Time out

Hey, guess what? It’s end of June, which means to say, half the year is already gone!

Time to review your personal resolution, which you did six months ago and take stock of what you have done for the past half year.

Are any of your new year resolutions made earlier, in full swing or in action? If not, then it’s time to review and re-strategize.

If the first half had been a bad year for you, which had put a stop to all your resolutions, then perhaps you can just select one and focus on making sure this one goes thru for the remaining year.

If most of your resolutions are already in full swing, then it’s really time for a time out. Take a break from your hectic schedule and head somewhere for a well-deserved rest. Do not forget to rest and enjoy mid-way. You need to re-charge.

Whatever it is, a mid-year review on your personal achievement is always good, to see where you are supposed to be at this point in time, and where you are now in relation to that. How far are you off target, so that you know when & where to accelerate OR slow down.

You still have another six months to make a difference this year. So what’s it going to be?

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Have you taken your calcium for the day?

No time for breakfast every morning? Why don’t you make a habit of storing a box of milk in your fridge. Do your marketing on Sundays.

Each morning, whether or not you have the time for breakfast, first and foremost have a glass of milk. On days where you are too busy to prepare or stop by somewhere to grab breakfast, at least you know that you have already coated your tummy with a glass of milk to provide you the energy and basic nutrients that your body need to power up for the day.


Most importantly, you provide your body with a daily dose of calcium it needs for healthy  bones and teeth.  It's always better to start off right, early in life. Even a small glass a day is good enough. However, avoid chocolate milk.

If you are not a fan of milk, alternatively, you can do the same with :

a) soya bean (soy milk)

b) yoghurt (preferrably low fat yoghurt)

These stuffs don’t need time to prepare in the morning. And milk can be purchased from anywhere at anytime of the day such as at 7-11, petrol stations, mini mart, grocery stores, even late at night.

Cheers!


1) More info on the role of calcium in your diet, please click here.
2) 15 Tips on how to prevent osteoporosis, click here.

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Study mode. Do not disturb

                                    By the way, the person up there isn't me. Pix taken from here




People have been asking me how am I coping with my MBA study. Some might imagine me to be handling it like the one up there. Relaxing while doing my assignment. 


What do you think..?


Yeah, right..!! Did I just say IMAGINE...? Yeah, that's the RIGHT word alright..! This is more like how I'm coping...ok!?!?

They don't call it MBA for nothing.


I think they are trying to train us to be poly-chronic or something like that (uuh.. this is a new terminology that we learn in OB). It means doing many things at the same time.


Like we now have to work on 2 assignments (which will be due 2 weeks after our exam) and study for our exam at the same time (which will be in 2 weeks time). That's not a lot of time, ok, NOT AT ALL..!!


Every other day, I seem to think I have figured out what it is that the assignment want us to do, only to discover the next day, that I actually don't know what it is they want. Sometimes I'm supposed to be doing assignment I but then after a while, I realized that whatever I have been thinking is actually for assignment II. When I am supposed to be reading for the exam, I am actually thinking of assignment I, wtf..!


Fun eh..? That's what I have been going through and I am about to look like this..

I just hope that I don't get to a stage where I will have to do this.. :-D

But.. my lecturer kept telling us what we're going through is very normal. It's part of the learning process that we have to go through, especially if we've been working for many years, it will take some time to get the engine running... hence, we should take it easy woh..




Alright! Take it easy, I will...

Thank you for the advise, Dr Chua..! Cheers!


Oh wait, is that Dr Chua or Dr Chia... +__+




--moon


Blog name - carrot head and applemint

Day trip to the capital of Nyonya food and Portuguese historical site

                                          Picture taken from here




We went down to Malacca town today for an appointment, and as usual, whenever we are there, we will make it a point to explore Jonker Street and it's historical site, even if it's for 1/2 hour.


Of course, we can never resist the urge to enjoy Malacca food too.. :-D


We've been there umpteen time, but because it's always due to work that we are there, we always seem to be in a rush. Hence, it's rather difficult for me to take any pictures, especially when I am with a person who is specifically not photography savvy (is there such a word?) and no patience for it too. Furthermore, you must understand that the Malaysian hot and humid weather doesn't really allow any working person to get in the mood to be creative.


