Wednesday, June 08, 2011

I lost my engagement ring in the football field

Sunday June 5th

What a perfect day to visit Appleby, my high school, where I've boarded for 4 years. Nic , Yui and I decided to go back and play some aerobi. After playing for a good 30 minutes, we decided to take a hike near the lake and trek back to our car near the health center. Whilst we were admiring the new arena and the nice photos that were put up. I felt the space between my third and fourth finger. NOTHING! I immediately looked at my left hand and saw my bare hand and said to Yui "Look at my hand!" Yui goes "What? Your hand is shaking?" Then I said "No, look at my hand my ring is gone" At that moment, he literally looked like he got the wind knocked out of him. He took a deep breath and sat down with his right hand on his head. (To be honest, I have never seen the man so beaten) Knowing the severity of the situation, to redirect his grief and to avoid him from taking in the situation, I suggested to go look for it immediately as my guess was that it must have came off during aerobi in the football field.

After 1 hour of scanning the field, no luck whatsoever. It was imminent that we needed to rent a metal detector.

Monday, June 6th
9:30am Milton Stephenson's

We should be glad that Milton had a metal detector because apparently, only 2 stores in toronto carried it and Waterloo was the other one. Whilst renting the equipment, the store lady asked us what we were looking for and we told her that we were looking for an engagement ring in a football field. Her face was semi-mortified and said "Oh noooo, good luck guys!" Yui said "We're gonna need it! But I'm sure we're gonna find it!" Store lady "That's the spirit! Stay positive!" By this time, my fear factor of the whole situation has risen to a 8 out of 10.

9:35 am Dollarama near the Stephenson's
We bought some yarn to divide the fields to sections. Basically the technique when archaeologists dig up ancient sites. I also had a genius idea to buy sun tan lotion because we'd be in the sun the whole day.

10:00am Appleby
Yui: It's school day isn't it?
Me: I hear it's review week.
Cue, kids in gym clothes running on to main field. Hence we decided to scan the trek to the lake and to the arena instead. But actually they started to play capture the flag, so a dozen of people came running through the woods. Kid goes " What are you looking for?" Yui" We lost some jewellery" Kid "Awwwww, I hope you find it. Good luck" And of course a couple more people asked the same question (including Don Stewart), from all the sympathetic looks that we've been getting, it's clear that we're pretty much in a very fucked up situation.

1:00pm Harvey's on Winston Churchill
What can I say, it just doesn't taste the same when you're moody and depressed.


6:00pm Appleby
Apparently football games are going on, so we had to take a break until tmr.















Needle in a Hay Sack or worse?
Finding a ring in a Football field.




Tuesday, June 7th
10:00am Appleby
It seems like we covered 1.5 quadrants out of 6. We would definitely need to pick up the pace. However we are bound to be more efficient. A couple of AC girls came up to us "We were just wondering what you were doing" Me "We lost some jewellery so we just using a metal detector to find it" Girls "What are the lines for?" Me "It's to segregate which areas that we covered and so on, just like how archeologist does it." Girls "Oh that's so cool" By this time, I'm feeling pretty damn smart and that our technique is flawless and that we've somehow inspired some young minds to pay more attention in history class

Noon
Lady with a chocolate lab: Hey guys may I ask what you are looking for?
Yui: We lost some jewellery
Lady: I hear that this area was a defense area 80 or 90 years ago, I was just wondering if you guys dug up anything interesting.
Yui: No we actually didn't dig up anything, because we knew what we were looking for is on the surface.
Me (Inside voice): OMG, if we do start digging, are we gonna dig up some bomb and get blown up like the guy in The English Patient.

2:00 Guidance Center
Met up with Ms Bysouth and she complimented on my my "nice tan" and asked how did it go. We still haven't found the ring yet. I told her that it is quite scary and I feel quite uneasy about it and she said "Oh like bad luck, like it's an omen for the marriage?" Me "Errrrr"

3:30 Car and 2-4-1 Pizza (Lunch Time)
This song came on the radio 103.5, and Yui sang along with it.
"Today I don't feel like doing anything....except for finding a ring in a giant football field..."


5:00 Back at the Field
Yui looks at the tanning lotion and goes "Eva, this stuff isn't Sun Block , it's a self tan lotion" Me in denial and disblief "No.. come on it has to be .." Yui reading the label "Only apply 2 times a week, self tanning. Warning this does not contain any sun block" Yes, we have been applying a self tanning lotion thinking that it was a sunblock for the entire two days. We actually manage to magnify our sun burn, not only that the scorching sun was burning us, now we were also enduring a slow chemical burn. Oh why, did I have 8 "re-applies" of lotion?

