By Kim Atienza
New Zealand is green pastures, beaches of gleaming sand, ancient forests with ferocious cauldrons of bubbling mud.
Originally called Staten Landt, New Zealand is located in the southwestern region of Pacific Ocean and home to a diversified landscape.Geologically, the country has remarkably active volcanoes and obsolete flora and fauna. Its isolated location made the nation unique in the world for its lack of many species – such as mammals and snakes.
For so many years, New Zealand has been named the “snake free country” for its dearth of native snake species. In an article in media.newzealand.com, New Zealand’s official tourist site, the country does not have any land snakes, but it is occasionally visited by poisonous and potentially-hazardous yellow-bellied sea snake (Pelamis platurus) and banded sea krait (Laticauda colubrina). These snakes are hazardous to local fauna and humans alike. While the “lack of snakes and venomous insects makes New Zealand’s wilderness areas a safe environment in which to walk and explore, these regions are also home to wild goats, deer, rats, stoats, weasels and the ubiquitous Australian possum.”
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MORE USEFUL TIPS FROM THE BOOK, LIVING WITH FOLK WISDOM, BY ABERCIO V. ROTOR, Ph.D.): For bottles that are difficult to open, heat the lid. The principle involved is that metal and other materials expand when heated, and contract when subjected to cold.
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How do you open oysters without hurting yourself – and get the whole thing out whole, juicy and clean? Use pointed knife and pry the bivalve at its rear – at the hinge.
Twist until the shell splits open.
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Dry, brown seaweeds can increase the shelf life of fruits. The extract is diluted 5 to 10 percent with water before the ripe or ripening fruits are immersed, then allowed to dry. The alginate compound leaves a coating on the fruit that delays ripening from two to four days, at the same time it protects it from microorganisms that cause rotting and spoilage.
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Send your questions on anything and everything to Kuya Kim through my Twitter account @kuyakim_atienza using #AlaminKayKuyaKim.
Ating tuklasin ang mga bagay-bagay na di niyo pa alam. Walang ’di susuungin, lahat aalamin. Ito po si Kuya Kim, Matanglawin, only here in Tempo.
