Happy happy Easter! It's been a long while since I last blogged. Let me give you guys a quick run through of the stuff that has happened since January (in case you thought I fell off a cliff somewhere and got magically transported to Narnia.)

I quit my job.

To start my own business.

And begun my first big fat project. Scratch that. ProjectSsss.

The horizon looks very promising.

I am a graphic designer by trade. But becoming an entrepreneur required me to wear many hats and learn fast. Now, I'm juggling being an accountant/lawyer, a project manager and a graphic designer last.

My diet is all blown to bits and since I've completely lost my mind and stopped reigning in my appetite I have ballooned back to 150lbs. Surprisingly, I no longer see this number as unscalable. Nor do I get bouts of insecurity when looking at my reflection. Which leads me to Bikram yoga.

Bikram yoga was a blast. I lasted for all of 1 week before I stopped. The exercises, the poses, the heat; all of that I can handle. Some days, I craved it. I've always liked how heat can turn my muscles to taffy and make it so much easier for me to do my stretches. As I have no affection for the cold, even a simple spike in temperature in the office causes my extremeties to go chilly and my body to hunch in on itself, Bikram was a perfect workout. It will totally wring you out.

What was galling (at the time) was to see all the perfect bodies around me doing the same poses with ease that I had to struggle through. The studio is fully lighted and had mirrors everywhere. The logic behind it was that you needed to be able to see clearly to scrutinize your reflection when doing the poses and supposedly so you'd learn to love and accept your body.

You know that saying? Like a beached whale? Well, that felt like it applied to me. I'd say, work was my excuse. Being so busy I can barely keep track of the days passing. But no, a big chunk of it was the awkward sensation I was battling. 

See, in Bikram, the heat's so heavy you gotta strip down to bare essentials. Which to most meant down to bikinis. Even the men. My eyes nearly popped when our intructor stepped out the changing room practically naked. I couldn't do that. I wore my long bike pants and a tank top. All in black of course. Slimming daw kasi. 

Not to mention that all the classes I managed to attend seem to be filled with the dean's list of Bikram. You know, lean, toned, with that unshakable calm and that glow to the skin. Bastards. 

I kid. Fyi, I usually took the 6am class. The classes that come after seem to be attended by what I'd call regular folk. Hmmn..

So yeah, I love Bikram. it was refreshing and I got immediate feedback from friends who saw me during this time. All good reports. My skin was glowing. I seem brighter. I looked good. My clothes were more loose.

But I hated, truly I did, going to class so dressed up while everybody else were stripped down. Some poses made my tummy bulge so much I felt like a river of blubber. Keeping clothed was my only answer. But it made me stand out and my head was totally messed up. I kept thinking, "What must they think of this upstart? Coming here, pretending to be one of them?" "Look at her, so...fat."

I'm still apprehensive about all that bad juju in my head coming to fore when I take up Bikram again. Having great progress with my career, being financially secure (for real this time) is a wonderful bolster. I'm heading back to Bikram at the start of May. Might take the later classes this time around. I like early classes, when the sun's just peaking through the sky. The day full of promise. But, for the benefit of my oh so fragile ego, I'll take the later classes that have more people dressed as I was. 

In the meantime, I've been going walking/jogging everyday for atleast 5km around Makati. I have a handy phone app that keeps track and it's a good motivator. I've been eating sensibly, sometimes being a tad restrictive on myself. But, that's me, give an inch I take a mile. Especially when chocolate is in the equation. So, the diet I put myself through can become a little extreme too.

This may be the only post that has no photo. I will post more soon. Anybody who's interested in taking up Bikram, check out: http://www.bikramyogamanila.com/

They have branches around Manila. It's a bit pricey and in the interim since my last class, I've been setting aside moolah for a month's worth of classes. Even with the price, it's totally worth it. The instructors are all very nice and friendly. Inside the hot room there's no talking but once you hit the showers, your classmates are like chatterboxes. Quite lively and friendly too.

For now, Happy Easter everybody! I hope you all got to spend the Holy Week with family and loved ones. 

So, this was going to be a totally different post. Where I gripe and moan about nega people who drive me to derail my progress and spite them by cutting off my nose. But, I recently posted some stuff over at facebook and I got a ton, a TON of compliments.

Look here, a vanity post!


 

Lo and behold, I actually lost weight! Basing on what the peeps online have been saying I look payat in the photos. Note, no photoshopping was done (I mention it here because I have some frenemies who can just be a tad catty. Not any of you belles, of course <3). These same people see me on a daily basis so it's great news all around. Now if only the rest of my body would follow. Lol.

