Alchemy Diary

Lai~ go yam cha :D

2009-07-31T23:34:00.000-07:00

show off my leng zai pic ^^

Dunno since when, tea seems to be a drinks that hardly divided out from us. Chinese and Japanese they treat drinking tea as a spiritual issue. European have tea time. And now for us south east asia people we have a habit of "Yam Cha" in the morning with nice dim sum, or just simply ask few friends and "Lim Teh" at the coffee shop for hours and hours.

---Tea making---
So let us discuss, how to make a perfect tea :D
Those important points can be divided into:

Water
Temperature
Soaking
Enjoy

Water
Water is one of the most important element in tea making.

Its is preferred to use water which was without chlorine added into it. So tap water is probably not a very good choice. In case, you can also use tap water with filter to filtered away those chlorine in the water. If you cant fullfill neither of the cases, then its better to find some water source with lack of lime and sodium chloride.

These point are important on making a nice tea is because there is a reason that, it is trusted that using a water on pH level of 7 can bring out the natural taste and odour of the tea.

Temperature
The other rule of making tea is never use an overboiled.

A temperature of water can directly influence the taste of tea. So that it is suggested to keep the temperature of the water between 85-95 celcius. For accurate of reading, tea maker may use thermometer to measure the temperature of the water. Or observe it carefully and stop before it cook until bubbling but it is already trembling. Then tea maker mayb pour the water onto the tea leaves.

Soaking
Soaking can be said as the most important step of tea making. The time of soaking the tea can affect the taste of the tea greatly. A too long of soaking will make the tea too bitter while too short time of soaking make the tea cannot bringing out its real taste.

Another point of soaking is the tea leave must remain open, which means that there must be spaces between tea leaves, so teaspoon and teaeggs are not advisable on tea making because it makes the tea to pack tightly, so that there were too less spaces betweent them.

Different kind of tea demand a different time of soaking. It is better to check what is the suitable time of soaking a kind of tea before make it in order to taste the best taste of the tea. But there is one similar part between all teas, which was the smaller the tea leaves the shorter the time of soaking. As we can see that those tea leaves which was chopped into powder are advised to soak it for only 1-2 minutes.

an example of teaegg

Enjoy
Finally, after u have prepare your tea, just sit down and clear your mind. Just enjoy the taste of tea and forgot all those jobs, all those issue which annoying you and enjoy it.

But remember that, never use plastic or paper cups to serve the tea as is will spoiled the taste of the tea. And you may serve it with chinese tea kettle and cup.

chinese tea set

---Active antigents??---
We now that teas invigorate our body and soul, but why is it?
For knowing that, let us see what is the active ingredient in those teas. There are many important substances in tea leaves, such as poliphenols (which make our tea taste a little bit of sour) ,methylxanthine, caffeine(which contain about 4% in the tea leaves), different kind of lipids, amino aicds, mineral substances and volatile compounds.

---Help on Diseases---
There are also antioxidants which can neutralize the free roots that may causes the development of cancer cells in our body. Means that, drink tea constantly can keep us away from cancer.

Researches also showing that black tea can help to prevent heart disease as few cups of black tea perday can lower the chances of getting stroke and blocked blood vessels.

As and extra tips, drinking teas when getting flu can also make us better as there are some chemical substances in the tea which can help us to fight against the pathogen more efficiently.

Besides that, many people also worried about the caffeine contained in tea can affect their body. The fact is, the caffeine in coffee and tea are absorbed by a different way by our body. Our body will absorb the caffeine in coffee immediately while only absorb the caffeine in tea gradually. So that, drinking tea usually will only invigorate our body a lesser time that coffee do.

But, there is some precaution as some of the black tea also contain heavier level of caffeine. So, for some of the people with sensitive system might have to becareful with green tea and chinese flower teas too.

So why not just make a nice tea, and throw away all your worries and enjoy it relaxly:D

~enjoy~

Refrences:
http://www.cerbona.hu/en/Womens_magazine_Teahouse.html

Woo!! SO SOUR >.<

2009-07-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

Tadda!! See what topic we gonna talk about now.. What is

the sour thing that we always meet in our daily life?

Its vinegar!! at least for me...

