Today was cardio day (I’ve been doing cardio on alternate days). By 7 am I was out and jogging despite the drizzle. It was a slow-paced 8 km run with many walking breaks in between. Weather was nice and cooling.

Breakfast has been more or less similar to the above (sans the scones) on most days — 2 eggs + a slice of cheese — which takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. Sometimes I will add in a protein smoothie.

It’s been raining the whole day today. I stepped into a puddle of water on my way to work, thinking that it was a shallow one, and my shoes and socks got wet — yike. Luckily it wasn’t muddy water!

On the way to work

Last Thursday I did some Christmas Shopping. I spent 3 hours at a neighborhood shopping mall but only managed to get 1 present — I can never make up my mind when it comes to choosing a gift for someone else.

I went to the city a.k.a Orchard Road the next day for more Christmas shopping

I managed to get all Christmas presents there and I’m glad I’m done with this shopping thing! I’m not a fan of shopping much less being in crowded places (especially on rainy days).

Our Christmas tree is looking less ‘naked’ now that the gifts are there … *taken with my android — video quality isn’t so good*… hmmm I should have played some Christmas music ..

By the way, before mum left Singapore, we went to Orchard Road to see the Christmas lights

Claire was  happy to see snowman

Acrobatic street performers (two very young kids) along Orchard Road

Going to prep dinner now

Everyday Mikey will ‘meow’  for food and I like to tease him by just feeding him with one  pellet at a time. See video.

I leave you with some random pics taken with my new Android phone — Samsung Galaxy S2 (which I’m loving). Downloaded a camera app this afternoon and tested some of the photo effects.

– At home watching TV –

– Bee Hoon –

– Mum reading recipe books –

– Lunch which consisted of bee hoon (same as above pic) and topped with a microwaved egg –

Off to sleep now. Goodnight!

–Banana pumpkin bread–

Texture-wise, it is less dense than the GF chocolate chip pumpkin bread. I think it is because of the type of GF flour used (Bob’s Red Mill GF flour) and also I didn’t use much pumpkin puree this time. I probably shouldn’t mention “banana” in the title as you can hardly taste the banana.

For breakfast this morning, I had one slice alongside 2 scrambled eggs (topped with nutritional yeast) and a glass of milk

Lunch was very similar to yesterday — Chicken burger + mixed greens topped with mustard sauce + lentil

Yesterday dinner was at sis’ place and mum made “Daube de poisson”.  This pix from last week … playing with my niece

And singing too … Video from last week. Skip to 1:50 if you want to see the sweeeeet ending :P

Gluten Free Banana Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients (makes 10 slices)

• 1 3/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose gluten-free flour
•  2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (you could toast the nuts lightly if you want)
• 2 tbsp canola oil (optional)
• 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 big banana)
• 1 cup Libby’s pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, mashed bananas, pumpkin puree
3. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, dried raisins and walnuts
4. Combine both the wet and dry ingredients together without over mixing
5. Transfer to loaf pan
6. Bake for 1 hour
7. Let cool completely before slicing (best if  sliced the next day)

Makes 10 slices. Approx nutrition facts per slice

***

Here’s a recap of my birthday celebration. Warning: Heavy pictures ahead.

Part I: First, on Thursday, we attended CODE:EDGE Dance Charity Gala Dinner at Raffles Town Club.

I tried to do a waterfall braid hairstyle (I followed this video) on my own hair that night. Didn’t quite get it right because my bangs are still too short and the top part of my hair is too smooth. I had to use some styling gel to hold the braid a little. By the way, I’ve been making my own hair conditioner using honey and olive oil. More on that in another post!

Yeah we have a a few water guns at home haha

Don’t have pictures to show you how yummy the food was.  I don’t photograph food when I’m around many people

The room

Throughout the WHOLE night we were entertained by dance performances. There were hip hop, break dance etc. performed by various schools in Singapore.

End of the gala dinner

After  dinner was over, they brought a birthday cake for me :)

With the husb

***

Part II of my birthday celebration happened yesterday. This time, it was among my dearest famille.

