On thursday, I went for my first visit to my office gym after 8 months. Yes! It has been that long!It wasn’t my best session as I ran only 2km, and took 15mins. However, I could ran at speed that I last trained, which peaked me up considerably.
To keep myself motivated, here’s what I am going to do:
Find gym kakis
I used to go with an ex-colleague to gym at least once a week. We would encouraged each other to go for a short run, even if we were feeling tired. We would monitor our weight using the weighing machine at the gym and update each other on progress.
Now, I found a group of girls who have been attending gym regularly. So whenever I am free to gym during lunch, I can leave with them! Making the first step, that is leaving office to go gym instead of getting food first, isn’t going to be that tough.
Work should not be an excuse
The main reason for my hiatus was that I felt rather stressed from work and hence, when it comes to lunch, I just wanted to eat to feel better.
But after my short run, I felt accomplished (because I did it) and good (could be due to endorphins). So a short run is still better than no run.
New running shorts
My current running shorts is too loose, which means I have a smaller hip width even though I regained the weight I lost in Jan.
So from now on, every time I don on my new running shorts, I will be reminded of my weight loss and be even more motivated to gym regularly.
Image taken from http://www.flickr.com/photos/photodesign-dk/2452361262/in/set-72157604963219932/
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So I decided to try something different. Not necessarily healthier but I had enough of pork ribs, lean or minced meat. I figured pork chops won’t go wrong. Same goes for sweet and sour pork, but that will be another recipe for another day.
I googled a bit and most I saw had ingredients and steps on making own seasoning. I feel it’s too much trouble and I want something quick. After 20 minutes of looking around for a simple recipe, I gave up and figured I will use the Masterfood – Red Wine & Garlic sauce, which was sitting idle in the fridge.
So here’s my simplified recipe.
Preparation (10mins)
1. Buy lean pork chops from market. I got mine from wet market and the uncle was so nice to slice them in nice shapes for me.
2. ‘Stab’ the pork chop with the blunt side of the knife. That was suggested by the uncle, to make the pork tender.
3. Pour some of the Masterfood – Red Wine & Garlic sauce. The amount should be enough to coat the meat. If you pour too much, chances are your meat will turn out soggy.
4. Massage the meat with the sauce. I did that so that the sauce is absorbed by the meat.
5. Leave the marinated meat overnight.
Cooking (20 mins)
1. Put a thin slab of butter on a dry, heated, non-stick (if possible) pan
2. When the butter has melted, add the meat.
Cooking the pork chops
Turn it occasionally so that the meat is cooked consistently.
3. Reduce the gas to a low amount, cover it and let the butter + sauce simmer.
4. Use a butter knife to check if the meat is cooked. Then serve.
Yummy buttery Pork Chops
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“This is my favourite, you know” and she looked at me expectently.
“It’s late, we get it another time alright.”. I walked to another aisle.
“mummy! mummy! I also like this!. She pointed to cherios.
“ok, got it.” I said
“can? …” she looked me hopefully, with a big smile.
I pretended not to hear, held her hand and left the mini mart. To her credit, she didn’t kick a fuss and insist on getting them then!.
Will get titbits for her in the next grocery shopping!
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The series originated from Japan and is called Kunoichi(wikipedia).I first watched the episode, on wednesday on Channel 5. The only reason I switched on the tv was because Chloe wanted to watch Ninja Warrior and I vaguely remembered this series was going to be shown on that night.
It was my first time watching it (thought it was a man-only series) and I was going “ohhh and ahhhs”. Women doing obstacles!
Balancing on yellow moulds that were mounted on tall poles. My fear of height would give me wobbly feet. Walking on a barrel. Err, balancing act? Climbing a rope ladder. My arms would have given way.I was feeling very nervous and excited for the contestants. My heart was racing as I anticipated the contestants fell into the muddy water . Or heart lurged when someone almost lost their balance. So close! It’s as if I was the one doing it!
I was very impressed by a contestant by the name of Yoko Mori. It was her third attempt at the obstacle. In her two attempts (Youtube: her first attempt), she was unable to finish the First Stage due to her weak arms. So, to prep herself, she had been training her arms.
I thought women with trained arms will have HUGE arms. Hers didn’t look huge so I was skeptical about her training. Was it true she trained? But she completed the First Stage, managed to finish climbing the rope ladder for the first time! Her training paid off. I was almost an instant convert to gym-training.
Another was a stuntwoman named Chie Nishimura. Not surprising that she could compete in such competition. But because she is now a mother of 1. Based on wikipedia, she competed just three months after having a baby.
Gees, the only ‘great’ athletic thingy I did was to do a 10KM run, about 18months after Chloe was born.
Maybe I should resume my weekly gym routine and rebuild my stamina in running. So long I don’t have to jump off a sliding board or run across a slanted bridge…
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Image from Amazon.com.
Bart is a fictional character from Christine Anderson’s Bedtime book – Bedtime!
. The little girl in question refused to sleep and continued with her toys. Hence her mother decided to give all her attention to the dog, named Bart. Soon she found out that her favourite routine was happening, but she’s not the center of attention. Bart is!Chloe and I have been reading this book so she knew the whole story. She was a little disgruntled when she realised the dog was wearing a ribbon, which was the little girl’s. It felt like HER ribbon was used by someone else, and toddlers are very possessive.
So two nights ago, I was lying on HER bed. Chloe was lying on OUR bed, beside her daddy.
Dad: “Look, Bart is sleeping on your bed”.
