Home-cooked food

When people mention the phrase "home-cooked food", what do they really mean? Food which is cooked by your mother? Or a meal that was prepared inside the kitchen of your own house?

What if your dad is a chef and the restaurant is closed for the day so he whipped up some dishes in the kitchen he works at for a family dinner? Is that considered a home-cooked meal?

Clearly, the meaning of home-cooked is unclear. It is a poor adjective to vaguely describe something edible which was informally prepared by the use of heat in a place that is habituated by human beings.

I have studied and realized that certain methods of cooking are not really associated to home-cooked in the opinions are other people. Let's us assume "out-of-home cooking" to be known commercial cooking.

For example, baking, which utilizes dry heat from convection to cook, is one type that is from the first generation of commercial cooking. Most people would buy a cake at a bakery instead of baking one on their own whatever the occasion is.

Think about it, if somebody were to bake a cake or bread at home and place it in front of you on the dining table, would you think that it was in a home?

Allow me to quote another example, let's say if someone were to deep-fry thirty chicken wings in their house's kitchen and place them on a large plate, would you really perceive the food as 'home-cooked"?

Most people would think that something which is done (cooked) repetitively should not be listed as home-cooked. Home-cooked, in most people's minds, is exclusive, comfortable and prepared whole-heartedly.

In commercial cooking, food is usually prepared in quantities, hence it is inevitable that quality will decrease in such a scenario. This might explain why some human beings prefer having a meal that is home-cooked instead of dining out.

On the surface, it looks as if home-cooking has an edge over commercial cooking in terms of taste and the "warmth" it gives when eating it as it was prepared by a human using his heart.

However, we can easily counter the above statement. Commercially produced food like canned luncheon meat, sardines or a carton of barley water can be considered as "home-cooked" so long as they are eaten in a place dwelled by people.

To add on to the irony, some of these commercially produced food are being marketed and labelled as "home-cooked". Unless the person's house is also the factory, I really don't understand why would we classify such food as home-cooked.

In a nutshell, the term "home-cooked" has been blurred after numerous ways of cookings and dinings by people. Just like an overcooked pot of stew.

Firefox 5

 Do you know if this is version 4 or 5?

Fans of the alternative web browser Mozilla Firefox like me should know that a new version has been released on 21 June. Surprisingly, it was made available for download just three months after its preceedor, Firefox 4, was out.

The general user interface has not been altered but some of the new features of it are good enough to be reasons for you to upgrade.

They include more and better support for CSS animations and devices running on Android platforms, increased speed and stability and the ease of locating the "Do Not Track" button which was drowned deep inside the settings panel in version 4.

The only negative part about it is that not of your add-ons will work straight away after upgrading but just be patient and let the developer solve it for you.

Anyway, allow me go off-topic for a while and talk about Firefox 4. I am currently using it on both my office and home desktop as well as that lousy Acer laptop of mine and I always encounter the same problem no matter which computer I use it on.

It starts quicker than Firefox 3 but the real issue is after it starts. The first thing which you do, whether it's typing a url or clicking the settings panel, will make the whole browser hang for about twenty seconds.

That can be pretty frustrating if you are in a hurry. Luckily, Firefox 5 does not have such a problem and you can swiftly perform any task upon starting it up.

My advice, as a Firefox user, is that if you have not tried Firefox 4 before, forget about it, just go for version 5, it's exactly the same (I swear) on the outside but more powerful internally.

Railway station craze

We are aware that the Tanjong Pagar railway station will go into history come 1st July. Don't worry, I am not going to be an overnight fan and post some last-minute pictures about it here.

Instead, I would like to take this opportunity to hit out at those people who flocked the railways and station at the eleventh hour to take pictures of it and do other dumb things like standing on the tracks as if the trains have ceased operations.

It is just a lame trend that trendsetters start and followers join in the fun blindly. The over-hyped and ubiquitous product from Apple known as the iPhone is a very good example of blind followers.

Michael Jackson leaving the world two years ago was also another instance of what it means to have hypocrites cherishing you only after you're gone. Just look at the number of overnight supporters he got singing and dancing his songs after his death.

