Hong Kong Trip in October

Siu's Babyshower | October 2nd, Saturday

We had so much fun, games, drawing and playtime. It felt like I was back in kindergarten again. I drew the monkey picture (top left) and somebody said it was kinda cute. I hope momma siu (bottom right) liked my presents, I got them some pampers diapers, one packet for new borns and one packet for learning to walk toddler boys. And of course I didn't forget to get some nice sweets for the mom.

Brunch at Australia Milk Company 澳洲牛奶公司 | October 3, Sunday

Boy, these guys have been popular for over 20 years and they never fail to deliver quality meals. And their secret is a limited menu, fast service and consistent quality. This fast food venue imports their own brand of milk and specializes in a custard-like steamed egg desert. That's what my mom ordered and she gobbled it down so fast that I didn't even have time to snap a pic of it. I had the "Breakfast Menu", the service is so incredibly fast, we got seated in 1 minute, ordered the second minute and food was served within 5 minutes. For 25HKD, I had my buttered thick-cut toast, 2 over and easy eggs (cooked to perfection), a hot bowl of macaroni with ham in chicken broth and a iced milk tea. Oh .. I love HK.

Just look at that piece of toast and runny eggs...sigh

This is one of my favourite breakfast meal, macaroni in Chicken broth.
Seems light but its packed with carbs.

Insanity 3rd Fit Test ..Sigh.. Gained Weight

This is my 3rd Week results..mainly I did a bit better, but I did worse in like 2 areas.

I also did Max Interval Training immediately after which is a pain in the butt. Can't believe I actually gained 1 kg this week..Ridiculous. But I do feel fitter yet my muscles seems fatigue all the time. Anyway will pass judgement on Day 61 I guess. Look! Hamberger is still beating my ass..Shameful

1st 2nd 3rd hamburrger

• Switch Kicks 74 100 109 120
• Power Jacks 40 45 50 56
• Power Knees 54 92 100 110
• Power Jumps 23 35 33 33
• Globe Jumps 7 13 12 10
• Suicide Jumps 5 12 16 17
• Push up Jacks 18 20 24 22
• Low Plank Oblique 33 35 49 58

Insanity 2nd Fit Test Results

Did my 2nd Insanity test last week, sorry it took so long to be posted. As of today my weight is the same. But I do notice that my chubbiness is getting tighter and harder, does it mean that its gonna be harder for me to lose it? ARGHHHHHH

Anyway , I did better 2nd time around and definitely my cardio is like much better now. Gonna go to recovery next week. Wonder how thats gonna be

Insanity Fit Test #2

Check out hamburgger....isn't she insane???? HaTE HeR...totally

1st 2nd hamburrger

• Switch Kicks 74 100 120
• Power Jacks 40 45 56
• Power Knees 54 92 110
• Power Jumps 23 35 33
• Globe Jumps 7 13 10
• Suicide Jumps 5 12 17
• Push up Jacks 18 20 22
• Low Plank Oblique 33 35 58

Salmon Tartar and Spaghetti Vongole

Summer is here and wakeboarding season has finally arrive...Oh..yeah..This is season I WILL land a trick. Unfortunately my neck is hurting , which is normal for wakeboarding cos of the falls but my stamina was much better than last year. Must be all the insanity workouts paying off. I wakeboarded in the morning and had to do insanity at night yesterday, god I was soo tired afterwards. Anyway with this summery and giddy feeling after my first run at wakeboarding this season, I made these dishes and both were surprisingly easy to prepare.

Salmon Tartar:

I ordered salmon sashimi for delivery, because I have no idea where to get a nice raw cut of salmon in this town but the sashimi worked perfectly. Basically I just cut the sashimi into tiny cubes then I mixed it into the sauce which combined of a tbsp of dijion mustard mayonnaise, finely chopped red onions (4 tbsp apprx) , capers and a squirt of lemon juice.

For the Spaghetti Vongle, I had no idea it would be so easy.

Step 1.

Mix up 5-6 cloves of finely chopped garlic and 2 red peppers (Those really tiny ones)

Step 2.

Pan Fry half of the mixture

Step 2.
Add in the clams plus 3/4 cup of white wine and lemon juice (1 lemon) , put the lid on cook until done

Step 3.

