Healthy Living in Singapore

First post on Fithealthybunny.com!

Hello everyone!!

I’m so glad to be back on the blogosphere (and get back to KPO-ing with all your lives!) Thank you for still wanting to keep in touch via email these past few months of absence. It always means so much to me when you share your struggles and your triumphs and even better when I get an email to you saying you’ve completely beaten your demons and you are living your lives confident and free now :’)

It’s also amazing how much has changed since the last time I blogged in March! Since then, I’m now two weeks into being a wife, daughter-in-law and student again! (Ugh, I’d forgotten how much harder it is to have hot lunches without easy access to a microwave!)

But anyway, just a quick note to say hi and we’ll get back into the groove again soon! I can’t wait to share with you all some wedding photos and the like 🙂

Till next time!

xoxo

p.s I’m currently looking for a bike to cycle to school. Things have certainly changed since I became a wife! Ordinarily I would have just gone to the bike store and pointed to the prettiest one (haha, bimbo much) but this time we are sitting here looking seriously at bicycle specifications and wheel sizes. Or at least, he is. I’m just looking at the colours. HAHAHA.

Celebrating my 27th birthday at Kranji Farmer’s Market!

Ahhhhh! Changing jobs this year has been SUCH an experience and I’m loving every minute of it but I’m so backdated on all the stuff I want to share with you guys!

But never mind right? Better late than never? :/ Haha! Please pardon my tardiness! I have so many fun and exciting things I’ve discovered recently so stay with me! 🙂

Anyway, in JANUARY this year (eep! This post is 4 months late haha), I turned 27 and my fiance asked me what I wanted to do. I dislike watching movies, spending bucketloads of money or trawling the malls so I was delighted that Kranji’s farmer’s market was happening the weekend of my birthday. YAY!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE farmer’s markets and always make it a point to go to the pop up ones in Singapore or in any country in the world I visit. The atmosphere is always so bustling and fun and the people you meet- wow! Can I please just say they are all unbelievably inspiring?

Pictures! 😀

  
You know you are at a farmer’s market when the goodie bags are recycled from old newspapers! I approve! 😀

So many people! The atmosphere was fantastic 🙂

The market was split into 2 and in one section were all the home grown organic veggies from farms like Quan fa Organic and a lot of stalls selling home made spreads and assorted handmade goods!

There were also cute plates and bowls from Pottery Jungle! I was particularly in love with the cat ones! There was a mini workshop for kids and adults to try their hand at pottery as well. It always pleases me greatly when I see little kids trying out these kind of things. Like YES! Parents, please ditch the Ipads and homework for the day and bring your kids out to such places! It’s hot and sweaty and the kids may grumble but oh! What joy to see children appreciating first hand all the lovely things the world can offer off a digital screen!

The atmosphere of the place was really like a pasar malam. And of course, at pasar malams, there is always a lingering smell of FRIED FOOD in the air. In this case, it was the aroma of.. fried quail? :/

Local chicken eggs! I bought 2 packs!

Teehee. Don’t be weirded out by his face here. Guy in the pic was very helpful and friendly and kept recommending different drinks to try. Wheatgrass is really strong tasting though!

MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE ANYONE??

There were lots of creative ideas and campaigns going on at the market too. For one, I got to know about a Food Bank in Singapore. So cute- it was founded by a pair of siblings called Nichol and Nicholas!

 
I also came across another initiative called Singavore that encourages people to eat locally grown food to cut down on their carbon footprint.  Really very interesting! I never knew that Singapore actually grew quite a substantial amount of veggies and farmstock, even! Singavore also had a ‘Singavore month’ in February (which is obviously over) when they tied up with participating cafes and restaurants to serve the patrons dishes made with locally grown produce! One of the participating restaurants is my favourite Portico (which taste in food fortunately makes up for its inaccessibility -.-) Pity I didn’t get to go in February though but hopefully they’ll have such an event again soon!

Wide, wide array of handmade goodies and food. We were definitely spoilt for choice!

I’d never heard of Onesimus Garden. Just goes to show there’s so much more of my country I’ve yet to explore! All the greens were so vibrantly fresh!!! I was so enthralled. Except they all looked a little wilted in the heat as well. (Kinda like me. Hur. Kudos to the event organizers though. The tentage was well set up and there were lots of industrial fans and coolers to combat Singapore’s infamous heat.)

This Mint Ginger Lemonade was pretty good for warding off the heat!

Then off to the other side of the market!

But not before taking some pictures at the photo booth that was finally free!

I chose the banana prop of course. Because I LOVE BANANAS 😀 My students always say the easiest way to bribe me would be by offering bananas. WHAT AUDACITY. I am infallible to corruption and bribes! (Maybe make that TWO bunches of bananas and we can negotiate something, haha)

There is a very zen, lovely air conditioned area in between both markets in case you need to cool off.

Market 2 had more food and was similar to market 1 with the exception of live fish/ prawns for sale!

I was thrilled to find a stall offering organic Barramundi, only because it’s novel and I’d never seen it before in Singapore. 

Bollywood Veggies was also there!!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the food from Bollywood veggies! If you’ve never tried their Moringa Tempura, cancel all your plans this Saturday, round up your friends and head down! HOW CAN LEAVES TASTE SO GOOD!

