Visit to The Sinseh

I sprained my left index finger last thursday and only went to my old trusted sinseh on saturday to get it tended to. As usual I am better by 80% after one wrapping!

Whilst waiting my turn for my treatment, I overheard the conversation between my sinseh and another patient who went for treatment for her skin problem (snake?); she was told to further abstain from all seafood other than fish. No seafood until the rash is completely gone.

And to combat the current heat wave, try consuming green beans boiled with brown sugar (not the cafe type in sachet form!) but use the brown sugar like that served with putu mayam variety! no ginger, no sago seeds, no pandan leaf, JUST GREEN BEANS AND BROWN SUGAR! twice a week during a hot spell. At other times, avoid green beans as its too cooling especially for older folks!

And I was told that to get the best barley drink for medicinal value and effect: is to boil the barley in large pot of water until a rapid boil, turn heat to very low to continue a 4 hour simmer. Barley drink that had only been boiled for an hour is damaging for health so beware... do not consume barley drink in coffeeshops!

Meanwhile I am reading this delightful book:
The Te of Piglet! just love the adorable illustrations of the characters!

Mrs Robinson....

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)

We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files
We'd like to help you learn to help yourself
Look around you, all you see are sympathetic eyes
Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)

Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes
It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair
Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids

Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)

Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon
Going to the candidates debate
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Ev'ry way you look at it, you lose

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo)
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)

AND I FOUND IT AT: www.poemhunter.com

A Good Read and Gratin!

Anyone ever heard of the book and film "The Graduate" by Charles Webb?
Pic Above: In a still from the film 'The Graduate,' Dustin Hoffman, in character as Benjamin Braddock, kneels on a bed behind American actress Anne Bancroft in character as the seductive older woman Mrs. Robinson.

Well I picked up the sequel (40 years later) today from my visit to BookExcess this morning and finished it after dinner today! Full of angst!
Read: Amazon on Home School here and do read about the author here: The Post-Graduate Lifestyle of Charles WebbHome School at Amazon!

And I managed to partake a nice serving of Chicken Macaroni Gratin while at Amcorp mall:

p.s. (post script) No walkie for me today!

Lazy Thursday

No walks for me today - excuse? sprained my left hand... now whats that got to do with walking? Well, an excuse is an excuse!!

Anyway, stepped on the scales this morning and wootwoot 151lbs ~ another 2lbs gone! My target now is to get under 150 - say 148lbs - in two weeks! I know I know ~ 3lbs in two weeks is pretty low ~ but hey! I prefer to take things easy and would rather make sure that the lbs stay off (easier said than done though!).

Just for you to know ! Walk to Fight Disease ~ 5 More Reasons to Walk! Walk up to 30 minutes a day to prevent disease: Read all about it here ~ at Prevention!

17 minutes reduces depression symptoms 41%
17 minutes reduces colon cancer 31%
18 minutes reduces coronary heart disease 36%
21 minutes reduces stroke 43%
30 minutes reduces type 2 diabetes 30%

Here are five suggested steps one should take for a healthier lifestyle.....

Step 1:
Detoxify Your BodyDetoxifying is very simple. It's the practice of cleaning harmful toxins out of your body. I tried detoxification years ago but have not done it this round.

Step 2:
Clean Your Colon It's amazing that we regularly take a shower, brush our teeth, and even change the oil in our car. But how often do we take the time to clean our colons? This is kind of embarrasing, but as soon I began my healthy colon cleansing regimen, I noticed immediate relief from constipation,no more gas or bloating, a reduction in excess weight and I felt lighter too. After few more weeks my fat stomach began to disappear, and my waistline started coming back. I make sure that my intake of roughage in form of cooked and raw vegetables and fruits exceeds my meat portions! and drink more water!

