3/25/2012

The new vase

 I tend to buy Orchids on a weekly basis. And other than the beauty, there are a few reasons on why I choose them over others.
1. We get to buy varieties of Orchids at a very reasonable rate in the markets here.
2. In my calculation, they are the most economic flowers, as they last for a week in the dining chamber. Later, when we buy new flowers, I trim the oldies a bit and I can move them to my kitchen shelf
3. They fit in the slim vase, which doesn't take too much of a space from the dining table.



I love the look of Orchids on wine bottles. Manu comments its coz I tend to buy only few flowers to save money! The narrow vase is always my excuse for it. Anyways, as I keep looking at them again & again, I realize that they deserve a better look and I chose the one with this beautiful green-brown. Only now I need to remove the sticker to make it look better.
Ladies, the easiest method (if the wine label is attached with a sticker adhesive) is to soak the bottle in warm water . I filled the bottle with water, capped it and then immersed in a bigger vessel filled with hot water. It peels of so easily.

And here it stands :-)

3/20/2012

Over cautious we are

This is not the first time I am coming across a totally unwanted sign. But, somehow the caution signs in Singapore haven't stopped amazing me.


How the push door is gonna open unexpectedly ?
Come On! It is a transparent glass door.
You can see if someone tries to open it from inside.
Even Manu gave up trying to find a logic behind it!

Y this pampering , my dear Singapore ?

3/16/2012

The shocking percentage!

My Gym has a machine to check the body fat percentage and other sophisticated numbers related to health. After 3 months of workout and a weight loss of 5 Kgs, I had enough courage to step on to it and the result did blow my mind off!
Quite depressing numbers they were.

The BMI is still in overweight range, which is fine for me as now. Coz I know that by continuing my weight loss, I can steer it to the healthy range pretty soon. But now this new number - Fat Percentage is bothering me a lot! This one is way off the limits and am not ready yet to share it publicly.
Ideally, ladies are supposed to have a Fat% of 8-15. See what Wiki says.
The technique used was Bioelectric Impedence analysis. Only consolation I get is this statement:
"When comparing outputs from a Tanita scale to an Omron Body Logic handheld device the Tanita scale overestimated the percentage body fat in college-aged men by 40% and in college-aged women by 55%.[" My Gym has the Tanita scale! But, then on further browsing, I found this chart provided by Tanita Ltd. And hence I am officially obese!

The more disturbing process was the analysis where by the instructor was shell shocked. He was telling me that in his entire career,  my results is the first time he is coming across, with the Fat mass higher than muscle mass. This leaves me so very anxious about my health!
So, as usual, I did my research and the only solution is diet control (read - healthy food) & gain some muscle mass. So, I started the much dreaded weight training. Nickie & Eric are teaching me the correct form and different sets of work outs. Hope I will be able to see the % creeping down soon.

3/12/2012

Oh! How much I miss all these ..

I miss all the fun we have in Kerala ..

The lush Greenery and the open space everywhere ..




The delicious street food with the tastemaker being the pollution :-)
Somehow, this tastes so much better when from a roadside stall.




The spontaneous fun we can find :-)




The commotion that comes out of no where, for no particular reason!










The long long train journeys, varities of Mangoes , The dark thunderous rain, Festivals, and loads and loads more ....

3/09/2012

Paranoia Kicks in !

The trip to India has left me emotionally very weak and paranoid.

I heard too many incidents on cancer, tumor, vital organ failures and many other fatal diseases. Surprisingly, this is affecting people in my age group, which makes the impact harder. As Priyanka put it right during a discussion yesterday, few years back Cancer was a disease which affects people whom we do not know.

PS : This gets a special mention here coz this is the First ever sensible statement from her, from the time I met her !

But, these days every other person has lost a relative or friend to these chronic diseases.
I have given a lot of thought to it and came up with some actions to execute ASAP.

• Make more people aware of these, and hence the post.

• Grapes - The first fruit we always pick up while shopping. But, seems it is the crop most sprayed with insecticide. So, at home, Mom soaks it for 4 hours in salt water and rinses it. I plan to make Manu do those, if he ever buy grapes!

• Just out of curiosity, I soaked the apples in water over night. I notice a white colored substance sticking all over the the peel! I have decided -Am always gonna carry a peeler whenever I carry apple for snacks. I still don’t know how to remove the wax coating from apples. So, I always choose the apples from the not-so-beautifully polished basket, sitting next to the Red-delicious shining ones.

• Cabbage always tastes delicious with brown rice & Mom taught me an easy recipe. So, it appears very frequently in my kitchen. I heard a shocking fact from Raigon. Since cabbage grows layer by layer, each leaf will be sprayed with the pesticides! My budget is still not big enough to allow me to go to organic shops. So, I decided to reduce cabbage consumption. And even when buying, I should buy the small ones, rather than gigantic ones. Also to wash each leaf thoroughly.

• Chemical reaction which plastics have with warm food never occurred to me until Manu’s Dad explained to me. So, all those beautiful containers are tucked away in the cabinet and we are using only glass or porcelain dishes to microwave/ store/ reheat the food. I find it challenging to bring lunch in glass dish though. Maybe should go back to the old style steel containers to pack lunch.

• I have started cooking regularly- you must understand that it is daily. This gives me control on the ingredients, how many times I wash them, no re-use of the oil, cook hygienically. We had more than enough street food, the snacks fried in zillion times reused oil combined with the dust and dirt from the polluted road side . Aah.. How delicious they are!!

• We have decided to have dinner from home every day, at least on week days. Probably we should schedule dates like once or twice a month to eat out. Lunch is still a challenge, coz even if I cook extra for the dinner; somehow we are left with nothing for the next day. I should improve upon my estimate. I have decided to stop my take away lunch, from Monday on.

• Most of the patients I heard are neither drinkers nor smokers. So, I am going to investigate on the positive effect of alcohol and tobacco to fight against these diseases. I believe in the theory “Innocent until proven guilty”.

• Travel more frequently and actively. What if I die before visiting Grand canyon, Puerto Princesa , Manarola village & the Jaisalmer desserts. And do whatever else I have ever wished so hard.

• Re-visit my insurance options. One friend’s insurance money ran out by the first phase of treatment & he is still pending the Liver transplant :-(

• I am still debating with Manu on Why should we have savings .
What if we save money & still get some disease. Will have to give whole load of money to doctors, which in turn won’t be enough and then I would still die of the pain. Then, what’s the point?

• And the ultimate question. What if I am actually diagnosed with the disease? What should be the next step?

• Think further, what are the critical points I have missed out until now.

3/07/2012

Color Color which Color ?

Maybe itz some sort of personality disorder, which has finally revealed itself. These days, I have started having a strange affinity towards bright & fluorescent colors and bizarre patterns. Itz quite shocking to myself and others who know that I am always inclined towards black clothes and dull accessories! Last time when parents were here, after the first week they thought that my company might have rules to wear only black or grey to work ! ;)
Anyways, just wanted to let you know that the colors have entered my wardrobe some how!

Which one do u like better ?