 I also adore their banana bread but that day, they were selling a loaf for $30. Are you kidding me. $30 is my whole week’s budget for food. They had samples though. I might have taken a few… or a lot. I cannot say. Haha.


JURONG FROG FARM!

They had crocodile meat for sale too! Did you know Hashima which is prized for its ability to give people clear porcelain skin and build up immunity comes from an area near the frog’s fallopian tubes? Well now you know. You can thank me for the image that comes to your mind every time you eat it now.

Teehee.

The Goat Farm in Singapore also had a booth there and D was super excited because he’d never tried goat’s milk before. I think it’s okay- a little gamey but otherwise quite similar.

I also spotted the farms giving out free pandan leaves! I wanted to get some till common sense prevailed and I knew that I wasn’t going to cook anything with pandan any time soon anyway. But YES! Spend your weekends at the farms! Free pandan leaves! Haha.

Traalalalala. I love walking around just checking out booths and eating and drinking. Haha.

My fiance is a poster child for the tempura. Hur.

The sun went behind a couple of clouds and the temperature dipped slightly enough to sit out on the short stone walls for a breather.

Did I tell you how much I love the tempura yet? (Okay fine, I love anything fried haha)

D was saying something and I threw back my head and laughed and caught sight of the gorgeously blue sky and in that moment I just felt so grateful and happy you know? I was sitting on a stone wall, fried food in hand, lover at my side, the sound of our laughter still ringing in the air and I thought wow- life can be so simple, so inexpensive and so filled with joy 🙂

 
Check out also how gorgeous the flowers bloomed just in time for CNY2015!

 
You can grow your own food at home as well! D and I recently participated in Gardener’s Day Out which is another interesting weekend activity in Singapore you should definitely check out! We actually brought home a starter kit then too! Maybe I’ll share photos of that day… next year. HAHAHA.

T’was a really fun and enriching day but it wasn’t over yet! There was still my birthday dinner to go!

We carted the ingredients home in this super recyclable bag- I felt like such an eco- babe for the day! Haha.

Check out our ingredients!
Locally sourced eggs, veggies, fruit and fish!

A quick toss in a pan later and…
Ta-dah!

Leftover cinnamon- spiced roasted pumpkin, 1/2 an avocado, black pepper Barramundi with lemon slices and baby bok choy!

Two massive servings for D and I. And we sat around the table in my grungy homewear, with one leg up (I’m so glamourous) and ate and chatted- I really think it was one of my most memorable and fun (and certainly most nutritious!) birthdays ever!

And of course, to end off the night.. we had deliciously sweet organic watermelons 😀 The best part of the day? No post meal stupor, just a deliciously full feeling of happiness!

Talk about a great birthday 🙂 It didn’t cost a lot but it sure was meaningful and that, I think, made for a great start to my 27th year! 😀

If you ever find yourself with nothing to do on a weekend in Singapore, don’t stay at home or go to the malls or watch movies! They are all good and fun but try something new some times- go out to the farms! Or markets! Or pop up art exhibitions! There is often plenty to see and do and taste! It’s an exciting world out there, guys!

With lots of love,
grace 🙂

p.s I had birthday part II the following day with pizzas and crabs and a whole salted caramel cake. Uh, I guess this is called… balanced living? Haha!

Memories, Food and Love Series #1- Nasi Briyani

I’ve been wanting to do this for some time. Love and food are inexorably linked with each other and I’ve been so blessed by my interactions with the people around me, most of the time through food. It’s a strange thing in Asian culture. I think we are by nature shy with words and tend to express ourselves better through food.

I’ve been wanting to carve out a space where I can preserve all these wonderful food I’ve had the privilege of someone taking the time and effort to make for me. I didn’t just want to sit down with pen and paper and ask for the recipe. I wanted to be there when the cooking was taking place. To ask about the different ingredients, to help wash, to watch the water boiling and knowing just when to place that slice of ginger. More than anything, I wanted to preserve the memories of my (and other’s) culture and heritage- my mother’s cooking, my grandmother’s cooking, my malay neighbour’s cooking, my foreign friends who have stepped onto Singapore soil and taken the time to bless me with the tales of their land and the food they have made with their own hands. I wanted to share in the pride so evident in their voice as they showed me the food unique to their countries. These people have taught me so much (both of food and of life) and all I want to do now is keep these memories near and close to me so that one day when I’m feeling nostalgic and want to taste something of the past, I wouldn’t just be tasting something from a random recipe book but the taste of much love and memories from people I’ve been so richly blessed with.

I have been incredibly fortunate. Every request I have made of their time has been met with nothing but enthusiasm and sheer generosity.  I made no special restriction on the recipes. I told them it’s for this space which they knew to be something about vegetables but insisted they kept the recipe as true to what they usually prepare as possible. As always, they have gone ahead and surprised me. The recipes they have offered are all ones I have delightedly enjoyed in the past yet they have gone out of their way to make healthier tweaks to it to indulge me. Same taste, just slightly healthier. I’m a very lucky girl.