Step 3 - Drink More Water That's right. It's that simple. Most people don't drink enough water.And most people are also carrying around a few more pounds than they would be if they did drink enough water. If you can't seem to get that weight off, try drinking more water and you will begin to notice a radical difference. Drinking more water should increase our metabolism! I achieve this by drinking a concoction of 1 medium size cucumber thinly sliced; 4-5 limes sliced; a handful of mint leaves - tear into small pieces and a thumb size piece of fresh ginger ~ grated or finely chopped. Put all these ingredients into a 2L drink container ~ filled up with water and leave to infuse overnight in the fridge. Drink this throughout the next day! Yummy! I make this every other day if a daily basis is not possible. Hey! its just an excuse to get me to drink more water! and its important to have a glass of water first thing in the morning before anything else..

Step 4 - Walk More Often This is a no brainer. Everyone is very busy in this day and age, but the more exercise we can fit throughout of day, the better. Walking is a quick way to lose plenty of weight if you dont have alot of time. It conditions the body, and promotes a better lifestyle. Yup! Sure works for me!

Step 5 - Say NO to Snacks Everyone has their favorite snack. I know I did. But take it easy on the snacks throughout the day. How I achieve this? Since whenever possible I pack my food to work - I bring enough appropiate size containers (say 200ml or 250ml or 300ml or 350ml) for my lunch and if I dont have a container for any particular food I like.... I GO WITHOUT! i.e. unless I am at home ~ then I raid the fridge!

Excuse me now while I go and join my DH for an afternoon of Astro - hey! its my off day what!!

p.s. (not princess sophie) I walked 4~1km rounds on Mon, Tues and Weds! and in 45mins for Tues and Weds! Yippee!

Rainy Monday

DH left for his morning walk at 6.30am but returned 15mins later because of the heavy drizzle! And I was just about leaving for my own walk.... I was returning some stuff to my car and there was an old foldable umbrella in the bag which came in rather handy!

So I did my 4~1km rounds this morning with the aid of my trusty old umbrella! And in 50 mins! Last week I managed to walk only three mornings instead of the five I had targetted; so its one down and four more to go for this week! DH could not believe that I actually walked in the drizzle with an umbrella!!

DH made breakfast this morning ~ a small bowl of oats flavoured with ovaltine with a sliced restari banana, half a small seedless papaya and half a starfruit for me.

With DH away for the weekend.... I vegged out from Friday night and the whole of Saturday. While clicking away on Astro's remote control, chanced upon the Da Vinci Code which had just started.... ah well ... so I finally did both ~ read the book and saw the movie! There was a whole episode of Vanish without A Trace, reruns of Friends and Nanny.... And oh, caught Charlie Trotter's segment on how to make flavoured oils too ~ very interesting! Well that's about all I can remember from those two days of TV! And oh! there was a frenzy of housecleaning on Sunday morning and I did my weekend marketing too but managed to get most of my chores done before Diyana's arrival at 11am from Nilai; so you might guess that my Sunday started rather early! 7am!

Went out with my mother and my aunt Karen with Diyana for the whole of yesterday. My Aunt Karen had never been to Amcorp Mall on the weekends so thats where we were! Picked up two books at from the stalls at the lower ground floor: Jesus The Man and The Te of Piglet!

p.s. (not princess sophie!) ~ no bento today! and DH did bring back all the containers (except one piece ~ we are missing the bottom piece which must be in the car somewhere!).

p.p.s.: Went to a wedding banquet on Friday night and there was a glutinous rice dish served ~ why is it that its always glutinous rice in KL for wedding banquets and no rice dish at any of the wedding banquets I attended in Melaka?

p.p.p.s! Came home with ONE small plastic bag on Sunday from the market ~ I bought nasi lemak from a stall near the market ~ with chicken rendang and sambal sotong ~ delish! They came wrapped in banana leaf on wax paper and put in that darn plastic bag!

Bento #57

No exercise this morning but I was busy from 7.15am... giving DH a mud pack for his hair, fixing breakfast and 1st ever bento for him!

