Six Sushi Rules we need to learn today

By Ti Jia Chi

Picture of types of sushi and wasabi

Many people nowadays can be eating sushi weekly or even daily. We always go to the sushi restaurant and sitting at the sushi bar, watching the sushi chef carefully slice a piece of toro (a type of fish) then slowly press it into a formed mound of rice in the palm of his hand. It is because there is an art to make sushi, there is an art to eat it.

Everything involves with sushi comes with years of training and tradition. So, people had done some research and consulted the sushi’s experts: sushi chef from Los Angeles. It is because we all just doing it wrong most of the time. Here are some rules and regulations of eating sushi.

Eat nigiri with chopsticks

Use your hands, not your chopsticks when eating nigiri (the slices of seafood over pressed rice). For those of us who finally feeling very proud after grasping a piece of sushi with chopsticks, this may come as a surprise, perhaps a disappointment. In Japan, it is traditional to eat nigiri with fingers whereas when eating sashimi, use chopsticks.

Eating miso soup before your sushi

Most Japanese restaurants in the United States serve miso soup as an appetiser before their meal. However, in Japan, it is opposite. As a way to help settle the food, a small bowl of warm miso soup is meant to be eaten last after your sushi. So, ask for it after the sushi.

Rubbing your chopsticks together

There is something about a pair of wooden chopsticks that makes people want to rub them together. But, remember do not do it especially in front of the sushi chef. “It’s very, very bad manners,” said Yoya Takahashi, executive chef of Hamasaku.

“It’s like if you rub your knife and fork together. Not good.”

Using too much of soy sauce

When dipping nigiri into the soy sauce, do not dunk the fish. Also, do not overpower it, just use enough soy sauce to complement the fish. Be sure to dip your nigiri fish-side down. The sushi rice also should not touch the soy sauce. This make sense when you think of all the time where you have had ask for a new sauce plate for new soy sauce because yours is already full of errant rice.

Using your phone during dinner

The temptation to Instagram, Tweet, Snapchat and Facebook every course of beautifully prepared omakase(a type of meal consisting of dishes selected by the chef) is always going to be there, but respect the chef in front of you and put the phone down. As we can see, some sushi restaurants will have “no cellphone” signs posted behind the bar. Some chef will even ask to leave if this situations happened.

Ordering anything but sushi at the sushi bar  

Take the Healthy Path to Happiness

By Lorina Toh Wan Ling

1. Smile More Often

Smile. Seriously, just do it. Smiling happens without much thought.  Your smile is a powerful tool. Most people think that we smile because we feel happy, but it can go the other way as well: we feel happy because we smile. Try it; it is not hard at all. Now hold it for a count of ten and deepen it. Telling yourself, “I am happy, totally blissfully happy”. Notice how your mood change begins to shift. Use your smile to begin your day and be grateful on every little goodness. Smile at everyone, everywhere. People are hardwired to respond to the facial expressions they encounter. If you glower at someone, that person will return a frown, but your smile will evoke a smile. You will feel happier too because a smile is contagious! You could make the world smile. So, do it often. 🙂

 

 

2.  Praise Yourself

Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit. You praise your children, friends and colleagues whenever they accomplish something praiseworthy. So why not give yourself a one-minute praising for your own achievements? Most of us are taught that it is not good to praise yourself, because it leads to arrogance. Quietly praising yourself is not arrogant. In fact, it is a healthy way to love yourself and keep yourself motivated. Just like any other praise, self-praise must be earned. You must have done something awesome before you praise yourself, otherwise it is completely meaningless. Telling yourself, “Wow! I did it! I accomplished the goal. I am proud of myself for doing that!” Praise yourself everyday! You deserve to give yourself a big hand. 🙂

 

3. Do Not Harbor a Grudge

We all have people in our lives we dislike and many of those people we just can not avoid. Holding on to anger, resentment, and hostility hurts you. Even if the inciting incident happened only yesterday, the person you are mad at may not even remember the incident, so what is the point? Do not give over your power to harbor a grudge. Find some ways to let them go. Take some times to read books offering specific strategies for dealing with anger issues. Take extremely good care of yourself, loving and respecting yourself enough to ensure that you do not flounder but rather flourish. 🙂

 

