. Leave it there for 10 minutes. So the top is a bit  dark. Next time I shall just use Gas Mark 5.

I googled the conversions of
measurements & temperature/settings.
Not pasting here.
But basically...
1 cup =16 table spoons.
I use half = 8 tbsp .

1.5 cup = 24 tbsp
0.75 cup = 12-13 tbsp.

tbsp = table spoon
tsp   = tea spoon.

I mixed butter & sugar,
added meshed banana,
Then, I kept mixing while i added:
the seived flours, baking power, nuts,
sour cream, salt....

After baking, cool off on metal rack.

The rectangular one,
I ate half on the day, and half the next day.
The circular one,
I ate half the next day and hlaf on the day after.
 
Why I use gluten-free flour?
-- try it for yourself to reduce or cut wheat & gluten  :)

Why I use coconut butter?
-- reduce the use of animal products
and dislike artificial synthetic butter.

Why I use demerara sugar?
-- two friends who studied biology & chemistry,
a translation PhD, a doctor... at least 4 persons told me not to eat white sugar.
Brown sugar is also 95 % white sugar bathed in molass solution.
Demerara sugar is less refined. Not the top range but good enough here.
Try get the organic raw sugar whenever you can.
I also have coconut sugar at home, but that is not sweet enough for this recipe.

Why not yeast?
-- I could have. There are other recipes with yeast.
Yeast need a very warm temperature and time to work the magic.
I want a faster process for this bread/cake.
 
Eggs?
-- I rarely buy any eggs for many seasons.
Ideally the best eggs should come from hens a family raised in backyard with organic feed, and provide good welfare and environment for hens to roam about. No medicine, hormones or anti-biotics. No injections of vaccines.
Sorry this time they are no available.
I could only get Happy Egg's good welfare free-range eggs this time.


Sour Cream?
-- Thick & creamy indulgence.
I think there are also non-dairy sour cream
available on www or make your own.

*IMHO: though I am not a good chef, I know that
good chef should know the special combinations,
reasons & sequence of adding ingredients.
Whether it is seasoning, baking,
or other type of cooking.
The sequence/order of doing things make a difference. )

real sprouts salad

This is mixed seeds sprouts.
To reduce the use of seasoning,
I use ripe pineapple and juice, 
dried raisins & mixed nuts.

The above was from commercially mass produced.

Real sprouts from seeds
are very good for health,
especially eaten raw.

If interested, there are various organic mixed seeds that
we can sprout at home...
Note: need frequent rinsing if you live in hot humid area.
To make life easier,
there are also specialist sprouting kit & tools on www.

Gluten free quick snack salad wrap

Just use scissors to cut some vegetables.
Salt & pepper, paprika. Ginger.
A tiny dash of soy source.
Sesame oil. E.V. Olive oil.

This interesting wrap is gluten free
and use ancient grains like
Quinoa, Teff, Sorghum, brown rice & maize.
Well, it is a commercial production,
so it still has some chemicals.
Ideally do it yourself is more healthy...

At this stage, it is not too easy or economical
to get hold of those flours. 

Keep looking for even better choices ...
as more and more good food are made available.

The determined have started making their flour from
organic pulses, gluten-free grains & ancient grains. 

another quick walk through of a gallery

From time to time I try to visit galleries to get some stimulation for thoughts / creativity.

Earlier this month, I saw...

A noisy installation. Trees are installed horizontally with belts which are linked to vibrating motors. The leaves kept falling as the trees were shaking.

The aritist wrote something meaningful saying
about Israel, root, trees, etc.  

Then, the same floor, there was a group of figures displayed like this:

The head of the porcelane figures became strange bulbs.

I moved on to next floor.
This's lit up like an ad for property/realty development.
Sacastic expression against modern city/society.

Then, on the wall of a corner, tiny figures cut from photos...
And in the centre, another piece of two clay figures.
One black one white.

This is a two sided projection on the same pane within a box.
Two different faces.

I did not take any more photos ...
though i spend an hour there.