So I say, this railway tracks and railway station craze out of nowhere is a feeble attempt by hypothetical people to portray and showcase their love of this historical icon although we know that not much of it is mentioned anyway if the closure of it did not occur.

09/09

09/09

Anybody wanna guess what date is that?

Nokia N9

Introducing the all new Nokia N9!

Liverpool blue jersey

Oh man! Liverpool kits never fail to be one of the ugliest football jerseys in my opinion and the latest away kit for the upcoming season is no exception.

Just like Barcelona will never wear white and LA Lakers will definitely not choose green for obvious reasons, it is understood that the Reds will refrain from picking blue, the colour of their local rivals, Everton.

The whole attire is mainly in white but the conspicuous blue stripes contrasting with the background is more than enough to make some Liverpool supporters see red.

Let's see how many dumb fans of the Kop will fork out money to purchase a piece of trash associated with the lousy Everton team from the same city.

Slim Down

Man, I think I have slimmed down over the last two months or so. That is supposed to be a good thing right? But hell no, I am having difficulties when it comes to shopping for pants! Most of the size 29 pants out there used to be suitable for me but now they are all kind of loose when I don them.

I am quite sure that my waistline has decreased by at least an inch. Even those which could be worn comfortably previously feel a little wider nowadays. Oh, and the best part is I don't like wearing belts (my personal fashion preference) so needless to say but I will still say, I don't own a belt.

Actually, it's not that I don't own one but I am pretty fussy (or you can say idealistic) when it comes to buying clothes and accessories. So it is not that I did not buy, it's just that I have yet to find a suitable one that I am willing to buy.

Anyway, back to my problem with buying pants. I was thinking, if I were to continue doing more sit-ups and crunches, what length will I slim down to? Or maybe I should just eat a bit more to "restore" that missing one inch to my waist?

Well, I guess purchasing a belt would be the most practical solution at the moment. I still have to train for my competition in mid-July which I mentioned about three days ago so exercising is a yes.

I believe it's got to do with my diet as well. I "reformed" and changed the way/things I eat for more than two months. It is not considered a strict, model-like diet but one that requires the eater to have discipline and perseverance.

Until then, I will see if I can find a belt which suits me.

Song to remember

By now, it is widely known that Channel 8's year-end blockbuster drama is called Song To Remember, a serial set in the 1930's of Singapore about three songtresses and their "dramatic" lives.

Well, look who we have for the main antagonist of the story, it is the ever-versatile Chen Hanwei. As for the plain old lead female character who struggles throughout the entire plot which Channel 8 blockbuster dramas always have, it is surprisingly Joanne Peh who will be acting as it instead of Jeanette Aw.

Let's hope the filming crew do provide hot water for free to her if they want to get into trouble and delay shooting. If you catch what I mean, good for you. If not, you can google her name plus hot water to understand.

Energy Gel

I am pondering over whether should I purchase the PowerBar Energy Gel set at energygeladdict.com. The current promotion means each piece will cost approximately $2.33, quite a reasonable price in my opinion.

However, the offer ends this Friday so I need to make up my mind by tomorrow. Maybe I shall head down to GNC and NTUC to check out the retail prices. But I am sort of sure that it will be more expensive than those sold online.

By the way, if you are wondering why do I, someone who doesn't participate in marathons, biathlons or triathlons, need these carbohydrate gels, you will know the answer soon. I can give you a hint. I am joining a competition in mid-July. Happy guessing what will I be competing in.

NBA

I knew it! Dallas Mavericks would go on to defeat Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. I have always supported Western Conference teams over their Eastern counterparts and am glad that the NBA title has returned to the West for the third consecutive year. But I still think LA Lakers are the best. Baised me.

I'm playing Angry Birds on Google Chrome! This is great, who says you need to own a smartphone to enjoy this widely-popular game? Yeah, I am using Chrome to play but I am writing this post in Mozilla Firefox.

Speaking of which, I just realized that I have yet to upgrade to Firefox 4 for my home's desktop. Gonna do it now in case I forget again.

I will be changing the direction/objective of this blog from today onwards. After blogging about politics and international news for the past one year or so, I will be shifting my focus to more "fun" but also important topics with emphasis on fashion and pop culture.

