Balance, Joy and Delicias!

Warning: Moving notice!

2009-07-27T07:10:00.002-04:00

Yeah~ I decided to move to wordpress.

Check out my newly renovated site at: http://balancejoyanddelicias.wordpress.com

Great Friday: finding the cause and good news! :)

2009-07-25T07:03:00.005-04:00

After yesterday's panic I feel needing to write another post as soon as I feel better.... not a little better, MUCH better.
Okay. First of all the analysis of the cause of my recent belly problem. Some reasons that you suggested were part of it

Stress level: I'm pretty relaxed lately as you might have noticed. I've been traveling a lot... enjoy myself in some kind of treat every weekend. And the job that I'm doing right now is pretty awesome and I really love it. So, where the stress comes from? Okay. Remember that famous professor of mine who I am co-authoring a paper? She has been ignoring me again during the last two weeks. I emailed her twice and she never replied. Although consciously I told myself: Whatever! But I unconsciously I was pissed off, feeling again ignored and relating it to be a failure.
Over eating at night: it could be part of the reason because I barely enjoy what I eat at work, I am always rushing at the morning to fully savor my breakfast, so at night is the only moment that I take time to enjoy the food. And it's hard not to over-eat sometimes.
Lastly, I just realized yesterday that the ABU that I've been having went bad... it tastes sour. I didn't realized it because I always had it with oats, but yesterday I tried it by itself and ekkkk.....! I guess that might cause some chemical reaction in my belly.

3 possible reasons and all of them have been solved yesterday. She called me yesterday to tell me that I'm her RA now! Such a good news!!! I asked her to be her RA about 3 months ago and I thought she forgot about it. The advantage of that is NOT have to teach, NOT tight to the academic calender (meaning longer vacations), and lastly have more interaction with her to push our paper.
The other two possible causes are more manageable. I think I did it right because I didn't feel too bloated last night! :)

And a note about my attempt to try "Raw food". I want to clarify that I'm not going RAW, I'll just try the food combining because every article or book that I read about RAW food says to help with IBS. I'm NOT DOING this because someone else told me to, or JUST DO whatever other people is doing. I'm NOT following a trend in the blog world just because everyone is trying, but because it might help my IBS.
That being said, I want to say thanks to everyone who left comment yesterday. Although I felt a little sad that some people judged me following what other people do, I still appreciate your comments because I know you said that because you care about me, you don't want me to try things that might not be appropriate for me or doing it in the wrong way. I really do appreciate that! ^_^

I did continue with the food combining. Maybe that helped me to feel better too.
As I mentioned yesterday, I woke up at 2AM the day before and munchied 2 Muffins, so not much appetite for breakfast. I had a green monster instead: 1.25 cup almond milk, big handful of spinach and a banana.
Packing for lunch and snacks: Orange, frozen strawberries and blueberries, Amazing grass raw bar (full review soon), white fungus drink, salad made with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, jicama rice, black beans, with olive and balsamic.
possible reason for my belly problem: bad ABU
It was so much food that I had to use an additional bag
Dinner was simple: brown rice + sauteed chinese cabbage with mushrooms and miso paste.
Dessert: dark chocolate + steamed sweet potato! YUM~~

This is the last weekend before I go to Argentina (next Friday) so many things to do/buy. ^_^
Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend!

Question: What's your weekend plan? What's the last movie you went to see? I'm going to see Ice Age today! :)

What's wrong with me? HELP!

2009-07-24T06:25:00.007-04:00

Okay. Something is wrong with my body lately. I've been feeling overly bloated at nights since the beginning of the week and my sleep pattern has been weird. Monday and Tuesday I slept 7.5 and 8.5 respectively, so pretty good. But then W-Th I've been waking up at 4am, not good! And last night I woke up at 2.30am!!! fortunately after a big dose of carbs (two Tj's English Muffins) I went to sleep again. As someone who's trained to establish relationships to everything... my first reaction is that my over-bloadtness is causing me sleeping problems. Does it make sense? But the problem is that I don't know EXACTLY why? I don't know what I'm doing wrong? No Clue! First, I thought it might be the big bowl of kabocha that I've been having as dessert. Okay. Cut that! No help! Second, I jump into the "Raw" and food combining thing yesterday (after reading Natalia Rose's book, read Gena's blog and emails with Maggie) Unfortunately I still felt sickly bloated last night. Really don't know what to do now.

So, let me show you guys what I've been munching a little bit, and help me to find out the mystery.

Thursday: Green Oats with frozen blueberries and ABU. Nothing extraordinary.
Lunch was a big salad made with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, black beans and jicama. Olive and Balsamic.
Snacks were mainly fruits.
Dinner: a sauce made with onions, grounded lean meat, celery and tomato sauce over "noodles" and some steamed broccoli.Dessert: Sea Salt Dark ChocolateFriday: the first day of "Raw" food. In quotes, because as Maggie, I just want to try this to feel better with my belly, I don't want to loose weight and I will focus more on food combining than eating 100% raw.
Breakfast: A navel orange and a big fuji apple. With coffee with almond milk.Lunch: salad made with romaines, mushroom, cucumber, jicama rice and 3 oz. of smoked salmon. Dressing: 1 tbsp of each olive oil and balsamic. Veggie + Flush= Good.
Snack: more fruits in the morning and Amazing Grass Energy Bar, which is raw in the afternoon. And white fungus drink too. Which is mushrooms so I guess it's okay to combine with everything.Dinner: sauteed chinese cabbage with black fungus, mushrooms and spicy si chuan sauce. A big bowl celery oat bran (I used 2/3 cup of oat bran instead of the usual 1/2 cup) and chinese pickles.Dessert: Dark chocolate and dairy free chocolate pudding.Veggie + Starch = Good

So, everything seems pretty normal, right? Any thoughts about what's wrong?
Anyway, I will continue to experiment with this "Raw" combining food thing until next Friday to see if it's really as good as it sounds. I know there are couple of you who are dietitians, I'd love to hear your opinion about raw food and the food combining. Do they make sense at all? And of course, any one of you, who can be considered an amateur dietitian, I'd love to hear from you.

Bad food blogger & Skin Type Solution review

2009-07-22T05:06:00.004-04:00

First is first... I'm such a bad food blogger. I noticed that since I began the summer internship my food choice went down pretty fast. I don't know how you people do to have a full time job, workout and still manage to eat and take picture of your amazing food. My intention was there but my action didn't follow. When I get home at night I just want to spend <20 style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">

Breakfast: green monster with berries pie that I made with frozen blueberries and strawberries, topped with a crust made with oatmeal, flaxmeal, ABU and agave nectar, topped with more ABU and greek yogurt.
Dinner (both Monday and Tuesday): my latest obsession celery blended oatbran; stir-fry tomatoes with mushrooms, tofu and dry shrimps.
Dessert: KABOCHA!!! A big bowl of it! And Lindts Truffles. (they're good but I found them not as bitter as I like)

Book review: Skin Type Solution
About the author: She spent the last 10 years defining and clinically testing her Skin Type solution on thousands of patients at the University of Miami clinic to assure that her scientific criteria work for everything, of every skin color, ethnicity, age and sex. And it does.

Her system: measures four factors in skin: oiliness vs. dryness, resistance vs. sensitivity, pigmentation vs. non-pigmentation, and tightness vs. wrinkling. Determine where you fall in each of the four categories serves as the foundation for typing your skin. So, you need to fill out a questionnaire first to determine what's your skin type and then she writes a chapter for your skin type with what you should pay more attention; what products to use and avoid and a detailed routine of your skin care with a list of products that you can find easily and cheap.
This book will save you the expense, trouble and waste of buying the wrong products. Her recommendations are ingredient driven. She's reviewed the clinical trial data for the products when available.

Some skin care myth that she talked about: the more expensive a product, the better it will work. Totally not true according to her because what you pay when you buy big brand's product is its bottle not its ingredient. What you actually get is exactly the same cream, just in different container with different marketing strategy.

My take of the book: I really like it. What she says makes sense to me. And because of her expertise in the area (she direct the university of Miami cosmetic center, the first university run cosmetic research center in the US. She's the first cosmetic dermatologist in the US dedicated to the field of cosmetic dermatology who is also a full time university faculty member, teaching and conducting research), I can trust that she know what she's talking about. Her recommendation is really skin type specific and she gives a list of products that you could purchase. They all work and most of them are really cheap. I've already began the routine that she recommended for my skin type and I already notice that my skin is clearer and less break outs. So, girls.... get this book and begin to GLOW!!!

Question: Do you know what's your skin type? What's your skin routine? How much do you usually spend?

Yoga and spiritual retreat!

2009-07-20T06:03:00.010-04:00

This recap will be long, be prepared!!! ^_^

This is definitely my best getaway this summer!!! The experience was unique in every sense. I'll write it as a dairy, you can skip it or just read the highlights and/or see pics.

Friday:
I took me 3 hours to get to the place because of the terrible traffic. I would have imagined that I'd be pissed off and not enjoy the night. Fortunately that didn’t happen. Once arrived, everyone else have already finished dinner so I just grab quickly some food and joined the group gathering. We are 12 including the 3 instructors. Quite intimate! The first yoga session was designed to attract energy from East, South, West and North and used Earth elements as theme. It was really energetic and from the first time I felt a connection inside me to the place and to myself. The place is just amazing. Second floor of a sanctuary, with diamond shape. We put our mats in circle and there was a spot with candles in the middle. Just few minutes after we started, it began to rain and that was a perfect natural music to our practice. And by when we finished, the rain stopped, perfect timing for us to go to the fire. Live music played by two of the instructors. The smell of woods, the stars, brighter than I’ve ever seen and ENERGY among us was just incredible. One of the girl suggested everyone to say something that she/he is thankful. Everyone said something different…. Thankful about their family, their friends, the opportunity to be here and do this. And even thankful to all the people and difficulties that pissed him off because they made him stronger and challenged. I was the last one to speak because I have so many things to be thankful of that I couldn't’t just pick one. I’m thankful of everything that I have in my life, everything that I’ve gone through, everything that I’ve accomplished and not accomplished and most of all, thankful to have aged and learned the lessons of life. I used to read other woman saying that they’re not afraid of aging because they became wiser and happier. I never believed them because I thought it was just a lie that they tell themselves to justify being a old lady. I was sooooo wrong!!! I can actually feel that right now. I’m turning 29 by the end of this year and I can assure you I haven’t ever happier than what I am now. I don’t think everything else have changed, I’ve always been lucky in life, with my studies or with people, but I never really appreciate them and always just looked at what was missing. Yes, no life is perfect, even the most perfect person you can find, there’s always something missing. And my all focus was on that little tiny thing that was missing. But now, I feel that my life is perfect, everything is in the right place and happened in the right moment. Whatever obstacles and failures that I had to face, they were totally necessary, without them I am not who I am right now. Happiness is not just a moment of excitement that you get when you get a high score in the exam, not when you buy a new pair of shoes. No, they used to be the way I define happiness. Now happiness is a state of peaceful mind: peace with your inner yo, peace with people around you, peace with the place. And that kind of feeling lasts longer. Of course it’s not the case that I can be that way 100% of the time and I think it’s not the idea either. You need to be unbalanced to feel the balance. One thing that I’ve learned yesterday during the practice is when Scott (one of the instructor) made us to stand with one leg and begin to move, move as much as we can, in whatever form we wanted, enough to begin to lose balance, to get out of the comfort zone. What’s the point of being 100% balanced if you never felt unbalanced? That’s exactly what I meant by not always be in peace.
We ended up pretty late, around midnight but I really enjoyed gathering with these amazing group of people. We came for different reasons but we all shared something in common.

I shared a big room with 2 others woman. I’ve never lived in a dorm so this was my first experience sleeping in a room with strangers. A year ago I would be stressed out simply because of that (loosing privacy; noise that would disturb my sleeping, etc). How I changed!!! I felt so open to new things, different things, things that I wouldn’t be able to do.

