Read and Learn!

Wanted to get rid of strange smell in the car, and found these suggestions:

Baking Soda

Buy a pack of baking soda and transfer contents into the container that will prevent powder from spilling. Place the container somewhere in the car so that it will not move around - between the seats is a good place. Just forget about it for several weeks and let the baking soda absorb any unwanted smell in your car.

Fabric Softener Sheets

Has that new-car smell gradually turned into that old-car stench? Tuck a new dryer fabric softener sheet under each car seat to counteract musty odors and cigarette smells.

Soap

Want your car to smell nice, but tired of those tree-shaped pine deodorizers? Place a little piece of your favorite-smelling soap in a mesh bag and hang it from your rearview mirror

Vanilla Works

Use vanilla extract. Put a large amount on a piece of rag and throw it under the car seat. It will draw the odor into the rag. When it starts smelling again, use more vanilla. It works!

Fabreeze is Fabulous

Spray Fabreeze on seats, upper liner, floorboards, etc.

Try Vinegar!

Place a bowl of vinegar in the car overnight, possibly for several nights. Once the smell is gone, put a dryer sheet under both front seats for additional deodorizing.

Charcoal is the Answer

Try leaving an open bag of charcoal in the car overnight with all the windows up, of course. It might take several attempts to remove all of the lingering smell.

Apple to Keep the Odor Away

Try placing a cut up apple in a cup to get rid of the odor. Let the apple sit in the car until it starts to shrivel.

Labels: Smell

Got this forwarded message:

There is a 4-year expiry for tyres (from the year of manufacture). Thereafter, the tyre may burst whilst in use. How do you know whether your tyre has expired?

Check for this sign:

E.g.( *2603* ) There is an asterisk at the beginning and at the end of this serial number. The first two numbers 2 6 will tell which week of the year it has been manufactured. NB : One year has 52 weeks. The last two numbers represent the year of make. Therefore, *2603* shows that the tyre is manufactured in the 26th week of the year 2003. *2699* shows that the tyre is made in the 26th week of 1999.

Check all your tyres for safety purposes. Do not use expired tyres. They are likely to burst (especially when running in hot weather) because the rubber component may have hardened and cracked.

Labels: Car

Alright I have to admit that I have never tried the so-called famous Lana cake, or at least I didn't know it was Lana cake. Tried it at a friend's baby birthday party and I fell for the tasty spongy chocolate cake which doesn't make me feel sinful after eating it

Apparently the owner Violet Kwan has been in the business for decades and personally bakes some of the cakes. They do not deliver and require advance notice for your orders. I am also unable to find a website for her cake shop, so it is indeed a very traditional brick and mortar business

Lana Cakeshop is at 36, Greenwood Avenue
Tel: 6466 5315, 6466 8940

Awfully Chocolate is also famous for its chocolate cake. As in its name, they specialise in sinful Chocolate flavoured cakes. They have a number of branches all over SG

Awfully Chocolate is at Cluny 501 Bukit Timah #01-05 Cluny Court
Tel: 6469 0565

For cheesecake lovers, Getel serves variety of cheesecake from Cookies & Cream to Raspberry. They deliver for free above certain orders and the prices of their cakes are quite reasonable. I have tried them a number of times and my colleagues like their cheesecake too.

Getel Cakes is at 17 Jasmine Rd Tel: 62821310

There are definitely more to add to the list :)

Labels: Food

I have been relying on my Nokia mobile phone for contact information, alarm, camera, calendar update etc. My birthday reminders are all stored in my phone calendar. Never liked the online 'Birthday Alarm' as that requires my contact to register and sign in to update.

Last Friday, I was fiddling with the calendar and had wanted to delete a duplicate record. Not paying much attention while talking with a friend, I clicked 'ok' and next thing I knew, I have erased ALL my calendar records! :(

I got home and managed to retrieve some old records I had in a little calendar book. But the new records are gone!

Lesson Learnt: Do not over rely on technology and always have backup!

Labels: Technology

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Since it was a special occasion, I had to figure out some craft ideas for the nursery kids at Sunday School. After some thought, I decided to go with a picture frame idea that was done at King's Kids some years back.

Labels: Craft

This is interesting:

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.

DO YOU KNOW..the difference between margarine and butter?

Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added! Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods. Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

And now, for Margarine..Very high in trans fatty acids. Triple risk of coronary heart disease. Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol) Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold. Lowers quality of breast milk. Decreases immune response. Decreases insulin response.

And here's the most disturbing fact.... Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC..This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Labels: Food

This has been going around, but a very good reminder:

We all think eating fruits means simply buying fruit, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. You will benefit much more if you know how and when to eat.

Fruits should be taken in an empty stomach…not as dessert after the meal as is often done.

If you eat fruit like that, it will also serve a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

Fruit is the Most Important Food

Let’s say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. As fruit digests faster than bread, the slice of fruit digests quickly and is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but its passage is blocked by the bread which takes longer to digest…
In the meantime the whole meal ferments and turns to acid. Consequently, when the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.

So it is better to eat your fruits in an empty stomach or before your meals!

You have heard people complaining – every time I eat water-melon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat banana I feel like running to the toilet etc – actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit in an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, dark circles under the eyes all these will not happen if you take fruits in an empty stomach.

It is incorrectly presumed that some fruits like orange and lemon are acidic and will enhance acidity in the stomach. Research however shows that all fruits become alkaline in our body.

When you need to drink fruit juice- drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans.
Don’t drink juice that has been heated up. Don’t eat cooked fruits because you don’t get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste. So stop making ‘durian porridge’ if you want nutrients. Cooking fruit destroys all the vitamins.

Eating the pulp or whole fruit is far better than drinking the juice as the fibre is good for you.
If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.

A 3-day ‘Fruit Fast’ is a very simple and effective way to cleanse and de-toxify your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

During the ‘Fruit Fast’ you can eat different fruits at different times, although occasionally mixed fruit salad would also be permissible and more interesting.

If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

Labels: Food, Health