Valentine's day is ordinary

I did not celebrate the heart's day as they call it but then I can also say I did. Well, for another celebration, that is. Yes, I had a very bellytiful lunch with Mamul :) She told me that it was her gift for my birthday. I was so touched to be honest. She booked a buffet lunch at Mandarin Orchard.

Thanks Mamul for treating me in advance for my birthday! And because of that, I'll pray very hard for the approval of your vacation leave for South Korea :P

Here are the food we shared. And by the way, she's a very private person so I cannot show you her pic :D





She knows I like Japanese food ;) Arigat0 ....

Getting back on track

How I wish I had the luxury to watch the sky unfolds from the crisp morning to the radiant flourish of bright red - moments where darkness spit the day. In short I like to slack and just enjoy and be oblivious of the world.

Anyway, I have been slacking lately from going to the gym. From my regular three-times-a-week to just twice. Worse, I ate lots of calorific foodies. So I decided to go to the gym and burn them all for 15 minutes in tread mill and 5 minutes on stationary bike. Fitness First should be thankful or not? I don't know :P Well maybe next week I will be back to my regimen of getting fit.

One of the culprits is Lutong Pinoy food stall at Lucky Plaza err... I love the sinigang, mango salad, pinakbet, chopsuey, bihon guisado etc. From Buona Vista to Orchard, I had my lunch there last Tuesday and another one last Wednesday and I ate pork with vegetables. I think for this month, it's the third occasion I ate pork and to make mention, I had crispy pata at Bonifacio, a bit chic Filipino restaurant in Kret Ayer, and chicken pork adobo at Lutong Pinoy. I must do away with this unhealthy stuff - seriously. I have been successful in my get-away-with-pork meals for the past months or up to a year but lately, I'm missing my plan. Anyway, I must resist the very sinful pork - I'm not a Muslim though but I wanted to change my diet.

I think I need a switch inside my subconscious to utterly remind me of this....

I am not feeling well.

When I woke up early morning today, I still am not feeling so well. Actually, last Sunday, I had fever and I asked my housemate if he has paracetamol. So I got well after taking paracetamol but then I still felt tired and weak. And today, it's the same thing except which I don't have fever anymore. I still have runny nose though.

I decided to take a warm shower. Things were manageable I supposed so I did not bother much how things are. I went to the office a bit early like it was 9:30AM, but then I felt tired. Kay, an officemate, noticed that I looked sick, so she advised me to go see a doctor at Dover Medical Clinic. Since Gemalto had an HMO for it's employees, I need not to worry about the expenses. I asked my project lead for permission to go out and see the doctor. The clinic was just a few walking distance from Gemalto. I got inside the clinic and signed things. The attendant was looking for my E-Pass but I was not able to bring it with me. Good thing I have my Aviva health insurance card. I called Kay to ask for a favor and bring my E-Pass, I thanked her of that kind effort. Kay arrived at the clinic, and I was already inside with the doctor asking me questions. He asked me if I have cough and told him that not really a cough but more of a dry throat. I told him that I had fever yesterday but I took a paracetamol. I told him that I have runny nose. He then checked my temperature and then using his stethoscope, checked if I had some infection. He also touched my neck of some nodes. He then gave me medicine and he asked if I needed some medical certification, and I agreed. The doctor gave me one day leave of office. I waited at the lounge for my medication and Kay was also there for a check-up of her allergy. After that, we went back to the office.

I told my project lead that I have a medical certificate from the doctor and I will be absent. He then asked me to submit the project DLL (dynamic link library) to one of my officemate for her to re-validate if it will work. I have shut down my pc already prior to informing him that I will be on leave so, I turned my PC again. After that, I have composed the email, I shutdown my PC then inform my officemate that I'll be going to have an MC.

I waited for the bus 91 to arrive in the waiting shed and good thing it arrived earlier than expected. I honestly don't like to take medications for some runny nose and cough. The doctor actually gave me antibiotics which personally I don't like. I decided to have a fresh fruit diet today and so went to the supermarket. I bought lean pork meat, a liter of carrot juice, two fuji apples, three oranges, two tomatoes and light soy sauce. I want to cook food for my self instead of buying one at hawkers.

