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Sunday 16 December 2012

Christmas

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year for a few reasons. There's something different in the air and everyone seems to treat each other nicer and be that bit kinder. December also marks mine and my Dad's birthday so that makes it an extra special month. I spend my birthday surrounded by Christmas decorations and Christmas carols are always playing in the background.

To me, Christmas is and always has been about family. In particular my parents. When I was younger till I was 20, our whole family would get together at my grandmothers place and open presents the second the clock hit 12. My grandmother would cook all the traditional Eurasian food, my aunt would make a shephards pie and sugee cake every year without fail and my dad would go to this deli at Alexandra and get sausages. It was a much simpler time when I was younger when everyone got along and loved each other. Sadly, this didnt continue once my grandfather sold their house and my grandmother came down with dementia. I think back sometimes and my heart aches that this all ended because the highlight of each Christmas since I was a baby was being with the whole family and seeing everyone's happy face and eating the wonderful food cooked by my Nana which noone can ever replicate.

Which is why my dream is to own my own place so I can continue this tradition. I love to spread the joy and warmth of Christmas which is why I put in alot of effort at Christmas time to buy small gifts and write cards for friends and family. So, now I have penned it down and I know it will  materialise. Once I get the keys to  my house, every Christmas eve I will host a dinner for my parents and friends. I don't think this tradition should die and I wish to revive it and preserve the Eurasian traditions at Christmas.

With that I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and may the joy of Christ birth keep the fire in your heart burning.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

we accept the love we think we deserve

I think I've mentioned time and again how strong the mind is. It controls our every thought, action and perception of situations and people.

I have met many really nice girls/guys in my course of  life and dont you all notice one thing? Some really nice people just always end up choosing shitty partners? Like all the years you've known them, they've ONLY had bad partners who end up treating them horribly. I wouldnt put this down to luck, cos quite frankly you make your own luck. There's no such thing as luck. Its how you use chances presented to you. According to a research done:

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good. There were 4 principles that were recommended to be applied to transform your life into a happier one:

  • Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right
  • Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine
  • Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well
  • Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call. Luck is very often a self-fulfilling prophecy
Anyway back to my original topic, some people end up with horrible partners, simply because you accept the love you THINK you deserve. This is all in the mind, you could be the best looking girl/guy, but if in your head you put yourself down and think noone will ever love you, you're probably gonna end up right. This is cos that is the kinda energy you're giving off which is why you attract the wrong kind, and when THEY love you, you feel so grateful and accept their love.

So, to sum it up, be positive! I'm not saying you should be egoistic and think you're too good for anyone but dont accept love readily, exercise discretion and be with someone who respects you and doesn't play with your feelings. YOU deserve better!


Essential Foods for the Body

Have there been times when you’ve been sleeping early and getting your 8 hours sleep yet you still feel dead beat?
Well, that’s cos sleep is not the only component in making you feel energised. A large part has also got to do with your diet. A diet rich in protein and fibre will make you feel lively and tire out less easily as opposed to a diet rich in carbohydrates.
Despite coffee being the most common option to wake yourself up, an excess of it will actually do the opposite, it will make you feel lethargic and lacklustre. I know this from my own experience as I used to be taking 3-4 cups of coffee a day to keep myself awake and I woke every morning feeling like I hadn’t slept a wink. It’s been a month now that I’ve quit coffee and I honestly feel much better. I don’t feel as tired as I used to be although I’ve been sleeping later (which isn’t good tho)
In addition, the below foods can be added to your diet to help you function better:
Fruit
Fiber is a natural energizer and apples are packed full of it so if you’re feeling sleepy at mid day, grab an apple instead of that cup of coffee, the amount of vitamins in it will also help promote great skin and keep flu’s at bay!

Nuts

Keep a pack of roasted almonds (without the sugar) on your desk. They’re full of protein and fat free so grab a handful for an instant energy boost.

Water

Even if you don’t feel thirsty, drink water. The body gets dehydrated especially in air con rooms which we all are stuck in for 8 hours a day so try as much as you can to get 4 litres down a day.

Chocolate

By chocolate, I don’t mean a Kit Kat or Snickers Bar, I’m referring to dark chocolate like Lindt Dark Chocolate 70%. Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants as well and makes you feel happy too, so 2 squares a day is highly recommended!

Oatmeal

It’s easiest to eat oatmeal as a breakfast item, so start the morning by eating clean. You can refer to my recipe here

Veggies

In our bodies, fiber acts a bit like a sponge—it can grab things that are passing through our digestive tract and help to whisk them away, that’s why you hear about fiber lowering bad cholesterol levels. It latches on to some of the building blocks of cholesterol, ultimately helping to reduce its levels. As veggies have the highest level of fiber, it’s really important to incorporate them as part of our daily diet. Have a salad for lunch or steam some veggies for dinner but make sure at some point in the day, you DO get veggies. The below are 5 of the veggies with the highest fiber and the great thing, you can actually have them all in one serving if you chuck them into a salad
1.       Peas
2.       Potatoes
3.       Brussel Sprouts (steamed)
4.       Parsnips
5.       Baby Spinach (love this as the base in my salad!)
I love to add broccoli to my salad as well which is also really healthy!

