Work away your waistline

(Source: http://www.healthyfoodguide.com.au/articles/2009/january/australia/work-away-your-waistline)

If you want to reduce your waistline, up your intensity when exercising.

When obese middle-aged women were put on either a low- or high-intensity exercise program, the high-intensity exercisers lost more fat around their abdominal area than the women who exercised at low-intensity. Workout harder, and watch your stomach disappear.

Source: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2008;40(11):1863–1872

First published January 2009

Pretty Bags From My Brother

My brother went Bangkok recently and i got these 2 useful and pretty bags as gifts, my favorite is the black bag as i love carrying big bags so that i could put all my shopping bags inside when shopping.

I'm Living In An "Apple" World :>

5 Foods That Take Years off Your Skin

(Source: http://realage.typepad.com/youdocsdaily/2008/11/5-foods-that-take-years-off-your-skin.html)



Perhaps the only food you associate with skin is a little whipped cream on Saturday night. But plenty of other foods (ones you can eat in public) can help protect your skin, so you look and stay younger:


1. Legumes, avocados, soybeans, nuts, and egg yolks: These contain biotin, and a lack of this chemical can lead to dry skin and brittle hair and nails.





2. Salmon: The carotenoid that gives this fish its pink color, astaxanthin, also improves your skin’s elasticity. And it’s full of the good fat -- DHA-omega-3 -- that makes your skin and hair look younger and healthier.





3. Green tea: Its polyphenols act to protect you against sun damage and help thicken your epidermis, your body’s primary barrier to the outside world.





4. Pomegranates: In addition to thickening your epidermis and helping to produce more collagen and elastin (the stuff that keeps your skin firm and springy), pomegranates contain antioxidants that seem to accelerate wound healing.





5. Tomatoes: The nutrients in tomatoes reduce the chance you’ll get a sunburn (but you still have to use an SPF 50 and 4-star titanium dioxide or zinc oxide sunscreen!). It may be due to their lycopene content, but we really don’t know the active ingredient. So if there’s a choice between a lycopene supplement and the real tomato, choose the product from the vine.

Shadya Lan 藍又時 - 秘密 Secret MV

I have been listening to the album of this new Taiwanese singer and i really love her songs and singing!!! At 24 years old, Taiwan singer-songwriter Shadya has already composed for top singers including Christine Fan, Rene Liu, Valen Hsu, Sandy Lam, and Kelly Chen, and has sung theme songs for popular TV dramas like “The Hospital” and “KO One”. Now she finally releases her long-awaited first album “The Secret”. Delivered through Shadya’s rich and mellow voice, the album’s 10 songs encompass a whole spectrum of emotions experienced in love, as evident in “Secret” (the album’s first single), “Silent Play”, “The Whole World Breaks Up”, “Forget”, “That Day” (featured in idol drama Prince + Princess 2), and other tracks. My favourite song from the album is "Secret" :> and i have included the MV from youtube to share with everyone:




(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ETCyl9mNno)
(Source: YesAsia.com)

Ayumi Hamasaki's New Album Released Wednesday

Queen of J-pop Ayumi Hamasaki's 10th album titled "Next Level" is released simultaneously in Korea and Japan yesterday. The album featured 14 songs in various genres including "Rule", and the theme song for a Hollywood movie "Dragonball Evolution". I managed to find part of the movie trailer from youtube to share with everyone:




(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocANppdwqVE&feature=related)
(Source: http://asianfanatics.net)

More Pictures of Gathering With My Friends At Sembawang Shopping Centre

Yummy ice-cream at MOF

Raymond Lam - Worth To Cry 值得流泪 MV

This is Raymond's new song and is also the theme song for drama "Justice Bao".



(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJHv7H2-Efg)

2009 Chinese New Year in Beijing -Last Day in Beijing, More shopping and Shimao Tianjie

This is the last of my post on my Beijing trip and i have taken a long time to finally finish uploading all the pictures. The last day of our tour was free and easy and we join some of our tour members to shop around and enjoy a nice cup of iced coffee at Starbucks. In the evening we went to Shimao Tianjie known as Beijing Xin Tian Di. It is really an amazing and romantic place with the cool skating rink and beautiful screening of dolphins swimming around on top!!



















