London:Fish & Chips

Fish and chips is Britain's national dish. According to a travel guide book, it was introduced to London by Murano Jews. It has since been Britain's fast-food since the mid-19th century. Britons consume some 300 million fish and chips meals per year. Unlike crisypy french fries, the English chips are limp but they burst open with flavor when eaten with salt and malt vinegar.

photo: fish & chips (Rock & Sole Plaice, London)

Our first meal in London, thus, has to be fish and chips! After checking into the hotel, we went to join the huge crowd outside Buckingham Palace to see the Queen, who was celebrating her official birthday. After that, we head for our fish and chips at Rock & Sole Plaice (47 Endell St., near Covent Garden). It was recommended in the guidebook. We met another couple from Singapore at the restaurant. I could recognized they were Singaporeans by their Singlish!

As we were not that hungry, my wife and I shared one order with an extra side dish of mushy peas (yummy, my favorite!). For the fish, we had a few choices, such a cod or haddock. We went for the later on the recommendation of the waiter as well as the guidebook which quoted a local saying, "haddock is for heroes, cod for zeroes". Overall, it was a good meal, but we agreed that we had better fish and chips in the past. It was nevertheless an enjoyable experience eating "al fresco", taking in the sights, sound and fresh air.

reference: Lonely Planet

Hanoi, Vietnam

"The Vietnamese nation was born among the lagoons and marshes of Red River Delta around 4000 years ago, and most of its independent existence has been ruled from Hanoi, Vietnam's comparatively small, elegant capital lying in the heart of the northern delta." -Lonely Planet

photo: Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi (Mar 2010)

My wife and I visited Hanoi last week. The air tickets came courtesy of the airmiles redeemed from SIA. Although Halong Bay was highly recommended as a-must-see sight off Hanoi, we decided we wanted to have a relaxing itinerary; literally doing nothing, except to "jalan-jalan and makan" (malay word for "walking and eating").

We stayed in the bustling Old Quarter, the city's commercial heart. As noted in a guide book, Hanoi is bursting at the seams. Almost everyone else zips on motorbikes. From a conversation with a local, I understand that the ratio of the no. of motorbikes to the no. of adults in Hanoi is 1.3!

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Walking on the narrow street in the Old Quarter is a challenge for visitors from places with orderly traffic system, such as Singapore. Everything spillovers onto the road, as the pavements are often occupied with motorbikes. Pedestrians are, thus, forced to walk on the narrow & tumultous streets, competing with the motor vehicles, each honking their own way thru' without any regard for traffic rules. The air is distinctively polluted with traffic fumes and dust, evident by some locals wearing masks.

photo: our favorite pho in Hanoi

Our main agenda in Hanoi, as stated earlier, was walking and eating. However, since walking on the Hanoi streets is not pleasant, the highlight of our trip was reduced to eating! But, afraid that our stomach may not be strong enough, we were careful not patronize any of the stove-and-stools food stalls or street kitchens scattered throughout the city.

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During the day, we went hunting for "famous" local eateries and sampling their specialties, such as the ubiquitous pho (beef) noodle soup; and bun cha (char-grilled pork served on cold rice noodles with minty salad greens). Other Vietnamese specialities we tried include: banh cuon, a snack consisting of almost transparent rice-flour pancakes stuffed with minced pork and black mushrooms (very similar to "chee cheong fun" commonly eaten in Chinese dim sum) ; cha ca, fried fish with a lot of fresh dill and eaten with cold rice noodles. For those who may be turned off by the unpleasant surroundings of the local food joints, Quan An Ngon would be a good option to sample upmarket street food. It is essentially an an open-air food court, frequented by both locals and tourists, with a more pleasant environment.

For dinner, we opted for a more western setting of spanish and italian food. We ate at the restaurants around St Joseph's Cathedral, which is a stone throw from our hotel, Golden Lake Hotel. The tapas, pizza and wine were ok but relatively expensive as compared to the dirt cheap prices we paid for lunch at the local eateries. On Sunday, Mai & her family treated us to an international buffet at an upscale restaurant. Located in a wealthy suburb in the south, it is close to a big mall in Hanoi. Effectively, there are two sides of the world in Hanoi - one for the ordinary folks, where you pay in Vietnamese Dong, and the other for the wealthy locals and international tourists

Below are some photos we took on the trip;

“The real test of friendship is:
Can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy together those moments of life that are utterly simple? They are the moments people look back on at the end of life and number as their most sacred experiences.”