Whole Grains

To eat more whole grains, substitute a whole-grain product for a refined product – such as eating whole-wheat bread instead of white bread or brown rice instead of white rice. It’s important to substitute the whole-grain product for the refined one, rather than adding the whole-grain product.
ü  brown rice
ü  buckwheat
ü  bulgur
ü  millet
ü  oatmeal
ü  quinoa
ü  rolled oats
ü  whole-grain barley
ü  whole-grain corn
ü  whole-grain sorghum
ü  whole-grain triticale
ü  whole oats
ü  whole rye
ü  whole wheat
ü  wild rice

Omega

Sardines, salmon, flax seeds and walnuts are excellent food sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Flax seeds can be added to oatmeal, walnuts and salmon to a salad and sardines to a sandwich so it’s really easy to get your dose of omega daily. Omega is really important as it helps to reduce inflammation in the body, lowers cholesterol and also reduces the risk of obesity.
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With that, I end my mid week post on clean eating and the kind of foods we should have in our diets on a daily basis to help us feel good naturally!

Sunday 2 December 2012

a healthy breakfast option

I've been thinking about different breakfast options cos every single day I eat the same thing for the breakfast, TOAST. I'm not sick of it anything but it would be nice to have something different once in awhile.

So off I went in the search of other options and went no further to my favorite chef, Jamie Oliver and got this! Sounds pretty awesome right?

Pullokka (or Bircher Muesli)

8 large handfuls of organic Scottish porridge oats
2 large handfuls of ground bran
1 handful of chopped dried apricots
1 handful of chopped dried dates
1 handful of crumbled walnuts
1 handful of smashed or chopped almonds, hazelnuts or Brazil nuts

Add your porridge oats and bran to your plastic container with the apricots and dates.  Add the walnuts and your other chosen nuts (I usually bash them up in a tea towel).  At this point feel free to improvise, adding any other preferred dried fruits like raisins, sultanas or figs - but personally I think my combination works pretty well.  This will keep for a good couple of months very happily in your airtight container, but you'll have eaten it by then, I guarantee

Making and knocking together -

milk to cover
1/2 a crunchy apple per person, washed and unpeeled

I would definitely try to make this the night or day before you want to eat it, although it can be made at the time) but you won't get the smooth silky scrumptious texture that the milk gives it overnight - I normally place double the amount of composed cereal I need (i.e. 4 portions for 2 people ) into a bowl.  Doubling up like this gives you enough to eat for the next couple of days.  Cover with milk, grate in around half an apple per person and stir immediately to stop the apple discolouring.  Place in the fridge.

Tucking in and eating -

half a banana per person peeled and sliced or squashed
honey to taste

Remove the bowl from the fridge.  You will find it has softened and thickened, so loosen with a little milk.  Add your banana sliced or squashed.  You will find that a lot of natural sweetness has come out of the dried fruit, so add honey to taste.  Serve in a bowl with a dollop of yoghurt and some mixed berries.

Reflections


It’s that time of the year when I sit back and reflect on the year. When I started this blog 4 months ago, I set about some goals here

These were the 4 things I wanted to do this year: 

1.       Start a blog
2.       Join a dance class
3.       Open a blog shop with my friend aka sister
4.       Take my driving lessons

And I’m proud to say that out of the 4, I am only left with one to complete. But it’s not something I’m DEAD set on either. I just don’t know if I want to do accessories or clothes so I’m putting that on hold for now. And I’ve seen people really struggle with it.
Which brings me to planning for next year. Next year, I want to buy a house. It’s a HUGE step but I think at 28 it’s something I want to invest in. Property is also the best form of investment in Singapore. It can only go up unlike stocks.
My next goal although simple is to try and clear all my instalments on my credit cards and cut up as many as I can. To be honest, I regret ever signing up for my first credit card which was the UBO ONE card. To hell with the points, the one time you pay late, all the points you’ve accumulated are the same amount as the fee. Funnily enough, my dad never had and to now doesn’t have a credit card. He always said what’s the point? You’re spending money you don’t have. Which is really true, I wonder why I didn’t follow his wise words?
That’s really about it for now. I haven’t thought of anything else. More might come to me though but I think these 2 are pretty big in themselves. Writing down your goals really help materialise them so come on guys! Pen down your goals for 2013, and I’m certain you’ll achieve them or at least some of them!