So first up in the series, I present to you a hot Singaporean (okay, mine!) favourite- Nasi Briyani! This was made by a woman who is matriarch of a family that I have had a privilege of knowing for only a little more than a year but I absolutely adore and love already.  The head of the household is non other than the very brilliant Yusnof Ef who really, can be considered the ‘grandfather’ of Malay songs in SEA and is definitely a pioneer in the Malay cultural scene here. I love hearing him share because his passion for the arts, heritage and community is so evident. This nasi briyani was made by his wife who is an amazing woman in her own right and I’ve often been so inspired by her patience and her sharings as well. We made this just before puasa started so I learnt (as I’ve been learning through the year) a lot on malay culture and of Islam. ( I must admit, I find the dedication and discipline wonderfully admirable and can only aspire to be as such!)

Anyway, enough talk! On to the food! 🙂
Mutton Briyani lovingly prepared by Jamilah Jaan (otherwise affectionately known as “aunty”).

Recipe:

Ingredients for the Mutton Briyani: 
1 large bunch of coriander
Handful of mint leaves
2 large onions
2 bulbs garlic
2 large old ginger
3 large red chilis
3 large green chilis
2 tomatoes
1/4 cup chilli powder
1 can tomato paste
1/4 cup Sunflower oil

Steps for the Mutton Briyani:

1. Blend the red and green chili into a paste
2. Blend the ginger into a paste
3. Blend the garlic into a paste
4. Set aside.
5. Cut meat into cubes and remove visible fat and skin

6. Sweat onions in a pressure cooker or normal pot
7. Pour ginger/garlic/ chili paste into the pot
8. Stir.
9. Add oil and stir
10. Add meat of choice and stir. Here we used mutton.
11. Add coriander and meat
12. Add briyani powder (Aunty told me she mixes the powder herself! but you can buy from mustafa)
13. Add chili powder and quartered tomatoes
14. Mix well

15. Cover with pressure cooker lid till indicator shows that it is done. Alternatively, if you are using a normal pot, simmer till meat is fork tender.

While the meat is cooking, you are prepare the rice.

 Ingredients for the Briyani Rice:
6 cups Basmati Rice
(Aunty was so sweet! She saw this brown basmati rice at mustafa and thought of me so although she has NEVER cooked this before, she decided to try for my sake! *touched* A healthier twist on traditional comfort food? I LIKE!)
12 cups water
Large spoonful of ghee
4 pandan leaves knotted
1 star anise
7 cardamons
2 cinnamon sticks
1/2 tsp cloves
2 bulbs of shallots sliced thinly

Colouring (optional)
1/2 tsp yellow powder colouring
mixed with
1 cup rose water till desired tone.

Steps:

1. Soak rice in water for 30 min
2. Drain rice and place in rice cooker
3. In a wok (big enough for the water needed for the rice), heat a generous pat of ghee (this is for 6 cups of rice so adjust accordingly)
4. Wait for ghee to melt and stirfry shallots in them till fragrant
5. Add all the spices and mix well till fragrant
6. Bring to a boil
7. When boiling, turn off heat and pour into rice cooker
8. Wait for rice to cook

While waiting for rice to cook, check on meat. When the indicator on the pressure cooker has gone off, add in tomato paste, extra chilies, half a large handful of fried shallots. Stir, bring to a boil and remove from heat. And you are done with the meat!

Back to the rice 🙂

Ta-dah! The smell when it is cooked is just AMAZING, seriously. I wish you could smell it!
If
you are going for the healthier choice, I would just stop at this step
but if you are going to impress your friends, why not just go all the
way?

9. Poke holes in rice with a chopstick when done
10. Mix a little food colouring with rose water and pour into the rice.
11. Wait 30 sec and mix rice gently. Not all the rice has to be coated with the colouring

(Auntie did ask whether I wanted to learn how to make it the ‘dum’ briyani way where the rice is cooked with the chicken in a single pot and absorbs all the flavours but I opted for this method instead because it’s easier to modify and make healthier since I would be able to control the amount of gravy to go with my rice and omitting the colour should I make this myself 🙂 )

12. Plate and serve!

And there you have it, amazingly yummy (healthier?) brown rice mutton briyani! Don’t be afraid of ghee because it’s all natural! Better than magarine but this is not something I recommend on a daily basis! It’s so so good though that when I brought it home it was gone in a few hours :/

Go try it today! Share the love with the people around you as well!

It’s the weekend! Have fun everyone! 🙂 Hope it’s a weekend filled with love for you!

Enjoy! 🙂

P.s To not over indulge, Have a few pieces of meat with just a little gravy and a fistful amount of rice. It’s really good though so some restraint is needed to try and not inhale the pot! 😉

Next up on the love series- Authentic dumplings from a dear friend from Tianjin, China! 😀

A softer world, a softer me

A couple of days ago I went for my first reunion dinner.

Reunion dinners are funny things. They are supposed to be a time of gaiety aren’t they? A time when dear family members and not oft seen relatives gather around a bubbling hotpot and partake in communal joy.

I’m introverted by nature (which simply means I recharge my social energy by people alone and doing ‘me’ things) but I do like hanging out with people and I love hearing from people and their experiences. Family time means the world to me so every time there is an invitation I will ensure that I’m there. But oh man, such gatherings always take such an extreme toil on me. 🙁

I want to be brutally honest here- I know that it’s a chore not because of anything external but because of my own self consciousness. There is no one to blame, just my own insecurities which shouldn’t even be there. It amazes me to think how slow my mind has healed in relation to my body; how fast my mental health deteriorates in relation to my body.

