Borscht [My version of a popular Russian soup]

Greetings all!

One of my all-time favorite soups is borscht, which you might know as beet soup. If you hate beets, omit them from the recipe and you will still get a tasty vegetable soup! Here is my super-lazy variation of this popular Russian soup.

Basic recipe ingredients:

• 1 onion (dice)
• 1lb / 400g of cabbage (shred)
• 3 large potatoes (peel and cube)
• 1/2lb / 200g of carrots (grate)
• 1-2 medium beets (grate or cut)
• Salt/pepper to taste; your favorite spices
• Garnish with dill or parsley (optional)
• Serve with sour cream (optional)

 Instructions and variations:

• Fill large pot with water and add cubed potatoes and shredded cabbage and boil for 20-30 minutes until potatoes are soft. I sometimes replace half of potatoes with cauliflower and add beans.
• In a large saucepan, heat up a bit of oil and sautee the onion (and/or garlic) for a couple of minutes. Add grated carrots and beets and sautee for 20-30 minutes. You can do this with water, without adding oil. You can also add bell peppers and tomatoes to the mix.
• Add sauteed onion/beet/carrot mixture into the pot with potatoes and cabbage. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
• Add sat & pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and serve with sour cream. 

 Tips:

• My version is vegetarian but traditionally this soup is made with beef.
• For a heartier vegetarian option, add a sliced hard-boiled egg when serving. I learned this trick in Indonesia where every dish I ordered had an egg in some form. 
• I like having rye bread with my borscht!

Image from https://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/borscht.html

Bon Appetit! Let me know how you like it!

FIRE [Financial Independence, Retire Early]

Greetings all!

A great article caught my eye in the May-2018 issue of the Money magazine. The Editor’s Note was catchy - “This Issue is on FIRE.” FIRE stands for “financial independence, retire early” as described in the 1992 book by Vicki Robin “Your Money or Your Life” (which I plan to read soon!).

                  Image from https://pixabay.com/en/photos/investment/

The article by Elizabeth O’Brien starts with this, “Vicki Robin wrote a book on retiring happy.” I read this sentence and thought to myself, “Where do I sign up?!!” Here is my summary/interpretation.

FIRE is about shifting your mindset and transforming your relationship with money. “It’s not about becoming rich; it’s about figuring out how much is enough.” OK, doesn’t this sound like LAGOM I wrote recently about?? Not too little, not too much! You want to make a life rather than a living. 

“The goal of the movement is to gain financial independence, meaning you’re no longer relying on paid employment to keep afloat.” Once you get there, you have to figure out what you will do with the rest of your life. For some people, having an empty calendar is a scary thing, and some research links early retirement to premature death. You have to plan wisely and prepare for the retirement!

To get there, you have to track each purchase and be mindful of the real cost of items. Think about dollar amounts as “hours of life energy” (I really like this concept!). The example in the article is this: if you make $300 a day and want to buy a $100 pair of shoes, you have to ask yourself “Are those shoes really worth nearly a third of a day of your precious time on earth?” This is a general example as it does not seem to consider taxes taken out of a paycheck!

We often do not think of how much an item REALLY costs. Many of us can benefit from a more intentional purchasing – do we really want to work that many hours to buy this extra item to put into our already oversized closet? If the answer is yes, at least make sure this item sparks joy!

Some FIRE adherents go to extreme lengths – taking the bus and scrimping on food – all to be able to put $150,000 a year (yes, you read this right!!!) into savings. The couple featured in the article has 2 rules: 

1. Educate yourself
2. Stay away from stuff [“Don't attach purchases to happiness.”]

Hard to argue with either rule as they both make a lot of sense! Of course, it is up to every person to decide how much, if anything, to sacrifice now in order to be at least financially comfortable, if not financially independent. While simultaneously planning for retirement! Although perhaps part of the mental shift is not to think about this as sacrifice?

Here is a good retirement advice (for any age): “you need to save up at least 25 times your annual expenses.” You invest your savings to later withdraw 4% for your living expenses, adjusted for inflation. I have seen 4% withdrawal rate referenced in many other sources; however, keep in mind, people now live longer, and general prices rise, with medical costs rising even more drastically.

I like how Elizabeth (the author of the article) asks her readers “Think you have what it takes to play with FIRE?” and lists specific FIRE steps: 

• Calculate your net worth
• Track every penny you spend
• Question every spending decision
• Find cheaper substitutions
• Invest in low-cost index funds [Robin also recommends buying real estate so your tenants can cover living expenses]
• Map your “crossover point” – when your total monthly income from your investments exceeds your monthly expenses. 

I really enjoyed the article – very good tips and a lot of food for thought! You can read the full article here: http://time.com/money/5241566/vicki-robin-financial-independence-retire-early/

What did you think? Drop me a line!

Say What? [Silly questions tourists ask]

Greetings all!

Have you noticed that sometimes on vacation our mind goes truly vacant? That’s when we ask silly tourist questions. Here are some examples from Westways AAA magazine (January/February 2018 and March/April 2018 issues).

Image from www.cartoonstock.com

"Would you direct us to a local antique factory?"

In Disneyland:

• What time is the 2 o’clock parade?
• Did Mickey and Minnie get married in a church or here at Disneyland?
• Is Disneyland part of the U.S.A. or is it like the Vatican?