4. Get at Least Eight Hours of Sleep Each Night

Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. If you want to wake up happy with a hopeful, positive outlook, get adequate sleep. Your body needs it. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety. Without sufficient sleep, sleep researchers say, your mental function becomes impaired. Inadequate sleep has serious consequences. For example, it can negatively impact your daytime performance, causing lower levels of energy and duller thinking. So make sure you get adequate sleep everyday to enable you to wake up refreshed, energized, and in a good mood. 🙂

 

5. Change One of Your Faults

Everyone has faults, but that does not mean you are stuck with yours. Pick one you would like to change or eliminate. Take time to do a little self-examination with complete honesty. Do you frequently gossip? Do you have a quick temper and a short fuse? Do you procrastinate and avoid facing problems until they snowball out of control? Or, are you still blaming others for the things that are wrong with your life? Choose to fix what you do not like about yourself. See goodness in yourself and others. Allow your inner strength and joy to be at the heart of who you are. 🙂

 

6. Quiet Your Mind before Starting Your day

A positive mind is very important to start your day. Are your thoughts already racing through your to-do-list? If you do, spend ten minutes before you even get out of bed dong a mental check-in. Take deep breaths and feel anchored and centered in it. Quite your mind. Think positive thoughts, for example, how wonderful is the day and how wonderful are the people you would probably meet today. It is a healthy way to reduce your stress levels and will definitely increase your happiness. Dial out the negative emotions of bad dreams and the anxieties associated with the day ahead. Be grateful that you are still alive and relax into peace. The world can wait for ten minutes. 🙂

 

 

 

Apple’s Brand New iPhone SE

By: Lim Pitt Leng

Source: Cara McGoogan

On March 21, Apple introduced a brand new 4-inch iPhone SE. iPhone SE is the first 4-inch iPhone since year 2013 and it will be official launch on March 31.

As iPhone SE is the combination of the design of the iPhone 5s with internal components from the latest iPhone- iPhone 6s. Therefore iPhone SE described as the “most powerful 4-inch iPhone ever”.

Although iPhone SE looks alike like the previous iPhone- iPhone 5s from the external,however iPhone SE includes a color-matched inset stainless steel Apple logo and matte chamfered edges. Last but not least iPhone SE comes in  Silver, Space Gray, Gold, and Rose Gold.

Source: http://www.apple.com/iphone-se/

     iPhone SE built is using an A9 chip which iPhone 6s and 6s plus are using. iPhone SE will also have a longer battery life which up to 14 hours of talk time and 13 hours of Internet use.

iPhone SE have special features like it can shoots 4K video and capture 63-megapixel panoramas. Last but not least, iPhone SE can take Live Photos like iPhone 6s. iPhone SE’s FaceTime HD camera will have retina flash. This allows the display to flash three times brighter than usual phone. Therefore, it helps to shoot better selfies in low light situation and also at night.

Other iPhone SE features include first-generation Touch ID sensor and an NFC chip are available in the iPhone SE which enable Apple Pay functionality. The most appealing aspect of the iPhone SE is its low and affordable price. iPhone SE will be cheaper compare to other iPhone. iPhone SE starts at RM1949.00 for 16GB of storage and goes up to RM2449.00 for 64GB of storage.

12-YEAR-OLD HANGS HERSELF AFTER BEING TORMENTED ONLINE

By Wan Cai Mei

 A 12-year-old Florida girl leaps off a tower to her death. Two of her classmates are arrested,   accused of a modern rite of middle school: sending cruel, harassing texts.

At the concrete plant where leapt to her death, friends of Rebecca Sedwick have created a makeshift memorial. The stuffed and the bear doll left there reflect  is just how young that  she was – 12 years old.

“My daughter’s suicide came after months of bullying on social media and in person.Her mother, Tricia Norman said.

Tricia Norman says, “If you haven’t killed yourself yet, would you please just die?’ They got what they wanted.”

Norman said the bullying continued even after she complained to school officials.

“I told them Becca is being threatened. These girls saying they’re gonna jump her. And then, ‘Oh, well we’ll talk to them.’ And then she would still get jumped.”

Norman says that bullying to her daughter is just began last December. And she also moved her daughter into another school and even closed her Facebook account immediately.

But Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says the torment didn’t stop.