Saturday:
Despite of staying late last night, I woke up at 6am anyway. It was such a fresh morning. I could smell the humidity and felt the beginning of a great day. I sit on the bend that we had outside the house, contemplate the place, the view and listen to birds.
After breakfast we had our morning yoga session which ended up in a hike to the river. Then I came back for some reading before lunch time. We had a three hours intense yoga session in the afternoon and we did Acro-yoga. It was sooo fun! Even though the poses look really challenging, they were not hard at all if you’re willing to surrender and trust your partners. I’m definitely better receiving than giving. I fly better than hold others. It was interesting to see how we are naturally a receiver or a giver.
Dinner came along. I enjoyed all the meals there because of the company. We chat whatever it crossed our mind. We were totally opened to each other and there was no taboo among us. That was the first time since I came to US that I felt close to Americans and realized that Americans are not so distant as I thought.
After dinner another amazing yoga session began. This time each instructor leaded us to embody animals. Greg was the snake, Kim the cat and Scott the bird. I was able to free myself to the moment, to immerse to the spirit of those animals. It was wild and fun.
We ended up with a guided meditation lead by Greg. I was really tired and fall asleep a little bit. After that, some people went to the fire again with wine and chips. I was totally out so I went to bed and slept as a baby.

Sunday:
I woke up at 5.45am, perfect timing to be prepare by 6.30am to help the Sweat lodge lady to prepare the place. Sam, Scott and I helped Darling to build the fire. It was my first experience building a big fire from scratch. It was easier than I thought, although without Darling’s precise instruction, we wouldn’t be able to do that. We first lay some big chunks of wood, then each of us invite some spirit when we put the stones. After an hour, the fire was built. We were so proud.
By 10.30am we were in the lodge already. It was dark, muddy and hot inside. But I wasn’t afraid. I kind of enjoyed the darkness, the silence, all those spiritual words, thoughts and songs. Darling’s words were touching and very deep. I am normally hard to be touched because I’m too protective to my inner-yo, but this time I know I was more opened and ready to surrender, that’s why I could feel what she said and feelings that she described.

Okay. Pictures and video
our yoga studio is in the upper levela mini video of the yoga studio

Girls room
the view from my bed
the kitchen
the dinning room
outside of the dinning room
Some pictures of the food which was great (organic and healthy)
Some animals
Some pics of me doing acro-yoga
and finally the amazing group of people
me and Scott after we built the fire

It was definitely an amazing self-discovering experience. We were there not to look for anything specific, but to dig from the deepest part of us the truth us. This is not the end of the retreat, but the beginning of a new way of feel life and most of all, to know ourselves better and to be able to love.
On my way back, the sky was bluer than ever. I felt PEACE. I was FULL. Namaste.

Ready for the weekend? YES~~ Another getaway!

2009-07-17T06:53:00.005-04:00

Packed again?

You might wonder where I am going this weekend? hahaha.... yeah~~~ I'm so happy that I can do something fun every weekend! This weekend I'm going to the YOGA RETREAT in SevenOaks. It's my first retreat and I'm so excited about it! Two and half days doing yoga, hanging out with my favorite instructors and other awesome yogis!

Here's the itinerary:
FRIDAY
Arrival: anytime between 3:oo pm and 5:00 pm. Your room will be ready to check in.
You can hang out, check out the lay of the land, swim, hike, whatever!
Dinner: We will all congregate around 6:00 pm for dinner.
Practice: We will have our first opening yoga practice beginning around 7:30 pm. Be prepared for around a 2-3 hour practice. DOn't worry, this involves a bonfire and drumming!
SATURDAY
Breakfast: Served b/tw 8:00 am-8:30 am
Morning Practice: 9:30/10 am-12 pm: Involves a Spontaneous Asana Hike! Bring your shoes.
12-1: FREE TIME
Lunch: Served between 1:00 pm-1:30 pm
1:30-3:30: FREE TIME
Afternoon Practice: 3:30-5:30 pm: Involves Flow Yoga, Flying/Acro Yoga and Restoratives
Dinner: 6:00 pm-6:45 pm
Free Time
Evening Practice: 8:00 pm-10 pm: Ecstatic Bliss Yoga (we're keeping it a secret!)
SUNDAY
Breakfast : 8-8:30 pm
Morning Practice: 9:30-10:30 This will be a light practice/meditation to prepare us for the Sweat Lodge
Sweat Lodge: 10:30-12:30/1:00 pm
FREE TIME
Leave anytime you want on Sunday! Stay and hang out and enjoy the outdoors.

Fun eh?~~

I'm slacking on blogging all my meals which I think at this point isn't interesting nor necessary since I spent most of my day at work, and packed lunch is JUST not interesting and pretty to anyone. So, I'm going to post about my breakfast and dinner only.

Wednesday Dinner: sauteed BLACK bean sprouts with chinese pickles and soy sauce, topped with sesame seeds. (Yes, Maggie, now I add sesame seeds to everything) It was soooo good!!!

I lost the pic of the rest of my dinner which was sauteed greens and celery oats. Dessert: KABOCHA!!!
Breakfast for Thursday:
sammie
Again: I couldn't taste grass in this package either and I didn't add banana purposely to taste it. So far so good! ^_^
Dinner: steamed fish with more black bean sprouts & pickles, sauteed greens and celery oats. KABOCHA as dessert obviously!
These are snacks that I packed for the weekend. I hope I don't consume all these!!!
Today's breakfast: Greener oats (I'm adding more and more spinach each time) with raspberries and ABU.
Question: How often do you go for a getaway? Which cities would you go?

Comfort food everyday and product review!~

2009-07-15T07:41:00.005-04:00

My idea of comfort food: satisfying, yummy, simple, pretty and most of all, healthy! yeah~~~ maybe some people relates comfort food with tons of cheese or creams. Perhaps psychologically comfort food means something that you don't usually allow you to have. But that's not my concept of comforting food. First I don't like these food, my palate prefers simple and mild taste; second, how can a comfort food makes you feel sick afterward? I feel really sick if I devour big amount of fat and salt, really discomforting.
These last two days I've been rewarding myself with these simple, yummy food (that I think can all be qualified by HealthyYum.com)
Green oats made with spinach, cauliflower and topped with smoked salmon. It's a perfect dinner meal~~~

I think many of you would agree that KABOCHA can be qualified as comfort food, so I've been having them as dessert AGAIN!!! yeah~~~ I missed it!
Another comforting meal: sauteed Chinese mustard, lotus with mushrooms and more oat bran with celery!
I blended celery with cooked oat bran and sit for 5 min
it's really really yummy~~~ perfect light flavored oat with tons of fibers!
Comforting breakfast combo: green oats, raspberries and ABU! There's nothing prettier than this, right Polly?
Next, I have 2 things to review today. First, the AMAZING GRASS!!! Yeah~~ I'm jumping to the AG wagon too!!! These AMAZING people sent me these samples
So far I've only tried I made a GM with 1 cup frozen blueberries to make it more berry-like, big handful of steamed spinach and this Berry Flavor Drink Powder!
Look the color
that was a perfect combo for breakfast! Yummy, nutritious and pretty! (the pic doesn't make justice here, it looks so dark, but actually it's dark purple color, really beautiful!)
The taste? mmm..... I barely noticed its flavor, maybe because I added too much berries. But at least I can assure you that no grass-taste! And thinking about all the benefits it has...I immediately felt more energetic and beautified! ^_^

Ingredients of this little package: All natural and organic ingredients include organic wheat grass, organic barley grass, organic alfalfa, organic spirulina, organic spinach, organic chlorella (cracked cell-wall), organic broccoli, organic acai from Sambazon, organic maca, organic carrot, organic beet, raspberry, organic rose hips, pineapple, organic goji berries, green tea, acerola cherry, organic flax seed powder, apple pectin fiber, F.O.S. (from chicory root), L. acidophilus, alpha and beta amylase, protease, lipase, lactase, cellulase, siberian eleuthero root, peppermint and other natural flavors.100% Vegan.

Need more info? go to http://www.amazinggrass.com

New sport MUST have:

I've been swimming more often lately and my co-worker just found this Waterproof headphone System from h20 audio that allow you to use your ipod shuffle to listen to music when you're under water. Oh man... this must be one of the best purchases I've made this year! I can't describe how great it works and how amazing is to have music when you swim. I used it for the first time yesterday, again today and now I want to swim everyday!!! ^_^

Question: What's your concept of comfort food? And what's the best purchase you've made this year?

Day 2 in Chicago: blogger meet up, biking tour and foooooood!

2009-07-14T06:07:00.008-04:00

Day 2 in Chicago was even more fun that Day 1. I've met two fabulous ladies, did a biking tour around old town and the beach.... I have no words to describe how beautiful Chicago is and how kind people are in Chicago.
I took the train to meet with Michelle from Lucky Taste Buds! She is the sweetiest girl I've met!!! She's pretty, TALL, fresh and really a sweet person!!! yeah~~~ Sweet is the word that keep popping in my head when I think about her. Look what a great gift she brought to me...

so many goodies! I've already ate those cute hearty cookies! hahaha....Love those!

I wanted to go to the indian place that Michelle recommended to me but I had a biking tour at 1.30pm and didn't have enough time, so I just grab a turkey sandwich on my way. I guess I'll have to visit Chicago again for that Indian food!!! (which I'd love to and actually plan to)
Our tour guide explaining safety of the bike
and then we went to explore the city
this is the first play boy house!
the first house built after the great fire
a miracle church reconstructed two years after the fire
it's really beautiful
my casual outfit for the occasion
the beach was CROWDED
And then Mara from What's for dinner? was sooooooooo kind to pick me up in downtown. We couldn't arrange a place that is convenient for both of us (i don't have a car and have to commute in public transportation and she drives so parking would be a problem if we pick a place in downtown). After several emails she was so nice to offer to pick me up in downtown and go wherever we want for dinner. How nice! But her kindness just began. She took me to a Mediterranean restaurant and we had a feast there!!! So much good food!!!
Appetizer: falafel, hummus, Persian salad, rice and pita bread
My entree: vegetarian selection 2. I don't know the name of these... but they were delicious!!!When we finished our dinner, she offered to drive me home, which is about an hour driving!!! That saved me waiting for two hours and take the train for 90 min!!! I can't be more thankful!!! Thank you Mara, you're awesome!!! And she's sooooo funny!!! We had great time chatting and kept saying the same thing at the same time!!! hahaha..... maybe because we're about the same age, we share many thoughts and feelings about getting old! ^_^

Such a great day and great trip, although too short. But that's not a problem, this is just an "appetizer" of Chicago, I'm going to come back for the "entree" soon!

Lastly I want to thank to DC, who was a great host as well his family. We've become friends after we met on my flight back to China at the end of last year. Such a way to meet friends!!! A shout out of us near The Bean!

hahaha.... as Michelle said: I'm a lucky girl who always meet good people!

I have couple of things to review: the Skin Type book, Amazing Grass and a new toy!! ^_^ Stay tune!

Chicago day 1: I'm in love with the bean!

2009-07-12T07:49:00.010-04:00

First day in Chicago was sooooo fun!!! We (me and DC, my friend who I'm staying with) walked around downtown all day long and I couldn't stop saying: oh.... this is soooo beautiful!!! Every scene, every building is so pretty, so unique, and together they form an incredible city view! ^_^ And the most exciting part of the day was to visit chicago bean sculpture! DC told me that everyone who comes to Chicago should visit the bean sculpture and I wonder what makes it so special. But when I first saw it, I inmediately fell in love with it! it's sooooo exotic and so fun at the same time. I couldn't help but take thousands pictures of it.
Other shots of Chicago.
And then the food. DC's mom was so kind to prepare us a big feast for breakfast. I can't remember last time I had this kind of food in the morning, but totally enjoyed it.
and then for lunch I went to Veggiegirl's recommendation: Karyn's Cooked.appetizer
I ordered the raw plate: raw hummus (sunflower seeds with tahini), raw nuts paste, two raw rolls with avocado, nut paste and veggies, more veggies and an avocado. Such a cute andvoluminous plate and delicious!!!DC had meat loaf which he seemed to enjoy! :)
And then we had the chicago mix popcorn!
We took the train to go back, totally exhausted DC and me, but I was happy! ^_^
His mom prepared us a nice Chinese dinner.

