Tips to Help You Eat Healthy

Recently, I suddenly realise that I should have a healthy life style. Because the sub-heathy problems are obsessing me, though I am just 20+ years old.

Thanks to my friend that giving me a soybean milk machine as my wedding present. Last weekend, I went to supermarket to buy all kinds of whole grains, including Brown Rice, Whole Barley, Black Rice, Millet, sorghum and Sweet Rice... Then I choose 3 or 4 from them to make multi-soybean milk as dinner everyday.

Following are some other tips for eating whole grains:

* To eat more whole grains, substitute a whole-grain product for a refined product - such as eating whole-wheat bread instead of white bread or brown rice instead of white rice. It's important to substitute the whole-grain product for the refined one, rather than adding the whole-grain product.

* For a change, try brown rice or whole-wheat pasta. Try brown rice stuffing in baked green peppers or tomatoes and whole-wheat macaroni in macaroni and cheese.

* Use whole grains in mixed dishes, such as barley in vegetable soup or stews and bulgur wheat in casserole or stir-fries.

* Create a whole grain pilaf with a mixture of barley, wild rice, brown rice, broth and spices. For a special touch, stir in toasted nuts or chopped dried fruit.

* Experiment by substituting whole wheat or oat flour for up to half of the flour in pancake, waffle, muffin or other flour-based recipes. They may need a bit more leavening.

* Use whole-grain bread or cracker crumbs in meatloaf.

* Try rolled oats or a crushed, unsweetened whole grain cereal as breading for baked chicken, fish, veal cutlets, or eggplant parmesan.

* Try an unsweetened, whole grain ready-to-eat cereal as croutons in salad or in place of crackers with soup.

* Freeze leftover cooked brown rice, bulgur, or barley. Heat and serve it later as a quick side dish.

Give up Laptops or Not!

Nowadays, more and more office people feel pains from backs, necks and shoulders. The most important reason is using computers for a long time.

According to market-research firm IDC, sales of laptop computers passed desktops in the U.S. for the first time ever this fall. That's bad news.　　

Laptops are inherently unergonomic--unless you're 2 feet tall, says physician Norman J. Marcus, a muscle-pain specialist in New York City.　　

When you work at a computer, the keyboard should be at elbow height, so your upper and lower arms form an angle of 90 degrees or more and your forearms are supported by armrests. The monitor should be roughly at eye level so you can lean back in a chair with back support.　　

But most users simply set their laptops on a desk or table. The keyboard is too high, which makes your arms reach up, your shoulders hunch and your wrists bend down. The monitor is too low, which pulls your head and neck forward and down and puts a strain on your back.　　

That's OK if you use your laptop occasionally, for short periods. But if you use one for hours at a stretch--as do millions of college students, business travelers, telecommuters, video-gamers and growing numbers of office workers--you're setting yourself up for muscle problems that can make your entire upper body hurt.

Ergonomics experts have warned about laptop problems for years--mostly in vain. People continue to abandon bulky desktops in favor of the ever-sleeker, lighter portables. And WiFi connections let us use laptops anywhere--in bed, on the floor--in all kinds of contorted positions.　　

People think, How can a mouse or a keyboard hurt you?'' says Thomas Caffrey, founder of Myofactors LLC, which does ergonomic consultations for factories and offices (including The Wall Street Journal). But poor technique can significantly overload the anatomy over time."　　

A wrong position can cause pain and stiffness in the neck, shoulders, back and arms, as well as headaches, pains in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and carpal tunnel syndrome, in which pressure on wrist nerves causes tingling and numbness in the hands.

Chinese Paper Cutting

Paper-cutting is a very distinctive visual art of Chinese handicrafts. It originated from the 6th century when women used to paste golden and silver foil cuttings onto their hair at the temples, and men used them in sacred rituals. During the Chinese Festivals like the New Year, paper cuttings are used to adorn entrances of buildings and homes to bring good luck and fortune.

They have special significance at festivals and on holidays. At the New Year's Festival for example, entrances are decorated with papercuttings which are supposed to bring good luck.Papercuttings used to be used as patterns, especially for embroidery and lacquer work.

Though small piece of paper is, it can reflect many aspects of life like prosperous atmosphere, healthy persons and harvest year, etc. Some is even drawned from stories representing common goals and expects to happiness.

The main cutting tools are simple: paper and scissors or an engraving knife, but clever and deft craftspeople are remarkably good at cutting in the theme of daily life. When you look at items made in this method carefully, you will be amazed by the true to life expressions of the figure's sentiment and appearance, or portrayal of natural plants and animals' diverse gestures. Patterns of chrysanthemum display the curling petals, pied magpies show their tiny feathers and others such as a married daughter returning to her parents' home, or young people paying a New Year call to their grandparents.

People find hope and comfort in expressing wishes with paper cuttings. For example: for a wedding ceremony, red paper cuttings are a traditional and required decoration on the tea set, the dressing table glass, and on other furniture. A big red paper character 'Xi' (happiness) is a traditional must on the newlywed's door. Upon the birthday party of a senior, the character 'Shou' represents longevity and will add delight to the whole celebration; while a pattern of plump children cuddling fish signifies that every year they will be abundant in wealth.

