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Friday, December 31, 2010

Ciz n Chic

Somewhere in Tanjung Duren (near Untar)

Tau Ciz n Chic pertama kali sekitar tahun 2005 dari temen di binus. Jualan steak murah. Rame banget and rasanya mayan katanya. Trus pas waktu itu jalan2 dari Untar ke tanjung duren lewat jalan2 kecil di samping Untar itu tiba2 ketemu warung ini. Kaget juga. Pengen nyobain jadinya kesampaian juga, soalnya kalo mau ke binus pertama gak tau persisnya di mana, kedua pasti macet banget. Hehehe. Warung yang di Untar ini kecil banget. Paling ada 4 meja ama 1 meja panjang. Sempit banget lagi. Tapi mayan rame. Emang katanya dia ngincer anak2 kampus yang budgetnya terbatas. Liat di buku menunya cabangnya udah banyak, semuanya deket kampus. Deket Binus, Untar ama Trisakti udah ada. Andai gua masih kuliah. Wkwkwkwk.






Kemaren pesen 4 macem. Cheesy Chicken, Sirloin Steak, Calamari ama Spaghetti. Emang sih mayan2 rasanya, kecuali sirloinnya. Emang udah ketahuan deh kalo makan steak budget gini gak boleh pesen sapi. Dagingnya tipis, keras lagi. Emang steak budget yang enak cuman Abuba doang. Tapi ayam ama yang lainnya bener2 lumayan kok. Pesen segitu ama minuman yang macem2 kayak Cappucino, Juice, ama Blended cuman habis Rp. 80.000,-. Murah banget nih. Padahal biasanya kan minumannya yang mahal tapi di sini harganya agak wajar. Maklum ngincernya anak2 kuliah ama kos2an. Kalo mahal gak laku kali. Hihihi.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Food Crisis

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Food Crisis Worldwide

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India
December 2010

Prices of onions had more than doubled in the past week due to a shortage caused by unusually heavy rain in growing areas.

The agriculture ministry on Monday banned exports until Jan 15, and will import onions from Pakistan, as retail prices jumped to 80 rupees ($1.77) per kg from 35 rupees per kg last week, media reported.

source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
December 21, 2010


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Sri Lanka
Oct 23, 2010 (LBO)

Sri Lanka coconut prices hit new highs amid trade protection

Sri Lanka's fresh coconut prices hit a new high at this week's auction in Colombo, compounded by state interventions that restrict trade and keep prices of substitutes at higher than global levels.

In Sri Lanka staple food supplies are insecure because of heavy state intervention in markets, and prices can also be more volatile as well as higher than the rest of the world.

The high volatility in coconut prices comes from state interventions that block market forces from working due to excessive agriculture protection.

Because of high import taxes even rice, a staple food, can shoot up above world market prices. Meanwhile the state also blocks access to close substitutes like wheat with high import duties.
Sri Lanka's poultry farmers have also been hit by high prices of maize, which is a key feed ingredient as imports have been blocked to 'help maize farmers.'

Protein prices including fish are now at record highs. Sri Lanka's city retail shops even ran out of chicken amid price controls a few months ago, a phenomenon not seen since the 1970s.

Coconut is another staple whose prices are high and volatile due to taxes on close substitutes.
source : www.lankabusinessonline.com



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Related words

***** WASHOKU : General Information

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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Shufu Housewife

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Housewife (shufu)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity


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Explanation

shufu 主婦 / 主夫 ... housewife, homemaker

This word is rather new, used since about 1880.

sengyoo shufu 専業主婦 "specialized housewife"
full-time housewife
she does not work outside the home.



Before the advent of modern times

okugata 奥方 the lady of the house
"the one in the back"
Madam


okusama 奥様 wife, first wife
Of a daimyo, aristocrat or high class family.


おくさま の 餠(もち)の形(かた)
okusama no mochi no kata
A "first wife", but only by name.


Today we say

Yamada san no okusama 山田さんの奥様 Mrs. Yamada


karisuma shufu カリスマ主婦 charisma housewife
A new word for a talented housewife, who saves money, cares for the family and maybe even handles the job of writing about it. Some are quite popular in Japanese TV.

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ryoosai kenboo 良妻賢母 good wife and wise mother



This ideal is painted in the magazine.


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CLICK for more photos

主婦之友 Shufu no Tomo "Friend of the housewife"
One of the oldest magazines for the housewife, since 1917.
Since 1954 it is spelled 主婦の友

CLICK for more english info


Shufu to Seikatsu 主婦と生活

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fujin 婦人 woman, lady , wife
Often used for a high-class woman.


CLICK for more illustrations

婦人之友 Fujin no Tomo
Magazine for the Lady


Fujin Seikatsu 婦人生活


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Worldwide use

Hausfrau


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Things found on the way


Modern Japanese cuisine:
food, power and national identity
By Katarzyna Joanna Cwiertka

source : googlebooks


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HAIKU and SENRYU


Woman Haiku Poets 女性俳句の世界
Well, Takahama Kyoshi called their works
"kitchen haiku" !

. Kitchen Haiku 台所俳句 .


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Related words

***** WASHOKU : General Information

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Sunday, December 26, 2010

From their islands to ours: a taste of Japan

Just a few days ago, I had a question on a blog post from almost two years ago about where to get good Japanese eats here in NYC. Now, finding Japanese food in general is no trick - it's everywhere! But finding the good vegan stuff may not be so easy, precisely because there are so many places to choose from. And picking up a little something on the run is always a skill best gleaned from the locals.

Of course I can only speak from my personal experience, and given that I've been an office slave since I came to this funny little part of the country, I can speak pretty knowledgeably about Midtown East. As luck would have it, this happens to be a GREAT place to find Japanese vittles. As I mentioned in my post from way back when, 47th Street between 3rd Avenue and Lexington is a nice epicenter of all things Japanese.

On 51st between 3rd and 2nd Aves lives Tanaka, a place near and dear to my heart for two reasons. 1) It's the first place I ever experienced a peanut roll - yes, maki with peanuts as the filling, which is strangely delicious, especially when they also include avocado. 2) The wacky, 4 foot tall plastic Japanimation figure that stands outside the front door beckoning you to come inside! He never fails to put a smile on my face. Other standouts here include the sweet potato roll and the mango roll. (Trust me, after working in Midtown for five years, these things are exciting. Tanaka is a pretty small place, and if you show up during lunch with more than one other person, expect a long wait. At any other time of day, you'll waltz right in. But don't be surprised if you feel like you're sitting in the lap of the strangers at the next table.