Such an enjoyable day 1. Today will be another great day, I'll be meeting two fellow famous bloggers! Can't wait to meet these ladies! :)

Recap of the week before heading to Chicago!!! ^_^

2009-07-10T08:43:00.006-04:00

Lovely people!!! How was your weekend? Mine flew by while I catch up with sleep and rest! Now I am recovered from my last trip, I'm going for another one. Chicago, I'm coming!!! I'm not sure what I'm going to do there, did zero research so far, but I have a friend there, so I'll rely on him! And I'm be meeting more blog friends! SO EXCITING!!!

Recap time!

New Meal: Maggie's style wraps & the famous ABU!!!
New book: skin type solution. I'll do the review when I finish it, but so far so good! :)

Monday: extremely tired and sleepy all day, no workout!
Tuesday: sleepiness continued but went to the gym.
yeah~ this is how I devour ABU, with the jar besides the bowl of green oats! ^_^
Wednesday: still tired, yoga at home.
"pasta" with broccoli and sweet potato chips! YUM YUM~~
fage with ABU and Lindts truffle!!! More YUM YUM~~
Thursday: more yoga and finally got enough sleep!
A fun dinner inspired by Maggie, who just started an amazing site HealthyYum. If you like healthy recipes and stunning pics of food porn, go there right now!!! smoked salmon and steamed broccoli
and sweet potatoe
Time to WRAP!!! so fun!! ^_^
fage with cocoa powder and more chocolates!!!
Friday: gym + packing + excitement!!!
packing lunch and dinner
Now I'm in office, finishing my presentation for next Tuesday. If I knew that I'll present next week, maybe I wouldn't go to Chicago this weekend. Wouldn't I? Really? hahah.......I guess I would anyway! ^_^ I'm just following the rule of PLAY HARD, WORK HARD! ^_^

Question: Any suggestion for what to do/eat/see/buy in Chicago?

NYC recap part 2: first pinkberry, fireworks and city views

2009-07-08T06:04:00.009-04:00

Have you read recap 1? If not, go there first and come back! ^_^
After lunch with Sarah, we walked to our next destination: a bar to meet with her friends. On our way I had my first pinkberry experience and I loved it!!!!! It's soooooo delicious, much better than ice cream! Look these little samplesand then I order original flavor with berries.
We met with her friends but the bar was closed so we found another one right away because they were starving, although me and Sarah just finished lunch at 4pm, more food is always welcome to us! :) We had a plate of hummus which was delicious!from left to right: Erin's fiance Mike, Erin's cousin from Australia who's going to the fanciest neighbor in Shanghai soon, me, Erin (Sarah's childhood friend who's so funny, I really like her) and the lovely Sarah!
Then, we walked few blocks more and went to another bar for drink and great chat! These people are sooooo fun to hang out with!!!Our way to see the firework at 47th street, we found a dessert truck (does this thing really exist? I couldn't believe it! ). Mick and Sarah bought two and shared with us I had a bite of both, and I must say they were too good to be sold in a truck! for a full review, here! And finally we arrived to the scene with thousands of others I was pretty tired so I went back to my hotel while Sarah and her friend's went to another bar to finish the night! :)
That was my first firework experience and I'm sure the best one! So enjoyable with new friends and a lot of great food.

Sunday: I couldn't leave NYC without visiting One lucky Duck Store for some raw food. It was too early for lunch so I ordered to takeaway sushi rolls, chocolate macaroons and green juice. I had the juice right away, and I'm sorry, I have to admit that it was gross!!! Although I paid almost $10 for it, I couldn't stand the taste and flavor and had to throw it away.
Then, walking and taking pics of the pretty NYC
Then i went to the hotel to have lunch. People, I'm serious, this is the best sushi I've ever had!!!! So fresh and gluten free!!! I need to get some jicama to recreate it ASAP!!! It is really a divine creation!!! And macaroons for dessert are really good too, but quite pricey.
Okay. that's all about my first solo trip to NYC. Pretty busy and really really enjoyable!!! Do whatever I felt like, walking all day long and didn't have to convince anyone, ate exotic food, met new lovely people. what else can I ask for a perfect trip?!
Sarah wrote a post about that day too, check it out, she's much better writing and taking pics than me!

Have a lovely Humpday!~~ I'm still in the recovery mode, trying to get sleep and not fall into sleep at work! ^_^ I need to be prepared for my next weekend adventure in CHICAGO!!!

NYC recap part 1: 5 reasons to love the SOLO trip!~

2009-07-06T05:41:00.011-04:00

I'm back and still super excited and amazed by how much I enjoyed this SOLO trip in NYC. It's my 5th time there and it's far away the most enjoyable one!!! Okay... go to straight why this trip was a real BLAST!

1. I found two new hobbies: cycling and photography. I did a Brooklyn bridge biking tour organized by central park biking tour and I can't believe how difference experience is to get around the city with a bike than walking. When you walk, you enjoy the side walk, stores and people; when you bike, you focus on the overview of the streets, the broad picture. oh... man! NYC is so beautiful. That leads to my second new hobbies, photography... I took so many pics of the buildings and wish I took a photography course before, but it's never too late, I'm thinking about taking one soon. I'll write a post with pics that I've took and you guys can give me your opinions.

2. A real foodie experience: traveling alone made so simple for a foodie who wants to try new food and new/exotic restaurant. I walked 30 blocks just for lunch and didn't have to convince anyone.

3. My first blog meet up experience: yeah~ I met the funny, warm, caring, positive and creative famous Sarah!!! We did what we loved (eat and a lot!) and have a great chat. I enjoyed so much her company!!! She was also really nice to offer me to join her and her friends to watch the fireworks after our lunch and had a real blast!!! Sarah, thank you so much!!! I'm so glad we finally met!

4. More open mind to meet new people: you guys probably had some experience on that. when you travel alone, you're just more open minded to meet new people. I consider myself not good at this but this time I felt I was more friendly and more accessible to meet new people and it was a great experience.

5. Conquer the fear. A solo trip can scare a lot of people including me, not in term of security but in term of being alone. We're so afraid of loneliness, especially among a crowd that the idea of being in a city that you know no one is frightening. But actually it's much less frightening than we imagine. The hardest part is to decide to do it than actually doing it. I'm so glad that I did and I'm sure more solo trips will come in the future.

Okay. Enough talking. Let's do the recap.
Friday: before I left I had this great combo for breakfast: oat bran & cauliflower topped with kamut berries and Parmesan cheese.I arrived NYC around 1pm, checked in the hotel which was near time square (so convenient) and walked 30 blocks to the famous Candle Cafe for a late lunchI had gazpacho as appetizerand paradise casserole as entree. It has a layer of quinoa, a layer of black bean and a layer of sweet potato. It was delicious!!!!! I finished them all!!! My first expansion!!!!!Afternoon was spent on walking around 5th Av taking pics. And then I went to Yoga for People for a hot yoga class (recommended by Sarah). It was a great class and so cheap! Only $5!
After the class I walked around Time Square, enjoyed a little the craziness there and went to hotel. I was too tired to eat out so I just bought a salad in chipotle.
Saturday: I wanted fresh baked bread for breakfast so I went to Amy's Kitchen which was about 10 blocks away from the hotel. Unfortunately it was closed. The great thing about NYC is that you can always find alternatives. I went to a place called The Food Emporium and bought a fresh baguette.And then I had the 3.5 hours Brooklyn bridge biking tour. We stopped many times and the guide explained the history of the place and I had time to take pics :)
Late lunch with Sarah was in Korean town, the place is called hangawi, Katie from CCV also reviewed it. The place is really nice, with all the small details that made it a really Asian place.
We had to change our shoes
Tables are the traditional korean/japanese low tables or tatami
I ordered the house special, with two appetizer, an entree and a dessert
Entree 1: sweet pumpkin porridge
Appetizer two: vermicelli noodles (made with sweet potato, Sarah's fav) with veggies.
the entree: the traditional Korean one pot dish that has rice, veggies, seaweed and mushrooms with a hot sauce. I loveeeeeeee this!!!!
it comes with two korean pickles
The dessert of a sweet cinnamon drink with pine nuts and apples
A pic of me and Sarah after the great meal
Okay. this is the part 1, I need to do it in two parts, otherwise this will be even longer than it already is. Stay tuned to part 2 with more foodie adventures with Sarah, fireworks and raw food! :)

About to leave for my first SOLO trip!~~

2009-07-03T05:01:00.006-04:00

My super excitement about my first solo trip to NYC continued and intensified as the day approaches. I'm about to leave in 2 hours and I woke up 3.30am this morning!!! I guess I'm excited conscious and unconsciously! ^_^

I haven't done any planning yet until last night.. well, not a planning really! Just google some other solo traveler's tips and advices. I made it a LONG must see/do/eat list... hahaha..... I'm sure I won't finish it all! But the main idea will be to do a lot of

walking around the city
eat a lot of famous restaurants among bloggers like raw food and wine, Candle Cafe and other vegan restaurants that I found
probably a food tasting tour in Greenwich village
Macy's firewall event is a must for July 4th
shopping shopping shopping!!! ^_^
hot vinyasa yoga at yoga for people recommended by Sarah

Sounds like a good "plan", isn't it? I'll be updating with tons of pics... stay tuned!

okay. rewinding a little bit about last two days

Wednesday: another great swim early in the morning + work
Breakfast: green monster + banana oatmeal square (recipe coming soon because I'll remake it since it's soooooo good) with a lot of AB Lunch/Snack: salad + avocado + greek yogurt with flax and kamut + more banana oatmeal square + apricots Dinner: pizza + kale chips Dessert: dairy free chocolate pudding with blueberries
Thursday: "date" with Dave Farmer for 60 min + work
Breakfast: the sameLunch/snack: almost the sameDinner: leftover fish + cleaning fridge stir fry and porridgeDessert: chocolate pudding + chocolates! :)okay lovely people, my journay is about to begin!! Can't wait!!! ^_^

Crazy coco~~~ ^_^

2009-07-01T05:19:00.006-04:00

Hey people!!! Here I present the crazy Coco, who woke up with the idea of a getaway to somewhere ALONE and booked the ticket and hotel couple of hours later!!! Yeah~~~ I’m going to NYC this weekend!
This kind of really last minute trip isn’t normal for me (I’ve never done it). I just feel like needing a break from the planned life, to get out of the main course of life and let life to surprise me. Of course, nothing happens without a reason. The inspiration is actually from my childhood friend Mara, who I talked last Sunday by phone for almost 3 hours. She has always been inspiration to me. Many important decisions of my life were influenced by her somehow. We haven’t seen each other for more than 3 years and haven’t talked for more than a year, but when there’s true friendship, no matter how distance, how long we don’t talk each other, we still speak the same language and share the same sense of humor. And that feels AMAZING!!! If everyone has a soul mate in life, she’s definitely mine. Mara, I love you so much!!!
Anyway, she told me about her last trip to India and I was amazed that they didn’t have any plan before they went there, no hotel booking, no tour, not even knowing what they’ll do there for 2 months. But they just went there with a guide and adventurist spirit. I was happy for her being able to do that and I thought I would never do that because I need a plan, a schedule, a routine, otherwise I feel lost. But the next day, I began to wonder: do I really need a plan to function? What if I try to get lost for once? What if I just follow my instincts? Once the idea got into my mind, I couldn’t get away from it. As I think about it more, I got more excited about the idea. Well…. Then, here I am, ready to get LOST!!! Although not for 2 months and not in an exotic place like India. But 3 days in NYC by myself is a good enough for the first experience.
Oh…. Man! I’m soooo excited!!! Can you feel my excitement already? I bet you do! So, now I need to ask you, where should I go/do/eat in NYC? Not the conventional touristic places because I’ve been there four times already. Or what would you do if you had the chance to get lost in NYC?