Chinese Lantern Festival 2010

The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival since Han Dynasty more than 2000 years ago. In the early Tan Dynasty (618-907AD), it was called the Shan-Yuan Festival, because of Taoism. in the late Tan Dynasty, it was called the Yuan-Xiao Festival. It was called Lantern Night in the Sun Dynasty (960-1297 A.D.). The Lantern Festival was used in Ching Dynasty (1644-1911 AD).

According to the Chinese calendar, the night of January 15th has the first full moon of the New Year and marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.

Chinese people traditionally celebrate this occasion with the Lantern Festival in which beautiful lanterns (and nowadays electric lights) of all shapes and sizes are lit, fireworks are set off, lantern riddles are devised and guessed and people eat Yuan Xiao together while appreciating the full moon.

The lantern displays can be found in the town center square and temples. Usually. there is the lantern competition at the temple. Traditional lanterns are made by paper. They can make the lantern tuning around by the heat circulation from the candle inside. Today the light of the lantern is from the electricity. People like to design lantern using zodiac animals, historical figures, saint and gods of Taoism or Buddhism. Certainly, the current year's animal symbol of the Chinese calendar is most popular subject. Using the computer tool today, they can design the lantern with different movements, the different colors of light and even using the laser light with special visual and sound effects.

Customs of the Lantern Festival

1. Eating Yuan Xiao
It is well known that Lantern Festival is also called Yuan-Xiao Festival. This is because Chinese eat Yuan-Xiao on this day. This custom originated from the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century, then became popular during the Tang and Song Dynasty.

Yuan-Xiao just like Tang-Yuan . They are made of sweet rice flour into sticky glutinous balls. They can be filled in with sesame, red-bean or peanut butter paste. Usually, they are severed with sugar water. But some people still make salty Tang-Yuan.

The difference between Yuan-Xiao and Tang-Yuan is the way they are made and cooked. This is because that Chinese in different geographic area prepare the food in different way. Chinese call the one they eat on Winter Solstice Day is Tang-Yuan. The one they eat on the Lantern festival is called Yuan-Xiao.

2. Lantern Riddles

Guessing lantern riddles is a popular addition to the Lantern Festival that appeared during the Tang Dynasty. As you would imagine, the game is to write riddles and have other people try to guess them. This is a popular social part of the Lantern festival and provides great exercise for the brain!

3 Best Nourishing Soup in Winter

It is the best time for us to nourish our bodies in Autumn and Winter all year. Although we are always in strong stress, we should not forget to nourish ourselves. Here I recommend you 3 nourishing soup, which make you have a nice winter.

Almond Pearl Tofu Soup
Effects: Relieving constipation, Whitening skin.
Materials: Large almond 10g, Tofu 150g, Pearl Powder 1 to 3g, glucose powder 15g.

Peanut Pettitoes Soup
Effects: moisturizing the skin and increase elasticity.
Materials: Peanut 80 g, Zhushou 300 g, yam 50 g
Seasoning: Salt, Onion, Ginger, Cooking wine
Shouwu Pigeon Eggs Soup
Efficacy: supplement liver and kidney, Hair Tonic
Material: fleece-flower root 5 g, Rehmannia 3 g, Pigeon Eggs 50 g, Mushroom 10 g.
Seasoning: Salt

Gourmet in Hongkong

Hongkong is the top fashion city, where integrate the western and eastern cultures, in the world. So you can enjoy the all different kinds of delicious food here.
Tutto by Habitu

All Italian dishes are the combination of the traditional style and the new ideas and elements, creating an innovative feature of Italian cuisine. The "Tutto" comes from "Total" in Italian, which means the restaurant can provide a wide variety of Italian food, Italian food culture to us all.
Bi Fengtang

Bi Fengtang (Typhoon Shelter) is a small harbor in the Hong Kong Victoria Harbor originally. There are mainly fishermen, whose specialty is seafood. They have the unique way of preparing a series of sea there. The "Ship Porridge" is one of the most popular dishes there.
Japanese-style Beef

The Japanese-style Beef is the speciality in Longhuang Restaurant in WTC More. The attraction of this restaurant is its location, where you could enjoy the beautiful scenery of Victoria Harbor.

Picking up Strawberries in Nanjing

Picking up strawberries, which is a kind of fruits that could make the spring close to us, with family is so popular in this spring. Put a strawberry at your lips, your will find that spring is fair for every one.

In Nanjing, Jiangxin island is one of the most popular place for visiters to pick up strawberries. On last weekend (the traditional festival - Qingming, which is for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime, and also to tend to the graves of departed ones.), many nanjing people go there to enjor the delicious fruits and spring.

In these strawberry bases, the average price is from 16 rmb/kilo to 40 rmb/kilo. In average, there are 1,500 kilo strawberries to be picked up in each base.