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Friday 28 September 2012

Positively Random Friday: 5 things Happy People Do

It's Friday again! I love Fridays so that I can have a long sleep-in on the weekend and going for my weekly long run on Sundays. Aside from that, I might have a chance to tackle one of the many ambitious recipes on my to-do list which I am usually to lazy to get to.

One of the many things that I am very happy with at the moment is that I have finally bought a Garmin Forerunner 410 that I have been hesitating for far too long. I always spend all my money on food and Lululemon clothes that I my 'fitness' fund is empty. But after a few agonising misfortune with Runkeeper and Runmeter I threw in the towel and vow to myself to buy a Garmin. So far I like it and it does give me an overall good GPS coverage except for my runs in the CBD on Thursdays. The same happened to Runmeter, the data are always wonky when I run in on the same route on Thursdays. It's also made my long runs more enjoyable because it constantly display the average pace I running and I get more even pacing with it. One of the biggest problem I have before was that I run too fast for a few kms and then too slow for the next few.



I love doing a positive Friday post because I try to infuse some happy genes before the weekend starts and it's always a good idea to be happy and here is an article that I found on MindGreenBody.com that I can't wait to share.


5 Things Happy People Do

All of us have the ability to be hard-hearted. Life brings pain and trauma, and our ability to love and be vulnerable becomes compromised. Physically, our upper spines round, our pecs become too tight, and metaphysically our heart chakras become imbalanced. So why are some people perpetuallyhappy and successful in life? They obviously have pitfalls and struggles too. Here are five tips to help you stay smiling.
1.  Happy people are resilient. 

Life knocks everyone down, but staying down only leads to misery. Have your day of wallowing and then get up, dust off, and try again.
2. Happy people are open. 

Being hurt makes you never want to feel pain again, but if you want to be happily successful in life you have to open yourself up to new opportunities—and the chance to get hurt again.
3. Happy people know sadness is temporary. 

Viewing the snowstorms—and occasional blizzards—that we all go through in life as showers before the sun shines is a must. Yoga teaches us balance. Call it yin and yang, light and dark, because whatever you choose the meaning is the same. Unfortunately, we all have to experience negativity in life. How you deal with it is where the true challenge lies.
4. Happy people choose to be happy. 

Here’s another thing my physical yoga practice teaches me—how I react to stress on my mat is a choice. I can be angry and frustrated or I can choose to lighten up and take it one breath at a time. Sometimes that’s all you can do in life off of your mat as well—smile, breathe and choose to see the world as a generally good place that occasionally flat-out stinks.
5. Happy people fake it. 

When I was waitressing, I had to put on a smile and be kind even if I just had a terrible fight or some other personal distress in my life. The way I looked at it was that for all I know, this could be someone’s special anniversary or birthday and who am I to spoil it when my job is to bring these people food and a good experience? That carried over into the realization that misery doesn’t have to love company, and that sometimes simply pretending to be happy makes you feel better. I’m not suggesting that you hide your feelings—I’m big on communication and sharing. What I am suggesting is simple—sometimes you have to fake it to make it.
Happiness doesn’t have to be some pie-in-the-sky dream that we only see in movies, but the thing is that we often have to work at it. We see these happy, successful people and assume that they are “born that way” or “lucky.” The reality, though, is that like most wonderful things in life, happiness is mindset that for many of us takes—wait for it—practice. Learning that we have the ability, more often than not, to deal with a situation in more than one way is liberating because it gives us some semblance of control over things that we have no control over. So when life hands you lemons, try making some kick-butt limoncello—and try choosing to be happy during the process. I think that’s step one.



And to finish off such a positive photo I'm sharing some of my favourite finds this week:



A friend posted a photo of these uber cute pups on Facebook and it just made my day.