Now what about the cupcakes? Oh yeah, I finally found a muffin pan small enough to fit my toaster oven. I've been checking out recipes for meat pies and quiche that would work well as breakfast fare. Something I can easily freeze and pop into the oven when I need them. Buuuut, I ended up christening the new pan by making cupcakes.

First off are the chocolate and cream cheese combo that ended up looking more like a muffin than a piece of cake.

Next we have the proper choco-cream cheese cupcake version, sans frosting.

And finally, we have the Red Velvet Whoopie pies and cupcakes with buttercream filling/frosting! Yum!

Here's a shot of the process:

These ended up getting ferried to the various offices of friends, boyfriend, and roommates. Some of them holding on to two of the titles given.  I got rave reviews and an order for 50 of the Red Velvet cupcakes for Halloween. Not bad for something I did for fun. Stress baking at its best!

Speaking of halloween, I also made cookies for the occassion (hence the color motif of the cream filling). These were also a rousing success. Haaaai. It's a total boost getting such great feedback. I also got around to shopping for a costume for THE DAY. Mind you, I've never been the type to go full out during Halloween. I grew up in the kind of household where instead of going trick-or-treating, me and the cousins would huddle in the living room and scare each other silly listening to stories about aswang, kapre and the like. We have a big ass lanka tree in the middle of the property and stories abound about the kapre that lives there. Scary.

So, when it came to costuming, the most I'd go for was a headband with devil horns that lit up. Lame right? This year, I'm still not that eager to shell out moolah for an outfit I'd get to wear once in awhile only. So, I figured I'd just dress up in a really nice dress with killer heels, a domino mask, fabulous hair and makeup and call it a night. I envision I'd either be a fairy or female pirate. Will post photos after the 30th for this.

Anyway, the reason this is a lamentation post is because I finally got around to picking up my medical results. Do you remember the post I made about taking the free medical offered by our barangay back in August?(I can't seem to find that post.) Well, I got the results and everything seems alright, 'cept for the screaming thing highlighted in yellow.

When I first told J that everything is normal he interrupted just when I was about to mention the highlighted item. He's all, "Oh good, so long as your fasting blood sugar is fine. We're okay then."

I gave him a sheepish look, "Actually...everything's normal....EXCEPT for blood sugar."

The horror.

THE HORROR.

Goodbye cupcakes.

That is a bra catch extender. Not exactly sure on the name but its function is to add that extra forgiving length to a too tight bra. This scenario happens when the flesh right below my chest is getting too blubbery and I get nasty welts from the bra band at the end of the day.

Today, I removed all of these extenders from my bras. Yipee!

I think, slowly but surely I'm losing weight. I'm still uncertain because I'm still not getting on the weighing scale. *Chicken*

My roommate tells me my face appears more oval and earlier today, while walking to work an armored car opened its door and the guy inside greeted me good morning. How flattering is that? Right? RIGHT?

It's not the first time I've gotten compliments and greetings either. I hoard these snippets from my day for the treasure they are. It pushes me to keep making healthy baons and continue my fitness efforts. Vain yes, but whatever motivates me, I'll take it!

I haven't been on board for more than a couple of weeks now. As usual, regular work and moonlight rakets keep me away from anything personal. I missed a lot of urgent messages on facebook as well. But, more than just the work...I've been sneaking in treats.

I'm really good with packing a healthy breakfast and lunch but when dinner time hits...ohboy! And don't get me started on weekends! (It's not every dinner time but enough nights to matter.)

I'm finding it a little hard to resist that cup of hot mocha or that nibble on a jalapeño cheetos stick. Which is why I've been reluctant to post anything until now.

Dinner is served.

This is a serving of Huevos Habañeros (Eggs Havana Style) with a side dish of baked potato wedges. This is what I made for me and J just awhile ago. What's not shown is the frozen bottle of Cerveza Negra.

My cup only had one egg and is half the size of the cup in the photo above. For this week's baon I thought I'd make some pomodoro sauce and top it with spicy tuna. However since I seem to have a lot of excess sauce I've been scouring the net for a recipe that would have tomato sauce as the base ingredient. I found this at the little teochew blog after much scanning at tasteologie. The photos there are much better than mine but I think it's just as tasty!

It's very light and healthy but also quite filling.

Here's a shot of my bowl with a bit of the egg gobbled up. The entire cup fits into my palm so it's very small. My mother, who reads this blog was worried with my "large" portions. I just take very up close photos is all.

