Injured

There's nothing more disheartening than to trip over a stone at 1.65km of your run and to sprain your ankle.

Yep, it was real sprain, because I cried out loud when my left foot landed at an odd angle.

In my heart, I went, "NooOoOoOoooooo~"

I want to cry in the inside, but as we hobbled back, we started brainstorming on how I was going to work out for the rest of the week while my ankle recovers.

Gym. I hate gym but looks like I'll be hogging the rowing machine and the stationary bicycle? I end that statement with a question mark because I'm not sure - I really find gym a bore!

And I don't enjoy swimming because I find it very tiring. Yep, I'm a horrible swimmer. But when injured, what else can I do?

Not only that, I'll need to be strict with my diet too, due to the lack of exercise.

*sobs*

2 weeks to Bareno and my hopes of doing a better time seems so unlikely right now.

Just yesterday while running with Lynn, she was telling me how women's ankles are just so bloody fragile and weak. Something like that.

*big sigh*

Cereal Bars 2

A week later after my first attempt, I made a second batch, double the portion and with different ingredients.

The last time, I didn't have baking paper to press the mixture firmly down into the dish. It does make a difference.

This time, I added sunflower seeds I had slowly roasted in a frying pan. Added a bit more dessicated coconut, too.

Which may have been a mistake, hehe, because I could taste it.


The almonds were not so finely blended as before, so you can see the bits clearly here.

This time, it was more dry. No chocolate and not enough honey, perhaps?

And they fell apart faster than the first batch! =(


I'm thinking of dipping them into chocolate the next time. Pray that will help!

The Haute Food Co

Our meet up sessions usually involve venturing to a new eatery or going to our usual haunts. Last Saturday, we thought we'd try The Haute Food Co.

Most of the reviews I read online raved about their desserts.

I didn't manage to take a picture of their entire menu as I was fiddling with the Retro Camera application on my phone, as you can tell.

Roast beef, caramelised onions & mizuna came up a few times as recommended to try. Dot decided to go with it. I was so tempted to go with the smoked salmon.

Distracted, I noticed the guy's drink at the next table and wondered what was it. A chocolate shake? MMMmmm...

Dot ordered the mixed berry drink, which also comes highly recommended by some blogs. Yeah, we decided to stick to the recommended choices instead of repeating our mistake at Plan B of not going with the recommended dishes! ;)

Oooh, it changes colour. How exciting!
Compared to my glass of warm water, that is.

She ordered the roast beef sandwich. (RM13.50)

Steph's eggs on toast (RM7.50), with added mushrooms (RM5.50) and baked beans (RM2.50). She also ordered the long black at RM7.50 which she said was weak. No kick!

Once again, I was the slowest to decide. After much hesitation for I wanted to save space for dessert, I opted for the club sandwich with focaccia bread. (RM15.90)

Yeah, I didn't go with the smoked salmon. ;)

We went to check out their cakes on display and I asked whether they had their caramelised pecan cheesecake (which comes up highly recommended). Nope, I was out of luck.

Scones! Apparently they are good. I told YB I'll bring him over one day to try since he's a fan of scones.

I still think scones are no good without clotted cream. ;)

We went for the recommended sticky date pudding with ice cream (RM12) for dessert. The sweetness comes from the layer of butterscotch icing on top of the cake which was zapped into smooth liquid.

We loved it. It's good for sharing as it may be a little sweet towards the end.

Our verdict: Sandwiches were a bit dry, probably due to the thickness of the bread. Sticky date pudding with ice-cream was nice, warm and fluffy!

Tucked away in a small lot in Plaza Damas, come out from Hartamas Shopping Centre's Starbuck's to Joe's Kopitiam and turn right. Walk on until you see their blue awning on the left.

The Haute Food Co
H-0-2, Block H, Plaza Damas,
60, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 50480.
Tel: +603 6201 3168

Some reviews:
The Nomad Gourmand
masak-masak
Cumi & Ciki

Homemade Cereal Bars 1

(I know, I know. This must be a long awaited post, since some of you actually asked me to share my recipe! =D)

I was inspired by (once again) Eat Live Run who cooks up the simplest but lovely looking food.

