Did you miss some stuff AK shared on Facebook in July?

I don't blog as much as I used to but I am actually still quite active in Facebook.

As I started being active in Facebook pretty late as a blogger, I think many of ASSI's readers don't follow me on Facebook. They probably use other means to follow my blog. After all, I have been blogging for almost 6 years but I have been active in Facebook for only about 2 years.

So, from now, I think I will try to share periodically in my blog what I share on my Facebook wall. However, if you think you might get to read something profound, you would probably be disappointed.

The stuff which I post on my Facebook wall which don't appear in my blog are usually nothing cerebral. They are just stuff for fun and laughter most of the time.

See for yourself:

AK is honest, isn't he? ;p

Oh, a bonus pic, from a few days ago:

In case you didn't get the joke, read this:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/breadtalk-temporarily/2028008.html

BreadTalk on Tuesday (Aug 4) said it has “temporarily stopped selling” bottled soya bean milk touted to be "freshly prepared" after an employee was caught repackaging ready-made soya bean milk into plastic bottles. The move comes after a photograph published by alternative news site Redwire Times sparked a firestorm online. “This ‘freshly prepared’ soya bean milk from BreadTalk always tasted very familiar, but somehow I couldn’t figure out why until now...

Hope you enjoyed this light hearted blog post.

HAPPY SG50. :)

Related posts:
1. Seven money habits of mine. See habit no. 1.
2. How to recession proof your life?
3. Green is not just the colour of money.

A meal that is good for your body and the environment.

I was back in the gym yesterday and did about 50 minutes of aerobic exercises. I wasn't exercising for a couple of weeks as I wasn't feeling well. Must get the body moving again.

It has also been a while since I made my own lunch. I've been visiting the economical rice store at the neighbourhood coffee shop which is convenient and inexpensive. A typical lunch would cost between $2.30 to $3.50 which would always include a portion of stir fried vegetables which so many readers remind me to consume regularly.

So, what did I have today for lunch? I made my own lunch!

Yummy!

Want to try making what I had today?

You would need all the above items.

Turmeric powder and black pepper in extra virgin olive oil.

Looked really nice after mixing it all up. Add some salt if you like.

I pan fried the tofu using a non-stick pan. No oil.

While the pan was still warm, I toasted two slices of bread. No oil.

I dipped both sides of the toasty bread in the olive oil mixture.

Piled the tofu and cucumber slices on the bread and bon appetit!

I have a sweet tooth and I must have something sweet after a meal:

A banana and a kiwi fruit. Natural sweetness!

Then, I had a handful of these:

Baked almonds. Good for guys, I was told.

"Well, I have been eating less meat recently. This is partly because I think I do not need much meat in my diet as I grow older and partly because I think they make me fat. The fact that not having meat helps the environment is a plus."  Source: Green is not just the color of money.

Burp. I am happy.

Related posts:
1. Be richer with yummy and frugal dinners.
2. One way to save money more rapidly.
3. How to recession proof your life?

Why Gardenia over NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread?

I have a confession to make.

Last month, I switched from Gardenia wholemeal bread to NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread after a couple of readers assured me that the latter has improved in quality.

I remember eating NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread many years ago and found it dry (almost crusty) and bland tasting. It wasn't worth saving money and getting unpalatable bread, I thought.

Anyway, the fact is I decided to give NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread another chance. Of course, the fact that there was some monetary savings compared to buying Gardenia wholemeal bread was an incentive for me.

Well, although I must admit that the texture and taste of NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread have improved plus the fact that I saved some money, I have decided to switch back to Gardenia today. Why?

Look at the photos below:

NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread. 300gm for $1.15.

Gardenia Super Soft & Fine wholemeal bread. 300gm for $1.90.

I was not getting good value for money with NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread. Its lower price was a reason for me to make the switch last month and I was wrong.

I also found out that NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread contains a lot more iron (8.8mg per 100g) compared to Gardenia (3.72mg per 100g) and we really don't need too much iron in our diet as we grow older. NTUC Fairprice wholemeal bread also has more saturated fats (2g per 100g) compared to Gardenia (0.86g per 100g). The levels of vitamin B1 (Thiamine) and B3 (Niacin) are lower compared to Gardenia's too.

Overall, Gardenia wholemeal bread seems like a healthier option to me and switching back to Gardenia will cost a bit more money but this is money well spent.

Related posts:
1. Eat wholemeal bread and win a holiday.
2. Visit NTUC Fairprice and learn about investing.

Beyond needs and wants is the price of convenience.

Frequently, I would mention that there is a price to be paid for convenience. When something is more convenient for us, it usually means that it requires less or no work on our part. Usually, this can only be so because someone else has done much or all of the work for us.

Whether something is convenient or inconvenient for us is usually relative. If we have to do a lot of work in order to save some money, then, it might not be worth the trouble. Of course, I understand that what is considered inconvenient will differ from person to person. So, I am just sharing what any reasonable person might agree with.

