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| Look what the mailman brought yesterday! |
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Food in our house has never looked so good!...or neat.
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Friday, February 24, 2012
The OCD Chef
Food in our house has never looked so good!...or neat.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Why Does Time Go By Faster Every Year?
I read something last night that I think makes a lot of sense.
'...Michel Siffre, a French chronobiologist (he studies the relationship between time and living organisms) who conducted one of the most extraordinary acts of self-experimentation in the history of science. In 1962, Siffre spent two months living in total isolation in a subterranean cave, without access to clock, calender or sun. Sleeping and eating only when his body told him to, he sought to discover how the natural rhythms of human life would be affected by living "beyond time."
Very quickly Siffre's memory deteriorated. In the dreary darkness, his days melded into one another and became one continuous, indistinguishable blob. Since there was nobody to talk to, and not much to do, there was nothing novel to impress itself upon his memory. There were no chronological landmarks by which he could measure the passage of time. At some point he stopped being able to remember what happened even the day before...As time began to blur, he became effectively amnesic. Soon, his sleep patterns disintegrated. Some days he'd stay awake for 36 straight hours, other days for eight - without being able to tell the difference. When the support team on the surface finally called down to him on September 14, the day his experiment was scheduled to wrap up, it was only August 20 in his journal. He thought only a month had gone by. His experience of time's passage had compressed by a factor of two.'
Sounds familiar? The feeling that an event has sort of snuck up on you when in fact it's always been the same date every year? (What? Chinese New Year over already??? or that sort of thing) It is interesting how Siffre's results have implications for us. The above passage is an excerpt from Joshua Foer's 'Moonwalking with Einstein : The Art and Science of Remembering Everything.' I first came across Joshua Foer's article in the NY Times Magazine last year regarding his attempts at training his memory for competition. The book is a more in-depth account of that experience. He does a lot of research not just on the art of memorizing but on how the brain functions and this is one of those detours.
He goes on to say 'Monotony collapses time; novelty unfold it...If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next - and disappear. That's why it's important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales (agreed!) and have as many new experiences as possible. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.'
My wife has always laughed at my penchant for choosing the same option repeatedly - if I really like a certain dish (say curry chicken chop kon lau mee), I can eat the same dish everyday for 5 days in a week, 2 or 3 weeks in a row. She, on the other hand, will seek to add in as much variety to everyday choices. I remember before we got married, we would always eat out once a week on Sunday and what vexed me most at times was the rule that we must go to a new place every single week. I'll always suggest KFC, and say that we've tried all the restaurants in KK already and she will always suggest some obscure place I've never heard of. But she's right. She's on to something.
I've not thought of a resolution to aim for this year, but if anything, this will be it. To experience life from another perspective and as differently as I possibly can. To try anything and everything (within legal means) at least once.
Oh and to answer that question - why does time go by faster every year? It doesn't.
'Life seems to speed up as we get older because life gets less memorable as we get older.'
'...Michel Siffre, a French chronobiologist (he studies the relationship between time and living organisms) who conducted one of the most extraordinary acts of self-experimentation in the history of science. In 1962, Siffre spent two months living in total isolation in a subterranean cave, without access to clock, calender or sun. Sleeping and eating only when his body told him to, he sought to discover how the natural rhythms of human life would be affected by living "beyond time."
Very quickly Siffre's memory deteriorated. In the dreary darkness, his days melded into one another and became one continuous, indistinguishable blob. Since there was nobody to talk to, and not much to do, there was nothing novel to impress itself upon his memory. There were no chronological landmarks by which he could measure the passage of time. At some point he stopped being able to remember what happened even the day before...As time began to blur, he became effectively amnesic. Soon, his sleep patterns disintegrated. Some days he'd stay awake for 36 straight hours, other days for eight - without being able to tell the difference. When the support team on the surface finally called down to him on September 14, the day his experiment was scheduled to wrap up, it was only August 20 in his journal. He thought only a month had gone by. His experience of time's passage had compressed by a factor of two.'
Sounds familiar? The feeling that an event has sort of snuck up on you when in fact it's always been the same date every year? (What? Chinese New Year over already??? or that sort of thing) It is interesting how Siffre's results have implications for us. The above passage is an excerpt from Joshua Foer's 'Moonwalking with Einstein : The Art and Science of Remembering Everything.' I first came across Joshua Foer's article in the NY Times Magazine last year regarding his attempts at training his memory for competition. The book is a more in-depth account of that experience. He does a lot of research not just on the art of memorizing but on how the brain functions and this is one of those detours.
He goes on to say 'Monotony collapses time; novelty unfold it...If you spend your life sitting in a cubicle and passing papers, one day is bound to blend unmemorably into the next - and disappear. That's why it's important to change routines regularly, and take vacations to exotic locales (agreed!) and have as many new experiences as possible. Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives.'
