More thoughts after reading Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam

Disclaimer: I am not a financial adviser.  I work in the healthcare industry after having studied for 4 years to earn my degree.  I probably earn much less than many financial advisers who sell actively managed funds.  One of my favourite subjects during university was law and bioethics.  I doubt financial advisers who sell actively managed funds took those subjects.  If you want more information on how to get started in the investing world, read on...

My interest in investing started sometime after I started working.  I wanted my money to work as hard, if not harder.  I left the cozy and comfortable government sector after 6 year, and have been working as a contractor.  That meant I had no one else but myself to pay for those conferences and CME courses.  That meant that I had no one else but myself to ensure that I have enough funds for retirement.  Therefore, I started to read and research.

I am a slow reader.  I am too embarrassed to say how long it took me to finish reading and understanding Peter Lynch's Learn to Earn but this was my first book on investing.  That book introduced the world of investing to me and I liked what I saw.  So, I went on to buy and read Mr. Lynch's two other books before I bought John Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds.  I read his books in 6 months.  I must be improving - I finished reading Andrew Hallam's book in 6 days! 

Yes, I have bought many books on investing over the years.  There are many books on investing in the market but which book would I buy and read first if I could turn back time?  Here's it is:

1. Andrew Hallam's Millionaire Teacher
2. John Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds
3. Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor
4. Suze Orman's The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom (& watch her weekly show)
5. Peter Lynch's Learn to Earn

Yes, Andrew's book is the first on my list.  I would read it and follow his advice.  I would also follow his blog: andrewhallam.com 

I wouldn't have bought Pring's Technical Analysis Explained.  Nothing personal, but I think my brain isn't wired to understand all those technical stuff.  I kept dozing off after reading a page or two.  The difference with Andrew's book is that he introduces the world of investing in layperson's terms, and he shows you how to get started.  No big jargon like P/E ratio, EPS, wash trade, exhaustion gaps etc. because you won't need to know all these if you invested in index funds.

I can't turn back time, and I can't undo all the investing mistakes I have done despite of having read so many book over the years.  But I can:

1. Give Andrew's book as presents
2. Spread the news about Andrew's book to as many people as possible and,
3. Hope that as more people educate themselves with Andrew's book, the world of financial advisers will be more ethical...yes, all I can do is hope.

By the way, I don't know Andrew personally.  I have not met him, although I do hope to meet Andrew over a cup of coffee, and ask him what he thinks about my portfolio.

"Live long and prosper." Spock

Thoughts on Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam – Rule 1

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Recently, I purchased Andrew Hallam’s Millionaire Teacher – The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School.  Maybe I should have read his book first before Peter Lynch’s Learn to Earn, John Bogle’s Common Sense on Mutual Funds or Suze Orman’s The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom.  Then again, Andrew's book was only published in 2011.  I am definitely reading this book much faster and understanding it much easier that those books.  Better late than never but my English teacher, Mr. Tan, taught me that it is “better never late". 

(You may be wondering, "What does this have to do with cooking, eating, drinking and traveling?"  Well, I want to be able to afford cooking, eating, drinking and traveling, and blogging about it, until I am 120 years old without having to work full-time until I am 70 years old.)

Below are some real-life conversations I have had over the past year.   (Names of the people have been changed because I have not obtained their consent to share their stories, but I have not changed the gist of the stories.)  I felt the need to start this new post after reading Rule 1.  Don’t know what Rule 1 is?  Buy Andrew’s book!

Adam

By right, Adam technically had 10 months to work before he could officially retire with a comfortable pension.  But by left (I love writing/saying this), he now has to work for another 4 years because he bought a brand new truck in summer and needed the money to pay for the installments.  

“What was wrong with your old truck?” I asked. 

“It wasn’t powerful enough to pull the new RV (recreational vehicle) I bought for summer.”

“Therefore, you need the money to pay for the new RV and the new truck?”

“Yes,” he answered with a smile.

Basically, he sabotaged his own retirement!

Mr. & Mrs. Donnelly

I was looking at the brand new Subaru Crosstrek with the salesperson who was trying to sell it to me when Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly walked in.  They were both retired, in their 70’s, drove a old-ish Subaru Legacy, and they wanted to buy a brand new Subaru Crosstrek.

“I don’t understand why they want to buy a brand new Crosstrek.  They are retired and their Legacy is working well,” the salesperson whispered to me. 

I was surprised by his remark.  I thought he would have been happy to sell that car to them and make some commission. 

A few days later, I met up with the salesperson again to write a cheque for my 2010 Subaru Forester.  I found out that Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly bought a 2013 Subaru Crosstrek.  I didn’t want to know if they took out a loan.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."  Unknown

Thoughts about modified food - part 1

Yes, I am interested in topics related to modified food because I am a foodie.  I like to eat, and I like to know the what/where/how of the food I eat.  You could say I was first exposed to the concept of food modification when I was still a teenager, during biology class, when the teacher mentioned 'parthenocarpy'.  Honestly, it never really made an impact until recent years.