- Eugene Kennedy

New Year Superstitions

“a belief, not based on human reason or scientific knowledge, that future events may be influenced by one's behavior in some magical or mystical way."

... that is how SUPERSTITION is defined on the wiktionary. In a much stronger tone, Charles Swindoll (Come before Winter..., 1985) wrote, “conceived in the mind of ignorance, superstition cultivates insecurity and sends a legion of structural cracks through our character. It feeds on exaggerated, self-made lies which grow so thick that the boughs hide common sense and worse, God.”

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Whether we like it or not, we find superstition everywhere. In sports, professional players testify how they go through strange warm-up rituals to get properly "psyched up" for a game....

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Most would agree that the Chinese are generally a superstitious lot. As the Chinese New Year approaches, there are many superstitions that are believed and practiced for good luck. One example is the color red which is considered to bring luck. The practices of tossing of “yu sheng” or exchanging mandarin oranges, by virtue of their sound (pronunciation), are also associated with good fortune and wealth. On the other hand, washing hair or sweping the floor on the first day of the Chinese New Year should be avoided as this is believed to wash (or sweep) away the good luck. Similarly, do not use scissors or knives as it is believed to cut off good fortune and wealth. And the list goes on and on…

Over time, these superstitions have become a tradition. Just as a foreigner in Singapore observed, “While many Chinese people today may not believe in these do's and don'ts, these traditions and customs are still practiced. These traditions and customs are kept because most families realize that it is these very traditions, whether believed or not, that provide continuity with the past and provide the family with an identity.” Source:

http://wuerstelstand.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-year-superstitions.html

Recall that at the beginning of this year, we celebrated the New Year in the deep south of America. Not unlike the Chinese, we learnt that the Americans also have some interesting superstitions pertaining to what food to eat to bring good luck on January 1. In particular, U.S. Southerners eat pork, black-eyed peas and collard greens (served with rice and cornbreads) on New Year’s Day because they are supposed to bring good luck and prosperity in the coming year. We learnt of this interesting traditions when we visited Stacy Sirmans’ family on New Year’s day:

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Because of their resemblance to coins, the black-eyed peas are considered lucky.

Collard greens being green, is associated with the US dollars, thus, symbolizing more money. The collard greens, despite its uninviting look, tasted surprisingly good (like the chinese 'mui choi') that we went for 2nd helping.

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Pork is also considered lucky because pigs eat their food moving forward, thus eating pork on New Year’s will assure the year ahead will be bountiful.

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Hog jowls (left) are a tough cut of pork that are typically smoked and cured, and taste similar to bacon, except more fatty. Note: The jowl comes from behind the jaw of the pig, weighing a pound and a half at most.

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Thompson Seedless Grapes

Grapes, however, are the very picture of fragility: nothing more than thin-skinned little bags of juice.

In her book, How to Pick A Peach, Russ Parsons described "table grapes are essentially nothing but guilt-free snack foods – conveniently packaged sugar water that allows you to feel virtuous while you eat it."

The dominant table grapes today are varieties such as Thompson Seedless, Ruby Seedless, Crimson Seedless and Flame Seedless. Their primary selling point is self-explanatory: seedless. It’s hard to be a popular convenience food when people have to interrupt their snacking to spit out the pips.

photo: Vineyard @ Rhine Valley, Germany (2009)
Originally called the Sultanina Bianca, Thompson Seedless was popularized in the US by William Thompson, a Californian nurseryman in the late 19th century. Today the Thompson seedless grape is the most popular table grape as well as one of the most versatile. It is also used for juice and inexpensive wine and accounts for 95 percent of the raisins produced in California.

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Properly grown and matured to full ripeness, the Thompson Seedless has startlingly good flavor – a pleasingly flowery quality. The problem is that you can rarely find a fully mature Thompson Seedless in the market. When ripe, the variety has a tendency to ‘shatter’ – that is the grapes fall off the bunch. This is inconvenient for the growers, the retailer and the consumer. And so Thompson Seedless are usually picked when they are still green. At this point they can be sweet, but they are never much more.

