Diet update: Day 13

Just a quick update on what's been happening with my Herbalife diet.

Didn't really follow it over the long weekend. I did have the shake and teamix for breakfast on Friday morning but after that was the Kampachi lunch and chicken rice dinner at Supertanker after a whole afternoon of cutting paper and tying ribbons.

Saturday was a blur really. I had the shake and teamix for breakfast before heading to A Cut Above to get my hair done for the fund-raising dinner. Ate lunch with Rommel at this Thai restaurant opposite Eu Yan Sang in the lower ground connection between Midvalley and Gardens. I dont know the name but the food was so awful anyway so I wont bother blogging about it. Dinner was at the event (in Supertanker again) but since we were running up and down most of the night, we barely ate. Ended up tarpauing maggi mee goreng and milo ais from Neela's at 1am. Bad bad bad...

Sunday - woke up in time for 11.30am mass but not to take my shake. Lunch was again in Supertanker where we had 3 types of noodle dishes. Yum... We tried dinner at Cristang which I blogged about *here*.

Day 12, i.e. yesterday, I was good and had the shake for breakfast and lunch. At lunch, I also had stirfried veg as well since I wanted something savoury. Dinner was not so good though cos Evelyn cooked claypot chicken rice and it was laden with chinese sausages. Since we didn't have time over the weekend to buy groceries, Rommel and I went to Bangsar Village to buy meat and veg and ended up also buying strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and whipped cream. Ooh...

So yea, if I don't look like I haven't lost much weight, you know why.... :D

Kampachi May promotion:

Kampachi at Hotel Equatorial KL is having a scallop promotion for the month of May. Scallops from the Aomori prefecture, Japan, cooked teppan-style and served with shimeji and enoki mushrooms and garnished with sliced spring onions.

I saw it in the papers on 30 April and got so excited, Rommel and I headed there the next day for lunch to check it out! RM68 per portion. Oooh..... I think I might just pop by tomorrow lunchtime again to have this since my office is just across the street. Anyone want to come along?

Piggin' Out: Cristang, 8 Avenue

Restaurant: Cristang
Address: B-G-19, 8 Avenue, Petaling Jaya (behind Courts Mammoth, Wisma Thrifty)
Tel: 603-7956 7877
Cuisine: Eurasian
Other reviews: absolut ginger
Check their Facebook group *here* for more details

On Wednesday, Rommel sent me this link to a restaurant behind Courts Mammoth and said let's do dinner there that night. He read it was 20% off all their pork burgers on Wednesdays. Plus, they served pork vindaloo and he's been having cravings for it for a while now. (No, I do not know how to cook it but I suppose some day soon I'll ask his mom how she makes hers, since he likes her version of the dish but obviously isn't inclined to learn how to make it.)

But, given that we had much to do in preparation for this weekend's fund-raising dinner (which I might blog about another time but it went very well, thank you. We raised more than the targeted RM250,000 for our church roof fund.), we weren't able to check it out last week. Finally, our first free slot was tonight's dinner and we decided to take the opportunity.

Ambience and service
Clean, simple decor, a little quirky but in a nice and warm way. Service is a bit on the slow side since there was only 1 waiter tonight who also made the drinks and took the orders and brought the bill at the end. But, the food came promptly and there was only 1 other table of 4 when we were there. The restaurant owners were also around if we really needed to holler for anything.

Food
For starters, we shared the Devils on Horseback - grilled back bacon wrapped over asparagus spears, drizzled with a red wine reduction (RM9.30 for 3 pieces). Bacon and asparagus are one of the great meat-and-veg pairings in my books.... like beef and mushrooms. The Japanese call it umami......

Rommel had the pork vindaloo with plain rice (RM15.80 for a small portion and RM1.20 for the rice). He found the vindaloo not the best, but good enough to satisfy his cravings. I thought the vindaloo needed a bit more salt but that could be because the bacon in the starter and my burger had already skewed my tastebuds. We just wished that it came with more kuah because how do you enjoy a curry when it lacks the kuah, right?

Since we'd read that the pork burgers are good, I decided to try one. The burger menu is separate and has variations called P1 to P6. I can't rattle off the descriptions of all the types but I remember P4 to P6 had petai in them. I'm no fan of petai so I chose P3 - pork burger topped with cheese and chilli con carne (Rm22.80). Loved the burger. You can tell that the patty is homemade. It was sufficiently juicy, tasty and I really liked the pickles that came on top. The burger comes with baked potato wedges on the side. Shen, I think you'll like the wedges. Homemade, with a generous sprinkle of good herbs.

For dessert, we ordered the tiramisu (RM18.80). Now, I've been told my tiramisu is pretty decent (best compliment yet is from my colleague Edward who can be rather difficult to please when it comes to food - he said my tiramisu was almost as good as his wife's.), so I'm always curious to find out how restaurants serve theirs. Cristang didn't disappoint.

