Random Thoughts of A Wandering Mind

A Child is A Miracle

 "Having a child is not a miracle. It’s biology. Not to mention the fact that humankind is going to out-breed our little planet. We are like lemmings—burdening our environment until a mass-killing is needed to equalize the overpopulation. People don’t think about how much having a child impacts the world. If you consider yourself an environmentalist, or against war, or poverty and hunger, then you would be wise to consider the impact your fertility has on the planet".....(Excerpt from this blog.

http://asynchronouspollywog.blogspot.in/search/label/childfree)

Finally, someone is bold enough to say the truth that many "experts" are scared to talk about! It is a must to discuss human population growth. 

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A Recipe for Disaster

The belief that you need someone to take care of you is a perfect recipe for disaster!

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A Twisted World

Our world is such a twisted one! The sick or ill get sick leave from work, get their hospital bills and medication reimbursed,  while the healthy-especially the ones who really want to stay that way don't get anything! They don't get extra pay for not being sick, they don't get reimbursed when they enroll themselves in gym or buy bicycles to stay fit and healthy, they don't get paid to buy fruits, vegetables and nuts to certain their well-being!

Pregnant women get paid maternity leave when they are the ones who contribute to the already over populated world. They are the ones who add to the consumption of earth's exhausted resources. They also pollute, in every possible way!

It's not our world that is twisted, actually, but the people who are on it (not all but most).

(via gallery4share.com)

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Cease to Change

It's just a sad fact to know that no matter how precautions or factual information you share with people (family, friends, acquaintances) about health and values in life, they still cease to change. 

This is the time when you have to realize yourself that there is a limit to everything. You can't continue to go on and on. You have to let them be and, yeah, you don't need to have anything to do with them.

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Chance

Everybody deserves a chance to get informed or be educated with something that is very important. But then, it's up to them whether to take that education and do something good about it!

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Criticize Idea Not The Person Who's Holding The Idea

To criticize the person instead of the values, beliefs, thoughts and ideas, or opinion he or she holds is the highest level of immaturity and the lowest form of intelligence.

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Found A Friend?

The moment you met a person whom you can talk to about the important social issues in life with open-mind, without feeling upset or attacked because you are talking about views and values that are exactly opposite to his or hers, that is the moment that you just found a friend!

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Help To Most People

The problem with most people is that when they need your help they expect the kind of help they want from you and get upset or angry when this expectation is not met. So, for example (among many) when you tell an obese or an overweight person to lose weight and be more active, they give you all the excuses they can think of and try to justify their health issues...and on top of that they want your sympathy when something "bad" happens to them when the reality is, the sympathy they were looking for was already presented to them only that they were too self-absorbed to even notice that help was already given.

It's like visiting a friend or a family member in a hospital who has met a terrible road accident because of reckless and fast driving to show that you care. Telling him/her over and over again to drive slow and carefully is NOT help or support when, the truth is, that is the greatest help you can ever extend to another person!

Prevention is always better than cure, because most of the times, there is no cure...other than 6 feet under ground...sooner or later!

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Ignorance, Not A Big Deal

Ignorance is not a big deal! But when you are presented with knowledge, at least, have an open-mind to accept it and change your ways.

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Intelligence

Students' intelligence these days is measured by their ability to memorize facts and retrieve these facts and apply them at a proper place at the right time! And that's basically scoring marks!

Students graduate with honors, receive awards and scholarships but are really poor in critical thinking.

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Laws Are Useless

Laws are useless!
They have not prevented bad people from committing all types of crimes. 
On the other hand, good people don't need laws. They will never be seen littering, robbing, cheating, or murdering. 
Laws are made to control!
And when people have to fight for justice, that is even worse!

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Lesson in Life that Many Choose to Fail

Murdering animals for food or clothing or using them for human benefits is one of those lessons in life that each and every one of us failed to pass earlier. This time, many are still failing not because they can't pass this basic lesson. They are failing because they refuse to pass, they choose to fail. Hence, there are still so many non-vegans out there who, deep inside them, accept that the act is wrong but still continue to include flesh on their diet.

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Money From Cruelty

To make money from cruelty is the lowest form of humanity.

Examples: 
Cockfighting, which is very common in the Philippines, every Sunday or during fiestas.
Bull fighting; selling animal goods; selling birds as pets; breeding animals for food, clothing, etc.