Knowing that the burning skin torture can be completely avoided, but it was just my stupidity.
Me to Yui: You go through a lot of extra crap when you're with me, don't you?
Yui laughs: Yes. I do...

6:30pm Main Field
Looks like there's more soccer today, I guess we'll wait until they kick us off but fortunately they weren't using the areas we were scanning.

8:30pm Main Field - After 18 hours, 16000 scans, 40 lanes plus discovery of 3 football cleats + a Penny
Me: Hey something's here, come check it out.
Scream. Victorious . Triumph



Things that I have learnt:
  • When you want to avoid the "Awwww" sympathetic glare, use the term "Jewellery" instead of "A diamond engagement ring". Works most times I'd say...
  • Never give up, even when you on 5th out of 6 quadrants of a football field
  • AC Campus security needs some upkeep. Come on Harp! We were there for two days undisturbed. And Yui bumped into a dawn-like person in Walker House during Study Time and said Hi.
  • Do NOT attempt ANY sport when wearing you're engagement ring
  • Look twice at Sunblock labels. "Sunless" may not be a good enough visual cue for sunblock when the following words are associated with it. "Tinted Tanning Sunless"
  • If a man searches for "Quote"jewellery"End Quote" with you through a football field whilst dying a slow painful death of 3rd degree sun+chemical burn and still haven't strangled you yet - MARRY HIM!


Sunday, October 10, 2010

Hong Kong Trip in October

Siu's Babyshower | October 2nd, Saturday
We had so much fun, games, drawing and playtime. It felt like I was back in kindergarten again. I drew the monkey picture (top left) and somebody said it was kinda cute. I hope momma siu (bottom right) liked my presents, I got them some pampers diapers, one packet for new borns and one packet for learning to walk toddler boys. And of course I didn't forget to get some nice sweets for the mom.





















Brunch at Australia Milk Company 澳洲牛奶公司 | October 3, Sunday
Boy, these guys have been popular for over 20 years and they never fail to deliver quality meals. And their secret is a limited menu, fast service and consistent quality. This fast food venue imports their own brand of milk and specializes in a custard-like steamed egg desert. That's what my mom ordered and she gobbled it down so fast that I didn't even have time to snap a pic of it. I had the "Breakfast Menu", the service is so incredibly fast, we got seated in 1 minute, ordered the second minute and food was served within 5 minutes. For 25HKD, I had my buttered thick-cut toast, 2 over and easy eggs (cooked to perfection), a hot bowl of macaroni with ham in chicken broth and a iced milk tea. Oh .. I love HK.















Just look at that piece of toast and runny eggs...sigh
















This is one of my favourite breakfast meal, macaroni in Chicken broth.
Seems light but its packed with carbs.







Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Insanity 3rd Fit Test ..Sigh.. Gained Weight

This is my 3rd Week results..mainly I did a bit better, but I did worse in like 2 areas.
I also did Max Interval Training immediately after which is a pain in the butt. Can't believe I actually gained 1 kg this week..Ridiculous. But I do feel fitter yet my muscles seems fatigue all the time. Anyway will pass judgement on Day 61 I guess. Look! Hamberger is still beating my ass..Shameful
1st 2nd 3rd hamburrger
  • Switch Kicks 74 100 109 120
  • Power Jacks 40 45 50 56
  • Power Knees 54 92 100 110
  • Power Jumps 23 35 33 33
  • Globe Jumps 7 13 12 10
  • Suicide Jumps 5 12 16 17
  • Push up Jacks 18 20 24 22
  • Low Plank Oblique 33 35 49 58

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Insanity 2nd Fit Test Results

Did my 2nd Insanity test last week, sorry it took so long to be posted. As of today my weight is the same. But I do notice that my chubbiness is getting tighter and harder, does it mean that its gonna be harder for me to lose it? ARGHHHHHH

Anyway , I did better 2nd time around and definitely my cardio is like much better now. Gonna go to recovery next week. Wonder how thats gonna be

Insanity Fit Test #2

Check out hamburgger....isn't she insane???? HaTE HeR...totally

1st 2nd hamburrger
  • Switch Kicks 74 100 120
  • Power Jacks 40 45 56
  • Power Knees 54 92 110
  • Power Jumps 23 35 33
  • Globe Jumps 7 13 10
  • Suicide Jumps 5 12 17
  • Push up Jacks 18 20 22
  • Low Plank Oblique 33 35 58