I admit, I am a guy who like to "eat vinegar" as means jealous in Chinese lolz..

There are few kind of vinegar such as white, rice, apple cider and some others.

Vinegar can be said as a multi functional tools as it can be use on cooking, medical, cleaning and many many other purpose.

So let us see, what can he do :D

Besides cooking, vinegar can also be used as medicines. Vinegar is believed to be one of the ancient medicines and the natural remedy. This is because vinegar contains agents that kill fungus and bacteria, so that it can be used to cure some food fungus such as “Hong Kong Leg”. It is cured by changing the pH value of the leg so that those funguses cannot be grown.

Besides that, vinegar can also relief cramp as cram happens often is because the lack of potassium in out body, so that by taking in vinegar can increase the potassium level inside our body and cure the cramp. And these are only a part of the example of the medicine uses of vinegar.

Vinegar can also use to preserve food. As we know that powerful British navy by the old time use vinegar to preserve food so that they can get enough food supply during the war.

For cleaning purposes, many people in modern days had forgotten the ancient way of cleaning by using the vinegar. Something that we hardly remove by these days such as the stain left by cellophane tape can be easily removed by apply some vinegar on the stain then wait for a while, then the stain can be easily wiped away.

Isit cool? Haha..

So now, let us see the nutritional value of vinegar

Vinegar are mostly fat-free and l

Vinegars are mostly fat-free and low in sodium and calories. Although vinegar contain low level of vitamins, but it contains many minerals needed by our body such as magnesium and potassium. Vinegar contains carbohydrates and sugar, so the taking of vinegar should depend on one’s body condition. So it is encourage to read the label of nutrition facts before buying one as different kind of vinegar contain different amount of certain substances. Vinegars are mostly fat-free and low in sodium and calories. Although vinegar contain low level of vitamins, but it contains many minerals needed by our body such as magnesium and potassium. Vinegar contains carbohydrates and sugar, so the taking of vinegar should depend on one’s body condition. So it is encourage to read the label of nutrition facts before buying one as different kind of vinegar contain different amount of certain substances.

Calories

There are 30calories per cup of distilled vinegar.

Sugar

There are about 12g of sugar per cup of white vinegar

Potassium

Most of the vinegar contain small amount of potassium inside. A cup of distilled white vinegar contains 36 milligrams of potassium while a cup of apple cider vinegar contains 175 milligrams of potassium.

Sodium

Vinegar is known to be the famous sodium free diet as a cup of vinegar contain less than 3 milligrams of sodium.

Magnesium

A cup of distilled white vinegar consists of 53 milligrams of magnesium which is 13 percent of our daily needs of magnesium in

So now let us see, how is vinegar being manufactured.

Vinegar actually is the dilluted aques solution of acetic acid.

The way to process vinegar can be divided into 2 biochemical process.

The 1st part is the fermentation of alcohol.

C₆H₁₂O₆ -->2C₂H₅OH+2CO₂

This process is help by the presence of yeast. It turns the sugar into alcohol.

For the 2nd part it is the acid fermentation

C₂H₅OH+O₂-->CH₃COOH+H₂O

This process is going by acetobacter, a kind of microorganisms which present in the air. It will converts the alcohol into acid.

By the way, most of the vinegar are more dilute then the aqueos of acetic acid depends on the material and the ways they made from. And the amount of nutrition also vary with each other. But the major benefit of the vinegar are still the same.

http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/acvinegar.html

http://www.marigoldlane.com/kitchen/vinegar.html

http://www.vinegarworkswonders.com/history.asp

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5002644_what-nutritional-value-vinegar.html

http://www.oohoi.com/natural%20remedy/everyday_food/Benefits-of-Vinegar.htm

http://www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/properties-of-vinegar.html

Nyum nYUm HOney :')

2009-07-31T17:51:00.001-07:00

As related to one of my post, i like vinegar. And honey as well :D

So, we gonna talk about honey today~ ^^

Ops!! not this haha.. this was the totally wrong thing.
The honey we wanna talk about is

Because when Honey met apple cider vinegar...
Then will be the born of Apple cider Honey!! Muahahah!!

its a great stuff for refreshing and tireness reliefing .. aw~~
Nyum nyum.. haha..

