Tomato Egg

This time, I am following this youtube video on how to cook tomato egg!

It is really a yummy and no-hassle dish. 

To prepare:

2 tomatoes

4 eggs

oil

1 tsp salt

1.5 tsp sugar

and that is all. Oh my gosh it is so simple. 

1) Cut tomatoes into 1/8. Whisk the eggs evenly, adding in some salt and pepper to taste. Add adequate amount of oil in the wok and swirl it around. 

[I am not sure if you can gauge from the picture but it is probably about two tablespoons. In the video, it also stated 2 tablespoon of oil but it looks like there is a lot more. This prevents the egg from sticking to the pan.]

2) Once the oil is heated, pour in the egg. After it is cooked up till 50% done, you can cut and stir the egg into smaller pieces. Push them to the side of the wok.

[Apparently, the lady can make the egg swirl in the wok. I think it's due to the amount of oil used, because the egg was stuck in my wok. Do not stir the eggs too quickly, if not it won't have the nice browning taste.]

3) Add in the chopped tomatoes and stir-fry a little. Sprinkle the salt, and then sugar onto the tomatoes. Stir fry the tomatoes to mix well.

[According to the video, adding the seasoning to the tomato itself gives it the flavour, coming out from the juice it produces. Adding the seasoning to the egg would make it more salty.]

4) Mix the egg and tomatoes together. Cover the lid and simmer for about a minute.

[I added a little water to make the dish slightly more moist. In the video, it produced more gravy, which might be due to the oil.]

The end result: delicious egg flavoured with sweet and sour tomato goodness.

The picture looks ugly but don't judge it by its appearance!

Fast Exercise

I borrowed this book called "Fast Exercise [by Dr Michael Mosley with Peta Bee]" from the library recently, and I wish I had read this much earlier! Do you get a clue what this book is about judging from the title?

This book describes the benefits of high intensity training [HIT] and all the related researches done on it. The many benefits includes better aerobic fitness, endurance, reduced body fat, increased strength and better insulin sensitivity. It also mentioned about intermittent fasting [Fast Diet] and as we all know, diet and exercise are complementary.

Previously, I wrote about my jogging experience and just as I thought all my effort were wasted, the book explained that exercising for a longer duration has its advantages still. It is better for our general and mental health but how much of moderate exercise is enough? It stated that many of us don't even do 2.5 hours of moderate activities per week, and that is so true given that I don't run very long. 

The book provides explanations on why weight loss cannot be obtained by going long and slow [moderate but long duration of exercise]. We do not burn much fats this way unless we do a lot and a lot. We can easily consume back that 200 calories we just lost. After we go for a long workout, somehow we feel more tired and our bodies are tricked into thinking that we have burnt a lot and we need more food. We also think that since we require energy to exercise, we should eat up first. 

In the past, the hunter gatherers were much more active than we are. Given our work requirements now, many people have become sedentary. The hunter gatherers as I have learnt during university do very intense work like climbing trees, chopping wood, hunting for food. However, they spend the rest of their time resting a lot too.

"We benefit from short bursts of intense activity and we need rest days to recover or we undo all the good work."

Research also seems to show that HIT curbs the appetite and you are less likely to feel more hungry and tired as compared to a long duration exercise. I put this to the test and it really is the case. Because I do short burst of fast run, I don't spend so much time exercising and persevering, I feel less tired overall.

HIT seems like a very risky and dangerous thing to try. Like if your heart beat goes too fast or if you sprain your ankles. Personally, I think it is very strenuous on my feet when I sprint. The muscles feel tighter than usual. That is why the rest has to come in. Strangely, the research reveals that HIT is more effective in terms of recovery for people with chronic diseases like heart failure as compared to the conventional way of exercising.

The book outlines the different types of exercise we can do with intensity. They have several methods and timings to follow accordingly. Exercises aimed to train our muscles can also be done with intensity. It is suggested that late afternoon to early evening is the best time to exercise. It is hardest to perform in the morning because our body temperature is at the lowest when we wake up, that is no wonder I cannot get myself to run in the morning. It is also best to fix a consistent standard time for exercise so we will follow through with more discipline. 