When I arrived at our flat, I changed clothes and after that prepare things for the food which I will be cooking. I first washed the pork and then sliced it into cubes. I then the cubed pork into a bowl and put some vinegar, soy sauce, minced garlic, pepper and a bit of salt. I left the pork for about 30 minutes soaked in that particular mixture to marinate it. I did the same for carrots and the potatoes, washed them and sliced into cubes. I also want to add some fresh tomatoes so I washed and sliced them too. I opened the television and while preparing things, I was watching this episode in Discovery about alien or extra-terrestial life. It was interesting and fun to watch. After I finished the slicing, cutting and stuff, I heat up the pan in our gas range. I put some oil on it and once it warmed up, I put some minced garlic and onions. I waited for few seconds then placed the pork one by one on the pan. I covered the pan and left it for a minute or two. Then checked for the pork to be a bit brownish. Then I placed the carrots and mixed it then leave it for 3 minutes. Then got back again and mixed it with potatoes with the stocked water and left it for 5 minutes. I checked the viand and it was smelling good. I added some black pepper and one sliced sword red pepper. I put some dried basil leaf cut into small squares. I left it again for 3-5 minutes I think. I checked the meat using a fork and it was a bit tender already so I just needed a few minutes for it to be fully cooked. After some few minutes, I could smell how good the food was, I checked the taste and it lacked some salt so I just put it two pinches of salt and mixed it a bit with the little soup and viola it's ready to be served, ready to be served for myself=)) I have actually cooked rice as well so things were ready for lunch. I prepared a bowl for the viand and a plate of rice. I washed then sliced two oranges and one kiwi fruit. I then ate for lunch and enjoyed it much.

I kind of start to like preparing food. I wish I can enroll in a cooking class someday. Also, I wish I'd be okay for I must :)

Good day to you all and ciao!

One fine Monday

I can consider my Monday so great today so maybe I should say one great Monday instead.

Anyway, I came to the office just on time. I actually woke up around 8:20 already and my roommate woke me up because he seemed to notice that I was going to be late if won't get up and start the day right. I pulled myself from bed and went to the bathroom. Good thing there was nobody there so I would not have to queue. I managed to do the morning ritual so quick but since I had to go to the gym, it took me some a bit of time to prepare. I was able to get out of our flat at around 9:30AM. Haven't I told you guys that I have received an email from my project lead regarding the my infraction of coming to the office at around 10 AM? Yes, I do not want that to happen to so I have to get a bus ride quickly.... It so happened that the bus arrived at that time so my being late was a bit far from happening again. Arriving to the office just fine, logged in to my PC and then started opening the programs that I will be using. Then came the mail from my project lead that I will be doing some validation of the project from my Indonesian teammate. I have been using the program he created so I'm a bit familiar about it and a bit familiar with the code as well. But I could not start doing what I have to do simply because there was no documentation where to base my validation. There was no base document. I have asked my PL about it and the engineer but then the document which came was only the existing test plan... So I thought I can manage it so I decided to start the task even if I am not convinced with it. Anyway, have to hurdle this one out. Noon came and we were supposed to have a team lunch together with the boss of my manager. He is the big guy. So there, the excel sheets were untouched and the documents were still lying there waving at me. I love the idea of eating out and the idea that it's for free. The group planned to have our lunch at this cozy and chic Italian restaurant at Tanjong Pagar, called Capricci. So I left my seat and went to the toilet to attend this simple call of nature... and then my phone was ringing and it was difficult to answer that call. I was planning to just leave my mobile ringing on my side pocket but it was persistent. So after my call of nature thing, I answered the phone without washing my hands. It was Olga and she's telling me that they were waiting at the lobby of Gemalto. I actually sent an SMS to Agnes but I think she did not notice that or I don't know so I just told Olga that it's our team lunch with the big boss. Anyway, after washing my hands, my teammates were waiting and preparing for the lunch trip. We got out of Gemalto and took two cabs. We arrived at the restaurant just on time as it was like 12:30 already or just around that time. Then we ordered some finger foods. Most of them I don't really know. Our boss ordered some salads. It seemed that most of my teammates do not eat salad so I was the one who finished them all. Ofcourse we had some interesting and yucky conversations about taboo food and some vegetarian diet and diets which has some significance to religion. Anyway, I find it very interesting simply because our talks revolved around those things and not on each other's work or task at the office. We then started ordering our main course, and I had carbonarra with seafood. When our teammates had their orders, we then talked about our boss' family basically his childre. We also talked about food again. It was kind of very great non stressful talk - very light but interesting and fun one. Our food were served and then we were beginning to mellow on our talks as our attention were glued to what we were lunching. I find the food really good but since it was like a huge serving, it turned out something else but still I finished my food. After the main course, we had our desserts and I ordered fruta tiramisu. It was served after a few minutes and again, the dessert is heavenly.... should I call it sinful ? Yeah my tummy was already bulging at that point. Our talks then centered on coffee and then Java then to our teammates iphone then to our boss' HTC. Somehow we were satisfied with what we ate and we finished lunch at 3:56PM in my wrist watch. I can't be mistaken because I counted the hours left for work after that. I also noticed that the bill was at a hefty 450 something SGD which was for 6 persons. That's a huge sum actually because it can support a family of 3 in the Philippines for a month. I maybe wrong but that's how I imagined it.