I've only recently discovered Tanzen on 2nd Avenue near 53rd, a restaurant that is positively enormous for a Manhattan scale. It's lovely too, with a central sort of waterfall. It's a bit more expensive for the three roll special (that's what you get for a waterfall), but they are much better at handling large groups and are significantly less crowded. They too feature the beloved peanut avocado roll; mango's not on the menu, but my guess is they'd make it if you asked. It's a good place for an office birthday.

A few blocks south (45th between 3rd Ave and Lex) there is now a rice ball place called Oms/b. It's tiny, and mostly caters to the Midtown lunch crowd, so if you stop in on a weekday between 12 and 2:30 pm, don't plan on sitting down. They generally have at least three or four all-vegetable and/or tofu varieties of omusubi (also known as onigiri) on hand. Don't get the soup combo deal though: when last I checked, all of their soups were made with a fish base. (This makes me shake my fist at the sky demanding, "but why? WHY?!?" in frustration.)

Are there Japanese places further south (like, below 14th Street)? Sure! Plenty! But once I'm down there I tend to go to the actual vegan restaurants... though I am still waiting for the day that someone realizes there should be a vegan Japanese place. I will be up in there like white on rice.

OK, so that's all fine for sit-down, service meals, but what about grab-and-go food? Well, there is no shortage of Japanese markets. I'm a sucker for these places for one main reason: DAIFUKU! I adore anything that's made of rice flour dough. Fill it with sweet red bean paste and cover it with sesame seeds, and I'm like putty in your hands. Japanese markets never fail me for these sweet treats, that somehow pack a ridiculous amount of sugar (often around 60 grams). Dainobu on 47th Street is really a full blown, if small, grocery store, and it does not disappoint in the daifuku department. Or in any other department, for that matter. There are many prepared meals here, but careful label reading is required.

There is a great little Japanese market much further downtown, not far from Astor Place, called Sunrise Mart - though it's a little tricky to find. It's upstairs, so you have to take an elevator! It's above St. Mark's Bookstore. Though it's well known among the neighborhood college students and hipsers, and everyone else for that matter, the majority of other shoppers that I usually see there are Asian family types going about their shopping for dinner. Make sure to check the far back corner - it's a hectic array of merchandise, and you might just find yourself a pretty little tea pot.

Not far from that up by 10th Street there's a much bigger place called M2M (Morning 2 Midnight). This place is predominately, though less specifically, Japanese, and has a more pan-Asian feel to it. There's a tiny seating area up in the front corner, if you want to sit down for five minutes to wolf down your avocado roll. Just around the corner really, at 2nd Ave and St. Mark's (8th Street), you'll find JAS Mart, which has two other locations as well - on 23rd just East of the Flatiron building, and on Broadway above 110th in Harlem.

For any newbies out there, packaged foods are pretty easy. But in restaurants, some things to watch out for: miso can be made with fish stock, bonito flakes are made of fish (but can often just be left off), and tempura batter is sometimes made with egg. Kani is crab, so that's a no go. But oshinko is pickled cabbage, daikon is radish, and ume or umeboshi are pickled plums. And while natto is technically vegan, you really might not want to go there...

So there you go. Be safe, have fun... peanut avocado rolls for everyone! :D

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Happy Christmas to all!!

I'm happy to report that our Christmas feast was maybe even more successful than our Thanksgiving feast. We didn't get as crazy with it - we cooked enough for about eight or ten people, and we had five diners total. That's about right in my book. We had "chicken" breasts and drumsticks, macaroni and cheese, cauliflower casserole, broccoli au gratin, my now-famous spinach dip (cold this time) with crosstini to start, and my classic chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I am completely photo-less, since I couldn't find my camera; it was "hiding" in exactly the place where I keep it next to my computer. Sneaky little bastard.

And here is where I once again promise to share recipes! I really will this time. Swear. Any day now. Uh huh.

But right now I gotta go watch It's A Wonderful Life - I haven't seen it yet this season!!!!! Priorities, people, priorities. ;)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Letter 2010

Dear friends,

How are you? I hope my Christmas greeting finds you well!

For many people Christmas is a joyful season because THEY HAVE BEEN FORTUNATE enough to have received from their parents or from other faith communities a knowledge and a first hand experience of what Christmas means in the lives of people around them. Many others, who HAVE NOT BEEN SO FORTUNATE to have experienced a true communion of love with God personally and with others, have taken refuge in the less demanding belief of deism. They believe that God is a supreme being; at the beginning of things, He created the universe, maybe gave it its laws, wound it up like a clock and then let it go. In this belief God is both spatially and chronologically distant from the world with no personal relationship with His creatures. This belief allows them to escape from the humility of submitting to a being greater than themselves as well as what this superfluous so-called God might demand of them. For many people today, science has become the infallible guide rather than Christ or the authority that Christ left us here on earth in the midst of so many conflicting opinions and confusion (Mt 16:18). These people who do not recognize or seek the true meaning and purpose of life imprinted in their hearts and eternal souls have not been aided by a great number of so-called Christians today who use religion to satisfy themselves rather that using religion to discover God’s will as well as using religion to obtain God’s help to put into practice His holy and loving will for each of them.

When we look at the vast universe of which we are a part and just a mere speck, we see billions of galaxies, we see billions of stars and planets in each one of those galaxies. When the physicists look at this vast universe they see that it is expanding. And so the atheistic scientists are having to come to the conclusion that if it is expanding then there had to be a beginning. And if there was indeed a beginning of the universe as there was, then there had to be One Who brought all of that into existence and gave it its beginning, God. THEY ARE HAVING TO COME TO THAT INESCAPABLE CONCLUSION, as Saint Thomas Aquinas called: “The Unmoved Mover”, that put everything into existence. In coming to the conclusion of God some would ask: “Is it really true what Christians believe that this vast incomprehensible God became a man and dwelt among us?” And some would say no, that is too great a thing, too humbling a thing for this great God to do such a thing. They know something of God’s majesty but so many do not yet know His love because one normally comes to know and TOUCH THIS LOVE IN PEOPLE WHO LIVE COHERENTLY THEIR FAITH.