Do you Chaturanga? I found this photo of me doing a side plank in yoga class last year and I find it so hilarious that I have to share it here. I look more like I was striking a side prawn pose. Yes, yoga makes me happy regardless how uncoordinated and silly I look when I am doing it. It calms my mind and body after a long day at work and amuse myself with the poses that I struggle and finally able to do it and most of all it allows give me 'me' time to just breathe deep and long to clear my mind. If you have not tried it out, there are free classes every Wednesday  evening at Lululemon Stores in Britomart and Ponsonby and you don't have to purchase or bring anything. Just pop over for a 60 minutes relaxation after work/study and you will love it. Again, I am not associated with Lululemon or benefited in any monetary ways. I just love the free yoga classes and their high quality clothing.


Are you running/ cycling/ swimming/ yoga-ing over the weekend?

Wearing pyjamas till mid noon on Sundays - love it or hate it?

Do you treat yourself on the weekend for your hardwork? What is it?

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Tuesday 25 September 2012

Steamboat dinner @ Golden Steamboat, Dominion Road

I went out for my Sunday long run in the cold blustery weather. And true to popular belief, it starts raining 5 minutes after you start and ends 5 minutes before you finish. I was a bit lucky because it was just drizzles but it was so cold and tiring to breathe in cold dry air. But I was pleasantly rewarded with the newly bloomed cherry blossom trees that lines part of my route. They are so pretty and I can't resist taking a photo. Can't wait for next week's run because I think there will be more flowers on these trees. 



I always treat myself to a good lunch/ dinner after a long run. It's my way of motivating myself to tell myself that I deserve a big meal if I've done the running. Which kinda explains why I am still so far away from achieving Jillian Michael's fab ab. Bet she only feed on protein shakes, lean meat and salads. It was a very cold spring night and I was craving for spicy hot soup so we decided on going to Golden Steamboat on Dominion Rd. It's just a few doors away from the very busy New Flavours. I have given up on going there before 10pm on weekends. Golden steamboat is upstairs of Love A Duck and it was really nice and quiet.



The restaurant is very clean and tidy. Good first impression.Every table has its own trolley to hold the food and tissues. Our waitress was very friendly and explained all the specials in the house and helped us choose our soup base. If you've never tried steamboat before you should. You choose a soup base and then the meats, seafood, vege and  condiments that you like. The menu is extensive
so there would be something for everyone. Steamboat is very popular during the cooler months and it's awesome when you can't decide what to eat but also good during summer because the heavy sweating will help cool you down. 


We ordered a half and half of fish soup and medium spicy. Both are very delicious. I prefer the spicy soup because it's so addictive. It looked very oily but once it starts boiling, the oil gets 'pushed' to the side of the pot and it's a lot better. I would order mild the next time. I can eat quite hot but the medium hot here gets a bit much halfway through the meal.

 I forgot to take the photo of our dried tofu salad and peanut and celery salad because they look so yummy. We have also ordered the house specialty sauce made with minced pork which is quite oily but we just scoop out the mince and it was really tasty albeit a little oily but you only need a small amount to flavour your food.



Our waitress recommended their gold kiwifruit juice which was really good to wash down the spicy food . A jug is only $6 ! What a steal considering the amount of work to skin all the prickly kiwifruit skin.


We paid $55 for two of us and we were really full and happy. We will definitely come back if we have a craving for a hot steamboat meal again. But next time we will come with friends so that we won't be so full and it's always fun to have steamboat with more people because it's a very interactive style of eating.



Golden Steamboat
551 Dominion Road (upstairs)
09-6388268

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Wednesday 19 September 2012

Easy Pandan Chiffon Cake



I love Pandan Chiffon cakes and I could eat them any time because they are so light and fluffy. I have never really desired to bake one because I can get them easily from a local Asian bakery but I found a recipe from Christine's Easy Chinese Recipe and it sounded easy enough and I have all the ingredients in my cupboard so I might as well give it a try. 

Christine's recipe calls for a 20cm angel cake pan but mine was 25cm and it came out a little flatter than hers but it was moist and good. The next time I will increase the eggs to 8 instead of 5 so that it will rise higher. I also did not make my own pandan juice as I have done this before and the results were not great and it's easier and better to use pandan paste. Also I have used lemon juice to substitute cream of tartar because I didn't have any.