Add the cooked spaghetti and diced tomatoes (3/4 to 1 tomato) and the 2nd half of the chilli mixture

Done!

Salmon Tartar

This Little Piggy went to the market....

Cute little devices that makes food so much more fun

Hola.. this little piggy went to the market and bought corn...

Btw I'm on Insanity Day 8 or 9? I can't tell...anyway time to do Pure Cardio

Insanity Day 6 - Plyo Cardio Training

Actually its getting easier to the workouts now, but I still need breaks time and again but hopefully I can keep up as we move into Week 3 or something. Now I'm just worried about Month 2 cos it's supposed to be even more insane. A week has passed with my insanity workouts and I've been able to keep up to work out everyday, a very important aspect is that I force myself to work out in the mornings before work cos I know if I work overtime or someone asks me out for dinner I'd be too tired to do the workouts afterwards. The hardest part of insanity for me is to cut down my alcohol intake. And on the night before Day 4, I had 8 drinks in total, I did manage to go home around midnight. It wasn't hard getting up in the morning but when I started to stretch my head was spinning. Thank god Day 4 was just Cardio Recovery and not intense at all. Then I had to go to a party that night and had around 6-7 drinks, I couldn't wake up to my morning work out so had to use my lunch to do the insanity work out. This is like life altering for me, since I'm quite the boozer, not to say i'm cutting out alcohol 100% but limiting some days to under 4 drinks is hard. But I feel like its necessary if I don't wanna feel like crap during the work out. And seriously I get really bummed out if I miss my morning workout. Am I changing into a health nut???? I'm even considering buying some Whey protein to mix into my work out, I need consult my brother...He use to compete in Triathlons and stuff..crazy...

Insanity also brought another behavioral change and its my meals, I try to follow their Elite menu and I noticed I've been cooking a lot more and preparing a lot more meals. I was able to find Tortilla wraps in Shanghai for 7rmb (20 wraps), once again thank you Tao Bao, the source of my shopping and well being. I've been making a lot of breakfast egg wraps lately too..yum!

Some meals I've cooked up...

Pork Chops topped with Swiss Cheese and Spinach

Mexican Burrito...7rmb Tortilla Wraps..Kool...

My Shaun T poster .... I have to constantly remind myself to take it down when I have visitors... And is it me or does Shaun T sounds girlie? And his other work out videos like Hip Hop Abs and Kids work out thingy..looks soooooo lame. And I think he actually said this at the end of one of the work outs ..
"Oh my god..what a work out..this Shi# is BANANAS!"~~ Errrrrr....

Insanity Day #1

Fitness Test Results

Switch Kicks 74
Power Jacks 40
Power Knees 54
Power Jumps 23
Globe Jumps 7
Suicide Jumps 5
Push up Jacks 18
Low Plank Oblique 33

So here goes the training.....

Driftwood - Travis

Everything is open Nothing is set in stone Rivers turn to ocean Oceans tide you home Home is where your heart is But your heart had to roam Drifting over bridges Never to return Watching bridges burn You're driftwood floating underwater Breaking into pieces pieces pieces Just driftwood hollow and of no use Waterfalls will find you bind you grind you Nobody is an island Everyone has to go Pillars turn to butter Butterflying low Low is where your heart is But your heart has to grow Drifting under bridges Never with the flow And you really didn't think it would happen But it really is the end of the line So I'm sorry that you turned to driftwood But you've been drifting for a long long time Everywhere there's trouble Nowhere's safe to go Pushes turn to shovel's Shovelling the snow Frozen you have chosen The path you wish to go Drifting now forever And forever more Until you reach your shore You're driftwood floating underwater Breaking into pieces p ieces pieces Just driftwood hollow and of no use Waterfalls will find you bind you grind you And you really didn't think it would happen But it really is the end of the line So I'm sorry that you turned to driftwood But you've been drifting for a long long time You've been drifting for a long long time You've been drifting for a long long Drifting for a long long time Grow together or grow apart..that's life...