First, owner Gerald comes to our table to ask how much alcohol would we like in our tiramisu. He makes them to order and so it can be made according to our preference. Rommel being Rommel, of course said the more the better. In less than 10 minutes, Gerald's whipped up a yummylicious looking tiramisu on a plate. He's added Cointreau and orange liquior into it. A very nice twist indeed, somehow reminding me of the crepe suzette in Chalet. Only one issue with it - not enough mascarpone. But that's cos I'm really generous with mascarpone in my tiramisu - if I had to make it and sell it for a living, I don't think I'll be able to make much money. Just like the amount of ricotta I use for my cheesecakes!

Drinks
I had a Red D-tox (watermelon, carrot and orange juice, RM8.80) which was freshly made and not too bad while Rommel had the ice lemon tea (RM4).

The bill.... came up to RM89.30. Not too bad la since we had a starter and dessert too.

Will I go back? Yup... now trying to suggest to the parents to take them there to try.

** Apologies for the lack of pictures today. I didn't bring my camera out cos we went to watch Wolverine earlier and I hadn't known where we were going for dinner.

Zara-Massimo Dutti-Pull & Bear sale : 3 days more

We're stuck in a jam getting out of The Curve cos we went for the Zara-Dutti which started today until Sunday. Loads of ppl, long queue to get it, lotsa pushing and shoving and grabbing stuff off the racks... You know the drill..

BUT, I managed to get quite a bit of things. I can't tell you right now how many cos I can't remember how many things I bought. It was more of the grab-and-pay type of thing. I remember I managed to find the lilac dress from Zara that I really liked in Barcelona but didn't buy in the end. Only RM89.90!! What a steal esp since I remembered it costing >RM400. It's at times like these that I'm happy I'm not average-sized.

Ma, on the other hand, had trouble finding things in her size.. Plus, she'd most probably already bought the item at full price if she liked it earlier on.

So yea, on our way home to sort them out!

I'm on a diet!

Yes, I mean it.

For the first time in my life, I'm actually attempting to follow a diet plan. Previously, all I ever did was say that I wanted to do something about my weight/not fitting into my clothes/cholesterol issues/spending too much on food etc... and then procrastinated about it.

So anyway, last week, Aunty Diane came over to speak to me about Herbalife. Now, I've heard alot about Herbalife from various people, that it's worked for them or someone they know and so I was receptive to the idea of starting on it. Tried the F1 drink, tried the teamix and decided that I was alright with the taste. So, voila! My diet began last Thursday.

One week on, today, I'd like to report that I think I've lost weight. Let me emphasize that I can only presume that I've lost the weight. Why? Cos I didn't bother to weigh myself before going on this diet. My main aim at this point is to fit into my clothes. And so far, it looks like the clothes that were getting a bit too tight are getting back to normal again. If this keeps up, I hopefully will be able to fit back into my old clothes, which have been chucked aside for the past 2 years.

My colleagues all know ab0ut my new diet plan since they see me in the pantry every day with my whole box of Herbalife products, making the shake for my breakfast and lunch. One colleague then said he's been on the diet for the past month and has lost 3 kgs so far. And he hasn't been that strict about it either! Apparently, if we're really diligent, we can lost about 1kg a week. Not bad not bad.

Shen, if that happens to me, I might be able to lose 8kgs before you guys come back for summer! Muahahaa....

I'll let you in on a secret though... I didn't stick to the diet all weekend, more like pigged out the whole weekend! 2 siew yoke feasts, 1 dip-dip dinner feast, 1 birthday party lunch.... yup, definitely ate more than I should have. But scarily, I'll say that is maybe the usual amount we eat on weekends anyway. No wonder why I've been putting on weight.

And so, my daily diet now consist of:
- Breakfast: 1 cup of teamix after our morning meeting (~8.20am), followed by 1 portion of the F1 shake.
- Mid-morning: 1 energy bar because I get hungry around that time.
- Lunch: 2nd portion of the F1 shake with some cut fruits or stir fried veg from the stalls at the back.
- Mid-afternoon: Another energy bar since I get hungry again.
- Dinner: the usual dinner at home.
- and of course, drink lots of water throughout the day.

So, I've essentially broken my meals up into 5 smaller portions, cut my meat and carb intake and getting my stomach adjusted to less food.

Does this mean less food reviews? I hope not... We still do go out for meals, especially on weekends. Besides, I've still got a few reviews I have yet to do....

Let's see how much weight I lose!

Knit FO: Peaches bag

Following the same pattern I used for the Rose bag, I used a long forgotten yarn that I've kept in my drawers for quite a while now... Jaeger Celeste, which I think is now discontinued. Here, I followed the pattern almost exactly, with a very small modification to the handles.

I really like this pattern because it's so simple and looks really nice!


Some close-ups of the pattern...

Yarn: Jaeger Celeste in a light peach, Shade 178. 50% Viscose, 30% Polyamide and 20% Linen. Bought at least 5 years ago in John Lewis, London.
Pattern: From one of my Japanese pattern books for bags.
Hook: Clover No.10

Knit FO: Rose bag

I made this bag to match my Rose shawl, but it ended up being too small for me. So, I gave it to Jo and Tim's daughter Isabella today since she's a really cute toddler and likes bags (starting young!).

Yarn: Katia Sevilla, the same yarn used for the Rose shawl
Hook: Clover No.7
Pattern: From one of my Japanese knitting books, but I modified the handles.