The cake came out to be very light and not overly sweet, truly happy with the results and I will be making this more often in summer in other flavours : vanilla, lemon, orange. And I will also use more eggs because my cake pan is bigger than what was used in this recipe.



Prep time: 5 minutes
Bake time: 35-40 minutes


Ingredients of batter:
  • egg yolks
  • 20 gm caster sugar
  • 100 gm cake flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 100 ml coconut milk
  • a few drops pandan essence/pandan paste, optional
  • 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp of pandan paste
Ingredients of egg whites: 
  • egg whites
  • 60 gm caster sugar 
  • 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Below is the method copied from Christine's blog
  • Preheat oven to 170C (338F).
  • Beat the egg yolks with a balloon whisk and mix in 20 grams of sugar. Add coconut milk, pandan juice, and a few drops of pandan paste (if desired). Combine well.
  • Sift in cake flour and baking powder in three batches into the egg yolk mixture. Mix well. Lastly, add olive oil. Set aside.
  • Use a large clean bowl, making sure there’s no water or oil in it. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until bubbles form. Add the cream of tartar. After mixing well, add the 60 grams of sugar in three batches, about one-third at a time, and beat well between additions. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. (Note: please refer to this video “How To Beat Egg Whites”.)
  • Spoon out 1/3 of the beaten egg whites and fold into the egg mixture. Lightly fold in the rest of the beaten egg whites with a spatula, until just combined. (Note: please refer to this video "How To Fold-in Egg Whites.)
  • Pour into the cake pan and bake in preheated oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. After baking the first 15 minutes, if you find your cake gets browning, reduce heat to 150C(302F), continue to bake until cooked through. A needle comes out clean when inserted in the middle. 
  • Remove cake from the oven. invert the pan immediately. Allow it to cool completely.










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Friday 14 September 2012

Positively Random Friday

I used to do Positively Friday posts but decided that I should revamp it a little and make it "Positively Random Friday" post. Lets be honest, Friday is the day that you just want to finish work early and enjoy the well-deserved weekend. To celebrate a hard-earned Friday I am going to share some light-hearted randomness with all of you who care to read and maybe have a good laugh at my randomness.


On running - I have a sore ITB after going hard out on the treadmill during an interval training session. That was followed by a hard Tempo run session and of course it's not a surprise that my ITB is not happy. I think I was trying to run down a hill faster than I normally would and it's just a nice cocktail to make me start limping around this week. Therefore I was reduced to spinning on the bike instead of running on a treadmill last night. This is followed by lots of foam rolling to help stretch out the ITB. Just hoping that it will be ok again for me to run on tomorrow. Also, I have finally bought myself a Garmin 410. I have only used it for one run so far but will do a review soon. My current favorite track when I run is Dog Days Are Over from Florence + The Machine. I love this song so when I run. I love the this part the most :


"Run fast for your mother and fast for your father

Run for your children for your sisters and brothers

Leave all your love and your longing behind you


Can't carry love with you if you want to survive."



One other thing I love this week on the blogosphere is this photo from one of my favourite blogger Jenn of Runitmyway. She'd just completed her first ever marathon and she had scribbled this on her hand on race day. I just love it. It's so non-tacky but motivating. I plan to do the same for my next half marathon in October( I know I am so original).
























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Monday 10 September 2012

So you think you can run??

Every Sunday when I go out for my routine long run I ask my legs and lungs if they want to be faster. Sometimes I have a mind chatter during my training and asks if my mind thinks it can run faster and stronger. The mind needs to work with my body and vice versa but even on days that my legs are weak and fatigue, my mind seems to be able to tell the legs off and get them to run a little faster. But not the other way around. My mind is the boss. If the boss doesn't want to run, no matter how strong my body feels it will not run. It's like a control room. A lot of people say that running is 50/50  mind and body but I believe mine is more like 65/30/5 mind, body and environment. I have wanted to achieve a 2:15 PB half marathon 2 weeks ago but I just didn't have the mind power. On race day, my body was able and ready but somehow I got too distracted and not being focussed. On the other hand I was rather confident that I will be able to finish it without too much struggle because my training has been going rather well this year without any major injuries. I believed that my cardiovascular fitness was up to the task but I was wrong. I was struggling after 14km and when 18km came I just threw in the towel and just finish the race for the sake of finishing it. Not good. I have never felt that way in a race before. 

