Life is a journey and at the end of each day, it is good to sit back and reflect on the roads and choices we have made. Some may be lessons whereas some could be just time off taken to smell the roses.
Geez...it is Friday again..what a wonderful feeling it is. Especially when I know that it is almost a definite that I will be swinging by to one of those more famous nasi lemak stalls in KL.
I normally go by Jalan Alor area on the way to work and will stop by at the corner stall for my regular nasi lemak with rendang daging and kerang. And this will come with 1/2 a slice of egg, ikan bilis (anchovies) and kacang (peanuts). All this for only RM3.50...yummilious. Do pop in to Babe's post on this, complete with a photo of my fav order.
Today, I decided to take to swing by Jalan Dang Wangi to find the Sajian Dang Wangi shop.
There is a nasi lemak stall which is rather yummy. I had their sotong and kerang some time ago (RM3:50). Today, I just wanted to order my fav of redang daging and kerang just to compare the taste and the price.
As expected, the taste was very nice and basically it due to the long grain variety type of rice which they use. They also used to have kangkong (I was told that these veg are called Morning Glory) but they must have gotten pricey as the stall has stop giving them out as part of the base package.
The price of RM4.80 was rather steep though for the packet of daging rendang, kerang, 1/4 slice of an egg, cucumber, ikan bilis and kacang. Oh well, just have to make that a once in a few Friday's kinda treat then. Back to the one at the corner of Jalan Alor the next few Fridays ahead. Or maybe if I am early, I will try to find the one at Tang Ling, near the national mosque heehee...
I have been following dcyk's progress on his weight loss program and I reckon that he is rather successful. I also reckon that what he is doing is great coz he is on this emergency weight loss program to look very "leng chai" (handsome) during his big wedding day but I would not think that one should go off carbs for ever as it definitely goes against what we've been taught in school about having a balanced diet to keep us well and healthy.
I have been doing a little research of my own on Glycemic Index (GI). Apparently not all carbohydrate foods are created equal and the GI is the ranking of carbohydrates according to how they affect our blood glucose and thus our weight gain.
It seems that choosing low GI carbs - the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels - is the secret to long-term health reducing our risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss.
Eating a lot of high GI foods can be detrimental to your health because it pushes your body to extremes. This is especially true if you are overweight and sedentary. Switching to eating mainly low GI carbs that slowly trickle glucose into your blood stream keeps your energy levels balanced and means you will feel fuller for longer between meals.
# Low GI diets help people lose and control weight # Low GI diets increase the body's sensitivity to insulin # Low GI carbs improve diabetes control # Low GI carbs reduce the risk of heart disease # Low GI carbs reduce blood cholesterol levels # Low GI carbs can help you manage the symptoms of PCOS # Low GI carbs reduce hunger and keep you fuller for longer # Low GI carbs prolong physical endurance # High GI carbs help re-fuel carbohydrate stores after exercise
How to Switch to a Low GI Diet
The basic technique for eating the low GI way is simply a "this for that" approach - ie, swapping high GI carbs for low GI carbs. You don't need to count numbers or do any sort of mental arithmetic to make sure you are eating a healthy, low GI diet.
` # Use breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran # Use breads with wholegrains, stone-ground flour, sour dough # Reduce the amount of potatoes you eat # Enjoy all other types of fruit and vegetables # Use Basmati or Doongara rice # Enjoy pasta, noodles, quinoa # Eat plenty of salad vegetables with a vinaigrette dressing
This is a list of GI Values of some of the more common foods that I got from a fitness instructor but for a specific GI search, this is quite a useful site, The Glycemic Index.
GI of Breakfast Cereals Kellogg's Cornflakes 84 Kellogg's Rice Krispies 82 Kellong's Special K 54 Oatmeal 49 Quaker Puffed Wheat 67
GI of Grains Basmati Rice 58 Brown Rice 55 Long Grain White Rice 56 Short Grain White Rice 72 Noodles (Instant) 46
GI of Fruit Apple 38 Banana 55 Cantaloupe 65 Cherries 22 Grapefruit 25 Grapes 46 Kiwi 52 Mango 55 Orange 44 Papaya 58 Pear 38 Pineapple 66 Plum 39 Watermelon 103
GI of Snack Foods Cashews 22 Chocolate Bar 49 Corn Chips 72 Jelly Beans 80 Peanuts 14 Popcorn 55 Potato Chips 55 Pretzels 83 Snickers Bar 41 Walnuts 15
GI of Cookies and Crackers Crackers 74 Crispbread 71 Melba Toast 70 Oatmeal Cookies 55 Rice Cakes 82 Rice Crackers 91 Soda Crackers 74 Water Crackers 78
GI of Sugars Fructose 23 Glucose 100 Honey 58 Lactose 46 Maltose 105 Sucrose 65
Notes on GI of Foods - Reference Food is glucose (GI100) - Glycemic values may vary, hence the above values are approximate - Foods that score higher than 70 on the GI are considered high GI foods - We cannot avoid all high GI foods in our diet, but at least we are aware of what they are and we are able to make better choices on the food we eat.
