Burgers anyone?

It's been nearly 12 months since I arrived on the island of Borneo and unfortunately I've not had much luck finding the food that I crave for. The lastest... I wanted to eat a really good burger! And unless you can be satisfied with McDonalds, there really ain't a lot of options here. So I resorted to learning from Jamie. The recipe was pretty straight forward and idiot proof. hehe! Not only am I picking up a couple of handy new skills in the kitchen....but I'm learning to do without some decent furniture tooooo. This is our new dining table featured below! Yes u observed correctly - no chairs.... just making do on our little cushy.

Being Health Conscious with REAL FOOD

Well since I started down the path of err semi-regular exercise and trying to keep fit, I thought I'd take a moment to tell ya about a new little cafe that's all about being healthy. It's called "Real Food" and they've created a small niche of dishing up organic food to the local Singaporean and expats alike. In the chaotic process of globalisation, I do believe the food we eat today ain't as natural as it used to be and especially having to import food all around the world to satisfy international tastebuds, it's not surprising that one has to inject their produce with all kinds of preservatives and chemicals to keep it from dying along the way.

Organic food is just about going back to its roots and keeping it pure. I love the idea of not having excess or additional additives in my food. I also love how my friend has created such a funky yet cozy little cafe to hang out at. oops... did I fail to mention tat at the beginning?! :P

Well yeah this is a mini tribute to a somewhat dream come true for her and her hubby. Their passion & vision to create a space where people can enjoy delish food that's also very good for u.... well i just happen to think tat's awesome! Plus we all know how hard it is to actually be doing something that you love and believe in...RIGHT?!?! It's way easier to sit in a cooL cafe dreaming about it. hehe!

The cafe is known for their very affordable brown rice set at only $6.80 (who said organic food had to be expensive?!?) but more important for me...is an all-day breakfast menu yipeeee! They serve banana blueberry French toast which is also $6.80 and they do an interesting & super healthy spin on the usual big breakfast - it's called the "all in a pan big breakfast" for less than $8 bucks! Bargain!

And once you've had your fill, you can check out the retail side of things and perhaps bring home some organic goodies! You just have to feel good...knowing that whatever you've just eaten or purchased ....is working its magic & promoting a healthier you :)

In addition to their menu, I had a rare treat (featured to the left here) home-made dessert from the chef who was experimenting & I was a willing guinea-pig. Who noes...it mite appear on the menu someday :)

I just wish they had this kinda thing in Brunei!

WHERE TO FIND "REAL FOOD" ?

Located in the basement of The Central in Clarke Quay. Opened daily. Enjoy!

My celebrity fashion Muse

So I gotta have something to work towards - to keep me motivated. And while doing my usual morning online surf, I decided that "something" wld be to adopt a celebrity fashion muse :P

Eva Longoria - petite yet great sense of style, pretty classic but sexy too. I like. Now to reorganise my wardrobe, clear out the unwanted clutter & bad choice purchases and make some effort to dress better with some Eva inspiration! Granted I'm not living in a glam city right now where fashion really matters but at the same time, it's just too easy to let myself go completely and wander around in items tat mite resemble a um... garbage bag?!? (ie comfy, big, oversized to hide my tummy wif no shape - eeks!)

So here's what I like so far....

Who says petite gals can't pull off a BIG gorgeous handbag?!? Also gotta remember e scarf is a great add-on to the otherwise simple jeans outfit.

Hmm...I just picked up a pair of new brown uggs in Beijing. Love them but don't think I can pull them off in such warm climates. I mean it doesn't exactly look very cold in this photo below...but surely my wearing ugg boots in 30+ degree temperatures wld make me look like a complete idiot...no?

And finally - the very trendy summer maxi dress. Obviously the fashion faux-pas to avoid long dresses for petite gals does NOT apply to Eva... nor me! I love maxi dresses...the easiest & most practical item in my wardrobe really.

My struggle with Fitness!

So I spent some of the afternoon researching & reading about core strengthening exercises on the internet. Having paid for a personal trainer once upon a time, I'm not gonna repeat that mistake again. Did u noe that most trainers in Asia have barely any qualifications in the first place? sheesh!

Anyway I think my biggest weakness in terms of fitness is the lack of core strength and regular lower back pain (even when I'm doing the dishes for 5mins). Also doesn't help that I've put on quite a bit of tummy fat ever since I got to Brunei and officially can't fit into 2 of my fave pair of jeans. Bugger!

The last few months of going to the gym have not produced any visible results as yet which is rather demoralizing. So hv decided to follow some of these workout advice based on my online research.

1. - Do cardio at different intensity levels - interval training.

1. - Do lots of Core Strengthening exercises as often as poss. like The Plank, The Bridge & Bird-Dog Balance (who comes up with these names?!?!?!) Does she (right) resemble a bird or dog in any way in tis position?

1. - Build muscle in arms & legs on alternate days.