Aiyaks! Its just left over stew from last night! I gave him a shaped rice ball garnished with something I bought from 100yen shop previously (dont know what it is - everything written in Japanese! but has a picture of a fish on the package), cut tomato and steamed brocolli. He also brought along two whole boiled sweet corn without salt and butter, a box each of chilled papaya and mango ~ I forgot to snap pictures of these before leaving the apartment this morning. All this for his trip to Melaka.

Hope he enjoys his first bento and remembers to bring every thing (oops! I meant all the containers!) back to KL!

Another day...

I walked 4~1km rounds in 48 mins! I am aiming for 5 days of walks this week. Breakfast was 2 slices of wholemeal bread toasted smeared with canola spread, marmalade and sliced bananas; half a mug of ovaltine, small slice of seedless papaya, a plum and half an apple.

Above pic: my liquid salad! A medium size cucumber thinly sliced, a handful of mint leaves (tear into pieces), a large ripe lime thinly sliced and a thumb size piece of fresh ginger, grated. Put all ingredients into a swanking new 2L water container, add 8.5 cups of cooled boiled filtered water or in this case filled up to the top! Leave overnight in the fridge to infuse and drink throughout the day.

This 2L container is from 100Yen shop and its absolutely water tight! A good purchase for a mere RM4.90!

p.s. Drink this concoction for 4 days in a row, suppose to flatten your tummy!

Snow Ice, Books and Exercise

Lets see, I walked Thursday and Friday last week doing 5~1km and 4~1km rounds respectively in 61 and 52mins.... no improvement! But I did clocked in a total of 5 days worth of exercise for the week! Saturday and Sunday were spent in Melaka, par took two wedding feasts ~ but hey not much carbs as there were no rice dish at both functions (was the high cost of rice grain the reason?) and was told that I had lost some weight! yippee!

This week, I walked on Monday and Wednesday (Tuesday ~ I did marketing for fresh produce and no new plastic bags!) - 4~1km rounds on both mornings at more or less the same time/duration.

I had some time to spare today in the morning before my early afternoon appointments in Bukit Damansara area, so spent some time reading and enjoying a Passion fruit and nuts snow ice at Taman Pertama 100yen outlet.

Started on Joss and Gold by Shirley Geok-lin Lim today and am already on page 182 of a 306 pg book. This is my second book of Ms Lim. A couple of years back I read "Among the White Moon Faces: Memoirs of a Nyonya Feminist" which I enjoyed.
Below: yet another of Ms Shirley GL Lim's books:
Below: A book by Ms Lim, Suchen Christine Lim that is!

The Pink Sisterhood

Thanks Sharon for sharing this tag with me!

And to all my fellow bloggers who read this message, please feel free to grab this tag, help spreading the breast cancer awareness. Thank you!

This one is all about breast cancer, which everyone knows is one of the most life-threatening diseases today. I’m doing my part in spreading awareness on breast cancer by sharing some scary yet so very true facts on breast cancer. Ladies, do take note!

* One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime.

* Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.

* Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.

* Seventy-seven percent of women with breast cancer are over 50.

* Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.

* Risks for breast cancer include a family history, atypical hyperplasia, early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), current use or use in the last ten years of oral contraceptives, and daily consumption of alcohol.

* Early detection of breast cancer, through monthly breast self-exam and particularly yearly mammography after age 40, offers the best chance for survival.

Above facts taken from Women’s Health Organisation Forum.

And now here is the tag and the rules:
1. Put the logo in your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who shared it with you.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

Now my turn to tag…

Ms Puzzles
Stargal Sue
Molly
Diyana
Chet
Nasi Lemak Lover aka Sonia
BeskotKeras

What I Want For Christmas Is....

To All 100Yen and Daiso fans: DO VISIT HERE!

Bento #55 & #56 and etc etc

Last week I walked only on Monday finishing 5 1km rounds in 58mins and thats probably why the numbers on the scale went up! Sigh!

This week I am off to a great start!

Monday: 4 - 1km rounds in 50 mins,
Tuesday: 5 - 1km rounds in 58 mins
Today: 4 - 1km rounds in 50 mins!