Whilst enjoying my 2nd breakfast, I was asked to watch and listen to this latest music video... Not Christina A or Timberlake but .. even better than that.. Watch and Listen for yourself..Its the Tribute to the BERSIH People's Gathering...
This morning has been a very lovely morning.. thanks to 2 good friends, JW and Fishman. Both of them made my day :).
JW bought me breakfast.... 2 doughnuts from Big Apple (an oreo and an almond flakes ..my fav)... I already had breakfast before I came into work but how can one say No to such mouth-watering, yummy treats. Before 11am... I walloped both down ... with another cuppa of Chinese Tea ;). Brruupp! Thanks JW... and I am still going for lunch afterwards.
Fishman gave me the lovely mushroom that I spotted on his blog when he was clearing out his fish tank. I asked him where he got it and he immediately offerred to give it to me. How very sweet. He passed it to me through JW. Keenu (my pet glider) and I thank you very much Fishman.
It is coming to year end and I do believe that if you are in Sales, it is that time of the year where the numbers have really gotta chalk up before the financial year end. Of late, I have been getting numerous phone calls from Insurance agents, Unit Trust agents, Holiday, Time-sharing resorts and you name it, they've probably called me.
Some of the telemarketeers who call are actually nice and polite but once in a while, you do chance upon a rude one or one who insists on speaking to you in their mother tongue, even though your respond is in English. Some will not even give you a chance to respond whilst there are one or two who can be downright impatient.
A friend once received a call from a telemarketeer pushing for a fitness centre and was rather persistent about it. As my friend was feeling kinda bored at that time, he decided to entertain her. Apparently the conversation went like this.
Telemarketeer : Good morning Sir.. are you a member of any Fitness Centre currently
Friend : No. I am not but I would like to consider it.
Telemarketeer : That is very good as I am going to offer you a membership at the ABC Fitness Centre. It has branches everywhere....yada yada yada.
Friend : (interrupts) Does the centre have any standby doctors or medical officers?
Telemarketeer : I am sorry Sir. The centre has personnel trained in First Aid. Is that an issue Sir?
Friend : I am a diabetic and I have high blood pressure. Not only that, I also go into epileptic fits ever so often. As long as I am assured that there will be people around to help me. By the way, do you have special equipments at the Centre?
Telemarketeer : (pause) What sort of equipment Sir are you referring to?
Friend : You see, I am an amputee?
Telemarketeer : What's that Sir?
Friend : Oh, you see, my diabetes caused me to have one of my legs surgically removed and I have also scheduled myself in for a surgery to remove my left hand as a result of gangrene.
Telemarketeer : Oh, I am so sorry to hear that. But I think there will be some equipment that you are still able to use at the centre.
Friend : Oh, that is wonderful Miss. One more thing Miss, will you be there to help me with my application form filling when I come in?
Telemarketeer : The centre personnel will be there to assist you when you drop in Sir. I am only the Telemarketeer Sir.
Friend : In that case, may I know your name Miss?
Telemarketeer : Why Sir?
Friend : I just want to thank you and let the Fitness Centre people know how great you are in convincing a blind 70 year old man, suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, with one hand and one leg to join the centre. You are an excellent saleslady. I really think more people like me should join the Fitness Centre. I would like to make sure the Centre knows how good you are.
Telemarketeer : (clink)
Friend : Hello... Hello....
My friend Billy must have been also at a the receiving end of such a call to for he sent me this video...
Tom Mabe is one stand-up comedian who decided to play a prank on a telemarketer. View this for a good laugh ...
I went with a couple of friends last week to meet up and celebrate the November birthdays. We were not sure where to eat as most of them were getting rather picky over food as the seasons of weddings have started and too much of the good restaurant food was getting rather boring. So, one of the girls suggested to we give Restaurant Yuen Buffet Steamboat a try.
