Life's Simple Pleasures

One of life's pleasure is to travel overseas where you get to experience life in a different geography and social milieu. Even amidst the coronavirus pandemic, there are other life's pleasures which could be had at your home country such as listening to music, visiting art galleries, playing sports, engaging in outdoor activities and enjoying your meals.

With due appreciation, one of life's most sublime pleasure would be taking the time to have your meals. Maybe you have been super busy and had to rush through or perhaps even skip your meals.

May you find the time and rediscover afresh the simple pleasure of really enjoying your meals unhurriedly. If you are in Singapore, here are some relatively inexpensive meals you could have at hawker centres or kopi tiams (coffee shops). 

Fish head bee hoon soup

Chicken curry noodle

Yong tau foo

For an elaborate feast, then you might wanna consider the quintessential Singapore chilli crab.

Click here for a recipe on how to cook it by Violet Oon.

While we are hot off the wok, let Mark Wien enthuse you with garlic noodle dungeness crab from Los Angeles.

Click here for Garlic Noodles DUNGENESS CRAB!! 🦀 TOP SECRET Family Recipe - San Francisco Crab Tour!!

 

No More Lonely Nights

For working adults, the general mood from Mondays to Thursdays tends to be sombre and pensive. 

Friday nights are a turnaround though and the weekends would be the cause for the celebration.

On a recent Friday night as I walked by some pubs and eateries along Boat Quay and Circular Road, the place was abuzz with people chatting their hearts out. They seemed so carefree and could be overheard pouring out what concerns them or just making merry with laughter at the slightest of triggers.

Yes, it could be due to the weekends, drinks, food or atmosphere. Save for the few loners, the rest of the crowd have at least one companion to interact with. I surmise that it is the self-validation that they are getting from their human listener that makes them happy and free to let loose their feelings of whatever is on their mind.

If they were to chat with a basketball placed in front of them with a drawn face or an autobot on their mobile, the chemistry would be far-cry inferior to human interaction. 

Loneliness is real when we don't have anyone or a good buddy to chat with. A pet such as a dog or cat could offer some respite and distraction from social disassociation. People need people for, inter alia, self-validation  -- they want to be heard and understood, and at a deeper level -- accepted and loved.

If you do not have any family member, relative, colleague, ex-classmate or friend you can relate to meaningfully, don't despair. Practise mindfulness and experience yourself being fully alive and at peace with yourself.

As gleaned from various sources: Go to your favourite chair or place and sit down. You could have some congenial music such as Mozart or jazz playing in the background. Lift up your hands or place them on your thighs. 

Then, take a deep breadth and feel the air filling up your lungs fully, and then exhale. Repeat a few more times and you will find refreshing to your mind and pivot with new thoughts or ideas. 

Corollary to this state of relaxation, you are now in a good place of being still and getting in touch with your inner self and opening the gateway to the Creator of this universe -- God Himself. In Him you will find the purpose and meaning of your life beyond what can be found through human interaction alone.

People will come and go in your life as you journey from one station to another over the times and seasons of life. But, when you are in touch with your inner person and your Creator, you would no longer feel lonely and listless.

At the end of each day, every person would be alone and there would not be another human around. To find the solace of inner peace, everyone needs to be in touch with his or her inner self and make space for communion with God.

Even when you are alone at Christmas, which is the most wonderful time of the year, you will feel okay as you can overcome loneliness and despondency by being still and connecting with your inner self and God Himself.

Have a Merry Christmas and Wonderful New Year!

Thank you for reading and sharing Daily Refreshing.

The Importance of Clarity

Clarity is important in life. When we write clearly, our readers would be able to understand what we meant. Similarly, when we speak clearly, our listener would be able to comprehend what we are saying.

When work processes are clear, the workers would be able to undertake their tasks confidently and productively.

If we have a clear view of life's priorities and non-negotiables, we will be able to make sound decisions that would simplify life for us.

Oh, yes, we also need to be able see clearly to move around and go about living our best life yet. That's where eyewear would play am important part for those who have less than perfect vision.

Guess what is the most outstanding element of this picture?

The boy looks smart with neatly-combed hair and dashing in a suit. "Myopia" on the newspaper is also a standout.

I find that the most outstanding feature is the clear lenses fitted on the pair of spectacles. Essilor has certainly makes it point clearly with this advertisement.

Gift Ideas from LEGO

The folks at Lego are not lacking in ideas to create a whole new world with their signature bricks.

If you wanna build a Ferrari without any background in engineering, you may do so with the following pick:-

For an Adidas shoe that that will never wear out, then this would be a lasting good choice:-

You can have a piece of both history and movie with Titanic as follows:-

For a piece of office relic which would bring back memories of how far we have come in terms of innovation and productivity, then Typewriter would make for a great conversation piece:-

The fun is in the building of these products. For those who just wanna enjoy the finished products, I wonder if Lego could offer such a service directly or indirectly through a pool of freelancers, if not already made available.

Thank you for reading and sharing Daily Refreshing.

What is the first name to chocolate?

Chocolates are still faring well even as society steers away from other sweet bites like sweets, toffees and jelly beans with their high content of sugar.

Chances are you will be having more chocolates around this time of the year as they make for excellent gifts which would come your way one way or another.

Which name comes first to you when you think of chocolate? Some giveaway names would be Cadbury, Delfi, Ferrero Rocher, Fry's, Ghirardelli, Godiva, Guylian, Hershey's, KitKat, Kandos, Lindt & Sprüngli, M&M, Mars and Toblerone.

Let's turn to Wikipedia and be reminded of Van Houten:-

"In 1828 Casparus van Houten Sr. (and not his son, who is usually credited) patented an inexpensive method for pressing the fat from roasted cocoa beans. The center of the bean, known as the "nib", contains an average of 54 percent cocoa butter, which is a natural fat. Van Houten's machine – a hydraulic press – reduced the cocoa butter content by nearly half. This created a "cake" that could be pulverized into cocoa powder, which was to become the basis of all chocolate products.

The introduction of cocoa powder not only made creating chocolate drinks much easier, but also made it possible to combine the powder with sugar and then remix it with cocoa butter to create a solid, already closely resembling today's eating chocolate.

In 1838 the patent expired, enabling others to produce cocoa powder and build on Van Houten's success, experimenting to make new chocolate products. In 1847 English chocolate maker J. S. Fry & Sons produced arguably the first chocolate bar. Later developments were in Switzerland, where Daniel Peter introduced milk chocolate in 1875 and Rodolphe Lindt made chocolate more blendable by the process of conching in 1879.

:

Coenraad Van Houten introduced a further improvement by treating the powder with alkaline salts (potassium or sodium carbonates) so that the powder would mix more easily with water. Today, this process is known as "Dutching". The final product, Dutch chocolate, has a dark color and a mild taste."

This is a shout-out to the Van Houtens father and son team for creating the underlying process for making chocolates and bringing forth this popular delectable product. 

As you enjoy Van Houten's chocolate in this modern times, you will appreciate the rich history and significance behind its name.

Back to the question, Daily Refreshing is of the view that Van Houten would be the fitting first name to chocolate.

Thank you for reading and sharing Daily Refreshing.