Physiologically I would consider myself fully healed of my (self) abusive past. My knees no longer knock together when I sleep, my stomach no longer growls. My ribs can no longer been seen jutting out and nor does sitting for long hours hurt my tailbone. My hair is full and my face is gorgeously ruddy most days. When I physically exert myself, I feel my heart pumping strongly and I’m confident of my body’s ability to climb up flights of stairs and I can run, jump and skip to my heart’s content. I haven’t been sick in years and I know I’m really healthy.

Mentally, most days I do really well. Yet there are some days I yearn for my skinnier self. I yearn to fit into pieces of cloth sewn by societal standards. I yearn to be a certain number on the scales. I yearn to look not like me, but like somebody else. Fortunately I think I’ve reached a point where these feelings are few and far between but I wouldn’t deny that there are days where these thoughts still plague me.

And these thoughts plague me none more severely than days where I have to push myself out there and meet people I usually only meet once a year. Suddenly I forget that I’m beautiful and that I’m enough. Suddenly I see myself only through their eyes and even before they have judged me (if they even do), I’ve judged myself. I cringe at the thought that year on year I’ve only been getting bigger in their eyes.

I left that reunion dinner almost in tears once again. It’s not that the people were bad or malicious but good natured jokes are severe triggers on people vulnerable to such attacks. What may be a lighthearted jab at a person’s weight to some may be terrible stab to someone who not only spent years battling a secret eating disorder, but who just hours ago, had to muster up all sorts of mental motivation to even step foot into the house. It was exhausting even to get to the place, let’s not talk about even having any energy left over to deal with such teasing.

And after I left the dinner place, I felt my heart hardening with steely resolve. I wanted to lose the weight, I wanted to be skinny and beautiful. I will do whatever it takes. I will lose 10kg, 15, whatever. I will be a skinny minnie. I need to binge, to eat away this pain, no I can’t, I just need to be disciplined and motivated. I AM disciplined and motivated. I can do this. I just need a plan. I wouldn’t eat carbs. I will go on a juice fast… I will research it now…

With every thought that was going through my mind, my heart hardened in response and I allowed it. With every statement I felt the pain ebbing away only to be replaced with my determination to make things better. I was obsessively scrolling through Instagram and searching out #juicefast or #weightloss and all these while, my fiance’s well meaning words literally fell on deaf ears and a heart so steeled against the words of the world, it wouldn’t let the good ones through either.

Then suddenly things came to a hilt. Perhaps it was all those days of striving to treat my mind and body better. Perhaps it’s all those days of surrounding myself with positive thoughts and people but deep down I knew that this determination to make things better was self abuse. It was not self love and they were all lies. I’ve come too far, experienced too much to not recognize what true self love is now. And whatever I was intending to do was certainly not self love- only the clamour for external validation.

And the more I thought about it, the more my heart softened. And with the softening of my heart I allowed the words and memories of the people around me to flood its chambers. Memories of happy times with my family and friends, laughing over food, not worrying about calories thawed the edges before making its way to my core. Memories of my fiance cupping my face or interrupting me mid sentence to tell me that I’m beautiful warmed the icy core.

And my heart felt soft, full, warm and most importantly, alive.

I could see so clearly then the abyss I so nearly threw myself into. The lies I told myself and allowed myself to believe that so nearly caused my destruction. It had nothing to do with the people around me or the gathering or anything, it was all my disordered thinking. All my doing. All in my mind.

People often ask me how to deal with their eating disorders, how to recover, how to eat, what to do. And I’m going to tell you now that the answer is in a softer heart. 

Your days will always be a battle but don’t let the world and what (you think) it says harden you. On your good days, cherish every single moment and file it away in your mind and most importantly, your heart because when the bad days come and your mind deceives you and tells you that you are not good enough, not beautiful enough, not worthy enough, it’s these very memories that will tide you over and bring you back to the side of truth.

I am beautiful, I am worthy, I am alive, strong, enthusiastic, head over heels in love with life-

and so are you…

if you would only allow yourself to be. 

Go out there and be strong my lovelies. Everyone has a battle of their own to fight. Make sure yours isn’t against your beautiful self.

With all my love,

xx

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!!!!!

YAYYYYY!!!!

It’s a brand new year!!!!!!

I’m really excited about the new year but then again I’m excited about every new day and every new second and every new moment so YAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

I’ve been MIA a little because 2015 is a year of lots of changes for me – getting married, starting a new job, moving house and permanently moving to my fiance’s church- which is crazy scary but as always, I’ll just tell myself it’s not FEAR I’m feeling, it’s EXCITEMENT!

With regards to the new job, some of you might know by now that I’ve gone into uhm… the civil service. I really don’t know how much I can divulge here. I’m sure it’s okay to say that I’m a teacher right? (I will, because I’m really happy and proud to be one so I shan’t deny it or hide it!)

And on the last day of 2014 I really STRUGGLED with regard to my social media accounts. Ideally, I would like to take my entire presence off the internet because you know, it’s a Big Bad Place and one must be Very Careful. What if someone questioned my authority in school over a grammar mistake I made in a hastily written post over here? I was really about to delete this blog and my Instagram and all at the stroke of midnight  (cue dramatic music) but I went for a talk about keeping your personal life out of your profession life and one of the main ideas was —it’s easier if your professional life is not TOO different from your personal life.

