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Thai street food to delight in Posted: 25 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT BY EU HOOI KHAW October 26, 2013 The stacks of blue enamel pots in front of the food stall at Lai Thai that are used to serve the noodles.Sometimes you feel like having a bowl of noodles with the zing of chilli, or something hot and sour like in a som tam, a Thai papaya salad, or in Larb Moo, a Thai pork salad. Som Tam or Thai Papaya Salad.You can have all these at the Lai Thai Mini Market in Section 17, Petaling Jaya. There's a menu pasted up on the stall, with pictures of the dishes and names in English for them. On my many visits there, I have been strangely attracted to that stack of blue enamel pots by the side of the stall. I have never had the chance to eat out of one until last week when we stopped by at tea time. ​We just had to get rid of the taste of some awful dimsum we had at lunch, and Lai Thai was the place to be. Here I had a blue pot of noodles in hot and sour soup, with spring onion, fresh coriander, cabbage, slivers of salted vegetables and bits of pork in it, and a squeeze of lime for that tinge of sourness. That was light, fresh and nice. Pork Noodles in front, and Green Curry Noodles.We had also ordered the Larb Moo, which was minced pork, liver and pork skin tossed with lime juice, fish sauce, Thai chilli peppers, sweet basil and onions and heaped upon some shredded cabbage.  The sharp, tart dressing and the hot chilli sent shivers down my tongue which were soothed by the sticky rice and the raw cabbage.  It was delicious. Thai Red Rice with Braised Pork.We had an early lunch at Lai Thai on another occasion, and had the Thai Red Rice with Braised Pork Knuckle, and Red Rice with Pork Fried with Basil. We washed these down with a bottle of chilled coconut nectar. The minced pork fried with basil has punches of flavour, with enough chilli to numb your palate. But you can't resist going back to it and eating it with the rice and the fried egg on top of it. There is a huge basin of stewed pork knuckle on the food counter, as with most street food stalls in Thailand. We had slices of this stewed meat spiced with star anise and cloves, and half a stewed egg as well.  The gravy is a little sweet, but have it with some chilli pickled in vinegar and it's just right. The Noodles with Green Curry is delightful here, as the fragrant curry is not too rich, and is generous with eggplant and long beans. Most people like the Pork Noodles here which are in a clear, tasty soup, with pork balls, pork slices and liver, and garnished with toong choy or preserved vegetables, spring onions and fresh coriander. This is one noodle dish you can spice up with chilli flakes and other condiments on the table. I prefer them with the pickled chillies which give them a perky lift. Rice with Pork fried with Basil.I had the Som Tam here last week and it had all the right nuances - lightly  sweet, hot and sour. I liked this a lot. We watched as the crunchy papaya strips were pounded in a wooden mortar with a pestle with tomato, long beans, chilli, peanuts, and with the sauces added. Mango Sticky Rice.Lunch time is when desserts like Mango Sticky Rice, Tab Tim Krob and Tako are ready, packed in boxes and displayed on the counter. We had a Mango Sticky Rice once, adding carefully the sweet coconut sauce to the rice (too much and it can be too sweet!).  It was just the right dessert at the end of a hot, zesty meal. You pay coffeeshop prices here, and they range from RM5 to RM7 for a pot of noodles or rice with meat. Lai Thai is also a mini market where you can buy Thai snacks, drinks, sauces, curry pastes, pickles, preserves, instant noodles, glutinous rice, vegetables and fruits. I have brought home boxes of peeled Thai pomelo, curry sauces and chilli flakes. Lai Thai Mini Market is located at AG-3, Block A, Happy Mansion, Jalan 17/13, Section 17, Petaling Jaya. It's open every day from 10am to 5pm. – 26 October, 2013.