So, now let us see what did honey actually contain :D

The data below is about the amount of nutrient in 100g of honey

Carbohydrates - 82.4 gm
Sugars - 82.12 gm
Dietary fiber - 0.2 gm
Protein - 0.3 gm
Water - 17.10 gm
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) - 0.038 mg
Niacin (Vitamin B3) - 0.121 mg
Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B5) - 0.068 mg
Vitamin B6 - 0.024 mg
Folate (Vitamin B9) - 2 μg
Vitamin C - 0.5 mg
Calcium - 6 mg
Iron - 0.42 mg
Magnesium - 2 mg
Phosphorus - 4 mg
Potassium - 52 mg
Sodium - 4 mg
Zinc - 0.22 mg
Energy - 300 kcal (1270 kJ)

As what we can see from above, honey belongs to the carbohaydrate group of foods which mainly contain dextrose and levulose, two kind of invert sugar which can be directly absorb by our body unlike cane sugar which need to over few digesting processes then only can be absorb and used by our body. It is because dextrose and levulose are the simplest form of sugar.

Between this 2 kind of sugar, levuose seems to be more important as dextrose only half as sweet as cane sugar while leluvose is twice as sweet as sugar. It is the sweetest sugar in nature. But it is good for our body because the absorption of levulose in our body is slowly and it is a very good glycogen producer. Glycogen is stored in our muscular and mainly in the liver and is being change into energey when we need it. So due to the slow speed of the absorption, the intake of levulose dosent cause the rise of blood sugar. So that, levulose is and ideal sugar for replacement of our daily sugar for diabetic patient. However the manufacturing cost of levulose sugar is so high so that it cannot be manufact for a large amount, or else levulose can replace cane sugar for our daily use sugar as it is good for our body.

Although honey is good for our body, but there is nothing than we should take excessively. So, what is the maximum amount of sugar we can take daily? Due to some honey store specialist(not professional clinicians), it is not advisable to take more than 10 tablespoon of honey per day (50ml). But actually the amount is vary due to different person with different life style. As some people take many other form sugar daily, or someone who take in large amount of sugar, but he exercise for very hard then used out the energy. So its actually depends on the life style of the consumer.

Besides that, honey can also be a remedy for many sickness such as:

Anemia
Asthma
Baldness
Fatigue and exhaustion
Hay Fever
Headaches & Migraine
High Blood Pressure
Infertility
Insect Bites
Insomnia
Osteoporosis
Paralysis
Stress
Tuberculosis

So let us just pick asthma as an example. Honey is believed to be cured asthma because it contain some anti inflamation properties inside. Although it doesnt ensure 100% succesing in cure asthma, but statiscally has proven that it is effective for many people. And one of the recipe for this home remedy is ginger juice taking with honey once a day.

When i was small, i actually have asthma, but now its cure d.
i wonder.... is it the work of honey ? haha

So why dont after u read this post, just make a honey for ur honey :D i belief most the people like the taste since it is so irresistable~ nyum~ haha

so before i end my post, there is a site which got provide so much honey recipe let me introduce u ba if any of u is interested in cooking :D

http://www.grouprecipes.com/93834/honey.html

thats all,
BB my honey reader
~ muackz~

Refrences:

http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/benefits-of-honey-1790.html

http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/about-honey.html

http://www.honey-health.com/honey-6.shtml

http://ezinearticles.com/?Asthma-Home-Remedy---Honey-and-Ginger-to-Relieve-Asthma&id=682269

Ee?? Why KOLO MEE so tasty d??

2009-07-31T10:52:00.001-07:00

As a very "wai sek“ guy. i always wonder why kuching's "Kolo Mee" was so nice. Until one day someboday told me that the secret is they put ajinomoto.

Hmm..
Ajinomoto, this name was totally not a new thing for us. As we always can hear the advertisment from TV.

Do you know what ajinomoto is??
Actually the scientific name of ajinomoto is monosodium glutamate.

The taste brings out by ajinomoto is claim to be the 5th basic taste besides sweet, sour, salty and bitter. And japanese named this taste as "Umami".

Actually, human had used this taste since long long ago. The taste actually come form glutamate, and nowadays we manufact it in the form of monosodium glutamate.