And it really struck me that my professional life is really no different from my personal life.

Whatever I say over here, on my facebook, on instagram, anything at all, is exactly what I would say to anyone in real life, face to face. I look exactly like I do in my photo on the right. Everything I post is something I really believe in and am passionate about. There’s no need to delete anything because there’s nothing to hide. So okay, I admit it’s a little bit embarrassing because over here I wear my heart on my sleeve and might come across as overly enthusiastic or with such an imperfect history when in my professional life I might have to be portray a more thoughtful, perfect demeanor. But then again, I want to be as enthusiastic about healthy living and people and being real and trying new things and loving everyone as I am right here!

So instead of making this post a tearful goodbye post, it’s going to be a really happy and enthusiastic HELLO from me!!! I can’t wait to continue sharing 2015 with you and I look forward to all your emails and comments and lunchbox as we work together to be healthier, spread the love and enjoy the little moments in life right here in sunny Singapore! 🙂

Stay beautiful everyone. You are enough.

With all my love 🙂

:D

Hello everyone!

So I know I’ve been totally MIA (what’s new right!) but this time I’ve a REALLY good reason for it!

Not only was I not in the country, was preparing for a job interviewing etc,

 I…

GOT ENGAGED!!!

*cue fireworks!*

Haha. Okay, so that’s a super lousy reason to be missing from the blogosphere but I’ve just been caught up with life outside the internet!

I am delirious with joy, of course. 😀 I am unbelievably blessed to be marrying my lover and best friend and more importantly, we love so intensely because Christ first loved us. I wouldn’t say our dating history has been 100% smooth sailing but we definitely have it much easier because both of us are very similar in the sense that we are both highly optimistic people. So when a problem crops up, we just go like “Yeeeeaaahhh. Okay, the milk has been spilled. Now who wants to put on some music and clean it up!” It also helps that we both acknowledge our total nothingness without Christ. So when problems crop up or life gets too difficult to handle, we just need to encourage each other to turn our eyes back on Jesus and the problem diminishes in the greatness of God. I’ve read so many articles circulating on FB recently on couples needing the ability to suffer together or the traits needed to stay together and I’m thankful this is one area we see eye to eye on.

Anyway! Enough of the talk! I thought I’d share with you a little about the proposal!

D brought me to Sister’s Island. At first I was horrified because I heard there were loads of sandflies there and I didn’t want to be bitten and scarred (FOR LIFE! *Drama queen level 2000) But it turned out that Sister’s island is GORGEOUS and so pristine and unsullied! I didn’t know he was going to propose of course, so I just wore an oversized T-shirt and leggings.  All our photos were taken with just the timer on the camera and a tripod! We took almost a hundred photos because the place was just really pretty. Here are a few to share! 😀

So basically we went round the island (we were the only two there!) taking silly photos like that and exploring the place. It’s not very big! We also dapao-ed pitas from Pita Pan for teabreak. There are no facilities on the island save for a toilet so bring your own food if you want to go!

This is one of the failed shots. I didn’t have time to climb up on the tree trunk before the light started flashing! Haha.

And as dusk drew nearer, D brought me to the breakwaters and popped the question! I said yes of course and we took a million shots with the setting sun. Haha

On hindsight now, I feel that D must have proposed on that ulu island because if I said no, he would just leave me in the dark on the island (no lights after 7pm) and just take the chartered boat back by himself! Hahah, just kidding. But yes, an island with bugs and creepy crawlies and monkeys (that stole our food! But more on that another time!), with pristine white sand and gently lapping waves is just a perfect place to propose to me. I would have been horrified if he did it at a hotel with all the trimmings. Also I was a bit disappointed he proposed with a diamond ring! Haha. I told him many times that I didn’t want a ring, I want a vitamix blender! But he said that can wait till we move to our new place- so okay! 😀 ( I don’t know about you but I think rings are so.. overrated. I’m killing the romance quotient this entry was supposed to have right? Haha)

So now life has been quite a whirlwind in planning guest lists and visiting hotels. I’m more excited about the marriage than the wedding but I understand that weddings are a perfect chance to work together with your soon- to- be spouse and really learn about each other. Much as I would like to skip the whole wedding thing entirely, I’m going into it remembering that it’s a celebration of love and happiness, of two families coming together and being one and things like that should always be undertaken with good cheer and joy 😀 It’s really telling of how far I’ve come when after D proposed, my first thought wasn’t ‘oh crap, I have to diet to fit into my wedding dress’ but ‘YAY!! We are going to spend the rest of our lives together!’. I can honestly and sincerely say that should the wedding take place tmr, I’m fine with walking down the aisle as I am right now and in choosing my dress, the dress would be made to fit me and not the other way around. And if you are a bride to- be as well DYING to fit into your xxxxs dress, just remember that your man proposed to you then, as you were. Don’t undermine that by abusing yourself 🙂 The best thing you can do for people who love you is to love yourself as well!

Alright that’s all for me right now! I suppose now with wedding plans in motion, the kind of lunch/ mealplans you’ll be seeing from me will all the the cheapo/ save money kind. HAHA! They will still be healthy, don’t worry! Just more uhm.. pocket friendly! 😀

If you have any advice or anything at all, PLEASE PLEASE leave a comment below because at the rate things are going, I DEFINITELY need a lot of help! 😀 And for other brides-to-be as well, I’ll be charting my journey to the wedding so please feel free to leave me advice or tell me where I’m going wrong! As for now, I haven’t done anything except emailed a couple of hotels. HAHA.

