Live, laugh, love.
Thanks to the ladies at Lululemon for amazing Sunday morning yoga classes and community love! Lululemon's just launched their first showroom in London and I'm so excited to see them here! It's like having a piece of home (Canada) here in London. I've enjoyed chatting with the ladies (and guys!) about life, yoga, work and total randomness.
I love being in a community of like-minded people - those who care passionately about health and wellness!
Get ready for the red and black mats every Sunday morning at Lululemon Chelsea (no need to bring your own mats)! It’s time to get out of your comfort zone. Whether it’s actually getting yourself to class on a Sunday morning, doing yoga in a small space with incredible energy, doing a pose that makes you uncomfortable, or talking to complete strangers, it’s all about training your brain to give it a try. Be sure to have a laugh along the way!
‘Do one thing a day that scares you.’ - Lululemon
What is one thing that you will be doing this week that scares you?
The fear that I let go of last week was leaving the unpacked boxes in my room to attend yoga for some much needed me time! I was worried about not having my life sorted out before the end of the weekend, but as soon as class started, I forgot about the boxes!
I love massive strawberries. So when I see them, I need to buy them. We are so lucky to always have juicy and massive strawberries in Canada, but this isn't always the case in London. Most of the fruit is imported in London and these lovely strawberries below are from Spain.
I am starting to love cheese again. I used to be lactose intolerant and felt bloated after eating diary products. It's better now, so I'm slowly exploring different kinds of cheese. At the moment, my favourite is smoky cheese as pictured, paired with oatcakes.
Hint: You can go to Waitrose and sample all the cheese that you want at their deli counter, you just need to ask. I've been lucky to try quite a few of their cheeses. It's so nice to try before you buy!
I used to always love mom's homemade fishcakes, but I was too tired to make them this week. So I called mom up and she suggested coating my salmon fillet with cornstarch and breadcrumbs and pan-frying it instead. Much quicker to prepare and super tasty!
It worked out beautifully - crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Paired it up with some healthy organic green lentils (cooked with sage and rosemary) and some long stemmed broccoli.
When I lived at home, I used to take for granted that food magically shows up at dinner. Having lived away from home, I know that it takes some loving effort to eat well. I used to think that it was hard to make mom’s dishes, but now I realize that it’s just a matter of asking mom how she makes her amazing dishes! I’m so grateful for mom!
I've been challenging myself to follow Danielle's 'Sweaty Schedule' from Lululemon for the past few months. It's certainly been interesting as this girl travels all around town to attend classes! It's given me great motivation to attend class, as every time we meet, we always have a good chat and a cup of refreshing tea.
The best thing about attending different classes at different studios is the diversity! At the end of last year and this year, I did a 3 week yoga challenge where every day, I attended a different yoga class. Every teacher has a different style and way of teaching and only you know what's right for you.
One of my favourites is Jivamukti with Lizzie at the Life Center and Indaba yoga. In the course of a class, Lizzie has been able to open up the tension in my shoulders and hips. It's an intensive and dynamic heat class, so after each class, I feel completely drained and detoxed.
I'm so excited for the Chelsea Lululemon to open in a few weeks! It will be just like Vancouver where there will be free yoga in the studio.
Danielle posts her schedule on the Facebook fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/lululemonChelsea
Hope to see you on the mat! :)
I love tea time.
Down time to chat with the ladies (and sometimes the guys!) has always been a treat in this busy city of London.
Here are some recent images:
Fortnum and Mason's in Piccadilly
At my dentist
High tea at the Orangery in Kensington Palace
Tea and cake time at Tombu
Green tea latte at Tombu. Finally found a place that serves green tea latte in London!
is a journey, not a destination. It is the journey to find the edge which maybe teaches us more about ourselves. - Lizzy Hawker for North Face
As I was looking around for hiking boots, this quote really stood out for me. I've always thought that in my races and challenges, endurance was about a destination. It was about finishing first. Being the Fastest. The Strongest.
Now as I read Lizzie’s blog below, I'm inspired by her journey:
I love how Lizzy talks about her Sky Dance as ‘making my run a dance in the sky while always recognizing and respecting the soul of the mountains and cultures through which I journey.' Well said.
How many of us go through life with check-lists and to-do's? I know that I'm certainly one of those people who strive to achieve one goal after another. It's my Asian genes that want and need (immediate) results. If we step away from the results, what do we learn? More importantly, who have we become?
How many times have I tried and failed? Many. Through it all, I’ve grateful for a lifetime of experiences.
Goal accomplished: I have hosted a hotpot with friends by February 2012 and blogged about it on my website.
What a fun goal this was to achieve! Thank you to all of my guests for a fantastic evening.
The definition of hotpot from Wikipedia is as follows:
Hot pot (simplified Chinese: 火锅; traditional Chinese: 火鍋; pinyin: huǒ guō), less commonly Chinese fondue or steamboat, refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table.
I was doing my goals in February at the time of Chinese New Year and decided that I wanted to host my own hotpot. I’ve always been too scared to host because of the time factor: time needed to shop for the food, prep the stock, wash the veggies, etc. All excuses at the end of the day, but they were what fueled my inability to follow through.
So, to motivate and get me going, I enlisted the help of friends:
Grocery shopping – friend who has a car to help with the groceries, check!
Steamboat cooker – flatmate who has inherited a hotpot cooker, check!
Washing the squid –friend who loves getting his hands dirty, check!
Chopping the green onions and garlic for the dipping sauce – friend who loves to cook, check!
I spent the day cooking the chicken, mooli, pork bones and winter melon stalk, so I knew that it would be lovely by the time my friends arrived for dinner. I also spent some time chopping andcleaning the veggies as I bought a variety of different types: gai choy, dou miu and Chinese cabbage. I also bought favourites such as fish balls, pork balls, beef balls and slices of pork and beef. For carbs, I bought individual packets of rice vermicelli and lightly boiled them in water before the guests arrived.
It was a lot of food, but I love having too much food rather than not enough food (something that I learned from mom and all of our family gatherings!).
I transferred the stock into the hotpot as everyone arrived so that we were all ready to start cooking and eating! I love seeing everyone cook their food and then watching their faces in anticipation of what they are going to be fishing out! The pot was divided into two sections so we started off by having a veggie side and a meat side. As we started to get more and more hungry, we just decided to mix everything together and favour the side that was boiling the fastest.
As we waited for the food to cook, we started mixing our dipping sauces. Everyone likes to mix their own sauce depending on their preferences. I normally mix chopped garlic, spring onions, sesame sauce and soya sauce. Through a recommendation by a friend, I opted to try something new and add chili oil and a raw egg (a favourite in Hong Kong) into my sauce. I was pleasantly surprised!
This was our soup stock with everyone’s spoons in the pot, eager to scoop out the food! The best part of the evening had to be the soup (and of course, the good company!). It takes a long time to cook a nice and rich soup stock. Soup lovers who love good homemade soup can definitely attest to this! Once all of the meat, veggies and seafood have been cooked in the stock, the soup becomes even more flavourful.
When I can taste the soup and know that I have patiently waited for it to simmer and flavor for hours, I am happy! The soup is a lovely ending to wash down the food as everyone stares at each other with their bellies sticking out - satisfied from all the eating!
Thanks to L for bringing homemade cupcakes for dessert!
I love to communicate and share ideas about health and wellness. I'm passionate about delicious food, nutrition and wellbeing, having fun exercising and exploring nature.