And thus, without a healthy environment and culture of authentic altruism which can only be lived with the help of God, these scientists and so many others take the easy, self-satisfying way of deism or atheism, trusting in themselves rather than their Creator who loves them so much. Without this childlike trust in God, they do not realize that His commandments are for our good and best interests, like good parents who sometimes ask their children to do difficult and painful things for their own good. They grab on to anything that serves their desires and agendas to eradicate God, irregardless of the proven facts. As an example, these secularists, nihilists, and relativists, have USED FOR THEIR OWN PURPOSES DARWIN'S FALSE THEORY OF EVOLUTION. Karl Marx wrote (January 16, 1861): “Darwin's work is most important and SUITS MY PURPOSE in that it provides a basis in natural science for the historical class struggle. One does, of course, have to put up with the clumsy English style of argument. Despite all its shortcomings, it is here that, for the first time, 'teleology' in natural science is not only dealt a mortal blow but its rational meaning is empirically explained.” (http://theworldsocialist.blogspot.com/2009/03/marx-and-engels-on-origin-of-species.html). Karl Marx read the Origin of Species in 1860 and wrote that Darwin's book was very important and served him as a basis in natural science for the struggle in history. (http://www.quodlibet.net/articles/johnson-evolution.shtml).

In the mid-1970s the seminal discovery of Elso Barghoorn clearly and empirically REVEALED THE TOTAL FALSENESS OF THE RANDOM ORIGIN OF LIFE, but the mass media and almost all of our so-called objective (infallible?) scientists were not interested in this well documented and verifiable discovery. (“Origin of life: RANDOM ORIGIN OF LIFE WAS EXPLODED BY 1970s DISCOVERY - who didn't get the memo?”; “Gerald Schroeder's The Hidden Face of God”; http://collidinguniverses.blogspot.com/2008/08/origin-of-life-random-origin-of-life.html).

In the beautiful book: “The Life of Christ”, Archbishop Fulton Sheen offers us a powerful thought for this advent season as we prepare for the coming of Christ. He tells us that there have been men born into the world who claimed to be God, or to have been sent by God, or to have a message from God. Some of these men were Confucius, Buddha, Mohammad. Yet it would seem that if God were to come Himself or to send someone from Himself or with a very special message from Himself, that He would give us some indication that this person was coming. In others words, HE WOULD PRE-ANNOUNCE THAT HE WAS SENDING THIS PERSON, OR THAT HE HIMSELF WAS COMING. Yet none of these men mentioned were pre-announced before their births. But the birth of Jesus Christ was pre-announced!. In fact it was pre-announced all the way back to the time of the fall of our first parents, when God spoke to the serpent, who deceived our first parents, and said: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers. You shall strike at his heal and he shall crush your head” (Gen 3:15). This so-called “proto-evangelium” (first gospel) was a pre-announcement of Christ. But then even with the call of Abraham, later on David, God renewed that promise to send someone to His people. It was not just an awaiting of nine months for a child to be born into a family, it was an awaiting for almost two thousand years. So Jesus Christ was the only one whose birth was ever pre-announced. And that is why we know that He was sent by God the Father because the Father loved us so much He sent His own Son into the world.

When we think of experiences of love that we have had or MANIFESTATIONS OF LOVE, like Mother Teresa, where does that love come from? We know that its source is in God Who is love as Saint John tells us (1Jn 4). St. John also tells us that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (Jn 1:14). And so we understand God’s love when we look at the Child in the manger. And the Word was made flesh for you and for me! But St. John also wrote in his Gospel referring to the eternal Word made flesh which we find in the Christmas liturgy: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world know him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not” (Jn 1:10-11).

For those of us who have received the great gift of faith from our relatives or from others, let us be truly thankful. But let us do all we can to SHARE THIS GIFT OF LOVE WITH THOSE LESS FORTUNATE than we by our concrete example of love for others. Love by definition must be given away. You cannot eat love; you cannot buy it; you cannot barter it; you cannot sell it; you cannot store it; you can only give it away. A song is not a song until it is sung. A bell is not a bell until it is rung. And love is not love until it is given away. And God gives us His Own love so that we might give it back to His children around us, these human beings with whom we live.

Let us pray at this time for all those who have fallen into one of the greatest traps of Satan as Pope Benedict puts it, the “TYRANNY OF RELATIVISM”, so that they might come to know, love and serve such a wonderful, loving God who came into the world to die for each one of us personally and individually. Precisely because our God is a God of love, He totally respects our primordial gift of our free will, and thus He respects our choice to say yes to Him and trust Him or to say no to Him for all eternity by trusting only in ourselves! “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:3-4). We forget so quickly the words we hear when we receive the ashes on Ash Wednesday: “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return”. What can dust do by itself (Mt 19:26; Mk 10:27; Lk 18:27)? The greatest joy in heaven is to be totally in the presence of God; the greatest pain in hell is to be totally separated from God their Creator. Satan and the world on the other hand tell us that the devil and hell do not exist so we can live without any restraints or responsibility like the animals and afterwards everyone goes to heaven if you still believe in this outdated idea! Unfortunately many priests and bishops have bought into this way of thinking in the name of God Who in His love would never send anyone to hell for eternity, if hell or the devil even exist. But TRUE LOVE MEANS THAT OUR PRIMORDIAL GIFT OF OUR GREAT DIGNITY, CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD, WITH A FREE WILL, BE RESPECTED, even if we chose freely to not seek to live the 10 Commandments and do God’s holy will. Otherwise our dignity is reduced to the level of irrational animals with no immortal soul. Our great God-given human dignity necessitates that each of us will live for eternity in heaven or hell, whether we like it or not, or whether we believe it or not! “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (Mt 26:24).

WHO DECIDES WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG, GOOD AND EVIL, TRUTH AND REALITY? One has to work very hard every day to stamp out the imprint of the Creator in his heart and soul and to reject the many daily inspirations and graces from God (“The Hound of Heaven”!) in order to convince himself that God does not exist and he can live as he pleases without regard for God or for the neighbors who do not satisfy themselves! Thus when such a person dies, even if he says he does not believe in God or the existence of hell, it will be revealed to him in an instant his whole life, including how hard he worked to deny and run from the truth stamped in his heart; this will be his judgment for all eternity! Whether one likes it or not, or believes it or not, man is made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). NO ONE GOES TO HELL OR TO HEAVEN FOR ALL ETERNITY BY CHANCE! God will always respect our great primordial gift of our free will and thus will never force anyone, kicking and screaming, to spend eternity with Him in heaven or eternity without Him in hell; at the moment of our death, He will confirm for all eternity our decision we made here on earth during our very short life! God created you without you, but He will not save you without you. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Is 5:20)!