Scientist comes up with mathematical equation for perfect pizza Posted: 25 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT October 26, 2013 A mathematician in the UK has come up with a scientific formula that claims to decode the secret to making the perfect pizza pie. The key, says Dr. Eugenia Cheng of the University of Sheffield, is the topping-to-base ratio and the thickness of the crust. In other words, baking a pie with a crispy crust and the right balance of toppings. The formula uses variables such as "d" to designate the volume of dough and  "t" for the volume of topping. The study, released earlier this month, was commissioned by British restaurant chain Pizza Express in a bid to understand why their larger 14-inch (36 cm) pies were outselling the classic 11-inch (28 cm) pizzas. The overarching conclusion? Smaller pies tend to have thicker, breadier crusts which increase the odds of turning soggy under the weight of sauce and toppings, Cheng told Co.Design. Larger pizzas with larger surface area, however, allow for more even distribution of toppings while a thinner dough makes for a crispier crust. If you're willing to risk a soggy crust for the sake of more pepperoni, however, opt for smaller pizza, as Cheng's calculations show that a median bite from an 11-inch pizza has 10 percent more topping than a 14-inch pie. It's not the first time scientists have been recruited to come up with a mathematical equation for cooking the perfect food. According to the Royal Society of Chemists in the UK, the recipe for a perfect grilled cheese sandwich involves melting 50 g (1.8 ounces) of a hard cheese like cheddar on a slice of white bread, placed exactly 18 cm (7 inches) away from the heat source of the grill, at a temperature of 115C (239 F) for four minutes. – AFP/Relaxnews, October 26, 2013.

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RM239 million for sports under Budget 2014 Posted: 25 Oct 2013 04:14 AM PDT October 25, 2013 The government is allocating RM239 million to pursue excellence in sports, including upgrading of sport complexes and courts, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. He said the allocation would include establishing pilot talent identification programmes in primary schools and the implementation of the Future Professional Coach programme to hone the skills of potential coaches for selected sports. Najib also said the government would allocate RM150 million to the Sports Trust Fund for the development of elite sports, medical treatment and research. This to ensure the success of athletes in international sports competitions, including the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing and the 2015 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he said. The prime minister said this when tabling the 2014 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat today. - Bernama, October 25, 2013.

Government allocates RM239 million for sports under Budget 2014 Posted: 25 Oct 2013 04:14 AM PDT October 25, 2013 The government is allocating RM239 million to pursue excellence in sports, including upgrading of sport complexes and courts, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. He said the allocation would include establishing pilot talent identification programmes in primary schools and the implementation of the Future Professional Coach programme to hone the skills of potential coaches for selected sports. Najib also said the government would allocate RM150 million to the Sports Trust Fund for the development of elite sports, medical treatment and research. This to ensure the success of athletes in international sports competitions, including the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing and the 2015 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he said. The prime minister said this when tabling the 2014 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat today. - Bernama, October 25, 2013.

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Gaultier sizzles in New York museum retrospective Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:11 PM PDT October 25, 2013 A dazzling retrospective featuring the masterpieces of couture superstar Jean Paul Gaultier opens in New York today, sizzling with wit and oozing sex appeal. The Brooklyn Museum exhibition unites under one roof objects as diverse as the French designer's childhood teddy bear, a picture of his grandmother and the conical bras he designed for Madonna. Brimming with infectious enthusiasm for life, fashion and the unique magic of New York, Gaultier says he is delighted and humbled at being given the retrospective. Simply putting his clothes in a museum, however, was too "still life" for the designer, whose exhibition includes walking, talking mannequins including one of himself. A life-size model of the designer, speaking in his voice, emoting with his facial expressions and wearing the sailor stripes he made iconic, introduces the tour. "I love theater, I love shows ... I wanted to make it alive," Gaultier told reporters at the preview. "It's a new adventure. It has made me look again at the clothes I've made and I tried to do something else, to present them in a different way," he explained to AFP. "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" features 130 of his finest couture and ready-to-wear outfits dating back 40 years. Apart from photographs, sketches and his fragrances, there is a picture of his grandmother - one of his earliest muses, and his teddy bear Nana (pic), for whom he crafted his first conical breasts, out of newspaper. Then there are the clothes. Highlights include corsets and bras worn by Madonna during her world tours in 1990 and 2010. An incredible mermaid-style wedding gown made out of a latex bodysuit with golden scales, cone bra shells, a sequined skirt and a latex mermaid's tail is an eye-catcher. Another high point is the gown worn by US actress Sarah Jessica Parker at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards in New York. In town for four months, the exhibition has already been seen by a million people in Dallas, San Francisco, Madrid, Rotterdam and Stockholm. Gaultier said he was flattered to have his exhibition invited to Brooklyn, the increasingly fashionable part of New York once looked down upon by Manhattanites. "Brooklyn is a very 'hip' part of New York, and I am very flattered, at my age," he joked. Gaultier told AFP he loves "the diversity, the energy and the adrenaline, the American way of life." "It's the openness of course, people of different races who come together, so much energy." He still remembers the New York window displays - "more beautiful than Paris" - that took his breath away in the 1970s, when he first started his career. When the exhibition opened in Montreal in June 2011, he was initially resistant but says he has since changed his mind completely. "I learnt a lot of things. Museums can be an inspiration." The exhibition is arranged into seven themes that chart the development of Gaultier's career, inspired by the punk movement in Britain and the Belle Epoque in France. It begins with "Odyssey" and items from his first collection from 1971, before making its way into "The Boudoir" with Nana the teddy and the bras on loan from Madonna. There is a section for his muses, and then there is a "Punk Cancan" area that houses a skin-tight houndstooth body suit that covers the face, complete with hat. Further along is "Skin Deep," which displays his creations that resemble a second skin. "Metropolis" exhibits his collaborations on stage and screen and "Urban Jungle" contains his multi-ethnic creations. The show, put together by Montreal Museum of Fine Arts director Nathalie Bondil and curator Thierry Maxime Loriot is in New York until February 23. After New York, it goes to London where it will be on display at the Barbican from April 9 to August 17. – AFP, October 25, 2013.