He said they still found  some of the quotes such as ‘You should die. Why don’t you go kill yourself?’.

Norman was unaware her daughter had recently started using new forms of social media, designed as easy ways for people to stay in touch.

“The bullying continued by different female juveniles on different social media outlets, such as Kik, Ask.fm, Instagram and Voxer,” Judd said.

Finally, it was too much and Rebecca are feel depressed. Rebecca texted a friend, saying, “I’m dead. I’m jumping. I can’t take it anymore.” On Monday, she climbed a tower at a concrete factory and jumped off.

Detectives later found even more ominous clues.

“We also found on Rebecca’s search engines or search questions … ‘How many Advil do you need to take to die?'”

The Sheriff’s Office is considering filing charges against the juveniles who sent the messages.

Missing boyfriend suspect for murder attempt of Malaysian student

By Revathi Manogaran

Jenny and her boyfriend Chang on their first date

KUALA LUMPUR: A mourning friend of Malaysian postgraduate student Jenny, who was said by her friends and the press to have committed suicide last Saturday in Taiwan, believes everything would have been different if she had not gone there.

Reeling in shock from the news, the friend, who only wanted to be known as Keith and was Jenny’s friend since secondary school, said he believed that she might have been suffering from depression with her studies, work and relationship.

The 24-year-old, a first-year postgraduate student at the National Taiwan Normal University, was found dead near some burnt charcoal in her room by a housemate on Saturday evening, according to Taiwan newspapers.

However, Taiwan police have a second thought on the suicide. It could be a murder attempt that led to a suicide. Investigations are being carried out on her housemates and her missing boyfriend who is believed to be on the run now. The body was sent for a postmortem. Police are looking for a suicide note or letter from Jenny that would help in the investigation.

Her boyfriend only known as Chang has been with Jenny for a year and studies at the same university, said Jenny’s housemate, Melinda. He could not be reached for the past couple of days as it is believed that he has switched off his phone.

Upon describing the stability of their relationship, Keith said just like any other relationships, Jenny and Chang had ups and downs. However, he recalled an incident happened a week ago, when they were having some drinks, Chang behaved violently that caused them to leave the area immediately.

“Chang was punching the table and was raising his voice to Jenny. It took a while till we calmed him down and we left the club immediately. Chang insisted on dropping Jenny home but afraid of the circumstances and what just happened, we decided to drop Jenny home together.”

“She worked part-time at the cafe to try to get her own living expenses and college fees,” said Keith.

“She was a very cheerful, happy person. A very nice girl, she liked to bring happiness to people around her. But she liked to hide her own personal things to herself,” said Melinda.

Jenny’s family, through the Federa­tion of Alumni Associations of Taiwan Universities in Malaysia, had requested for her body and privacy while they handled her funeral arrangements.

5 BANDS YOU MUST DEFINITELY LISTEN TO

By Anis Majida

It is no secret that music plays an important part in our lives and I love the idea of constantly being exposed to new materials. I think it is essential for we often indirectly communicate through music and the more vary music we listen to the more we are bridged. To help you with that, here are five bands that you must have in your iTunes if you do not already.

 

1. Oh Wonder

 

Oh Wonder consists of Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony west. They are an alt-pop duo based in London. It is not exactly confirmed whether they are dating or not but they are certainly adorable together. They have been receiving a lot of attention lately and it is not for nothing. All of their songs are so sincere and relatable. It is almost baffling how connected I feel to two strangers that I have only found out about just earlier this year. There is just something appealing about them and their music that I’m sure they will captivate you in no time.

 Starter tracks: Plans, Heart Hope,Without You.

2. The Wombats

 

 

 

The Wombats are an English rock band. The band comprises Matthew Murphy, Daniel Haggis and Tord Øverland Knudsen. Previously, we know that the boys are witty, goofy and full of charms. However, it does not seem to be the case anymore.Their recent music is somewhat a blend of being jumpy, drowsy and desperate but trust me when I say the elements work miraculously well together. The Wombats are edgy, modern and simply smell like youth. They put emotions in their music that you would want to hear in a long drive as you put down the window while the wind brushes your hair.

Starter tracks: Emoticons, Greek Tragedy, Pink Lemonade.

