I've been practising Ashtanga yoga for the past 5 years. It has brought me many, many things. I have first learnt how to really listen to my mind AND body (you need to, to co-ordinate some tricky moves!). I have for the first time in my life understood terms of the human anatomy. I have, for some reason, stopped liking the taste of meat and have been pescatarian since 2005. I do not think it's just the yoga that made me stopped eating meat; i suppose it could have been the intense activity after years of being sedantary (really awful word!).
Today i had a really good practice. I practise about thrice a week and it's not every time or even for weeks that i get to feel happy and energetic after yoga. Many times, especially in the evenings, i am just too mentally tired after a day's work. I would be thinking about a hundred and one things while attempting the poses and that's double the punishment cos i'll be both physically and mentally tired after that! In the mornings, i sometimes feel sleepy, groggy, and yes, tired again. And some days, i feel more flexible than strong and the reverse on other days. And using our favourite tropical climate excuse, some days it's just so so warm that you can't even breathe through the thick cloud of vapour right before you! It is really quite rare to find days when you have the energy, flexibility, constant breathing, always 'mula bandha-ing' and yes, nice cool breeze to accompany your practice and this evening was one of those...
I wasn't that hungry to start with, so that's always good. I didn't have a heavy lunch either... Actually, it could be something i ate that did this. Not just today but yesterday would count too.
Sunday: I mindfully had sweet potatoes and pasta early about 7pm for the carbo load to last me today.
Monday: Breakfast: an olive foccacia bun from Peck (love their breads!); brunch at 9.30am- dry 'mee-suah' with fishballs at the coffeeshop outside school; 'lunch' at 2pm- something sweet- chocolate waffles and a Nutri tea from the school canteen. That was it.
I am going to try this eating thing out for evening practices for now on... I have tried having a heavy lunch (with white rice) and i have always felt groggy and heavy. So now i will have as much complex carbs as i can the night before and have more protein based stuff for the day. Even sweet 'junk' food is alright :)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Work- work and house- work
It is not fun working when it is so close to the festive season! And with a festive season that typically, traditionally (and which we also follow quite blindly) involves cleaning of a 1400 sq ft apartment, it is really not funny. Not when we work 11 hour days and have to still clean mirrors and wipe down and shine the vanity at the end of it.
Don't get me wrong. I love cleaning. I am very house proud. I just immensely dislike the fact that I do not have more time to do these things!
Agh! So, have to plan the last remaining days to the Chinese New Year properly...
Thursday 11022010
1200 to 1400 Staff Lunch in town
1400 to 1600 Buy cloth runner for new console- Isetan or Tangs.
Buy Japanese rice, sushi condiments from Isetan supermarket.
1600 to 1700 Make way home. Change. Rest. Spray cleaning solution on bathroom floors.
1830 to 2030 Yoga
2030 to 1030 Dinner at Whampoa Market. Buy plants there too.
1030 to 1100 Scrub bathroom floors. Defrost chicken bones.
Friday 12022010
1415 to 1700 Management meeting (can you believe this? Neither can i)
1700 to 2000 Reunion dinner at parents'.
2000 to 2200 Wash bedsheets. Go to supermarket. Buy leeks and other vegetables. Defrost abalone. Defrost duck.
Saturday 13022010
0800 to 1000 Yoga
1000 to 1100 Brunch
1100 to 1300 Prepare chicken stock.
1300 to 1500 Braise abalone
1500 to 1530 Slice duck. Season.
1530 to 2100 Reunion dinner at MIL's.
2200 to 0000 Pack study room. Throw out stuff.
Sunday 14022010
CNY Day One
Visit MIL for Brunch.
Veg out at home.
Cook dinner (Bamboo Shoot Rice)
Monday 15022010
CNY Day Two
Sleep in.
Cook lunch (Sushi)
Visit Aunty for dinner.
Don't get me wrong. I love cleaning. I am very house proud. I just immensely dislike the fact that I do not have more time to do these things!
Agh! So, have to plan the last remaining days to the Chinese New Year properly...