Chloe, peeking at me: “Bart, what are you doing?”. *giggles*
All the while, I kept quiet. Chloe couldn’t resist anyone lying on her bed and climbed down to her bed.
Finally she’s settled and ready for sleep! Now I can return to my bed, to watch a drama or read a book or surf the Internet. Anything but being a ‘Bart’.
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If you have an iphone and fancy a scrabble challenge with your friends, this is the application for you.
It’s called, “Words with Friends” and you can get it from the App Store. It is currently free. (Logo from here.
Ever since I was introduced to this social game by my dearest colleague (who got the iphone around the same time as I did), I have been looking and staring at the game board most of awake time.
(Picture from here).It is super addictive! Especially when I know I am playing with a person, a friend and not a computer.
The best part is that I could take my own sweet time to strategise the most points out of the 7 letters on my game! I could try the different combinations and feel gleeful when I managed to use my Zs and Xs to create words I didn’t even know they exist!
Because there’s no rush, I can look at it when I am free – while I am waiting for the train or the bus, in between meetings, waiting for the gang to have lunch. Anytime!
So if you are looking for a challenging word game with your friends, this will be the application!
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Friday night we went to a bistro as I was keen to get out of our usual routine and try something different. We ended up at Smoochies, where I found it via Hungrygowhere ages ago.
Cod Fish
Saturday night was the grandma’s 80th birthday celebration. Food was lavish as everyone had a bowl of shark’s fin, one small abalone and we were served a portion of every dish (we didn’t even have to stretch our hands to get food!) except Peking duck. Didn’t snap any pictures of the food as I was busy cutting the food into small slices for the little one. But here’s a picture of everyone who was there!
Grandma's birthday celebration
After lunch, there was some craving for desert, but really, it was to buy a cake for the birthday girl.
Clapping to her song
Everyone loves ice-cream
We ended the lunch by returning home and put the little one to bed. Nap time for her and rest time for us. Perfect way to spend the rest of the weekend. Til then!
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For myself, I started getting the social media applications. I am active in Twitter and Facebook so those are definitely a must. Echofon for Twitter is great because I can input easily, add photos to flickr, access my list and mentions easily. Links are also displayed as if in Safari.
I also tried the Foursquare app as it’s the recent craze on Twitter and I was dying to play it. So that’s my current social play-thing until something interesting comes along.
For hubby, he downloaded games that he played before and thought it would be fun to introduce to me. One of it was Paper Toss by BackFlipStudios, a paper-throw-into-basket game that takes into account the wind speed. Currently he’s trying to outdo my personal best of 30 at Easy mode. Heh.
Image from http://paper-toss.en.softonic.com/iphone
He downloaded quite a bit of games so I allocated a desktop for him!
As for our toddler, I looked for educational games and of course stuff that’s fun. She’s into this puzzle game, where she gets to place the hands and legs of a bee, panda and octopus. Recently, she could complete a 10-piece puzzle on her own and is eager to try new ones.
That’s her, taking after her daddy genes.
Another favourite of her is a Shapes game, where she will tap on the correct shape and applause would ensue. This will be a great game for toddlers who just learn how to identify shapes as it helps them to remember in a fun way.
Image from iTunes store
Chloe has her own desktop too:
Right now, I use the iPhone in the daytime while I am at work. After work, hubby check his games and chloe will whine to play hers. We shall see how long the fascination lasts.
During weekends when we eat out, one my favourite dishes is spinach with salted egg and wolfberries. Well, I don’t keep salted egg at home so it’s just going to be the veg and wolfberries.
Googled for the recipe while I was on the train home and found this:
Image is from Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food
The recipe looked fuss-free and it was. But I underestimated the amount of spinach, had to add more seasoning such as soya sauce and then sugar (because it was too salty).
My modified recipe:
i) Heat non-stick pan until it’s hot.
ii) Heat oil for 1-2minutes.
ii) Add garlic and stir-fry garlic till beginning to brown.
iii) Add spinach and stir fried it in garlic.
iv) When the spinach looks slightly cooked, add in wolfberries, some water and soya sauce.
v) Taste. Add sugar (only if you like your vegetables a little sweet).
vi) Stir-fried until spinach is cooked.
vi) Dish out and serve.
Not a fan in my family because they prefer oily and tasty stuff whereas I am trying to cook healthy. Well, let’s see how it goes with more garlic (and no wolfberries) tomorrow.
** Update **
Cooked spinach with garlic and lean meat. Tasted much better!
]]>1. To write once every 2 days
By 28 Feb, I had written 15 posts, excluding this. Using math, the number is about right and I did met my goal. Except when I looked at frequency, I wasn’t writing once every 2 days. During the first two weeks, I wrote almost daily. For the third week of Feb, I only wrote 2 posts.
I will have to start penning down my thoughts more often. What I did was to type into my Treo Pro when I had inspirations on topics. But often, my notes were too brief and sometimes I forget what it was I wanted to say. I doubt the iPhone will allow me to write better; I should carry my peper notebook in my bag aways.
Anyways I will carry this goal onwards to March. To a better blogging month!
2. Backup my photos
It’s a simple solution. Zip the whole folder, remember the file path. Unzip the whole folder in the same file path in the new server. Done.
3. Find a new web hosting company
Fatcow has been great but we find it a little slow at night. Maybe that’s when the States is awake? Anyway they are charging us double for renewal and I find that ridiculous. Shouldn’t loyalty be rewarded? So I am still on the lookout..probably trying a local (Singapore) host and see if that’s faster.
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