You are better than these people who are involved in such atrocious forms of livelihood.

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On Blood Donation

I don't understand the need for blood donation camp, actually! It seems pretty useless to me...stocking blood in case someone needs it badly. I mean the only time you need a blood donor is when you met an accident and the only way to save your "precious" life is a blood from another person. 

So what if your blood goes to a person who is already sick because he's been so neglectful about his health his body slowly deteriorates and only now he needs something, like blood, so he can keep on living? What if, after he gets blood donation he continues to do the same thing he did before he needed the blood? Does it make any sense to you?

It doesn't to me!

Rather than holding a blood donation camp, why not hold a more useful camp like educating people to follow a healthy diet and lifestyle to avoid such unnecessary activity in the first place? Encourage local community to plant their own vegetables and fruits; implement strict segregation of waste and no single biodegradable waste should go out of each house -must be composted! These, among other many things, are, for me, more important than wasting time holding a blood donation camp. And nobody takes account on how much blood goes to waste later on.

Instill personal responsibility on people! Blood donation is just like a patch...patching a hole that can totally be avoided just by being responsible for your own health.

The only question that only retains in my mind is that,  what if your blood goes to a person who doesn't deserve to be saved? (This goes to organ donation, too, which is why I like (somewhat) that movie of Will Smith, 7 Pounds).

What will you do?

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Something Not Shallow: A Poem

It is sad, I know. 
But if we give up on each other,
It's not because of something shallow.
In fact, it's because of one common fellow.
They're still on your plates whole, chopped, dry, and gravy
A necessity, you say.
Something valued traditionally.
But friends they are to me
Who I adore dearly.
So you see, it's rather easy.
It's either
I let you be
And I'll be on my way
Or together,
You and me
On a journey towards something extraordinary!

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The Dalai Lama

"The Dalai Lama eats meat because he gets sick if he doesn't" is a piece of information that is not new to me. And the first time I heard about it, "what a hypocrite", was my first remark.

So he decides to take the lives of sentient animals so he continues to live, huh! What an incredible idea!

I am a vegan myself but I am not against eating meat. It's the killing of animals for food is what I am against of. These animals have equal rights to inhabit the only home I am inhabiting free from harm, torture, and threat of untimely death because of human craving for flesh, which is actually bland and not tasty at all.

And an authority like the Dalai Lama, who is supposed to be advocating non-violence, is an offensive figure for me! 

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To Complete Me

I have been hearing and reading this phrase for a long time and it is mostly coming from women who are looking for a boyfriend or a husband material and/or from a mother who wants to have a child.

I mean, come on. You needed someone else to complete you? I mean, you yourself are not complete? But how can you ask for somebody to complete you when you are not complete yourself? 

It's like giving a half-baked cookie to someone. You are the half-baked cookie and you are looking for somebody who would take you, not cooked!

Would you like to take a half-baked cookie?

This is the same with somebody who always say "I need somebody to make me happy". Nobody can give you happiness except yourself and to ask or look for it from somebody else is, really, a perfect recipe for a disaster. 

Please, learn to love yourself. You can only give happiness if happiness is already in you.

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Veterinarians

Veterinarians: The only doctor whos eat their patients!

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What You Are

It's no longer, "Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are!"

It's now, "Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you what you are!"

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What's Wrong?

What's wrong with meat, eggs, and milk?

There's nothing right about them!!!

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Ginger-Garlic Fried Rice: A Quick and Simple Rice Dish for the Family

The Philippines is a rice country. Breakfast, lunch, supper...every time there is rice, including during snack time!

India, especially in South, is the opposite. 

Imagine my fate without rice...

I survived though!

I don't have that craving for rice, that feeling that I want rice. 

Zero!

My husband, on the other hand, can live without it though he eats occasionally!

And the only rice dish that he likes is fried rice or palak rice, but palak rice is only made when palak or spinach is available, which is not throughout the year unlike in cities where it is (I assume) available most of the year.

As for me, plain or with something, rice is rice and I like it.

We also like mushroom fried rice but is made only during the mushroom season. We stopped using canned mushroom because of health issues (I encourage you to avoid buying and using canned items, too, because anything that has long shelf life will definitely make your life shorter).

So we almost always end up making vegetable fried rice when we have the cravings for rice, but never plain rice.

Ginger-garlic fried rice, as usual, is my husband's idea (thinker, eh).