Thursday 11022010
1200 to 1400 Staff Lunch in town
1400 to 1600 Buy cloth runner for new console- Isetan or Tangs.
Buy Japanese rice, sushi condiments from Isetan supermarket.
1600 to 1700 Make way home. Change. Rest. Spray cleaning solution on bathroom floors.
1830 to 2030 Yoga
2030 to 1030 Dinner at Whampoa Market. Buy plants there too.
1030 to 1100 Scrub bathroom floors. Defrost chicken bones.
Friday 12022010
1415 to 1700 Management meeting (can you believe this? Neither can i)
1700 to 2000 Reunion dinner at parents'.
2000 to 2200 Wash bedsheets. Go to supermarket. Buy leeks and other vegetables. Defrost abalone. Defrost duck.
Saturday 13022010
0800 to 1000 Yoga
1000 to 1100 Brunch
1100 to 1300 Prepare chicken stock.
1300 to 1500 Braise abalone
1500 to 1530 Slice duck. Season.
1530 to 2100 Reunion dinner at MIL's.
2200 to 0000 Pack study room. Throw out stuff.
Sunday 14022010
CNY Day One
Visit MIL for Brunch.
Veg out at home.
Cook dinner (Bamboo Shoot Rice)
Monday 15022010
CNY Day Two
Sleep in.
Cook lunch (Sushi)
Visit Aunty for dinner.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
A New Year, A New Decade
Day Three of 2010
Spent the bulk of the day juggling preparations for the work week ahead, facebooking, watching some telly and dinner preparation.
The past few days have been pretty awesome even though it was by no means exciting or eventful by anyone's standards! Spent new years' eve evening at home and the new year's day itself at home too.
I did some reflecting and it dawned upon me that the past decade was an important and eventful one... Career- wise, in the last ten years i graduated, started work and got promoted thrice. Love- wise, i met Shawn and married him. Health- wise, i started seriously exercising in 2005 and have been maintaining a thrice- weekly ashtanga yoga practice. I have also stopped eating meat in June 2005 and am still on my pescatarian diet. Another love aspect which brought me to frantic tears again as i thought about it on 01.01.10 was our cat Bel of course. I adopted and lost him to cancer in that decade. The memories of him are always, always bitter-sweet but i could never ever not think about him every day (it is hard not to when the wallpaper of my phone is still his funny face!). Of course the crying and pain has abated somewhat, but really, all it takes is just that longing to hold his heavy and furry body, to hear his 'meow' responses to my dialogue with him, to feel his kneading on the covers each night... these are what reduces a normally sensible woman to wrecked sobs...
This is him:
Spent the bulk of the day juggling preparations for the work week ahead, facebooking, watching some telly and dinner preparation.
The past few days have been pretty awesome even though it was by no means exciting or eventful by anyone's standards! Spent new years' eve evening at home and the new year's day itself at home too.
I did some reflecting and it dawned upon me that the past decade was an important and eventful one... Career- wise, in the last ten years i graduated, started work and got promoted thrice. Love- wise, i met Shawn and married him. Health- wise, i started seriously exercising in 2005 and have been maintaining a thrice- weekly ashtanga yoga practice. I have also stopped eating meat in June 2005 and am still on my pescatarian diet. Another love aspect which brought me to frantic tears again as i thought about it on 01.01.10 was our cat Bel of course. I adopted and lost him to cancer in that decade. The memories of him are always, always bitter-sweet but i could never ever not think about him every day (it is hard not to when the wallpaper of my phone is still his funny face!). Of course the crying and pain has abated somewhat, but really, all it takes is just that longing to hold his heavy and furry body, to hear his 'meow' responses to my dialogue with him, to feel his kneading on the covers each night... these are what reduces a normally sensible woman to wrecked sobs...
This is him:
Bel
And, back to my ramblings for the next decade...
