This is probably a very silly post, but I’m in a silly mood. I had KFC for lunch yesterday (maybe that’s why), and was struck by how insidious the menu is at the Carlingford branch – if you actually want to have their chicken and not a burger, you can either choose from the ~$3 snack options, or else you have to order a ~$10 combo box that could easily feed 2-3 people. I couldn’t see any other “in between” options (nor most of the other options listed on their Web site menu). I would’ve been happy with a piece of chicken and some chips, but ended up getting the “All-stars” box containing:

• A piece of original recipe chicken
• 2 hot-and-spicy wicked wings
• A crispy strip
• Popcorn chicken
• Chips
• Potato and gravy
• A bread roll
• A can of soft drink

Now I’ve probably got you salivating, and you’re going to go out and get KFC aren’t you? Well if you are, or you tend to eat junk food anyway, try to keep the following three things in mind to minimise the damage to your health:

• Avoid drinking the cold drink that comes with the meal. There’s a rumour that drinking cold beverages will make the fat content of the meal congeal in your stomach, making it harder to digest. It could be Asian propaganda, since we like to have hot (Chinese) tea with our meals so I can’t guarantee that there is any scientific basis to the claim, but it does seem at least a little bit plausible. Plus, having less sugary fizzy drink never hurt anybody.
• Don’t eat everything – a few months ago I ordered a $5 meal at Macdonalds which included a cheeseburger, fries, soft serve and a drink. The Asian in me who was raised not to waste anything felt compelled to finish every last morsel, but after 2 spoonfuls of the slop that was being passed off as iced confectionery, and a couple of sips of the drink to wash down the limp, dry burger, I chucked the rest away (except the fries, of course… who can resist those salty fatty stalks of fried deliciousness?)
• Don’t super-size me, ‘coz although I could get the large coke and fries for only $1 extra, not carrying around  the extra weight of the coin is denying me precious exercise. Hehe… just kidding. Seriously though, just because it’s better value doesn’t mean that it’s better.

Isn’t it funny how fast food punishes fiscally responsible behaviour – as in getting better value-for-money – is more detrimental to your health? But man, if they ever open up a Cafe de Coral (大家樂) here in Australia, I’d be a lost cause.

For no reason at all, here’s a cool picture I found:

I couldn’t find the source of the image to give credit, but if it’s yours please let me know.

I had a knifing accident the other day – I was attempting to cut an onion using my Global chef’s knife when it slid sideways down the curved surface and took a neat slice out of my finger instead. Without wanting to sound like an infomercial, these knives are renown for their awesome sharpness and one naturally tends to blame the knife for the accident. But if you watch Jamie Oliver or any of the prolific number of cooking shows around, you be familiar with the refrain that it’s blunt knives that hurt people. In my case, if the knife had been sharper it would’ve sliced through the onion, instead of slipping and cutting me.

Today’s THRIFTerrific home hint: keep your knives sharp.

A quick anecdote: my mum came to visit with us a few weeks ago and cooked for us. She was really impressed with our knives – she commented on how they helped reduce time and effort, but at the same time came away little scared about how dangerous they could potentially be as well.

When she got home she decided to replace her cheap, blunt, ancient jobs. For whatever reason a very young sales boy at the department store decided that it’d be a good idea to take one of the knives out of the box and test the blade with his finger, resulting in a bad gash and loads of blood. After a fair amount of fuss, locating band-aids and whatever, he asked my horrified mother whether she was still interested in buying. The outcome of that expedition should come as no surprise, but it’s incidents like these that put people off having the proper equipment.