The first time I made it, I didn't add any vegetables.

(Carrot is nowhere no matter where I look).

Then, a kilo of locally-grown capsicum, freshly harvested from a nearby farm courtesy of Mr. Ashok, a patient of my husband, was delivered to us -for free. 

So instead of a repeat, we decided to add capsicum to ginger-garlic fried rice, our lunch the following day which was already decided the night before.

"Okay, let's try it after all capsicum is almost always there in every fried rice", I said.

So here it is, something to be shared with you because the recipe is very simple and you can add vegetable of your choice and see how it goes.

What are needed?

1. Rice, 1 cup, cooked a night before (I used brown rice this time).
2. Capsicum, 3 medium-size, chopped into small pieces
3. Garlic, plenty, minced-keep for 20 minutes before using (I used big ones up to 7 heads)
4. Ginger, 3 inches, minced (skin not removed, wash properly and remove not so good-looking parts)
5. Onions, 4, medium size, chopped into small pieces
6. Black pepper, 1 tsp.
7. Salt to taste
8. Vegetable oil ( I used sesame oil, mustard oil, olive oil -little of each)

How to do it?

1. Get all ingredients ready.
2. In a deep pan, heat oil in high flame.
3. Add in ginger and garlic together. Fry till brown while pressing once in a while. Lower the flame if necessary.
4. Pour in onions followed by salt. Fry till translucent.
5. Add capsicum. Cook for 1-2 minutes in a high flame. Don't overcook capsicum.
7. Then add rice. Mix the mixture well in a high flame for a few more seconds making sure that no lumps of rice are seen till all ingredients get mixed.
8. Sprinkle black pepper. Check the taste. It's the ginger and garlic, salt and black pepper that make this dish tastier.
9. Turn off the stove.
10. Serve hot.

~my share! we had it with fresh and immature cucumbers, locally grown~

Notes:

~ White rice was also used in this recipe.
~ Carrots can be added instead of capsicum or with capsicum.
~ Make sure to use lots of garlic and ginger, hence the name.
~ It's tastier when dry so I never use ginger-garlic paste again.
~ The rice should be cooked dry, not wettish, so don't overcook it.
~ Soya chunks might go well with this so next time I'll try it. You can also try already. Just boil soya chunks with salt. When cool, squeeze to remove excess water, then dry after adding onions.

Enjoy this very quick and simple rice recipe!

How Do Housewives, Without Kids, Spend Their Day?

I am not really sure how do other housewives (without children) spend their day because my experience with them is very limited apart from plain observation. 

I only got to observe my mother, my sisters, my friends and my neighbors but all of them have kids so eventually I can say that most of their time is spent on 

tending their kids and doing things for the kids. 

(via http://rhrealitycheck.org)

Recently I was able to spend a few days with a friend who has no children and I wonder what does she do alone when her husband is out for work ( I assume that couple without children does things together most of the times -like my husband and me). 

Then it occurred to me to share what I do since I have been hearing people asking whether or not I am bored staying at home alone.

So here's how I usually spend my day.

1. Cooking. Before marriage, I seldom cook back at home. It was usually my mother or my other sisters who did though I know a little bit of it and sometimes I helped. So being married and the one who has to cook is not a big deal for me. My husband and I don't like to have house helpers. We just don't want to be dependent on somebody doing the things we can do ourselves. As a matter of fact, it is always good to be able to do most of the things there is to do. So I cook every day for both of us.

Cooking is not a major activity for me. I only cook one major meal every day. Yes, one major cooking! What I mean with "major" cooking is that I get to cook what most people call "meal", which could be a rice dish, a roti-sabji dish, a fried item and chutney dish, etc.... something that makes you turn on the stove and keep it that way for about an hour or even more. What about the rest of the day? Well, we generally have fruits (whatever is in season) and vegetables like cucumber or carrots and nuts plus a plant milk or plain coffee in between.

So that's my cooking activity.

Update: We have adopted a dog named Kalu. I cook him his food, and sometimes when his friends are around, the cooking becomes frequent. Adopted means, he comes and goes though he usually spends the night with us. He's thought to have been abandoned, arrived 3 months before we came. Now he found a home with us.

2. Washing Clothes. I do this every day to avoid number. You know, the frequent I wash the less there is to wash. I hand wash with minimum use of locally-made soap. It gives a better result than a washing machine, and of course, we try to minimize our carbon footprint as much as possible.