I never believe in setting new year resolutions. Those, i believe, are just excuses to procrastinate one's resolves to another calendar year. If something is wrong, set it right ASAP! I mean, there is nothing very wrong with starting a year wonderful and right, but what have been holding you back to do it right last year?
For example, a rather common resolution i see/ hear is to be a better/ nicer/ more understanding person... So, when you snap at someone undeserving, you reserve your guilt and resolve till say, 6 months later when 31/12 is approaching??? Does not make sense to me!
In any case, resolution- less, I wonder what the next decade would bring me...
Work- wise: I have no blinking idea! I am not feeling ambitious now!
Family- wise: Travel lots, with Shawn and maybe, my parents cos they are getting older
Pet- wise: Hmmmm... I only want bel! Well, not too keen on having more for now...
Health- wise: too crazy to project a 10 year stretch goal, but with regular practice, perhaps finish the intermediate series in 2 years' time? Oh, and stretch my sad 15 minute runs! I may also turn full vegetarian (lacto-ovo) when i reach 40...
Life- wise: More lives born; some lives lost... very morbid to think of such things at this time!
So, day three into a new decade, insights into my life...
Friday, December 11, 2009
A Strange Day of Doing Almost Nothing at Home
11 December 2009
10am: Woke up, showered, made bed (Shawn usually does that but he has left for work)
11am: Ate brunch of baked beans and toast, checked work emails, logged in to FB
12noon: Shawn came back, he had some leftover beans. Cleaned up brunch stuff in the kitchen.
1pm: I checked out Tupperware X'mas catalogue... Nothing very exciting. And sorted out a corner of the studio. He worked on his model kit.
2pm: Decided to watch telly (AFC) and wrap a pressie. That Seetoh guy on Makansutra looks like a lout trying to be a peasant in fine dining premises. Yucks. Saw some New Zealander chaps trying to hunt rabbits for dinner on Hunger for the Wild. I don't eat meat, therefore won't eat rabbit but i strangely do not feel grossed out by people eating versions of this popular household pet. Maybe cos i find them quite dumb haha. Although any cruelty is unacceptable, of course.
3pm: Decided that we will cook at 4pm and have tunch (tea- lunch) and what other food is more appropriate than yaki-udon, this time with cockles! yums
4.30pm: Ate, cleaned up. Made tea. Read papers and watched more food porn. And somewhere around
5.30pm: I fell asleep. Shawn too.
7.30pm: Woke up feeling so groggy... Read more papers, fished around FB again and decided at
9.00pm: Update blog...
Oh, somewhere between 1pm to 3pm, we sprayed some strong cleaning liquid around in our shower areas and washed it off about 4pm. But that's not really work yeah?
10am: Woke up, showered, made bed (Shawn usually does that but he has left for work)
11am: Ate brunch of baked beans and toast, checked work emails, logged in to FB
12noon: Shawn came back, he had some leftover beans. Cleaned up brunch stuff in the kitchen.
1pm: I checked out Tupperware X'mas catalogue... Nothing very exciting. And sorted out a corner of the studio. He worked on his model kit.
2pm: Decided to watch telly (AFC) and wrap a pressie. That Seetoh guy on Makansutra looks like a lout trying to be a peasant in fine dining premises. Yucks. Saw some New Zealander chaps trying to hunt rabbits for dinner on Hunger for the Wild. I don't eat meat, therefore won't eat rabbit but i strangely do not feel grossed out by people eating versions of this popular household pet. Maybe cos i find them quite dumb haha. Although any cruelty is unacceptable, of course.
3pm: Decided that we will cook at 4pm and have tunch (tea- lunch) and what other food is more appropriate than yaki-udon, this time with cockles! yums
5.30pm: I fell asleep. Shawn too.
7.30pm: Woke up feeling so groggy... Read more papers, fished around FB again and decided at
9.00pm: Update blog...
Oh, somewhere between 1pm to 3pm, we sprayed some strong cleaning liquid around in our shower areas and washed it off about 4pm. But that's not really work yeah?
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
I am too hungry to pack for our trip
Shawn and i are leaving for Hua Hin, Thailand in less than 24 hours and excited as i am, i am really too hungry to move my butt to start packing...