Tom Hardy to play Elton John in forthcoming biopic Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:06 PM PDT [unable to retrieve full-text content]Elton John's production company Rocket Pictures has confirmed that the British actor will portray the pop rock legend in "Rocketman," a musical biography film that has been under discussion for two years now.   Up for the role since last spring, Tom Hardy (pic), who is perhaps best known for playing tough guys in films like "Bronson" (2009)...

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“Dark is Beautiful” movement takes on unfair India Posted: 24 Oct 2013 09:21 PM PDT October 25, 2013 Looking to find a husband, make friends, and get ahead at work? Then you need to have lighter skin. That's the all-pervasive message in India, and it's something that one actress is fighting to overturn. The new poster girl of the "Dark is Beautiful" campaign, Nandita Das (pic), has called out India's obsession with fair skin - a prejudice she says has driven some young women to the brink of suicide. "Magazines, TV, cinema - everywhere being fair is synonymous with being beautiful," Das told AFP. Described as having "dusky" skin as opposed to a fair complexion, the 43-year-old is well used to Indian preoccupations with colour, and not just in the film industry, where she has refused requests to lighten her skin for roles. "How can you be so confident despite being so dark?" is a question regularly asked of Das, who has preferred to star in unconventional, issue-based films but says she would struggle to get ahead in mainstream Bollywood movies. Beauty beyond colour In May, Das became the face of the Dark is Beautiful campaign, launched in 2009 by activist group Women of Worth to celebrate "beauty beyond colour". Her backing has helped to generate increasing debate in the media, but the response has underlined just how ingrained the preference is for fairer skin, which has long been associated with higher social classes and castes. "I started getting tonnes of emails from young women pouring their heart out about how they were discriminated against. Some wanted to commit suicide because they couldn't be fair," she said. Das found her own photograph had been lightened by a newspaper even for a feature on the campaign. When looking for a nanny, she was told one candidate was "good, but quite dark". Amid such pressures to be pale, India's whitening cream market swelled from $397 million in 2008 to $638 million over four years, according to market researchers at Euromonitor International. Skin-lightening products accounted for 84 percent of the country's facial moisturiser market last year, their report shows. The bias facing darker-skinned women was raised again in September when an Indian-origin woman, Nina Davuluri, won the "Miss America" contest in the United States. "Had she been in India, far from entering a beauty contest, it is more likely that Ms Davuluri would have grown up hearing mostly disparaging remarks about the colour of her skin," said an editorial in The Hindu newspaper. "She would have been - going by the storyline of most 'fairness' cream advertisements - a person with low self-esteem and few friends." Vaginal whitening cream Last year, a commercial for an "intimate wash" to whiten vaginas emerged, showing a young Indian woman who uses the product to successfully regain her boyfriend's attention. The advert was widely panned, but a glance through matrimonial websites and newspaper columns suggests that fair skin, at least on a woman's face, remains key to attaining an Indian husband. Aspiring grooms often state in their adverts their preference for a fair bride, while nearly all women's profiles describe their complexion as fair or so-called "wheatish". Ekta Ghosh, a fashion designer in Mumbai who specialises in wedding wear, said the message that only fair is beautiful had been passed down to Indian girls for generations. "Parents, relatives, they all keep saying you should do something to lighten your skin tone," she said. India's mass market whitening pioneer was "Fair & Lovely", launched in 1975 by Hindustan Unilever and now selling in a range of other countries where pale skin is desirable, across Africa and the Middle East as well as Asia. Indian consumer group Emami later came up with "Fair and Teen" for girls and "Fair and Handsome" for men. Promoted by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, the latest advert shows him tossing a tube of the cream from the red carpet to a young male fan. Dark is Beautiful has launched a petition against the "irresponsible" video and its message that "fair skin is a prerequisite for success". So far more than 15,000 people have signed up in protest, but Khan has not responded. "You're telling people they're just not good enough," said Das, who describes whitening cream adverts in general as "so regressive and derogatory". Fairness cream producers suggest they help to boost users' confidence, although both Emami and Hindustan Unilever declined to comment for this article. Not everyone, however, is convinced such creams are even effective. Receptionist Prachi Chawan, 28, said she had been using Fair & Lovely products for three years "out of habit", but was yet to see noticeable results. "There have been no side effects but no change either," she said. Das believes whitening cream developers did not create Indians' colour bias and insecurities, but have "cashed in" on it, creating a "vicious circle". While men's fairness products are gaining ground, the actress says women and girls still face far more pressure over their skin tone, which she puts down to a general lack of respect and inequality. "Until we let women have the same space as men and treat them as human beings, all this will carry on." – AFP, October 25, 2013.