It was really hot when we got out of the restaurant and worse, there were limited cabs passing by. So we had to wait for 10 -15 minutes just to get a ride going to the office.

When we arrived to the office, my sleepy eyes were making another stint. I really could not help myself and it was so embarassing. I do not like to take coffee because of my hypertension and I do not know what to do.... It's affecting my work... gosh I need to consult to a sleep expert or any of those experts out there who could better help me. Anyway, at around 6PM my brain began to function and then I started working and thinking really fast so my fingers were already typing things... I finished one worksheet which was good thing. The deadline of the project would be tomorrow or later wahahha as it is 12:38AM already. Then I sent a private message to Agnes if she's going to the gym. So off we went to the gym together. I was so lucky to see this really beautiful creature which nearly caused an accident.... Anyway, we proceeded to the gym with all these remarks and chitchats.

Gym gym gym.... cardio and some weights ....

Right now my body is still active but my eyes are sleepy. I am still waiting for MJ to be online to have a nice talk with her at this very late hour....

Oh I forgot to mention that I had a new haircut and new look and good bye to my old long hair.

Fried Kway Teow and Cactus in Holland Village

Instead of worrying much of the swine flu which ultimately be coming soon, because, I've seen on TV that it's in Malaysia already, I just want to appreciate other things life has to offer. My friend and I decided to eat out at a hawker in Holland village here in Singapore. Well, it's another Fried Kway Teow gastronomical feast. The "fried kway teow" has this flat rice noodles which I don't know what's the name exactly, some abalone, green mussel meat, and bean sprouts. The food was prepared with a bit of spiciness and was served hot. It really is a good foody trip, at least for me and my friend.

After we ate, we went checking some magazines on the other side of Holland and read around stuff. Good thing the uncle standing by was not hot tempered with us trying to seemingly sabbotage his business.

Since Jason had to buy some groceries and toiletries, we went to Guardian, a well known pharmacy. We then proceeded to Cold Storage and Jason bought some tissue wraps, a loaf of sliced high fiber wheat bread and other goods. While he was like busy buying stuff that he needed for the next days, I was also checking my way the store's display comparing prices at Fair Price. I ended up tired and looked for Jason and he was like near the counter already.

While waiting, I saw this display of potted plants and what caught my attention was this really cute cacti. I don't know but I like their green spiny but not dangerous pins around its round head. They are just cute in my eyes so I took a photo of it using my SE W705.

Jason finished all of his purchases so then, we walked our way home to our flat.

Chinese New Year Celebration at Marche

I love this new company!

Last week, our technical director invited us for a lunch at the North Border, a cozy restaurant at Rochester which serves American South Western cuisine. And today, we had our lunch at Marche. Marche is actually a French word which means market. It's a restaurant at Vivo City just a few minutes ride from Ayer Rajah Crescent where Gemalto is located.