You know the cost of cereal bars these days, right? And how sickly sweet some of them are. So I decided to make my own.

I browsed through the Internet for other recipes so I could compare ingredients, and I used the ones I could buy or have.

The main ingredients I used: rolled oats, rice crispies, almonds, raisins, dessicated coconut, chopped chocolate (to replace chocolate chips), butter and honey.

Easy breezy, right? I know!!

• 1 1/2 cup of rolled oats
• 1/2 cup of rice crispies
• 1/2 cup of crushed almonds (blend it a while)
• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 1/4 cup of dessicated coconut
• 1/3 cup of chopped chocolate
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of butter
• 4 tablespoons of honey

Chopped up some chocolate from the bar I had left from making the No Bake Cookies.

Butter, honey and chocolate.

First, pour the honey and butter into a medium sized pot to boil until it starts getting a bit bubbly.

Next, combine or mix together the oats, rice crispies, raisins, almonds and coconut into a bowl/basin and pour it into the pot of honey and butter and stir until the ingredients are evenly coated. (If you're like me and panic that they don't seem sticky enough, pour in a bit more honey! ... and you wonder why I'm hopeless with cooking? =D)

The chocolate bits go in last.

Then, pour everything into your rectangular pyrex dish and flatten it out as much as possible. The first time I used the mixing spoon, it was not even.

Keep in fridge for as long as possible. 3 hours would be great!

The end product. Looks yummy eh?

Chop them into squares and wrap them up individually with baking paper or in this case, I used cling wrap. They both don't wrap properly (oops) but doesn't matter, at least it's easy for me to grab them from the fridge and walk out the door!

Keep them in the fridge at all times. I've yet to figure out how to make them more compact and sticky, without them crumbling in my hands. =(

Anyway, Part 2 will tell you how I improvised the next time. Baking paper definitely helps!

Progress of the Bunny Ears

As I mentioned previously during the last LSD in January, Ms Phyllis of PACM did suggest we wear bunny ears for our LSD on February 13th. I decided to make my own after discovering that:

a) the bunny ears sold at Watson's were not worth the price of RM9.90 - the ears are oddly angled; and
b) the bunny ears sold for RM6.90 at Lovely Tales (I think they've changed names!) had smeared glue at the base of the ears so it looked really messy! (before CNY, I swear the price was RM5.90!).

So I decided that I'd make my own.

That was before I realised it was pretty hard work!

I was supposed to start off during the Chinese New Year break, but I ended up starting on another project (I have tons of unfinished projects! apparently they are known as WIP for "Work In Progress") - a lens pouch for my macro lens.

Anyway, the things you would need for this simple *cough* project:

1) paper - to draw the shape of your bunny ears;
2) felt or flannel - pink and white, preferably;
3) thread and needle - to sew them together, d'oh;
4) thin wires - to make sure that the ears are tied "up" to the hair band; and
5) a cheap plastic hair band.

oh, if you're crocheting, you'll need your instruction sheet! =)

PART A:

For FELT-

Draw out the shape of the ears on paper. Cut out. Trace outline of the ears on your pink and white felt, so you should end up with 2 pieces of pink and 2 pieces of white. sew them together along the sides. Ta-daa!

PART A:

For CROCHET-

I am a do-as-you-go person so I started on one ear (on the flight back from KK to KL) and when I finished it, only did I write down the instructions properly. It was a tedious task, but that's how silly I work sometimes!

I counted the rows and printed them out nicely so I could follow it for the 2nd ear.

You see that faint yellow thingy on the unfinished 2nd ear? That was a paper clip with a Post It (note to remind me that I stopped at Row 14.)

I used the ear to draw its shape on paper, then cut it out to trace it on the pink flannel. Trimmed it a bit, just too make sure the pink wasn't too big.

I sewed the crochet piece and pink flannel piece together with white thread. Leave a gap at the bottom of the ears to insert the wires.