The Thompson Seedless is coddled like some kind of exotic bonsai tree. Not only are the vines trained to grow along specially designed trellises, but they are also meticulously pruned to manage the right number of leaves, the right number of shoots and the right number of grape clusters. And that is just the start.

photo: Vineyard in Melbourne (2005)

Left on its own devices, the Thompson Seedless vines produces grapes that are quite small, particularly when picked early. To get around that, farmers have come up with some innovative techniques to increase grape size. Between girding and gibbing, a farmer can increase the size of an individual grape by as much as a third.

Girdling – which involves cutting a ring in the bark all the way around the base of the vine just as the grapes begin to emerge (and often again as the grapes begin to gain color). This interrupts the flow of nutrients to the leaves and concentrates them in the fruit.

Gibbing – applying gibberellic acid, a naturally occurring plant growth regular extracted from a cultivated fungus. It increases the size of individual grapes and also stretches out grape clusters, allowing better air circulation and thus reducing disease.

source: How to Pick a Peach

Through The Years

"Through the years, you've never let me down
You've turned my life around, the sweetest days I've found
I've found with you ... through the years."

My wife celebrated her birthday last weekend. We had a quiet dinner at Chalk, a supposedly french/italian restaurant located at an old school compound at Mt. Sophia. I picked the restaurant after reading the following review on the HungryGoWhere website:

"Chalk is definately a hidden gem located on Mt Sophia. Awesome food, awesome people and awesome environment. Great value for the quality food you are getting and it is definately an experience that's worth spending every penny on."

I booked a table in the air-con section, but we decided to sit outside on the deck as the evening was quite cooling. Ambience wise, it was pleasant and nice. The service staff was also very friendly. But the food was just average... In total, we spent $83... for seafood bisque ($15), rocket salad ($8), duck confit ($29), 12" pizza ($18) and fondant cake ($13). But we did enjoyed each other company; away from the hustle and bustle of daily routine.

In celebration, I dedicated the song "Through The Years" sung by Kenny Rogers for her. The words are very meaningful for a couple who have been through the years:

I can't remember when you weren't there

When I didn't care for anyone but you
I swear we've been through everything there is

Can't imagine anything we've missed

Can't imagine anything the two of us can't do

Through the year, you've never let me down

You turned my life around, the sweetest days I've found

I've found with you ... through the years

I've never been afraid, I've loved the life we've made

And I'm so glad I've stayed, right here with you

Through the years

I can't remember what I used to do

Who I trusted whom, I listened to before

I swear you've taught me everything I know

Can't imagine needing someone so

But through the years it seems to me

I need you more and more

Through the years, through all the good and bad

I knew how much we had, I've always been so glad

To be with you ... through the years

Its better everyday, you've kissed my tears away
As long as its okay, Ill stay with you

Through the years

Through the years, when everything went wrong

Together we were strong, I know that I belonged
Right here with you ... through the years

I never had a doubt, we'd always work things out

I've learned what loves about, by loving you

Through the years

Through the years, you've never let me down

You've turned my life around, the sweetest days I've found

I've found with you ... through the years

Its better everyday, you've kissed my tears away

As long as its okay, Ill stay with you

Through the years!

Recipe: Apple Pie

It has been a while since I last shared a recipe on this blog. Last weekend, we invited a few church friends to our home for dinner. I cooked prawn noodles whilst my wife decided to bake a traditional apple pie for dessert. Visit for the prawn mee recipe:

http://happyvalley-prof.blogspot.com/2008/04/prawn-noodle-hae-mee.html)

Here is the recipe (serves 8) she followed from a cookbook:

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Ingredients: 2 lb (900 g) tart eating apples (Granny Smith) - peeled, cored & sliced, 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 115 g caster sugar, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 45 g butter, 1 egg yolk.
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For the pastry: 225 g plain flour, 1 tsp salt, 170g vegetable fat, 4-5 tbsp iced water, 1 tbsp quick-cooking tapioca.