This is an on-going battle to get fit for me. No matter how hard I try to hit the gym regularly, I never seem to enjoy the so-called benefits of say...sleeping better at nites, or gaining more energy in the day, or actually shedding some of tat body fat! So far....nothing.

But I guess for now, I'll just focus on understanding my body, locating my um deep abs (muscle tat gets neglected but is crucial to my whole core apparently)... and re-learning to use & control these muscles to strength my core and reduce back pain.

[check out tis article for more info: http://www.better-exercise-fitness-for-life.com/core-exercises.html#deep-muscle]

The body fat loss issue is secondary - having no back pain, a healthy heart and being more fit is more of the priority I'd say. Wouldn't u?

My struggle with Breakfast.

I have tried and tried...but I just can't seem to turn myself into a "Breakfast" person. Is there such a thing? You know... like a "Morning" person...which I'm not btw. I totally believe that some people are just naturally programmed to be morning people, waking up at an early hour and loving it. Me... I just jump at any opportunity to sleep in.

So yeah... not being a morning person probably doesn't help my breakfast cause either. Having not been very well trained as a kid to eat breakfast religiously, I am still struggling with it despite knowing how "important" this meal is (sucks tat it's e most important meal of the day really!).

And if that wasn't the hardest part, then it's finding healthy breakfast food that is an even bigger challenge. I tend to detest all the stuff that happens to be good for me.... oats, milk, soy, wholemeal anything, egg whites, cereal....etc.

Does anybody have any other suggestions for a healthy breakfast...EASY TO PREPARE meal?

A Wintery Beijing

Best thing about Beijing in the winter? Nope - not the minus 17 degrees!! It's being able to escape the hundreds and thousands of ANNOYING tourists. No matter how many times I go, there's just something so magical and majestic about the two most absolute famous sights of China - The Forbidden City and The Great Wall of China. I've seen them all year round now...in spring, summer & winter and honestly, I gotta say the latter is by far THE BEST time to go (my humble opinion).

On any ordinary day, I can understand why some people lose sight of why they even bothered to visit. The swarms of people pushing and shoving to take photos can be enough to put you off. It's pretty hard to imagine how the imperial family ever lived there or picture soldiers and horses running along e wall in battle amongst the massive tour groups wearing same coloured caps & waving the stupid "don't get lost" flag.

But on this sunny day in January, jin and I pretty much had the Wall to ourselves. It was bliss. We were really blessed with perfect winter weather (if there is such a thing) where the snow covered e ground for e best pics, but the sun kept us warm without even the slightest hint of a chilly wind (considering we were mostly on mountain peaks, I'd say what a massive relief!!).

I'll admit the Forbidden City wasn't quite as deserted but seeing that the grounds were so huge, there was plenty of space for everyone to do their thing :)

These giant trees in the Imperial Garden (back of the palace) have been around for centuries.... just awesome!

Beijing really has the best of both worlds; the most fascinating history & rich culture moulded together with international standards of hotels, restaurants, bars & shopping malls. I wanna go back and live there one day (fingers crossed). I guess that's another thing on the "waiting" list.

What's so good about planning anyway!

It's back to my usual procrastination. Got back to Brunei a few days ago and trying to settle into my routine and reality but holidays really throw me off and it takes awhile to get adjusted hehe! I don't even know where to begin as 2010 is off to a busy start, so I thot maybe a follow up from my last entry to let ya know how much lotsa planning....DOESN"T necessarily pay off peeps!! HA!

So what went wrong on the trip?

Firstly we arrived in Spore & waited patiently at the baggage belt only to be told that our bags were already on their way to Beijing kinda. I thot I told e lady at check-in that we were stopping in Spore for a night!!! sheesh! Not only were we rushing to get to late dinner reservations for jin's bday but now we had technically lost our bags. Thank goodness for e Lost & Found dept who promised to retrieve our suitcases & deliver them to my house. Great service. They arrived about the same time we had finished dinner & taken a cab home. whew!

Second mishap - while I was taking some clothes outta my bag for my return Spore stay, it suddenly hit me hard that I had left my one & only winter jacket in my closet in Brunei. shit! After all my careful packing, I still forgot the most important item of clothing for e entire trip. Boy was I mad wif myself.

Shortly after that, upon checking our bags in for the 1am flight to Beijing, we were informed that our names could not be found in the system. The guy nicely asked to see our itinerary and then told us our flight was actually the night before! We had missed our flight!!! So much for my careful coordination of flights and dates. Big whoops! All I can say was that we were truly blessed & looked after & SQ put us on the flight going out the same night free of charge (waiver of a $300 fee). double whew!

On the bright side, I had the best excuse in the world to buy a gorgeous new jacket from Zara and on sale too - BONUS! Couldn't stop there, Uniqlo had some great buys hence leading to a second down jacket purchase for like $50 bucks, some thermals, a new cashmere scarf & a couple of very comfy fleece hoodies to help brave temperatures ranging from -4 degrees to -17 degrees.

Will try to narrow down what were the major highlights of Beijing and post some pics soon!