I only used what I had so don't tell me that my wires were really too thin.=P

PART B:

Now, bend them gently and insert into your ears, leaving about 2 inches of the ends sticking out.

I looped the end of the wires around the hair band. With some yarn, I sewed the base of the ears tightly to the hair band, going round and round and hiding as much of the wire as I could. Not a pretty sight, but that was the most I could do.

The end product.

Bent ears to give a slightly more authentic look, don't you think?

Don't think I'd be able to sell them for a profit, eh? ;)

I asked a friend whether he would be putting on Shrek's ears during the run. He said to me, "You make, I wear."

I took that as a challenge. I scoured the Internet for crochet patterns and pictures. I stared hard at Shrek's ears and compared them to some of the patterns I could find but in the end I decided to design my own pattern.

This time, I wrote down the instructions as I went along.
Finished them in one day. =)

Found a green hair band at Sinma for RM2.90.

The guy ended up saying that he was JUST joking, and so he didn't wear them for the run. Neither did I, anyway! I only wore the ears after the run.

Yin Yin and I posing with our ears. The ears received a lot of attention, which was rather embarrassing. I sure hope it was good attention and not bad! (Thanks very much for the support, Yin!)

Nevertheless, it was a good feeling to know that I can actually crochet something from scratch. *grins happily* I am, after all, still a beginner at crochet!

~~

On the LSD run, I found it really hard. I had a tough time maintaining my pace, and I think it was due to the lack of sleep the night before. With only 4 hours of sleep (no thanks to coffee at 8pm!), I just couldn't carry on after the 18th km. I even got lost and took the wrong way and boy, was it hilly! We had to re-trace our steps to find our way back to Bukit Aman.

Random Runspiration Tips:

(I think I missed out on a few posts!)

#4 If you think you need to rehydrate along the way and PACM's 2 water stations are not enough, always bring a small bottle of water with you. Have you seen the smalll Spritzer POP fizzy water bottles? That size should be enough for you to bring along. You can also fill it with half portion of water and half of 100plus. Be sure to leave it out of the fridge the night before or you don't want to have problems holding on to a cold bottle during your run!

I was once told by a friend that rehydration is VERY important. You need to know your body well enough to endure long runs, so really, don't be shy if you need to bring a small bottle of water with you. =D

#5 Smile or wave or greet runners along the way. There was once, right after reading this article, I decided to be as thick skinned friendly as Raymond and greeted (almost) every runner on the road. I made count as far as I could (but gave up after 25) and only about 1/3 responded positively. Serious runners don't usually bother greeting you!

It did dishearten me for a while, because it made me feel silly for greeting them and not getting a response in return. But I guess THEY should be the ones who should be ashamed of themselves for not being friendly. I think. =D

Supposed to be Thai?

One of the hardest things to do when you're tired from work and you're absolutely hungry, is to choose your dinner venue carefully - especially when your first, second and third choices are packed and/or the wait is long.


We settled for a place called Rak Thai on the lower ground of Gardens, Mid Valley one tired evening last month.

We took a while to decide what to order, as the menu had various pictures of mouth watering food.


We eventually decided on the Mango Chicken with rice (RM15.90). YB was very disappointed with the portion but I said perhaps it was because it was glutinous rice, hence the portion looked small.


With my continuous attempts to watch my diet and choose the healthiest dish I could think of, I opted for the glass noodles (RM12.90) which came in a huge lump as the strands were all glued together.

It wasn't the most appetising dish to look at, seriously, but we gamely finished it, anyway.

*sigh*

I noticed man eating the Green Curry with rice and wondered whether it was any better than ours.

Don't the stools remind you of some form of aliens?


Other reviews:
The Gastronomic Diary
Bual Bual Kosong

Hopping about

Oh my goodness it's hard work!

Some of us are doing a LSD this Sunday and previously a PACM member (Phyllis?) mentioned that we should put on bunny ears or lovebug ears, in conjunction of the Year of the Rabbit or Valentine's Day.