1. Preheat a 450*F/230*C oven.

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2. For the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in the fat until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

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3. Sprinkle in the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing lightly with your fingers or with a fork until the pastry forms a ball.

4. Divide the pastry into half and shape each half into a ball. One a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the balls to a circle about 12 in (30 cm) diameter.

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5. Use it to line a 9 in (23 cm) pie tin, easing the dough in and being careful not to stretch it. Trim off the excess pastry and use the trimmings for decorating. Sprinkle the tapioca over the bottom of the pie shell.
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6. Roll out the remaining pastry to 1/8 in (3mm) thickness. With a sharp knife, cut out 8 large leaf-shapes. Cut the trimmings into small leaf shapes. Score the leaves with the back of the knife to mark veins.

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7. In a bowl, toss the apples with the lemon juice, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon. Fill the pastry case with the apple mixture and dot with the butter or margarine.

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8. Arrange the large pastry leaves in a decorative pattern on top. Decorate the edge with small leaves.

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9. Mix together the egg yolk and cream abd brush over the leaves to glaze them.

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10. Bake for 10 mins, then reduce the heat to 350*F/180*C and continue baking until the pastry is golden brown, 35-40 mins.

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Let the pie cool in the tin, set on a wire rack.

Serve with ice cream.

An Apple A Day ....

“The apple served as the American grape,

cider the American wine”.

Michael Pollan, Botany of Desire

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Do you know that this is actually a marketing slogan dreamed up by apple growers who were concerned that "temperance" by puritan Christians would cut into their sales. .

During our sabbatical in the US, we enjoyed drinking apple cider - 100% pressed cloudy apple juice! You could either drink it cold or hot. I learnt to like the drink so much so that it was the only food item that I brought back (two boxes, each containing 10 sachets of powdered apple cider) to Singapore.

In the olden days, apples were something people drank. Cider was the fate of most apples grown in America. Allowed to ferment for a few weeks, pressed apple juice yields a mildly alcoholic beverage with about half the strength of wine. For something stronger, the cider can be distilled into brandy or simply frozen; the intensely alcoholic liquid that refuses to ice is called applejack. Hard cider frozen to -30* yields an applejack of 66%. visit this blog has a good write-up & pictures on the tedious process involved in making apple cider: http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/press/making_cider.html

In the 1800s, virtually every homestead in America had an orchard from which literally thousand gallons of cider were made every year. In rural areas cider took the place not only of wine and beer but of coffee and tea, juice, and even water.

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Indeed, in many places, cider were consumed more freely than water, even by children, since it was arguably the healthier – because more sanitary – beverage. Cider became indispensable to rural life that even those who rallied against alcohol made an exception for cider, and the early prohibitionists succeeded mainly in switching drinkers over from grain to apple spirits. Eventually, they would attack cider directly and launch their campaign to chop down apple trees.

The apple growers then came together to save the industry. Thanks in part to the PR slogan: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, Americans began to eat rather than drink their apples. Around the same time, refrigeration made possible a national market for apples, and the industry got together and decided it would be wise to simplify that market by planting and promoting only a small handful of brand name varieties.

Two qualities counted: Beauty and sweetness. Beauty in an apple meant a uniform redness; and sweetness in an apple meant sugariness, plain and simple. And so, the Red and Golden Delicious, began to dominate the market... Apple breeders lean heavily to the genes of these two apples, which can be found in most of the popular apples developed in the recent years, including the Fuji and the Gala.

Hence, it wasn’t until this century that the apple acquired its reputation for wholesomeness!

The identification of the apple with the notions of health and wholesomeness turns out to be a modern invention, part of a public relations campaign dreamed up by the apple industry in the early 1900s to reposition a fruit that the Women’s Christian Temperance Union had declared war on.

photos: taken in State College (2008)

source: Botany of Desire (2001)

Seoul Food

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, author of 'Lord of the Rings' (1892-1973)

We recently visited Seoul and San Francisco. For this trip, we focused mainly on meeting people, taking "free and easy" strolls and "makan" ("eating" in malay). Actually, we note a huge contrast in the eating culture in these two cities!

