Oh Beautiful Lemon Curd !

A few months back, I had bought some passion fruits that were on sale. Super cheap, super tangy and deliciously fragrant. But too many and I was figuring out how to get rid of it and voila… as luck or Google has it, I got a solution of making Passion fruit curd. It was super yummy and I had the curd with toast every morning until the whole bottle was finished. Loved the delicious fragrant and the yummy tangy yet rich buttery curd on my toast.

And today I had a craving for the curd but alas! No passion fruits in sight! Thus as the saying goes, when life throws you lemons, you make lemon curd! How about that?

lovely lemons
Creative Commons License photo credit: thepinkpeppercorn

Yay! And so I did. But instead of following the recipe taken online on how to make lemon curd, I foolishly followed back the passion fruit recipe by replacing the lemon juice. And I ended up with cooked egg bits in my curd. Rule 1 : Never mix the eggs into the juice while waiting for the water in the double boiler to boil. Lemon juice + egg = cooked egg…. Even if its with eggy bits, the curd still tasted very good… :) So just strain the mixture to get rid of the eggy bits and the curd is good to go!

The method I used was meant for the passion fruit curd. Thus be smart… follow lemon curd recipe method… After the incident, I read up more on the lemon curd recipe and found that the recommended method was to cream the mixture of sugar and butter first ( much like baking a cake ) and then to add in the eggs. Next, then add in the lemon juice (mixture will cuddle but don’t panic, the heat later will dissolve all the bits) and then cook the mixture in a double boiler.

Ingredients for Lemon Curd
===================
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 lemon juice
3 eggs
Some lemon zest
About 115g butter

PS. if you do not like too sour curd, you can reduce the lemon juice.

Yummy!

Step 1: Ingredients
Creative Commons License photo credit: toholio

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Shape Run 2010

Once again I have set myself to go for another running event. This is probably the only way to make sure I am still keeping fit so that I can be physically ready to go for a run.

But as usual, with much excuses like the rainy season and hot sun, I managed to go for only 3 running sessions before the run. Yikes!
797 - Ancient Greece Vase - Seamless Pattern
Creative Commons License photo credit: Patrick Hoesly
Well, despite my laziness and lame attempts to jump start my own fitness regime, I managed to finish the 5km run without stopping or walking! I am so proud of myself! It was a great feeling as it truly shows that at the end of the day, it is really mind over body. And the best part? I came out of the running without any pain or aches that normally will come when you don’t really exercise for a very long time… :) I expected a downtime of at least 2-3 days of intense pain coming up and down the stairs but surprisingly, I had no down time!

So without any hestitation, I am going for my next run in October for the Great Eastern Life Run! Heeee…. Maybe should be trying for 10km…. hmmmm…. or maybe not… yikes!

Now I am looking forward to the Oct one and hopefully try to beat my timing at the Shape Run!

~Namaste!

PS. Hamstrings are definitely getting tighter and tighter… sigh… need to go back to normal yoga classes soon!!!!

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Me And My iPhone

It’s official.

It’s no point going against what you dream of owning one day. Back 1.5 yrs ago, I wanted an iphone. But I did not get it as I heard from friends that iphone is not as fantastic as it is made out to be. SMS cannot forward, contact cannot forward, etc … My friends kept complaining about it and recommend me to get an Nokia instead. And so I did.

Was I happy with it? Nope. It was a pretty phone but still it was not iPhone… no cool touch screen, no zooming in and zooming out with pinching the screen, no fast scrolling, no keying in on a cool touch screen keypad – I had to struggle with the phone tiny key pad as I painfully typed out the URL of websites I wanted to surf on the phone. I used to think I will not be accessing the web via my phone… it will be so silly! Such small screen? I rather go on my laptop or desktop to surf…

But I was wrong! It has become quite important to be able to access the internet on the go. Especially with knowledge or data required at the top of your fingertips.

Plus the array of applications available on the iPhone is really amazing. And of course games are plenty on iPhone land – many free and provide you with hours of entertainment ( okay, more like a distraction… )

Now that I have finally gotten my iPhone, I am finally at peace. This was the one. :)

 

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Secret Of Youth – Yoga, DMAE, SPF50?