I told Yin Yin and we both thought it would be silly in a funny way to don bunny ears. I saw some selling for RM6.90 but didn't really like the quality of it, although the furry ears are sooooo nice to touch. =D

So I decided to make my own, but as I was supposed to start during the CNY break and I procrastinated (I only began on my flight back to KL!) I'm way behind from completing it.

But it looks like it'll be ready in time!

But I may not wear it. Shy leh!!

Plan B with Dot

We met up for lunch on a Friday (14th January 2011), despite our busy schedules. I came across Plan B after reading its reviews on several food blogs and suggested to Dot whether her focus for lunch that day would be the desserts.

It was packed but we were lucky to get a table instead of waiting too long.

I'm not sure whether we ordered the 'right' dishes as both our choice failed to satiate our taste buds.

My Classic Caesar Salad was strangely empty. You know, after I cleaned up my plate, I waited a while to see what my taste buds would say: happy, satisfied, stuffed, disappointed.

They went,"that's it?"

Its presentation was quite similar to the one at DELIcious but I felt that the portion was probably 1/4 lesser than DELIcious'. *shrug*

Dot was equally disappointed with her Carbonara as it was very creamy but bland.

To be fair, I'm sure we had ordered dishes which were not on the recommended list. Many patrons could be seen enjoying their meals. Like the group of ladies behind us had Asian dishes (Nasi Bojari, perhaps) and the two men in front of us had a burger and pasta to share. Their burger was huge and looked so delectable that I wanted to reach out to ask them what exactly did they order whether it was good.

Then came for dessert.

We went to check out their display of savoury and sweet and I could not help but to be drawn to their huge muffins of Lamb Choriz & Gruyere Cheese and Tomato & Zucchini. They are priced at RM10 each and looked as big as my hand!

Eventually Dot and I decided to share the Caramel Bar (RM5) which we found to be a good choice for value for money. Topped with chocolate, the nuts were enveloped with caramel and rested on a hard chocolate base. We had to request for knives so we could saw the bar in pieces!

Definitely not a choice for first date meals! We both covered our mouths with our hands as weh took our time chewing.

Halfway through our portion, we both begun to be overwhelmed with its sweetness. Oops. Looks like you'll need four persons to share this bar!

I would like try other dishes on their menu the next time I'm there. Most definitely buying back a piece of scone (RM4) and a muffin soon!

Pre-CNY Run with DR

(My goodness! I honestly thought I would have blogged about this when I was back home in KK for the CNY break but I guess I was just too lazy to slouch over the keyboard and in front of the computer for fear of wasting too much time on the Internet!)

The Dutamas Runners met up for a short run on Saturday, January 29th. We were supposed to run an easy 14.3k towards the government complex and to Petronas station in Desa Sri Hartamas and then back home.

We stopped at Petronas to regroup before we continued with our run. We attempted some jump shots but failed miserably.

YB, Melvin, Captain, myself and YLoon did 15km instead as YB and I inadvertently took the long route back, so the 3 guys just followed suit.

We tried some more jump shots at the end of the run but failed miserably again.

It was a good laugh, though!

I let them try a small piece of my cereal bar (batch no. 2) and I guess it was just OK. I was bummed that this one seemed more of a failure compared to the first batch! hmmmfh.


We headed towards Bandar Menjalara for a breakfast of fish noodles. I must say that this was the first time for the runners to get to know each other much better and it was enlightening, in a sense that we were being 'friends' and not merely 'acquaintances from running'.

Our next meet up will be on February 13th where we hope to nick some water and isotonic drinks from the two Pacesetters' water stations which will be set up. *innocent smile* Yin and I hope to don bunny ears for the run, in conjunction of the Year of the Rabbit!

In fact, I'm frantically crocheting it now! I hope I can finish in time!

Why am I crocheting a pair of bunny ears, you ask? It's because I found a pair selling for RM5.90 but the quality was very poor, with glue smeared on the head band.

I'm not sure how well will my pair of bunny ears turn out, though. *cross fingers*