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Week in Training: February 23rd to March 1st
Today has been a lazy Sunday for me with a luxurious sleep in and a late lunch while watching cool Red Bull adventure videos like this one of a bunch of guys wake boarding in a cranberry bog. I’ve never known that cranberries are grown in bogs – how cool and beautiful is that? When harvest time comes, the farmers flood the bogs and use a water reel to dislodge the berries from the vines so they come floating up to the top of the water. It’s like a sea of vivid crimson beads. I wonder if any of those wake boarders caught a few cranberries with their mouths while skimming over the surface?
The weather looked cool and beautiful and autumnal in the video… which is a far cry from what it’s been like here in Perth earlier this week. I know I’ve been complaining about how muggy it’s been lately, but this week really takes the cake! The weather has been so hot and humid, the world felt as if it had become one gigantic indoor swimming pool. Every step I took, I felt like I was swimming slowly underwater in a giant tank of humidity. Ugh, ick and yuck!
As you can tell, I don’t do humidity very well.
The only good thing about the humidity was that it had the power to vanquish the spring fever attack I had at the beginning of the week. That quickly came back, though, as the weather cooled considerably at the end of the week and I’m now looking out the window as I type this at a cool, grey and windy Sunday evening that looks more like winter than the first day of autumn in Perth. Thankfully, my second attack of hay fever wasn’t as bad as the first one and was easily vanquished with a quick dose of anti-hayfever medication. Whew!
Since the weather was so muggy, with the exception of a short outdoor run on Monday, I’ve taken to the gym to workout in relatively cool conditions. Even though so, it’s been so hot that people looked as if they were about to die at Body Combat class and the instructor made sure to give us lots of water breaks so we wouldn’t faint on him!
Running-wise, I did another fun treadmill run on Thursday with a few hill intervals and a couple of speed fartleks. I think I’m actually becoming a fan of hill running now, miracle of miracles!
I only managed to get two runs in this week though. I was aiming for a third run on the weekend but instead ended up having a lazy weekend with two luxurious sleep-ins. But I don’t feel guilty about missing it as I feel that I’ve put in some good workouts earlier this week and all despite the yucky weather!
Plus, okay, on Saturday night I may have had one too many lychee martinis at a friend’s birthday dinner at Midori Teppanyaki. I have never been to a proper teppanyaki restaurant before and we had a great time sipping cocktails at the bar before sitting down to watch the teppanyaki chefs do their thing. There was a lot of fire and a lot of fun!
Fiyah, fiyah!
We each got to choose from three set menus. I opted for the Samurai Set with scallops and beef and it was delicious. My set came with a small salad as a starter, followed by scallops, salmon sushi, beef and some cucumber and sprout veggies and finally a delicious matcha green tea ice cream with little crunchy wafer flakes.
I love scallops and these were simply beautiful. I could have definitely eaten more than just three of them!
All the girls at our table also ended up ordering several lychee martinis as the night went on. They were so yummy, I would come back to the restaurant just for the martinis alone!
We were also very impressed with the chef’s skills at writing messages on the iron griddle backwards with salt. Leonardo Da Vinci would have approved of his reverse handwriting skill!
Wishing all of you an awesome weekend! x
February 23rd to March 1st:
- Monday: 3km run
- Tuesday: Body Combat
- Wednesday: Rest Day
- Thursday: 40 minute treadmill run (5km) featuring hill and run/walk intervals
- Friday: Body Pump and Body Balance
- Saturday: Rest Day
- Sunday: Rest Day
Inspiration: 5ftinf
Over the past year, I’ve been really enjoying the beautiful and charming works of 5ftinf, a British artist who has the most amazing knack of arranging flowers and other little knickknacks into the most stunning vignettes. I also love reading her blog posts explaining the process that goes on behind her gorgeous table arrangements and how she mainly uses seasonal flowers from her garden and other ‘bits and pieces’ she finds on her walks. She’s an amazing artist and I just had to share her with you! READ MORE
Curried Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas
We’ve always tried to keep our diet at home as free of sodium as possible due to certain strict health requirements my partner has to follow. However, in the past year or so, we’ve not been as careful as we should be and lots of high sodium products, especially soy sauce and oyster sauce, have been slowly creeping back into our cooking. Recent health developments, however, have made it super imperative that we stick to a diet that is as sodium-free as we can make it as well as additives- and preservatives-free.
