Going Going Going

So far, I've been able to go on 5 big(ish) holidays this year. That's about more than 2 months away from work. It sounds nice and it really is. I don't ever forget how lucky I am to be enjoying so much at my age. I'm grateful for having work to always come back to no matter how much dread I feel upon boarding the plane back to reality.

Seoul with my family last weekend was amazing. But actually, it was the first time I had very low expectations before a trip abroad. I even only really packed for it an hour before we left for the airport as watching Homeland seemed more exciting to me. But upon landing in Incheon and cruising out to the city soon after, I had that familiar rush of excitement that was missing preflight. I'm going to share some photos over here soon but for now, I'll keep my speech to a minimum. I would love to be back in South Korea very soon.

Off topic, I had a really heavy day at work today no thanks to my hangover from last night so I was pretty keen on clocking some serious hours of sleep tonight only to realise in panic that my tickets for Tokyo are tonight! If you're wondering why I'm wasting time blogging instead of packing, it's because I'm still at my parents' and my mum's taking photos of the French spread she's prepared before we can all dig in. Mind you, I will stuff my face tonight. I need the boost!

See you in a bit, Tokyo (If I make it in time, that is).

Rain Episode

Just a story on how today went. I think it could've been a contending episode for a daytime sitcom. That or a TV drama gone wrong. But then again I'm the type who laughs over prison cell humour and cries over MasterChef finale episodes so...

Anyway.

Some food for the soul I read earlier in the day.

Weekday Routine Eats

Hi. Just sharing what my daily eats look like. I pretty much eat the same thing everyday. I think the only things I change are the placemats.

Breakfast: corn flakes and almonds (strangely invisible) in soy milk, half a banana, black coffee and about a litre of water.

I usually wake up at 5 to 5:30 in the morning because I like to take care of myself. I shower, pick out what to wear to work, arrange my face and then sit for 20 to 30 minutes eating breakfast and reading the news. I'm a solid believer of good starts and there's really nothing worse than rushing in the morning. I swear on the effect of my morning ritual on my day's disposition. No matter how sleep-deprived you may be, this places gold.

Lunch: chicken breast (or thighs when I feel like I deserve it), lettuce, cherry tomatoes, half an avocado.

Smoked salmon, hard boiled egg, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, half an avocado.

Lunch is always very simple. I'm really lucky that I get to enjoy warm food in the comfort of our apartment. I normally have an hour to two for lunch and this isn't always enough time to whip something fancy up. So I've unintentionally fallen to this formula:

• protein: Either fish or chicken only. Usually salmon and chicken breasts just seasoned with salt & pepper and then grilled.
• greens: I pretty much eat all kinds of greens except bitter gourd but since getting braces, I've found broccoli a bit too hard for me to chew.
• tomatoes: Have you had cherry tomatoes? I could snack on them as if they were grapes. Sweet and tart, just absolutely delicious!
• avocado: I try to have some especially on days I feel like needing carbs. It's the good kind!
• water: Lots of it. My bladder secretly hates me for it.
• fruit juice: Though only since summer started. I love a cold glass of 100% apple juice.

Dinner (since last Monday): spinach and apple juice/smoothie. Literally just spinach leaves and apple slices plus some water.

So it turns out, juicing isn't just one of those overhyped myths that everyone accessorises their arms with to look cool (next to venti Starbucks skinny lattes). This shit is the real thing. I drink about 400ml of juice between after a swim and before bed. Given the amount of water I usually chug, this isn't a lot at all so I really try to drink it in small gulps with sensible gaps in between to last at least 15 minutes (because that's when your stomach realises it's full).

------------------------

Eating clean is really such a struggle. Since moving to Japan, I've developed the regretful habit of snacking which I'm slowly trying to curb. So far, it's been an honest 6 days since I had junk food. HIGH FIVING MYSELF. But when I did feel like snacking this week, I reached for raw almonds which I always have at home. Almonds are the best and you should read why if I'm not doing a decent job selling it to you. 

Results have been miraculous to my slow, seemingly 80-year old metabolism. You'll know it's working when you're getting hungry more often but getting full with less and taking regular trips to the throne.

I actually get a bit scared whenever the work week's over because I know I almost always fall off the wagon whenever I'm visiting my folks'. Like today, I didn't eat any of those for breakfast or lunch. So I decided to wait for the sun to set and go for a run but it's now past 5 in the afternoon and that run is as close to happening as definitely maybe never.
I'm hardly the poster child for fitness and health but I hope this offers you what little ideas I assume it can to inching closer to living healthier (okay, my rice cracker-bingeing self just barfed in her mouth).

What are your routine eats?
x

TPTwizzle

2010

2011

2013

I couldn't sleep a couple of nights ago as per ushe. A quick surge of inspiration and pressure plus a couple of hours clipping videos on iMovie and here it is.

There's an unwritten contract binding us to go on at least one beach trip every summer. You won't see it in the videos as most footage are of drinks, dirty dancing and dirty fingers but there's really nothing quite like the sun, sand and sea of Philippine beaches. But more than that, you will find how it's always an episode whenever all four of us are together.

We just get each other.

P.S. And yes, apparently, that is how the abbreviation of usual is spelled. Ushe. Cla$$.