On a cruise ship: A passenger was looking in the photo gallery for pictures the ship photographer had taken of her. She asked, “How do I know which photo is mine?”

In front of the elevator on a cruise ship, a lady asked me, “Do the elevators only go up and down?” I asked her where she wanted to go, and she replied, “The front of the ship.” I told her she would have to walk there.

In Hawaii: "Do we need to stop at a currency conversion booth and get Hawaiian money?”

On a sunrise bike ride in Hawaii: “How many sunrise bike rides do you do each day?”

On a replica of Columbus’s ship Niña, in the storage area at the bottom of the boat there were planks for tourists to walk on. The guide mentioned that the real Niña did not have a floor like this. A woman asked, “Well, then, was it just open to the sea?”

At the visitor center in the Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction:
"At what altitude do the deer turn into the elk?”

At the Grand Canyon visitor center: "When do they turn on the lights at the canyon?"

At the Yosemite visitor center:

• What time do they let the deer out?
• Can I see Yosemite and Yellowstone in one day?
• When do they turn the waterfalls on?

At the Bryce Canyon visitor center, a tourist unfurled a Grand Canyon map and asked the park ranger, “Can you tell me where I am on this map?”

In the U.K. near Stonehenge (which dates back 5,000 years): “Why did they build it so close to the road?”

           

Hope this post made you smile! Do you have any silly questions to share? Drop me a line!

Pomodoro Technique [Fight distractions and be more efficient!]

Greetings all!

One of my favorite time-management techniques is called the Pomodoro Technique. Developed in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, it is named after a tomato-shaped kitchen timer.

Tasks are divided into 25-minute intervals, which is a much more manageable time period than an hour, for example. Your focusing just on one task for 25 minutes at a time will most likely result in you being more efficient and productive. In summary, you divide your time and conquer your interruptions!

Here is a nice 2.5 minute intro: https://youtu.be/VFW3Ld7JO0w

According to https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique, “the fundamentals of the Pomodoro Technique are simple yet incredibly effective (emphasis mine).

1. Choose a task you'd like to get done

Something big, something small, something you’ve been putting off for a million years: it doesn’t matter. What matters is that it’s something that deserves your full, undivided attention.

2. Set the Pomodoro for 25 minutes

Make a small oath to yourself: I will spend 25 minutes on this task and I will not interrupt myself. You can do it! After all, it’s just 25 minutes.

3. Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings

Immerse yourself in the task for the next 25 minutes. If you suddenly realize you have something else you need to do, write the task down on a sheet of paper.

4. When the Pomodoro rings, put a checkmark on a paper

Congratulations! You’ve spent an entire, interruption-less Pomodoro on a task.

5. Take a short break on a paper

Breathe, meditate, grab a cup of coffee, go for a short walk or do something else relaxing (i.e., not work-related). Your brain will thank you later.

6. Every 4 pomodoros, take a longer break on a paper

Once you’ve completed four pomodoros, you can take a longer break. 20 minutes is good. Or 30. Your brain will use this time to assimilate new information and rest before the next round of Pomodoros.”

I find this technique also provides health benefits if the task requires prolonged sitting, especially at the computer. Getting up often helps your back and your spine!

And of course, you can divide tasks into the intervals that work better for you or a specific task. Even a tiny pomodoro (e.g., a 3-minute one!) is effective and gets some things done (sort the mail, wash dishes, etc.). 

What do you think? Drop me a line!

It might have been... [Regrets, decisions, and the 10-10-10 rule that might help!]

Greetings all!

I recently came across this thought-provoking quote by John Greenleaf Whitter (I mentioned him in my “Don’t Quit” post):

(Image from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_greenleaf_whittier_385048)

It is from his poem “Maud Muller” about a poor young girl who meets a rich man on a summer's day. For a brief moment, they both imagine a life together and then go separate ways. You can read the full poem here:

http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/maud_muller.html

"It might have been" might indeed be one of the saddest sentences in any language!

We face a lot of decisions – some big, some small but majority of them are important to us – and oftentimes we cannot predict the consequences of our choices. How do we make a decision that we can live with and have no regrets? 

I actually ask myself, “Will I have any regrets later if I do (or do not) follow this path?” This question usually helps clarify my priorities. I was chatting about this with my Mom, and she mentioned the rule of 10-10-10 that she had heard about. Of course, I did some research!

Suzy Welch, former editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review, describes the 10-10-10 decision-making process in her book “10-10-10: A Fast and Powerful Way to Get Unstuck in Love, at Work, and with Your Family.” I did not read the book but here is the gist of it, according to Suzy’s article on Oprah.com (http://www.oprah.com/spirit/suzy-welchs-rule-of-10-10-10-decision-making-guide/all). She says:

“Every time I find myself in a situation where there appears to be no solution that will make everyone happy, I ask myself three questions:

• What are the consequences of my decision in 10 minutes?
• In 10 months?
• And in 10 years?”

 

(Image from http://www.suzywelch101010.com/)

You can also watch Suzy describe how she came up with the idea in this 5-minute video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9azOzBb329E.

This is an interesting approach as it puts a timeline on the consequences of our decisions: right now, foreseeable future, and distant future. Suzy also says, “knowing your priorities may help you with the 10-10-10 process, but it can also help you discover them.” It also makes you stop and think, which might help with emotions, and prevent you from acting impulsively.

What do you think about this method? What helps you make a decision? Drop me a line!