Okay. Now back to some exciting food!!! Yeah~~~ I'm being more creative with food since my last groceries trip.
Monday: Swim + yoga
I didn't have time to have breakfast at home after swimming, so extra packing for the day.
Beautiful salad made with greens, tomatoes, celery, beets, chickpeas, mushrooms and half avocado (I found this convenient frozen avocado in Tj's) with Annie's dressing.
Strawberries, apricots, yogurt, pineapple muffin, banana oatmeal squares that I made on Sunday, kamut (they're as chewy as wheat berries) as yogurt topping, low fat plain yogurt.
Dinner was yummy: tenderloin with some veggies and kale chips.Dessert was even better: dairy free chocolate pudding (recipe here) with raspberries.
Tuesday: gym + work
Breakfast: I was craving green monster but still concerned about eating raw spinach So i first steamed it with some water in the microwave, discharge the water and used it in the smoothie. So I used: 2-3 big handful of spinach, 1 handful of celery, a frozen banana and 1 cup almond milk.IT was soooooooo good together with a banana oatmeal square topped with AB.
Can you see the walnuts in there? These are so good!!!
Lunch/snack: another beautiful salad, some ingredients except instead of avocado as topping, a boiled egg and walnuts. Apricots, yogurt, blueberries, kamut and more banana oatmeal square.
Dinner: ginger sesame marinated fish, sauteed veggies and porridge.
Beautiful dessert:
Question: How's your week so far? What's your plan for the long weekend?

Thoughts about confidence!

2009-06-28T07:19:00.009-04:00

I haven't written any topic recently both because I was too busy to think about it and too busy to write about it. But today I want to spend some time to share an interesting topics (at least for me) with you: Self confidence.
A reader asked me if I'm confidence about myself and how to balance confidence and modesty? I think she raised an interesting question there! I've always consider myself a very confident person and I think everyone that knows me in person will agree. Girls use to tell me that they want to be as confident as I do. Men tell me that one of the key feature about me is my self confidence. I agree and disagree. The true Me, the one that I might hide from others isn't all confident. I have my fears and insecurities. Some times I wonder if people really likes me, or if something that I do would be proved by others. Fortunately this doesn't happen often and most of times I don't care about what others think. Everyone has a weak area, yours might be self image, weight, career, etc. Mine is definitely relating to people, especially who are close to me. Many times I'm obsessed with what my best friends think about me, whether they consider me as their best friends too. It's awful to feel like a big looser with personal relationships, feel that I'm not someone that worth their friendship and loyalty. So, that's my weak area and I'm trying hard to build confidence. And with respect to balance confidence and modesty. I think it depends. When you are with people who despise you, who consider you as inferior than them, that's when you need to be most confident. But when you're with people in the same situation as you in term of career, marriage, life, modesty is much more appreciated because then you'd be not only successful, but also loved and respected by others.
So, what's your thoughts about this?

Now, recap of the rest of week.
Thursday: yoga + work
Breakfast/Lunch/Snack: apple oats (blended green apples, steel cuts, cinnamon), pineapple muffin, peach and pasta with veggies & tofu.Dinner: last one pot mealDessert: KABOCHA!

Friday: gym + work
Breakfast: mixing bowl of greek yogurt, blueberries, oats and white fungus.and more greek yogurt with cinnamon
Lunch: sauteed veggies & tofu with pasta
Snack: peach and muffinDinner: porrridge + sauted greens + seaweed saladDessert: KABOCHA

Saturday: yoga, meet friends and went to cinema to watch Transformers which was disappointing. I liked a lot the first one but this one is just tooo long and tooo boring.
Breakfast: toasted arnold thin with LC, an egg omelet and a grapefruit.Lunch: leftover sauteed veggies and a rainbow steamed corn.Dinner: no pic (I was with my friends)

Sunday: yoga, groceries, preparing for the week (laundry, cleaing, washing all the veggies and fruits, some baking)
I know that my eats were boring lately and I found that when I spend <50 style="font-weight: bold;">a lot of salads. And also to give a break to my belly, NO Kabocha this week. I'll see if that helps with my IBS and over eating at night! oh.... I'm already missing it!!!

Breakfast: another sammie with grapefruit. And before I left for yoga, I had an apple with AB. Soooo good!!!Lunch: first pretty salad made with mix of greens, celery, tomatoes, sprouts and chickpeas. And another steamed corn (I love corns!!!) I munched on fresh strawberries and nuts during the afternoon. And spent 2.5 hours talking with a friend who lives in Germany, it was hilarious talk!!! hahaha......
Dinner: porridge, sauteed greens and zucchini with chicken and mushrooms. Dessert: Dairy free chocolate!!! Yes, it's back!!! ^_^
Question: Where is the most exotic place you've been? My friend spent two months in India. She loved it and what amazed her most was that India is totally in chaos but everything seem to work!

One pot meal for a lazy/busy woman! :)

2009-06-25T06:06:00.008-04:00

I've been really lazy last couple of days so instead of preparing pretty meals, I just put everything in one pot making sure that it has enough nutrients and flavor and careless about its appearance. As Maggie said, I don't want to please anyone but myself. ^_^
Bad news: my IBS have been worsen lately, a discomfort that annoyed me all day long. I don't know the cause of it and gave up long time ago to figure it out, now I just want a SOLUTION. I even began to drink apple cider after Maggie said it might help to regulate. But so far it's not helping. Any help?
Good news: I tried to do yoga by myself for the first time after Maggie's suggestion. (Maggie, this seems to be a post dedicated to you! ^_^). I did for 45 min (calculated with music songs that guess who sent me? Maggie!!) And I can't believe how sweaty I was at the end!!! I was almost comparable to a cardio session! I swear I've never worked that hard doing yoga with a podcast!!! It feels soooooo good, I felt soooo strong afterwards. Thanks Maggie for introducing me to it!

Okay. Now to the boring part.... recap of my one pot meals, but my breakfast have been interesting!
Monday: no workout because it was rainy and because I didn't go to sleep until 12pm on Sunday.
Breakfast: another new FEATURED breakfast! In the mix: overnight soaked oats, Greek yogurt, wheat berries, dairy free chocolate pudding, blueberries and AB.

Lunch: one pot pasta (pasta, zucchini, chickpeas, cauliflower and sauce)Snacks: a peach and pineapple muffin
Dinner: one pot "noodles" with bamboo chicken, bok choy, mushroom and black fungus.Dessert: KABOCHA!!!

Tuesday: gym + work
Breakfast: I craved simple oat bran so I made 1/2 c. oat bran with almond milk and blueberries.With AB of course. And before I stepped out I had a muffin.Lunch: rainbow beans porridge, stir fry lotus, black fungus, tofu and broccoli
Snacks: fruits
Dinner: one pot "noodle" with bean sprouts, mushrooms, black fungus and marinated tofu and egg.Dessert: KABOCHA!

Wednesday: yoga by myself + work
Breakfast: inspired by Sarah. Steel cuts parfait with strawberries. I just boiled strawberries with some water and 1/4 c. flax meal and some vanilla. Topped with some cocoa powder.Lunch: one pot pasta as Monday
Snacks: peach and muffinDinner: one pot "noodle" with lotus, marinated tofu and egg, bean sprouts and chinese mustard.

Dessert: KABOCHA!

oh... I must say these one pot "noodles" are really filling (this is a big salad bowl and it's almost full) and tasty!
I just found a new chinese tv series that is really intriguing but the problem is that I got too excited after watching it at night and couldn't fall into sleep. Damn.... why something good has bad side effect!

Have everyone a great Thursday! I can smear weekend already.~~ So, what's your weekend plan?

White Fungus tutorial and trips to come! ^_^

2009-06-22T06:34:00.012-04:00

Hey sweeties! How was your week and weekend? Mine was busy and fabulous!!! I always like to work hard and play hard and being a grad student didn't allow me to always do the play hard part! :) But now, I'm a normal M-F working person so I appropriate adjust myself to the role! :)
A couple of things to announce, which are sooo exciting for me!
1) I'm going to CHICAGO!!!! yeah~~~ just for a leisure weekend! I've never been there since I came to US and heard great things about it, so I always wanted to visit. I'll be going on the weekend of July 10th.. so anyone from Chicago want for a blog meet up? let me know! :)
2) I signed up for the yoga retreat!!!! I was hesitating because although I love yoga and I love the idea of spending a whole weekend doing yoga with my favorite instructors in a nice mountain retreat, but it is kind of expensive. But my lovely dear Star encouraged me to do it because he knew I much I love yoga and going there will make me happy!!! Thanks dear to LOVE me sooo much!!!
Tentative planning:
3) Go to Toronto to attend a friend's wedding. I'm still not sure if I'll go or not because it's a lot of $$ and plus I need a visa to go there. Bummer!
4) Go to Ocean City with my 3 best friends!! Date isn't confirmed because they're all pretty busy! Bummer!
But I'm sooooo excited for the first two that are CONFIRMED!!! ^_^

As I showed thousands of times of my porridge and mentioned white fungus, I thought you might want to know what exactly it is and how to prepare it.
This is how it looks like if you go to asian marketIt comes dry and has this flower formYou need to soak it for at least 2 hours. I soaked it for 4 hours and it expanded to this sizeSplit the flower and rinse 2-3 times. For this week's porridge, I soaked dry corns, aduki and mung beans overnight.So now put white fungus and the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker, put high and let it cook for 8-10 hours (adding some sort of thicker ingredients, I used wheat cream this time, but you can also add oatbran, oat meal or rice). It's so easy and delicious! :) Love it!

Now, recap from Wednesday to Sunday.
Wednesday: blog + 30 min yoga + work
Breakfast: toasted zucchini bread + AB + green monster with kale. I must say it doesn't taste half good as spinach monsters.Lunch & snacks: pesto pasta was delicious Dinner:Dessert: KABOCHA

Thursday: 75 min date with Dave Farmer + work
Breakfast: a NEW COMBO inspired by B-cookies! Overnight soak oats + wheat berries + greek yogurt + chocolate pudding + berries + AB = FEATURED SUMMER BREAKFAST!!! I'm serious, this is soooooooooooo good!!! You'll see it often now on!!! ^_^
Lunch & snack: the packages are lotus powderDinner:Dessert: KABOCHA

Friday: gym + work
Breakfast: obviously the new favorite Snack and no lunch because we had chinese food lunch with all stuffs at work
Dinner: Dessert: KABOCHA!!! I'm not getting bored of it yet! :)

Saturday: yoga + lunch with new friends + baking + swimming + relaxing at home
Breakfast: I had no more Greek yogurt so I had to use plain yogurt and it turned out a little watery. The combo: oats + plain low fat yogurt + berries + wheat berries + AB + frozen banana
No lunch pics. But we went to a taiwanese restaurant.
Baking: I made pineapples muffins for this week.And this is mung bean soup. Chinese people drink this a lot during summer because it helps to cool your body.
Snack time: Arnold Thing with LC, a muffin and a gigantic grapefruit.Dinner: tortilla pizza + kale chipsDessert: Kabocha + mung beans popsicles
Sunday: yoga + facial at HELA + meet my best friends and had dinner with them in a fancy Italian restaurant
Breakfast: I love this combo for Sunday (I don't know why). 2 whole eggs omelet, toasts with LC and strawberries.Lunch: had to be quick so chicken bamboo + bok choy + " noodles"Dessert: strawberries with chocolate puddingWent to HELA for a 90 min facial which made me feel soooooo relaxed and sooooo pretty!!! ^_^
Dinner: I only took a pic of the octopus salad, but I also had 2 slices of thin crust pizza, they were allll delicious.
I was a long recap but I had great time and wanted to share with you. I hope this week will be even better, for all of us! ^_^

Question: How $$ enters in your decision when you plan for vacations? Are you a budget/planned person?

Weekend recap, recipes and plans!

2009-06-17T05:39:00.007-04:00

Hey there! It's Wednesday, workout resting day so I can post!!! Yeah~~~ I feel that everyday I have so much to tell you guys but when I arrive home, I just want to eat and lay on my coach, watch a movie and go to sleep. Like thisMy last post was on Saturday talking about the potential problem with consuming raw spinach. After more research on that issue (in chinese and western websites) I've decided to cut down raw spinach consumption. I might still have green monster but definitely not everyday and probably use kale to see if it tastes as good as spinach. I'm just a very risk averse person and my healthy eating philosophy includes not consume food or the way that it's controversial, because that means there are studies confirming both theories and they're not conclusive.