In our human way of talking here on earth, many people, who have willingly accepted and embraced so many times in their life the convenient and subtle lies of relativism, will say to Jesus when they die: “I did not know this or that or …” And Jesus will say: “Yes, you did not know, but you willingly chose not to want to know, YOU DID NOT WANT TO DISCOVER THE TRUTH OR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOVE ACCORDING TO THE WORLD, with so many hidden egotistical motives, and TRUE LOVE that I explained while I was on earth leaving my Church, the Catholic Church with the Pope as the head, to explain true love more clearly through the ages to the end of time.” Ignorance is bliss!

The puppets of Satan, the proud modern philosophers, would make us to believe that each person is a god so we, by ourselves, decide what is reality and what is truth (Gen 3:4-5)! The so-called “Age of Reason” actually turned reason on its head. There is very little enlightenment found in the “Period of the Enlightenment”! Secular humanism is bankrupt! For a believer in God-Love, René Descartes’ famous supposition “I think therefore I am” should read “I LOVE THEREFORE I AM”! When all of these little gods die, where do they go? To a heaven that they created? To nothingness as they have decided and declared to themselves and to others, since they have decided that God or hell or the devil do not exist! In the heaven of the Creator of the universe and of all of reality and its laws, there is room for only one God! Whether we believe it or not, whether we like it or not, whether we decide or not, reality and truth are established by the one true God. We so easily and so willingly forget and ignore that LIFE IS A BATTLE, A “DOUR COMBAT WITH THE POWERS OF EVIL” (CCC 409)! Our proud mortal enemy, Satan and his followers, almost always disguises himself as an “angel of light” here on earth (2Cor 11:14). “At that time Jesus declared; “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes” (Mt 11:25; Lk 10:21). How many wise men 2000 years ago, as well as today, did not recognize the Creator of the universe born in utter poverty as a helpless baby, or did not recognize the infinite God substantially present in bread and wine, or covered with blood on the cross? “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1Cor 1:27, 20; 3:18; 4;10).

Let us be strong , with the help of God through daily prayer, to overcome the great pressures on us today such as “POLITICAL CORRECTNESS” so as not to fall prey to the “spiral of silence” about our precious Christian values through these highly sophisticate and well organized and financed “jamming” and “cognitive dissidence” techniques used today by those who want to extinguish true self-giving, self-sacrificing love that they see in those men and women of good will for whom the Christ Child was born (Lk 2:14). The research on “political correctness” is that it allows people to feel involved in something bigger than themselves without having to make any sacrifices. Today it is OK to expose in public pornography, signs of disrespect for parents, signs of Sodom and Gomorrah or diabolical signs, but it is against the law, forced on us by our activist dictatorial unelected judges, to pray in public schools or to put signs of Christmas (which comes from the two words: “Christ Mass”) or to inscribe the 10 Commandments in public, precisely in our so-called “land of the free”, the land of “democracy”! These haughty elite do not even want us to use the words “Happy Holidays” because the word holidays comes from the two words “Holy Days”. The great majority of Americans do not realize that we are already totally under the dictatorship of the “New World Order”. “Freedom” has been separated from Truth, Truth with a big “T”, which ironically leads to the exact opposite of freedom which is horrible slavery, the “tyranny of relativism”, based on everyone’s self-made truth with a little “t”!. Thus as the majority of Americans discard the Christian foundation of values that our founding fathers of America gave us, the law of the land will quickly disintegrate into “MIGHT MAKES RIGHT” which is exactly what the world manipulators, the elite of the NWO, want! “For the sons of this world are wiser in their own generation than the sons of light” (Lk 16:8). Jesus warned us: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7:15-16). Do not the fruits show that one of the highest, if not the highest, priority for Obama and Clinton is to force Americans to pay for abortions not only in America but in the whole world even while we are in the greatest economic crisis since 1929? Why is so much money given to EMBRYONIC STEM CELL (HUMAN BEINGS) RESEARCH ,which has NOT RENDERED ANY positive results, instead of adult stem cell (not human beings) research which has RENDERED MANY POSITIVE RESULTS?

AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, IF YOU DO NOT LIVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE, YOU WILL END UP BELIEVING AS YOU LIVE. We have arrived to the point today that only 50% of church going Christians believe in the resurrection after death. Jesus tells us to love the sinner but hate the sin; but many people today non longer make this distinction, and those who do make this distinction are accused of hating the sinner: “HATE CRIMES”! Very soon this accusation will become outright persecution and ultimately martyrdom for those who are ready for this great gift from God to share in the mystery of Christ’s redemption (Col 1:24)! The world autocrats must eliminate true Christianity and substitute it with a false christianity without the cross of Christ because Christianity, and specifically the Catholic Church, is the last obstacle still standing on the chess board so as to make a sweep of the board by the forces of what Joseph Ratzinger once called the “dictatorship of relativism”. WE ARE TO BLAME for having given the power and control to these egotistical puppets of Satan who have in turn accelerated the sinking of the ship with the money and power that we have given to them so as to hasten the culture of death by the promotion of the greatest sins and the elimination and destruction of the last remaining religious voices in the public square! As our Lady of Fatima said, wars are primarily caused by the sins of all of us. The “sons of this world” know much better that the “sons of light” (Lk 16:8) that THE PROMOTION OF SIN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY is the most powerful and quickest and most efficient way to render the masses incapable of resisting their destructive agenda. So many do not realize that the economic crisis and all other crisis are fundamentally rooted to this demonic plan to destroy the spiritual fiber of each individual, of each family and thus of the real backbone of our society and of our culture. This Satanic strategy is much more potent for the forces of evil than nuclear bombs or any other material power. Just as those closer to God are more docile to God’s holy will, so too those closer to Satan are more docile to the demonic strategy and plan of total destruction on earth and in hell for all eternity!

READ ABOUT the use, without our permission or consent or knowledge, of these very powerful, sophisticated and highly developed techniques and their effects on us as an unsuspecting public: “SELLING HOMOSEXUALITY TO AMERICA” by Paul E. Rondeau (http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/rond/shta/shta_01sellinghomosexuality1.html; http://www.couplescompany.com/FEATURES/politics/2004/Selling%20Homosexuality.pdf; http://www.untwistedtruth.com/).

Let us pray for those following the father of lies (Jn 8:44), whose consciences are not already totally dead, before it is too late! LET US PRAY MORE THAN EVER AND OFFER MANY SACRIFICES for our deceived brothers and sisters as our Lady of Fatima has asked us to do. In this way some will convert from the deception of arrogance and the illusion of egoism, and we ourselves will be ready to suffer and even offer up our lives for others as baby Jesus did for us on the cross on Mount Calvary 33 years after His birth! The Truth Shall Set You Free (Jn 8:32)!