We got out of the office around 12:15PM and I was really hungry. You see, I only ate Mars Chocolate bar for my breakfast as there was not any rice and viand cooked. Certainly my fault for not preparing one. Anyway, I did not know then where we were heading and when the clock ticked 12noon, our manager told us that we were going already and it's at Marche.

I know the place but haven't tried having lunch there.

Anyway, when we got to the place, we were given an NFC card which would serve as our order record list, somewhat a money card. I think we were limited to 100 SG dollars per person. It was exciting as the food looked really delicious. Too bad I did not bring my digital camera with me.

Anyway, I ordered garlic sausage, Australian pork and they were grilled so I have to get back after ten minutes. I went around and saw this juice stall. I then ordered a large glass of orange - apple juice. I needed rice but the only available recipe was a paella and it has shrimp on it. Not unless I wanted to have those allegies again heheheh so I opted to look around. There were bread but I was not attracted to it. There was this slightly heavy queue on the Rosti section so I aligned myself. Checking on the list of menus, I picked Rosti with Smoked Norwegian Salmon. I then went to our table and from their delicately tasted my choices. They were all good except the smoked salmon which was a little weird. I finished my lunch with that one scoop of a very delicious Swiss chocolate ice cream and a scoop of passion fruit with mango which tastes funny.

After the meal, we had this picture taking. Hoping I can get copies of the pictures from my officemates.

Happy Chinese New Year to Everyone!

Beef to Chocolates

I was trying to search the web for a good recipe and I bumped into the foodnetwork.com. It's a really neat site which talks about cooking and stuff. They actually have qualified chefs sharing decent recipes. I am no veteran cook but I can say if it's really presentable and if it's tasty.

Well, I was planning to look for something that has beef on a main dish. And guess what? I got into "chocolate macchiato", a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. The chocolate keyword has got to be blamed on this. Eversince, I was still a kid and up until now, I really love something or anything that has something to do with chocolates. The recipe is really easy to follow according to the article but I don't even recognize some of the ingredients and don't know where to find them. I think I will just stick on the chocolate bars and stuff from the supermarket.

My beef plan was screwed....

Anyway I am checking now for the real beef recipes. I'd better browse somewhere else.

My first time to be absent from work.

I am sick! Too bad I am not in the office right now and that's the reason why I am blogging. I have colds and headache. I decided to be absent so I won't infect my office mates and be the cause of people's misery though I love to infect someone with this colds but that's just a crazy idea.

It all started yesterday when I kept on sneezing and my eyes were a little watery. Anyway I took an over-the-counter medicine from Olga, to make me feel better and after some hours I became fine. But, I felt a little sleepy even if it was non-drowsy. I asked at our front desk if they have a tablet for colds so I can take it for the next four hours. I took another dosage and it went fine but my throat became irritated. So there, if I won't get better I will be absent. And so today, I'm here in our place just listening some songs and getting a good rest.

By the way, I checked on-line about the medicine I took and it has Phenylpropanolamine and when I read through about it, it says to have caution if you've got the following: high blood pressure, toxic goiter, benign prostatic hypertrophy, heart rate irregularity, gloucoma, read more...
I think this is crazy. What? I took it already and I know that I have high blood pressure. But no need to worry because my blood pressure is already normal. The thing is, it it supposedly over-the-counter. When I did further reading, it also warned of taking in paracetamol because it might damage the liver. For these information I've read, we should go organic, period!

Anyway, the best cure for this is to take lots of fruit juices so I went to the supermarket which is just close to our condo. I bought honey dew again, grapes and pasteurized orange juice. I hope I'd get better. I'm planning to have a siesta later so I can get a good rest. Oh, I bought also some vegetables so I can cook this evening a decent soup.

In truth I don't like to be absent from work because my tasks will just be piled up, since I finished ahead of my schedule, a three-day task which I finished in a day, so it's a guilt free pass for me.