I have to admit, my heart dropped a little when I dwelt on this – stir-fries are just so easy when all you have to do is throw some chicken and vegetables in a pan and add soy sauce or oyster sauce. What’s going to be my go-to now when it comes to a quick, easy meal? The BF doesn’t make it easier, either, as he’s not a fan of using lemons or oranges in cooking either, unless it’s lemon with fish. Sometimes, his dietary requirements drive me nuts and I just want to chuck a pot at him!
So this week I’ve decided it’s time to start getting creative in the kitchen. And – bang! Right away, I came up with two simple, easy vegetable dishes without the use of soy sauce, oyster sauce, worcestershire sauce or any other kind of pre-packaged sauce that comes in a jar.
And the first of these is… Curried Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas!
A Reason for Being: Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen
Berninski. Present Day.
“So,” Meredith prompted Tyler on the dark steps. “Your brilliant plan?”
Tyler was quiet for a few seconds. At last, he said, “I need to see a vampire.”
Meredith wondered if Tyler had lost his mind. Either that, or his brilliant plan really sucked, pardon the pun. “Did you have a particular vampire in mind?” she asked sarcastically. “Or would any old vampire do?”
“I don’t know if you’ve heard of her,” Tyler answered slowly. “She actually lives right here in Berninski. Her name is Belinda Walkowski.”
“Aunt Belinda?” Meredith said in surprise.
It was Tyler’s turn to look surprised. “Did you just say Aunt Belinda?” READ MORE
Body Shop Tea Tree Squeaky Clean Scrub
Are you ready? Because I’m going to give you my number one tried and tested tip to banishing blemishes.
When I was a teen, I struggled with major acne. Major acne. My face was super oily and it didn’t help that I grew up in Malaysia where the hot, humid and polluted climate exacerbated the oiliness. The worst of it were the big red bumps that appeared on my nose – they were horrendous and could not be hid! I tried everything – facial cleansers and exfoliating scrubs that promised to get rid of the problem, extremely painful facials where the beautician went at you with thin metal hooks in an attempt to squeeze each pimple (now that I think back on it, I probably would not recommend this to anyone – the possibilities of scarring, for example, which I was lucky to avoid) and those nose pore strips that promised to magically absorb the clogging blackheads and dirt from each and every pore (a lot of fun to use but I can’t say it actually got rid of any pimples). READ MORE
Week in Training: February 16th to 22nd
Whoops, this post is a little late! Still, better late than never, right?
Last week was a surprisingly good week for working out. I say ‘surprising’ because I’ve been feeling sluggish all week (plus a return of spring fever – aaargh, will this never leave me alone) and decided to just take it easy. I managed to fit in a few short runs plus one 6km outdoor run and a 40 minute treadmill run that included hill and speed intervals. I’ve been meaning to incorporate intervals (both hills and speed) into my running workouts for a while now and now that I’ve done it, it feels surprisingly good! I’m hoping to do incorporate more of these as time goes on – plus, it makes running on a treadmill (on days when it’s too hot or rainy to go outside) go by faster! READ MORE
Keep Writing Every Day
Keep writing every day – even if it’s just a paragraph, a sentence, five words. Make writing a habit, even if it’s just writing down the biggest piece of rubbish anyone has or will ever write in the history of the world. What might be a piece of rubbish today might evolve into a masterpiece the next day, two weeks, three months, a year down the road. This is possibly the best piece of advice a writer can receive – to keep writing every day.
And, in the spirit of things, I’m off to the Perth Writer’s Festival today – I cannot wait! 