For example, at last year's InvestX Congress, I shared on stage how I walked to a nearby supermarket to get a bottle of water instead of buying the same in a food court where I had dinner with some friends. It was probably a 50 meter walk. It wasn't too far away.

So, the inconvenience that I had to suffer to buy bottled water from a supermarket was negligible. For more convenience, I would have had to pay $1.50 for the same bottled water in the food court while it was just $0.60 in the supermarket.

Hmmm....

For people who are addicted to coffee, I have also mentioned in my blog before how we could save lots of money by not buying coffee from coffee shops and to simply bring a packet of 3 in 1 coffee mix to work daily. 

It isn't too inconvenient to put a packet of 3 in 1 coffee mix in our bag to bring to work, is it? Depending on where we usually get our daily coffee fixes, the savings could range from maybe a dollar to several dollars a day.

For an event last month, I used the example of herbal tea. Herbal tea? Yes, in a place like Singapore where it is summer the whole year round, shops selling herbal tea, including Chinese medicine halls, do a roaring trade.


(OMG! This is Panda Dung Tea and guess how much is it?)

How much does it cost to take away a 500ml plastic bottle of chrysanthemum and ginseng herbal tea? $1.50 or so, I would guess. (If you were to look carefully, in some shops, they have kept their prices unchanged but the bottles have become slimmer. Same height but slimmer.)

OK, the question is whether it is inconvenient to make our own herbal tea? Alamak, must buy chrysanthemum flower, ginseng roots and liquorice. Throw in boiling water, let it cool, bottle and then bring to work. So much work! Definitely too inconvenient!

What if I were to show you a herbal tea bag? Yes, a tea bag. Just bring a packet to work each day and just let the tea bag steep in warm water. Have freshly brewed herbal tea in seconds. Very inconvenient? I don't think so.

Cost? $1.05 for a pack of 3 tea bags from NTUC Fairprice. (2016 UPDATE: It is now $1.50.)

Each tea bag could easily produce up to 1.5 litres of herbal tea. This is my experience.

If you drink a lot of herbal tea like I do, you might want to consider this product which is made in Singapore.

I feel that very often people are worried about losing face. Alamak! I am sure people talk about me frequently about my habits but these people don't matter, I feel, my bank account does.

So, beyond thinking whether it is a need or a want, the next time you think of buying something, just pause for another moment and think whether you are paying too much for convenience, if any.

Related post:
How to recession proof your life?

Note: This is not an advertorial. AK derives no monetary benefits from sharing this find.

Eat wholemeal bread and win a $6,000 holiday plus cash!

I will almost always choose wholemeal bread over white bread as it is a healthier choice although it costs more:

Wholemeal bread is nutritious because it is made from whole wheat flour produced from milling the entire wheat grain. 

You get all the nutrients – dietary fibre, antioxidants such as vitamins A and E, essential minerals and B vitamins (B1, B2, B3, folic acid) from the bran (the grain’s outer layer) and germ (inner layer).

In addition, whole grains also contain phytochemicals which may help to reduce risk for conditions such as heart disease and certain types of cancer. 

(Source: healthxchange.com.sg)

Now, there is an added incentive for me to choose wholemeal bread from Gardenia. What is it? OK lah. Got good lobang must share.

Gardenia Wholemeal Bread packaging.

Closing date: 15 June 2015.

1st Prize: $6,000 Holiday Package + $2,000 cash!

Made some sandwiches:

Tuna, cheese and margarine sandwich.
I always make at least 4 at one go.
Keep refrigerated and bring one to work each day.

If I don't win, I hope one of you do. Good luck. :)

Disclosure: 
Buying Gardenia bread will benefit AK as he is a shareholder of QAF's.

Related posts:
1. Supporting my companies.
2. QAF: Rising 5c to 93c a share.

$2.00 Burger King's Fish N Crisp Burger: A Failure.

When Burger King announced their $2.00 Fish N Crisp Burger, McDonald's responded by lowering the price of their Fillet O Fish Burger to $2.00.

I have always been a fan of the Fillet O Fish and would order the $5.00 Extra Value Meal whenever I visited McDonald's in the past. When they dropped the price of Fillet O Fish to $2.00, I was overjoyed.

Then, I would order two Fillet O Fish for $4.00 instead of spending $5.00 on the Extra Value Meal. I am not crazy about the fries and soft drink. Just that when the Fillet O Fish was priced at $3.95 each, it was kind of silly not to take the fries and soft drink for only another $1.05.

Anyway, Burger King's claim that their Fish N Crisp Burger offers better value for money with one slice of cheese, not half, and 40% more fish got me curious enough to give it a try. Yes, AK is a sucker for value for money deals.

Poster outside the restaurant. Looks good, right?

So, I tried.

Hmmmm... Doesn't look quite the same.

Opened it up to add some ketchup. The bun felt stale.
The piece of fish looks to be the same size as the Fillet O Fish's.

Alamak!
AK is not a practitioner of Shaolin Temple's Da Li Jing Gang Zi!
The bread is definitely stale. This was from lifting the top earlier.