Many people today have misguided compassion and do not want to hurt the feelings of others; for these seemingly nice people, this short life on earth is more important than eternity. Is this true love? But the prophet Ezekiel tells us: “If I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life” (Ezek 33:8-9). Referring to the OBJECTIVE TRUTH St. James wrote: "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one converts him, let him know, that he who converts the sinner from the error of his ways shall save his soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (Jms 5:19-20; see also: Mt 18:15-17). Referring to the SUBJECTIVE TRUTH or personal guilt St. James wrote: “Who are you that you judge your neighbor?” (Jms 4:12; Mt 7:1-2). One must always distinguish and not lump everything together and then judge!

While alive we can change everything with a good confession and a true change of life; AFTER DEATH NOTHING CAN BE CHANGED FOR ALL ETERNITY whether we believe or agree or not! The Creator make the rules, not we who will return to dust from whence we came (Gen 2:7)! We need more religious leaders and laymen and laywomen to warn us of this eternal trap. Forewarned is forearmed! The Beast will be able to perform "signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect" (Mt 24:24; Mk 13:22; Rev 13:8; 19:20)! Every time our Lady appeared in the last 180 years she has always asked for prayers for the Pope, bishops and priests, the main targets of Satan, the generals and captains in this great “cosmic struggle”. If more RELIGIOUS LEADERS had less FEAR OF HUMAN RESPECT and the courage to speak about the reality of sin (mortal, grave) and its eternal consequences, we foot soldiers would be much better prepared for this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21)!

To fight in a battle, is it not prudent and necessary to know not only your own weapons, tactics and strategy, but also the weapons, tactics and strategy of the enemy? It was recounted to Pope John Paul II that the Vatican's chief exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, “knows too many bishops who do not believe in the Devil”. The Pope replied bluntly: “ANYONE WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE DEVIL DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL”. When asked “What do you see as Satan’s greatest success?”, Amorth replied: “The fact that he has managed to convince people that he does not exist. He has almost managed it, even within the Church. We have a clergy and an Episcopate who no longer believe in the Devil , in exorcism, in the exceptional evil the Devil can instill, or even in the power that Jesus bestowed to cast out demons. … And they no longer believe in the Devil. We have entire Episcopates trying to counter exorcism. We have countries completely devoid of exorcists, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. This is a shameful shortfall.” (http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=2879).

How incredible it is that today so many of our generals (bishops) and our captains (priests) in this great spiritual battle for our eternal souls tell us that the enemy does not even exist! We go onto the field of combat as buck privates led by these numerous commanding officers and we are massacred, unless we seek, in humility and trust, the directives of the divinely guided Vicar on earth of the Supreme Commander, THE LIVING POPE, with whom all bishops and priest have taken an oath to remain in unity and communion. Our enemy does not sleep and he is much more intelligent than any human being!

Let us remember and help our children to remember that Christmas is NOT OUR BIRTHDAY BUT THE BIRTHDAY OF JESUS Who came to show us the way to heaven and to die for each one of us! I remember as a child how my parents encouraged us (six children) to place a piece of straw into an empty crib during advent for each little sacrifice of love and self-denial we did so that at Christmas the crib was full of the straws of our sacrifices for baby Jesus. Today so many children expect only presents for themselves and they have not learned from their parents or friends the real reason for the season! My parents also knelt down with us six children everyday for 15 minutes to pray the daily family Rosary with the pictures of the 15 mysteries before us to help us to meditate on the life of Christ, to pray the Gospel through the loving eyes of Mary.

Forgive me for such a heavy and long Christmas letter, but my mother Mary, the mother not only of Jesus but of all of us, sheds many tears as seen in many of her recent apparitions because so many thousands of her children fall in hell for all eternity everyday as shown to the three children at Fatima (July 1917).

My best friend Jesus, who died for me, suffers more than we can possible imagine, and the great majority of people, including Christians, are TOTALLY INDIFFERENT AND INSENSITIVE to this astounding suffering and they become angered if you try to tell them of our great coldness toward the One Who loves us more than everyone put together and Who gave us everything we have, including His only Son to die on the cross for our cold indifference!

Very often there is a tendency to not consider very much the possibility of offending God, much less to cause great pain to God due to our insensitivity and indifference. We say: “After all He is God; He does not need us and besides He is far above all these things!” We forget that the greater the love is, the greater is the pain due to insensitivity and indifference. JESUS, who loves each one of us immensely, SUFFERS MORE THAN WE CAN IMAGINE due to our indifference. One might say how can this be if Jesus already died 2000 years ago? We must remember that for God there is no past or future but only THE ETERNAL PRESENT. Jesus suffered (“suffers”) not only for the sins of those who lived before and during his crucifixion, but also for all of the sins after his crucifixion. We slough off so easily this fundamental indifference of not responding to love. This is the fundamental definition of sin. How many wives (or husbands) suffer greatly because their husbands (or wives) are so insensitive and indifferent!? Every time we fall into sin, it is a nail, it is a thorn embedded in the Heart of the Sorrowful Mother’s Son, and She cries out to us: “have pity, have mercy!”

Let us thank God there was a heart well prepared to receive the infinite Son of God, baby Jesus, 2000 years ago, the Immaculate Heart of Mary! The hearts of men were so cold 2000 years ago that only a few recognized the Creator of the universe born in utter poverty, covered with blood on the Cross and hidden in the appearance of a piece of bread in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Today the situation of human hearts is much worse. LET US MAKE REPARATION for the incredible suffering of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the foot of the cross with our prayers and sacrifices by loving baby Jesus hidden in the most rejected and defenseless people today as well as in every tabernacle of the world as our Divine Prisoner.

