Jika anda belajar atau bekerja di overseas, tak sah kalau tak terasa homesick, kan?
Bila kita berada jauh di perantauan, bukan mudah untuk dapat rasa masakan ibu, apatah lagi masakan negara sendiri yang kita biasa makan.
Itulah apa yang dialami oleh wanita kelahiran Seremban, Auria Abraham, yang telah melanjutkan pelajarannya di Berklee College of Music, Amerika Syarikat pada awal tahun 1990-an.
Sewaktu dia membesar, ibunya telah mengajarnya masak pelbagai jenis masakan, tapi di Amerika, dia tetap rindukan masakan Malaysia, terutama sekali sambal ibunya.
Jadi, untuk mengubati rasa kempunan tersebut, dia telah hasilkan sambalnya sendiri. Pada tahun 2013, dia membuat keputusan untuk membuka bisnes menjual sambal menerusi syarikatnya Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen di Brooklyn, New York.
Itulah langkahnya yang pertama untuk dedahkan dan perkenalkan masakan Malaysia kepada orang Amerika.
Kini, bisnesnya telah berkembang pesat – dia pun diberi nickname “Sambal Lady”! – dan telah pun menambahkan jem kaya di dalam senarai produknya.
Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen menawarkan dua jenis sambal (Hot Chilli Sambal dan Lime Leaf Sambal) dan dua jenis kaya (Pandan Kaya dan Salted Caramel Kaya).
Ia menggunakan ramuan asli premium 100% dan merujuk kepada resipi oleh ibunya sendiri untuk mendapatkan rasa yang asli.
Lebih berkembang
Membuktikan lagi yang produknya diminati ramai, Auria, yang telah bertanding dalam rancangan pertandingan memasak 'Chopped' pada 2014, telah memenangi pelbagai anugerah masakan Amerika.
Salah satunya adalah di New York Fancy Food Show (NYFFS) baru-baru ini, di mana dia dikurniakan pingat gangsa untuk produk sambal limau purut dalam kategori marinade; dan pingat perak untuk produk kaya pandan dalam kategori jem awet.
Tapi yang paling membanggakan, Auria telah berjaya menandatangani sebuah penjanjian dengan rantaian pasaraya di Amerika, Foodtown, yang akan mula menjual produknya. Yay!
Di dalam sebuah temubual bersama Bernama baru-baru ini, Auria berkata yang Auria's Malaysian Kitchen adalah satu-satunya jenama masakan Malaysia yang dikeluarkan di Amerika pada hari ini.
Sebelum ini, barangan makanan Malaysia memang ada dijual di Amerika tapi hanya di pasar-pasar etnik. Di pasaraya mainstream pula, memang jarang ada.
Tapi kini anda boleh dapati produk Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen di cawangan Foodtown di New York, New Jersey dan Pennsylvania serta kedai khusus mainstream yang lain seperti Dean & Deluca, Greene Grape dan Kalustyan.
Di laman webnya, Auria juga berkongsi resipi untuk masakan Malaysia, cadangan makanan yang sesuai dengan produknya, serta servis tunjuk ajar memasak dan katering.
Auria juga dikatakan akan kembangkan operasi syarikatnya. Kini dia sudah ada pengedar di setiap lokasi geografi di Amerka.
Yay! Sekarang lebih ramai orang Amerika akan boleh enjoy kesedapan sambal Malaysia!
Misi Auria
Kerana kempunan, Auria telah meminta resipi sambal daripada ibunya. Dia mendapati yang hasil masakannya ini cepat sangat habis, kerana ia dimakan dengan semua hidangan.
Sejak itu, dia mula bereksperimen dengan resipi yang ada untuk menghasilkan sambal dalam kuantiti yang banyak.
Auria juga mendapati bahawa di Amerika, tak ada pengeluar barangan makanan Malaysia yang menghasilkan produk mereka dengan tangan.
“Yang ada hanyalah produk yang dikilangkan, yang penuh dengan bahan pengawet dan yang dipasarkan dari jauh, langsung tak mencerminkan betapa sedapnya masakan Malaysia yang sebenar,” katanya kepada NYCEDC.
Dengan itu, Auria menjadikannya sebagai misi baginya untuk mendedahkan lagi kelazatannya kepada orang Amerika.
"Saya menawarkan produk makanan yang sama seperti bagaimana ibu saya menyediakannya tanpa menggunakan bahan kimia atau perasa tiruan," katanya.
“Saya berkongsi sebahagian daripada zaman kanak-kanak saya, tanah air saya, dan sesuatu yang mereka takkan boleh alami di dapur ataupun di rumah mereka sendiri.
“Dengan setiap suap, mereka akan ‘mengembara’ ke Timur.”
Auria juga percaya yang perkongsian makanan lazat ini amat penting serta boleh merapatkan hubungan sesama manusia sambil meraikan budaya dan saling hormat-menghormati.
Wah, bagus betul anak Malaysia ini! Walaupun dia dah menetap di Amerika selama lebih daripada 20 tahun, dia nampaknya tak melupakan asal usulnya. Syabas!
Sumber : hijabnheels.com
Forex Trading - Getting Started
The forex market is the world's largest international currency trading market operating non-stop during the working week. Most forex trading is done by professionals such as bankers. Generally forex trading is done through a forex broker - but there is nothing to stop anyone trading currencies. Forex currency trading allows buyers and sellers to buy the currency they need for their business and sellers who have earned currency to exchange what they have for a more convenient currency. The world's largest banks dominate forex and according to a survey in The Wall Street Journal Europe, the ten most active traders who are engaged in forex trading account for almost 73% of trading volume.