The potato wedges were first boiled then baked with a light coat of extra virgin olive oil. Butter would have made them nice and brown but olive oil is healthier and kept them from burning up as they went on the very top shelf of my teeny toaster oven (right next to the red hot rods, no pun intended) while I slid the bowls right below it.

The recipe for the main dish is provided in the link above. I didn't follow the ratio for olive oil or butter. I just used enough oil to coat what needed coating and totally did without the butter. I also used fresh basil from my tiny herb garden (more on that soon) instead of the parsley called for in the recipe. I also halved the recipe as I was only serving 2 people instead of 4. 

Potato wedges really are that easy to make. Just boil the chopped potato for 5-8 minutes, coat with sea salt, freshly ground pepper & extra virgin olive oil, then pop them in the toaster for 20 minutes. They were halfway done before I slid in the 2 bowls filled with eggs.

An option is to top the wedges with shredded provolone cheese & chopped basil as was done here. Gives it that extra yum!

As for my daily baon this week, it's a lot of broccoli, carrot slices, lettuce salad with chopped walnuts & atchara dip & spicy tuna tomato. This is in line with the Mayo Clinic Lose It! program I mentioned in an earlier post. I swear, I'm coming to prefer all those veggies over my usual carb-heavy picks nowadays.

Here's the latest baon I made for this week. Do you see the limp looking lettuce in the bottom? That's my attempt at making cabbage wraps. Except I used lettuce. Here's a recipe from a fave bento maker.

Ever since I got this box I've had to get pretty creative in what to pack for lunch. I never realized it's so small! All my previous baons were dishes that wouldn't fit in the space allocated in the new box. I can't stomach the thought of filling the bottom case with anything carb-heavy, like pasta, my usual go-to for baons. So anytime I have carbs in mind they have to fit in only one of the slots of the top tier.

I'm a big lover of pasta but lately I've been opting for vegetables more and more. Maybe it's the lackluster progress I've made with my weight goals that's determining my food choices. Maybe it's a desire for more fresh produce and a turn for a more healthier lifestyle. But, lately I've been really loving salads and have swapped my traditional chips for crunchy veggies. I still get my salt fix through wheat crackers & cheese but I'm so happy I'm no longer hung up on chips! (Well, not much anyway.) Yay!

A little bit about my baon routine. I usually cook a big batch on Monday evening and parcel off the dishes to the chiller in my fridge that would then be doled out throughout the week. In the case of the lettuce wraps, I cooked around 12 wraps out of 3 longganisa pieces I got from Legaspi Market. Each sausage was topped with sauteed minced garlic & chopped red onions before getting wrapped. When you consider that I can finish all 3 sausages in one meal, being able to spread out the 12 wraps over 4 days worth of lunches is a real winner! (I had to make the wraps really small to fit the box.)

I only do one to two big cookouts in a week's time. This shaves off precious minutes I'd have to take if I prepared my lunch fresh daily.

For my salads I usually get the precut vacuum packed version at the grocery store but this weekend's visit to Legaspi Market found me buying fresh produce by the bunch instead of by the plastic bag. So much cheaper!

Here's some outtakes from my girls day out last Sunday at Legaspi Market.

Mini wooden masks the size of my palm with magnets on the back. I got 3. Looks totally cool on my fridge. The ivory Buddha was surrounded by dark clay antique knick knacks. He looked so out of place yet completely at home and soooo cute! I couldn't resist a shot. I also bought an antique silver bangle from the same vendor for only 500 bucks. It was the last of it's kind so the vendor offered a very friendly price for it. Whee!

Next is a shot of a colorful box of lipbalm. Don't they just make you burst with cheer? Beside it are freshly jarred honey with a honeycomb of live bees behind it. It made me think of Chuck of the now defunct show Pushing Daisies. (Oh the irony!) In my eagerness to get them all on camera it slipped my mind to check them out properly. Now that I look through the photos I think...I'm in need of new lipbalm.

This visit to the market was supposed to be a girls only affair but my roomie's guy wanted to tag along so I brought along my guy as well to even things out. One other girlfriend was arriving alone. I got really guilty for bringing in the guys when she's going stag. I used to hate that when it happened to me before. But since the plan included makeup shopping afterwards, we ditched the guys when lunch was done.

