Local food is very important to a country. So important, that countries sometimes fight over it. Their signature dishes are like their identity. Something to be strongly guarded. There are countries that fiercely guard the originality of their local delicacies.
Many of us know how important food is to us. Essentially, it sustains us and keeps us going (alive, in other words). Food connoisseurs see food as an enjoyment. Most of us do too: New creative delicacies or simple convetional or traditional ones do work up the taste buds in your tongue and give you satisfaction, don't they. All the more a reason for governments to protect their delicious heritage - and to them, signature dishes mean a lot more than mere pleasure and self-indulgence. It's their identity. Something uniquely theirs. It is what makes them stand apart from other nations. Some food for thought, ain't it.
Still can't figure out how important food serves as an identity to a nation? Watch 'Food Fight'. It depicts the many different wars that occured over the years. The countries are represented by their 'national foods'. See if you can identify them. Ask yourself: why are you able to?
And indeed, there is a lesson about international harmony to be learnt from this too.
6:53 AM
One of our RSP assignments required each of us to search for a recipe belonging to any SEA country. Here's a fried carrot cake (Singapore) recipe I found from the Tourism Board website:
Fried Carrot Cake
Ingredients 4 radish flour cakes4 tbs vegetable oil or lard1 tbs chopped garlic1 tbs red chilli paste1 tbs chopped chye poh (salted radish)2 eggs1 tbs fish sauce1 stalk fresh spring onion, chopped5 tbs oil
Method 1) Heat two tablespoons of oil or lard in a wok. 2) When smoking hot, brown the radish flour cakes, cutting it into small pieces with the spatula as you fry. 3) Push aside the pieces. 4) Heat another table spoon of oil in the wok. 5) Sauté garlic and chye poh till browned. 6) Toss with the radish cake pieces. 7) Make a space in the middle, add the last of the oil and break eggs into the space. 8) Leave to set for a few minutes and then push the radish cake on top. 9) Drizzle with fish sauce, add chilli paste and toss some more to ensure an even mix. 10) Serve hot garnished with spring onion.
Hey all, just in case you need a little help with the UMPCs, cuz I've been approached a few times with regards to its connectivity to wireless networks.
Actually you can connect your UMPCs to wireless networks. Press Fn-F11 to activate and taadaa, internet access for you.
Hope that helps (=
Evan
6:12 AM
Saturday, October 25, 2008
I know many of my fellow rsp mates shared similar sentiments as I when we received our UNPCs (Ultra Mobile Personal Computers) yesterday. Sheer excitement. The UMPCs were on loan to us and for a period of twelve months (and thereafter renewable), we were responsible for them. I opened up my package as soon as I brought it home to have a better feel of it. So mobile, so handy. Good for bringing it around (=
It's great to be able to use laptops for study purposes, and I'm glad we are given the opportunity to enhance our rsp learning experience with these new tools. It increases our learning interest (as we tech buffs unanimously agree :D), providing us with internet access and mobile computing during rsp lessons, field trips and overseas immersion trips, as well as enable us to work on and maintain an online portfolio to record our experiences and reflections on Southeast Asia. Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing now. This is a simple blog, with not much fanciful furnishings, so I'll do my best to provide insightful reflections on my experiences and SEA. Do leave your comments in the tagboard and tell me what you think, share your own experiences, or simply pop in to say hi.