The Instant Noodle Story.....
It was there, in 1958, that Momofuku Ando, a food industry executive who was appalled by the starvation he had witnessed in post-war Japan, boiled a batch of fresh noodles, fried them in palm oil and left them to dry into a solid brick: the cup noodle was born!
That year, his firm Nissin sold 13 million packets for 35 yen each at a time when the average monthly salary was 13,000 yen and fresh noodles were six times cheaper. But by 1970, annual sales had soared to 3.6 billion!!!!
The story of the Japan's "noodle king"
Momofuku Ando was born in Japanese-ruled Taiwan in 1910. He founded the predecessor to Nissin in 1948 and invented chicken ramen, the world's first instant noodles, at his home 10 years later. Noodles in a cup appeared in the early 12970s and now account for the bulk of Nissin's global sales.
NB: To the Japanese, the "cup noodle" isn't just a quick and easy snack - it is a cultural icon!
Mr. Ando, who retired as Nissin chairman last year, is the father of the instant noodle and is considered a national hero in Japan. WOW!
His quest to develop a quick and easy snack was inspired by the poverty he witnessed after Japan's defeat in the war, when people queued for hours outside ramen stalls.
"I invented instant noodles.... because I could imagine how happy people would be if I delivered ramen they could eat any time, anywhere, and safely. It was as simple as that," he said.
Wow! (*in awe*)
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Monday, December 04, 2006
Job application personal/key statement #3.
Dealing effectively with pressure/challenge: Describe an example (not necessary clinical) of a time when you had to deal with pressure OR overcome a setback/challenge. What did you do and what was the outcome? (6)
I found moving from comforts of familiarity challenging. Adapting from climates described as “pressure cooker all-year round” to temperate Glasgow brought bouts of homesickness. That was compounded by financial strain that I was (quite honestly) unused to. The relative affluence back home was in stark contrast to Spartan lifestyle I adopt here. While securing a loan helped, a part-time job did an extra of broadening my horizons. Despite having school holidays dictated by festivals of Malaysia’s many ethnic groups, Glaswegian cultural diversity is still distinct from its Asian counterpart. Add that to unfamiliar medical system, hospital protocols and communication problems (we seem to speak a different “dialect” of English back in Malaysia), I felt like an alien mistakenly teleported from Mars. I finally found common-ground in the international language of sports. Through bonds of friendships and experience, I started to enjoy the discovery of life as here and of myself.
Dealing effectively with pressure/challenge: Describe an example (not necessary clinical) of a time when you had to deal with pressure OR overcome a setback/challenge. What did you do and what was the outcome? (6)
I found moving from comforts of familiarity challenging. Adapting from climates described as “pressure cooker all-year round” to temperate Glasgow brought bouts of homesickness. That was compounded by financial strain that I was (quite honestly) unused to. The relative affluence back home was in stark contrast to Spartan lifestyle I adopt here. While securing a loan helped, a part-time job did an extra of broadening my horizons. Despite having school holidays dictated by festivals of Malaysia’s many ethnic groups, Glaswegian cultural diversity is still distinct from its Asian counterpart. Add that to unfamiliar medical system, hospital protocols and communication problems (we seem to speak a different “dialect” of English back in Malaysia), I felt like an alien mistakenly teleported from Mars. I finally found common-ground in the international language of sports. Through bonds of friendships and experience, I started to enjoy the discovery of life as here and of myself.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
The Kelvin Ensemble - 15th Anniversary Concert
Conductor - Kenneth Woods
Viola - Veronika Toth
It was a cold and rainy evening.. (as usual..) hahaha..
However, the sound of music beckons me to Bute Hall, University of Glasgow on the 2nd of December 2006 (7.30pm)...
The Kelvin Ensemble is a student-run chamber orchestra of the University of Glasgow. It was set up in 1991 by a group of enterprising students with the main aim of providing a forum for musicians from all faculties of the University to perform challenging music to the highest level and present public performances led by professional conductors.
How good is that?