Personally, a fruit or vegetable has been modified as long as a human being dabbled with the food either via hormones, grafting and/or genetic engineering. 

Before I continue, let me say that I am not a plant biotechnologist like this professor who is "on the scientific advisory board of Mendel Biotechnology, a company that counts Monsanto as their most important customer and collaborator."  I am not a journalist, I don't own shares of some organic green company.  I am just a foodie who has questions about and I want to find out the answers.  I am also a blogger with a full-time job (not related to food) and blogging is just a hobby.  Therefore, I will probably just skim the surface of this topic on modified food.  So, let's begin...

According to Wikipedia, parthenocarpy is "the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilization of ovules."(1)  Therefore, the "natural" part of the definitions means you get seedless fruits and vegetables in nature.  Mother Nature is the scientist here.  Horticulturists just take advantage of that by cultivating and propagating these seedless varietals via grafting (2).  Therefore, not all seedless fruits and vegetables have gone through artificial parthenocarpy.

Artificial parthenocarpy is the "artificially induced production" part by using hormones/phytohormones such as gibberellin, auxin or cytokinin (1).  I wonder if eating produce that have been produced via the use of phytohormones will mess with our bodies' hormones?  I don't know but guess what?

• Gibberellin was used to produce Thompson seedless grapes in the mid-1960s(3).  
• We can buy phytohormones kits online to help with fruit/vegetable production in our gardens.

I must agree with this statement taken from Wikipedia (4): "One disadvantage of most seedless crops is a significant reduction in the amount of genetic diversity in the species. As genetically identical clones, a pest or disease that affects one individual is likely to be capable of affecting every clone of that individual."

Reference:

1. Parthenocarpy.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocarpy
2. How do seedless fruits arise and how are they propagated?
   http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-do-seedless-fruits-ar
3. Gibberellin.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibberellin
4. Seedless fruit.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedless_fruit
5. Genetically modified organisms.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism

In a Pickle

"Giam Chye" fermenting in a jar

During a recent visit to Calgary, we were thrilled to visit the T&T supermarket there and stock up on a whole bunch of longed for Asian groceries and condiments.
Amongst them was "kiam chye" (hokkien, trans. "salty vegetable) which is in essence mustard greens fermented in a salty brine. That prized purchase was quickly cooked up into "kiam chey ark thng" (salty veg duck soup) using the carcass left over from our Christmas Roast Duck.
Thinking of that yummy warming soup made us hanker for more, but with no Asian supermart within 2h drive, we had to resort to making our own.
Scouring the internet, we found to recipes, one from a Singaporean Uncle and the other attributed to "Sonia, nasi lemak lover". Since we were not able to buy mustard greens, we resorted to "pak choy" which we felt was the next closest. (we pondered over Napa cabbage, regular cabbage, even curly kale). In the end, our recipe took pointers from both posts.

Veggies layered with salt, drying on a tray

Ingredients:

• 1 kg pak choy (use mustard greens if you can find them)
• 75g coarse salt (without preservatives, additives or anti-caking agents)
• 3 Tbsp coarse salt
• 1/2 Tsp rice flour
• 1 slice ginger (about 3mm thick)
• 3 L warm water
• Preserving jar

Method:

1. wash the vegetables thoroughly and shake off excess water
2. lay the vegetables on a large tray and sprinkle the 75g salt all over, making sure all surfaces are covered
3. set aside for 6-8h to draw out excess moisture from the vegetable
4. In the preserving jar add the remaining ingredients
5. After 6-8h, squeeze whatever moisture has come out of the vegetables
6. Place veg in preserving jar, making sure every bit is submerged, close lid tightly (the fermentation process is anaeobic)
7. Check every other day - Remove any whitish scum (if any- that forms. It should start having a clean sour smell from lacto-fermentation. Be careful when opening the lid; fermentation produces gas! If it smells putrid, then the concentration of salt is wrong - too much salt and the lactobacillus gets killed, too little and the veggies rot - see this reference.
8. After 5-7 days, the kiam chye is ready to be eaten. Remove from preserving jar, rinse and use or freeze till needed.

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

We wanted to celebrate Burns night, not so much because of an intense love for his poetry, but for the traditional food that gets eaten (and drunk) on that particular evening.

Haggis, neeps, tatties, oat cake and a wee dram

Careful scrutiny of supermarket shelves did not reveal any well hidden cans of haggis, scrabbling in the depths of the freezer chests risking loss of fingers to frostbite was equally unfruitful. Not being in the Scottish highlands meant we couldn't even go out and hunt the elusive McHaggis. There was nothing for it, then, but to go make one ourselves.

The likelihood of securing a sheep or lamb's pluck was highly unlikely, so the recipe chosen was a fairly "modern" one which used only minced beef/lamb and liver. Easy enough to find, and it was to be baked on a Bain Marie in the oven. Very civilised.

