Yoga at Midnight

[drink] jasmine tea + stevia [feeling] relaxed

I am constantly amazed at how Yoga (when done properly) makes me feel. A friend introduced me to Hot Yoga at Moksha Yoga in 2006, and I loved it, but it was far too expensive for me to afford to go on a regular basis, so I thought I'd just download some yoga videos and do it myself at home. Well you can guess how well that turned out: the yoga videos still are sitting in the DVD cases at home. Now that I am more aware of the different styles of yoga that suit me and the kind of teachers I like, and also the different ways to access yoga, I am much more of a believer in it.

O.M.G.

Editing layouts in Blogger is a major pain! I had to really comb through the HTML coding in the layout (which is INSANE, btw) and try to find the specific bits I was looking for and trying to replace. But as you noticed, the layout matches my mainpage layout, so I'm pleased. Of course, this also means I've spent like 6 hours doing this and have not accomplished any work tonight. >.< Well that's not entirely true. While at the NUS Holiday party, my fellow Yearbook Co-editor and I decided on the theme and even came up with possible ideas for the cover layout. Talk about power hour! And we exchanged great dining places for Vegetarian/Vegan palettes.

Speaking of Vegetarian -- I have a great recipe to share, perhaps it falls under "Nutrition"? I dunno. I don't even really know what I'm planning on doing with that heading... I'll figure it out later. But anyway, I made a Veggie burger with:

• Finely chopped up Cremini mushrooms and onion (and cooked)
• Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)
• 1 egg (to bind it)
• salt, seasonings/spices, a little soy sauce

I have to say -- AMAZINGLY delicious. I used Bob's Red Mill brand of TVP and it was really reasonably priced at ~$3 for a big bag that will last a long time. It really does have the texture of meat and it takes on whatever flavours you throw into it. I used soy sauce, dried basil, oregano, pepper, and salt to flavour mine and it was perfect. I formed the patties using a small plastic container (small Philly cream cheese container) and pan fried them with a little virgin coconut oil. SO AMAZING. It really does have the "mouth feel" of ground beef, it's ridiculous. (I also tweeted about it!)

The best part is that so little ingredients actually went into making them that I have lots left over and will likely make it again tomorrow. I used about 1/2 cup of TVP to make 3 perfectly sized patties (when mixed in with cooked minced mushrooms and onion) and it comes out to probably less than 200 Calories for all 3 patties (80 Calories per 1/4 cup of TVP), and get this: 24 g of protein for 1/2 cup of TVP! AMAZING! I will try throwing some of this into the next lasagna I make for my boyfriend and we'll see if he can spot the difference... haha.

love. music.

[music] Kim Hyun Joong - Yes, I will [mood] happy, funk [drink] green tea

I have been downloading Korean pop-star's Kim Hyun Joong's new music -- I absolutely looooooovvveeee him. He's delicious eye-candy ^_~ He is gorgeous and from what I've seen on him in various tv appearances (on YouTube) he's so candid and funny. If only he had a twin in Canada T-T. Funny enough, there is a Surgical resident at my placement hospital that looks so much like him... and he, too, is eye candy :( Boooo... oh well. Looks aren't everything, I suppose. But tell me: would you be able to resist this face and smile?

I have been doing YogaDownload.com yoga videos for the last 2 weeks, and I'm loving it. I think I've found my "thing", at least for the time being. It relaxes me, stretches me out, and it's still challenging, so I feel like I'm getting a good workout in. It may not be cardiovascularly challenging in the way that the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) or the Canadian Council of Sports Medicine (CCSM) recommend (they say at least 30 mins of moderate intensity 3-5x/week), BUT... it's better than doing nothing. And, I walk a lot (and I walk fast) so I'm going to say that counts. Occasionally I will bust a groove when I'm listening to music :)

My healthy eating is still going. I eat salads pretty much every day about 1-2 times per day. I include things like freshly minced mint, julienned carrots, diced tomatoes and peppers, and either: a hard-boiled egg, cut up cheese or ham. It's pretty good, in my opinion. Snacks usually include baby carrots and celery sticks with my homemade hummus or cottage cheese, yogurt, or cut up apple.

Otherwise, life is stable. No complaints here.

Things...

I took a ride on the new TTC today! It's so bright and shiny. I was only on it for like 5 minutes, but it was glorious.

I've come to realizations about certain people in my life... and it's made me really think and be critical about who I surround myself with. I want to be happy and not constantly griping about others. So, I made the conscious decision to stop associating myself with people who do not agree with this paradigm. All in all, I think it is working out well. I believe there is a mutual understanding too, so it's not just me.

I am back on the healthy eating bandwagon. This past week I've been kind of bad -- I ran out of groceries and then just started eating bread with peanut butter :S oops. The good news is that my mom brought me some stuff, AND I went grocery shopping today for salad and stuff to make hummus with, so it's all good. I made White Kidney Bean and Lentil Hummus today and I'm going to have it with baby carrots and broccoli florets tomorrow, along with a mixed greens salad with red pepper, tomato, avocado, and deli turkey. :) I am excited. A note on Hummus-making: add liquids slowly. I made the mistake of adding in a lot more water than I needed for blending the beans and ended up making a very watery bean soup, so I had to add in the lentils to thicken it up. The recipe I used (my own):

White Kidney Bean & Lentil Hummus
- 1 can white kidney beans (drained & rinsed)
- 1 can lentils (drained & rinsed)
- juice of 1 lemon
- a couple of TBSP of plain, non-fat yogurt (about 4 Tbsp... 1/4 of a cup)
- water (I added maybe about 1/4 of a cup or something.. too much)
- salt/pepper to taste
- garlic powder to taste

I blended up the first 6 ingredients in the blender first (I used the Magic Bullet Blender), and then added the garlic powder after. I used the Club House Garlic Powder which has a shaker top, so I didn't really measure how much I put in... I just put in a few sprinkles, blended, tasted, and added more until I was happy with it. *shrug* I'm very much a "go with the flow" kind of cook.

Anyway, I love this hummus. I like to add yogurt because it adds a creamy tartness.

For the most part I've been watching what I eat -- I've been a little careless in the last week, but starting from now on, I'm watching it like a hawk again. Today I made a good choice for dinner -- I had a Greek Salad from Jack Astor's. It had feta, romaine, red onion, olives, cucumber, and grilled chicken, and it was really good. One of the better restaurant salads I've had (comparable to what I make at home... BTW did I mention I'm a salad snob? I hold Salads in very high regard and make them beautifully at home).

Anyway. It's been a long day. May update tomorrow.