Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Alpen Muesli

Breakfast is always regarded as the most important meal of the day and I tend to agree with it. Muesli is regarded as a healthy diet and I believe it is an ideal food for breakfast.

I used to take muesli for breakfast when I was studying in the England and I was happy to see the same brand which I used to consume back then, Alpen from a local supermarket (Ta Kiong) here for RM22.95

Muesli was developed in around 1900 in Switzerland and Alpen muesli is made from an old Swiss recipe. It contains wholewheat flakes, rolled oats, raisins, roasted sliced hazelnut and almonds

Alpen muesli has a shelf life of 1 year after it had been manufactured

This is the muesli package after the box was opened

Close up photo of how Alpen muesli looks like on a bowl. The detailed ingredients also indicate that sugar, salt, dried skimmed milk, dried milk whey powder and malted barley extract were added to the muesli.

The most basic way to consume muesli is just to add milk to it. It can also be served quickly with fruit juice, yogurt, yogurt drink, coffee and hot chocolate. Some said it can even served with plain water.

Muesli is easy to prepare and served. It is already sweet as sugar was already added during manufacturing. Yogurt drink or hot chocolate might make it even sweeter.

Muesli can also be soaked overnight in milk (refrigerated) and serve the next day with fresh fruits

Monday, April 27, 2009

York

It's the medieval Minster, alleyway and ancient stone walls that draw tourist to York, a city at Northern England.

One of the best way to explore York is a stroll along the city walls, a three mile circuit that takes in the medieval Bars or gates. Bootham Bar (above photo), is a good place as any to start and progressing northeastwards from here.

This is part of the city wall

At Micklegate and Monk bar, one can purchased this certificate to prove that one had walk the full distance of the city wall

Somewhere along the walls, one will be rewarded with a good view of York city and the Minster.

York Minster had been the centre of spiritual authority for the north of England ever since Edwin of Northumbria adopted Christianity and built a wooden chapel on the site in preparation for his baptism into the faith

A taste of the Viking period in the history of York can be found at the Jorvik Viking Centre (the Danes invade York at one time and half of the Viking army settled here)

Originally the keep of York Castle, Clifford's Tower was the site of one of the most bizarre episodes of medieval Semitism. After a city fire, for which the Jewish community was blamed by the mob, the Jews took refuge here, then committed mass suicide in order to avoid being massacred.

There's little to see in the tower itself other than the commanding view from the top

Lendal Bridge and River Ouse

St. Mary's Abbey is a ruined Benedictine abbey which sit on the now Yorkshire Museum Gardens, near the York Minster

The Museum Gardens are simply peaceful and beautiful. The garden is a perfect place to rest and relax after a day exploring York city.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Love Earth Day @ Sibu (April 2009)

Yesterday was the second time the Sibu Municipal Council organized the Love Earth Day. The first time was in December 2008 as posted by myself not long ago.

This time the venue for the Love Earth Day had been shifted to Sibu Town Square Phase 1, in way of the covered car park. I believe this is not an ideal location for such event as it was bloody hot yesterday. The best place in my opinion would be the Sibu Trade & Exhibition Centre.

E-waste recycling was available here. Once again, I forgot to bring my defective modem and keyboard for recycling.

Here is how the booths been laid out. I must admit it was more organized compare to the first Love Earth Day some 4 months ago at Heng Hua Garden.

To cheer up the event, there was a performance from the Catholic High School band

A stall selling food in a biodegradable packaging. This is indeed a good move but I had yet to see this type of packaging been use by the food operators here.

This is the booth by Sibu Municipal Council, which was unmanned. Those recycling bins were originally located beside Wisma Sanyan but somehow been shifted here for the event. Guess they don't have any recycling bins around and had to resort to moving other bins to this location.

Also shown here are the location of the recycling centre around Sibu. It would be wiser to provide each household with segregated recycling bins (at a higher cost but a better recycling rate in the long run). I don't think the people will travel the whole way to the recycling centre from their home to recycle.

Some brochures available at the booth. Somehow, the garbage enzyme was once again emphasized here.

This is probably the best brochures I manage to get from the event. It is much more meaningful and educational

This is the standard recycling bins at the recycling centre.

Interior decoration made of rubbish or unwanted materials on display here

Here are my additional suggestions to complement my previous recommendations which I posted during the inaugural Love Earth Day at Sibu (December 2008).

- Introduce a sustainable materials for furniture, housing and office such as bamboo
- Introduce green energy technology
- Educate the public in using energy efficient power supply (80 Plus) for computer system
- Educate housing developers/architect to build green, energy efficient and sustainable houses and buildings
- Reducing the use of plastic bags in supermarket and encourage public to use recycled bags to do their grocery.
- Educate the public of the concepts of 5R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair & Refuse) rather than the obsolete 3R

I think the organizer should look at a bigger picture and try to create awareness at a wider spectrum in order to save our beloved planet.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

International Blogger Community

Received a tag yesterday, the International Bloggers Community

Rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Copy the image above, the rules and the questionnaire in this post.
3. Post this in one or all of your blogs.
4. Answer the four questions following these Rules.
5. Recruit at least seven (7) friends on your Blog Roll by sharing this with them.
6. Come back to BLoGGiSTa iNFo CoRNeR (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS LINK) at http://bloggistame.blogspot.com and leave the URL of your Post in order for you/your Blog to be added to the Master List.
7. Have Fun!

Questions & Your Answers:
1. The person who tagged you: JL
2. His/her site’s title and url: Self Magic
3. Date when you were tagged: 24th April 2009
4. Persons you tagged: jg, Wan Wan, Chloe, Jack, Xijon89, Pusang-Gala, nanaybelen, Shawnloo, Chin Joo, Tripzibit

Fuel Oil Tank

In my last year post, I showcased the internal condition of a ballast tank in a merchant cargo ship. This time, it is the internal condition of the fuel oil tank.

Fuel oil tank generally will not corrode that easily and usually will appear in pristine condition. What shown here are photos of a fuel oil tank of a cargo ship after 25 years.

There are hardly any rust or wastage on the floor, side shell, brackets and longitudinal stiffeners.

As usual, it is not a pleasant experience going through the tanks as it is pretty cramp inside. As a precaution, the tanks should be gas free before entering.