無餸飯

偷懶沒有買餸時最愛炒飯,
雪柜裏有什麼就炒什麼. 
再煎蛋餅, 加一pack pack 的現成日式咖喱汁,
化身成日式咖喱蛋包飯.
聽落好吸引,
實質是無餸飯

 

十二蚊店無謂嘢一堆

上星期某日下午放假, 可以自己一個人慢慢逛十二蚊店. 買了一堆家庭用品.

第一次見咁靚的防撞枱角. 買來防我家兩只常開片的愛犬受傷.

我們的衣服常黏滿狗毛, 以為這個東東可以在洗衣時隔走. 結果是, 洗完後袋裏只有一條狗毛.

電磁爐上不知為何常有兩圈污垢, 怎擦也擦不掉. 買這個心形sponge 一試. 結果是只擦掉小部分.

這個最有用. 現在主人房床頭放了兩張大狗床. 側邊又有張超大的梳妝台椅子. 那個位置很迫. 拉椅子時沒有以前方便. 有了這個, 拉椅子就很順暢, 不會發出聲响.

因為我們天天喝茶, 茶杯時常有茶漬, 杯較入的位置很難清洗乾淨. 但用完後發覺這個柄身太軟, 用不到力, 也不能把杯子內洗得很乾淨.

這個貪靚買的.

放園藝用品的盒子.

這個Lavendar 杯是在Ikea 買的, 只要$9.9, 抵到爛.

淘寶買物17 - COOKBOOK AGAIN

今次又介紹COOKBOOK.  這次是印度菜的COOKBOOK.淘回來的. 看到書那個桃紅加黃色的封面已叫人心花怒放.
Fucshia is one of my favourite colours!

這本印度菜譜是三個印度裔的姊妹的作品, 介紹的菜式不太複雜, presentation 也較modern.

我最喜歡的是, 她們在書的開始列出了書中會用到的所有香料, 總共有十多款.

這三姊妹還出了一個spice box, 在英國有售, 裏面已有齊各樣香料, 不用自己找. 價錢也不貴.
我就襯上次到吉隆坡, 專程到小印度執齊了所有香料. 買齊了各樣香料, 再加三盒 saffron, 才RM100, 即 HKD250.

書內有各類菜式, 從湯到甜品也有:

現在已開始陸續試做.
之前做過雞和蘑菇的菜式.
那個雞的菜式已忘了名字, 只記得用了很多香料, 有 cumin seed, cinnamon stick, garam masala, ground ginger, cardamon pods, cloves, bay leave, ground chilli... 味道真的很正宗, 而且香氣還飄很遠. 隔壁一定以為那裏來了個印度人鄰居!

前幾天則做了龍脷柳.
不過沒有 garnish, 賣相一般. 但味道很好.
用了ground tumeric, ginger, chilli 幾種香料. 算是比較清淡的了.

Nothing to Envy Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick-Part 2

At long last, here comes the second part

Please click here for part 1

Kim Hyuck

The fifth defector Kim Hyuck had lost almost the whole family due to starvation.  As his father could not afford to raise him any longer, he was sent to an orphanage.  Kim Hyuck eventually left the orphanage when it was unable to feed him any longer.  Though living a life of extreme deprivation, he survived by his wits.  He later became an adventurous young man and began a relatively profitable career, stealing and smuggling goods between China and North Korea .

Dr Kim

The last defector was a dedicated North Korean doctor who had been forced to helplessly watch children die of illnesses or starvation as there was no medicine and food.  With nothing to cure the patients, Dr Kim and many other doctors in North Korea could only scour the mountains for herbs to be used as medicines. There was a set quota and if the doctors did not collect enough, they were sent out for more.

When famine descended, housewives in North Korea had to add weeds and leaves to soups to fake vegetables.  To further create the illusion of a half-full stomach, they added husks, stems and cobs, too.   But they were too hard for children to digest.  What the doctors could do was to discuss this problem among themselves and gave the mothers “cooking advice” viz. if one uses grass or tree bark, they should be grinded very finely and cooked for a very long time so they become soft and easy to eat.

During a terrible famine in the 1990s, it was estimated that over two million people died in North Korea, which was about 10 percent of the population.  To this date, North Koreans are still malnourished.  According to Demick, the army had to lower its five-foot-three minimum height requirement in the early 1990s because most recruits could not meet it.

Propaganda

Many people would think that the people in North Korea would blame the Kim Jong-il regime for their suffering.  However, due to the regime’s propaganda apparatus, the people in North Korea largely blamed the United States for the agony.  

Absurd stories were drilled into every North Korean from birth through state-run schools and propaganda outlets.  Children did not celebrate their own birthdays, but those of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.  Even the math problems in schools were worded as propaganda, e.g . “Eight boys and nine girls are singing anthems in praise of Kim Il-sung. How many children are singing in total?”.  Every North Korean must wear pins of Kim Il-sung and display portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il on the walls of their houses, and they must clean the pictures daily and keep them spotless.  Television sets which were seldom available were rigged so only one official propaganda station was streamed. Secret police conducted random checks to make sure all those rules were enforced in houses.  Community organizations called inminban required neighbors to spy on each other.  The massive propaganda campaign molded most North Koreans into thinking that they had “Nothing to Envy”, but for the minority who had any slight doubt of the regime, either because they were suffering from immense pain of having lost their families or starvation or because they had a glimpse of what the outside world was really like, propaganda forced them to at least appear to be a loyal follower of the regime.  Masses of North Koreans bubbling like they were having a 'who can cry most impressively' competition, fearing of not being seen to be energetic enough in their mourning, is an example.

It is startling to learn that in the 90s, millions of North Koreans were still scraping tree bark and eating sawdust to survive.  When people talk of famine in the 90s, one will usually think of skinny child with a bloated stomach in Ethiopia, but rarely will one associate nationwide tree bark scraping in North Korea!  Think of what you were doing in the 90s!  Still enjoying your carefree university life?  Already started your working life and began to savour what the world has to offer?  This book is a very sad book, but viewed from another perspective, it makes me very grateful for having been born in Hong Kong and having what I have today.  I would invite all aggrieved angry HongKongers to read this book.  I am sure you will start counting your blessings in life the minute you finish 10 pages!

一代宗師