Jamie Cullum is one of my favorite jazz artists. This song, "I'm Glad There's You" explains beautifully my relationship with my goal and pursuit of health and happiness.
Jamie Cullum: I'm Glad There's You
Said I many times, love is illusion,
A feeling result of confusion
With knowing smile and blast sigh,
A cynical so and so, am I
I feel so sure, so positive,
So utterly unchangeably certain
Though i never was aware of loving you
'til i suddenly realised there was love in you and oh...
Chorus:
In this world of ordinary people...
Extraordinary people,
I'm glad there is you
In this world of overrated pleasures
And underrated treasures,
I'm glad there is you.
I live to love,
I love to live with you beside me
This role, so new
I'll muddle through with you
If you'll guide me through.
In this world where many, many play at love
And hardly any stay in love,
I'm glad there is you
More than ever, I'm glad there is you
Said I many times, love is illusion...
Friday, June 3, 2011
Assignment 4: Annie's Obituary
Obituary
Annie was this nation's leading anthropologist. Throughout her long and fulfilling life, she studied the history of nutrition and the evolution of homemade meals. She was a social scientist, a loving mother and grandmother, and a devoted observer of how we defined healthy food.
She died of old age, at 94 years old, survived by her three children and five grandchildren. She left us in the middle of a project she had been working on in the last five years: to analyze modern mother's preference of and definition on convenient and healthy packaged food. She passed away in her sleep at her home library. She will be missed not only by her academic peers but also by all food lovers. Her achievement and contribution to the understanding of our balancing act on nutrition and convenience is unique and cannot be replaced by anyone. May she rest on her laurels and in peace.
Annie was this nation's leading anthropologist. Throughout her long and fulfilling life, she studied the history of nutrition and the evolution of homemade meals. She was a social scientist, a loving mother and grandmother, and a devoted observer of how we defined healthy food.
She died of old age, at 94 years old, survived by her three children and five grandchildren. She left us in the middle of a project she had been working on in the last five years: to analyze modern mother's preference of and definition on convenient and healthy packaged food. She passed away in her sleep at her home library. She will be missed not only by her academic peers but also by all food lovers. Her achievement and contribution to the understanding of our balancing act on nutrition and convenience is unique and cannot be replaced by anyone. May she rest on her laurels and in peace.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Assignment 3: Health & Wellness Audit
Health and Wellness today:
Very fit. I run 10k races and am trying to keep my time under 45 minutes. My diet is high carb since I eat a lot of fruit and grains, but it also contains good protein and vegetables. I am trying to limit sugar intake as much as possible by cutting down on juice and flavored yogurt.
My goal:
I'd like to run my first marathon under four hours. Meditate for half an hour everyday. Be a kinder and more tolerant person.
Changes:
I actually cut down on my running from 5 miles per day, 5 times a week to 3 miles per day and 3-4 times per week because of a hip injury. I have learnt, the hard way, the importance of cross training and rotating different types of exercises. I changed my attitude towards injury: from ignoring it and continuing to push myself to healing and resting before I go back to my routine again.
The other item I stopped buying is orange juice. Well, I stopped buying it for myself and only get the Naked Juice OJ for my son. My juice/smoothie fix now is from Jamba Juice. Favorite flavor is the one with veggies.
Very fit. I run 10k races and am trying to keep my time under 45 minutes. My diet is high carb since I eat a lot of fruit and grains, but it also contains good protein and vegetables. I am trying to limit sugar intake as much as possible by cutting down on juice and flavored yogurt.
My goal:
I'd like to run my first marathon under four hours. Meditate for half an hour everyday. Be a kinder and more tolerant person.
Changes:
I actually cut down on my running from 5 miles per day, 5 times a week to 3 miles per day and 3-4 times per week because of a hip injury. I have learnt, the hard way, the importance of cross training and rotating different types of exercises. I changed my attitude towards injury: from ignoring it and continuing to push myself to healing and resting before I go back to my routine again.
Also because of the injury, I started to be more specific and picky about my running shoes. I made a trip to the Road Runner store in San Diego and got custom-made insoles.
I started to be more conscious about my daily sugar intake. I am a fruit lover but sugar is notorious for women's waistline;-) One of the products I stopped buying is artificially flavored yogurt. Instead, I started to buy plain Greek yogurt, like Siggi's (my number 1 favorite! both the plain and natural flavored) and FAGE. For some reason, I'm not a big fan of Chobani's.