Whilst the food in San Francisco was good, both my wife and I enjoyed our "eating experience" in Seoul much better. Also, in Seoul, our meals cost less than S$30 for two (often, much lower than that if we eat street food, which I really enjoyed). But in San Francisco, we spent nearly US$150 for a meal for two in a posh local restaurant, which specializes in California seafood cuisine. Whist tips are discouraged in Seoul (yet we get very good service), tips of 15-20% are expected in the US.

“For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink..." Matthew 25:35.

Collecting Souvenirs (from our travel):

photo: Minneapolis, US (2005)

In the past, we collected silver tea spoon from each city we visited. We even had a special cabinet built when we moved to our current house to display the spoons. But we have since stopped buying spoons on our travel as we have ran out of display place.

Nowadays, we will just go to the local bookshop to buy a cookbook (in english) on the local dishes. For this trip, we managed to buy an interesting book on Practical Korean Cooking. It costs us only S$25 for a hard bound copy. I just checked that Amazon is selling it at close to US$ 50!

Below is a slide show of the delightful feast one can get in Korea.

Remember:
"It is the food which you furnish to your mind that determines the whole character of your life" - Emmet Fox

Seoul Express

Tomorrow, we will be flying into South Korea, where we will be spending four days roaming the colorful streets of Seoul. To travel from the airport into the city center, the guide book suggested riding the express bus which will take approximately 1 ½ hours to reach our hotel.

We will be staying at the Hotel Lotte, which is ideally located for tourists like us.
This will be our second visit to Seoul. Our first visit was in 2002, when Japan and South Korea co-hosted the FIFA World Cup. I vividly recall that our visit coincided with the football world cup and everyone in the street was dressed in red, in support of the South Korean football team who fared very well to reach the semifinals. We also visited the largest church in the world, Yoido Full Gospel Church, with about 830,000 members.

As we have done most of the official sights in our last visit, such as the palaces and museums, our current visit will largely be free and easy. Our main agenda is to stroll the streets of Myeong-dong (a bustling yet compact fashion and shopping area across our hotel). We have also penciled in a visit to the traditional Namdaemun market to enjoy the hustly and bustle of Dynamic Korea. We have also arranged to meet up with a former graduate student, Sonya, for a traditional Korean dinner on Dec 30.

Feast on the delightful Korean cuisine: Top on my menu is to patronize one of the barbeque restaurants where slices of beef (bulgogi) are grilled in front of you and then eaten by wrapping them in lettuce and sesame leaves. My wife fancy samgyetang (a whole chicken stuffed with glutinous rice boiled and served in ginseng broth) and bibimbap (a mixture of rice, vegetables and meat with an egg on top). Of course, a Korean meal would not be complete without the assortment of kimchi side dishes.

This year, we will doing the countdown in Seoul. Come to think about it, we have not really watched the countdown in Singapore for a few years already. The last time we were in Singapore during the new year eve was in 2005. Last year, we were in Pennsylvania (2007); the year before that, it was in Tokyo (2006); and in Los Angeles (2004) and New York (2002).

On January 1, 2009, we will be departing Seoul for San Francisco, where I have two research papers on the ASSA meeting programme. We will be spending five days in San Francisco. We will reach home on Jan 7.

We wish you a Happy 2009!

Shanghai Visit

Here is a short account of our recent trip to Shanghai, or should it be call Shang-high! A city of purpose and ambition, it now boasts of the tallest building in the world, albeit for a short while. I had a free day on Monday (Dec 8) and decided to visit a few places I have marked out earlier from the travel guides.

photo: Gateway

Morning: We started out with a quiet breakfast at the hotel (Ramada Plaza, Gateway). The international buffet spread was decent, but for most of the days, I just took porridge and some fruits.

Mid-morning: We headed for the Shanghai Science & Technology Park. We took the subway, which costs 4 RMB to travel in the central area on lines 1 and 2. Our main purpose was not visit the science museum, but rather to stroll amongst the shops at the basement. We were told that a number of the proprietors which specialize in cheap counterfeits of famous brands at the notorious Xiangyang market (which is now closed for good - victim of a crackdown by authorities on rampant piracy that had tarnished China’s international image) have set up their shops here. After some haggling with a vendor, I walked away with two new leather belts for RMB 90 (approx. S$20).

