Since I couldn’t get my hands on any lotus seeds, I was happy to find lotus roots instead. These were sold at the Asian market.
In Chinese medicine, lotus root is believed to improve appetite. Lotus roots is rich in iron, vitamins B and C.
I’ve always loved eating water lotus roots prepared as desserts. Usually mixed with black beans and coconut milk.
To prepare them all you have to do is wash it well. Scrape or peel off the skin. In this case, I just scraped it off with a knife. When sliced, the little air holes make for an interesting pattern. Reminds me of honeycomb cereal.
Once it’s sliced, you want to prevent them from turning brown. Just soak the slices in water with a bit of vinegar or lemon juice.
You can eat them raw as healthy snacks. The texture of lotus root reminds me of water chestnut. They are crunchy, but a bit bland. Tossing them into a salad would be a good idea.
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CNNMoney.com reported in July of this year that “barely half the population has dental insurance”. That is a high percentage.
Just a few months ago when I got a gold crown to fix a damaged tooth, it cost me about $600. And that’s with dental insurance. The price they quoted without dental insurance would be $900.
But just step across the border to Mexico at a DentiCenter office and the cost is $250. That’s a huge price difference!
DentiCenter is a small but growing chain of full-service dental centers sitting along the U.S. border of California, Arizona and Texas. The 6 offices are located in Mexico but 97% of its patients come from the U.S.
Vacation in Baja and vist the dentist too. Photo from The Travelers Journal.
I would probably go to the office in Baja, Mexico and visit the beautiful beaches and cove. Then it wouldn’t be so bad to visit the dentist, as long as you get a short vacation out of it.
The idea of traveling abroad for medical care is becoming common. There are even medical tourism companies that cater to just that idea. Especially in Thailand and India.
DentiCenter is one that caters to dental care. The center is founded by Dr. Juan Eng, a USC-trained periodontist from the Baja peninsula. They have been in business for 20 years now. DentiCenter’s services includes free transportation for all patients a convenient shuttle to and from the Mexico-U.S. border.
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In the future, hopefully all cars will become more “green.” But the cost of green cars such as hybrids are still expensive. Especially when you think of having to replace the batteries.
In June of 2008, hybrid car manufactures such as Toyota and Honda started to lower the prices of the car’s replacement batteries.
2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. Image from Wiki Commons.
For Honda, the cost of its batteries went from $3,400 (excluding installation) to as low as $1,968 on an Insight. And as high as $2,440 on an Accord hybrid. Toyota also reduce their battery prices, which is at $3,000 (excluding installation), down from $5,500 on the original Prius.
That would seem to be good news to many hybrid owners that will need to replace their batteries soon. That was two years ago.
But now there is another issue with the battery. The LA Times reported recently in August that Honda mailed out letters to more than 100,000 owners of 2006, 2007 and 2008 Civics in the U.S. and Canada. The letter stated the batteries “may deteriorate and eventually fail” earlier then expected. The company states a software fix would solve the problem.
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I’ve been happy with my cell provider (Sprint) for many years now. I’ve also been wanting to upgrade to another phone, but they require another 2 year contract.
That wasn’t going to happen since I don’t like contracts. Especially ones that threaten to charge me a fine for early cancellation.
Then I came upon Virgin Mobile plans with no contract necessary. There were many plans to chose from, but I decided on the $25 plan (taxes included). This plan has 300 minutes (with each additional minutes 10 cents) unlimited text and data.
I also like that there’s no activation fee (saving you at least $30). No credit check necessary either.
This is the mobile phone I got - the Kyocera Loft. Now on sale $60. Available online or at Radio Shack. Description from Virgin Mobile:
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Here is my latest handmade soap: Peppermint Poppy. Because I wanted to use it within a couple of days, I went with hot process soap making. With traditional cold process, the cure time would have been at least three weeks or longer.
When I was pouring hemp milk into my cereal, I immediately thought about making hemp milk soap. Hemp oil seem to be more common for soap making then with hemp milk. To make sure I didn’t mess up, I also added equal amounts of goat milk.
The hemp milk I got was from a natural health food store. Hemp milk taste a little like soy milk, but creamier and nuttier. It is naturally rich in omega 3, 6 and 9. It also contains minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, high in vitamins A and E.
Besides the hemp milk, I also added other stuff to this batch. There is fine Brazilian sea salt, peppermint essential oil, and poppy seeds. It’s going to be one difficult to name soap. So I just decided on “Peppermint Poppy Soap”.
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I just found out a few cool new ways to send postcards from your computer or iPhone, iPod, or Blackberry. No more worries about finding a postcard at the tourist shop, searching for stamps or mailbox either.