Recap moment.
Rest of the Saturday: Swimming in the morning and went to a party (food wasn't good, all from costco, so I stuffed myself with guacamole, 1/2 mexican tortilla and watermelon). Then I went to pedicure for the first in my life!!! oh..man, that felt soooo good!
Dinner: a new porridge made with dry corns, quinoa, peanuts, white fungus and oats.
green salad with white fungus and a sauteed tofu with eggplants
Look the TV tray that I bought. since I eat almost always alone, it's more convenient to eat in front of the TVDessert:Sunday: yoga, groceries and baking.
Breakfast was a nice one: english muffin with an egg cheese omelet (Krista likes it too) with another green monster and Real Simple
Baking time! I made another batch of mini blueberries bundt cake and mini zucchini bread. One mini bundt was my AM snack... it was sooooooo delicious, so moisturized and fresh! :)
Lunch was cleaning fridge kind of saladDessert: I made popsicles with dairy free chocolate pudding! I was soo fun to make and eat!PM: gigantic grapefruit! I've been having one everyday after I come back from work.Dinner: porridge + sauteed veggies 2 kinds'Dessert: KABOCHA!!!
Monday: gym and work
Breakfast: green oatbran topped with wheat berries and a new batch of homemade almond butterFor the day
Dinner:
dessert: KABOCHA!!!
Tuesday: yoga with Dave Farmer + work
Breakfast: my first overnight oat (1/2 c. oats soaked with almond milk and vanilla) mixed with greek yogurt, blueberries and almond butter! LOVE IT!!!and a green monster
For the day
Dinner:Dessert:
As you can see, June's challenge is going well... I've been using my pantry heavily and spend less on groceries. I'll post a before and after pic of my pantry when June ends.

Now, plans:

I am considering to go to a yoga retreat organized by my yoga studio. It's only a weekend long and I know it will be great because all my 3 favorite instructors will go there. But it's pricey, $550 for the weekend, so I'm heasitating.
I'll teach a short course (six 3 hours class) when I go to Argentina. I was competing with other visiting professor and yesterday I was informed that they picked my program. I was so excited because it's well paid and because I'll basically teach my dissertation topic. So I'll share my insights about the topic and as I prepare for the classes, it will help on my dissertation as well.
I'll prepare a lunch for my friends this weekend!!! My first home party and I'll be the host! It's not a big party, only my best male friends. I'll be feeding 4 hungry boys!!! hahahah... I'm working on the menu! It will so so fun!

Question: What's exciting in your life right now? What are you looking forward in the near future?

Green oats vs. Green Monster

2009-06-13T08:16:00.006-04:00

Hello people!!! Weekend is here, meaning time to post! I missed u guys ( I read your posts everyday, sorry if I don't comment much, schedule is still tight!).
One of my June's challenge is to have one green oat everyday, because I love it and because green veggies are just great! I enjoy a lot green oatbran, but I also wanted to try green monster since it's so popular in the blog world and because it's getting warm, an alternative to the hot green bowl is needed! I had my first green monster (the real one, I've tried green smoothie a la Coco and didn't enjoy much) following Polly's video instruction. And I must say I LOVE THIS!!! So easy to make and tastes soooooo good! This was today's breakfast combo

Green Monster + English Muffin with LC and Almond butter (I finished my last batch, need to make some more)Since I really like it, I'm considering to consume it regularly (probably alternating to green oats) I wanted to make sure that it's beneficial to my body as well. And by my surprise, I found more negative info about consuming raw spinach than positive one. For example:

"Spinach contains oxalic acid. While this cleans our intestinal tract, oxalic acid binds with calcium and diminishes the absorption of calcium in our bodies. Cooking turns the oxalic acid into crystals that could damage kidneys and limit the absorption of iron... "
So.... you people!!! Any thought about this??? Have you done any research before jumping to the green monster wagon? I really need to hear your opinion on this!

Okay. quick recap of the rest of the week. Nothing exciting except I lost all (2) my credit cards, one lost and the other one had been used by others (so, my account is closed for now). Thus, I have to deal with cash until next Tuesday. Not fun!
Wednesday: workout resting day!
breakfast was this not so mini chocolate bread. Lunch: paella + sauteed bok choy. Snack: strawberries, blueberries, oikos.Dinner: porridge + seaweed soup + sauteed veggies with chicken.DessertThursday: 45 min cardio at gym
green oat + almond butterso pretty and yummyLunch: brown rice + korean rice seasoning + veggie frittata Snack: strawberries + chocolate cake + roasted almonds
Dinner: porridge + baked fish + bok choyDessert:Friday: 75 min Dave Farmer's podcast (it was soooo good, really great workout!)
breakfast cold combo: oikos + chocolate pudding + blueberries + chocolate cake = YUM YUMLunch: same as ThursdaySnack: chocolate cake + apple
Dinner: shiritake + eggplant + spinach + black fungus + spicy sauceDessertWeekend plans
- BBQ with friends
- hiking with a friend
- cooking/baking
- RELAX!

Question: Do you always do your own research before trying new food seen in other blogs?

Recap continue: eats, baking goodies and good news!

2009-06-10T05:58:00.009-04:00

This sporadic post mode will continue! I just can't find a moment where I can sit down and write an appropriate post. sorry guys, I either post at night or have a good sleep, I know you will forgive me if I choose the later!
Weekend was fabulous.... so enjoyable and did all my to-do list. Let me do a recap of feature meals like Erica does too (I won't post all my snacks)
Saturday: yoga + nap + groceries + movie + baking
Eats
Sunday: yoga + tv + cooking/preparing for the week meal + tea with a friend
Eats:Baking goodies:Monday: gym + dentist + work (extra long)
Eatspaella that I made on weekend Tuesday: yoga at home + work (1.5 hours longer than usual)
Eats Updates of June's Challenge:

workout: I'm following the plan and it's getting easier and easier (I don't need the alarm to wake me up ^_^)
clean eating: good good! No process food! All homemade!
One green oat a day: almost! I guess one no-green oats a day won't hurt me! :) Because it's not a MUST kind of things to do, I didn't feel I should stick to the rule just because I set a rule. Yey~ I'm not just a rule follower, I reason sometimes! ^_^
Use pantry items: really good progress on this one. I used more than 3 items: baking supplies, black fungus, canned baby corns.
Smaller meals and dessert: I kept only one dessert after dinner, either dairy free pudding or steamed kabocha!

I'm really happy about how I'm doing with it.

Good news:

I'm going to Argentina again!!! Yeah~~~ I already booked the ticket for weeks to spend in the heaven with Star! ^_^
I'm sleeping like a baby every night!!! I'm so happy that I'm enjoying sleeping again!
Work is progressing well/fast, making my boss really happy!

Question: Any good news? Any travel plan?

Weekend is here!!! ^_____^ a long recap!

2009-06-06T07:14:00.006-04:00

I haven't got so excited about weekends for YEARS!!!! You know... being a student, even a grad student we don't actually have weekends, because we have plenty of time during the week or we have to study/work during weekends. But now that I work from M-F, I can't describe how much I appreciate weekends. WOOOOOOOO!!!!! Hello Weekend, I have such a long to-do list for you! ^_^

First of all, a normal posting! I'm sorry that my posts were lamed lately with disorganized pics and not interesting talks. I will be honest with you, I thought about a long MIA because of the crazy schedule that I have now, blogging and commenting have caused me some minor stress, but that idea was exterminated right after it appeared. I can't abandon this blog and you lovely people! I need you guys, I need to belong to this amazing community. I might have some short MIA, but definitely can't hold it for long.
To give you an idea of what I mean by crazy schedule, I'll do a quick schedule recap for you!
5.45am alarm wake me up
6.15am - 7.15am gym/yoga/shower
7.15am - 7.45am prepare breakfast and pack for lunch & snack
7.45am - 8.00am make myself presentable for work
8am - 8.45am commute
9am - 5.30pm work
6.30pm - 7.30pm prepare dinner and put order my apt
7.30pm - 8pm dinner
8pm - 9.30pm talk with Star/blog related/errands
9.30 - 10pm reading and fall into sleep
Tight heh?
So many other things that I'd like to do with more time and without rush... but I guess that's how a working person's life is. That's why I appreciate weekends now, to do whatever I feel like and not checking the clock all the time.
One advantage of the tight schedule is that it made June's challenge easier, because I don't even have time to think about what to eat or do, just do it! Have you guys notice that what you eat at work isn't that delicious? or better said, you don't enjoy food as much as you do when you're at home relaxed. Well... that's what happens to me lately, whatever I pack for the day, I just eat it because I need fuel, not because I really crave eating.
And tips for packing lunch/snack that I've learned (from you guys):

cook the night before together with dinner so I don't have to worry about what to eat the next morning.
pack healthy snacks like yogurt, fruits, granola
store healthy snacks at office just in case for some extra hunger. As I showed the other day, I have a bunch of cereal bars, powdered soy milk and powdered lotus in my office.
you can bring whatever meal you want, even oats if you have appropriate appliance for it. I got these thermos containers which keep the food warm for 5 hours.

Okay. Recap of Friday. Woke up at 5.45am, went to the gym for 45min on Elliptical catching up with some magazine readings. Breakfast was another bowl of green oatbran.Can't get tired of it!! ^_^
For lunch/snack I packed: porridge/stir-fry brocoflower with black fungus, dry shrimps and salty duck eggs/leftover sauteed chinese broccoli/yogurt/blueberries/kamut flakes/granola And my lunch bad had an huge expansion!Work was good. Oh... many of you asked me how I am doing with work.... I'm doing great! I am enjoying it a lot! That's why all the crazy schedule isn't bothering me much because I really like what I do there, which is basically research but with interaction with people (usually research is a lonely work) and I have a very funny/cute officemate! I think it's almost close to my Ideal Job!
Back home, less tired (my body is adjusting), dinner time. I made baked fish with a chinese fermented beans, soy sauce and sesame oil. Also had a stir-fry with broccoli, baby corns, mushrooms, chili and this sauce which is also spicy.And porridge as usual. It was a real delight!!! sooooo good everything!!!
Dessert: dairy free choco-pudding with frozen strawberries!!! That's a heaven combo!! ^___^

To-do list for this weekend:
- pay car ticket (I got a ticket a while ago and never remembered to pay it)
- yoga both days
- groceries (my favorite!)
- farmer market to get another $6 strawberries?
- baking!!!! (I need to launch my new mini baking molds!)
- meet with friends!! (they almost forgot about me!)
- watch Valkyrie (2008) (I've been having it for a week now)
- laundry/cleaning
- some long walk?
I think I could keep adding to the list, but I doubt I'll finish it!
Have everyone a fabulous weekend!! ^_^

Since I haven't been asking questions, can I do more than one today?
Question 1: What's your weekend plan? Question 2: Do you have friends from work? Question 3: What's the most exciting thing happened to you last week?

disorganized post!

2009-06-05T07:54:00.003-04:00

I’m still trying hard to balance work, workout, sleep 7-8 hours, eat properly, some relaxing time and BLOGGING! I kept my challenge on working out in the morning…. Woke up at 5.45am, did 45 min yoga, but I guess yoga is better to do at night than in the morning, because it didn’t wake me up as cardio did to me. I dunno.. I’ll try few days more and see if I have to adjust my plan. But the advantage of doing yoga instead of going to the gym was to have time to have breakfast at home. Another bowl of green oats.. This time with rolled oats instead of oatbran. Same method, same ingredients but not the same texture nor taste. It wasn’t that creamy and spinach flavor was noticeable, I had to add raisin to make it taste better. So, I guess I’ll stick to oat bran or add additional ingredients. And a big spoonful of Pumpkin Maple AB.
For lunch I packed brown rice, scrambled egg with zucchini (made the night before) and leftover sautéed sprouts. For snack: yogurt + mix of berries and kamut flakes.