Noon: We then took the subway to the People's Square, where we stroll through the pleasant, tranquil greent space of Renmin Park (left photo). We then wander along the narrow street of Wujiang Lu, which is filled with tiny eateries and holes in the walls selling street-side food such as fried dumplings and bbq meat on skewers.

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Photo below: It’s easy to spot this Shanghai institution, despite the street being crowded with food stalls – look for lines that snake across Wujiang Lu. At Yang’s, they only make one thing: shengjianbo, a delicious shallow-fried dumpling top with sesame and chives that is crisp on the bottom and fluffy on top. Inside lies ginger-tinged ground pork and flavorful soup. It falls between a potsticker and a steamed bun; cooked over high heat in huge, flat pans, they’re topped with a large wood lid that allows the bun to steam during the frying process.

Mid Noon: We stopped by at the Westgate Mall to have a light snack. We patronized KFC and a noodle joint at the Food Republic foodcourt.

Photo: Dine at Dollar Shop with Marilyn and Chris.

Night: We met up with a Singaporean couple working in Shanghai for a steamboat dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. We waited in the queue for > 30 mins, but the wait was worth it. The food was good and the service was excellent. I wanted to tip the waitress but she flatly rejected it. I later read that in most restaurants, particularly in Chinese restaurants, tipping is nto a publicly accepted practice, or even disapproved, in Shanghai.

During our trip to Shanghai, we also managed to catch up with two of my former students, Luke and Steven, who are working in the real estate sector in China. We met for dinner at Crystal Jade restaurant at the Gateway Mall.

Below is a slidshow of the pictures we took in Shanghai.

Food Haven

Home sweet home!

We arrived home on June 18, and what a busy two weeks it has been for my wife and me. Well, what else could we expect? This is, afterall, busy Singapore! In the last two weeks, we got contractors to paint the house, dry clean the curtains, service the air conditioners, and repair some water seepage problems. Some defects are still outstanding though. I have also started work on July 1 and spent the first few days repacking my office and clearing out a lot of "old" stuff. In between, we managed to find time to look around for a car, which will be ready for our collection coming Monday. Thus far, we have been relying on Singapore's very own BMW, i.e. Bus, Mrt (subway) and Walk.

Our immediate meal upon reaching home
- Fong Seng nasi lemak

When we were preparing to come home, we were often asked this question, "what food did you miss most during your one year in the States?" Then, my answer was "nothing really, as my wife can cook most of the dishes I like to eat". Since returning home, guess what? We have only used the kitchen to cook rice once, and that was two days ago. Part of the reason was we threw away our old wok and only managed to buy a new one a few days ago. It also gives us an excuse to sample and feast on the regular hawker fares. See slide show below:

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With such a great variety, eating is a national pastime in Singapore.

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Did you know? “Ni chi bao le ma?”, which is translated as “Have you eaten yet?” is a customary greeting amongst the Chinese (particularly the older generation). In Singapore, we don’t talk so much about the weather as much as we talk about food. This devotion to food may be a relic from the days of the early immigrants, when life was hard and no one could be sure when their next meal was coming from (source: culinaria)

Pancake & Syrup

Pure maple syrup is great on plain pancakes. The Americans would say that syrup is why God invented pancakes.

There was a big crowd at the Maple Harvest Festival. And the most popular station was the "eat-all-you can pancake and syrup", which we had to wait in a queue for more than 30 minutes. But it was worth waiting. I find the plain pancakes, fluffy and steaming hot, go very well with the pure maple syrup and a dollob of butter. In total, I ate 7 pancakes. My wife, however, did not fancy the maple syrup; so, she ate her pancakes with apple sauce and sausages, which were also quite tasty.

The chef responsible for feeding the multitude

Want to know how to make perfect pancakes? Try this site: http://www.piecesofvermont.com/recipes/perfect-pancakes.html.

Proverbs for the Day: The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart (17:3).

It takes intense heat to purify gold and silver. Similarly, maple sap has to be boiled rigorously before we get to enjoy the sweetness of pure maple syrup.