This rice wine chicken with mee suah soup was one of the many lunches I had with mother.

Had lunch with Chet today (to make up for the horrid traffic of our Friday-lunch-at-Silverfishbooks!) I packed bentos for her and myself and we ate at Damansara Utama's 100Yen shop! Do you like my black 3-tier bento box?

Above pic: Bento #55 ~ sushi and maki and strawberry snow ice for me and Chet had Peanut snow ice! (I bought that red bowl for my ice!)

Pic above: Bento #56 - yong tou foo for both of us!

Pic above: a multi purpose screwdriver set I bought from 100Yen Tmn Pertama
Pic above: A post card from a young Malaysian-Bookcrosser who is currently studying in Hong Kong. Aint that sweet of her to think of me! Thanks for staying in touch with me, Criminologeek!

Currently reading Ernest Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises" and also looking at his last novel "True At First Light".

Finished Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and just to inform you ~ I had wept towards the end! This book is now in the hands of Molly! Enjoy!

Please also read 100Yen Shop @ Damansara Utama

100Yen @ Damansara Utama

Pic above: ear digger!

Above: butter and jams

Up and down: coffee & tea

Anyone Here Looking to Join A Book Reading Group?

Betty, an old Bookcrossing member is starting a real life book reading group cos she despaired of ever finding any physical book groups around here, because what little book groups there are are usually filled with people who are more interested in socializing than in talking about books. They spend five minutes talking about books and then three hours talking about everything else under the sun!

If you are reader and has a genuine desire to be with other book lovers - have a go!

Here's what she is looking for in an ideal book group member: (from Betty's blog)

QUOTE:
1. Obviously, you must be a Klang Valley resident, unless you really don't mind travelling long distances once every month.

2. Able to meet one day/night a month. Betty is a busy person too, and it's just one day a month. If you are truly interested in this, once a month shouldn't be too hard to arrange. Of course, occasionally things come up, she will understand, but you should be able to be there the majority of the time.

3. Outgoing members should be able to share and discuss without dominating the whole discussion and not giving others a chance to have their say. Shy members need to speak up and realize they have valuable opinions as well.

4. Able to share their opinions openly while being respectful of others' opinions. No one should feel unable to share their thoughts in the fear that someone else may ridicule them or react in any non-constructive negative way.

5. Open-minded and adventurous in our reading selection and discussions. Betty wants to be open to all genres of books that could be great reads and thought-provoking books, including non-fiction once in a while.

6. Willing to expand the boundaries of their own thoughts and explore other ideas and ways of thinking.

8. Genuinely interested in stimulating conversation and intellectual growth through reading and book discussions

So... if you're genuinely interested in joining this book group, please send me an email at bettysbooks@gmail.com with some details about yourself, like your:

Name:
Age:
Gender:
Some of your favorite books:
Genres you read:
And please tell me a little about;
Why do you want to join this group?
What do you think you can contribute to this group?
What do you want to get out of this group?
Name one book which changed/affected you deeply, why and how did it affect you?

I'm really looking forward to making this book group a reality and a success. I'm sure there are at least nine other people in the whole of Klang Valley who must be interested in a proper book group as well. Please do email me if you're interested, or forward this to your book-loving friends if you're not.

Thanks to all!
Happy Reading!
UNQUOTE:

More Makan2 and Other Good Stuff

I remember having a pleasant kedongdong drink and good charkuehteow recently so made a return visit to this old coffeeshop opposite the Carrefour at Jalan Peel. I think the name of this shop is Queen's Avenue or something...

A freshly blended kedongdong (AMBULA) juice with sour kana and my current reading material: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Char Kueh Teow with fresh medium size prawns, lots of cockles, fish cakes and bean sprouts served on top of a banana leaf!

My first piece of the James Bond car series!

Recent 100Yen purchases:

(Above) Fig jam and (Below) I wonder if it is what I think it is!

~ ** ~

The pictures below are of some interesting DIY and household hardware available at 100Yen Shop at Taman Pertama from a recent visit!