And yeah, my husband sometimes washes his own clothes. (He didn't marry so another person will do things he can do himself, says him...haha).

3. Cleaning. My cleaning includes sweeping and mopping the floor, which only lasts for about half an hour.  Our house is small and there is not much to clean because we don't have many appliances and furniture. We keep it that way because we like to move around and see different places, mostly in rural areas around India, so carrying heavy loads would be tough.

4. Browsing the internet. Wherever we move we see to it that the place has an internet connection. Both of us just couldn't do without it. My husband checks mails, reads news and articles, downloads songs, movies and other stuff, among other things from the internet itself. When he goes for OPD, the broadband is entirely mine. I blog in HubPages, which I have not done in a long time because I am focusing on this one. I post, comment, share stuff on Facebook. I search for interesting stuff. Recently I am into vegan recipes to try some at home. I check emailss, I watch videos, I readthe news and other articles, too! I also play Scrabble on Facebook with two of my friends and a few random opponents.

So I considered spending time on the internet to be my major activity every day. And while I am doing all these I usually have a company...music! What kind of music I listen to? That will be another entry? Lol!

5. Gardening. I spend time gardening. We have quite a space in front of our house. Most are flowering plants like zinnia, gaillardia, lilies, marigold, cosmos, etc. Some are vegetables like mint, pumpkin, tomatoes, cucumber, and amaranth.

Gardening is rejuvenating. It makes me happy...a time to reconnect myself with nature without going out farther from our gate.

6. Studying. Yep, you read it right. I enrolled myself in higher education -Masters in Anthropology through Distance Education at IGNOU. It's not really needed but it's good to have another. So I spend at least an hour reading the study materials which my study center has sent me.

These days, I am busy doing the required assignment.

Getting a degree or a higher degree is something I recommend to everyone. We live in a world where money works and the best to have that is to have a degree that the society believes is needed for you to get a job.

7. Crocheting. You must have browsed my crochet stuffs and yes, I do crocheting. I learned it through the internet, from people who share their knowledge on it for free. Knitting is on the list to learn.

8. Learning to Play the Keyboard. This is something that I need to get on schedule because I usually skip this one. There are really so many things to do in life that if I could get a few extra hours I would be glad to take it. But, reality check...can't have extra hours so management is the answer.
This is something I have to do so my brain gets a boost. Learning a new skill is always good for the memory...you know, to wave off dementia.

9. Photography. This is one favorite that is done when needed like when a leopard or a barking deer appears from the jungle. Or when a butterfly or a bird or a langur hangs around the corner. Generally, photography is done when we go for a trek or short and long distance walk. So when we don't do that, it's our food that gets photographed, and sometimes the dogs in the neighborhood.

10. Sewing. My mother is a seamstress and I learned sewing from her, which I am glad I did. I mend clothes, I stitch cloth bags for our marketing, too. I recently stitched a window curtain for our bedroom. I used our old bed sheets, two of them patched together for thickness. All but small sewing work and not everyday.

These activities are impossible to be done in one single day together especially during our market days. Every 3 or 4 days, my husband and I walk for 2.5 kilometers to get some stuffs from the market and this will take us an hour to 1 1/2 hour, a little shorter if we are able to get a ride back home, which is seldom (It's the nature of this place and we can't do anything about it except buy our own car or leave this place, but we choose to deal with the situation happily).

So there they are...hope you didn't get tired of reading it. Lol!

How about you? Any new activities you could probably share here?

Rosette: The Spots in Jaguar or Leopard's Skin

Well, I didn't know that though I've been wondering.
Now I know!

It is called rosette.
 Rosette...Roxette the band...now I won't forget!
Now you know, too.
A very conspicuous in this photo below!

~photo via wwf.panda.org~

A rosette is a rose-like marking or formation found on the fur and skin of some animals, particularly cats of the family Felidae. Rosettes are used to camouflage the animal, either as a defense mechanism or as a stalking tool. Predators use their rosettes to simulate the different shifting of shadows and shade, helping the animals to remain hidden from their prey. Rosettes can be grouped in clusters around other spots or may appear as blotches on the fur. Rosettes can appear with or without central spots.