So, back to baons. Another thing I noticed, I get reluctant to go out and pick out snacks from the convenience stores near my pad and office. When I get peckish before, I wouldn't think twice about heading out to grab cookies and chips. But every since I've upped my time spent in the kitchen, I don't like processed food as much anymore.

It pays to know exactly what is it I put in my body. I'm more mindful of the amount of oil I use to cook with so I thought I'd change up my routine a bit and broke out my bamboo steamer for the first time with the lettuce wraps. And it's so much cheaper! I'm not entirely successful with the 100 Peso Lunch Challege set by Victoria (the large cup of coffee I have daily is 105 bucks >_<) but I don't spend hundreds of pesos for lunch anymore! When I think about it, each baon I pack comes around to about 70 bucks. Not counting the yogurt cups I have while in the office, that's still pretty neat.

I'm becoming slightly obsessive with the calorie counting and have gone so far as automatically doing mental calculations when I look at food. Egad! Aaaaaaaannnndd, today I got on the scale.

Pause.

I lost 4 pounds.

Allllrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggghhhhhttt! Woooooooooot!

But.

I'm not doing a happy jig yet.

See, though I've lost 4 pounds, these are pounds I've regained from a month ago. (I rue my binges! Big time!) So I can't move my weight counter just yet. But still. Yay!

I've been testing my mental control by keeping a jar of cookies on a shelf. This jar was a gift from a grateful client for a catalogue I designed. It was filled with divine homemade double chocolate cookies that crumbled in your mouth. Mmmnn.

The jar has been sitting empty for awhile now and though I love that I'm being more healthy with my food choices, seeing it looking so empty and forlorn made me feel deprived. Sob.

So, I got a bag of cookies and challenged myself to make it last in the jar as long as I can. I can finish an entire bag of Keebler's Original Chocolate Chips in one sitting. Shhhh...

My first bag lasted for a week. This week, I got some Chips Ahoy Originals (they don't have as much calories) and am waiting them out for atleast two weeks or more. So far, so good.

I've come to call it my hairshirt, after the real hairshirts priest would wear for penance, fasting, or whatever godforsaken reason. I don't feel deprived anymore. The jar looks more homey and merry now that it's filled to the brim but everyday is a test of my self-control. Haha! A masochist if ever there's one.

Above is a photo of my typical dinner; chili soup with some cheese & stone-rolled wheat crackers. Below that is a photo of a small cup of truffle chocolate ice cream cookie sandwich. Did I forget to add that on top of the jar of cookies, I have a tub of truffle chocolate ice cream cooling in my freezer?

I am crazy.

FOOD LOG

THURSDAY (Sep 2)

BF:: Pan-fried chicken + half slice wheat bread, large black coffee

SN:: Plain yogurt + bellpepper slices

LN:: Mixed salad + lemon-olive oil dressing, 3 strips bacon, gruyere sticks

SN:: kiwi, walnuts, cherry tomatoes, half slice wheat bread

DN:: 5 cookies >_<

FRIDAY

BF:: Sardines & feta pandesal, large hot cafe mocha (CBTL)

SN:: cup of plain yogurt

LN:: caramel affogato yogurt

SN: 1 slice bacon & gruyere sticks, half slice wheat bread

DN: 6 cookies T_T
 

SATURDAY

BF:: homebrew coffee

SN:: half cup of low-fat strawberry yogurt

LN:: bolognese pasta with 2 garlic sausages, steamed veggies

SN:: 2 cookies

DN:: 1 square of Magoos pizza (the one with olives)

DS:: 1 teacup truffle chocolate ice cream cookie sandwich

SUNDAY

BRUNCH:: aussie beef pie, half can wheat beer, coffee with a dash of milk

SN:: Qoola yogurt with chocolate bits topping

DN:: half pack of Jalapeno Cheetos

MONDAY

BF:: medium banana, homebrew coffee

SN:: 3 chocnut bars

LN:: wheat crackers, half cup chili soup

SN:: 3 chocnut bars, wheat crackers, cheese

DN:: mixed salad, plain yogurt

TUESDAY

BF:: medium banana, homebrew coffee

SN:: yogurt, broccoli, carrot slices, wheat crackers & gruyere sticks

LN:: mixed salad, 3 sausage lettuce wraps

SN:: 8 chocnut bars (work stress!) T_T

DN:: Fiesta Adobo (Binalot)

WEDNESDAY

BRUNCH:: Banana, 2 cookies, half cup chili soup, wheat crackers

SN:: 1 large hot cafe mocha (CBTL)

DN:: Qoola yogurt with chocolate toppings