Glutamate Glutamate is actually a kind of amino acids contain in all protein-containing food.We can easily find glutamate contained in food such as seaweed, cheese and tomatos.

Umami is realeased or activated by glutamate in particular food.

Seaweed is a important source of glutamate in Japanese cuisine. It is used to make dashi, a kind of stock used in Japanese cooking. Many Japanese cuisine is made by this kind of stock. Few example of those dishes are steamed custard, egg omelettes, soups, dipping sauces and some of the dressings.

Konbu dashi soup with clam

Monosodium glutamate
Monosodium glutamate AKA MSG, it has the similar effect as glutamate when added into the food. MSg was made from starcg, corn sugar or other material through the fermentation process that used to produced foods such as beer, vinegar and yogurt.

Our human body treats glutamate and MSG which was taken into our body by the same way. It doesn't distinguish it between glutamate in the natural food, or in MSG.

We know that MSG can improve the taste of certain food. But it cannot improve bad tasting food such as u have over cook a meat, but u cant just use MSG hope to make the food to become tasty again. NO WAY!

So, for using MSG you must also know the proper way of cooking but just not treat it as a secret fairy ingredient @@

even witches also recomend it :D

Now, let us talk about the safe problem of MSG as it was concern by most of the people. MSG is safe as it is one of the most extensive researched substances in the food supply for so many years. But, there is still some problem occur as some people is allergy to MSG as it is the same thing as some of the people allergy to some kind of food. And for children, infant or premature babies, it is safe because the rate of metabolize to glutamate of them is same as the rate of metabolize to adult. In fact, the do like the taste as the contain of glutamate in breast milk is 10times higher than the glutamate contain in cow milk.

But, if some people still worry about it, its still ok, as this is a personal view.

So have fun on eat Eat and EAT :D

Refrences:
http://www.ajinomoto-malaysia.com/2009/en/index.asp

http://www.ific.org/publications/brochures/msgbroch.cfm

Laundry Day~

2009-05-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

Lol.. Since i was new to this house.. i never know that today is a laundry day??!!

As i planning to get my cloth out to wash i found that everyone is queueing for the washing machine...@.@ And this remind me a bitter memory of 1st time washing cloth at here..

I accidently left my pen in one of my jean then i throw all the cloth into the washing machine..

And tragic happens!! =.='' As i was wearing bright colour cloth for that few day, so u can imagine that your dearly cloth suddenly get few Big Mole on their faces T_T

My brain was blank.. But luckily that a Breeze advertisment flash through my brain..
I immediately pick of few of the cloth and do what the advertisment teaches..
Althought it doesnt solve the problem throughoutly but it really did help..

Now, do you know what can detergent do?:D
Enjoy

Actually, they are few important substances involve in these processes such as:

Surfactants

Builders

Enzymes

Oxygen Bleach

Antiredeposition Polymers

Perfumes

Some of it may be unfamiliar to us. But, its ok man, let us learn this together since i not knowing them also. Lolz.

Surfactants

The main ingredient of detergent is surfactants which can be easily obtain from the petrochemicals. There are types of surfactants that have different cleaning properties, so that a good detergent would contain various kind of surfactants. Surfactants work by lower the surface tension of the water so that it can act with our cloth easier. But, the hardness of water can affect the effect of surfactants, so that builder is needed.

Builders

Builders soften the water so that surfactants can perform their work better. The builer in detergents are usually phosphtae builder, but due to phosphate builder bring pollution to the enviroment, so many country had banned it and use zeolite as a substitution for phosphate builder.

Enzymes

Its a protein component that can remove food deposit or stain. A good detergent normally contain varius kind of enzyme due to enzyme only react with specific substance.

Oxygen Bleach
Oxygen bleach can remove colour stain that stick on our cloth.

Antiredeposition Polymers

As what we can see from their name, they can prevent the food deposit or stain in the water from deposit back to our cloth by suspending them in the water.

Perfumes

No need further description :D
this guy make our cloth smell so nice~ haha

Refrences:

http://www.ireland-dar.co.uk/How_Does_Laundry_Detergent_Work.html

http://chemistry.about.com/od/howthingswork/f/detergentfaq.htm

http://www.bza.org/zeolites.html