The toad that turned into a nice little earner Posted: 24 Oct 2013 07:25 PM PDT October 25, 2013 Once upon a time a poisonous cane toad lived in the South Sea Islands, unloved and unwanted. Condemned as an ecological disaster, the Australian army was even deployed to get rid of it. Then one day a Polish fairy waved her wand and the plain old cane toad turned into a precious fashion accessory. That's the story of Polish designer Monika Jarosz's luxury Kobja brand inspired by the fairytale idea of the "toad that transforms itself into Prince Charming". Introduced from South America decades ago to control the native cane beetle, the cane toad may have outstayed its welcome in the South Sea Islands, but today their skins have become a much-prized luxury fashion material. A friend unknowingly set the wheels of innovation in motion by giving Jarosz a stuffed frog from New Zealand as a gift. "(It) disgusted me but ended up by fascinating me," she said. Three short years later, and her luxury accessory business is producing bags, belts and purses made from whole skins, set with semi-precious stones or Swarovski crystals in place of the eyes. The high-end leather items, which come in an array of colours including vermilion red, emerald green, turquoise, fuchsia and black, are now sold in Asia, Europe and the US. A purse can cost between between 220 and 250 euros (RM959 and RM1090), depending on the country, while a large bag would be priced at around 1,200 euros (RM5231). Jarosz came to France from Poland 12 years ago to work as a model before developing an interest in design, in particular working with unusual materials. Fascinated by the stuffed frog, she recalled that the more she stroked it the more the idea of creating something "really good like a jewel" from a similar material started to take shape. But finding skins to work with presented a problem. In vain, Jarosz made inquiries with restaurants serving frogs legs. Then she discovered the existence of the toads of the South Sea Islands where they had proliferated to such an extent they were in the process of destroying several local species. Animal defence organisations had recommended that they be selectively eliminated. With the help of a taxidermist in the Australian city of Cairns, Jarosz set about transforming the skins into high fashion. After the taxidermy, the skins are tanned, dried and coloured in France, ending up in a workshop in Paris where the leather is cut, stitched, set with crystals or stones and lined with lamb or goat skin. "When I called Jean-Charles Duchene (who runs the tannery in Paris) for a quote, they thought it was a joke," she recalled. "It was a challenge because we had to adapt to the material. The toad (skin) is denser than lamb, the dye is fixed quicker and it needs less," she added. A symbol of fertility and prosperity in some cultures, the toad is also linked to sorcery, Jarosz added. Now sold in luxury goods shops or concept stores in Tokyo, Beijing, New York, Paris and Berlin, Jarosz's quirky products have developed an almost cult-like following among some customers. Some even give their bags names, she said, and regularly update her with news about them. – AFP, October 25, 2013.