Be keen about knife maintenance:

I won’t go into the specifics of knife maintenance; this is just a very rough overview that’s intended to give you an idea on how to approach the task. In theory there’s nothing wrong with those electric sharpening gadgets, which are fine for your average supermarket job, but if you’re investing in an expensive set of knives then you should also be prepared to make the effort to maintain them. As with anything it’s possible to go overboard (especially these days where “advice” from extremophiles can be found all over the Web and on Youtube) – for the average person a 2-step method should be sufficient:

1. a “coarse” stage such as a grinding stone, to get the general shape of the edge and to remove the larger imperfections such as chips and dents
2. a  “fine” stage such as those ceramic sharpening sticks, to refine and hone the edge by removing the microscopic “jaggies”

You’ll find no shortage of tutorials on the Web although I found this guy to be generally good value – just don’t let the borderline-psycho-killer potential implied by the collection in the background put you off:

That’s all for this post. Stay sharp, folks!

I’m no eco-warrior but I do give the occasional nod towards being mindful of the environment. Having had my brother visit from interstate recently, I had to do five loads of washing this past weekend. Even though it was mostly sheets, that’s getting into baby territory as far as number of washes go.

I live in an apartment where it’s forbidden to hang washing out on the balcony, but everybody ignores it. If you’ve ever been to Asia or Europe, you’ll have seen good reasons why they came up with the rule in the first place – looking at other peoples’ laundry can be a real eyesore. I try to be as discreet as possible, hanging delicates on the inner lines and towels and sheets on the outside ones so that it doesn’t look so messy.

But when the only alternative is to use an electric dryer, then the debate over aesthetics vs. practicality starts to get a bit hairy. Consider this: the most energy efficient dryer on the market (as rated by Energy Star) uses 128kWh of electricity if used once per week. In Australia, our electricity sources are largely coal-based, which means that each kWh generated results in just under 1kg of CO₂. That’s for a machine with a 6-star rating. The one in my laundry? 2 stars (546kWh per year).

Aside from the planet, there’s also my home environment to consider. Drying drastically increases the humidity inside the apartment, exacerbating the problems that I already have with the air quality.

NSW and WA are the only states where there are rules specifically around hanging laundry on balconies, but in NSW at least, that’s possibly about to change. The Department of Fair Trading is about to introduce a change to the law that if passed, will mean environmentally conscious folks everywhere will be able to hang their laundry out on the balcony with a clear conscience.

In case you’re wondering how I dried five loads without using a dryer. Well firstly the fine weather helped immensely – what I put out in the morning was dry by late afternoon, and secondly, I have a Mrs Pegg’s Handy Line which is big enough to hold a couple of loads. I can’t understand how other people use those dinky little rack things. Granted, it did cost me nearly $200 though.

What do you do with your laundry? Do you think this new law will turn Sydney apartments into a visual slum, or is your inner environmentalist jumping for joy?

An interesting piece of trivia: what is the only food that doesn’t spoil? Answer: Honey.

The reason for this is the high sugar and low moisture content, which means that organisms (which depend on moisture) cannot survive and multiply. Hence, stored under the right conditions – i.e. sealed away from moisture – honey will last indefinitely. An often cited example is the honey that was found in sealed jars in Egyptian tombs, which were found to be edible.

Unfortunately, other foods are less hardy. Regardless of how sophisticated the packaging, most of the packaged food that you’ll come across will have a designated serviceable lifespan as denoted by either a “best-before” or “use-by” date. Despite their similarity, these two labels actually have quite different meanings as defined in a Food Standards Code.

Products that have a shelf life of less than 2 years must include a “best-before date” somewhere on its packaging. The definition stated in the code:

Best-before date – in relation to a package of food, means the date which signifies the end of the period during which the intact package of food, if stored in accordance with any stated storage conditions, will remain fully marketable and will retain any specific qualities for which express or implied claims have been made.

You’ll often find that in supermarkets, food items that are approaching their best-before date will be heavily marked down. The misinformed often avoid these, thinking that it means the food is about to go off, but the truth is that it is still perfectly safe for consumption, just that it may not meet the level of standard specified in the product description.

It’s illegal to sell food past the best-before date regardless of its condition, so the shops are obliged to throw stock away regularly. In protest against the consumerism of modern society, and with environmental concerns, there are people calling themselves freegans who “rescue” this food from the supermarket bins. Waste not, want not. Plus, it’s free food!