Yogurt is my breakfast everyday! I mix it with the Bear Naked granola and fruit like strawberries and blueberries. With my coffee... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
One brand I still like is Stonyfield Farm. I like their cream-top vanilla yogurt, made from whole milk! yes.. all that fat!
My favorite yogurt flavor: figs! (too bad I can't find an image online)
I also tried some goat yogurt. It was pretty good but I didn't love it as much as regular yogurt from cow's milk.
The other item I stopped buying is orange juice. Well, I stopped buying it for myself and only get the Naked Juice OJ for my son. My juice/smoothie fix now is from Jamba Juice. Favorite flavor is the one with veggies.
Never caused a controversy because of a new product in my household. My son and partner usually stay in their comfort zone and seldom venture out to try new food. I am the only adventurous eater, but I'm hoping to turn them into eaters like me one day.
ps, my son gets adventurous when he's at Yogurtland. He has tried at least 10 different frozen yogurt flavors.
ps, my son gets adventurous when he's at Yogurtland. He has tried at least 10 different frozen yogurt flavors.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Assignment 2: Serving Mac&Cheese (Part 3)
I set aside the mac&cheese. Two reasons: my son doesn't like hot food, but only warm food. And I had to finish preparing my main dish.
I cut the baguette into small slices and tossed the slices in hot olive oil. The vegetable-and-protein dish is the string beans, bell pepper and shrimps. As Asian people believe that good, tasty and healthy food should also look pleasing to the eyes, I was taught by my mother that I should always use a combination of different colored vegetables. So this dish is red, green and.. yellow (shrimp?)
Later in my adult life, as I read more about cooking and the balance of flavors and nutrition, I learnt that the combination of colors not only make the dish look more interesting, they make more nutritional sense as well. Mom, here is my tribute!
So everybody got a bowl of mac&cheese, and we ate it the veggie dish. We also had the baguette, golden brown, soaked with olive oil, with bean sprouts and blue cheese on top.
Apparently, my son's favorite was the mac&cheese, which he finished first.
Getting him to eat any type of vegetables is still a challenge, as I have to admit. During dinner, he said something that cracked us up: "I don't like green vegetables.. I like yellow food, like mac&cheese, and bananas."
Overall, it was a very healthy and fairly convenient dinner that took me about 30 minutes to prepare. We had grain, vegetable, seafood and diary products all included in one meal. That made me very happy.
I cut the baguette into small slices and tossed the slices in hot olive oil. The vegetable-and-protein dish is the string beans, bell pepper and shrimps. As Asian people believe that good, tasty and healthy food should also look pleasing to the eyes, I was taught by my mother that I should always use a combination of different colored vegetables. So this dish is red, green and.. yellow (shrimp?)
Later in my adult life, as I read more about cooking and the balance of flavors and nutrition, I learnt that the combination of colors not only make the dish look more interesting, they make more nutritional sense as well. Mom, here is my tribute!
(I think I might have just burned the baguette a little!)
So here is what I served for my family of three:
Mac&cheese, string bean and shrimp dish, baguette, blue cheese and bean sprouts.
Apparently, my son's favorite was the mac&cheese, which he finished first.
Getting him to eat any type of vegetables is still a challenge, as I have to admit. During dinner, he said something that cracked us up: "I don't like green vegetables.. I like yellow food, like mac&cheese, and bananas."
Overall, it was a very healthy and fairly convenient dinner that took me about 30 minutes to prepare. We had grain, vegetable, seafood and diary products all included in one meal. That made me very happy.
Assignment 2: Preparing Mac&Cheese (Part 2)
As soon as we got home, I started preparing dinner. Mac&Cheese is one of my son's favorite food.
How can I describe making Annie's Mac&Cheese? Two words: super easy! I put a pot of water to a boil while I was preparing our main dinner dish. When the water was boiled, I added the pasta.
While I was waiting for the pasta to cook, I started preparing the vegetables for the main dish of the day. I planned to make string beans with red bell pepper and Langostino Tails, one of my favorite shrimps.
How can I describe making Annie's Mac&Cheese? Two words: super easy! I put a pot of water to a boil while I was preparing our main dinner dish. When the water was boiled, I added the pasta.