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Best-selling author Patterson reflects on success Posted: 24 Oct 2013 06:36 PM PDT October 25, 2013 When it comes to bestselling authors James Patterson (pic) is hard to beat. He has been called the busiest man in publishing and is the first author to achieve 10 million in ebook sales. His thriller, "Mistress," soared to the top of the Publishers Weekly bestseller list shortly after its August release, where it spent three weeks. Patterson, 66, spoke with Reuters about his unprecedented success, his characters and why he thinks his books are so popular. Q: "Mistress" was a recent No. 1 bestseller. Is that kind of benchmark getting old, or is it still a surprise? A: I still get a kick out of it, but I'm not competitive. If it's number one I like that. If it isn't, I'm okay with it. So I can still be the first author and go, 'Wow, I'm published, and there's the book.' And that still is fun. It has never gotten old for me. I can't say it's a surprise. It would be if it wasn't even on the list, I'd go, 'Whaaat? It's not there, oh, we did something wrong.' Q: Why do you think your books are so popular? A: The three rules of this kind of fiction for me are story, story, story. I'm telling a story, and I sort of have the sense that I'm talking to one person and I don't want them to get up until I'm finished. And the books are emotional. I think I'm pretty emotional. I think that's one of my strengths and I think that comes through to people. There are a lot of thrillers that are exciting, but there isn't much humanity to them. I do create characters that people are comfortable with and that they want to know what happened to them next. Even the villains, I think, there's just a humanity to them as diabolical as they may be, there's something recognizably human, which I think is one of the keys to creating villains that are interesting. Q: When you started out, one assumes it wasn't with a plan or expectation of landing anywhere near where you did in terms of commercial success. What were your hopes at the time? A: To get published. Just get the book out there. Then the first novel, which was turned down by I think 31 publishers, won an Edgar (book award) as best first mystery, so that was such a surprise and a delight, and for the first time I went, 'I'm actually a writer. I actually have done this thing and I've done it reasonably well.' So that was a real confidence booster. Q: Did you think then you'd become as prolific as you have? A: No, that all sort of crept up on me, and then pretty much by accident I wrote a book with a friend of mine Peter de Jonge, a little golf novel 'Miracle on the 17th Green.' It turned out nicely and I liked the process. I think people just don't think through the notion of cooperative art or co-writing. The movie and television worlds are full of teams, so are museums. So it's not as odd as people think it is, but that obviously allowed me to explode the number of books I've involved myself with. Q: Do you think you'll ever run out of ideas for your books? A: I don't know, we'll see. I have a big folder of ideas here that's about 9 inches (23 cm) thick. But I would think at a certain point I'm going to cut back on the number of books for sure. But I like to keep experimenting. I've experimented within the kid field, writing some comedy, writing an adventure book with 'Treasure Hunters,' and I have a middle school book about an African American kid in an inner city. There really aren't a lot of books that star African-American or Hispanic kids and I think that's useful thing to do, where kids can go 'Oh, that kid's like me a little bit.' Q: Looking 10 or 20 years down the line, do you think you'll want to just keep on writing? A: Yeah, writing, and then there's just a lot of charity stuff that I'm involved in at this stage. I have over 400 scholarships for teachers, and probably what we're going to do this year is put aside $1 million for independent book stores, where they can come to us and say, 'I need help.' And we continue to mess around with the movies a little bit. So there's plenty of things to play with. – Reuters, October 25, 2013.