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Salmon Tartar and Spaghetti Vongole


Summer is here and wakeboarding season has finally arrive...Oh..yeah..This is season I WILL land a trick. Unfortunately my neck is hurting , which is normal for wakeboarding cos of the falls but my stamina was much better than last year. Must be all the insanity workouts paying off. I wakeboarded in the morning and had to do insanity at night yesterday, god I was soo tired afterwards. Anyway with this summery and giddy feeling after my first run at wakeboarding this season, I made these dishes and both were surprisingly easy to prepare.

Salmon Tartar:
I ordered salmon sashimi for delivery, because I have no idea where to get a nice raw cut of salmon in this town but the sashimi worked perfectly. Basically I just cut the sashimi into tiny cubes then I mixed it into the sauce which combined of a tbsp of dijion mustard mayonnaise, finely chopped red onions (4 tbsp apprx) , capers and a squirt of lemon juice.

For the Spaghetti Vongle, I had no idea it would be so easy.

Step 1.
Mix up 5-6 cloves of finely chopped garlic and 2 red peppers (Those really tiny ones)

Step 2.
Pan Fry half of the mixture

Step 2.
Add in the clams plus 3/4 cup of white wine and lemon juice (1 lemon) , put the lid on cook until done

Step 3.
Add the cooked spaghetti and diced tomatoes (3/4 to 1 tomato) and the 2nd half of the chilli mixture

Done!














Salmon Tartar


Tuesday, June 29, 2010

This Little Piggy went to the market....
















Cute little devices that makes food so much more fun
















Hola.. this little piggy went to the market and bought corn...


Btw I'm on Insanity Day 8 or 9? I can't tell...anyway time to do Pure Cardio

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Insanity Day 6 - Plyo Cardio Training

Actually its getting easier to the workouts now, but I still need breaks time and again but hopefully I can keep up as we move into Week 3 or something. Now I'm just worried about Month 2 cos it's supposed to be even more insane. A week has passed with my insanity workouts and I've been able to keep up to work out everyday, a very important aspect is that I force myself to work out in the mornings before work cos I know if I work overtime or someone asks me out for dinner I'd be too tired to do the workouts afterwards. The hardest part of insanity for me is to cut down my alcohol intake. And on the night before Day 4, I had 8 drinks in total, I did manage to go home around midnight. It wasn't hard getting up in the morning but when I started to stretch my head was spinning. Thank god Day 4 was just Cardio Recovery and not intense at all. Then I had to go to a party that night and had around 6-7 drinks, I couldn't wake up to my morning work out so had to use my lunch to do the insanity work out. This is like life altering for me, since I'm quite the boozer, not to say i'm cutting out alcohol 100% but limiting some days to under 4 drinks is hard. But I feel like its necessary if I don't wanna feel like crap during the work out. And seriously I get really bummed out if I miss my morning workout. Am I changing into a health nut???? I'm even considering buying some Whey protein to mix into my work out, I need consult my brother...He use to compete in Triathlons and stuff..crazy...

Insanity also brought another behavioral change and its my meals, I try to follow their Elite menu and I noticed I've been cooking a lot more and preparing a lot more meals. I was able to find Tortilla wraps in Shanghai for 7rmb (20 wraps), once again thank you Tao Bao, the source of my shopping and well being. I've been making a lot of breakfast egg wraps lately too..yum!

Some meals I've cooked up...















Pork Chops topped with Swiss Cheese and Spinach
















Mexican Burrito...7rmb Tortilla Wraps..Kool...
















My Shaun T poster .... I have to constantly remind myself to take it down when I have visitors... And is it me or does Shaun T sounds girlie? And his other work out videos like Hip Hop Abs and Kids work out thingy..looks soooooo lame. And I think he actually said this at the end of one of the work outs ..
"Oh my god..what a work out..this Shi# is BANANAS!"~~ Errrrrr....

Monday, June 21, 2010

Insanity Day #1

Fitness Test Results

Switch Kicks
74
Power Jacks
40
Power Knees
54
Power Jumps
23
Globe Jumps
7
Suicide Jumps
5
Push up Jacks
18
Low Plank Oblique
33

So here goes the training.....