I’ve been having teeth pain lately, not intense but still bother me. So I made couple of phones calls and got an appointment with a dentist. I went during lunch time and came back without even meeting the dentist!!! What happened you might wonder? Well……. The place was sooooooooo nasty!!! The people I saw were sooooooooo weird! So, after waiting for 15 min I told the secretary who had a bunch of snacks on her desk that I had to go, and I left! I don’t know if I did it right, but I just didn’t feel confident about this clinic to treat my pain. Have you ever had experience like that? That basically you escaped from doctor office because the place didn’t entitle you with confidence?
Longer lunch hour wasted means longer day of work… I worked until 6.30pm instead of 5.30pm. Back home, after 45 min dinner and today’s lunch was ready. Shrimp cooked in a homemade spicy tomato sauce, sautéed Chinese broccoli with garlic, leftover sprouts and porridge.
Dessert: steamed kabocha. (I dunno what’s my fav dessert: chocolate pudding or kabocha, what do you think?)
I was tired last night and went to bed at 9.30pm. Sorry if I didn’t comment on your blog, I do read your posts, but until I find a great way to deal with everything within 24 hs, commenting will be sporadic. Apology in advance.

Sorry that pics are not in order that they're supposed to be. I'm at work and dunno how to cut/past pics.

Love talk & New Challenge!

2009-06-03T20:22:00.005-04:00

Thanks to your supportive comments on yesterday's post. I'm especially touched by Gina's comment: "Well just smile because if you think about it, you are so lucky to have someone in your life you miss so much! Whenever I miss Nick, I always remind myself how lucky I am that I have someone who I can truly miss so much, it must mean he makes me incredibly happy and I'm a lucky lucky girl. Every time you miss Star remind yourself how good you have it. I mean, not all women get such wonderful spur of the moment gifts! That was so thoughtful." She's so right! I should be grateful of having Star in my life instead of being sad of not be able to be with him all the time!
One thought that I had after I left the airport was that no tears, no special words, no apparent emotions doesn't mean No Emotions, No sadness inside us! When I see people who just say goodbye in airport without any emotion, not hugs, I used to judge them as insensible people! But yesterday I realized that I was wrong... maybe they didn't express themselves more because they were afraid of making the other person feel bad and sad too. I don't know if I'm saying it right.... do you know what I mean? I could feel that Star smiled to me and didn't show his emotions not because he wasn't sad of being apart of me, but because he didn't want to make me feel worse! And I felt the same way!!! That's a new kind of feeling about love, which I think it's wonderful! Have you ever experienced something similar?

Okay. End of love talk and let me move to June's Challenge:
Because I'll be working from 9-17.30 for the next two months, I won't have the flexible schedule that I had for the last 3 years. So, guideline for workout

Monday/Friday workout at the gym: cardio for 45 min
Tuesday/Thursday yoga at home: 45 min
Wednesday: Resting day
Saturday: yoga and/or swimming
Sunday: vinyasa yoga at yoga studio

Eating guideline:

Cleaning eating as the one I did a while ago. Basically no process food and eat everything in its natural form as much as possible.
One green oats per day, which is also part of Maggie's Whole Life Challenge
Use at least 3 items from the pantry, inspired by Maggie too
Continue with the Challenge that I was already on: cut back on veggies, more healthy fats and proteins, early dinner and smaller desserts.

Would you interested on joining me on any of these? Let me know!

Finally, recap of today. As day 1 of the challenge and because I didn't workout yesterday, I set the alarm to 5.45am and went to the gym to run 4 miles on the treadmill. Once showed I felt wonderful!!! Morning workouts are the best!!! But I didn't have time to have breakfast at home. Quickly I packed food to go. Two pots of green oats: one with spinach, and the other one with brocoflower. For each of them I used 1/2 cup oat bran, 1/2 cup almond milk, 2 tbsp flax meal and either spinach/brocoflower (topped with chinese dates). For breakfast I packed 1 low fat plain yogurt, blueberries, puffed kamut flakes with mixgranola. For snack I packed an apple and some cherries. All packed in my new lunch bag! ^_^I enjoyed them along the day and didn't feel hungry.
Dinner was more elaborated. Stir-fry tofu with black fungus, baby corns, broccoli with sesame seeds, soy sauce and sesame oil.Stir fry soy bean sprouts with mushrooms and pickles.And porridge made with white fungus, black rice and aduki beans.Dessert: dairy free chocolate pudding!Overall, day 1 of the June's Challenge was well accomplished.
I need to catch up with your blogs people! see u tomorrow!~

Alone again~~

2009-06-02T21:02:00.005-04:00

Star just left. I'm alone again. No matter how many times we have gone through this kind of separation, it is still hard for me and it's getting harder. He is the sweetiest guy I've ever met. We've been together almost 8 years and he still remembers all the special dates including our anniversary, my birthday, women day, valentine's day, even chidrenday! In every of these days, he writes me a card with sweet words and gifts. Yesterday was June 1st, international children day, I didn't realize it but Star remembered it and went to mall (while I was working) and bought gifts to me. How lovely~~~~
I'm glad to know that I'll see him again in two months in Argentina. It's going to be hard not to miss him too much. Long distance relationship is tough, really tough, but when two people are meant to be together, it's still a wonderful feeling and make us appreciate more times that we spend together.

I'm not in the mood to talk about food right now, so I'll just leave you with some pics of food.Tomorrow I'll resume to normal posting. I have a lot things to say including June challenge and new workout schedule/plan.

MIA for a reason! ^_^

2009-05-31T09:21:00.008-04:00

Sorry lovely people that I've been MIA without notice, but I had good reason for it! STAR is here!!! Yeah~~ He arrived on Friday night and will stay here until next Tuesday! So, with the craziness of work, commute and trying to live a normal life with blogging and work outs, I couldn't find time to blog. But fortunately it will work out soon! I already have some kind of "plan" for the work out!
So, first recap of Friday. Because of the excitement of Thursday night's climbing, here's the one pic of meI couldn't sleep well (5 hours) so I was sleepy and tired all day long.
Breakfast was a dessert style breakkie: chocolate pudding oatbran which was soooooooo delicious!

1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup almond breeze chocolate
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup silken tofu
2 tbsp flax meal
topping: frozen strawberries

It was soooo delish and hold me until lunch time. For lunch I packed scrambled tomatoes with egg, bamboo with chicken and leftover eggplant with cucumber. And a big bowl of brown rice.We didn't have a break/lunch room so I had my lunch on my desk. Where I had my dessert too.
PM snack: a tomato (yes, I like it as fruit sometimes) and McCanne's packed flavored oatmeal.Back home exhausted dinner had to be quick and easy: sauteed chinese broccoli, bamboo with chiken, steamed kabocha and rice porridge.Dessert: two marrocsThen Star arrived!!!~~~ So excited and so happy!! ^____^
We slept well (fortunately he didn't have jet lag). I woke up an hour before him and went to the gym for some cardio (haven't done it for ages and really craved it): 30 min on the treadmill and 20 on Elliptical. Back home, he just woke up, perfect timing for breakfast!
He had pork buns with almond milk (I made it)And I had WW toasts with 2 kinds of homemade AB and a mango.After we did laundry (Star did it) and some cleaning (Star did it) we went to Farmer Market. It was my first time here in US and it was so exciting to see fresh produces! ^_^ Look these strawberries, soooooo appetizing! I had two boxes for $12 (so expensive!!! but so worth it!)
Lunch came late (2pm). I made sauteed pork with chili and lotus and sauteed bok choy for Star.I made a gigantic cleaning fridge kind of salad: a bed of fresh greens, tomatoes, sauteed mini peppers with mushrooms and 1/2 avocado, dressing was simply olive and balsamic.I had a belly expansion after this huge bowl. But there is always space for my fav dairy free chocolate pudding.We spent the whole afternoon watching chinese tv-series and snacking
kamut flakeskorean cookies and etc....
All these snacks ruined my appetite for dinner, so I had a small bowl of porridge with some Chinese pickles and kabocha!You guys might think we should do something more exciting than just lying down and watch movies... but both of us actually enjoy more this way of relax! so boring but so enjoyable! Look how we look Hope all you guys have a great Sunday~~ ^_^

Awesome night!!!!~~~~ ^_^

2009-05-29T07:25:00.004-04:00

Last night climbing was AWESOME!!! I got home at 10.30pm and couldn't go to sleep until midnight because of the excitement! I haven't climbed for about a year and was worried about not being able to do it anymore. But our body is so smart, I did it well and was not tired at all! I went there with 3 more friends and they were looking at me lying down on the floor and wonder: why you make it look so easy? hahahah..... I guess yoga made me stronger and trained well all those small muscles that other kind of strengthen training wouldn't do. It was AMAZING people! If you never tried climbing, go and try it! you'll love it!~~~

Quick recap of eats... (I have exactly 15 min to finish this post! as you see, scheduling is still not working). Oh.... almost forgot, I did manage to do a 20 min yoga in the morning! (not a big deal, but at least I began to workout)
Breakfast had to be done in 10 min (prepare and eat), so a gigantic grapefruit and two WW toasts with homemade almond butter (2 kinds).Snack at the office: powder soy milk and cereal bar.
For lunch I packed: scrambled egg with tomatoes and leftover cucumber with eggplants. And big bowl of brown rice.for PM snack I packed pre-made steel cuts with chinese dates and the last piece of almond butter cornbread.I hit the road to go to the climbing gym and got really hungry so I stopped by WF and bought a big salad box (13.75$) for dinner, and ate it in the car while I waited for my friends. It has a lot of veggies, turkey, tofu and hummus.Finished it all and had a sample of chocolate as dessert.I don't know how could I climb with all that food in my stomach, but my metabolism has been crazily fast so I didn't feel weird!
Night snack: white fungus + 2 marrocs (argentinian chocolate)!My friends took pics of me climbing but haven't sent them to me, so let me end with an old pic and update it later.

Question: what's the wildest/most adventurous sport you've ever done?

Communiting is exhausting!!~~~

2009-05-28T06:22:00.006-04:00

Hi lovely people! I'm sorry that this post will be another mediocre one. The commuting is exhausting me these days. Although I only spend 45 min between car-metro, I still feel pretty tired when I get home and 8 hours of sleep doesn't seem enough for me anymore. New schedule for workout and blogging is on the way, but I'm thinking about doing yoga in the morning at least 3 days a week and maybe two days in the gym for some cardio (which implies I need to leave home at 7am instead of 8am). When I come back from work, even it's only 6.30pm (early for a workout) I just feel tired and don't want to do anything but lay on the sofa and check out posts that I missed during the day. Where is my will power??? Come back soon!!!

Eats was mediocre as well. Still no lunch pic because my supervisor took me for lunch and basically I had some stir-fry veggies, curry chicken and rice.
Breakfast was at home and it was good

1/4 dry steel cuts made the night before
1/4 chinese dates (Alison, chinese dates are red)
splash of almond milk to hydrate
2 squares of almond butter cornbread (one at the beginning, one in the middle way)

Very satisfying!
the other scrambled cornbread halfway through
As the day before I was starving all day long, I packed good amount of snacks to store it in the office: cereal bars, powdered soy milk, crackers and assorted tea bags.Along the day, I had two cereal bars, an apple and 4-5 crackers.
We had a social Ice-Cream at work: I had a bowl of chocolate ice cream with walnuts!!!
Back home, feeling really tired, I thought maybe I was tired because I was not working out. So I managed to do 60 min Dave Farmers class and felt great afterward.
Dinner was simple: stir-fry chinese broccoli, leftover shrimp with cucumber and a pot made with cucumber, eggplants, mushrooms with a miso dressing.all with a new porridge made with brown rice and cracked dry corns
Dessert was the expected comfort food: kabocha! with my little friend.
Tonight I'm going to a climbing gym with a friend! I haven't climb for almost a year! I'm super excited to see how bad I am now! ^_^
Have everyone a great Thursday!

Question: Do you pack lunch to office? Any tips on that? I need to begin to pack lunch to work, so I need your help!