Dinner was almost very primal. We had spinach-cheese stuffed rolled chicken (get the recipe) and curry crab prepared by moi. Sis made a salmon-cod fish pie, bro brought chicken drumlets and pork ribs and the husband bought some roasted chicken from the coffee shops. Such a protein meat-feast night!  Lots of chicken consumed that night.

Sis baked blueberry muffins and brought some for us

My birthday cake was a ‘Chocolat Amer” from Bakerzin — we finished the whole cake the very same night! Something that rarely happens among us :P

Time to blow the two very christmas-y candles

[The way my niece is looking at the cake is so cute]

That night, we played a few Xbox Kinect games — from dancing to bowling to beach volley

Although I had a good time, I couldn’t not think about certain things …

My niece (who recently turned 2) also kept herself busy with her “La caze zouzou” .. I keep a cooking set at my place so that when she comes over, she can play with them

I also showed her my big exercise ball and she wanted to carry it hehe

She was also happily running around

My family means the world to me. They have been there for me through thick and thin and I’m forever thankful to have them.

Back to work tomorrow … enjoy the last bit of your Sunday!

About 2 weeks ago,  iHerb sent me a package. I was pretty excited (and  surprised) when “A” emailed me as  I’ve never received anything for free over the internet . And it’s not like I had to review anything in return. I have purchased things from iHerb a couple of times and my most recent purchase actually arrived today. However, because I wasn’t at home at the time of delivery, I have to go to the post office and collect it myself tomorrow.

So yesterday two days ago, I went to collect my free package — it took almost two weeks to reach me as I believe it was due to the two recent non-working days (public holidays) over here. Ah well, it came just in time for my birthday :)

I thought  of showing you the freebies via a vlog – you don’t see me in this video though. My cat was acting funny  too and I wanted to video him  hehe. So check out this video.

If you can’t view the video, here’s what I received.

1. Bob’s Red Mill, Organic Coconut Flour, Gluten Free, 16 oz (1 lb) 453 g
2. Kashi, TLC, Tasty Little Crunchies, All Natural Crunchy Granola Bars, Pumpkin Spice Flax, 6 Bars (1.4 oz Each)
3. Now Foods, Certified Organic, Agave Nectar, Amber, 17 oz (482 g)
4. Free iHerb pen
5. Sample product to try

I’ve seen Bob’s Red Mill coconut flour and Agave Nectare (different brands) at Cold Storage / Marketplace and at organic shops but I have never tried any of them before. Can’t wait to try all these products. I’m already thinking about making coconut muffins or add the coconut flour to my 5-minute breakfast cakes.

I’ll leave you with this picture of my cat

I think Mikey has found some Tuna inside …  kidding of course :D

***

Last night we attended a dinner and tomorrow my family is celebrating my birthday at home. So I will blog about both the day after. I’m gonna make stuffed rolled chicken and THE HUSBAND is gonna make curry crab!! <– can you believe, the last time he cooked for us was donkey years ago!!

Have a great weekend!

Mikey vs Optimus Prime haha

Mikey was definitely scared of this giant. He’s hiding. See?

***

I blackened some chicken drumsticks today

For lunch I made a beetroot lentil quinoa salad for myself — he doesn’t eat beetroot (he calls it ‘alien food‘ haa). I’ve never cooked lentils / quinoa in the microwave. I tried doing it today and it worked perfectly. Seemed more convenient too as there was no need to wash the saucepan afterwards.

Topped with hard boiled eggs

I used (for 2 servings)

• 1/4 cup dried lentils
• 1/8 cup dried quinoa
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1 medium beetroot, boiled and sliced
• 2 tbsp vinegar
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

Cook the lentils and quinoa together. Once ready, toss everything together in a medium bowl. Serve warm.

Say hello to my cat :) He  has done more damage to the carpet (which used to be this new) than I did. He loves to scratch it.

We have this kettlebell at home which we seldom use … Kettlebell exercises are pretty popular these days especially in CrossFit workouts <– I’ve never tried CrossFit btw.

The treadmill is still in our bedroom! Haven’t moved it back into this room yet …

***

No time to train? Try this 10 minute cardio workout by Tony Horton. 10 is better than 0.

* Enjoy while it’s still available on YouTube :) — not uploaded by me.