St. John the Baptist, as a six-month old fetus in the womb of his mother Elizabeth, leaped for joy in the womb of Elizabeth when he recognized Jesus as a very small embryo in the womb of Mary (Lk 1:44)! Little boys and little girls leap for joy in their mothers wombs, not abstract fetal tissue! The SECOND PERSON of the BLESSED TRINITY in His infinite wisdom, Who could have come into the world in anyway whatsoever, chose to become incarnate in the womb of a human woman and spend NINE FULL MONTHS IN HER WOMB!?! Christ sanctified everything He did; He identifies Himself with “the least of His brethren” (Mt 25:40): unwanted babies in the wombs of their mothers! You might say that Jesus, Who the entire universe cannot contain, showed us the preciousness of life in the womb by patiently spending nine months in the womb of His mother Mary! How can a Christian not stand up and defend Jesus in the wombs of millions of mothers planning to abort their precious gift of life from God within their wombs, and at the same time celebrate Christmas? Are we Christians if we do not do all we can to help concretely so many women abandoned by their boy friends, husbands, relatives and society in their difficult moment? If we help and comfort concretely those who are left out in the cold by so many around them, we will truly be warming baby Jesus for this Christmas! If we repent, confess our sins and begin to love every unwanted neighbor concretely as Jesus did, then we will offer a true gift to baby Jesus on His birthday and wipe away many of the tears of His and our heavenly Mother, the Mother of all of us whether we want to discover, recognize and believe this great gift from God or not! A true mother suffers greatly due to the indifference of her children especially of those who do not even communicate for Christmas and do not even recognize this woman as their mother! How hardened of heart we have slowly become over the years of our life and we do not even realize it or want to discover how far we have drifted from basic respect and concern for all human beings made in the image of God as well as the real situation of our hearts and souls and our relationship with our personal Creator!

One receives and experiences the real joy of Christmas as well as Easter when one recognizes that he or she is a sinner, when one recognizes his or her sins. This Baby came for sinners not for the self-justified (Mt 9:13). Popes Pius XII and John Paul II wrote that THE GREATEST SIN IS THE LOSE OF THE SENSE OF SIN! The very numerous people who call themselves Christians today but do not acknowledge and confess their sins have a very shallow, materialistic happiness for Christmas; they are sucking off from the spiritual reservoir of those who paid the price before them to create a culture of life by their personal and collective sacrifices. To give or create life, one must sacrifice oneself, one must continually die to self to give life to others, one must “to limit ones freedom on behalf of another” (John Paul II). It is easy to destroy life by sucking off of others to satisfy our own masked egoism and spiritual sloth. It is easy to destroy a tall building; it is difficult and time consuming to build a tall building!

May you have a most blessed celebration of the birthday of the Child who was born in extreme poverty and completed His mission of love on the Cross for us!

Fr. Joseph Dwight

P.s. If you might be interested in more information about the above along with hundreds of web references, visit: “Catholic Prophecy Today” at http://markbeast.blogspot.com.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Tips & Tricks: Where to Buy Kimono

I notice that a rather large amount of emails that I get via this blog have some variant of the same issue: where do I usually buy my kimono? Since this seems to be a very popular question, I figured it'd be best if I just made a post about it that can easily be referred to.


A majority of the kimono that you see on my blog (and even more that you don't see!) were bought online, as the internet is the easiest place to find plenty of authentic kimono. However, for every beautiful authentic kimono sold online, there are probably a hundred fake kimono that are being sold for ten times their worth.

It is important for an online shopper to be able to identify a real or a fake kimono just by looking at pictures on a screen. This can include a multitude of things - the fabric used, the build of the kimono, the pattern on the fabric. There are many indicators of fake kimono that are quite easy to spot once you get used to it.


However, as a beginner in shopping for kimono online, it will be quite difficult to tell a large number of these differences. In fact, there are some fakes that are so well-crafted that even a seasoned shopper can barely tell that something isn't quite right with it. There are also some sellers that sell authentic kimono at incredibly ridiculous prices (eg: $1,000 for a kimono that's been stained and cut to pieces!).

As such, I suggest to all beginner shoppers to stick to shops that are reputable and well known for selling good quality, authentic kimono at affordable prices.

I am outlining below the usual shops that I frequently direct my readers to as they are known to be reliable. I have bought from all of the shops listed in this post before, and can testify that all of my personal experiences with them have been good.

~♥~


1. Ichiroya
Webshop: Ichiroya
eBay Shop: Ichiroya - eBay

(Note: It seems that Ichiroya's eBay shop is currently empty. Check again later, though - when they post stuff, it's usually a great deal!)

Ichiroya is actually my favourite English webshop to browse through! They always have such beautiful items, and many of them are at quite decent prices. You can always find a multitude of things of any condition from brand-new to old and antique, and from wearable items to display pieces. One thing I really like about them is that they have full kimono sets for sale, readily matched and put together so that beginners in kimono coordination don't have to feel unsure about their choices.

Another point in their favour is their Kitsuke DVD, just about the only English DVD I know of that teaches you how to wear kimono. The main "stars" of the DVD are Yuka, the owner Ichiro's wife, and their daughter.

If you register for their newsletter, you will get to read alot of interesting news about Japan and kimono-related articles every Sunday. All of the Ichiroya staff are very helpful, and if you ever need help in anything, such as finding a piece with a specific motif, or finding an obi to match your kimono, or even tailoring service for their kimono bolts, they are always willing to help you in any way possible.

One down point is that compared to some of the other shops, their items may seem a little expensive. However, I still buy from them as they do carry some rare items, and their items are usually in better condition than other shops.

~♥~


2. RyuJapan
Webshop: RyuJapan
eBay Shop: RyuJapan - eBay

Ryujiro-san is another great seller with very affordable kimono. His supply isn't always consistent, but when he has a new promotion, there is always a great selection to choose from. Most of his new promotions are in line with whatever season is approaching - yukata in June, wool kimono in September, etc. His eBay shop also has a great choice of kimono and kimono items all year-round.

Nearly all of my wool kimono are from Ryujiro-san. He had a wool kimono promotion about 3 years ago and was selling them from USD1 to USD10, so I got a huge bunch of them for really cheap!

One thing that I really love about Ryujiro-san are his sales - on the last few hours of his sales, the discounts can go as low as 60%, sometimes 70% off. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten good quality yukata obi for USD4 just by waiting patiently :)

~♥~


3. Yamatoku Classic
Webshop: Yamatoku Classic
eBay Shop: Yamatoku Classic - eBay

Yet another favourite! My first kimono that weren't yukata were bought from their eBay shop :) I used to constantly drool over their kimono sets, which are more expensive but also more complete than the Ichiroya ones. Recently, they have been having more sales and promotions, with kofurisode being sold for as little as USD9.99, and proper furisode sold at a 30% discount.
The main negative point about buying from Yamatoku is that you have to be quite careful with the condition of the item you are buying - quite alot of them have stains somewhere on the kimono, and are quite highly priced for kimono in such a condition. Still, their recent festivals and promotions have had many mint condition items, so maybe this only applies to some of their older stuff :)

~♥~

There are, of course, far more shops than this that I have bought from and that are reputable, but these are my top picks for beginners :) This also does not include Japanese webshops and Yahoo Japan Auctions, my main source of pretties these days.