Beijing Shimao Tianjie (The Place):

The Shimao Tianjie shopping mall in Beijing's Dongdaqiaolu is called, in English, "The Place". It claims to have the largest outdoor video display screen in Asia -- an enormous thing stretching a hundred metres. There are alot of fashionable shops in the huge shopping mall.











Dinner:

We had yummy Burger King for dinner at the airport, after several days of Chinese food i was craving for some of my favourite comfort food, fast food :> hehe one interesting thing is that there are more KFC fast food restaurants in Beijing than Macdonalds unlike Singapore. Maybe the Chinese people loves their chickens more?? But i prefer my double cheeseburger from Macdonalds anytime ;>







Home Sweet Home:

Freezer-To-Oven Mac and Cheese

This is one simple and yummy recipe that i found online that i'm planning to try soon :>

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients

1 pound cavatappi pasta, or any shape you like
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
3 cups NY aged sharp cheddar (12 ounces), grated


Preparation

Pre-heat broiler to high or oven to 400°F.
Place a large pot of water over high heat and bring it up to a boil to cook the pasta. Once at a boil, add some salt and the pasta, and cook just shy of al dente, according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, heat a medium-size skillet over medium heat and add the butter. When the butter melts, add the flour and cook about a minute. Whisk in the milk, season with salt and ground black pepper, and bring up to a bubble. Turn the burner off and stir in the cheese in a figure-eight motion until it's all melted.
When the pasta is done, drain it well and combine with sauce. Pour into baking dish and place under the broiler in or the oven to brown the cheese and enjoy.


Leftover idea!

Make a double batch, pour the pasta into a baking dish and stir in your favorite mix in. Let it stand on the counter until cooled, then wrap in plastic wrap and pop in the freezer. When you're ready to eat it, it can go straight from the freezer into in a 400ºF oven. Cook for 1 hour, covered with foil, the take the foil off and bake for another 15-20 minutes to brown the top.


(Source: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2582)

Hong Kong Drama - Love Guaranteed / 愛情全保

Channel U will be showing this 20 episodes TVB drama starting from tonight every Monday to Friday, 10pm. This modern romance drama was broadcasted in Hong Kong in July 2006 and shown previously in Starhub Cable TV. For those who have missed the drama, you should watch it at Channel U as it is quite a nice drama although it was filmed so long ago. I had watched it previously and found it quite entertaining. I also like the 2 main leads, Melissa Ng and Sunny Chan who looks so cute acting as a bickering couple and insurance agents in the drama. Kenneth Ma acted as Sunny Chan's brother in the drama who is a playboy and only cares about having fun.

I have enjoyed watching Melissa Ng's drama since watching her acting in the popular 2006 TVB drama "La Femme Desperado" as a woman with a weak personality opposite Raymond Lam. What a pity that she has stopped acting since her last drama "The Master of Tai Chi" which was shown in Hong Kong in February 2008 as she would like to spend more time with her child before a possibility that she will re-join TVB.

Back to the drama, Melissa Ng stars as Kuk Yeuk-Hei (Hazel) who is the ex-girlfriend of Sunny Chan's character Kwok Fu-Keung (Ken)'s best pal. Due to some misunderstandings, they have poor impressions of each other and things worsens when they ended up working together. They ended up pretending to be a couple to promote their latest insurance plan and started developing feelings for each other. Ken's brother Kwok Fu-Kan (Tim) acted by Kenneth Ma also develops feelings for Hazel's cousin Ng Mei-Kei acted by actress Cherie Kong. The opening theme song is "Let It Flow" by Stephy Tang.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Guaranteed)

(Source: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Love_Guaranteed)

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Ng)

(Source: http://tvcity.tvb.com/drama/love_guaranteed/frontpage/index.html)

(Source: http://asianfanatics.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t148605.html)