Concert Programme
Tommy Fowler - Rappezzatura Barocco
William Walton - Viola Concerto (Viola - Veronika Toth)
Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op.88
Rapezzatura Barocco
The music opens quietly and slowly with "majestic grace" featuring the lower strings and the solo winds. As the harpsichord joins the "play" the volume builds up with the full strings emerge ebbing and flowing adding up to the intensity... A splendid performance indeed!
William Walton - Viola Concert0
The first movement, Andante comodo, beings with a lyrical melody in the viola that suggests both major and minor harmonies. The second movement, Vivo, con molto preciso, is a brief, dizzying scherzo. The viola trades fast rhythmic figures with the orchestra, until the brass introduces a second, equally energetic theme. A solo bassoon introduces the triplet-heavy first theme of the final movement, Allegro moderato. Both the solo viola and various sections of the orchestra take it up, until the viola introduces a new, more plaintive theme. The final fugue is a tour de force of compositional planning, including some portions of all three themes, then ending with an epilogue in which the soloist returns to a melody from the Andante, while a bass clarinet (originally the cellos in in Walton's earlier version) plays the first theme from this Allegro underneath. The piece ends quietly, once again contrasting both major and minor harmoniesm and focussing on the viola's greatest strength.
~ Heartfelt, moving and captivating performance by Veronika Toth!
Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88
The symphony begins with a hint of darkness to come, with a long lyrical and melancholy melody played by the cellos (I love the mellow 'voices' of the cellos!). In this symphony the cellos carry so much of the melodic weight that they take on the role of something like a narrator. The finale, which begins with a bracing fanfare in the trumpets, is made up of a series of wild variations, summing up everything in the symphony so far. Having said goodbye for the last time, the music storms back to life, and ends in the highest possible spirits.
A very entertaining evening indeed.
For photos, please visit: http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/peterchai82/Kelvin%20Ensemble%2015th%20Anniversary%20Concert/
Conductor - Kenneth Woods
Viola - Veronika Toth
It was a cold and rainy evening.. (as usual..) hahaha..
However, the sound of music beckons me to Bute Hall, University of Glasgow on the 2nd of December 2006 (7.30pm)...
The Kelvin Ensemble is a student-run chamber orchestra of the University of Glasgow. It was set up in 1991 by a group of enterprising students with the main aim of providing a forum for musicians from all faculties of the University to perform challenging music to the highest level and present public performances led by professional conductors.
How good is that?
Concert Programme
Tommy Fowler - Rappezzatura Barocco
William Walton - Viola Concerto (Viola - Veronika Toth)
Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op.88
Rapezzatura Barocco
The music opens quietly and slowly with "majestic grace" featuring the lower strings and the solo winds. As the harpsichord joins the "play" the volume builds up with the full strings emerge ebbing and flowing adding up to the intensity... A splendid performance indeed!
William Walton - Viola Concert0
The first movement, Andante comodo, beings with a lyrical melody in the viola that suggests both major and minor harmonies. The second movement, Vivo, con molto preciso, is a brief, dizzying scherzo. The viola trades fast rhythmic figures with the orchestra, until the brass introduces a second, equally energetic theme. A solo bassoon introduces the triplet-heavy first theme of the final movement, Allegro moderato. Both the solo viola and various sections of the orchestra take it up, until the viola introduces a new, more plaintive theme. The final fugue is a tour de force of compositional planning, including some portions of all three themes, then ending with an epilogue in which the soloist returns to a melody from the Andante, while a bass clarinet (originally the cellos in in Walton's earlier version) plays the first theme from this Allegro underneath. The piece ends quietly, once again contrasting both major and minor harmoniesm and focussing on the viola's greatest strength.
~ Heartfelt, moving and captivating performance by Veronika Toth!
Antonin Dvorak - Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88
The symphony begins with a hint of darkness to come, with a long lyrical and melancholy melody played by the cellos (I love the mellow 'voices' of the cellos!). In this symphony the cellos carry so much of the melodic weight that they take on the role of something like a narrator. The finale, which begins with a bracing fanfare in the trumpets, is made up of a series of wild variations, summing up everything in the symphony so far. Having said goodbye for the last time, the music storms back to life, and ends in the highest possible spirits.
A very entertaining evening indeed.
For photos, please visit: http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/peterchai82/Kelvin%20Ensemble%2015th%20Anniversary%20Concert/
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