However, a sizeable proportion of the remainder of forex trading is speculative with traders building up an investment which they wish to liquidate at some stage for profit. While a currency may increase or decrease in value relative to a wide range of currencies, all forex trading transactions are based upon currency pairs. So, although the Euro may be 'strong' against a basket of currencies, traders will be trading in just one currency pair and may simply concern themselves with the Euro/US Dollar ( EUR/USD) ratio. Changes in relative values of currencies may be gradual or triggered by specific events such as are unfolding at the time of writing this - the toxic debt crisis.
Because the markets for currencies are global, the volumes traded every day are vast. For the large corporate investors, the great benefits of trading on Forex are:
Enormous liquidity - over $4 trillion per day, that's $4,000,000,000. This means that there's always someone ready to trade with you
Every one of the world's free currencies are traded - this means that you may trade the currency you want at any time
Twenty four - hour trading during the 5-day working week
Operations are global which mean that you can trade with any part of the world at any time
From the point of view of the smaller trader there's lots of benefits too, such as:
A rapidly-changing market - that's one which is always changing and offering the chance to make money
Very well developed mechanisms for controlling risk
Ability to go long or short - this means that you can make money either in rising or falling markets
Leverage trading - meaning that you can benefit from large-volume trading while having a relatively-low capital base
Lots of options for zero-commission trading
How the forex Market Works
As forex is all about foreign exchange, all transactions are made up from a currency pair - say, for instance, the Euro and the US Dollar. The basic tool for trading forex is the exchange rate which is expressed as a ratio between the values of the two currencies such as EUR/USD = 1.4086. This value, which is referred to as the 'forex rate' means that, at that particular time, one Euro would be worth 1.4086 US Dollars. This ratio is always expressed to 4 decimal places which means that you could see a forex rate of EUR/USD = 1.4086 or EUR/USD = 1.4087 but never EUR/USD = 1.40865. The rightmost digit of this ratio is referred to as a 'pip'. So, a change from EUR/USD = 1.4086 to EUR/USD = 1.4088 would be referred to as a change of 2 pips. One pip, therefore is the smallest unit of trade.
With the forex rate at EUR/USD = 1.4086, an investor purchasing 1000 Euros using dollars would pay $1,408.60. If the forex rate then changed to EUR/USD = 1.5020, the investor could sell their 1000 Euros for $1,502.00 and bank the $93.40 as profit. If this doesn't seem to be large amount to you, you have to put the sum into context. With a rising or falling market, the forex rate does not simply change in a uniform way but oscillates and profits can be taken many times per day as a rate oscillates around a trend.
When you're expecting the value EUR/USD to fall, you might trade the other way by selling Euros for dollars and buying then back when the forex rate has changed to your advantage.
Is forex Risky?
When you trade on forex as in any form of currency trading, you're in the business of currency speculation and it is just that - speculation. This means that there is some risk involved in forex currency trading as in any business but you might and should, take steps to minimise this. You can always set a limit to the downside of any trade, that means to define the maximum loss that you are prepared to accept if the market goes against you - and it will on occasions.
The best insurance against losing your shirt on the forex market is to set out to understand what you're doing totally. Search the internet for a good forex trading tutorial and study it in detail- a bit of good forex education can go a long way!. When there's bits you don't understand, look for a good forex trading forum and ask lots and lots of questions. Many of the people who habitually answer your queries on this will have a good forex trading blog and this will probably not only give you answers to your questions but also provide lots of links to good sites. Be vigilant, however, watch out for forex trading scams. Don't be too quick to part with your money and investigate anything very well before you shell out any hard-earned!
The forex Trading Systems
While you may be right in being cautious about any forex trading system that's advertised, there are some good ones around. Most of them either utilise forex charts and by means of these, identify forex trading signals which tell the trader when to buy or sell. These signals will be made up of a particular change in a forex rate or a trend and these will have been devised by a forex trader who has studied long-term trends in the market so as to identify valid signals when they occur. Many of the systems will use forex trading software which identifies such signals from data inputs which are gathered automatically from market information sources. Some utilise automated forex trading software which can trigger trades automatically when the signals tell it to do so. If these sound too good to be true to you, look around for online forex trading systems which will allow you undertake some dummy trading to test them out. by doing this you can get some forex trading training by giving them a spin before you put real money on the table.
How Much do you Need to Start off with?
This is a bit of a 'How long is a piece of string?' question but there are ways for to be beginner to dip a toe into the water without needing a fortune to start with. The minimum trading size for most trades on forex is usually 100,000 units of any currency and this volume is referred to as a standard "lot". However, there are many firms which offer the facility to purchase in dramatically-smaller lots than this and a bit of internet searching will soon locate these. There's many adverts quoting only a couple of hundred dollars to get going! You will often see the term acciones trading forex and this is just a general term which covers the small guy trading forex. Small-scale trading facilities such as these are often called as forex mini trading.
Where do You Start?
The single most obvious answer is of course - on the internet! Online forex trading gives you direct access to the forex market and there's lots and lots of companies out there who are in business just to deal with you online. Be vigilant, do spend the time to get some good forex trading education, again this can be provided online and set up your dummy account to trade before you attempt to go live. If you take care and take your time, there's no reason why you shouldn't be successful in forex trading so, have patience and stick at it!
For access to a mass of articles on forex and a large number of videos, please visit my site on forex trading [http://www.master-forex-trading.com].
Hi, I'm Philippa Holmes (Pippa to my friends) and I have been involved in education and training and the forex market for a considerable time. I have written extensively on the subject and can count a considerable number of successful business people among my many past students. My many reviews all emphasize the clarity of my writing and the ease with which absolute beginners can get to grips with the subjects I present.