My wife has always laughed at my penchant for choosing the same option repeatedly - if I really like a certain dish (say curry chicken chop kon lau mee), I can eat the same dish everyday for 5 days in a week, 2 or 3 weeks in a row. She, on the other hand, will seek to add in as much variety to everyday choices. I remember before we got married, we would always eat out once a week on Sunday and what vexed me most at times was the rule that we must go to a new place every single week. I'll always suggest KFC, and say that we've tried all the restaurants in KK already and she will always suggest some obscure place I've never heard of. But she's right. She's on to something.
I've not thought of a resolution to aim for this year, but if anything, this will be it. To experience life from another perspective and as differently as I possibly can. To try anything and everything (within legal means) at least once.
Oh and to answer that question - why does time go by faster every year? It doesn't.
'Life seems to speed up as we get older because life gets less memorable as we get older.'
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Solids
Baby Cyrus has turned 6 months and started taking solid foods. We have fun experimenting with foods and seeing his reaction to them.
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| Today we're trying pumpkin porridge |
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| Wat the....?! |
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| So we switched back to what he's familiar with... |
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| ...and added some of the pumpkin porridge |
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| But he found out... |
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| ...and kept his mouth closed. Lol. |
He did finish the whole thing in the end. We've found out that he likes apple, bananas, grapes (with a very sourish face) and papayas. Sweet potatoes, potatoes...not so popular with him. We hope he will enjoy as wide a variety of food as we can give to him, with it being easier now at this age when he can't talk back or refuse to eat.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Season's Greetings
It's been an unforgettable year for many reasons and we'll cherish the good ones and learn from the bad. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
An Altercation
Something interesting happened this morning. I was with a customer and suddenly there were these voices (a young man and an uncle) shouting at each other. I didn't see the incident before that but apparently a child was playing around while his parents were paying at the cashier and didn't see the uncle pushing a trolley in the adjacent lane and got his head knocked. A very minor incident, not even a bruise... but not for the father. His fists were raised and ready to strike the much older man down.
To the uncle's credit, he tried to calm the younger man down saying that he didn't see the child running or turning, and the parents should have been more mindful of their child. The younger man got so pissed that it could have been his fault and started shouting at the uncle, that he should be more careful when there are children around.
The whole thing is silly really, it's really no one's fault and accidents happen all the time. So has the young man really won? It would appear so. But then again, what the father is saying indirectly to his child is
1) It doesn't matter if it's your fault, I will bring you their severed testicles on a plate for lunch.
2) It's ok to be rude.
3) It's ok to be disrespectful to strangers, especially the weak and elderly.
Great parenting dad! Watch out for the little one during his rebellious teenage years... you won't be spared.
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| The younger man ironically shouted that the uncle had no manners and didn't even apologize, and the uncle said back to him in this frame 'as if you should be talking about manners' |
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| The 'triumphant' father who has defended his family's honor...or has he? |
The whole thing is silly really, it's really no one's fault and accidents happen all the time. So has the young man really won? It would appear so. But then again, what the father is saying indirectly to his child is
1) It doesn't matter if it's your fault, I will bring you their severed testicles on a plate for lunch.
2) It's ok to be rude.
3) It's ok to be disrespectful to strangers, especially the weak and elderly.
Great parenting dad! Watch out for the little one during his rebellious teenage years... you won't be spared.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Modified Nutella Cake In 90 seconds (+++)
It definitely took way more than 90 seconds to make this. I actually got this recipe from here which linked to here, who got the recipe from here (... thank goodness for rebloggers I guess?). It looked simple enough so I had a go.
I didn't have any cocoa powder at home, so I used the next best thing - Milo Fuze 3-in-1. This also eliminated the need to add any sugar, the instant pack milo is sweet enough.
Ingredients
1) 1 tablespoon (and a bit more) of Nutella
2) 1 heaping tablespoon of flour
3) half teaspoon baking powder
4) 1 packet Milo Fuze 3-in-1
5) 1egg (beaten)
Mix everything together and put the mixture into a microwaveable bowl or container. Set the microwave to 70% and set the timer for 40-60 seconds. I initially set 30 seconds but nothing happened. So I set another 20 seconds and saw the thing 'rise'. It's mostly trial and error, watch it closely to see it still retains that moistness.
Ta-da! Yes, it's as delicious as it looks. Seriously! Will add a scoop of ice cream next time I make this.
I didn't have any cocoa powder at home, so I used the next best thing - Milo Fuze 3-in-1. This also eliminated the need to add any sugar, the instant pack milo is sweet enough.
Ingredients
1) 1 tablespoon (and a bit more) of Nutella
2) 1 heaping tablespoon of flour
3) half teaspoon baking powder
4) 1 packet Milo Fuze 3-in-1
5) 1egg (beaten)
Mix everything together and put the mixture into a microwaveable bowl or container. Set the microwave to 70% and set the timer for 40-60 seconds. I initially set 30 seconds but nothing happened. So I set another 20 seconds and saw the thing 'rise'. It's mostly trial and error, watch it closely to see it still retains that moistness.
Ta-da! Yes, it's as delicious as it looks. Seriously! Will add a scoop of ice cream next time I make this.
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