Everybody's Fine - (I want to) Come Home

Was watching Everybody's Fine last night, late last night. I fell asleep in the middle of the movie because it was quite boring and plus I can't sleep without the TV on. Yes, I like to fall asleep with the TV on and wake up in the middle of the night to turn off the TV. So? Anyway, back to the point, I woke up to this song feeling really sad. It sounded really raw, simple and even amateur yet it was perfect for the movie ending plus it was really touching. Thought it was a country singer but later found out it's a new song by Paul Mc Cartney. Awesome...

The story is about a recently widowed man, De niro, trying to connect to his children. Through his visit to each of their homes, he realized he never really knew his children or listened to them. It really makes you feel that when you age, you just slowly lose touch with what is current and sort of isolate yourself. Makes me feel sad for my own parents and wonder if they are feeling lonely. Sigh.

Wu Guan Tang Vegetarian - Review

This cute little place is rumored to be the best tasting Chinese vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai and frankly I agree. The have cute menus with hand drawn little cartoons beside it and their dishes are equally cutesy. I personally prefer their sister restaurant beside this establishment where they serve vegetarian hot pot for 88RMB. Soooo what is so special that they can charge 88rmb for veggies you say? 1) All you can eat veggies, with dumplings, fake fish balls (vegeterian of course) 2) All you can eat deserts including pudding, sesame sweet soup - sesame freshly grind by hand 3) Pasta machine where you can make your spinach pasta from scratch , FUN and YUM 4) Pick your own tea - with a full cabinet of herbal tea and flowers to chose from. I picked 4 different items for mine and surprising I didn't ruin it 5) COTTON CANDY MACHINE ...tee hee hee

May I say both times I went to Wu Guan Tang was with my awful friend whom is my drinking and pigging out buddy. Our purpose was to punish ourselves from intoxicating our bodies yet the guilt trip wonderfully turned into a guilty pleasure.

Massaging with an ice cream cone in your hand

Yes it’s very odd. Once and again I leap without thinking about consequences. After my yoga session today, I decided to go for a massage. Haven’t been able to eat dinner yet, I was hungry and decided to get an ice cream cone. It’s hard to eat an ice cream cone when some person is massaging your head and shoulders so basically I was holding it for a good 10 minutes. Then she rotated to massage my arms, so then I had to alternate my ice cream bearing arms, you know switch it up so it doesn't fall. Awkward. Sometimes I do admire the professionalism of these girls in the parlor. How does one not even giggle when encountering such ludicrous situations? But perhaps it’s more common than I think it is. Anyone out there has had a massage while eating an ice cream cone or would like to? Or would you tell them to wait until you gobble down your cone?

Sir Elly elly eh …eh eh eh.. - Review

For those who didn’t get connotation above, I was trying to sing the chorus part of “umbrella”. And those who got it, boy you’re random.

What can I say, The Peninsula Hotel. This restaurant is no Gladdy’s , but unlike the very traditional Hong Kong restaurant, Sir Elly’s has an modern twist to it. From their chic interior with the modern chandelier (Gladdy’s had a chandelier too) to their tasty menu, it still says royalty but also hip. I had the Kumamoto Oysters with the cucumber froth, the truffle risotto (truffle is the rare mushrooms that I eat) and to finish off the duck breast. Oysters were quite refreshing and zingy and the truffle was tasty but not spectacular, the duck breast was a bit of a disappointment as it tasted a bit like a roasted duck in a Chinese restaurant. Perhaps it was the fatty skin that made me feel that way. My friend had the tasting menu, great deal 688 with six courses. Foie gras sauce steamed egg was really yummy, the texture of the steamed egg made me feel like I was eating foie gras, the wagyu however was again so so. I have definitely had better wagyu at Stillers.

The cocktails were just ok, maybe because I made the mistake of ordering a martini that had milk and strawberries in it. Just looking at it made me think of Pepto . Oh and it tasted exactly like it to. Gross , then I switched/stole my friends martini which was a tomatatini which was much better.

Lobster Appetizer in the Tasting Menu

Truffle Risotto with Parmesan - I don't eat mushrooms...but only truffle

Pepto Martini ..Oh I mean the strawberry milky martini

Kumamoto Oysters with Cucumber foamy sauce..yum

Foie Gras Steamed Egg - The texture was awesome ...it actually made the egg feel like foie gras

Duck breast with fried thingy with asparagus soup in it

Chandelier in Sir Elly's