There's no point to cry over spilt milk and I just need to do better in less than 8 weeks.If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will realise that I have been training under the FRST programme, although not religiously. There are some days that I just couldn't cope with the intensity of the programme and I have to accept what I can get. I have less than 8 weeks to go until the Auckland Marathon which is the main event for me. I really, really want to achieve 2:10 and beyond. 

I did a calculation and it said that I have to run an  average of 6:10 min/km to achieve my goal which is quite ambitious because it means I have to run an average of 39 sec/km faster. I think it's going to be challenging but not impossible. I just have to try harder.

                 
Goal: 21.1 km in 2:10:00
9:55 min/mile (6:10 min/km)
SPLITELAPSED TIME
1 km6:10
2 km12:19
3 km18:29
4 km24:39
5 km30:48
6 km36:58
7 km43:08
8 km49:17
9 km55:27
10 km1:01:37
11 km1:07:46
12 km1:13:56
13 km1:20:06
14 km1:26:15
15 km1:32:25
16 km1:38:35
17 km1:44:44
18 km1:50:54
19 km1:57:04
20 km2:03:13
21 km2:09:23
21.1 km2:10:00

I also need to work harder on my mental strength - to face adversity during a race to not panic when I feel pain or keeping myself motivated when I realise I am not going to reach my goal time.
When I feel deflated I try to picture Jillian Michaels yelling "When you think you don't have it, you have to dig deeper!!". But I think that trick is wearing off on me now. I need something else.

What do you tell yourself when you are in pain during a race or training run? 

How do you motivate yourself to keep pushing when you know that you won't reach your target time?

How do you keep your focus during a race or bad training day ?

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Wednesday 5 September 2012

Brunch at Laundreth and Co. Ponsonby


It's been a while since I posted a food review here and guess it's time to do so now. Last week I rewarded myself to a nice brunch after braving the rain for a 16k run. It's one of those days that I have there needs to be a carrot dangling over my head to keep me running. That carrot was a brunch at Laundreth. It used to be a small treat from Lululemon but my last trip costs $400 so I won't be treating myself much very soon. It was difficult though because Laundreth is just across the road from Lululemon and I can hear the new brightly colored swiftlys calling my name, yearning to be tried on and go home with me. But I was strong and resisted. Actually it was pouring when I got outside and just jumped into the car instead of walking across to LL.


Laundreth is really cosy and warm with comfortable seating plan. The coffee was nice and strong and service was prompt. I ordered truffled eggs and it was really good. Not greasy and every component on my plate was so fresh and tasty.


I ordered the Truffled Eggs with tomatoes, mushroom and some greens. The eggs were brilliant and everything tasted very good and it's not greasy which is an added bonus!


Hubs ordered Fish Croquette Nicoise and the portion is rather large. He loved the crunchy beans and the freshness of all the components.

Overall it was a good brunch on a blustery day with prompt service and comfortable seating. A little complaint was when I went to pay the bill with my Grabone voucher the guy at the cashier uddenly became a little unhappy that I wasn't paying full price for my meal. That kinda ruined the experience for me. Would I come back? Possibly because to be fair, I enjoyed the coffee and the food is pretty good but I definitely won't be a regular here. Reason? There are way too many good cafes in Auckland that serves ridiculously good coffees and food that comes with more character and super friendly staff i.e Revel Cafe on K'rd, Brick by Brick in Onehunga, Good One on Douglas St, Little & Friday in Newmarket and the list goes on.



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