Quick, short post: award & game

2009-05-27T07:13:00.005-04:00

Day 1 of work was good. I'm not allowed to say more than that since I'm working on a Federal Agency, so communication is prohibited for all stuffs and interns.
This post will be short since I have exactly 30 min before I have to leave. (I need to reschedule with the blogging and working out).
First, I received from the lovely Michelle the CUTEST award ever: Cyber Bra! How cool is that?! thank you Michelle!!! I'm honored to pass this award to the following amazing friends:
Krista
Ashley
Maggie
Gina
Erin
Sophia
These ladies are really great/inspirational friends... they provided me with greatest advices and supports when I most needed. I'm glad that new people are visiting my blog! So happy to make new friends!

Want to play a blog friend game? Ashley and Sophia are organizing a very cool game for us: Warm Fuzzies Game! I'm participating! It's going to be so fun! check it out!
Last, a extremely short recap of food. Breakfast at home

1/4 (dry) steel cuts made with water and chinese dates the night before
splash of almond breeze to hydrate it
2 tbsp flax meal
icing: frozen blended mango + ricotta cheese
topping: unsweetened coconut flakes

It sounds a tropical oat combo: Yummy~~
I packed snacks for the day: 1 square of almond butter cornbread, an apple and a cereal bar.
Lunch at the cafeteria: an expensive but lame tuna salad (never again!), no pic!
Back home, STARVING!!! I had a powdered soy milk right away when I checked emails and blogs (as you can imagine, I couldn't do it during the day).The earliest dinner ever at 6.30pm (so I don't over snack): stuffed mini peppers with meat, sauteed bok choy with mushrooms and black rice porridge.Dessert: dairy free chocolate pudding.Later in the night around 9pm I had a bowl of kabocha and a marroc. I think it's okay to have a later snack if I have early dinner. (plus I was especially hungry yesterday).Exhausted, I fold myself into bed at 10.30pm.

I need to figure out where can I put my workout routine in this new schedule.
Question: When do you workout during weekdays?

A lucky Superwoman! ^_^

2009-05-26T06:15:00.006-04:00

As I mentioned yesterday I wanted to buy a sofa bed from IKEA because I needed it and it was on sale. None of my best friends could help me and I was disappointed not only because I'd miss this great deal but also it made me wonder if I am good friend to them. (Does anyone ever felt that? having doubt about yourself how your friends see you?) I almost gave up the idea of getting that sofa and spend the rest of the day feeling low. Then I saw a friend from school in msn and I asked him if he could help me without expecting him to say yes, since we're not so close, but he said YES! Wooo.... I was surprised but happy. Then we met in IKEA and there was a lot of people. I arrived 5 min earlier and went directly to look for the sofa. I saw a line waiting for the sofa and I said to myself: oh no!!! it's going to be sold out when I get there. Fortunately that didn't happen, but something worse than that. The man who's giving the sofa to the clients asked me about a coupon, what coupon? I said I didn't have it. He said: then, it's sold out! OH NO!!! How that could happened? Imagine my disappointment at that point. As I walked out to meet my friend, I felt terribly guilty of making him come to here for nothing. But he was nice and didn't blame me at all, instead he comforted me of not getting the sofa. And then, another great surprise came. A man he was leaving approached me and asked me if I need a coupon because he's leaving and he didn't need the coupon anymore! OH GOD!!! How playful you were!!! You can imagine the rest of the story.
My friend carried it with me to my apartment and left. (It would be too much to ask him to assemble it with me). Me with the huge box. I've bought a lot of furniture's from IKEA and haven't assembled a single of them (my friends did it for me)!!! I'm totally inexperienced with this but as I had no choice and no one to ask for help.... I was determined to face the challenge.
After step 1, I gained confidence.After 2 hours (only 2 hours!!!) I finished the assembling and the sofa-bed was ready. I'M A SUPERWOMAN! ^_^
Not only the assembling was demanding, but also the re-arrangement of the living room. I was exhausted by the end but really proud of myself. Look my living before and after Quick recap of the food.
Breakfast was a big satisfying one

1/3 cup flax porridge
1/3 cup almond breeze chocolate
1 egg white
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
2 tbsp flax meal
1 big spoon of PMAB

Mid morning when I was feeling low: 2 kabocha ricotta holesLunch came late at 2.30pm after I finished all the assembling: korean pickes, leftover sauteed soy sprouts, smoked salmon, half chopped tomatoes and black rice porridge (this time I added some chinese dates and goji berries)Dessert: 1/2 cup low fat Stonyfield plain yogurt + 1 cup frozen strawberries + teaI took a nap, did 45 min yoga and ready for dinner: sauteed jumbo shrimp with cucumber + sauteed chinese mustard greens + black rice porridge Dessert: dairy free chocolate pudding with ricotta. HEAVEN!!! Love this combo. Ricotta has a very unique texture to the pudding.

My internship in CBO begins today, I'm so excited about meeting new people and learn how a big organization works.

Question: Do you have doubts about how your friends see you? Do you consider yourself a good friend?

Post-shopping & challenge updates

2009-05-25T07:19:00.006-04:00

The day after the marathonic day of shopping was like the day after you got over-drunk in alcohol, I didn't sleep enough and was exhausted all day long. Somehow I managed to go to my regular Sunday yoga class anyway, but felt especially challenged and dizzy during the class. Oh..man, I'm old!!! I spent the rest of the day at home watching TV and reading... nothing very excited and was feeling low because two days before I had Star by my side and now I'm alone again! Why the excitement and happy moments are so short and the post-excitement and happiness so long??? That's unfair!!!

Moving on! The only productive thing that I did was to make two extremely simple snack/desserts using kabocha, Maggie was hosting BSI for this week and she picked up our favorite food Kabocha. I made kabocha parfait and kabocha-ricotta holes. You can find them here.

Remember my challenge? Let me give you some updates

Cut back on veggies: I've been eating smaller portions of vegges, not over stuffed myself. Interestingly, it made me savor them more and let me find more tasty recipes with them. Quality replaced quantity.
More healthy fats: I've been adding 1-2 tbsp of flax meal or bigger spoon of Almond Butter in my breakfasts. I ate more chocolates too, does it count? I guess not, since most of fat from chocolates are saturated fat. Okay. I need to work more on this one.
Eat smaller portions and more proteins: smaller portions checked. More proteins checked, I've been having one meal per day based on proteins.
Snack less and smaller desserts: this one is my proudest part. I kept my dinner desserts to only one portion (usually I'd have 2-3 courses). It wasn't that hard if I keep that in mind when I have dinner, because I noticed that sometimes I eat less dinner in order to have more desserts/snacks afterwards, so having bigger dinner made desserts be just desserts, not another dinner.
Early dinner: this one wasn't in the original guideline but I think it's something that I had to do for a while. I used to have late dinner, around 9pm and go to bed just two hours after, which caused me some discomforts. Now, I've been having dinner around 7pm or no later than 8pm.

Overall, I think I'm doing good. I'd incorporate some of Maggie's Whole Life Challenge into this

yoga everyday (at least 10 min)
walking everyday (at least 10 min)
new meals every week (either new food or new recipe)

Finally, recap of yesterday's eats. Breakfast:

1/3 c. flax porridge
1/4 c. wheat berries
1/3 c. coconut milk
1/3 c. mashed broco-flower
2 tbsp flax meal
big spoon of PMAB

Lunch was a feast. Korean picklesSmocked SalmonSauteed soy sprounts with mini peppers and mushroomsSauteed chinese broccoli with garlicAll with black rice porridge.Obviously I didn't finish them all (that will violate #1 of the challenge).
Dessert: kabocha parfait and teaPM snack: gigantic grapefruit, 3 kabocha ricotta holes and a WW with Almond butter.Dinner was leftoversDessert: dairy-free chocolate puddingToday is memorial day, I need to buy a sofa-bed in IKEA that's on sale but haven't found anyone to help me to carry it yet, so I'm a little bit worried.
I'll spend the day mainly on relaxing because tomorrow I'll begin my internship in the Congressional Budget Office Macroeconomics Division. I'm excited to meet new people and new place!
Question: How are you at meeting new people and making friends?

12 hours of shopping!!!

2009-05-24T08:25:00.004-04:00

Thanks for everyone's insight about love & marriage. I want to clarify that what I said was my own thoughts, not what is supposed to be. And this is the reason I asked you to know what others think about the topic. All your answers were very insightful, with sincerity and hope! So happy for you people! ^_^
This post will be dedicating to the marathon shopping day that I had, and very poor in term of foods. I left home at 9.30am and did not get back until 10pm, exhausted but happy with all my purchases. Qiao, a friend her and I went to Leesburg Outlet, Tyson Corner Mall and chinese market. I haven't had a entire day dedicated to girls shopping for ages and to be honest, I wanted to go home after the first 3 hours among a big crowd of people (I'm the kind of people who get bored shopping after a couple of hours), but as I was with my friends and they were super enthusiastic about hunting for more, I stayed and didn't complain. And finally I'm glad that I did it because I found more and more stuffs that I liked. ^_^
I finally got the start kit of minerals foundation from Sephora.
I need to figure out how to use it. Do you guys have any tip for it?
Clothes: top from Banana Republic and pants from MNG
As I'm a true foodie who loves cooking/baking and good eats, I spent more time on HOME/Kitchen store than clothing stores. Look what I got: mini baking molds (can't wait to bake mini desserts!!! ) and 3 placematsThat's all! Not a lot, but every item was chosen carefully so I really enjoyed the process of shopping (not just grab the item and check out) and proud of them. ^_^

In term of food, I only had breakfast and a seemingly dinner at home.
Breakfast (after I took Star to the airport) was another bowl of oat bran with coconut milk

1/2 c. oat bran
1/2 c. coconut milk
1/2 c. broco-flower puree
big spoon of PMAB
frozen blueberries

I grab two bars that were very needed as we didn't have lunch until 2.30pm. We went to Panera and I had the Pick-Two Combo: cafe classic salad + 1/2 Mediterranean veggie sandwich + 1/2 french baguette. It was my first time in Panera and I liked it a lot, especially the french baguette. I finished the WHOLE combo, very satisfied and ready to do more shopping. (sorry, no pic!)
The seemingly dinner at 10.30pm was an apple and another big bowl of kabocha. I was too tired to prepapre dinner, so I went for the simplest and yummiest combo! ^_^
What a wonderful day, isn't it? Girls shopping trips are exhausting but so fun!! ^_^

Question: Who do you go for shopping? Who is your favorite company? girlfriends, boyfriend or your mom? My favorite company is my mom, she knows exactly what I like and can walk for an entire day without getting tired.

crazy love & marriage!

2009-05-23T08:46:00.006-04:00

Another great day spent with Star, I can't find words to describe how much I love being with him.. so calm, so warm, so cared and loved! So, today I want to talk about love vs. marriage. When I was younger, I looked for passion kind of love, those that make you want to be with the person all the time, that make you cry like crazy, that make you to have a node in your stomach all the time. I had it and had it for more than 3 years. Those were 3 crazy years of my life, a lot of love, hate, fight and tears. Those were memorable but unhealthy to carry an adult life. Life is not just love and being with the person you're crazy about, life is also responsibility, job and family. That crazy kind of love is a plus in life as experience, but not as a state of life. A marriage is something slightly different. You need to be in love with the person (but not the crazy kind of love), but this is only a necessary condition, not a sufficient one. The most important thing is to find the Right person, not the Perfect or the Best, but the Right one for You. The best couple is usually two persons that complement each other, both of them admire to the other's quality that they don't have. Therefore, they can help each other, support each other and fight against the rest of the world. I think I found the Right one and with the pass of years, I've been confirming this fact over and over again! ^_^

We woke up pretty early yesterday and had breakfast right away. Star had two pork buns with soy milk and a taste of the homemade almond butter.I had another bowl of oat bran with almond milk, fresh blueberries and PMAB. YUMMY~~~
Then we went to DC for a walk since the weather was nice.A pomegranate white tea on the roadBack home for lunch. I had another bowl of bambo chicken with white mushrooms and a chopped tomatoand Star had leftover pork, sauteed pok choy with chili and a big bowl of white riceMy dessert was: low fat Stonyfield plain yogurt (I'm in love with this now) with fresh blueberriesStar had Haagen-Dazz ice cream bar (his fav)We spent the afternoon watching more movies and a LONG nap. And munched on this korean snack (a shouting out on pinky toes)and argentinian chocolatesDinner was simple: leftovers and big bowl of kabocha
Dessert: yogurt + blueberries + cinnamon
Star left this morning and I'm missing him right now. Fortunately he'll be back next week and stay another 4 days with me!
I'm heading to outlet for some shopping adventure! :) Stay tune to see my great deal hunts!

