Archive for October, 2007

Full moon

Published on 23 October 2007 in Uncategorized. 6 Comments

We had a celebration for the latest addition to the family, my little niece, on the weekend - a “full moon” celebration which is traditionally held for a baby when she is a month old or thereabouts.

We had a fairly traditional Chinese Malaysian celebration, complete with traditional foods: nasi kunyit (turmeric rice), chicken curry, hard boiled eggs dyed red and eaten with pickled ginger, and ang koo kuih (lit. “red tortoise cake”). The eggs for new life, the ang koo longevity. (I didn’t take any pictures as I was busy with kitchen duties, but this blogger’s pictures are good, if you are wondering what ang koo kuih  looks like.)

I was thinking about how the foods we had are a reflection of the Malaysianisation of Chinese culture - you certainly wouldn’t get turmeric rice in China. In fact I don’t even know if Chinese people in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan make as big a deal of a baby’s first month as Chinese Malaysians do.

I wonder, too, how this tradition and other traditions will change over the years now that we’re all living in Australia…

Blog Action Day

Published on 16 October 2007 in Uncategorized. 4 Comments

So I’m a day late, but never mind. Yesterday was Blog Action Day, and the issue for bloggers to blog about: the environment.

I’ve actually been thinking about the environment, and specifically my local environment and my contribution to it - positive/negative - a lot lately. Funny how you make one change to your life and it starts you off looking at all sorts of other things.

Penny answered some interesting questions, and I’m going to “borrow” them from her:

What are you doing personally to make a difference?
Having just changed my diet, I’m now making a conscious effort to eat food that costs less, resource-wise, to produce.

I’ve also recently bought a Mooncup. Assuming it works fine for me, I’m going to lament all those hundreds of disposable sanitary products I’ve used over the years…

We bring our own calico bags when we go shopping, and try to avoid packaging as much as possible.

I like using public transport, and bus it to work everyday. (Actually I find driving in peak hour traffic stressful, and would rather read and listen to music while someone else drives me.)

What more could you do?
I could be buying more organically produced or sustainable produce.

I think I also need to educate myself more about the environment.

What is your biggest environmental sin?
Consumerism. With all the messages bombarding us - Buy, Buy, BUY! - It’s very easy to get suckered into thinking that you need something, when your life has been perfectly fine without it, to date.

Global warming: true or false?
I think those who say global warming is false are just using it as an excuse to not to change. How can we ignore the fact that our farming and resource production practices are causing severe environmental degradation? Even if the climate is not changing, we are damaging the planet!

Kathryn’s also got a post on this topic.

25/8?

Published on 12 October 2007 in Uncategorized. 5 Comments

As seen on Orange Crate Art this morning, the more biggerer notion of being “On call 25/8″. The idea of being on call, or working, 24/7 (no one could pay me enough to do this!), is horrific enough, but 25/8?? I suppose the idea of being alive 25/8 might mean that one is making the most of life, but to me a full life means that work is part of a balance and shouldn’t take up practically all of one’s time.

In other news, hoorah for Doris Lessing! Must read more of her work…

Update, lunchtime: Thanks, Bibliobibuli for the links to write-ups on Ms Lessing!