One of the most sought after sercrets of the humankind or rather of women all over the world is to stay young forever!

This is especailly true for women as some how, women tend to age faster compared to men in terms of loo. Men for some reason, tend to look better when they age. This is demostrated with those male hollywood stars like Johnny Depp ( I used to like him alot in 21 Jump Street when he was young but I really love him when he got older… so much more! ). Well, stars aside, we ordinary folks also want to look fabulous as we age!

I have been told numerous times that I don’t look my age. I look far younger than I look and always surprised people when I revealed my age. Secret? Well, there are a few "secrets" that I believe in :

1. Use sunblock! That is my number one must do before I step out of the house. This is one scientific fact that has been proven by dermatologist all over the world that we really need to keep the sun out! Above SPF 15 please! Currently I am using SPF50… better to be very safe then sorry… :)

2. Yoga of course! One of the most importance thing that I do to keep me youthful is of course yoga! I strongly recommend doing inversions as one of the best way to stay young as in our normal day to day  life, we hardly have any chance to allow blood to flow towards our head and face area. Headstands and handstands and even the simple downward dog are terrific way to keep our skin radiant.

3. Then comes what we eat and drink. Do you know that sugar or rather processed food is the number one enemy of premature aging? So think twice before you sink your teeth into sweet things like doughnuts, sweets, cakes etc. But then again who can resist? :P I for one, will still indulge in some sweets once a while…. but of course, not everyday!

4. Then we need to good facial products to upkeep our fragile skin on our face. Depending on your skin type, always choose those products that are suitable and if possible go for natural products. I tried to use those products from normal shops like Watsons from brandnames like Loreal, Garnier and Olay, but somehow my skin hates them as they are pretty oily they feel heavy on my skin. I am especially adverse to loreal products as using them often causes "oil" sacs on my face! Anyway, I have already given up on using these products.

However, recently I discovered this particular cream from the US which seems to be working well for me. It smells funny ( probably due to the content of Alpha Lipoic and DMAE )  and look like those light brown foundation cream but once you use it, you know that it works! A tiny dab each to the cheecks and forehead is more than enough. The skin feels firmer and softer in an instant. I love it! But remember a little goes a long way! I was greedy once and use alot on my neck and there was some redness as a result of that ( coupled with a few sprays of perfume which chemically spell bad news ).  Plus, its pretty cheap!

This cream is by Derma E : DMAE Alpha-Lipoic-C-Ester Retexturizing Creme

So far I give it a thumbs up as it is working for my skin ( firming and moisturing + anti-aging all in one bottle) and it does not cause any oil sacs. The only thing to note is not to use too much of it at one go. I bought mine here with the discount coupon HEW497 to get $5 off your first order.

5. Finally the most important thing I do every single without fail is to drink lots of water! Water is so important to flush out all the toxins of the water as well as to keep our skin supple. In fact, the less you drink water, the more your body tends to retain the water. Your skin will look clearer and more radiant if you drink water to help the body detox.

 

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5 Months Without Yoga And Counting…

Seriously?

Yup. Notheless, I am trying to get back into practicing by starting 1-3-5 morning yoga practice of sun salutations plus a mix of yoga asanas as a start to get myself back to consistent practice.

It was not easy… so it shows that I lacked the discipline to practice on my own. But I tried… sometimes just basic sun salutations. At times just do a simple stretch, a simple twist , then perhaps a few handstands. Plus I did do my headstand for as long as I could.

Not very proud of the progress though. But I guess some is better than none. I even woke up early one morning and went for a jog. And the following week another jog. I hoped that I can increase my jogging eventually to at least 3 times a week with 2 sessions of yoga at home ( Ashtanga combi with inversions ). Ambitious? Likely… In fact, even though I stop exercising, I have not gained weight but in fact, lost 2 kgs due to stress at work.

But I think no matter what, I take exercising to be quite an important part of my life that I must work on in order to keep fit and stay healthy!

Wish me luck!

Namaste! ( yes, I still do my anusara chanting at every chance I’ve got! )

 

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