The fish is sooo salty! Why so salty?

Very disappointing.

Staying with McDonald's Fillet O Fish.

Burger King's Fish N Crisp Burger gets a resounding "C.M.I." from AK.

Related posts:
1. $3.30 Fillet O Fish meal.
2. 1 for 1 Fillet O Fish.

AK was bullied and deprived of his mee pok dry.

Just now, for dinner, I decided to go get my favourite mee pok dry from a nearby kopitiam. 

There were two car parking lots left when I got there. 

A big BMW was before me and reversed into one of the lots.

So lucky to have one lot left for me, I thought.






When the BMW came to a stop, I saw that it was encroaching on the empty lot. 

As the well-dressed driver got out of the car with his equally well-dressed lady friend, I lowered my window and asked if they could center their car so that I could park in the neighbouring lot.

What happened next stumped me.






The woman looked at my car and said in a voice loud enough for me to hear, 

"His car so small. I am sure can fit. We no need to shift."

Then, they turned their backs on me and walked away.

OMG! 

They didn't even bother to talk to me!






I was speechless. 

I realised I was just bullied and didn't know how to respond.

Anyway, I was upset enough that I lost my appetite and decided to come home without satisfying my craving for mee pok dry.

Just now, I felt hungry and I cooked this for a late dinner:

Should I get a bigger car so that something like this does not happen again?

New material from my FB wall (11AM, 16 March 2015):

Latest update on my FB wall (4.20pm, 16 March 2015):

No problem with parking this time but this?

This is depressing.




Unrelated post:
Forced selling due to financial hardship.
(Why am I sharing this post? I have no idea.)

Green is not just the color of money.

People remember Mr. Lee Kuan Yew for saying many things before but I think few would remember him making a statement regarding global warming and whether governments around the world were doing enough to tackle the problem.

He will be sad if the polar bears vanish from the North Pole, but sadder still should the ice cap melt at the South Pole. These dire consequences of global warming featured prominently in Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's inaugural Singapore Maritime Lecture at the Fullerton Hotel yesterday. 

"When the polar bear disappears from the Arctic, I will be sad when I see them at the zoo. But I will be sadder when the Antarctic ice cap melts because the water level will rise so much," he said. The calamity confronting humanity has no easy solutions nor are governments doing enough to tackle this problem, said Mr Lee. 

"I am not optimistic about the will of governments to attack this cause," he told some 300 top maritime executives, in response to a question about how Singapore can contribute to climate change. "I do not see any leaders saying let us eat less, eat more vegetables, eat less meat." 

Source: 
http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070910/070926-1.htm

Close friends would know that I am a bit of an environmentalist. I carefully wash and clean what could be recycled and deposit these in recycling bins regularly. I also try to grow some plants at home. I am careful to conserve water and electricity while still having a comfortable life.

I also try to reuse product packaging where possible and friends are constantly amazed by how I actually find a purpose for stuff that many would have simply thrown away. Some readers would remember how I put a Bengawan Solo mooncake tin to good use, for example.

So, I suppose it is not surprising that what Mr. Lee Kuan Yew said so many years ago stayed at the back of my mind. Then again, why the sudden flashback?

Well, I have been eating less meat recently. This is partly because I think I do not need much meat in my diet as I grow older and partly because I think they make me fat. The fact that not having meat helps the environment is a plus.

Do you know what else is a plus? The cost savings.

Here are some photos of my meals this week:

Price: $2.50

Price: $2.30

Price: $2.60

For dinner this evening, I decided to boil some broccoli I bought from the supermarket in an Ikan Bilis soup stock.
Price: $0.87. Ok, add water, heating and some Ikan Bilis.
Maybe $1.20?

Want to try doing something meaningful beyond your weekly routine? If you are not a vegetarian, try cutting back on meat this week.

I am not sure if you would like it but I think you would see the many benefits of doing so. Of course, you would also be doing your bit for the environment although you might not know it.

Have a good week ahead!

Related posts:
1. AK71 on climate change.
2. AK71 on more frequent storms.

Chats with readers on Japan, bonds, properties, GFC etc.

AK is an accredited kay poh and spends quite a bit of time chit chatting with readers online. When I shared with a couple of fellow bloggers and also some friends that I spend at least 3 to 4 hours online answering questions everyday even if I am not blogging, they were amazed!

Here are some recent chats:

Sent to me by Paul who is vacationing in Japan:

Paul: U come japan so often, they name a burger after u?

LOL!

Then, G thought of buying some bonds:

B had some questions on investing in real estate in Singapore:

E discovered that AK is quite good at side stepping questions:

W had questions about war chests and allocation:

P asked about averaging up or averaging down on our purchases:

I forgot to mention that I kept adding to my investment in Hock Lian Seng over the years when I thought Mr. Market offered me more attractive prices at different times.

I enjoyed all the chats. I hope you did too. ;p

Related post:
An evening with AK and friends: Photos.