I was the first of the lot to arrive and since there was about 10 of us and the place was looking like it was filling up fast, I decided to walk in first to book a table for us. The waiter asked me how many and since I was not exactly sure, I told him that could I have a table big enough to seat 10 to 12 persons. The waiter told me that I had to be certain of the number of people turning up coz if I took a table to seat 12 people and only 10 turned up, we would still have to pay for the 2 persons that did not turn up. The cost of the buffet is RM18.80++ per person. So, I called up my friends and confirmed a table for 10.
The selection was not too bad, for the un-cooked stuff, i.e. those that you get to plonk into your clear soup or tom yam soup. As for the cooked food selection, they had fried rice, fried beehoon and barbeque chicken wings. They had 4 types of kuehs, 2 varieties of fruits and ice-cream.
My friends all turned up within the next 20 minutes and the timing must have been right as suddenly there was a commotion at the cooked food section. As this was the first time for me and some of my other friends, we were quite curious as well as concerned as to what happening.
It turned out that the people were "fighting" to get at the chicken wings. Our table of 10 managed to get 1 piece haha.. can't beat the young fellas (many college students were there as it this place is probably their weekly Friday treats). We later realized that these barbeque chicken wings come out from the kitchen at 20 minute intervals and there were only about 25-30 pieces each time. And we also noticed that there was a table of young college guys next to ours who would send at least 3 to 4 of their friends to "grab" these (actually, very delicious) wings. They would normally time it so well that just about a minute or two before the chicken wings come out from the kitchen, they would already be standing next to the table with plates and tongs in hand.
We stayed for about 2 hours and watched 5 to 6 rounds of this chicken wing thingy and without fail, the same group of fellas will always be there waiting. I think the rest of the customers gotten wise after that and just gave up. Just before we left at about 9:30pm, some other customers finally gotten to taste the chicken wings.. perhaps like us, we had to share a piece of the wings between 2 of us (we only managed to grab 6 pieces during the entire meal) as the fellas were still there grabbing them wings :). This is the winning table who won and at most if not all the chicken wings...
Not bad lah coz at the end we were completely sated for a mere RM22 per person, inclusive of drinks, which were mainly chinese tea and herbal tea.
The restaurant is located at 32A-1, Jalan PJS 8/6, Mentari Plaza, Bandar Sunway. Person to call for table bookings is 016-2086678 as it was very packed the Friday that we went. I can imagine the weekends.
I had a tremendously busy weekend but no complaints at all. Many events took place but the highlight was of course the Tsem Kacho Ling Retreat Centre Prayers at Genting Sempah.
They informed us much earlier that there will be very limited car park space there so, buses were chartered to transport the many members, students, sponsors and friends for Kechara there. There were 3 bus loads that left Kechara House 2 at 10:45am on Saturday morning. I must say the atmosphere reeked with joy, excitement and happiness. And there was also a chance to meet up friends from faraway places, within and outside of Malaysia.
The buses arrived at the location at 12:30pm and it was fantastic to arrive to see all the efforts taken by many of our volunteers to prepare the place so well for the prayers.
My Guru H.E. Tsem Tulku Ripoche arrived at around 1:20pm and before the prayers commenced, we all had the good merits to receive a brief dharma talk from my Rinpoche. He spoke of the realization of his dreams to set up a beautiful place of retreat for the people of Malaysia. Even for those of other faiths, they are more than welcome to stop by at this future retreat centre to just enjoy the beauty of nature, it’s tranquility away from the hustle and bustle of KL city, which is just less than 40mins away.
In the midst of Rinpoche’s talk, as if on cue, when Rinpoche was talking about visitors from all walks of life and near and far coming today for the prayers to consecrate the land, we all heard a loud wail. Immediately, Rinpoche announced that the land deities have arrived. We saw that one of Rinpoche’s senior students got up from her place and virtually waltz towards Rinpoche’s throne. She was uttering incoherently and from her actions, we could see that she was paying respect to Rinpoche. Rinpoche informed that there were as many as 6 land deities present and was using the student as a vehicle for them to indicate their presence and pay their respects to Rinpoche.
The entire thing was over in a couple of minutes and everything was back to normal after that. It was all very exciting. Prayers commenced not long after that.
The weather was very strange. We all knew that it was raining in parts of KL and Selangor, heavier in some areas than others. However, at Tsem Kacho Ling, the sky looked overcast and threatening at times but the rain was like it was being held back for this special occasion. At worse, there was a very fine drizzle and by the time it did come down, we hardly felt the drops touch our bodies.
The prayers ended at about 6pm and everyone was presented with gifts and food from Kechara House to mark this very special and auspicious occasion. This is the first of several sessions of prayers. I do hope that I will be invited to attend all of them. The buses came at about 7pm to pick us up. What a wonderful experience.