While I was waiting for the pasta to cook, I started preparing the vegetables for the main dish of the day. I planned to make string beans with red bell pepper and Langostino Tails, one of my favorite shrimps.
When the pasta was ready, I already finished chopping up all the vegetables and garlic. It was great timing!
To finish the mac&cheese, all I needed to do was to add the pasta sauce mix and milk. One of the things I like about Annie's is that you don't have to add butter, like most of the Kraft mac&cheese recipes require.
Oops! Just realized I got this lactose-free milk. Horizon is one of my favorite milk brands. But nobody in my family is lactose-intolerant. I think I went for the omega-3 added but took the wrong carton.
Anyway, dinner was almost ready!
Assignment 2: Shopping for Mac&Cheese (Part I)
Shopping usually takes place after my work and picking up my son from his preschool. Today, we stopped at one of our favorite grocery stores: Whole Foods. This branch is very small but on our way home and conveniently located on the right side of the road.
To my surprise, the store has rearranged the product display. Mac&Cheese used to be with the crackers and spices, but now they put it in the baby food aisle, right next to the diapers and ego-friendly cleaning products. It took me some time to find it.
Looking through the whole area of mac&cheese was truly enjoyable. I love all their box designs! all very cute and colorful. We chose our usual item, Annie's shell mac&cheese. But then I looked up and saw Whole Foods' store brand, 365 Organic (or something like that) was cheaper, for 99 cents. So we picked up a couple of the store brand too. Never tried it before, but the price was good. I am not so much of a store brand person. I usually stay away from store brand products because the quality is not as good as name brands. But the only exception I make is Whole Foods' and Trader Joe's own brands.
To my surprise, the store has rearranged the product display. Mac&Cheese used to be with the crackers and spices, but now they put it in the baby food aisle, right next to the diapers and ego-friendly cleaning products. It took me some time to find it.
Looking through the whole area of mac&cheese was truly enjoyable. I love all their box designs! all very cute and colorful. We chose our usual item, Annie's shell mac&cheese. But then I looked up and saw Whole Foods' store brand, 365 Organic (or something like that) was cheaper, for 99 cents. So we picked up a couple of the store brand too. Never tried it before, but the price was good. I am not so much of a store brand person. I usually stay away from store brand products because the quality is not as good as name brands. But the only exception I make is Whole Foods' and Trader Joe's own brands.
So here're some of the rest of the groceries we bought from today's trip:
- French baguette
- French baguette
- Organic bananas, Fiji apples and string beans (not shown on this picture)
- Apple sauce (it was an unexpected purchase because my son saw it and asked for it)
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Wellness: It's a Personal Pursuit
Regardless of all the media buzz on health and wellness, being healthy, fit and happy has always been my personal pursuit. To me, wellness means:
1. Making sure my whole family eats healthy. As a mother, I shopper daily for dinner and always try to pick out the freshest ingredients. I do the usual: avoid high sugar and sodium food; try to cook from scratch; get fast food when I really don’t have a choice. When I am really pressed for time, I usually get pre-packaged dumplings, flavored rice and mac and cheese for dinner. Whatever I get, I try to mix it up with fresh vegetables, dairy products and a little juice to make sure my whole family gets enough nutrition.
2. Being physically fit. I consider wellness a long-term goal to obtain. I exercise at least three times a day and limit cartoon hours for my son at home. Every year I run a 10k race. Next year, I plan to sign up my son for a kids’ race. I arrange for all kinds of physical activities for my son with the hope that he’ll be athletic and have an active lifestyle. Our life is filled with books and educational activities from museum visits to movie screenings. It is indeed hectic, but I try to balance it with a little time for myself, outside of my family and career, to develop my own hobbies and restore tranquility.
3. Spirituality. I am not a religious person (rather, agnostic) but want to lead a more spiritual lifestyle. My academia friends all recommend meditation twice a day, which not only relaxes you, but also boosts your cognitive skills, sharpens your mind and makes you a more tolerant and content person. I believe in doing good deeds and helping others. So I’m in the middle of carving out some time to establish the once-a-day meditation routine.
4. Being flexible. This is an essential survival skill for modern-day working mothers (or everyone!) who are guilt-prone. I went through this phase but one day, realized if I relax just a little bit (reading only 15 minutes instead of 20 minutes before bed), the world still spins beautifully. So the self-made rules and high expectations are there, but I feel free to break them once in a while now.
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