HIT training

After dinner and shower, feel better.. I shall begin on a ONE-MONTH high intensity training and dieting. High-intensity interval training is a system of training that utilizes short bursts of repeated running or cycling or similar activity. I tried it during my run just now. I sprinted really fast for about 30 -40 sec. Then I jogged slowly after that. I'd be working out like that for whole month of November.

I'd also be following a strict diet of 5 small meals a day : 1st meal will be smoothie, Meal 2 will be an energy bar. Meal 3 will be a sandwich with simple salad. Meal 4 will be a fruit and nuts. Meal 5 will be a soup.

Want back control of MY body!

Made it again..

Once again, I have met my targets for my class Math results! The taste of victory is certainly sweet. In fact, I've exceeded the targets. Well the hard work in class and after class supplementary lessons have paid off :) Looking at the children now, I guess I've underestimated some of their abilities....

The trivia :
Target for 3A : A & A* : 9 No. Achieved : 10
Passes for 3A : 25 No. Achieved : 31

Target for 3D : A & A* : 29 No. Achieved : 31
Passes for 3D : 36 No. Achieved : 41

Now to work on mine and my son's chinese .... Intend to put in at least an hour of studying chinese a day for myself.. yao duo jiang hua yu!

FLoWeRs by Wendy Cope

Oh I jus love flowers. Do you know when I was a kid, I almost gave myself the name 'Flora'?Well at that time, it was in vogue. But then I was so tomboyish then and was worried I would be laughed at .. anyway, here's a lovely poem on flowers.

Flowers

Some men never think of it. 
You did. You'd come along 
And say you'd nearly brought me flowers 
But something had gone wrong.

The shop was closed. Or you had doubts - 
The sort that minds like ours 
Dream up incessantly. You thought 
I might not want your flowers.

It made me smile and hug you then. 
Now I can only smile. 
But, look, the flowers you nearly brought 
Have lasted all this while.

(Wendy Cope)

T'was a nice meal that I cooked...

Trust me, nothing picks you up like a good workout (including the ones in bed *wink).. I took the nap I promised myself this morning when I struggled out of bed, went through 2 hours of Chinese tuition with my son then I picked up my Swiss Ball, my exercise band, my mat and my Denise Austin book "Working Out with Balls and Bands".. ONE hour of gruelling arm and core workout and I was recharged with sweat and a glow on my face. Went on to climb 20 stories of my block and then took a power walk around my Bishan St 12. Ended my walk at NTUC where I picked up some groceries...came back to cook Beef Yakiniku Don and  japanese cold tofu dish. Here's the photo of my labour :)  Also cooked red peppers and caramelised onions to complement the dish. Had to set them aside cos my kids dun like them!

LOOONG WEEKEND

The looong weekend that I was looking forward to is almost over ... i think sometimes all these breaks make us more tired in other ways.. besides catching up on marking examination scripts, swimming and gym, I did what a dedicated mother would do - teach my son chinese, cook breakfast and dinners for them, shop for groceries, accompany my daughter shopping to get clothes for her and fetch them to and from badminton & swimming lessons.. Sometimes it seems such a thankless job. Who is going to give me a bonus or performance review for such tasks? I even spent 2 hours learning chinese so I can be a role model to my kid! I wish sometimes i have someone to jus take over my tasks for a while so I can totally relax and feel single again.. 

I take my hat off to those fathers who spend such long weekends taking care of their

 kids. I know of fathers who plan outings, bring their kids shopping or read to their kids.. and even fathers who go to the market early in the morning while wifey and kids are asleep to do the marketing and later labour in the kitchen to cook a sumptuous meal for them... To me

, such men are the MOST macho and attractive. I'd love to sneak up behind someone like this, plant a kiss on his neck and give him a hug from behind, whispering "I'd cook you something nice in bed tonite..." Hehe...  I also know of some men who snort at such domestic expressions of fatherly love. To them, their holidays are THEIRS to enjoy so they spend it lounging in front of the TV or laughing and joking with their buddies over beer cause they THINK they deserve it after all that HARD work. Well jus like some women like to keep their pretty manicured hands away from washing and cooking.. there are men who love such women, i'm sure... Well to me a REAL man is someone who loves his kids, sacrifices for them and doesn't mind getting dirty on his knees scrubbing the toilet or floor..  Check out that hunk on the right...doesn't he look absolutely cute cooking? *knees weak....

I'm now waiting for the sushi rice to cook... Going to prepare 'crab' maki with my kids. We got the tatami mats yesterday from Cold Storage (found it among the seaweed), seaweed sheets, sushi vinegar and mayonnaise. Dinner will be ton torro ramen, japanese tofu with sesame sauce and crab maki...Yum. Hope all the hard work will be worth it :)

FRESH VS FROZEN

Recently the govt launched this campaign for frozen food.. A lot of ppl are wondering what the motivations behind the campaign are.. well to me, frozen is ok if that's what you are already used to... I've always bought my beef thawed from frozen so I don't know what FRESH beef tastes like, unless I go live on an Australian farm. But for chicken, I can say that frozen tastes awful. I usually was able to buy fresh chicken from the market but once i got thawed chicken from cold storage to cook a dish. Even my son was able to taste the difference although I did not tell him where I got the meat from! The meat had a rubbery texture and was also lacking in taste... So there you are, fresh is definitely superior over frozen when it comes to taste. Of coz there will always be those propagandists who tell you that frozen food is higher in nutrition cos it was not exposed to the air as long as fresh.. well how much is the difference anyway? When it comes to eating, taste is what that matters rite? Bon Appetit!!

What's so special about a blue rose?

Whilst setting up this blog, I had to go to google images to look for blue roses. Gosh, my fascination with them just deepened..(almost all my email addresses have blueroses in them, haha) There's this ethereal and mysterious quality about a blue rose. Yes, the red is sexy and alluring while the blue is almost cold and forlorn.. but to me it is regal, deep and beautiful in an understated way... Well maybe I like it because I'm not the loud and exhibitionist sort of person, so blue roses strike me better than red.. 

Do you know... blue roses were traditionally created by dyeing white roses, since roses lack a gene to produce delphinidin, the primary plant pigment that produces true blue flowers. Because of this blue roses traditionally signify mystery or attaining the impossible.(but now they are able to by using a gene-silencing technology. Read all about it at http://news.softpedia.com/news/Blue-Roses-by-Gene-Transfer-50231.shtml ) They are believed to grant the owner youth or grant wishes... Hmm.. the last time i got a blue rose was in 2007.  So you know what to give me for christmas now, don't you? *wink  ( jus kidding)

So what does it mean if you give someone a blue rose? According to a florist website,  the blue rose is often a sign of enchantment and love at first sight. Those who have been enraptured by feelings of love and adoration have used these roses to express their romantic feelings and intention. 

Well what do you think of blue roses?