St Anne's Feast Day 2016 , Bukit Mertajam

It has been so long since I went for the St Anne's Church Feast Day, Bukit Mertajam in end of July and finally I have decided to blog about it.

Over the years this St Anne's Church in Bukit Mertajam has attracted hundreds of  thousands of Catholics  and other devotees from across the country to celebrate the feast day. The 188 years old church has become a tourist attraction as one of the country's largest religious celebration.

This year the  actual feast day of St Anne was on 26 July 2016 but the celebration lasted 10 days.  I have been attending the celebration since year 2014.  This year  I stayed for 2 nights at iconic hotel to participate in the celebration.  The 10 days celebration turned Bukit Mertajam town into a carnival like atmosphere with lots of stalls selling items and food outside the church.

It was reported that more than 100,000 pilgrims attended the Saturday mass on the 30th July.   With many of them are Hindu and Buddhist devotees.  They came all the way to seek the blessing of St Anne.  Some were here to expressed their gratitude and offer thanksgiving who had their wishes and petitions granted.  They pray with lighted candles, they offer candles and flowers to St Anne. Some made donations honor of St Anne.

St Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ. As a grandmother and mother of Mary,  Saint Anne became the patron of unmarried women,  housewives and for childless couples. She has been known as an intercessor of healing in particular,  especially in marriage and family.

The mass and candlelight procession was celebrated by Bishop Sebastian Francis. After the mass I joined the crowd for the candlelight procession which took place within the church compound.   The float bearing the statue of St Anne was carried by devotees,  followed by altar servers and flower girls lead the procession,  carrying lanterns,  flags and crosses. 

The mass was attended by the Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, together with some of his fellow members of Parliament.  

It was such a wonderful event filled with joy and excitement.  I will try to come back every year to attend the feast day celebration.

Ripening Bananas Using Calcium Carbide

Many of us love to eat bananas but do you know that the bananas we eat are harmful to our body?  The bananas available in the market are forced ripe by dipping in water mixed with calcium carbide.

Calcium carbide used for artificially ripening fruit.  When calcium carbide comes into contact with water it produces acetylene gas that hastened.  The gas get absorbed inti the bananas and within 24 hours all the bananas will be ripened at the same time.

Many of the banana vendors and farmers are looking to make more profit they do not care for the health of the people and the process they carry out to ripen the bananas might not exactly be up to the mark.  Or the banana vendors are not that literate and so they do not know the exact amount of carbide to be used for a bunch of bananas. As a result they end up using excess quantity of carbide which gas absorbed into the bananas and ultimately enters to our stomach.

The use of calcium carbide to ripen bananas is extremely hazardous to the human body as it also contains traces of arsenic and phosphorus.   These chemicals cause a variety of diseases, some of the I'll effects,  they are known hormone disruptors leading to an increase in the number of hormonal diseases.

The use of calcium carbide is not only toxic to consumers,  it may also be harmful to those who handle it.  It affects the neurological system, resulting in headache , dizziness and etc.

The practice of ripening fruits using calcium carbide us banned in most countries but it is freely and wipely used in Malaysia.   Calcium carbide is so easily to get at the rural shops at a very cheap price.

How to identify banana ripened using carbide calcium

• Bananas which are ripened naturally are dark yellow and there are small black or brown flecks here and there on the bananas and the stems are black. 
• While those which are forced ripe with calcium carbide are lemon yellow and their stems are green and the color are clear yellow without any brown flecks.   A hand of bananas that having a uniform yellow are most likely to have been artificially ripened.
  

So next time you buy bananas,  make sure you select the naturally ripened ones. 

Leaning clock tower of Teluk Intan

Last Saturday me and my parents visited Teluk  Intan.  One of the amazing places we visited was the Leaning  Clock Tower of Teluk Intan.

It is located in the centre of the town, between the plain rectangular meeting, namely Jalan Pasar and Jalan Ah Cheong.  Built in 1885, the tower is slanted leftward as you can see from the above picture.   The three storey building has 110 stairs.  If view from the outside of the building,  it seems to have 7 storeys.  The tower  made of stone and wood.  There is one water tank located on level three.  The tower had a clock at the top.  This tower was originally used as a water tower supplying water to the residents in case of drought and also reporting the time to the town folks.

I was told that the factor of its leaning is due to the building structure built on soft soil and overloading of the tank containing water at that time.

Today the Leaning  Clock Tower of Teluk Intan has become a  tourist attraction and is still a functioning clock tower.

Grommet Curtains

What do you think of the this grommet curtains?   I made them myself! 😉

I have never learned to use a sewing machine.  I started sewing because I wanted to sew beautiful dresses and that's what I did.  I took up sewing class for beginners.  After i had picked up the basic skills in a couple of months I decided to make a grommet curtains myself.

The thought of making grommet curtains kind of scared me at first because I have never sewn curtains before.  It's not easy in the beginning with the fabric measuring, cutting but eventually I did it with the help of the online tutorial videos.  So grommet curtains weren't nearly as complicated as I thought.   I really love my work because they hang so evenly and offer a modern luxurious look.

Crab rasam

Rasam is the most simple and easy to cook soup.  You can drink it as a soup or have it with plain rice.  This is my first time cooking rasam  and it came out very tasty.

Easy Crab Rasam recipe
Ingredients :
Sea flower crab - 1
Rasam powder 3 tbs
Tamarind - small gooseberry size
Garlic - 1 clove
Onion - 1 (chopped)
Tomato - 1 (chopped )
Sugar - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder 1/8 tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - 2 tbs
Coriander leaves,  chopped 1 tbs
Curry leaves - 8 springs
1 tbsp  black mustard seeds

1. Soak tamarind in hot water for 20 minutes and extract it's juice with 3 cups of water 
2. Heat wok and fry tomato and onion with 1 tbs spoon of oil.  Add tamarind extract, Turmeric, half the coriander leaves and crab
3. Bring to boil and add the Rasam powder,  salt and sugar. Turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes 
4. In a separate saucepan,  heat the oil and fry mustard seeds and curry leaves until the leaves turn brown
5. Add to the simmering soup.  Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.  Enjoy with hot steaming rice.  

My feng shui fish tank

According to feng shui expert, placing a fish tank somewhere in your home is a great way of activating execllent feng shui luck and hence optimizing wealth. 

Below is my small feng shui fish tank. 😊

Eyebrow threading

Eyebrows are one of the most important features that you can control on your face.   Which method you prefer: waxing, threading or tweezing.  All of these are great options and some techniques work better for some and not for others.

Eyebrow threading is an ancient hair-removal technique practiced for centuries.   Threading is practice of shaping the eyebrows using a cotton thread and allows control when shaping  brows to ensure perfectly sculpted eyebrows.

I find that threading is better than waxing and tweezing:

• The hair grows back finer and slower
• Less pain compared to other methods 
• Helps to get a precise and defined eyebrow shape according to your facial features

How long the threading last?  Depending on your hair type.   Full regrowth can be 2 to 3 weeks.

YouTube video by SuperPrincessjo 

Hello

Hi! My name is Stephanie.   I have finally decided to start the lifestyle blog I have been dreaming about for over a year.  I will be sharing my latest fashion, travel, recipe finds, food,  sewing, clothing, beauty tips and etc...

I hope you will come back and visit me.😊