This is the full 22 minute of Insanity Fast and Furious. Note: Don’t try if you have not exercised in a while.

Breakfast was blueberry buckwheat pancakes. They look nice but tasted a little weird. I ended up eating the blueberries only.

We went to China Square Central at China Town for a late lunch.

We eat there almost every weekend.

We always order Prawn Noodle

And “Chinese Rojak” — century eggs are all his as I don’t like their taste

We met sis and niece afterwards

Claire has grown up!

Sunday movie night … we watched Captain America, another superhero movie.

So I’m now following another Beachbody programme called ChaLean Extreme. ChaLean Extreme programme is a 90-day programme. It is broken down into three months or three phases: Burn, Push, and Lean phases. There’s also a Lean For Life phase. The programme is designed so that anyone can do these exercises.

Burn Phase: To get your metabolism going by lifting weights. To fail in 10-12 reps. You work both upper and lower body in combo exercises.
Push Phase:  To lift heavy in order to build the muscle that is critical to burn fat. You will be pushing your muscles beyond their comfort zone, and try to fail between 6-8 reps. You will be training one body part at a time for maximum strength building.
Lean Phase: Combines upper and lower body work with core work. The claim is the Lean Phase is where dramatic fat loss is witnessed.
Lean For Life:  This is the phase that shows you how to keep it up after you have worked so hard during phase 1-2 and 3.

A typical week in the Burn Phase looks like this:

Day 1 – Burn Circuit 1 (weights)
Day 2 – Rest
Day 3 – Burn Circuit 2 (weights)
Day 4 – Burn Intervals & Ab Burner (light weights  with lots of reps for “muscle endurance”)
Day 5 – Burn Circuit 3 (weights)
Day 6 – Burn it Off! & Recharge (cardio/strength, no weights)
Day 7 – Rest

You repeat this 7 day circuit for 4 weeks and then you go the other phases, but they follow the same pattern.

I’m still in the first phase. I’ve  completed week 1 and I’m now into week 2 (rested for two days following my surgery). So far I’m enjoying her workouts. On her non-lifting days, I follow her cardio workouts and add my own sometimes (Insanity, P90x Plyo, P90x Ab ripper, Jillian, Jackie, YouTube Fitness videos etc). Her lifting sessions are about 35 minutes which is enough — In phase 1, the key is to lift heavy and have muscle failure by the 10th to 12th rep of each exercise.

Anyway … today I did the “Burn Intervals & Ab Burner” workout. I initially planned to skip it and train at the stadium instead (I had planned an interesting track workout days ago)  but unfortunately my friend couldn’t make it to the stadium today. So I skipped track and proceeded with ChaLean’s Burn Intervals.

***

Lunch was a big bowl of warm salad = beets + broccoli + boiled eggs + almonds + lemon vinaigrette

And one of these  banana buckwheat muffins

Off to a ride now … Have a nice Saturday!

Visited the hairdresser for a haircut — she trimmed the ends as well as my fringes.

Kite Festival

Dropped by the supermarket and got these. The dragon fruit was going for $1 a whole piece! I’m using the husband’s camera to shoot these.

Made myself a sandwich — 1/2 an avocado with a block of stir-fried tofu and 1/2 of the dragon fruit.

Finishing my “Come Buy” (<— funny name hehehe, first time trying this) bubble tea now. I got a large one … will stick to the small one next time!

Bubble Tea craze is back. I’m not addicted to it but sometimes I just want one. I’ve tried “KOI” once and that was when there were less than 5 people in the queue (non peak hours maybe?). I’ve tried “Gong Cha” three times I think.  Love the tapioca  pearls. I usually order the plain milk green tea @ 30% sugar level. Bubble tea addicts out there, beware of the high sugar level and calorie content of these drinks hhee.

I just completed a sweaty plyometric workout this morning.  I’m currently (sorta) obsessed with YouTube Workout videos at the moment. There are so many out there and my favourites are those full-length ones.  Have you heard about P90X? It’s a 90 day fitness program developed by Tony Horton and Beachbody. The other day I came across some P90X full length (!) videos on YouTube and I downloaded the plyometric one.