“Doctor Sleep” retains perch on top of US best-sellers list Posted: 24 Oct 2013 06:28 PM PDT October 25, 2013 Stephen King's latest novel, "Doctor Sleep," held onto the No. 1 spot on the US best-sellers fiction list for the fourth consecutive week. The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide. Hardcover Fiction                      1. "Doctor Sleep" by Stephen King 2. "The Longest Ride" by Nicholas Sparks 3. "Gone" by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge 4. "Identical" by Scott Turow 5. "Just One Evil Act" by Elizabeth George 6. "Storm Front" by John Sandford 7. "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" 8. "Starry Night" by Debbie Macomber 9. "The Wolves of Midwinter" by Anne Rice 10. "Police" by Jo Nesbø Hardcover Non-Fiction 1. "Killing Jesus" by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard 2. "Humans of New York" by Brandon Stanton 3. "David and Goliath" by Malcolm Gladwell 4. "I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai 5. "My Story" by Elizabeth Smart 6. "Si-Cology 1" by Si Robertson 7. "The Reason I Jump" by Naoki Higashida 8. "Break Out!" by Joel Osteen 9. "Pokémon X & Pokémon Y" by Pokémon Co. Int'l 10."Orr"byBobbyOrr - Reuters, October 25, 2013.

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Waze is the key to civic-mindedness Posted: 24 Oct 2013 03:47 PM PDT October 25, 2013 Zan Azlee is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, writer, New Media practitioner and lecturer. He runs Fat Bidin Media www.fatbidin.com Malaysia is a country with people that have no manners or civic-mindedness when it comes to being on the road and driving. Behind the wheel, even the most docile grandmother will turn into a vicious, uncouth and vile language-speaking spawn of Lucifer. It's like people turn into power-crazy Hitlers when they have an accelerator pedal at the bottom of their foot and feel like they rule the world. I've experienced my share of road bullies, with some even on the verge of being violent, when I've mistakenly cut in front of their car or forget to give a signal. I have to admit, I get pretty edgy when I'm driving too. Even the slightest unintentional wrongdoing by another driver gets me screaming and throwing certain fingers around. But I think everything is about to change. And this is all because of a wonderful app available on the smartphone called Waze. Everyone who drives should be familiar with Waze. It's that app that is kind of like Google Maps but only much, much, better in every sense. It allows users to submit information about traffic situations so that other drivers who are "Wazers" can benefit from it. So, with all the information provided from Wazers everywhere, we get to see how the traffic is for any particular route that we are planning to take. Not only that, Waze will then calculate and tell you which route to take in order to avoid heavy traffic so that you get to your destination as fast as possible. But, back to my main topic of discussion – Malaysians' lack of civic-mindedness behind the wheel and on the road. And this is where I think Waze comes in. True to the spirit of Web 2.0, Waze's functionality and benefits really depend on users who feel moved enough to contribute so others may benefit. If you are already stuck in a barely crawling traffic jam in the middle of town, what does it benefit you if you told a bunch of random strangers not to follow the same route? Basically, you don't benefit at all. But people, or Wazers, really, don't seem to care because these Waze "reports" are actually a very selfless act. As a true Wazer, you don't want others to be caught in the same predicament as you; hence you help them by telling informing them. And this information is actually being appreciated by other Malaysian Wazers or drivers. Because they usually thank the person who submitted the report in the app itself. For now, a lot of this activity is just solely online. But I am almost definitely sure that it is a step in the right direction for Malaysians to being more selfless and civic-minded. Soon, I'm confident that people will start being more tolerant on the road and might even start giving way to people coming out of junctions as well (gasp!). And hopefully, this habit will start to spread among the population, not just relating to driving, but to every other aspect of social living. And this can only mean that Malaysia will be a much pleasant place to live in. Not bad for a simple GPS navigation app designed by a couple of Jews. – October 25, 2013. * This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

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Subsidi gula dimansuhkan, berkuatkuasa esok Posted: 25 Oct 2013 02:57 AM PDT October 25, 2013 Subsidi gula sebanyak 34 sen akan dimansuhkan berkuatkuasa esok, Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak mengumumkan hari ini. Najib yang juga Menteri Kewangan ketika membentangkan Bajet 2014 di Dewan Rakyat berkata langkah itu bertujuan mengurangkan jumlah pesakit diabetes di negara ini yang agak membimbangkan. "Berdasarkan statistik, terdapat 2.6 juta rakyat Malaysia yang berumur 30 tahun ke atas menghidap penyakit diabetes," katanya. Beliau berkata keadaan itu jika tidak dikawal akan mengakibatkan pelbagai komplikasi seperti penyakit jantung, kerosakan buah pinggang, mata buta dan kaki terpaksa dipotong. "Saya menyeru agar kita bersama-sama jaga kesihatan, kurangkan manis dalam makanan dan minuman. Tambahkan manis dalam senyuman," katanya. – Bernama, 25 Oktober, 2013.