Monday, April 26, 2010

Everybody's Fine - (I want to) Come Home


Was watching Everybody's Fine last night, late last night. I fell asleep in the middle of the movie because it was quite boring and plus I can't sleep without the TV on. Yes, I like to fall asleep with the TV on and wake up in the middle of the night to turn off the TV. So? Anyway, back to the point, I woke up to this song feeling really sad. It sounded really raw, simple and even amateur yet it was perfect for the movie ending plus it was really touching. Thought it was a country singer but later found out it's a new song by Paul Mc Cartney. Awesome...

The story is about a recently widowed man, De niro, trying to connect to his children. Through his visit to each of their homes, he realized he never really knew his children or listened to them. It really makes you feel that when you age, you just slowly lose touch with what is current and sort of isolate yourself. Makes me feel sad for my own parents and wonder if they are feeling lonely. Sigh.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Wu Guan Tang Vegetarian - Review
















This cute little place is rumored to be the best tasting Chinese vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai and frankly I agree. The have cute menus with hand drawn little cartoons beside it and their dishes are equally cutesy. I personally prefer their sister restaurant beside this establishment where they serve vegetarian hot pot for 88RMB. Soooo what is so special that they can charge 88rmb for veggies you say? 1) All you can eat veggies, with dumplings, fake fish balls (vegeterian of course) 2) All you can eat deserts including pudding, sesame sweet soup - sesame freshly grind by hand 3) Pasta machine where you can make your spinach pasta from scratch , FUN and YUM 4) Pick your own tea - with a full cabinet of herbal tea and flowers to chose from. I picked 4 different items for mine and surprising I didn't ruin it 5) COTTON CANDY MACHINE ...tee hee hee

May I say both times I went to Wu Guan Tang was with my awful friend whom is my drinking and pigging out buddy. Our purpose was to punish ourselves from intoxicating our bodies yet the guilt trip wonderfully turned into a guilty pleasure.


Massaging with an ice cream cone in your hand

Yes it’s very odd. Once and again I leap without thinking about consequences. After my yoga session today, I decided to go for a massage. Haven’t been able to eat dinner yet, I was hungry and decided to get an ice cream cone. It’s hard to eat an ice cream cone when some person is massaging your head and shoulders so basically I was holding it for a good 10 minutes. Then she rotated to massage my arms, so then I had to alternate my ice cream bearing arms, you know switch it up so it doesn't fall. Awkward. Sometimes I do admire the professionalism of these girls in the parlor. How does one not even giggle when encountering such ludicrous situations? But perhaps it’s more common than I think it is. Anyone out there has had a massage while eating an ice cream cone or would like to? Or would you tell them to wait until you gobble down your cone?

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sir Elly elly eh …eh eh eh.. - Review

For those who didn’t get connotation above, I was trying to sing the chorus part of “umbrella”. And those who got it, boy you’re random.

What can I say, The Peninsula Hotel. This restaurant is no Gladdy’s , but unlike the very traditional Hong Kong restaurant, Sir Elly’s has an modern twist to it. From their chic interior with the modern chandelier (Gladdy’s had a chandelier too) to their tasty menu, it still says royalty but also hip. I had the Kumamoto Oysters with the cucumber froth, the truffle risotto (truffle is the rare mushrooms that I eat) and to finish off the duck breast. Oysters were quite refreshing and zingy and the truffle was tasty but not spectacular, the duck breast was a bit of a disappointment as it tasted a bit like a roasted duck in a Chinese restaurant. Perhaps it was the fatty skin that made me feel that way. My friend had the tasting menu, great deal 688 with six courses. Foie gras sauce steamed egg was really yummy, the texture of the steamed egg made me feel like I was eating foie gras, the wagyu however was again so so. I have definitely had better wagyu at Stillers.

The cocktails were just ok, maybe because I made the mistake of ordering a martini that had milk and strawberries in it. Just looking at it made me think of Pepto . Oh and it tasted exactly like it to. Gross , then I switched/stole my friends martini which was a tomatatini which was much better.
















Lobster Appetizer in the Tasting Menu















Truffle Risotto with Parmesan - I don't eat mushrooms...but only truffle















Pepto Martini ..Oh I mean the strawberry milky martini















Kumamoto Oysters with Cucumber foamy sauce..yum















Foie Gras Steamed Egg - The texture was awesome ...it actually made the egg feel like foie gras















Duck breast with fried thingy with asparagus soup in it











Chandelier in Sir Elly's