Rest assured, I will still be posting articles about other stuff which I believe can attract and interest people to read this blog. As for sports, I might be cutting down on it. Actually, if you have noticed, the amount of sports news have declined since last year.

Quoting an old-school political saying, "we need to liberalize and reform!" That is what this blog is undergoing at the moment.

The only things that will remain status quo are the blogskin and the sarcasm used when writing posts.

Jordan Henderson, welcome to Liverpool! This guy will definitely be a hit at Anfield, I guarantee.

iCloud

Apple Inc announced that it will be having a free digital hub called iCloud (non Apple fans please pardon this stupid name) which lets users to store pictures, music etc. on the internet and gain access to them on different devices.

CEO Steve Jobs, who looks certain to be on his way to paradise for real this time, unveiled the latest innovation of his company at the World Developers Conference at San Francisco Moscone Center on Monday (America time).

Jobs was quoted saying "some people think the cloud is just a hard disk in the sky". He later added "we think it's way more than that, and we call it iCloud".

Omg, that's so interesting, I am trying really hard to laugh at this but just can't do it. It's either I got influenced by the expressionless Yam Ah Mee or the joke only sounds funny to the worshippers of Apple products.

Anyway, I don't find this to be a very great thing in the IT industry. A user would need to have internet access before he can use the iCloud.
Moreover, if bandwidth is low, the user might end up frustrated or in the worse case scenario, the user gets disconnected in the midst of downloading.

No wonder it's free of charge.

Flood

Pictures taken from www.straitstimes.com

Flooding in Singapore (again)!!!

So who should take the blame this time? NEA? PUB? Singaporeans? Or the men in white? It is pretty obvious who is the indirect culprit.

Collect cert at SP

Yesterday, Marcius and I went back to SP to collect our certs. Nothing much has changed in the campus. The so-called sanctuary is still under construction until now, causing inconvenience to the students.

We had lunch at Foodcourt 3 before heading to InnoVillage which is located on top of a hill behind the main library as Marcius wanted to apply for the alumni card. I have no idea why the alumni relations office must be situated up there as informed by the person who answered the hotline.

We had quite a tough time looking for the office. Most of the pretty-looking rooms there looked like those where people discuss projects and do research in comfort although we know that they are just surfing the net and chatting inside an enclosed place.

We combed 90% (the toilets made up approximately 10%) of the area but still could not find the office. In the end, I called the hotline again and the same woman answered the call. I told her we were next to this game research centre and she asked us to stand where while she comes over.

She came over almost immediately, from the corridor which is perpendicular to the one we were at. She told us to go to first floor, turn left and then right. We believed,  thanked and parted ways with her but ended up heading towards the toilet.

We were sure that the woman gave the wrong information so we went back and turned left twice instead. True enough, we managed to find the office which is also the reception. Actually, it was the first room we walked past when we entered InnoVillage.

Marcius took a form a filled it up while I tried to find out why the couch which I was sitting on was so damn comfortable to rest on. An uncle came over and asked us if we are interested in the alumni pendants currently on sale. It's quite obvious what our reply was.

After that, we strolled all the back to the student service centre at T16 and collected our certs. Along the way, we passed by many different places and relived memories of us at those places.

When we were students there, we were too used to walking around the school that we don't find one place to be different to another. Maybe this is all about psychology.

I am sure this will not be the last time I am visiting SP. Like what the alumni site says "your association with SP is a life-long relationship".

Downtown Line survey

I just completed the Downtown Line stations' names survey on LTA's website earlier today. It is a poll for the public to choose which names do they prefer for the new stations.

Before and while doing the survey, I was thinking that there will be prizes but realized that there will be none after submitting my answers.

Actually, excluding the first one which gives people a choice between "Fort Canning" and "River Valley" for River Valley Station, the rest are pretty dumb.

Both questions eight and ten have two selections where the difference is only a word "view". Really doesn't make a difference at all.

Question six lets you decide between "Mattar" and "Merpati", either of these two names are not significant enough to ring a bell in most Singaporeans, let alone the foreigners which make up one-third of the population.

In a whole, this survey is not really up to standard. More choices and a wider variety of them should be provided to allow people to make a more desirable selection.