Happy Shopping! :)

Note: For those buying from Japanese webshops or from YJA, you will most likely need to use a middleman service, which may significantly up your costs. I use Noppin (http://www.noppin.com/) but there are others out there that you may prefer. I'll write another short post on using middleman websites later.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Hong Kong Milk Tea and Tea Set

Let's talk more about Hong Kong Tea Culture. Apart from traditonal Chinese tea, Hong Kong is famous for its very unique style Milk Tea. It's actually world famous. When you visit China Towns all over the world, you'll see restaurants putting up big signboards specifying "Hong Kong Style Milk Tea" . And here is it - very silky smooth. Secret recipe available only in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong locals love this milk tea, including myself. Some even addicted to it. They are usually part of a breakfast set, lunch set or tea set. Or they are sold stand alone. Hot is usually around HK$10 and cold is around HK$13, and ice-free cold is around HK$15+.

Now let's see what is usually accompanying the Hong Kong milk tea to make up a tea set.

Pineapple Bun - listen, the shape, the taste or the ingredients - there is nothing to deal with pineapple, except the name. Hong Kong people love to insert a flat piece of butter and name it Butter Pineapple Bun.

Egg Tart - both egg tart and pineapple bun are usually cheap, round about HK$4-5 each. Butter pineapple bun is slight more expensive.

Best Place to Enjoy A Hong Kong Tea Set - Tea Restaurants

Now, don't mix up with dim sum restaurants. We usually call dim sum restaurant Cha Lou 茶樓 and tea restaurants Cha Chantang 茶餐廳. Tea Restaurants (cha chantang) are some typical small casual restaurants. These are the place where you can enjoy superb quality Hong Kong milk tea. They outperform 5-star restaurants in terms of milk tea.

How Much is A Hong Kong Milk Tea Set?

From the Golden Phoenix menu above:
tea + egg tart - HK$17
tea + pineapple bun - HK$ 17
tea + butter pineapple bun - HK$19
tea + chicken pie - HK$20

How Does A Typical Hong Kong Milk Tea Restaurant Look Like?

Here is one.

This is one of the most classic and beloved tea restaurants in Hong Kong. It is situated at a side street in Wanchai. You won't notice it even you go pass it. The way to locate it easer is by the line of people waiting for a seat or buying out-of-oven egg tarts. I live in Wanchai for over 30 years and this restaurant has been here for over 30 years too. Guess what, I never had a chance to visit it because I just can't put up with the long waiting line.

OK, here are some sample tea sets - with all the tea partners, egg tart, pineapple bun and chicken pie altogether.

Next time when you are in Hong Kong, don't forget to see if you are lucky enough to find a seat at Golden Phoenix 金鳳茶餐廳 (see above) - 41 Stone Nullah Lane, Wanchai, Hong Kong.



Hong Kong Food Blog - Hong Kong Milk Tea

Hong Kong Milk Tea and Tea Set

Let's talk more about Hong Kong Tea Culture. Apart from traditonal Chinese tea, Hong Kong is famous for its very unique style Milk Tea. It's actually world famous. When you visit China Towns all over the world, you'll see restaurants putting up big signboards specifying "Hong Kong Style Milk Tea" . And here is it - very silky smooth. Secret recipe available only in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong locals love this milk tea, including myself. Some even addicted to it. They are usually part of a breakfast set, lunch set or tea set. Or they are sold stand alone. Hot is usually around HK$10 and cold is around HK$13, and ice-free cold is around HK$15+.

Now let's see what is usually accompanying the Hong Kong milk tea to make up a tea set.

Pineapple Bun - listen, the shape, the taste or the ingredients - there is nothing to deal with pineapple, except the name. Hong Kong people love to insert a flat piece of butter and name it Butter Pineapple Bun.

Egg Tart - both egg tart and pineapple bun are usually cheap, round about HK$4-5 each. Butter pineapple bun is slight more expensive.

Best Place to Enjoy A Hong Kong Tea Set - Tea Restaurants

Now, don't mix up with dim sum restaurants. We usually call dim sum restaurant Cha Lou 茶樓 and tea restaurants Cha Chantang 茶餐廳. Tea Restaurants (cha chantang) are some typical small casual restaurants. These are the place where you can enjoy superb quality Hong Kong milk tea. They outperform 5-star restaurants in terms of milk tea.

How Much is A Hong Kong Milk Tea Set?

From the Golden Phoenix menu above:
tea + egg tart - HK$17
tea + pineapple bun - HK$ 17
tea + butter pineapple bun - HK$19
tea + chicken pie - HK$20

How Does A Typical Hong Kong Milk Tea Restaurant Look Like?

Here is one.

This is one of the most classic and beloved tea restaurants in Hong Kong. It is situated at a side street in Wanchai. You won't notice it even you go pass it. The way to locate it easer is by the line of people waiting for a seat or buying out-of-oven egg tarts. I live in Wanchai for over 30 years and this restaurant has been here for over 30 years too. Guess what, I never had a chance to visit it because I just can't put up with the long waiting line.

OK, here are some sample tea sets - with all the tea partners, egg tart, pineapple bun and chicken pie altogether.

Next time when you are in Hong Kong, don't forget to see if you are lucky enough to find a seat at Golden Phoenix 金鳳茶餐廳 (see above) - 41 Stone Nullah Lane, Wanchai, Hong Kong.



Hong Kong Food Blog - Hong Kong Milk Tea

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Snowy Day


It's snowing today in southern Italy. 
Snow is such a rare event here that it's always special.


This orange tree was certainly caught by surprise.


As were the flowers in my garden.


My sons tried to convince us that snow = no school, but that argument didn't stick any more than this snow will!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Scrapbook