Be well and loved everyone!

With all my love,
xx

A Trip to Ladies Expo 2014

Shared this as my facebook status today.

——————————————————————————————————————–

Today I went to the much talked about Ladies Expo and I was so, so disappointed
There was so much hype surrounding it pre- event. Everyday while driving to work, Kiss92
advertisements would run and two lovely ladies would say “there are car
shows, baby shows, why can’t there by one for us ladies…?” before
chorusing together “ladies’ expo!” and promising “a showcase of the most
posh and chic in beauty, fashion, nutrition, health, wellness, sports,
fitness, shopping and more! …spoilt for choice …cater to all the
wants and needs of being a lady! Be EMPOWERED and pampered at the Ladies
Expo and emerge a better, stronger you!”

With such promises, wouldn’t you be really excited as well?

When I got there, I was so, so, underwhelmed. Most of the stores were
aesthetics inclined- skincare, facials and a whole range of slimming/
beauty products. I’m not going into details because they aren’t
important anymore but seriously, organizers of the expo, is that the
message you really want to send out to the ladies of Singapore?

I
left the fair feeling incredibly confused and slightly insulted. So
this is what it means to be a lady? Every store I passed, there was
someone offering to “improve me”. My pores could be less clogged, my
waist could be made slimmer by a special product from Korea and good
grief, how could I not be on their highly acclaimed diet shake program.
Apparently this is empowerment?!

To the organizers, I just want
to say that I know pulling off something like this isn’t easy at all and
I recognize the hardwork and logistical nightmare it must have been but
I also want to point out that the ’empowered’ lady of today isn’t a
diet shake drinker, slimming patch wearer, facial obsessed person. She
is so, so, so much more than that. The girls I hang out with today are
loud and sporty and fun. Some of them love to read, others to craft,
many are excited over some kind of sport so may I humbly offer
suggestions for the next ladies expo you may organize:

1. This
ladies expo is honestly such a good idea and I really hope that it would
continue to get better year by year. Let it be an arena where women can
get together and try on makeup in the most outlandish fashions and have
a good laugh (or self discovery) with their girlfriends or perhaps try
out something new in more comfortable surroundings without the presence
of men but it is so important to remind women that they are more than
the superficial. We don’t need the oppression of other women as well or a
fair to tell us that we are even further from perfection than we
already think we are. There is nothing wrong with offering pampering
beauty treatments, or fashion or whatever not but don’t limit the idea
of a “lady” to that. Collab with other vendors. Books, music, crafts,
sport. There was a belly dance event but how about rock climbing, muay
thai, art, woodworking, gardening, learning languages, cooking, bicycle
parts, car shows something like that? Perhaps if we stop dividing
activities and hobbies into “male/ female- centric”, we would start
seeing all of society as “human” rather than in binary oppositions.

2. If you really want to empower women, offer booth spaces for the women from http://www.motherandchildproject.com/, or EmancipAsia
or the hundreds of other charity organizations aimed at giving work and
hope to struggling young women. Invite the busker outside Shaw House to
give a performance (she’s great btw). Shine the spotlight on the myraid
of young talented, passionate women from all over Singapore. There are
so many! Throw a stone and you’d hit 10.

3. There were health
talks aimed at women that were pretty great but we could certainly do
more. Invite women who have suffered from eating disorders, breast
cancer, ovarian cancer to share. Search through the thousands of
instagram pages in Singapore for women who have gone through so much.
Invite EUNICE OLSEN
to share about her WomentalkTV experience. Show young women still
finding their footing in this world that life isn’t about how skinny
they are or how they look but what they aspire to be. Then equip them
with the confidence that in whatever they choose to do, there will
always be a group of people out there they can look to for healthy
guidance and motivation.
At the end of the day, the main aim of a
“ladies expo” shouldn’t be to sell a bunch of beauty products but to
inspire- to make women feel that they are so much more than the
superficial, that they indeed have the power to go out there and live
their dreams (whether as a beautician or a politician or an
auto-mechanic).

I know all these are tall orders and there are
so many budget and logistical constraints to think of but I really hope
that in the future ladies’ expos to come, (my girlfriends and) I would
exit through the doors truly inspired, empowered and proud to be a lady.

——————————————————————————————————————–

#95 holler because it’s the holidays! | A beauty day out

Ahhhh… term break.

Music to a teacher’s ears. Finally that one morning you don’t have to wake up once your alarm goes off. When I was relief teaching, I used to set my radio as an alarm and it was hilarious because once it sounded, it would play Majulah Singapura which in any case, was rousing and inspiring for like, the first day and that was it. Is it disrespectful to say that after awhile the sound of the national anthem made me squirm and protest a little inwardly about how ‘it’s too early. bejeezus- this is inhumane!’.

I don’t teach in a goverment school now but term time is no less frantic so when the holidays roll around it’s time for some R&R! Every end of term I treat myself to a day off. That is FOUR days off a year T.T to eat good food, get a hair cut maybe and definitely, definitely get a massage. This time, the plan was to indulge in something healthy and great tasting, get a massage, go to the dentist, get my hair trimmed and.. get a facial.