To me, I do not particularlly like modern art.
They are visual philosophy.
Some are even just visual play of people's thoughts.

I think, not every painting is art.
Not every piece in gallery is real art.
Though some curators/galleries will include anything
that can somehow be counted as thought provoking.

Not my cup of tea.

Bread Baking experiment 6

Rye Bread with Hemp milk, mixed seeds, mixed fruits.

Mixed : yeast, sugar, water,
Mixed : the two types of flour & hemp milk





To let the yeast work better with the flour first,
I added other at different time.

Mixed and put in the baking tray/container.
I try to keep my fingers clean.
I use spoons & forks.
No kneading.

I added some little holes with fork in the middle.
and two spoons of water on top.

Pre - heat oven.
Gas mark 6. For 30 - 40 minutes.

Ingredients:

Rye flour... 10 heaped soup spoons.
Bread mix : (Mixed frain, mixed seeds) 5 heaped soup spoons.

Hemp milk 18 level soup spoons

Yeast  1 level soup spoons
Coconut sugar 1 soup spoons
Filtered Water 2 soup spoons

later add :
Salt.............. 0.5 teaspoon.
e.v. olive oil... 1 level soup spoons

mixed seeds ...........3 soup spoons,
mixed dried fruits...  a handful.

waited for 40 minutes

one pound rectangular oven tray for break/cake, ceramics.
 
preheated oven
put the tray on top rack near door.
gas mark 6.

baked 30 minutes.
stay inside oven for 10 minutes.

Good for vegan & vegetarian.
 

Bread baking experiment 5

To help the yeast work,
I placed the bowl of dough over some hot water...
(tower + kettle)

Mixed grain mixed seed bread mix ... 5 heaped table spoons.

Gluten-free flour ...5 heaped table spoons.

Soy milk ...10 table spoons.


quick yeast   ...   1 tea-spoon.
coconut sugar ... 1 table-spoon.

Egg... 0

Salt...0 *

mixed seeds.... 2 table spoons.

mixed dried fruits... 3 round heaped table spoons

warm water ...10 table spoons.

Wait for 30 minutes.

Extra virgin olive oil... 1 teaspoons.

Mix.

Put in oiled baking tray over a tower over a kettle of hot water.

Wait for another 15 minutes.

Fluffy this time.   o(^.^)o 
Reason:
I used better sequence/procedures & temperature

Preheat oven.
Baked with Gas mark 6 for 45 minutes.
Upper rack nearer to the door.
Left it inside oven for 10 more minutes.
I was doing something else.

The crust is a bit too dry and hard.

Next time I shall reduce the baking time.

 

I searched www for the function of salt for baking bread.

- Taste.

- crust colour.

- Preserve.

- Tighten the texture of the gluten structure.

- Slow down yeast action.

Adding salt during different stages of preparation affect results.
Amount of salt is usually no more than 2% of toal flour weight.
 
Because this time I used a lot of dried mixed fruit
and I ate the bread the same day,
There is no great need for salt in this recipe.

Bread baking experiment 4

Naughty: I ate my bread with thick layer of  crunchy peanut butter.

This time I tried mixing different types of flour.

- Rye flour.
- FreeFrom wheat-free flour.
- Mixed-grains mixed-seeds bread mix.

so, low wheat content.

Yeast.
Coconut sugar.
Pinch of rock salt.

egg...  1, small.

Extra virgin olive oil.
 
Waited 40 minutes. 

Oven high heat 10 minutes.
Medium high 10 minutes.
High heat 1 minute.
Left in oven 10 minutes.



The crust is dry.

But the inside is moist.

Bread baking experiment 3

Mixed grains mixed seeds flours.
Rye flours.
 
Yeast 1 tsp.
 Sugar 1/2 tsp.
 Salt 1/2 tsp.
 Olive oil 1 tsp.
 Water.

Honeyed orange peel.
Mixed fruit muesli.

Waited 40 minutes. Oven high heat 20 minutes & kept there 10 minutes.