Certain foods however, deteriorate and become unsafe to eat after a certain period of time. These must include a “use-by date” by which the food must be consumed.

Use-by date – in relation to a package of food, means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period if stored in accordance with any stated storage conditions, after which the intact package of food should not be consumed because of health and safety reasons.

It’s also illegal to sell food that’s past its use-by date, but one would be ill-advised to try and salvage here.

There are two exceptions to the above: bread may use a “baked-on date” instead if it has a shelf life of less than a week – maybe it’s generally assumed that people know bread goes moldy quickly (and that eating moldy bread is bad); and individually packaged ice-cream and food “in a small package” (presumably lollies and the like) – no explanation is given so one can only guess at the reasons (possibly because they’re sold in bulk, and the date is included on the container?)

For the health of both your body and your bank balance, keep the distinction between “best-before” and “use-by” in mind. Savvy shoppers who are familiar with product expiry dates and the supermarket discounting cycles can save heaps on groceries, without having to worry about the risk of food poisoning.

A couple of weeks ago my air filter died, and since then I have gone through unspeakable suffering with my sinuses. This is why I’m going to extol the virtues of good, clean air, and share with you how I’ve been getting it.

Air filters / air purifiers
It all started several years ago when a guy on an Internet forum offered to give away a supposedly dead Honeywell air filter. I nabbed it on a lark, and turns out that it was an American machine designed to run on 120V at 60Hz, and the only thing wrong with it was that it was being fed the wrong kind of power. I swapped a Nintendo DS for a super-heavy brick of a transformer, and the rest is history.

My unit (which is currently sitting in an electronics repair shop with a possible burnt-out motor) is a proper HEPA device, which means that it can filter out particles as small as 0.3 microns from the air – stuff like dust, pollen, smoke, mold, bacteria, and even odours! It is a 2-stage system, with an activated carbon pre-filter stage that prevents the HEPA stage from being wasted on catching the big stuff.

Considering that I’ve had it running 24/7 for around 5 years, and with a total spend on replacement filters of around $100* that’s not too shabby. It’s not as if it made my place completely dust-free, but I’m sure without it the surfaces around the house would have a much heavier coating than they do.

Vacuum cleaners
The filter is all very well and good, but of course nothing beats cleanliness. Obviously you’ll want to remove the source of the pathogens: pets, plants, unhygienic personal grooming habits… I digress, but regular cleaning is an unavoidable necessity. Carpets are wonderful and all, but they also harbour dust – and I’m allergic to dust mites. D’oh! That’s why my wife Jenny and I are pretty happy with our Dyson vacuum cleaner, which also includes a washable HEPA filter. Without intending to sound like a Dyson marketing brochure, I must admit it does do a very good job of sucking up stuff, with each vacuuming session invariably resulting in a canister full of gunk. I’m sure any competent brand of vacuum cleaner would do the same, but it’s just so much more satisfying being able to see the dust accumulating in that transparent tube.

Dehumidifiers
Jenny and I first noticed the mould growing in our previous apartment when we were moving out and had to clean it off the walls, curtains and windows. In our current place, it’s a lot worse, and due to much neglect it ended up all over the ceiling in the spare room. Our landlords very kindly offered to buy us a dehumidifier, which we’ve been using ever since.

As far as I can tell (without having really read up on it), dehumidifiers take advantage of the condensation effect by having a bunch of surfaces that are chilled, so that the moisture in the air condenses onto them. It’s amazing how much water can be sucked out of thin air; the machine has a 5 litre tank capacity, which can easily be filled in a single day. Most Web sites that I’ve read recommend a humidity of around 50-60% in order to keep mould under control. The humidity at our place fluctuates throughout the day, but is usually worst at night and especially on cold days, when it can get up to as high as 80%.

Air is the one thing that you will consume most in your lifetime. Now that there are studies which connect air quality with longer life expectancy, why wouldn’t you want better quality air?

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* I didn’t replace the filters as often as recommended, largely because of the cost, and not being under any obligation to do so in order to fulfil warranty conditions.