This time round, it's no difference, but then I decided to try and snap some impromptu pictures, instead of getting myself stressed out over the fact that it's not the kind of quality picture that I would love to have captured for you to see, and yet, regret if I didn't maximize the opportunity that I have, each time we're there. We're always saying we'll be back for the real tourist experience, but then we've been saying that for years!


So, first stop after our appointment, lunch!


It was our first time having lunch in Melaka Raya today. Normally we would go for the chicken rice ball. ST knows there are plenty of Nyonya food in the area, and because, we were hungry as usual, we just popped-in to the first one near where we were able to find parking. We went into one called Banyonya.


To cut the story short on why there are no pictures of the food taken or restaurant, it's because we were too hungry, the food took a rather long time to be served and before we knew it, we had already left the place.. +__+


It was after we have taken our lunch, that we took our time strolling along the main road, surveying the restaurants and shops around there. And we realized that perhaps we should have gone to a restaurant called Nyonya Makko Restaurant, coz it was packed to the brim, and they seem to have more varieties of nyonya food on their menu, compared to Banyonya. 


Anyway, next, we adjourned to Jonker Street. We love going there and never miss the opportunity to stop by even for a while, to grab my coffee.

The place where we normally park our car, now has a brand new and big hotel operating there called Casa Del Rio. It overlooks the river, opposite the old Malacca Port and the Maritime Museum which is in the shape of an old Portuguese ship, or something like that.

These pictures were taken from Casa Del Rio's river front. Feel free to click on any picture for a clearer view. 

If you click on the above picture for a clearer view, you will be able to see the Maritime Museum which is in the shape of an old ship outside.

Here's the clearer picture of the Maritime Museum that I meant. Am sure you have seen this before, if not in person, then in pictures.

Another up and coming brand new hotel, with it's own river front, continuing from Casa Del Rio.

After checking out the hotel, which has a spanish taste in it, we walked to Jonker Street.

In the scorching heat, ST requested to have the famous Malacca Durian Cendol, at this place called Jonker88. The last time we came, they were close.

Somehow, I prefer the Penang cendol at the world famous Penang Street. Nothing can beat that.

It was a life saver in the this killer weather. After which, we hopped over to a cafe 5 minutes away for my coffee.


This has always been our favourite cafe where I enjoy my afternoon coffee. It's called the Geographer Cafe (newly renovated recently). Click here for more pictures of the place taken at night by a blogger and it's exact location. I wish I was able to take my time in snapping some nice pictures of the cafe. Well, guess this will have be it for now.

There were still plenty of Singaporeans in and around the Malacca township as, we were told that they have a 1 month school holiday. The entire Jonker Street was rather busy with cars from Singapore.

Why do I keep coming back here for it's coffee? Coz they serve one of the best Lavazza coffee!! And this place has air-cond..!!

See, I was sweating buckets...




On the way back to the car, we would normally take our time (if we have the extra time) to slow down a bit and go into a few of our favorite shops. One of them is this one, which is ST's favorite - The Udara Art Studio. They do not have a website, but they do have a FB account which you can click on up there.

Most of what they offer in the shop, is not something which you can find in any shops around the Malacca area. They sell rather unique and pretty fridge magnet (which ST love), costume jewellery, arts and prints of Malacca and it's heritage buildings. Lovely! You can see some of the stuffs they sell in their FB.


Left Malacca around 3 pm, and got home around 5.15 pm. Knowing that we will be having dinner really late tonight, we decided to stop by our favorite mamak shop - Restoran Silva in KK for tea break.

ST can never resist their potatoes, which is normally eaten with chapati. Their curry puffs and vadai is lovely!


If you are interested to know what else is good in this restaurant, click here.


As I was blogging on my brief Malacca trip today, I was also browsing in the net for some pictures which represents Malacca. I stumbled upon a few truly nice and lovely pictures taken by someone out there, and would very much love  to share it with you here.

                           Beaded Nyonya shoes. Picture taken from here

                        Multichrome enamel porcelain tea tray




A few years back, we were there for work and I took some beautiful pictures in Jonker Street, the pictures can be viewed here. It's in my FB. Feel free to add me if you can't see it.




--moon


Blog name - carrot head and applemint

Gentle morning stretches to energize your day

Picture taken from here

Stretching early in the morning immediately after waking up has benefits for your body, mind and soul.