For iPhone and iPod user, there is an app which lets you take a photo and send it as a postcard with a personalized message. But only for U.S. address. Check out goPostal.com
“Simply choose a photo, add your message, and select a mailing address. goPostal will automatically print and mail your postcard to your friends and family.
Each postcard costs $1.29 when using the iPhone application, which includes postage. goPostal also uses state of the art SSL security to verify that all of your information is securely transmitted.” - goPostal.com
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A long while back, I was thinking of getting a new car. And I almost got myself a little VW Golf TDI (diesel). It was a fuel efficient car getting about 40 mpg highway. The key point being TDI: Turbocharged Direct Injection.
But that was a long time ago and California car dealers could not sell the TDI. It was due to the state’s diesel compliant law. Luckily that is not the case anymore for Californians.
Here is the new VW Golf TDI. TDI vehicles is marketed by VW as “high-performance, fuel-efficient, and environmentally conscious”. Unfortunately the hybrid version is still only a concept car.
Photo from The Car Connection. The car was reviewed last year for the 2010 market starting at $23K.
I would love to own a hybrid electric vehicle. But even if I did need a new car, the price range of some of these hybrids are still too much for me.
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I decided to sign up for Netflix’s 2 weeks free trial offer recently. Especially since summer is a good time to catch up on movies. What I didn’t realize was that 2 weeks can go by fast!
It has been years since I’ve been a subscriber. In case anyone is not familiar with Netflix, they are an online movie rental business. You can chose the movies you want to watch and they will deliver the DVD’s to your house. They also offer the ability to stream movies to your computer too.
Ever since Netflix came to the market, our local video rental stores have been closing their shop one by one. Of course I am not complaining. As I’ve never been a fan of video rental stores (with their high rental fees).
The Netflix plan I chose was 1 DVD out at time and unlimited streaming for $8.99 per month. Doesn’t the “unlimited” streaming part sound interesting? That’s really what pulled me in. But unfortunately the selections available for streaming is was very limited.
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In this 2009 film, 180° SOUTH, Jeff Johnson makes a road trip to Patagonian Chile. Johnson retraces the steps of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins’ 1968 trip to Patagonia. But instead of taking the Pan American highway, Johnson hitches a ride in a sailing vessel from Ventura, California and heads south.
“You learn that what’s important is how you got there, not what you’ve accomplished.“ - Yvon Chouinard.
Johnson’s real trip begins after they are shipwrecked off the coast of Easter Island. After the sailboat gets patched up, they continue on towards Patagonia. Jeff’s goal is to climb the peak Corcovado. In many trips that are worth remembering, things usually don’t go according to plan. But of course that is what makes it an adventure.
It’s a narrative film following Jeff and his crew. The soundtrack is a nice addition too. What I found funny is how Jeff mentioned growing up in Danville, California as being very far from the ocean. I drive pass Danville sometimes, it is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Danville is only 31 miles form San Francisco and there are great surf spots out in SF’s Ocean Beach. And he thinks that is far from the nearest ocean!
Anyway, the film does have beautiful scenes of the land, mountain, ocean, and some wildlife too. I especially enjoy seeing the dolphins swimming along the sailboat.
In this film, Jeff also has the chance to meet up with Chouinard and Tompkins. They have discussions on the the state of progress and it’s impact on the environment. At the moment, Chile continues to plan on building more hydro-electric dams (where much of the power is used for heavy industry and mining). Many environmental organizations oppose the dams.
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Recently I overheard two guys talking about their new shoes. They weren’t really shoes, but more like socks or glove for the feet. It was the toe slots that became the conversation piece.
It actually reminded me of something Spiderman would wear. It really does make people look twice. Personally I thought they were interesting and different, but not too strange.
Photo from Vibram.
It turns out the guy with the “finger shoes” was into barefoot running. It’s not just for runners, but other outdoor enthusiasts have also enjoyed wearing these shoes, from mountain climbing, windsurfing to kayaking.
Currently there are a few companies offering these shoes. Including Vibram, Feelmax and Terra Plana. The thin sole designs combine the benefits of going barefoot but with a thin layer of protection from the elements. Vibram’s FiveFingers are noted to “stimulate the muscles in your feet and lower legs to build strength and improve range of motion.”
The idea of barefoot running has it’s fans and skeptics. Even for all the latest technology added to running shoes (sneakers), research suggests that it may not actually do much to improve a runner’s performance or prevent injuries. And some avid runners now believe they are better off with shoes with minimal support or with no shoes at all.
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