Thoughts On Exercising

As much as I try to deny the weighing scale any hold over me, I still get on it every single day--and twice. When this addiction of my constant kg-patrol began, I can't remember. All I know is, and as terrible as it sounds, whatever digits manifest on my mini pink digital scale dictate how I'll spend the rest of my day.

Myself being an exercise-fiend or any form of physical activity, really, "commitophobia" always creeps up on me whenever I sign up for a gym membership. In the two years I've been living here in Japan, I've been a bit of a gym-whore, having gotten around a bit, you know. Jokes, I've only been to three: 2 months at a Bikram Yoga studio, 3 months at a previous gym and just between you and me, I think I'm going steady with my gym now. We stand at 4 going on 5 months. :3

The complexity of the conversations I have with myself about going to exercise are wildly entertaining. It always starts with "I'm going today" then erodes to "We'll see how the day goes" and then there are bad days when it drops to an abyss of self-destruction, "Screw you, Body". However, I realised, the MOST DIFFICULT part about exercising at the gym is actually getting there. The very moment I step inside the gym and slip into my one-piece swimsuit (I know, so very unattractive), my fate has been sealed. I have also begun taking pleasure in the idea of playing mermaid with sheer disregard of everyone else around me.

Frankly, I don't think I would've consciously decided on religiously exercising if not for the embarrassing weight I gained post-uni. Since last year, I've lost about 5kg and not through any crazy red flag-raising diets like before but just by eating less dirty and living less sedentary. I try to be as mobile in any way possible (walking, cycling, swimming) because I do love me some food. More than wanting to lose weight though, exercising gives me the only time I can shut my thoughts off and just focus on finishing the lap. I used to raise an eyebrow at people who went to the gym to de-stress because I thought being at the gym was stressful but I think I may now be one of them. The swimming pool is one of my current favourite places (next to my mum's kitchen, of course).

It's funny that as I write this I'm already at the second stage of my Exercise Debate. I'm exhausted having barely slept last night because I was hungry. I was hungry because I only had a spinach and blueberry juice for dinner. I had just that because I weighed myself after my swim and the numbers were not so much admirable hence the skewed decisions. See what I mean?

On Spring Holidaze

I'm on a mini-blogging hiatus as it's that time of the year when my life seems a bit more happening than the usual. If this were a quick catch-up between friends, it would be socially unacceptable that goes something like:

Oh, hey. How's it going? Oh me, well I

• went to Tokyo for the weekend
• have been back to work since Monday
• have been hungover since Saturday
• have been chasing the hangover with more beers and whiskey and sake since Saturday

And like most of the time when I go on trips, I didn't take enough photos. Videos, not even. The regret hasn't sank in yet. Perhaps I will make up for it on the trip to Osaka on the weekend.

Oh, and all those laps around the pool since March? Destroyed easily by the first bowl of ramen I ate in Shinjuku.

Goodbye, body. 

Earthquake

There was another earthquake this morning. No big deal.

But when a scary and panic-inducing alarm sets off at 5:33am and kanji characters flash before your eyes enough to start a nose-bleed, it's one for the books.

I don't remember the earthquake being too strong however I do remember feeling scared. What followed was feeling royally pissed that my sleep was interrupted. 

We're quite lucky to be living in central Japan where the quakes are less life-threatening. I think the cherry on top of that is to be living in Japan at all. Thanks for a minute's heads-up before our apartment started shaking.

I feel dizzy for some reason. What is this.

Recently Pescatarian(ish)

Over-exposed iPhone snaps are really happening atm

1. Some white meat fish + boiled asparagus + chopped red cabbage
2. Salmon + quinoa, apple celery salad + miso soup
3. Salmon + grilled shiitake and squash + water greens + miso soup with silken tofu + spinach apple mango smoothie
4. Salmon + silken tofu + hard boiled egg + cucumber, carrots, tomatoes and almonds
5. Dory + avocado egg salad on a bed of water greens
6. Crispy skin salmon + broccoli + water greens
7. Mackerel + grilled squash + water greens
8. Salmon + asparagus + grilled squash + firm tofu, shiitake onions and almonds in balsamic vinegar
9. Fish fillet + lettuce + green apple slices + blue cheese in a ciabatta roll

My usual and yawn-drawing lunches these days. As you may very well observe, all proteins are FISH. At the beginning ,this choice was influenced by how easy and fast it is to cook. Now, however, it's become a constant hankering (and still also because it's most convenient). 

Yesterday afternoon, I had #1. I was pretty excited as I haven't had red cabbages in a while. The usual, I grilled the fish. I don't know what kind of fish it was but I do remember it being cheap and VERY VERY OILY. Its fishy taste lingered in the back of my throat. It made me sick, I couldn't eat dinner. I wanted to hurl and cry. I was being extra-emotional. It was that time of the month. 

Now I understand why I was always so afraid to try anything apart from salmon. But now I know better than to be frugal when fish-picking.

After yesterday's regrettable lunch experience, I can't bring myself to have fish again. The trauma is still there. But neither do I find myself wanting anything else BUT fish. It doesn't make sense but I haven't had red meat in two weeks and I'm hoping for a good streak until my next holiday. 

Perhaps I'll have some shrimp this afternoon. 

I need inspiration for my future lunches so I'm going on Amazon to buy this book.

 

Any fish suggestions there?