Question: What's the difference between crazy love and marriage for you?

Home Date with Star! ^_^

2009-05-22T06:41:00.011-04:00

Yesterday I asked you guys about how do you think I'd spend these two days with Star... many of you said about going to fancy/romantic restaurants like I did in Argentina, but NOT this time! I preferred to stay at home and cook for him instead. Why? Because I really enjoy making his favorites dishes, the process of he washing/cutting all the foodand I cooking them I'm an ordinary girl who has to bare with the fact that I can only have him around me a couple times a year. Dating out is fun but I can't feel the same connection that I do when we stay at home. As this trip is really short, I prefer to spend it this way.
For breakfast I had a new brand of oat bran. Prepared it with almond milk and broco-flower puree, topped with the new PMAB!it was soooooo smooth and creamy and the AB was delicious. I had to have more halfway throughWhen we came back from the airport I prepared a AM snack for us while Star was choosing what movie to watch!Then we went to groceries store to pick ingredients to make his favorites dishes
Lunch was simple: stir fry pok choystir fry chinese mustardstir fry soy bean sprouts with picklesand stir fry chili with pork and chinese chivesHe had white rice and I had black rice porridgeIt was simple but delightful. I had dairy free chocolate pudding as dessert and Star had ice cream.The afternoon was spent on nap, movie, Star's first yoga session, a nice walk, some random munches: chocolates in a kid package (Star loves buying me kid's stuff)grapefruitand ice cream, cashew, etc (no pic)
I invited two of my best friends here to join us for dinner: Qiao and Huan. I like them a lot, they always make me laugh, especially when they're together! :)
Dinner was a chinese feast!
Star and my friend's favorite dish: porkcucumber saladradish and pork soupchinese chives with chilitofu with ancient egg (Michelle loves it too)korean picklesDunZaHui made with eggplant, potato and green beansAll together
After dinner we had a long and nice chat! ^_^
Star, best friends, great food = Perfect Night~

New Almond Butter, girly purchase and more suprise!! ^_^

2009-05-20T20:16:00.009-04:00

Okay. Let me say the surprise first! Star is NOT coming this Friday, but TODAY!!! I'm going to pick him up right after I finish this post!!! YEAH~~~ I love him!!! He knew that I wanted him to come as soon as possible so he booked the first flight he could get, which is Wednesday night and he'll arrive on Thursday 7.30 AM!!! So excited!!! ^_^

Now, let's move to the new batch of Almond Butter. I made not one, but TWO kinds! The simple one, with just roasted almond and pinch of salt.
This time, really smooth!!!And the other one is a new creation. Remember my failed maple-raisin AB? I used half to made cornbread and was having the other half for breakfast, but I wasn't enjoying it much. So, something must be done! I used some of the new batch of AB, the rest of maple-raisin AB, 1/3 cup pumpkin puree, 2 tbsp maple butter and 1/4 cup raisin! Result? An extremely smooth Pumpkin maple Almond Butter!!! IT's sooooooo good!!!
Look how smooth is this The best part of making nut butter is to clean this with my tongue.... hahha.... such a tough job!!!^_^ Now, girly purchase! Look what I got today in the mailI bought all these for <$15. Lips colors Lovely pink nail polish
Check out my entire selection of nail polish
I don't know why I have all these, because I usually go to manicure and only use them for fun! ^_^ How many nail polish do you keep?

Finally, food! Another great day, followed almost the new challenge guideline.
Breakfast

1/3 c. rolled oats
1/3 c. almond milk
1/4 c. wheat berries
1/4 c. pumpkin
2 tbsp flax meal
topping: 1 tbsp low fat plain yogurt + 1 tbsp maple-raisin AB + blueberries

YUM YUM~~~
I didn't really need AM snack, but had it anyway when I was waiting in the doc office: 1/3 of honest granola bar. (bad)
Lunch: chicken bamboo shot dish over "noodles" and a chopped tomato
Dessert: 2 squares of almond cornbread
I kep PM snack small (good): 1 slice of WW with LC and an apple
I went to swim pool, swam for an hour, showered, moisturized and felt amazing!! :)
Early dinner at 7pm (good): tortilla veggie pizza!!! I used Tj's rice tortilla for the dough, topped with homemade sauce, mushrooms, mini peppers, broco-flower and part-skim mozzarella.It was delicious!!!! I need to have this more often!!!
Dessert was amazing: 1 cup of low fat plain yogurt + 2 tbsp wheat berries + 1 square of almond cornbread crumbled + coconut flakes
It was delicious, but maybe too much yogurt, I felt a little bloated afterwards!
Day 2 of the challenge and Day -1 of Star arrival was FABULOUS!!! ^____^

Question: Any guess about how I'll spend these two days with Star? What kind of dates do you think we'll get?

Easy day 1 of the challenge & unexpected visit! ^_^

2009-05-20T07:30:00.006-04:00

The first day of the challenge went well, I ate smaller but denser portions, didn't feel bloat and felt satisfied. And the big news was Star is coming to visit me on Friday!!! He's going back to China for work and will stop in DC for one day and when he comes back next week, he'll stay for 5 days!!! I'm so happy about this unexpected short-time visit!!! I haven't seen him for almost two months, which is shorter than our usual reunion, but still missed him a lot. I just like to have him around me! ^_^

I woke up yesterday at 7am (9.5 glorious hours of sleep) totally bright and awaken. I guess I'm getting old and 7 hours is just not enough for me anymore! Prepared a good breakfast for the day 1:

1/3 c. flax porridge
1/3 c. almond milk
1/2 banana
1/4 c. egg white
2 tbsp pumpkin
2 tbsp flax meal
1 tbsp low fat yogurt
1 tbsp maple-raisin AB

A yummy combo of carbs, fat, protein and flavor! It hold me for 5 hours and no AM snack.
I talked to my mom for an hour and spent the rest of the morning surfing on Internet just for leisure. Usually when I surf, I have a purpose in mind: read news, check blogs, look for new recipes, etc, and always felt I'd spend more time reading/doing other stuffs. And vacation is just the moment to do that, even to do those stupid quizzes!! ^_^ I love how I "waste" my time!
Lunch was simple: mini stuffed peppers and spinach over "noodles".Dessert: chocolate, treat from Krista. (I love it!!!)I didn't need nap yesterday so I spent my afternoon on more leisure surfing! I learned a lot about cholesterol and Glysemic Index (all for my Dad). Then I did 90 min yoga with Dave Farmer. I used to do yoga with yogadownload.com and found podcast yoga classes annoying because of the talk. But now I love it! It's so much fun and alive. What he said is not only enlightening, but also made holding long poses easier!
PM snack: low fat plain yogurt (I craved plain yogurt instead of Greek, weird, but true), blueberries, flax meal and chopped chinese dates.And WW bread with LC.After those snacks, I still feel a little hungry. Instead of having more snacks which will be against my new challenge, I had an early dinner at 7pm (I usually have dinner around 8.30-9pm).
Sauteed cucumber with mushroom and sesame oil.Spicy dried pumpkin (homemade by Star's Mom) and Chinese pickles. And black rice porridge
After dinner I went for a walk around the neighbor with Qiao. Came back, ready for my dessert or PM snack (a la Krista): dairy free chocolate pudding and a small piece of the sweet cornbread.PERFECT ENDING! I enjoy day 1 of the challenge! I felt less sleepy, more energetic and satisfied! ^_^ (hopefully I'll adopt this new challenge as my new eating style)

Question:How often do you do blood test for general check?
I'm going to doc for a check today and wonder how often other people do it.

Too much of good things? New Challenge!

2009-05-19T08:07:00.009-04:00

Conventional views always tell us to limit ourselves from bad things.... not to smoke too much, not to play too long, not to spend too much, not eat too much, not and not!!! I'm totally agree with that because those bad things could be joyful but too much isn't beneficial for our body. But what about too much of good things? Just before I wrote this post, I googled "too much of good... " and I couldn't find many articles related to what I'm going to talk about. So, no one have never thought about it or no one cares about it? There are many good things that we should be doing, like eat healthy, sleep well, exercise regularly etc. But have you thought about the consequence of doing too much of them? I can think many of them. Too much sleep makes you feel asleep and tired; too much exercise makes you feel sore and exhausted (and perhaps hormonal imbalances); too much kabocha (good for vitamine A) makes you turn orange (not you Maggie); too much dairy (good for calcium) makes you bloat; and finally yesterday I experimented too much veggies made my belly explode!!! Certainly, when we over-do, even though they are usually good for us, can hurt us too. Therefore, I think the key for a healthy life is not just to eat and exercise in a good way, but also, do it in MODERATION!!!
I've noticed (and you might too) I've been eating more and more, my portions have expanded so much that when I read other blogs I feel I'm a monster eating twice or three times more than others. Not that I'm worried about gaining weight (I haven't yet), but I've been feeling full and bloated all the time. So, I think it's a moment to re-assess my diet and make adjustment. So, guideline for the new Challenge:
First of all, I need to cut back on vegetables. I eat too much of it and too much fiber makes me bloat (as Gina pointed out yesterda).
Second, I need to incorporate more healthy fats so I don't get dry skin (I've noticed that when I eat more fats, my dry skin improved, so I'll continue on that).
Third, eat smaller portions, meaning less veggies and more protein and fat to keep the same cal content. Hopefully this will give me more energy and feel less asleep all day long (especially I'll begin to work next week)
Fourth, less snacks and desserts. No more big afternoon snacks and 3 courses desserts!!!
Any thoughts about my new challenge?

okay. You might wonder, where all this came from? Here's how the event developed yesterday
Breakfast was normal:

4 tbsp wheat cream
1/3 c. almond milk
1/4 c. pumpkin puree
2 tbsp egg white
Topping: Maple-raisin AB and chopped walnuts

Although wheat cream is creamy, it's not as creamy as oat bran and to be honest, it lacks flavor! Unsatisfied meal means more food to come. I had another bowl of cottage cheese with pumpkin and coffee 10 min later.I did some baking after breakfast. As I didn't like wheat cream as breakfast grain, I thought I might do something different with it. Also I wanted to use the failed AB so I can make a new batch soon. So, I created this: Maple almond butter "cornbread". Cornbread in quotes because I used cream of wheat instead of polenta, but the texture is just like the cornbread. It was sooooo good. Here's the recipe (100% creation of Coco ^_^)

1/2 cup WW flour
1 cup cream of wheat
1/3 cup maple raisin Almond butter
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 egg
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tsp baking powder

I had a piece right away. ^_^ yummy~ Then I went to campus for some errands and to the manicure. Back home around 1pm, I didn't crave anything, so I went for veggies. A quick sauteed spinach with leftover balsamic glazed carrots.A gigantic bowl of seaweed soup with tomatoes and egg.And a small bowl of black/brown rice. Check out how big was the bowl for the soupI got really really sleepy after the meal, so I took a nap. After the nap, I got snacky, really snacky!
2 pieces of cottage cheesecakeHalf of grapefruit and chocolates while I watched TV
Ikea crackers and Maple AB cornbread + the last two pieces of the cheesecake
Microwaved kabocha (Maggie, this method is even faster and easier)
The my belly was about to EXPLODE!!! But somehow I managed to move my ass from the coach and went to the swim pool. I knew all my snacks were healthy and all, but TOO much was the problem. I spent an hour in the swim pool which was amazing!!!
Back home, I wasn't hungry for dinner, but I had more veggie (big mistake!). A warm salad with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, cucumber and green peppers with cold tomatoes. And two crackers. Dessert: 2 cornbreads and white fungus drink.My belly was over-expanded again!! I don't think it was because of too much food, but because of too much fiber in it.
I got so sleepy by 9.30pm (so early compared to my usual time to bed lately, around 11-12pm), I went to bed and was out in <5.

Question: What's your thoughts about too much of good things?