Early bird continue~~~~~~~~ but happy early bird (2 parts) ^_^

yeah~~~ I woke up again at 5am (6.5 hours of sleep) but unlike yesterday that I had headache...today I woke up totally awake, no headache, no tired, just like that all I needed to sleep was 6.5 hours. Maybe it was last night's vinyasa yoga that gave me extra energy to be more productive sleeping?! (oh. . for the record, when I came back last night I had 1/4 baked squash, 1 muffin with PB before going to sleep)

This morning's combo was very interesting

• 1/2 cup old wessex (my new favorite)
  
• 1/2 banana
• 1 small apple chopped
• 1/4 silk
• pinch of salt (it's the magic touch, because somehow it makes the whole thing sweeter)
• 1/4 pumpkin
  

And the star was: tatatataaaaaaaaaaaaaa BARNEY BUTTER
mmmmmmmmmmmmmm........yummy yummy!!!!!!! Now I can understand why Tina and Kath are so obsessed with it. It's creamy, with a smooth taste of almond, not so sweet, just PERFECTION! (I'm such a bad reviewer ).

I worked from 7am - 12.30pm, very productive morning (not sleepy at all). Snack was the usual: trail mix and marroc
I had to leave home around 1.30pm, so lunch was quick: corn noodles with tons of frozen veggies and Tj's turkey meatballs.
Dessert: Fage 0% with wheat berries and cinnamon.
I packed more trail mix, an apple with cinnamon and BARNEY BUTTER for snack since I had to be in campus all afternoon and spin class at 5pm. (The small packet is so convenient to carry. )
This photo was taken in office after I had Barney Butter with a new feature of Mac.........can you see my happy satisfying face? (part 1)
I got this in Co-op before the spin class. It has a bland taste....won't buy it again.
Well...part 2 was the spin class. Because I have a new heart rate monitor!!!! Polar F6. I'm so happy to get a new monitor because the one I had for 3 years haven't been working properly. It's hard for it to catch my heart rate, sometimes in the middle of the workout it just stops.....grrrrrrrrr..... finally I got a new one!!!!!!!! And it comes with more functions. It records several workouts, it informs either HR or % of target, cal burned, how long you've been in zone....etc. It's very light and feminine, really like it!
So, today's spin class was amazing, I sweat more than usual (because I'm more aware of how much effort I'm putting and when the instructor tell us to be in 80%, I could be in 80% and not have to guess). Here's my stat:
Duration: 45 min
Average Heart Rate: 144
Maximum: 202 (is it possible?)
Calories burned: 275
wooooooooo.......great workout, isn't it? I haven't done serious cardio work for almost 4 months now, I'm totally out of shape. I might go to the gym for a run tomorrow and check how I am.

On the way back home, I was thinking what to have at dinner. And my intuition told me that I need something warm, preferably spicy and with yellow/orange color. hahahha.......see how good communication I have with my intuition? I reminded me what I had in fridge and the recipe was created. First, the result

okay. It's not soup, its not chili, so I don't know how to name it. (can you help me with that?) but I do have the recipe:

• 1/2 medium onion
• 1 tbsp canola oil
  
• 2 cup chopped cauliflower
• 1/3 cup red lentils
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup diced tomatoes
  
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tbsp curry powder
• S+P
• 1/2 tbsp sugar

Method:
Cook chopped onion with canola oil for 2-3 min until it gets the brown color. Add coliflower, lentils, tomatoes and 2-3 cups of water. Let it cook for about 20 min, stir pumpkin puree and seasonings.
It's really tasty even without stock as base. Just what I was craving.
I also had 3-4 pieces of Tj's grilled chicken and 1/2 baked acorn squash.


mmmmmmm..........so satisfied with my dinner. I think when you want to eat something and you make it (instead of eating out) by youself, it really satisfy you in all sense!
A perfect dinner can't be perfect without desserts, right? So
Dessert 1: fage 0% with frozen strawberries.
Dessert 2: fage 0% with cinnamon.
It's my first time to have fage 0%. It's good but not as creamier as 2%, so I think 2% of saturated fat won't hurt, right? ^_^

Have everyone a good evening~~~~~~ mine is great! since I finished dinner and blogging so early today, I can have more time reading "Eat, Pray and Love". Have you guys read it? It's a easy reading, very funny and insightful.

Here's a question for you guys: how do you measure your cardio work performance? duration? maximum HR? average HR? I remember my favorite spin class teacher told me once that it's how fast you pump up your HR and how fast you can go back to your normal HR the measure of your cardio performance. Is it right?

And don't forget to suggest a name for my recipe ^_^