Excitement
The last trip overseas for me was to Osaka, Japan 18th November 2008. I remember the date so clearly as it was a month BEFORE our wedding on 18th December 2008! And that was a work trip! My colleagues and i brought students to osaka for a learning journey. Thankfully it was a very pleasant trip- no one fell really ill; the weather was good and we had a superbly efficient tour guide and THAT i assure you, made ALL the difference!
Therefore, the last trip overseas for both Shawn and I was in December 2007, to Tokyo and Kyoto!
We didn't manage to squeeze in the honeymoon after the wedding too cos it was just too late in December and my official duties begin like on 26th Dec (yes, it's true).
So anyway, this was planned pretty late- just slightly over a month ago! I think we really need a break and decided on Hua Hin for a few reasons. Our first destination was Bali but there are SO many resorts, so many choices that i couldn't do all the research in one night (yes, that's also true) so we decided against it. Besides, many couples we know have been to Bali for their honeymoons so we also wanted to break that common norm for ourselves. Thailand was next- we've been to Krabi so that's out. Phuket for a honeymoon is just wrong. Then i heard of this resort from a friend who has actually been there recently and she was raving about it. It's called Let's Sea Hua Hin (haha, yes, that is the real name!) and it is a boutique resort of 40 rooms (Shawn and i love boutique beach resorts). So we searched the site, browsed through Trip Advisor for reviews and there and then decided to just go there!
And so we are leaving at 8am tomorrow- yay!
Hunger
I love nyonya kuehs. First, i love most things with coconut; second, i do have a sweet tooth; and third, i am more willing to pay for them cos i can't make 'em myself! SG Kuehs used to have an outlet in the Marina Square foodcourt but when i was there to sell my soul to Muji earlier, i realised it was closed for good! Sigh... i never get to go to Amoy Food Centre where it is (if it is still there) so i guess it'll be another year before i get to eat good nyonya kuehs again... So now i am hungry with only some konnyaku jelly in the fridge- guess i'll eat them before dinner.
Dinner is going to be Japanese- it's my mother's birthday and we're eating out. Will be bringing her to Sushi Tei at the new City Square Mall. It's walking distance from her place but she's never been there since!
The food itself was okay. Nothing highly remarkable as with most mid-priced restaurants in Singapore. What was was that my baby brother has really his own brand of humour which is nothing like ours! We were really tickled by his jokes and observations.
Packing
For a 5 day trip i have 8 tops, 6 bottoms, 4 pairs of footwear, 3 bikinis, 2 belts and 1 pair of false eyelashes... Even Shawn was humoured- but i will make sure i wear those eyelashes!
I am a believer of over packing, believing that i should always bring MORE clothes than the spares in case of so many various, unexpected and unwanted circumstances- like a psychotic diner who decides to spill red wine on you, ruining your last dress. Then what do you do???
Excitement
The last trip overseas for me was to Osaka, Japan 18th November 2008. I remember the date so clearly as it was a month BEFORE our wedding on 18th December 2008! And that was a work trip! My colleagues and i brought students to osaka for a learning journey. Thankfully it was a very pleasant trip- no one fell really ill; the weather was good and we had a superbly efficient tour guide and THAT i assure you, made ALL the difference!
Therefore, the last trip overseas for both Shawn and I was in December 2007, to Tokyo and Kyoto!
We didn't manage to squeeze in the honeymoon after the wedding too cos it was just too late in December and my official duties begin like on 26th Dec (yes, it's true).
So anyway, this was planned pretty late- just slightly over a month ago! I think we really need a break and decided on Hua Hin for a few reasons. Our first destination was Bali but there are SO many resorts, so many choices that i couldn't do all the research in one night (yes, that's also true) so we decided against it. Besides, many couples we know have been to Bali for their honeymoons so we also wanted to break that common norm for ourselves. Thailand was next- we've been to Krabi so that's out. Phuket for a honeymoon is just wrong. Then i heard of this resort from a friend who has actually been there recently and she was raving about it. It's called Let's Sea Hua Hin (haha, yes, that is the real name!) and it is a boutique resort of 40 rooms (Shawn and i love boutique beach resorts). So we searched the site, browsed through Trip Advisor for reviews and there and then decided to just go there!
