Orion Custard Cakes!!!

I’m addicted to the custard cakes from Orion!!  They are soft, yummy and the custard is not too sweet!  I could eat 2-3 small packs consecutively everytime I lay my hands on this wonderful “snack”.   It’s pretty light and goes well with coffee or tea.  I found them at the local supermarket one day and have been getting it every week cos I finish them within 2-3 days.  Even though they are pre-packed in the boxes, they are quite fresh and the date of manufacture(DOM) was in mid April when I first bought in early May.  It’s not like some other biscuits/cakes I saw where the DOM is last year.   I tried the Tiramisu version but unfortunately, it’s not as nice.  Haven’t gotten a chance to try out the strawberry pie though.  I’m quite happy with this custard cake and it’s enough for me.

Look at the generous serving of custard cream inside. It’s enough for each bite you take.

With calcium too!!

Everywhere, every shop I go to is selling tunic dresses.  I can’t seem to find a dress that fits to the body curve nowadays.  You know, the kind of dress that tapers to your waist nicely, hiding the hideous fats and showing off your best assets? Just cannot find them anywhere.  I guess alteration and tailoring is the only way to get what I want.  There were so many times when certain parts of the dress doesn’t fit e.g. too tight at the hips(ok I got big hips) or the sleeveholes were too tight or the shoulder width got problem.  This goes to the same for shirts as well.  It’s sooooo frustrating to get one that fits cos my hands are long and I end up looking like some samseng auntie with the sleeve ending just at my wrist everytime.  But I cannot get a bigger size or the shoulder woould be too big.  I was most happy to do my tailoring in Shanghai cos they have all the textiles for you to choose from and you can get them to do whatever design you want.  Most important of all is that they fit and cost less than half the price of a normal shirt here! Of course their cloth might not be of the best quality but you can just throw them after 5-6 washes and make a new one again. Sadly I don’t think I will be going Shanghai again in the near future.

好珍贵的一首“明日歌”

明日复明日，
明日何其多！
我生待明日，
万事成蹉跎。

世人苦被明日累，
春去秋来老将至。
朝看水东流，
暮看日西坠。
百年明日能几何？
请君听我《明日歌》

原来早在小六学习高级华文的时候，周老师就教了我一个关于时间的概念。那时候还年少无知，只知道把学习搞好久没问题。在那两年所上的高级华文课，就唯这首《明日歌》给我留下最深刻的印象。这是天意吗？我们还能拥有几个明天？？谁也不知道。。现在回想起这首诗也好怀念当时无忧无碌的生活。

最近眼泪线好像比较活跃。应该是看了太多影响情绪的画面和照片，再加上之前还看了一公升眼泪就更糟糕。

I got my Wii Fit!!!!!!!

Wow! I got my Wii Fit today!! A nice ex-colleague helped me to buy when he was buying and I went to collect it form him this evening. I couldn’t wait to try out this new fitness station when I reached home as I opened up the box like a little kid opening up a birthday present. Let me just do a quick review of my first impression of it.

The set-up was relatively easy though there was a lot of talking and instructions. You basically go through the BMI measuring index and some balancing tests to determine your Wii Fit Age. Would they integrate this with your Wii Sports age in future? This I have no idea but My Wii Fit age is a freaking 40!!! My Wii Sports age is 28, just 1 yr older than myself. I think Nintendo has really changed the gaming world with Wii. It’s like having a mini arcade at home. You no longer use the standard console and just hit the buttons away. With Wii Fit, you move different parts of your body for the various exercises. Ok, moving on to the exercises, there’s a variety of them to choose from the 4 basic categories(Strength, Yoga, Balancing and Areobics) including running on the spot too! I tried going through all 4 categories and while some were easy,others like Strength Training was pretty tough(maybe cos I can’t do any pushups). You will unlock the games as you earn your credits. Wii Fit has also placed quite a bit of emphasis on maintaining balance and the center of your body. You’ll see how the center of your body moved after the exercise itself as u swayed to maintain your posture. While I’m not too sure if this would improve your posture in the long run, it would at least raise some awareness about your own body.