The following felids have rosettes:

• Cheetah - Only the king cheetah variation has rosettes.
• Jaguar
• Leopard (Smaller and denser compared to those of a Jaguar and without central spots)
• Snow leopard
• Ocelot

~Ocelot (via ocelotak.weebly.com)~

• Bengal Cat

• Lion - Generally, rosettes are present on lion cubs only, but some adult lions may retain them on the face. Rosettes also appear in lion/tiger hybrids (ligers and tiglons).

~Mountain lion cub (via www.balancedecology.org)~

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosette_(zoology)

Notes:
In the medical field, there is a thing called Leopard Syndrome or Multiple lentigines syndrome, a condition which affects many parts of the body and features brown skin spots or lentigines resembling that of freckles. More info regarding this syndrome here.

Sicilian Pumpkin Fry: Simple Yet Delicious Dish To Try

First of all, pumpkin was never my favorite and neither of my husband's. It is a vegetable that is bought in slices, not whole, not even in kilo when I was in the Philippines. 

Here in India, I have become an almost fruitarian -I really have no problem with fruits, 

in fact, I love them. 

Looking at a variety of colorful fruits makes me smile and want to grab them all...lol! 

Because my husband and I are mostly fruitarians, our vegetable intake was on the lower side of the menu. But when we became vegan, we try to balance things out since we cannot neglect the nutritional benefits of eating vegetables. 

And since pumpkin seeds are our favorite, the only way to get them is by asking veggie vendors to give the seeds to us, which many are giving for free, or get the whole pumpkin itself. 

The problem in getting a whole one is that it may get spoiled before we can finish the whole thing (we don't have a fridge, so). 

Though "wasting" is not the issue because we can always give a portion to cows, we avoid it altogether as much as possible. 

So we decide to buy the whole pumpkin itself (it would be impolite to keep on asking for the seeds and never buy the entire vegetable...lol). And a little bit of trivia, many people started eating pumpkin seeds after they knew that Dr. Saab is taking them for eating...haha, funny!

Anyway, I have been experimenting dishes, something I am glad about my husband because he is the one who encourages me to try things out. According to him, we'll never know how something tastes like unless we try it.

So trying is what I do. If the dish turns out good, we may be making it again. If not, then it's an experience.

Sicilian Pumpkin Fry turns out to be a keeper and it's a dish that is highly recommended.

~mint leaves are in plenty in our garden~

Here's what are required:

1. Mature pumpkin, 1/2 kilo or more
2. Salt to taste
3. Vinegar, much for taste
4. Garlic, plenty, crushed
5. Olive oil, much (3-5 tbsp.) depending on how much pumpkin slices there are
6. Mint leaves, fresh, finely chopped

How to do it?

1. Wash the pumpkin thoroughly especially the skin. Never discard the skin, it's full of nutrients.
2. Slice pumpkin into 2-3 inches long and make thin slices out of these. Keep aside.
3. Peel and crush garlic. The more the better because garlic gives the best aroma and taste in this dish.
4. When garlic is ready to be used (after 20 minutes since crushing), heat a short and wide pan for frying.
5. Add a tbsp. of olive oil at a time. When the oil is hot enough, pour in some garlic and a few slices of pumpkin. Stir and make sure all slices get cooked. Avoid getting them scorched. Remove whichever becomes brown.
6. Taking your judgment, when every slice of pumpkin seems cooked enough (a little roasting is fine), remove from the pan and transfer to a big bowl. Keep aside.
7. Repeat the process from 5 to 6 till all pumpkin slices are done.
8. Next, before removing the last batch of fried pumpkin, you can re-heat the previous slices along with it or you can just mix all right away.
9. In the big bowl, add salt and vinegar. Mix well.
10. Pour in chopped mint leaves. Mix well. Check the saltiness and sourness. Generally, you might need to add more of both salt and vinegar to get the biting taste.

~same photo above only that this one is taken with a flash~

Serve while still hot.

Notes:
~ Some people make it with cinnamon bark and sugar to make a sweet and sour variation. I tried that, too. It's tasty also.
~ Out of the 5.5 kilo pumpkin that we bought 2 weeks back, I made Sicilian Pumpkin Fry twice, pumpkin bread once, pumpkin soup once, and chocolate pumpkin cake once (which is still available while I am writing this...lol)
~ The seeds just got dry after 4 days of sun drying and will be roasted, without oil, tomorrow.
~ You will never regret trying this dish out.

Enjoy!