25 Before 25 eeks!

Can’t believe I almost forgot about my 25 before 25!  My birthday is about a month and a half away so I better start working on my goals!

It’s hard to believe but I can scratch one of the items off the list!  

On my way to being a quarter of a century old!!! ahhhhh!!!

Meatless Mondays? Challenge Accepted.

So there’s exactly ONE week until my law finals and so I’ve been devoting every waking hour to the books; so blogging has taken a back seat for the time being.

But I felt like writing up a quick post for today.  It’ll comprise mainly of pictures of my meatless recipes for inspiration if you’re interested in taking part in MEATLESS MONDAYS.

Here goes:

Eggplanty Sammies

Rainbow Salad

Odds and Ends Pizza  use what you have in your kitchen and be sure not to add in the prosciutto to make it veg-friendly!

Protein Cupcakes 2.0 – No oven required!

Hearty Pesto Pasta

A Bowl O’Cherries (or any other type of fruit you want)

And there you have it folks.  Hope you all have a fabulous Monday!

__________

Are you taking part in the Meatless Monday Challenge?

Are you currently taking part in any other challenges right now?  Be it in fitness, food, etc.

Ginger Juice Hits Milk with a side of Journey

Oh boy am excited to share this recipe with you guys today!  But first, an overview of my day.  I literally woke up craving a chinese dessert.  It was originally “double skin milk” but I wasn’t in the mood to wait for it to steam and so I was ABOUT to scrap the idea of making a dessert when I came across this easy peasy ginger milk dessert.

Recipe after the jump.

But first a quick story.  There’s construction work going on in the adjacent building and so the workers are blasting the radio.  Not the best for studying.  BUT!  Lo and behold, Don’t Stop Believing by Journey came on.  One of the workers started singing along and then realized my window is totally open and i’m totally stationed at my desk which prompted his singing to cease.  Such a shame, I say if u wanna sing ur heart out mr construction worker, you go and do it!!!! haha..

Here’s a link to the song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfUYuIVbFg0

Have a happy Tuesday and take a few minutes to sing and dance to this song…you know u wanna ;) .

Anywho, today’s plan is to STUDY STUDY STUDY.  I’ll head to my Body Attack class later on…then I’ll need to buy some fruits & veggies at the shop and it’s STUDY STUDY STUDY some more.  REALLY need to focus today and not waste any time because exams are approaching.  *screams in horror inside*

Alrighty, now to the good part…how would you like it if you can use these two items ONLY to make a delicious dessert?  All in a matter of 15 minutes which includes both “prep + cooking time”

We’re making the following dessert as pictured below :)  Ginger Milk Pudding

Who knew that it would be SO easy to make?  I’ve loved this dessert ever since I was a child and would eat them at Chinese restaurants during Dim Sum.  I always thought that it was the hardest thing to make as I pictured needing to steam it and use loads of ingredients like gelatin etc.  But now in retrospect, the Canto name of “薑汁撞奶” which literally translates to “ginger juice hits milk” is actually quite telling.  The coagulation process begins as the boiled milk “hits” the ginger juice as you will see below.

Here’s the recipe with pics!

Ingredients:

  • 1 inch piece of old ginger
  • 250mL whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons or more of sugar

Recipe:

1)  Grind old ginger to a pulp.

2)  Squeeze the pulp to extract about 5 teaspoons of ginger juice.

3)  Boil 250mL of whole milk until tiny bubbles begin to form and it starts to steam a bit.  Then remove from heat and stir in a couple teaspoons of sugar and stir 10 times to cool it a bit.

4)  Now carefully pour it into a bowl with your ginger juice already present.

5)  Cover and wait about 5 minutes.

6)  Ta da!  You should now have a tofufa type dessert that’s very creamy.  Good luck!

*NOTE:

  • The little bubbles you see in the last pic was as a result of me sprinkling granulated sugar on top because I forgot to dissolve it into the boiled milk as per step 3.
  • Also, I’m not sure if it’s necessary to cover it while you let it stand.  I’ll try it again next without covering and will let you know my results.

A Peaceful Easter Monday

…and with a smoothie to celebrate.  Can you tell by the different layers what went into my smoothie?

It’s so nice to get some peace and quiet sometimes.  I’ve grown accustomed to hearing the sounds of cars and other college kids outside my house when my windows are opened.  But this weekend has been pretty quiet, and I’m actually able to hear BIRDS!  Not gonna lie, kinda enjoying this serenity from the usual noise pollution.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much a go-go-go kinda girl and relish in the hustle and bustle of day to day life.  Heck, I lived in Hong Kong for a full year!  But sometime it’s just nice to get a little quiet time to clear the head a bit.

My morning started at 12:30pm…kiiiinda stretching it when I call it my morning huh?  Anywho it’s because I didn’t sleep until 4am!  (Never again!)  I used to be a night owl…but I’ve started enjoying going to bed early and waking up early.  My daddy always told me that doing so does the body good.  I never really believed him, because I figured as long as I get my 8 hours in I’m good, and the how early I go to sleep or wake up is irrelevant.  But boy was I wrong.  It could be all in my head, but I feel SO much more energized when I follow that routine.  Starting tomorrow, I’m going back to my usual routine of waking up early and heading to my spin/zumba and body pump classes.