 

3. MAMAMOO

 

Although not exactly a band (they identify themselves as a girl group), I could not exactly leave Mamamoo out of the list. Sure, it may seem out of place but please let me make make my case. Mamamoo is made up of four girl crush worthy girls from South Korea; Moonbyul, Solar, Wheein and Whasa. They come in demure pastel colours and kick ass like nobody’s business. Their vocals are powerful and their raps are almost flawless! Most importantly, their songs are just full of fun and scream the endless amount of attitude the girls possess. You definitely want to party with your girlfriends whilst listening and gleefully dance to their songs.

Starter tracks : You’re The Best, Taller Than You, The Piano Man

 

4.The Pretty Reckless

 

Remember Jenny? Dan Humphrey’s little sister from ‘Gossip Girl’? We never truly know what happen to her but one thing for sure, Upper East Side is definitely not where she belongs.Taylor Momsen (the actress who plays Jenny) is a goddess on stage! She sings with her band and they call themselves ‘The Pretty Reckless’ and people have no reason to not be obsessed with them. Taylor sings so beautifully to equally beautifully written music. They are dark, rebellious, and will make you feel like you smoke for breakfast. Taylor Momsen is unquestionably too cool for school even if that means it is the same school that Blair goes to.

Starter tracks: Cold Blooded, Heaven Knows, Make Me Wanna Die

 

5. Black Honey

 

 Unfortunately, there is not much that can be found about the band from the net. I’m ashamed to say that I actually struggled to find their names (and by struggling I mean it takes me more than a couple clicks). Their Facebook page suggests that there are five members whilst their google images on the other hand only offer pictures of four gorgeous specimens. (How cute is Dakora Clayton – their lead vocalist?) But why does the lack of information matter when their music is hands down mind-blowing! I’ve said this again and again to my friends and I’m going to say it again here; this band is a gem! They are just very fresh yet something about them echoes the classics that I very much crave. At times it even reminds me of Lana del Rey but dare I say it is also much better.

Starter tracks: Corrine, Teenagers, Sleep forever

 

I understand if you say all the bands listed could not be anymore different from one another but give them a listen, open your mind and believe me you would enjoy every single of them. Music is supposed to be fun and expressive and I deem these bands could be both.

Thousands of young people may experience homelessness after welfare cuts

By Poh Hui Xian

ITV’s Tonight programme exposed that young people will be forced to experience homelessness after the government’s proposal of benefit cuts.

A survey from ITV involving more than 200 charitable institutions showed that, 60 of them might face closure in the coming years. These organizations come together to help more than 6,000 young adults every week.

This is mainly because the Government have decided that, young adults aged 18 to 21 will no longer eligible for housing benefits starting from April 2017. While the Government also proposed to limit the amount for social housing residents of any age could claim.

Charities like Changing Lives, which help young adults who are homeless, say those welfare are vital for homeless young adults to live their life.

However, Marcus Jones MP, the local government minister revealed to the show that the rate of homeless young people is declining by 14 percent since 2011.

“We’ve put in additional money – £139m is going to a number of charities and different organisations to help reduce homelessness.”, he added.

A research by Centrepoint charity reckons around 80,000 cases of homelessness occurs among young people every year. During 2015, the charity saw 136,000 people came through their doors in England and Wales because of homelessness or at risk, thus they expect the figures may rise again this year.

According to a spokesperson from Centrepoint, the Government’s consideration of excluding several groups who would impact by the cut, poses a danger to large number of immature people in the means of safety concern by forcing them to live on the streets.

Most homeless young people experienced hardship in family relationships. (Photo credit: Gymtopia)

It is already extremely hard for a young person to prove they have nowhere to turn when family relationship breakdown is the major reason of homelessness among young adults.

He combined that very less families are prepared to recognize that they are reluctant to accommodate their own children.

The benefit cuts will threaten the chances of young people to break away from homelessness, and to have stable shelters and jobs.

And Kate Webb, head of policy at Shelter, said:

“We’re ripping the safety net away from people who need it. We are going to end up with an increasingly divided society between a lucky few who are able to go on the housing ladder and the rest of us who are increasingly left out in the cold.”

Claimants who own a child or are deemed specifically vulnerable are the only exceptions to the new housing welfare regulations.