It’s a 1 hr long workout, the moves are not as intense  as the Insanity that I previously completed (which is good in a way because you have enough time to recover your breathing and you don’t feel like giving up!) but you will still sweat a lot and feel tired after doing it. FYI, plyometric training boosts one’s explosive power, speed, cardiovascular health, flexibility, balance, and stamina.

Exercises during this workout include:

• Jump Squats
• Run-stance Squats
• Airborne Heisman
• Swing Kick
• Squat Reach Jump
• Run-stance Squat Switch Pick-up
• Double Airborne Heisman
• Circle Run, Jump Knee Tucks
• Mary Katherine Lunges
• Leapfrog Squats
• Twist Combo
• Rock Star Hop
• Gap Jump
• Squat Jacks
• Military March
• Run Squat 180 Jump Switch
• Lateral Leapfrog Squats
• Monster Truck Tires
• Hot Foot
• Pitch & Catch <– weird but it’s my least favourite!
• Jump Shot
• Football HeroYeah, all the moves involve the lower body.

Below is the full P90x Plyometrics video

After the P90X Plyometrics, I finished with this workout below. Planks! Lots and lots of planks! I didn’t use with weight much (it’s already hard without weight as I’m still working on strengthening my core). I’m liking this video. Be prepared to ‘burn’ your shoulders :)

Off to the stadium to learn some electronic stuffs..

I’ve linked to some YouTube videos in case you aren’t sure how to do those moves. You can use a dumbbell if you have one but most of the moves simply require your own bodyweight. Maybe one day I should do my own workout video! But I’m too shy haha.

HIIT Bodyweight Circuit – About 45 min of sweat if repeated 3 times

Set 1 (No rest between exercises):

• 15 Baby Burpees
• 10 Push Ups
• 50 Mountain Climbers

Rest 30 seconds

Set 2 (No rest between exercises):

• 15 Sumo Squat with Lateral Raise
• 30 High Knee Lift
• 20 Tricep Dips

Rest 30 seconds

Set 3 (No rest between exercises):

• 15 Tuck Jumps
• 32 Standing Side Oblique Raise (16 each side)
• 30 Lunges (15 on each leg)

Rest 30 seconds

Set 4 (No rest between exercises):

• 20 Bicep Curls using dumbbell or water bottle
• 20 Knee Tucks
• 20 Cobra Planks

Rest 30 seconds

Set 5 (No rest between exercises):

• 60 sec Front Plank (advance version – lift one leg up)
• 20 – 30 Side Plank with a twist (10 – 15 on each side)
• 20 Bicycle Crunch

Take a 1 min rest and repeat the whole circuit again between 2-3 times, depending on your fitness.  It takes about 12 – 15 min to complete 1 circuit.

Note: Always check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program.

***

Additional video: If you want to really activate your butt muscles, do this!!

He’s starting to lick himself excessively again! See the bald patch? :(

Today’s workout

Warm Up (Adapted from Insanity)

• 100 Jumping jacks
• 100 High Knee Lift
• 100 Butt Kicks
• 100 Switch Kicks
• 50 Squat Jumps

Workout:  One-On-One  with Jackie (workout segments in the video below)

 Post workout food: Egg and Cheese sandwich

And cucumber + pineapple salad

Our fridge is broken! Luckily it was pretty much empty!

Mikey is peeking at Toto, who seems to be quite at home already!

I am slowly introducing them to each other. Mikey of course is well aware that there’s another cat in the house.

Step1 — >step 2 — >step 3 — > step 4

Watch this video if you want to know what happened next!

Nothing much …  As Mikey comes closer, Toto makes a little cute sound. He seems a little scared of Mikey. Mikey seems curious. He also wags his tail which is usually a sign of some level of predatory indecision or conflict.  Sometimes he wags his tail when he is excited. Mikey doesn’t attack Toto … I think he is just bullying him or telling him that he’s the boss in this house! LOL.

Then, Mikey steps back and does this. He seems relaxed …

And Toto simply watches Mikey …

Managed to snap this as they were smelling each others face :)  Sorry for the blurriness … bad lighting

Here’s a last video of the two