I think they should put in a reminder to ask people to take a drink at certain intervals of their exercises. I did perspire after 30 mins of strength training and yoga. Another thing was whether certain exercises would require you to close the gap between your feet or to stand with a shoulder-width apart stance. This would affect your balance and subsequently the readings too. It’s better to do the running on your spot with shoes too btw. For people who does yoga regularly the use of Wii Fit could be a little uncomfortable cos our normal stance is on a flat ground and for this you’ll have to step up to the “console” for certain poses like the Warrior. In fact when I got my niece to take over one exercise, they could detect the difference in weight! We’ll see how this goes in future.  So there’s pretty much my first impression of this machine. Very interesting and fun indeed.  While I’m don’t know if you can see if you can see any effects in the long run,  I’m sure it’s better than not doing anything.  At least it gets your butt moving with all the balancing going on.

I hope that there’s will be more games coming up to complement Wii Fit.

Here’s part of a more detailed review I found here:

“For the next hour I submit myself to a series of sometimes gruelling, sometimes exciting, often humiliating exertions. I try some skiing, first slalom, then a jump. Neither is successful. I turn into a ball and try to roll myself down a hole. I endeavour to keep one hula hoop in motion while attempting to catch others. It’s all about minute transfers of weight, rhythm, fluidity of the pelvis, such as dancing, essentially.I could feel my abdominal muscles taking the strain, so presumably it was doing some good. Improving core strength and stability is the order of the day. Nintendo is to ask Liverpool John Moores University to research the effects of Wii Fit, but anecdotally, I can confirm that you have to make an effort. Not as you would lifting weights or running, but similar to a beginners’ Pilates class, or some semi-serious stretching.I try walking a tightrope between skyscrapers
“How did I do?” I ask Sophie. “Well, your Mii just fell to his knees crying, so not good,” she replies. We move on to heading a football, where you have to bend and lean on the balance board to connect with incoming footballs. Occasionally, in a nod to Sir Alex Ferguson’s motivational techniques, a boot rather than a ball will smack you in the face unless you dodge it. My heading wasn’t bad. Then I try walking a tightrope slung between two skyscrapers and came back to earth with a bump. Yoga is next and I’m not bad at standing on one leg.

Finally, we arrive at the macho stuff, thigh bends, press-ups, stuff that requires brute strength rather than any finesse. I need a score and I get one: four stars out of four, polite oriental applause from the tutor. “Well done,” says Sophie as I collapse red-faced into an armchair.

That final discipline was properly difficult. Why not just do the press-ups on their own, without all the electronic wizardry? One answer is that the Wii provides a range of stats, personal targets, graphs and the like, which are a good incentive to keep going once the initial enthusiasm has worn off. Mostly though, all this wizardry simply makes mucking around making a chump of yourself even more fun than it is already, which is fine by me.”

EDIT: The Wii Fit does remind people to drink water and take break at intervals.  I had simply seen that reminder during my first session.

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Wii Fit

I wanna get the Wii Fit!!!!!

For strength training, the exercises basically help you to tone up your muscles while aerobics has things like hula hoops and step games. Of course for yoga, you have to strike all the different poses. Balancing games would include skiing and soccer activities.

Wii Fit can even calculate your BMI man. That means it has an inbuilt weighing scale?!?! But I’ve read in forums that the readings are not accurate for kids. But you can compete within your family members on weight loss results I guess.

I’m waiting for this to be available in Singapore. It’s bout 90USD so it shouldn’t be too ex after shipping. I’m not going to be ripped off by those local game retailers again.

Apple Cider Vinegar

I started drinking apple cider vinegar about 2-3 years ago after a few friends and relatives recommended it to me.  At first I couldn’t tolerate the taste of this.  The vinegar was sour and on top of that it had a smell too.  So I added it into grapefruit juice.  The taste was gone since grapefruit juice was already sour itself and the smell could be masked off.  The proportions would be 1-2 tablespoons for a big cup of juice.  You are free to add more but I won’t recommend it especially if you have gastric problems.  i’ve moved to mixing it with only water after getting used to the smell and taste.  Some pple add it with honey but I don’t want to introduce more sugar into my diet.

Alternatively, I’ve heard friends who put apple cider vinegar into soups like tom yam as well.  I haven’t tried it before so I’ve got no comments but it sounds good.  I suppose you could add it to your salad dressing too before the olive oil and give it a good toss.  Add more of those vegs to mask off the vinegar taste.