And so we are leaving at 8am tomorrow- yay!
Hunger
I love nyonya kuehs. First, i love most things with coconut; second, i do have a sweet tooth; and third, i am more willing to pay for them cos i can't make 'em myself! SG Kuehs used to have an outlet in the Marina Square foodcourt but when i was there to sell my soul to Muji earlier, i realised it was closed for good! Sigh... i never get to go to Amoy Food Centre where it is (if it is still there) so i guess it'll be another year before i get to eat good nyonya kuehs again... So now i am hungry with only some konnyaku jelly in the fridge- guess i'll eat them before dinner.
Dinner is going to be Japanese- it's my mother's birthday and we're eating out. Will be bringing her to Sushi Tei at the new City Square Mall. It's walking distance from her place but she's never been there since!
The food itself was okay. Nothing highly remarkable as with most mid-priced restaurants in Singapore. What was was that my baby brother has really his own brand of humour which is nothing like ours! We were really tickled by his jokes and observations.
Packing
For a 5 day trip i have 8 tops, 6 bottoms, 4 pairs of footwear, 3 bikinis, 2 belts and 1 pair of false eyelashes... Even Shawn was humoured- but i will make sure i wear those eyelashes!
I am a believer of over packing, believing that i should always bring MORE clothes than the spares in case of so many various, unexpected and unwanted circumstances- like a psychotic diner who decides to spill red wine on you, ruining your last dress. Then what do you do???
Monday, November 23, 2009
Joanna/ Julie/ Julia?
I share the same initials as Julia Child, the famous-again home cook thanks to the movie Julie & Julia...
I am about to finish reading the book that the movie spun off; the movie is far better in my opinion- Powell tends to ramble and whine...
So, i have been cooking quite a bit ever since January... Been archiving my food photographs in my FB album too. I also write in my kitchen calendar what i have been cooking, and if i am not doing laundry/ work/ baking/ more cooking, i have a food journal of my food drawings and writings.
But i am so not heading the direction of Julia or Julie :) Not that i want to but to many kind friends, it seems like i should make a sideline out of my rather serious hobby!
That said, this serious hobby is almost an obsession... But i suppose it is simply due to our passion for good food and our intentions of replicating that at home.
We have subscribed to the Asian Food Channel recently and the geek in me claps in glee when i spot our kitchen gadgets in professional kitchens heehee (spotted: Global knives; hand-blenders; Arborio olive oil; oven thermometers...)
So this blog would contain lots of food- pictures and descriptions of...
It is not a Project like Julie Powell's nor would it contain any of MtAoFC cos i do not have the book... It is just a serious passion and hobby of JC :)
I am about to finish reading the book that the movie spun off; the movie is far better in my opinion- Powell tends to ramble and whine...
So, i have been cooking quite a bit ever since January... Been archiving my food photographs in my FB album too. I also write in my kitchen calendar what i have been cooking, and if i am not doing laundry/ work/ baking/ more cooking, i have a food journal of my food drawings and writings.
But i am so not heading the direction of Julia or Julie :) Not that i want to but to many kind friends, it seems like i should make a sideline out of my rather serious hobby!
That said, this serious hobby is almost an obsession... But i suppose it is simply due to our passion for good food and our intentions of replicating that at home.
We have subscribed to the Asian Food Channel recently and the geek in me claps in glee when i spot our kitchen gadgets in professional kitchens heehee (spotted: Global knives; hand-blenders; Arborio olive oil; oven thermometers...)
So this blog would contain lots of food- pictures and descriptions of...
It is not a Project like Julie Powell's nor would it contain any of MtAoFC cos i do not have the book... It is just a serious passion and hobby of JC :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)