One of the concluding points is that we also need to be more active on an overall basis! This is not exercising. It is how much we move around rather than being seated all the time. The busy-working-face-laptop-always lifestyle is making us forget that we have been sitting for too long. It is time to add more movement into our daily life. Start standing up while on the train or walk up an escalator. Take small steps at first and slowly increase.  

And I really mean it, to start everything little by little. I have pulled a muscle some time ago after trying their high intensity workout. The doctor told me that I need to stretch, warm up and warm down. Really important! It has been about two months since I first started this. I haven't really see much weight loss [say about 1kg so far as my weight keeps fluctuating] but I'm not giving up just yet. Of course, weight loss can come from other factors and not 100% a result of HIT workouts. 

This is such a time efficient exercise and you would probably feel less lazy to workout! You might want to grab this book and give this a shot :D.
 

Etude House Eye's Cream

I wanted to find an eye cream with SPF to protect my undereye area and eye lids on those days I don't have my make up on. Those face moisturizers (mine with SPF), as I have read online, are too strong for the eye area. So, my eyes are often not protected if I don't put my foundation (with SPF) on. Even if I'm covered by my make-up, it's probably still not enough protection from the sun. I'm not really looking for dark eye rings reducer because I have given up on it. And I am not looking at those expensive branded eye creams. I just wanted something suitable for the eye and provides protection from the sun.

so this is it!

This cute little thing, called the eye's cream, is mint "flavoured". Once applied, your eye area feels comfy and cooling. But that only last for maybe two seconds hahaha. It's like a gluestick, no gel no cream, so I am not sure whether am I applying anything on my eyes or not. It just feels slightly sticky (but not to worry). So I am not sure how much coverage I have on my eyes, like whether have I applied enough or not.

I bought this quite a awhile ago and really, there's not much effect on my dark eye rings. However, it might be because there is generally less blood circulation around my eyes due to nose allergy, and just a cream would not solve the root problem. I bought it at $18.90 which is quite affordable. It is sweet smelling and it is convenient for application [though I would rather the stick's circumference be smaller]. Most of all, it is such a cute product!

Give it a try! Just for the fun :D.

Spicy Basil Minced Chicken

I saw a video demonstration of this delicious Thai dish and I wanted to give it a try as it looks simple enough. My first try kind of failed as I have used too little seasoning. It wasn't wet enough, probably because I didn't add shallots which would produce some water. Also, my minced meat ended up in chunks! It was still okay and edible though.

I showed my mum the video and she demonstrated how to cook this dish hahaha. The below ingredients and seasoning amount is only my estimate. She goes by her feel in terms of how much sauce should be added, which is also what I usually do.

Ingredients:

About 300gm minced chicken

Some shallots

Some garlic

4 chilli padi

About 10 basil leaves

Seasoning:

Dash of pepper

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp sweet dark soy sauce

1. Cut the shallots and garlic into small pieces. Remove the seeds of the chilli and cut them into small pieces. [if you want it less spicy, without the seeds is already quite spicy. Eating the seeds is going to be spicy like mad]. Chop basil leaves into smaller pieces. 

2. In a wok, heat the oil and swirl it in a circular motion to cover the sides. Oil should be sufficient as minced meat tend to stick to the surface. Add in shallots and then garlic. 

3. Put in the minced chicken and stir fry it continuously, breaking it into small pieces at the same time. The trick to the small pieces of minced chicken is really to keep moving the spatula to cut the thick chunks into smaller ones. Add in the seasoning above. Taste to see if more seasoning is required. 

4. Stir in the chilli padi and lastly, the basil leaves.

This is really a nice and simple dish to go with rice. As my basil minced chicken doesn't have a lot of basil taste, it taste more like chinese food haha!

>.<