After sleeping for hours, your muscles tend to become stiff and tight. Early morning stretches help to loosen and realign your muscles. This is also a gentle way to increase blood flow to your entire body and calmly help your body and mind to switch from a rested state to a woken state.

Stretching can increase flexibility, improve circulation and contribute to your sense of well-being.

Since it’s an extremely difficult task for most people to wake up a little earlier, just to slot in a mere 10-15 minute stretching, it is always good to have a pre-set of physical postures or poses, so that you can continue to relax or dream on while you practice the stretching without interruption in the movements.

Here are two highly recommended sites, which I found to be extremely good.

1) Yoga Stretches
For people who prefers a gentle stretching routine, yoga style, click here for the video instruction.

                                           Picture taken from Yoga Journal - May 2011 Edition

You can ignore the breathing coordination that coincide with each movement, but do remember to breathe deeply, slowly and continuously.

Initially, you WILL have problem remembering all the sequential poses. Here is what you can do. For the first week, do the first and second pose. Then incorporate the third and fourth pose once you think you are able to take on more challenge.

I've always preferred the yoga series of twelve physical postures, as these alternating backward, forward bend movements, often with some twist and side tilts postures flex and stretch the spinal column through their maximum range, giving a profound stretch to the entire body.


However, if you feel that the entire 12 posture series is too long or too tedious for you, you can practice up till pose no 3 (the downward dog pose) and remain in that pose for a full 2-3 minutes before you wrap up with child pose. It would be better if you could practice up till pose 6 at least. Don't forget to switch sides.

2) Pilates Poses
For people who doesn’t mind a bit of pilates exercise routine, for just 5 simple poses.

Always remember to change sides to ensure there is balance

You can click here for further instructions

Picture taken from here. Click here for further instructions too

Picture taken from here

Picture taken from here

Once you're done, even for 5 minutes, congratulate and reward yourself with a healthy home made breakfast followed by a cold refreshing shower!

Here's a healthy breakfast suggestion - the breakfast parfait! It consist of low fat yoghurt with cereal, nuts, seeds, fruits and oat (last item is optional). It's easy and quick to prepare. Buy those cereal that contains 45% of nuts and seeds, so that you just need to prepare the fruits.

Not your cup of tea? Have a smoked salmon and egg sandwich instead then.

                                                   Picture taken from here

Mexican burritos. Click here for more healthy and appetizing options

Have a great day!

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

What's up, Doc?

                               Click on any picture for a clearer view

Had dinner at my brother’s house last Saturday night. The Chef in action on that day was – Ms Tomato Head, who started preparing at 11 am, assisted by the Grand Chef (the grandma) and the Mother Chef.

                                                      This is she…

The menu for dinner consisted of ....

Spring flower mushroom - Mushroom, chicken & carrot wrapped in cabbage with special sauce (her own creation).

Yummylicious potato pancake, dip in yoghurt sauce. Extremely good combination!

                           Tomato soup, naturally, made by Tomato Head.. :-D

                            Healthy Spaghetti Soup - Her own concoction

                                      Here's another picture of the spaghetti

We love the healthy mix of vegetables in the soup, made with real chicken stock substance and mushrooms.

I stayed over at my brother’s home that night, as we planned to go shopping the next day.

                                        The girls getting ready for the day out.

Went shopping at Fahrentheit, Lot 10 and Pavillion, or rather, their mom went shopping while we were goofing around.

                                             Charlie's Angels.. 

Actually the 3rd Angel was busy taking pix laa.. This angel here (1st from the left) is not supposed to be there one.. :P

Then when I was about to switch place with the actual 3rd angel, we got sounded by the sales staff there.. +__+

While the mom went shopping, everyone watches the CD Girl play games on the father's  iPhone 4, and the aunt got busy with her camera.

That's all, folks! Ta..!

Aiyah....!!! Forgot to take a pix of Panda/Pixie and Pearl, their hamsters..! Never mind, I'll be back..!

A friend took a pix of one of them, and posted it in the FB. Can be viewed here.

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Snapshots of the day

                                               Catching the mist...
                           Click on any picture for a magnificent view

                                       Picture taken by Serena Harriot

                                                                 Heavy downpour

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.

                                                     After the rain

Location - Cameron Highland in Malaysia


These lovely and awesome pictures were taken by a friend - Christopher Harriot




--moon


Blog name - carrot head and applemint