Do you find it easy to complain when your life becomes complicated or difficult? Why would a loving God allow all kinds of unpleasant experiences to come to his children? It is written in Isaiah 48:10, "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." So when tough times come your way, realise that God wants to use them to refine your faith and purify your heart.

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Just like the boiling process involved in the making of sweet maple syrup, it often takes the heat of trials to strenghten our character. High temperatures build characters. And even the worse situations can make us better people. For without the refining, we will not become more pure. For without the testing, we would never know what we are capable of doing, nor would we grow. Allow the fire of adversity to refine you into a "better"; not a "bitter" person!

What kind of adversity are you facing?

Source: LAB

Maple Syrup: Liquid Gold

There are many different kinds of trees in the forest, but the sweetest tree in Pennsylvania is the sugar maple.

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The sap from this tree is used to make pure maple syrup. Sugar maple trees are unique to North America and grow naturally only in the northeastern United States adn southeastern Canada. This makes maple syrup a very special product from Pennsylvania forests.

The basic principles of making maple syrup: Sap is collected from trees, and then water is removed, mostly by boiling, to concentrate it into syrup. Nothing is added, and nothing is removed except pure water.

Maple Harvest Season: In early spring each year, maple producers, also called "sugarmakers", throughout Pennsylavania head to their woods for the start of the maple syrup season, which generally lasts from mid-February to early April. Sugarmakers like cold nights (with temperature below freezing) and warm days (with temperatures above freezing) so the sap will flow.

Tapping maple trees: Maple producers drill a small hole into the trunk of the tree. This is called tapping. They inset a small spout to catch the sap in the hole. The traditional method of collecting sap is to hang a bucket on the metal spout. The sap fills the bucket, and every day, or several times a day, someone must empty the sap into a gathering tank on a tractor-drawn wagon.

Tapping does not affect tree health. The maple producers have to wait until the trees are about 10 inches in diameter (20-40 years old) before they can start tapping them. They also limit the number of taps they put in one tree according to the size of the tree, so that it will not be damaged. The small hole drilled into the tree usually heals within one or two years. If the maple trees are taken care of properly, the same tree can be tapped year after year.

The collected sap must be boiled quickly.

Making the syrup - Sap from the sugar maple tree is about 98% water and 2% sugar, other nutrients, and mineral. Maple syrup is 33% water and 67% sugar. It takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make a gallon of pure maple syrup. To make pure maple syrup, the sap needs to be boiled to exaporate most of the water away. In the old days, the sap is boiled over an open pot. The boiling is very vigorous and great quantities of steam are produced.

Nowadays, most of the boiling is done using evaporators, which essentially consist of two or more large, specially designed pans that are filled with the sap.

These pans sit over a fire of burning wood, which heats the sap and causes it to boil. As it boils, some of the water in the sap turns into steam, which rises out of the sugarhouse. As the sap thicken, it becomes sweeter. The syrup is then filtered to take out "sugar sand", which accumulates as the sap boils. After that, the maple syrup is put in a container for sale.

The boiling of the sap takes place in a "sugarhouse", which is a simple building that shelters boiling operations that is usually uninsulated, with a steam vent in the roof, a concrete floor and space for the evaporator, fuel (either wood or oil) to heat the evaporator and sap storage. The sugarhouse is often located at the base of a hillside and accessible by a road. Every sugarhouse will have a large stainless steel chimneys to exhaust the great quantities of steam that are produced from the boiling sap; it is the sight of this steam that lets you know that an evaporator is fired up and the sugarmaker is making syrup.

In a modern sugarhouse you may also see some of the new technology that helps the sugarmaker be more efficient in his syrup production. One of the most interesting pieces of equipment is the reverse osmosis machine. This works like a water purifier in reverse, pushing the sap through a fine membrane to separate pure water from the sugar, and thus concentrate the sap before it is boiled. Reverse osmosis can remove ¾ of the water from sap, which saves the sugarmaker a great deal of time in boiling.

Source:
Maple Syrup - A Taste of Nature, produced by the Information and Communication Technologies in the College of Agricultural Sciences, Penn State University (2000)http://www.vermontmaple.org/maplestory.html