I know this sounds weird to you guys but my experiences with facials (I can count them on one hand) have never been amazing. I usually go because a girlfriend of mine wanted to go. It’s like taking rollercoasters- said friend always promises that it’ll be great! It’ll be awesome! You’ll feel so good after! It’ll be fun! C’mon! and I always agree because.. maybe, this time? Only to walk out of the place feeling meh. At best I feel meh. On my last trip to a facial salon however, I walked out feeling absolutely traumatised. The person doing the facial had found a small, tiny pimple on my face and instead of cooing over it’s adorable baby-ness, she proceeded to attack it with such viciousness there should have been baby pimple laws written to protect them. ALSO, the thing I dread most- the EXTRACTION process. I HATE IT HATE IT HATE but everyone says it’s a necessary evil and the road to smooth skin is full of bumpy little white and blackheads that need to be aggressively removed. Suffice to say, I left my very last facial a couple of years ago absolutely traumatised and with a pimple scar that lasted almost 2 years.

Anyway, I decided to schedule a facial this time because (1) my face is insanely clogged. There aren’t any pimples or anything and it looks clear if you see me from far away but late nights and poor hygiene (eep!) have left much room for improvement. I don’t know how to explain it but if I look into the mirror under strong sunlight, the surface of my skin is bumpy 🙁 and (2) I had a voucher for a discounted first trial at a new facial salon called Le Queenz that just opened at Tanjong Pagar Plaza. Haha, yes I’m very cheapo.

I wasn’t intending to blog about it because quite honestly, I was just hoping for some blackhead removal and crossing my fingers the beautician wouldn’t scar my face and please please please be gentle with the extraction BUT GUYS, this was such the bombdiggity that for the first time in my life, I actually signed a package with them.

Since I wasn’t intending to blog about it, I don’t have any pictures so I took the following off their facebook. I love it when beauty salons are new! Everything is so gorgeous and pretty and I love the colour palette of the place. Some beauty centres make my head spin- everything is so pink! 

Doesn’t it just look so inviting and pretty?

The process is quite standard I guess. When I arrived I filled out a form (area of concern: dry skin, BLACKHEADS, BLACKHEADS!! CLOGGED PORES!)  and was then ushered into the room above to have my skin ‘analysed’. It was quite embarrassing to have to tell the beautician that I don’t do anything with my face except to wash (sometimes without a dedicated facial wash) and I uh, also don’t put sunscreen. But! She did say my skin was in very good condition despite my horrendous neglect (yay!) and said I must have a very good diet with a lot of fruit, veg and water. YES! I DO *bows* hahaha.” Pity eating well doesn’t clean my skin :/

The beautician was a fountain of knowledge though. She smoothly answered all my question, talked me through how to take care of my face while she cleansed, exfoliated and whatever else beauticians do (I was falling asleep).

Then she said the magic words!

” I don’t believe in extraction because it actually harms the skin and introduces bacteria into the pores. So what we do here is that we use a special machine that ‘scraps’ off the black/ white heads and unclogs the pores”

AND THE MACHINE IS AMAZING I TELL YOU. It’s quick and painless and afterwards, she actually shows you all the stuff that comes out (ew).

But seriously, NO EXTRACTIONS! I didn’t care what she did after that man. This place is my new favourite!

Okay, I’m going to show you guys something- I was half asleep so when she was zapping away with the machine and she actually missed a small spot- I suppose it’s easy to miss coz it’s the spot under my lower lip and you actually have to stick your tongue there to be able reach the skin in that area. If I was awake I could have told her but hurhur, it was too comfortable and I was in zzzland. Anyway, good thing she missed coz I could take a photo of what my skin was like before the facial.

Prepare for something really gross though..

Hahaha. It looks like a whale’s jaw but that’s okay coz everybody looks like that when they do that 🙂 But do you see all those little bumps! That’s what I had around the sides of my nose, on my nose and my face in general!

And after the extraction my skin was smooth like a baby’s bottom! No redness too! You can see that the skin surrounding it is totally free from all the bumps. AMAZING. I need to remember to stick out my tongue in that place next time haha.

After everything was over she brought me to a chair to get my eyebrows done (she says she can’t do it when I’m lying down because it wouldn’t be as accurate as when I’m sitting up) and this was the only part that I didn’t really like because I was so zenned out by the facial that to have to sit through the eyebrow plucking was sheer torture T.T I rather ć…ˆè‹ŠćŽç”œ you know?! Plus for the eyebrows, she shaved a little of it for me which I also disliked because shaving makes it grow back much faster but the good thing is that whatever it is, you can just tell the beautician. She customizes everything to what you say and what your skin is like so when I vocalised my concerns, she was quick to switch to plucking it entirely. Also I heard that she’s had almost 10 years of experience and used to work at this really well known eyebrow embroidery place. It’s amazing she has 10 years of experience though. She looks so young! But when she speaks, you know she is definitely worth her mettle.

The salon is new so package prices are going at great promotional prices. I bought a package of 12 sessions for only $1000+ I can’t remember the exact price. A session is usually $168. I’m trying to  slowly move away from chemical laden skincare too. Le Queenz uses Babor which is a German skincare brand that is preservative free and uses ‘natural plant derived substances in their most concentrated form’. I’m going to start with preservative free skincare followed by partially (?) chemical free then hopefully organic. Still very new to all these! (Is there such a thing as a organic facial spa in Singapore?)