Dana pinjaman RM200 juta bagi bangunkan semula Tanah Rezab Melayu di ibu negara Posted: 25 Oct 2013 02:44 AM PDT October 25, 2013 Kerajaan mengumumkan dana sebanyak RM200 juta disediakan oleh SME Bank Berhad bagi kemudahan pinjaman untuk program pembangunan semula Tanah Rezab Melayu di kawasan strategik di ibu negara. Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak berkata kawasan yang terlibat seperti Kampung Baru, Kampung Pandan dan Kampung Datuk Keramat. "Kemudahan ini akan membantu masyarakat Melayu setempat meningkatkan taraf hidup seiring dengan pembangunan pesat di kawasan persekitaran," katanya ketika membentangkan Belanjawan 2014 di Dewan Rakyat hari ini. – Bernama, 25 Oktober, 2013.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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Japanese chef brings taste of Fukushima to France Posted: 24 Oct 2013 09:38 PM PDT October 25, 2013 Arriving in France with a suitcase full of smoked chicken and wasabi from the stricken Japanese region of Fukushima, chef Harutomo Hagi (pic) was a man on a mission. Armed with a sheaf of test certificates vouching for the safety of the produce following the March 2011 nuclear disaster there, the 37-year-old was in Paris to show the world what Fukushima has to offer. "Even when they smiled the farmers were sad," he told AFP, explaining that products from the affected area had become tainted in the eyes of consumers and now sold at half the price they did before the accident. The situation was so bad, he said, that he thought "it was all over". Large swathes of the area were evacuated after the earthquake and tsunami two years ago that triggered the emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station. The plant's reactors went into meltdown and spread radiation over a wide area. For months afterwards, Hagi's own restaurant in the city of Iwaki, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Fukushima Daiichi, was deserted as people feared that everything in the region had been contaminated. Many fled this key agricultural area, which now has the highest proportion of fallow land in Japan. But Hagi opted not to join the exodus. On the contrary, he decided that not only would he stay but he would cook with products exclusively from the region. The publicity generated by his initiative turned around the fortunes of his own restaurant, and now the chef is determined to do what he can to help others revive their livelihoods too. And so, over the past month, the chef found himself in the kitchens of the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris and the royal residence of Prince Albert in Monaco. Invited to Europe by the Club des Chefs des Chefs - whose elite membership is made up of the current personal chefs of heads of state - Hagi spent two weeks at the Elysee followed by a stint in Monaco. He met both President Francois Hollande and Prince Albert, in their cases serving up Japanese menus using European produce. In Paris, he also cooked with chef Thierry Marx at Sur Mesure, his restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which holds two Michelin stars. The chef speaks with pride of Fukushima "baby peaches, tiny and sweet" and the smoked chicken from the region that he brought with him. "I was very moved to come to France with this chicken," he said, adding that Paris is important as one of the gastronomic capitals of the world. Gilles Bragard, of the Club des Chefs des Chefs said the visit would help lift the spirits of restaurateurs and farmers in Fukushima. Even though most of the large Fukushima area was unaffected by the disaster, prices for produce have plunged and consumers continue to avoid food carrying the Fukushima tag. "If the French eat these products, the Japanese can regain confidence and buy them again," Bragard said. The chef, who has just returned home to Japan, was an "ambassador for the products of Fukushima... It has become his crusade," he added. The visit also served as a welcome boost for Hagi's own morale. "All these chefs gave me the courage to continue. I feel reinvigorated," he said. "We must motivate people to continue reconstructing Fukushima," he said. – AFP, October 25, 2013.

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