Diet 101 : Lettuce a saver

I was actually diagnosed of LVH or left ventricular hypertrophy the last physical examination I had. According to wikipedia, it is the thickening of the myocardium of the heart's left ventricle which is a pathological reaction to cardiovascular disease or high blood pressure. A little sad but true, that me being hypertensive must have caused it. I have a lot of stresses in life to endure plus a bad diet. The doctor who examined actually advised me to get myself a checkup with a cardiologist. He even scheduled me for a blood lipid screening. He gave me a maintenance drug as well to be taken every morning and for a lifetime I guess. I did know then what to do. All I know is that I don't want to take any medication in a form of a drug. I just thought that two tablets a day might have serious side effects when I grow older. So I searched over the net of what are the food that I needed to eat and not. I knew that I have to stop eating junk food. I knew that I need to stop if not minimize my intake of red meat. I knew I had to go organic - simply back to basics. I scoured the internet and there were many results. There is this high fiber diet, banana a day or apple a day regimen. They all talked about fruits and vegetables. The one thing got my attention was the garlic cloves a day. I checked about the health benefits of garlic. I read through about it. I took my chances of take a clove of garlic before bedtime. I sort of had my hypertension from 150/100 to 130/90. I included eating carrots raw and all the salad recipe every dinner for five days. It got my blood pressure under control to 130/90. I was satisfied with the results. I decided to eat wheat bread and oats for my breakfast. It has helped me maintain everything. One thing I noticed was I smelled awful with garlic. So I stopped the garlic clove diet as a night pill. So I checked on-line about how to go vegan. I tried cavendish banana which was helpful for my potassium and vitamin C needs. Not satisfied of it, I always buy myself cantaloupes or honey dew melons at least once a week. In short I was eating seriously healthy. I also bought a China made sphymomanometer for my blood pressure monitoring. By the way, I lessen red meat like pork or chicken in my meals, so boneless milk fish was in. If ever I eat tuna in can, I put in fresh tomatoes on it. I then added lettuce to my healthy diet. What I have noticed is that, it has some calming effects on me. I checked my blood pressure like three days ago and it was 120/80 which was so normal already. I was so happy about it. If I ran out of lettuce supply, I made it a point to go to the supermarket to buy myself with one. I mixed it up with grapes for a sweet taste. I also bought cheap wine, not made in China. I drink wine if I need to eat red meat instead of carbonated drinks.

For some nutritional write up about lettuce, you may want to check these links I found on the net.
1.) Lettuce health benefits
2.)How stuff works : Health benefits of lettuce

Of course I found this link when I started wondering what could have improved my condition for the better and I am totally convinced that lettuce made the difference. It's because I only eat lettuce with grapes and bread for my carbohydrates needs and sometimes just lettuce. Though I crave for hot and spicy chicken meals, I made sure that everything is in moderation. Hope I can sustain this diet and become a habit of mine to pick the right food to eat.

Warning: Contaminated Dairies from China

Be warned from dairy products imported from China because they might contain melamine, an organic substance found in plastics and resins. This substance will have a bad effect on health.

I was totally shocked of the news over a local channel, upon hearing that babies in China who were taking contaminated dairies were rushed to hospitals because of some kidney problems. You might want to google the keywords, "milk China melamine" for you to see. There were even deaths already reported because of the contamination. I found out that there were implicated dairy companies such as Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd and The Sanlu Group. When I searched about the Yili products, I knew what I saw and they were displayed, in one of the local supermarkets here in Makati Philippines and were on sale. If I am not mistaken that was like a month ago.

As I can recall, this was not the only issue about food safety or product quality from some irresponsible Chinese companies. I believe there were issues about toys containing poisonous chemicals and another one was with the pet foods for dogs and cats contaminated with melamine.

Anyway, what I have noticed is that, there was not any public warning coming from the government. I mean the sites that which I have linked above were very much specific on the companies and the product. Not unless those were just false claims which will nullify this write up. But guess what, it's better to be well informed so that we can act on things which we have control over like which products to buy.

I think food safety and quality should be addressed by our local governments, and not just the government but also the retailers - selling and importing these goods. These parties have a huge responsibility to us consumers.

For us consumers , we should be careful also of what products to purchase. It would be better to go for trusted brands and don't just buy products because they are cheap. And to be honest with you guys, I was getting a little paranoid already because of this. I always check the labels and where they come from. It might be unfair, but it seems there is a pattern of these products like where they come from. All I hope is that the proper authorities or government agencies concerned are doing their duties and their best effort in taking action on this matter.