I say spin/zumba because my beloved classes are taught at the SAME time, so I’m always faced with the tough decision of choosing one or the other.  (#firstworldproblems?  I think so…)  I really enjoy the intensity of spin and really feel like I’m burning a lot of calories BUT I find that I consume a lot after going to spin.  Zumba on the other hand is AMAZEBALLS!  Because I absolutely LOVE dancing!!  I think  I got it from my momma and poppa.  According to them, they used to be quite the dance ‘enthusiasts’ back in the day…and were actually quite good according to my sources!  And yes, the reliable sources I refer to were them.  No but in all fairness, another source has confirmed that they really were quite good.  (Says my aunt..ha!)

Here’s a pic of my parents working it on the dance floor at a New Years’s Boat Cruise.  Hats off to them for being one of the first people to hit the dance floor before other people joined in.

 

 

They’re so adorable!

Anyway…now I’m missing my parents LOADS!  But I’ll get to see them in the summertime, can’t believe the school year is almost over!  (Now that reminds me…I really need to hit the books after this post.)

But first, here’s my yummy berry smoothie!  I’ve come to realize that a splash of OJ really adds a little zing and kick to my smoothies!  Defo worth a try :)

As you can see this is what went into my smoothie: some OJ, a banana, frozen raspberries, yogurt, steamed then cooled down kale, and the secret ingredient were BEETS!  It added a sweetness to the smoothie that was top notch!  (couldn’t think of a better descriptive lol)  My iPhone’s camera isn’t THAT bad eh?  I guess the natural sunlight helped A LOT!

All mixed up and ready to go into my tummy!  The beets’ colours allowed for my smoothie to have a beautiful magenta hue to it.

And into my tummy it went..

Alright, that’s it for now.  I hope you all have a lovely Monday!

Vegging Out

My apologies for not posting in a LONG while.  Had to visit the ER a few days ago, but I’m close to 100% again and thought I’d make a short post.

So I was feeling kinda lethargic all day today…maybe it’s because I ate out a LOT in Belgium, except for the breakfasts made for me (ha!  More on that later…)  So my body has been CRAVING veggies.  I don’t even feel like eating meat at all (and I’m ALWAYS in the carnivorous kinda mood).  So I satisfied my veggie craving with a BEAUTIFUL and COLOURFUL kale salad.

It consisted of kale, red/orange/yellow peppers, tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, avocado, black olives, olive oil with a squeeze of lemon and salt & pepper.

The rest of the day was spent on watching episodes upon episodes of The Good Wife.  I REALLY love Julianna Margulies and think that she was perfectly casted for the role.  Anyone else watch it?  One of the episodes today focussed on tort law in UK, specifically libel.  I was so giddy because I actually understood what the were talking about and it was nice for them to point out the differences in UK and US law :D .

Sorry for the short post but I must get back to reading criminal law now!

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter (if u celebrate it!)

The Mickey D’s of Belgium

…is called: ‘Quick’.

I know, I know, fast food is BAD but here’s a little background story before I pic you guys with the feast I brought back home from Quick.

I went to this HUGE shopping centre today to do some shopping, namely for some clothes…but to no avail. I did see a pair of really cute green shorts but they didn’t have my size. Since clothes shopping was a total bust, I decided to go to the supermarcher (supermarket) and managed to buy all of the chocolate in Belgium! Ok not really, but I did buy quite a bit! I completely forgot to buy chocolates for friends and fam back home last time I was in Belgium so this time I could NOT forget.

So yea…after all of that walking around and trying on clothes and buying chocolates I was famished and just HAD to go into Quick since I’ve seen them almost everywhere in Brussels. Also my buddy said it’s the McDonald’s of Belgium so I HAD to try it for comparison sake (hehe!)

I also had a coupon for this place so there’s double the reason to give it a try ha!

20120402-055733 PM.jpg

And so here is what it looks like plus one “big mac” that’s not pictured.

20120402-055857 PM.jpg

And the verdict isssss…

Mickey D’s.

The fries at Quick were a bit soggy. And let’s be honest, nothing beats McDs’ fries. And the big mac was just no big mac to put it simply.

I gotta confess- I’m totally typing this post laying down on the bed.

I am now in a food coma thanks to this ginormous meal. And my tummy feels stuffed to the brim! Guess that’s what I get for giving into my craving!

 

Mussels in Brussels

Super happy today because I FINALLY had mussels! They came in this silver pot which seemed more authentic.

20120401-071235 PM.jpg

They only put onions and celery leaves in. Was kind of expecting tomatoes too like they do it in Canada. I thought the sauce was a bit salty but overall it was pretty good!

And then I went to Friteland at Grand Place as per my friend’s suggestion for some Belgian frites! There was a long line up because I guess they’re super popular.

Here’s the pic:

20120401-072323 PM.jpg

I got mayo and ketchup, while my buddy got peri peri and mayo.

Alrighty m’dears it’s about 7:30pm here in Brussels but the sun is still shining so I’m off for a walk.