Alright, I just wanted to share my experience here because I’ve finally found an extraction free facial place in Singapore that actually works. I’ve been to facial places that offer no extraction as well but my face has never been this clean. So if you are looking for a place as well, definitely give this place a try. Since it’s new, first trial is only $68!

Hahaha. Can’t believe I wrote so much about about a facial salon. Anyway! The next place I went to for a quick hair trim was Organic Hair Professional. It’s located in the same plaza as Le Queenz and I am in love with the place. Seriously, if you want to pamper yourself, don’t spend 3 hours stuck in some hair salon filled with chemical smells! I used to not notice how strong the chemical smells were in hair salons till I went to Organic Hair Professionals. Now I can never go back! Seriously, even if you don’t go for a hair cut, at least walk in to smell the salon. It smells so lovely!

I ended the day with a tuina massage at XinHua TCM clinic located at 100AM. I love deep strong massages and honestly think shiatsu massages are a waste of money haha. Just as I was paying to leave, I noticed they offered a ‘tummy detox slimming massage’. Curious, I asked what they did. It’s about $80! The woman replied that they basically massage your tummy for a while then they WRAP you up for the remaining time. $80?! To be wrapped in shrink wrap for an hour?! I think the only way it helps you detox is by preventing you from eating anything for that hour.

With my $80 safely tucked in the depths of my bank account, I hot footed out of that place and headed back home with a considerably cleaner face, neater hair and a less tense body.

T’was a good day.

xx

p.s I feel compelled to say that I wasn’t in any way compensated monetarily or made to write the review for any of these places. I just like to share good things. 🙂

// EDIT

WOW GUYS! Lequeenz has generously offered to give all my readers their first trial at only $48! Quote vegsmoothiebunny when you make your appointment with them: 6244 0228. Offer valid till 31 December 2014. Males welcomed though they don’t have the shoulder massage segment but I guess that’s okay because you still get a really clean face? Haha.And as usual, for FIRST time customers only! Enjoy! 😀

#94 Time was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on

I’m back after a quick social media detox 😀

I find that it’s just so easy to get sucked into the whole whirlwind of virtual reality that you lose on out on real living so I took some time out to just get away from social media for a bit, recharge, think about what I want to do with this space and life in general.

I’ve really enjoyed having this space to connect with all of you. I enjoy the interaction, the exchanging of tips and tricks and of course, all of your emails that you have so generously written with the sincerest of hearts. I recently made a decision to go into full time teaching next year (made the decision only! Don’t know whether I’ll get in! Haha) but it occurred to me, of course, that I wouldn’t be able to upkeep this blog very much when and if that happens. (All you teachers out there struggling with CRAAAZZYY workloads and still breathing life into all your lessons each day- I SALUTE YOU!)

Truth be told, I now feel like a woman on her deathbed. *cue dramatic music* I want to do so much more with this space before the possibility of having to leave it comes true. I want to write more, share more, reply more of your emails and questions and most importantly, remind you everyday that you are more than your body or the food that you eat. Way, way more. I want to promote connection and love and trust and fill up my little space here on the world wide web with so much positivity and love and optimism that it would come out like fairy dust through your screen and brighten your day a little, no matter how you feel about yourself at that moment 😀

Sometimes when I read your emails, I feel such closeness to all of you; like we are a bunch of friends who’d known each other forever and we are just sitting around with our hair bunned up, wearing PJs, sipping tea and exchanging stories about everything and anything from body image issues to best facial places and uh.. where to buy cheap pots and pans. (hurhur- I’ve realised there is a secret aunty buried within all of us. We should UNLEASH HER!) I’m battling against time, working very hard to achieve all of that and I
can’t wait to share good news with you guys about my next giveaway (AREN’T YOU EXCITED! I love giving stuff away haha) or a
discovery in my journey towards organic skincare (current knowledge
level = 0.003%) or simply to just return home each day, sit in front of my computer and start off my post with a mundane ‘Today I … (went to the toilet?)’.

I don’t even know why I’m writing all these haha. I wanted to write about my day and share with you guys about my new discovery about vertical gardening (YES! I finally found out how to plant vegetables in a HDB flat!) but my words flew right off tangent into a jumble of goodness-knows-what. I guess I just want to say that no matter how the future pans out I’m so, so grateful for this small little chance to have known all of you. (And also I will try and blog more often haha)

So from now till the next post, no matter where you are remember that someone out there (here) truly doesn’t care whether you are size -200, 0, 4,28 or 2000. All I care is that you know yourself to be worthy of everything you envision yourself to be and I think of you often, especially in times when you think no one in the world could possibly be thinking about little ol’ you.

xx

This week on instagram… #1

… featuring my relief that I’m back to varied eating and composing my meals from all the various food groups without any restrictions and feeling better than I have in a long long time. 😀

Also, #howtobeauntie and stretch one expensive meal at dapalo gastronomia into two + being totally conned by Boost Juice “Green” Smoothies. I hate false marketing! I think if you want to sell healthy food, make it REALLY healthy and if you don’t, then go all out and lace it with chocolate and syrup and call it as it is.

Ending off with some of my favourite inspirational pictures 😀

Happy Saturday y’all! 😀