Whilst in the supermarket, after gathering the necessary meat products, I wondered if the meat department might have sausage casings to sell. After all, it might serve as the receptacle in which the haggis could cook - a little more authentic then a metal loaf pan, surely? No harm asking.
"Excuse me, do you sell sausage casings?" "Yes, we do, and what do you want them for?" the butcher asked. "Err.. to make a haggis..." "Haggis!" his eyes lit up; "I just made ours (meaning the store's).. what do you put in yours?" So the excited exchange went on. Onlookers browsing in the meat section either added remarks ranging from "sausage casing?  Don't they usually use a sheep's stomach?" to screwing up their faces at the mention of "liver, heart, lungs.." Long story short: butcher says to youth behind the counter - get that stuff I was using earlier.. in the back room - pack it and give it to this young lady.. and NO Charge, OK?" Thanking him, I made my way to the check out counter, grinning from ear to ear, clutching my prize.

It was only after getting home and laying out the ingredients for their photo-shoot that I realised that he had given me a real sheep's stomach (no wonder it smelt like we had let in a herd of sheep and goats) all cleaned and salted. Woohoo! a real sheep's stomach! How many people get excited over this?! I can make a real Haggis!

L-R: Liver & minced beef, sheep's stomach, Oatmeal, onion, spices

Ingredients:

• 1/4 pound minced beef
• 1/4 pound beef / calf liver - cut into small pieces
• 1 onion, finely chopped or minced
• 1 cup steel cut oats, toasted in dry pan till dry but not brown
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• salt & generous amounts of black pepper
• 1 sheep's stomach - cleaned and prepared by your butcher

Stuffed sheep's stomach (before cooking)

Method:

1. Place meat and liver in a small pot, cover with cold water
2. Bring to boil and simmer till liver is cooked
3. Strain off the stock and reserve
4. Finely chop the liver and mix all remaining ingredients together, adding some reserved stock if mixture seems a bit dry
5. Test cook a small spoon to make sure it is well seasoned
6. Stuff the stomach, squeeze out as much air as possible and tie tightly with kitchen twine, leaving some room for expansion (fill about 2/3, but the stomach does have incredible capacity to stretch)
7. Place in large pot, cover with water, bring to a boil and quickly reduce the heat, and simmer for 2.5 - 3h. High heat may cause the haggis to explode (really bad). check on the haggis occasionally, if it seems in danger of exploding, prick it with a needle to decompress.
8. Prepare the "neeps & tatties) - mashed turnips and potatoes according your own fav recipe.
9. Place cooked haggis on a large dish and bring to table (usually accompanied by bagpipes!)
10. Recite Robbie Burns "Ode to a Haggis", slashing the said haggis at the appropriate moment.
11. Enjoy the fruits of labour with neeps, tatties, and a wee dram of the finest Scottish single malt. Och Aye!

comfort food..

I guess the last post gave some energy to overcome the inertia of not posting for such a long time.. Just a few days ago, dashing through the snow.. (not in a open sleigh) to the supermarket to pick up "any veg will do" for dinner, I chanced upon a pile of beautiful, plump, purple eggplants -  2 for 99c! Who would have thought to get such summer bounty in midwinter?
Grabbed 2 and gleefully drove up the hill, past semi trailer trucks floundering in the slushy snow. So thankful for 4WD.

But, this is a food blog, so back to my eggplants. I've cooked the first using a recipe that I've used over and over because it is so simple and the result is (IMHO) rather yummy. I use dehydrated onion and garlic for the garnish because they crisp up super fast

(Steamed) Eggplant drizzled with soy sauce & sesame oil

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• coarse salt - several teaspoons
• dehyrdrated onion flakes 1-2 tsp
• dehyrdrated minced garlic 1 tsp
• soy sauce 1 Tabsp
• sesame oil 1 tsp
• peanut oil 2 Tabsp

Method

1. Cut the eggplant into longitudinal strips about 2cm wide (some prefer to peel the skin, but I'm lazy and I don't)
2. Sprinkle salt over the eggplant and make sure all the cut surfaces are coated with salt
3. Leave aside for 15min or until the cut surfaces of the eggplant start weeping
4. Rinse off all the salt and gently squeeze the strips 
5. Place in heatproof dish and either steam till tender or microwave, covered for about 5-8minutes
6. Drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil
7. Heat the peanut oil in a small saucepan and when the oil is hot, add the dehydrated garlic and onion and fry till brown - watch carefully - they brown and burn very easily
8. Pour hot oil and onion/garlic over hot eggplant - the sizzle is very satisfying!

In a new home.. Rossland

Wow, it's been almost a year since the last post, guess life has been kinda busy. We've moved from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere, leaving in winter and arriving to enjoy some heat (& humidity) in Vancouver before flying across to Rossland to experience a fabulous late Summer and Fall.
Never in our lives have we had such a stretch of sunny days, clear blue skies.
We'll do some catch up hopefully, with some of the hiking, food foraging and cooking that has taken place since then.

In the meantime, a brief offering of improvisation - trying to do a chinese steamed fish in our temp accomodation showed that we could do the same with the microwave and less mess!