I stopped about a year ago cos I was lazy but I’ve restarted my regime again, drinking twice a day, in the morning and evening.  I’II gurgle my mouth and drink plain water afterwards to clear off the dry feeling I get and since it’s acidic.  Apple cider vinegar is supposed to regulate your weight and promote digestion.  I’ve realised my bowels move more regularly than last time.  There are many claims as to the benefits of this solution but I’m not quite taken in.  These claims range from reducing bad cholesterol, regulating blood pressure, relieving headaches to even helping one maintain better skin and a youthful appearance!!!  Eh.. I think as long as I won’t die drinking from it, should be no harm..hahaha

If you’re thinking of getting one bottle, remember to get the organic kind which has got a brownish tinge to it.  You should see the residue of the fermented apple settling at the bottom of the bottle.

Fishes at Bedok Reservoir again

Ok… This place is already my usual hunt liao. Was doing my usual round and stopped by the fishing platforms to do my stretching instead of doing it on the gravel pavements. There is a new bigger platform on the other side of the reservoir and I could already see some people casting theiir baits even though it wasn’t exactly open to the public yet. There were still cordoned off areas but I guess it was pretty safe to go in cos all of the constructions are completed. Anyway I was at the platform nearer to the traffic junction and this time round I was lucky enough to see so many fishes! There were 2 cat fish hiding in the stones, lazing around. Next, I actually saw a school of fishes(not many lah, about 5-6) swimming right in front of me! Obviously they hadn’t taken the bite on the few fishing rods around(yet). This was a testimonial of how “livable” is the water conditions right? If so many creatures can survive in this condition, I’ve got no doubts that the water has a certain quality. Ok, of course it’s not suitable for drinking yet lah.. but at least it’s not those kind of murky waters cos it forms part of our treated water consumption too. The only thing that bugs me was the use of speed boats for the wake-boarders. I would have preferred that the waters would be left alone. There’s kayaking, dragonboating too but they don’t produce pollutants into the water. But then again, well the water comes form our canals and drains too so there would have been worse stuff…hahah. Anyway it’s the first time I see so many fishes at one time, so if you’re a keen fisher, u can go try ur luck. Afterall, there’s quite a fair number of fishing enthus there too so it can’t be that bad.

Random picture of Wanton noodles for breakfast. It was full of ghee taste and a bit salty but still acceptable lah. Cannot hiam for $2.00.

Yes, the plates and bowls in my house all look like that. Not pretty? Usable can liao lah…

Internet Browsers

I don’t understand why there are still people using IE.  It is so user-unfriendly.  Just looking at its interface make me giddy.  The refresh and stop buttons are located at the end of the address bar away from the forward and back button for what?!  They should be placed together since they concern the pages itself. Right now I’m using Opera and I love it.  They have convenient shortcuts which you can execute by moving mouse physically in different directions.  Here’s a list of shortcuts. These shortcuts are so cool and I don’t have to move the mouse all over to get to the button I want.

Not only that, they allow you to remember the websites you have been in your last session and allows you to have the option of all these pages when you start Opera again the next day.  It feels as if it’s faster too though I can’t verify that.  Actually, I had stopped using IE for a long time due to its security risks and was using the Mozilla instead until an ex-colleague introduced this to me.  I had some issues in installing Mozilla in my new computer and switched to Opera and I have never looked back since.  But there are still some sites which do not function properly in this browser so I fall back to my good old Mozilla(which is working now after some updates…) for these sites.  I think I must have gotten use to Opera’s ultra-friendly and customizable interface.  So if you’re STILL using IE, do check out Mozilla or Opera for a switch.    If you have a Wii, you should know that Opera’s the internet browser for this machine:)

i think I just like to go for the underdogs.  Haahaha…. just like how Starbucks is growing so popular that I’ve switched to Gloria Jeans and I’m on the lookout now for other sports wear brand(excluding Nike) cos Addidas stuff is getting a tad fanciful(and commerialised).

Healthy Yoghurt Snack

Been starting to eat yoghurt recently but I only bought those plain or low-fat ones.  Why i don’t buy those with fruits prepared is cos they taste sweeter.  I will add different types of dried fruits into the yoghurt such as cranberry, apricots, raisins and sunflower seeds.  It’s a nutty and crunch mix which taste very good!! But before eating, I will place the yoghurt into the freezer for 2-3 hours for it to turn into “ice-cream”.  Hee… it’s really like eating gelato!! It’s healthy and quite filling too so you won’t go eat some other chips/snacks.

Translation of One litre of tears

I have started the translation from the Chinese version into English for one litre of tears.  You can find it here.

I will put it up on my sidebar too.