ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL 2.0

The Cameron Highlands, Malaysia;  is a Lepidopterist's (Butterfly collector) paradise. Besides viewing them in the garden of my hotel, and at butterfly farms, my hotel has a great collection preserved since the early 1930s. Many of these species are now extinct as the plants that the butterfies gather nectar from are now extinct due to clearing of forests for tea plantations, urbanization and climate change. The names of these butterflies are enough to sir your imagination: Jewelled Nawab, Blue Ulysses, Madagascan Sunset Moth, Chocolate Albatross, Rajah Brooke's Birdwing etc.   Atlas Moth Blue Ulysses Chocolate Alba The Clipper Goliath Birdwing Green Blumei Jewelled Nawab Madasgascan Sunset Moth

  With its cool climate, flowers, butterflies and tea plantations, the Malaysian hill station of Cameron Highlands. Once the favored destination of the British colonialists, it is now a peaceful retreat for city dwellers from Malaysia as well as Singapore. I like the Tudor cottages, fireplace, English tea-time and walks by the lakeside. 

I just received my CHAS Card from the Singapore government. I am now officially poor, classified as an Indigent.  I am in the lowest 10% of the population by household income. But poverty means different things in different countries. Here, I have my HDB flat, my CPF monthly payout, excellent subsidized healthcare and food is cheap if you know how to spend wisely. Cristina and her sister Rosalie came here from The Philippines 10 years ago. There, poverty can mean living in a hut made of wood, cardboard and zinc down by the railroad track, eating one meal a day, picking Kang Kong from the pond, eating corn meal meant for pigs, and having only two sets of clothing. Fortunately both of them saved wisely and are now Peso multi-millionaires with brick house, pickup truck, goats and chickens. And were able to send their children to University. Nevertheless, to thank The One Above for a good life, we cooked a meal that reminded us of what it means to be poor. 1. Pickled bamboo shoot ...

 Squid Cooked in its Ink with Red Chili and Lemon Grass Boiled Pig's Ear and Tongue with Onion, Green Chili and Ginger Whitebait with Vinegar, Garlic , Green Chili and Ginger

The major economies of the world are getting ever-deeper in debt. They are spending more than what they are collecting from corporate and personal tax revenue, exports, and investments; by a huge margin. It's not just the USA that has been profligate in spending. All the G7 countries have high Debt to GDP ratio. Countries borrow by issuing sovereign bonds. In the USA these are called Treasuries, in the UK they are Gilts, in Japan they are called JGBs, and so on. Financial institutions, insurance companies, pension funds, investment funds and central banks of other countries buy these bonds by bidding for them at auctions. The interest rate that countries pay on their debt is called the yield. Bonds can be short term , medium term or long term e.g. 5, 10, or 30 year bonds. The longer-dated the bond, the higher the uncertainty (and thus the risk) so 30-year bonds pay a higher yield. The yield is also higher for countries that are deemed riskier-due perhaps investors' perception o...

Pakistani Goat  Brain Marsala I read about it in today's Straits Times and went to buy it from Bar B Q Tonite Pakistani Restaurant at Roberts Lane, Little India. Ate it with their wholemeal wheat Naan. Nothing much. Can't taste the  brain. Just the spices of the marsala.  Azmi the famous Chapati at Norris Rd. used to have Brain Marsala. Theirs was better and the spices were not overpowering.