What is scrapbook?
Google bilang kalo scrapbook itu adalah seni unuk melestarikan sejarah keluarga atau momen-momen pribadi kita, yang awalnya scrapbook adalah cara mendaur ulang kertas. Dengan menggunakan kertas yang telah di daur ulang dan sisa-sisa sampah kertas diubah menjadi hiasa-hiasan unik dan menarik yang kemudian ditempelkan di kertas untuk menghias foto.
Scrapbooking sudah dimulai sejak abad ke 15, cuma seiring waktu berjalan dan semakin maju, scrapbook menjadi sangat populer dan dibuat tidak lagi menggunakan kertas daur ulang. Banyak orang justru sengaja mencari kertas dan pernak-pernik lucu untuk mempercantik scrapbooknya. Kemudian banyak home industry di Amerika yang memproduksi kertas khusus untuk scrapbook dengan kualitas yang lebih bagus, dan hobi scrapbooking semakin komersil.
Pada tahun 2007 di Amerika hobi scrapbooking menjadi lebih populer mengalahkan golf dan jumlah scrapbookers pun menjadi semakin banyak.
Kenapa banyak orang menyukai scrapbook? Melihat album foto biasa atau di facebook saja sudah menyenagkan dan dapat memanjakan mata, apalagi melihat buku tahunan. Dan scrapbook tentu lebih bagus daripada itu, dengan berbagai macam hiasan buatan tangan dan foto-foto lucu serta tulisan yang memperkaya maknanya. Jelas saja semakin banyak orang tergila-gila akan scrapbook. Dan scrapbook juga mempunyai fungsi yang cukup bagus sebagai media memori akan setiap kejadian yang terjadi di hidup kita.
Tapi sih yaaa...scrapbook modern tidak murah tentunya. Apalagi jika masyarakat Indoesia menggunakan kertas impor dengan kualitas yang bagus, mencetak foto juga, emang sih nyetak foto ukuran 3x4 cuma 1000 rupiah, tai gimana kalo yang kita cetak ukuran 5R sebanyak 30 buah untuk 25 halaman scrapbook? Belum lagi hiasan-hiasannya, banyak toko paper art yang khusus menyediakan payet, gliter, pita, stiker, dan kertas warna khusus untuk scrapbook. Hmmm kira-kira berapa total budgetnya ya? Bahkan ada toko yang khusus menyediakan jasa pembuatan scrapbook seharga 200.000 rupiah perbuku.
Tapi tentunya akan lebih bagus kalo kita bisa pake bahan-bahan daur ulang..(ingat, go green).
 
How to scrapbooking?
Nggak usah terpaku dengan beberapa simple steps to start scrapbook yang disediakan di internet, berkreasilah sendiri! Intinya sih cuma gunting, tempel, dan hias. Lakukanlah sesukamu.
Atau kalo lo males, bisa coba digital scrapbooking. Siapa tau SmileBox bisa membantu.
Gimana, tertarik?

Scrapbook

What is scrapbook?
Google bilang kalo scrapbook itu adalah seni unuk melestarikan sejarah keluarga atau momen-momen pribadi kita, yang awalnya scrapbook adalah cara mendaur ulang kertas. Dengan menggunakan kertas yang telah di daur ulang dan sisa-sisa sampah kertas diubah menjadi hiasa-hiasan unik dan menarik yang kemudian ditempelkan di kertas untuk menghias foto.
Scrapbooking sudah dimulai sejak abad ke 15, cuma seiring waktu berjalan dan semakin maju, scrapbook menjadi sangat populer dan dibuat tidak lagi menggunakan kertas daur ulang. Banyak orang justru sengaja mencari kertas dan pernak-pernik lucu untuk mempercantik scrapbooknya. Kemudian banyak home industry di Amerika yang memproduksi kertas khusus untuk scrapbook dengan kualitas yang lebih bagus, dan hobi scrapbooking semakin komersil.
Pada tahun 2007 di Amerika hobi scrapbooking menjadi lebih populer mengalahkan golf dan jumlah scrapbookers pun menjadi semakin banyak.
Kenapa banyak orang menyukai scrapbook? Melihat album foto biasa atau di facebook saja sudah menyenagkan dan dapat memanjakan mata, apalagi melihat buku tahunan. Dan scrapbook tentu lebih bagus daripada itu, dengan berbagai macam hiasan buatan tangan dan foto-foto lucu serta tulisan yang memperkaya maknanya. Jelas saja semakin banyak orang tergila-gila akan scrapbook. Dan scrapbook juga mempunyai fungsi yang cukup bagus sebagai media memori akan setiap kejadian yang terjadi di hidup kita.
Tapi sih yaaa...scrapbook modern tidak murah tentunya. Apalagi jika masyarakat Indoesia menggunakan kertas impor dengan kualitas yang bagus, mencetak foto juga, emang sih nyetak foto ukuran 3x4 cuma 1000 rupiah, tai gimana kalo yang kita cetak ukuran 5R sebanyak 30 buah untuk 25 halaman scrapbook? Belum lagi hiasan-hiasannya, banyak toko paper art yang khusus menyediakan payet, gliter, pita, stiker, dan kertas warna khusus untuk scrapbook. Hmmm kira-kira berapa total budgetnya ya? Bahkan ada toko yang khusus menyediakan jasa pembuatan scrapbook seharga 200.000 rupiah perbuku.
Tapi tentunya akan lebih bagus kalo kita bisa pake bahan-bahan daur ulang..(ingat, go green).
 
How to scrapbooking?
Nggak usah terpaku dengan beberapa simple steps to start scrapbook yang disediakan di internet, berkreasilah sendiri! Intinya sih cuma gunting, tempel, dan hias. Lakukanlah sesukamu.
Atau kalo lo males, bisa coba digital scrapbooking. Siapa tau SmileBox bisa membantu.
Gimana, tertarik?

Win a weekend for two at Helsinki


Radisson Blue Quiz



Radisson Blue Quiz is a new competition which gives a chance to win some cool prizes. All you have to do is to visit the website, answer correctly to all three questions and you might be the lucky winner of a weekend stay for two or a giftcard (1,000 giftcards are offered: 860 worth €20, 120 worth €50 and 20 giftcards worth €100). Radisson Blue are giving away the weekend for two at one of their wonderful hotels in Milan, Madrid, Berlin, Helsinki or Hamburg. In order to participate in the competition you have to fulfil the eligibility criteria. More specifically, the participation is exclusively opened to persons who are domiciled in the European Union and who are at least 18 years old at the time of entering the contest. Simple as that!



I entered the competition having in mind to win a city break at Helsinki. I am interested in visiting this city since it is Finland's hub for cosmopolitan living and because it houses many of the country's landmarks like the Ateneum Art Museum, Temppeliaukio Church, Parliament of Finland or Helsinki Cathedral. As I read on the internet, the classical Helsinki's sights can be divided into an eclectic set of churches and a wide variety of museums. But what I want to see most is the Suomenlinna fortress. It was once the greatest sea fortress in the Baltic, built by the Swedish around 1750 in order to protect their eastern flank. Today, Suomenlinna is still living in its own time with only old buildings, few cars and inhabitants, and lots of old fortifications or catacombs. But it's not just a museum: the complex houses restaurants, cafes, and museums, being also a very popular place for picnics. It is so magnificent!



Hope to win the trip to Helsinki in order to have the opportunity to see these wonderful places. See you there!



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