Food Shopping from HK

HK, a haven for shopping, particularly for a shopaholic female. I was there recently for a short weekend business trip. Because it was a business trip, understandably I didn't have much time to shop which worked out fine for me because I am trying not to spend too much before my trip to Paris next week...

So instead of fashion items (although I scored a few irresitable buys), my shopping loot this time is made up of mainly "special" food items that are uncommon in KL.

First of all, baking stuff. I was delighted with the baking supplies section in C!tySuper supermarket. So many interesting baking stuff although it is not even a proper baking supplies shop.

Among the stuff that I got was Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder, a combination of natural and dutch-processed (for some reason, Hershey's Cocoa Powder is no longer available in KL), Reese's Peanut Butter chips, Vanilla and Cafe extracts from Vahine (these were on mark-downs), "Ready-to-Decorate" Pink Icing with interchangeable nozzles from Wilton's, cupcake holders in 4 different pastel colours from Wilton (the colours are so sweet!), a bottle of 4 different sprinkles and a box of party candles. I was tempted to buy the pure vanilla paste but it's expensive at about RM80-99 for a rather small bottle. Wanted to splurge on Ghirardelli Cocoa Powder too but then I convinced myself that I would be happy with Hershey's Special Dark instead.


Next, special edition confectioneries such as Red Bean KitKat (this is real good!), Honeycomb TimeOut, Dark Chocolate M&Ms and Hazelnut Truffle KitKat bar (not pictured, are these available in KL?) and a bar chocolate studded with miniature M&Ms (not pictured). Also pictured is a slice of Japanese Green Tea Castella cake (a type of sponge cake popular in Japan), and a packet of sugar-free mandarin orange tea.


Japanese Green Tea Castella cake


I also like this particular snacks. Wasabi-flavoured honey cuttlefish twists, they were pretty addictive.


I am a fan of Diet Coke (to the horror of some of my friends) and there were a couple of Diet Coke in HK which I have never seen before.


I also like this beer that a friend introduced me too. Very light and smooth.

Special mention has to go to MUJI (sorry, no pics). Their food (snacks) section is real good. I particularly love their mini custard puffs (these seems to be very popular), chocolate covered cereals, white chocolate covered strawberries, cheese cake bars and yuzu-flavoured hard candies. All are surprisingly tasty for a re-packed food. They have tons of other stuffs as well.

Down on Energy...

I ached.
I mean, my body ached. Or to be more precise, it feels like it's having a hard time staying in one piece.
I wasn't my usual self during Body Step and Body Pump. I was half-hearted and I had to "coerce" my body to jump higher and lift higher. It was as if there was a vacumn in my body and all the energy had been sucked out. I was even contemplating to cut short my gym session. But then, why am I still on the stepper?
Just tired.... Darn tired....Felt like I was coming down with something....
Or was I? Or just an excuse to skip gym?
Or was it the after effects from 2 nights before? A late night at Vintry followed by what was only 5 hours sleep which in turn made me cancelled my morning gym session and that was how I ended up going to the gym in the afternoon and joined Body Attack, Body Step plus a good 50 minutes worth of cardio-machine hours with nary a break in between? Gosh..., that's like at least 130 minutes of pure cardio work! And the fact that I have not had a break from gym for the past week or so (no, this is not the norm).

Maybe that's why...My body's way of telling me, enough is enough. Otherwise, I might just end up like the picture below

*Touch wood!

"Riding the Waves"

What does the phrase "Riding the Waves" means? I am sure it has its own fair share of philosophical interpretations but for me, one good illustration of this phrase is....,

driving along the Federal Highway during/after a heavy downpour. *splish, splash!*(haha)

How to Make the Gym Less Boring

Nick-naming - not a good habit, I know but it's fun and harmless as long as the person you secretly nick-named (and other gym-goers) are not aware of it.

What am I talking about? People at my gym. They are regulars at the gym that you see almost every week but do not know personally. Sometimes, an occassional nod or smile to acknowledge each other's presence (if he/she is not pretending that you are transparent). Then again, there are also some colourful characters among the regulars that kinda spice up the ambience at the gym. And I give these people nick-names (secretly).

Let me introduce you to two of them. There's this "Mr. Sexy Butt" a middle-age (upper age range) man that is always on the cross-trainer on my way to the ladies changing room and makes me mumble "oh my dear God, what could he be thinking" to myself each time I passed him. He loves to wear tight-fitting black top but what he loves even more is to wear tight-fighting black shorts so short that they barely covered his rather erm, "well-endowed buns". Sometimes they are so short that they ride up his "cheeks" and makes me gag whenever I see him (at which point the song "I am Too Sexy" will start playing in my head). One can be forgiven for thinking that this uncle is exercising in his underwear. That's "Mr. Sexy Butt" with his rather un-sexy habit.

Then there is a "Ms. Gym Freak" (aka Ms. Superhuman). Not kind I know, but that's what comes to mind whenever I see her. She's this superhuman machine that always seems as if she's going to work the stepper machine to death; think being in a sprinting race on the stepper (if she doesn't flood the gym with her sweat first). I always feel awed by the intensity of her workout whenever I see her. Petite with a rather "Lam Ah Chan" hairdo, very thin and bony (literally) body - she's quite a sight to behold. Nary to say, I don't think there's an ounce of fat on her so she's all"muscly" flesh covering bones or bones covering muscles or whatever... In short, she just comes across being truly scary to me. Maybe I should change her nick-name to Scary Girl instead.

Another one is "Ms. Showgirl", one very hot (but I suspect, not-so-young) babe. Each time I see her in the gym, she'll be in her super tight mid-riff baring tank top and tights (granted, she has quite a good bod), her long hair (rebonded of course) freely flowing and amazingly, with full make-up on. And not just any basic make-up, I am talking the "full monty" that reminds me of what one wears when one is preparing to go on-stage for a show (e.g., glittery eye make-up, black kohl, heavy mascara with what looks like sequins on false lashes). That's why I nick-named her "Ms. Showgirl".

Ok, I think I better stop now before you start thinking I am somekind of heartless 'b%&^*' (which I can assure you, I am not). But this nick-naming game sometimes help to create some fun at the gym and makes it less boring whenever one feels bored.

Hmmm...., now I wonder what others nick-named me at the gym....Maybe "Ms. @&*, The Terrible"? (hehe)