It's Official

Officially announced the decision not to renew contract here at PSU. Went to check with Mr. Munir about the procedures and asked Mr. Latiff about all the end of service benefits. They said I'll get one month extra for completing 2 years of service, 1/2 month salary for every year completed. I would like to believe this means I'm going to Kaivalyadham after all.

Just hope the 2009 teaching opportunity becomes clearer towards the end of this year so I can make an alternative plan just in case it doesn't push through. But can't really think of any reason why it won't.... that's positive thinking to the extreme. ;-)

Daytime Nap May Boost Memory

Expert says napping may give the brain a chance to reinforce new memories. The thing is you should have absorbed all those new information before you take a nap. If not, napping won't really help that much.

Read the full article here.

Tempeh

I was reading The Book of Tofu yesterday and learned that tempeh is actually rich in vitamin B12, one of the dietary recommendations outlined in the book Diet: A Holistic Approach by Rudolph Ballentine, a required reading in our teacher training last year. According to Dr. Ballentine, a vegetarian diet should consist of grains, lentils/beans/legumes, vegetables, raw, and B12-rich foods. He recommends that each meal should have grains, lentil group and vegetables. Raw foods can be taken 1-2x a day and B12-rich foods, every other day.

By doing so, all the necessary nutrients are met and malnutrition, a common problem among starting and uninformed vegetarians, is avoided.

I like tempeh because it's easy to prepare and very tasty. I had this for dinner last night and it was great. Simple but satisfying: Fried tempeh with char siu sauce, steamed rice, cucumber salad with Asian dressing.

Recipe for Asian Dressing:

1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Sesame Oil (The Chinese variety not the Indian or Middle Eastern one.)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp roasted white sesame seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together and pour over thinly sliced cucumber. You can also pour it over your favorite mix of leaves, tomato, carrots and cucumber.

(Again, I can't upload the image for some reasons. Here's a nice image of tempeh, and a link to tempeh info and recipe.

Rapunzel Organic Vegetable Cube

Went to this Organic center in Al-Arouba street with Jehan and Alex after our personal training session yesterday and was glad to find this on the shelf. One pack of 8 cubes cost 13SAR (about 4usd) so I bought 2... vegetable and lentil flavor. Alex paid for it though so I had it for free... ;-)

The Journey to Budget Airlines Online Booking

It's the end of the week in this part of the world. The first week of the 2nd semester is finally over and classes should normalize starting Saturday. Got no class on Wednesdays so today should be an easy day.

I've been web-surfing best fares to Phuket and when I've finally decided to purchase the ticket from Air Asia, their website went down probably from too much traffic as they're on sale since yesterday. The Singapore-Phuket ticket would cost only 61USD. I just hope I can still get that later when their system "comes back to life".

This whole online booking experience is an adventure in itself. You have to be at the site at the right time in order to get the best fare. I got too excited when Tiger Air offered a cheap flight to Bangalore from Singapore last month, so I decided to purchase my ticket and paid 290usd. A week later, they slashed the price to 200usd. Now I have to book a flight from Singapore to Phuket. Air Asia seems to offer the best fare as of the moment and I'm not sure if Jetstar or Tiger Air will offer something cheaper in the future. Guess this is one of those moments when you simply have to follow your instinct... and listen to that voice within.