Saturday, 30 May 2015

(Healthy Project) My prediabetes scare!

On 18th May, I went for a pre-employment medical check up at Shenton medical group. As it was not specified, I went for it without fasting. In fact, prior to my check up, I had lunch with my mum at Hong Lim food centre. Food was soooo good. We had crayfish hor fun, my usual teh (which has condensed milk) and sweet sweet tau sa pia. 

My test involved a urine test and I was told my urine contained sugar. Not knowing what that really means, I just took the same test again half an hour after doing my x ray and drinking lots of water. The result didn't come out well. Again, they detected sugar. This time, I was given a blood prick test to measure my blood sugar level. It was very high, at 9.2. Diabetes level is at 11 and mine was considered pre diabetes.

I really really freaked out. The doctor told me I may have pre diabetes and that I should go for a thorough Glucose Tolerance Test at a GP. After the check up, I was really really upset and scared. It dawned on me that whatever I have been eating and drinking have been damaging my own body. All the teh, bubble tea, desserts, processed foods are really bad for health. I was really torn and afraid because I felt that I was not being a good mother and wife. What if I really get diabetes in the future? How am I going to care for my family? I'm going to be a burden. All these thoughts were running through my head. 

I decided to take the detailed test on friday and before that, I was going to eat clean. No more sweet tea and drinks. Brown rice only. I even bought rolled oats, brown rice bee hoon, blueberries, wholemeal bread, which supposedly are good for diabetics!

I took the two hour test on 23rd and I was made to take a blood test before I drank this bottle of REALLY sweet glucose water. I took a blood test again after 2 hours.

I had to wait for half to one day. Thank goodness my result came back late that evening and the doctor told me my test result came back normal. My reading was far from the diabetes level.

I was so so so relieved. Despite my results coming back fine, I felt like this was a wake up call to me. To really take care of my health for myself and my family. It's really not a joke. Sometimes, it's too late if we don't take of our bodies early. 

I've stopped taking my usual teh. I think twice about having sweet desserts. I avoid sweet drinks. All these indulgences don't seem that worth it you know? You still can have yummy and healthy good food. I hope my family and friends will be mindful of what they eat. Now I tell my family about the real concerns about our food. I hope to continue on this healthy eating and always remember about this incident. Thank God for your guidance.

Tuesday, 26 May 2015

Hong Kong Travelogue: Day 3 at TST and Kowloon

Our last day in HK! Can't believe our holiday is ending! It has been such a great trip.

We had our 1st morning breakfast at the cha chaan teng opposite our hotel. Mum had craving for pork porridge! It was so so only though. 



Then we went to Australian diary company for their awesome breakfast set! We actually braved the rain to get there! Food was so worth it. Their scrambled eggs are the best! 




It was raining heavily so we went to TST's harbour city to walk around. We dropped by Kate spade to check out their awesome bag and wallet collection. Was so so so tempted to buy one of their bags @ s$480. Thank goodness we decided to walk around first to think about it. 

We moved to the Ocean terminal side to look for this famous Vietnamese restaurant recommended by my aunt. It's on the same level as all the branded children's clothing stores. Food was good! We had yummy pho with beef and prawn paste cakes with sugar cane. The place was crowded with many OLs. 



We decided to go back to our hotel to extend our checkout till 5pm. It was nice just relaxing in our room and chilling out. 

Will be heading to Kowloon Elements mall after checking out! Need to hangout till late since our flight is only at 1.45am!

Monday, 25 May 2015

Hong Kong Travelogue: Day 2 at Mongkok

We started our day at Yee Shun for breakfast. My brother recommended us to go there for their milk pudding. The place is at Pilkem street, next to Parkes street. 



The scrambled eggs + macaroni breakfast set was so disappointing! At first sight, we already knew it wasn't going to be as good as that of ADC's. We ordered my bro's favorite chocolate pudding and we didn't like it either -.- not going back there again!


After brekkie, we took the MTR to Mongkok! Woohoo! My favorite place. We first went to look for the famous Dim dim sum at Tung Choi street. It was closed at about 9+am and was only going to open at 11am. We decided to walk to Fa yuen street since it was still so early! 

Thank goodness some stores had started to open. We kinda went crazy there even though it wasn't part of our plan to shop there lol. My mum and I first bought cute, kiddy things for the kids. Bought so many cute hair clips for Leia! 



We bought Leia an adorable pair of shoes from one of the makeshift stores! After that we bought clothes from 2 shops before ending off at an awesome children's clothes shop! I loved loved the dresses there. 

Headed to Dim dim sum (specialty dim sum) for lunch! Food was gooood. Not that cheap though! It was crowded with both locals and tourists. Loved the fried prawn fun cheong and octopus + pork steamed rice. 





We went to Argyle New town mall for more shopping! Mum went crazy at this jewelry store on the 3rd floor. She bought like 5 pairs of earrings, 3 rings and one necklace. I managed to get 2 tops from one of the shops =D

Took a short break at the basement Cafe de coral. Had milk tea and toast! 

We popped over to Sai yeong choi street at exit D3. Just had a good walk down to make our way to Dundas street to find Fei Jie, my favorite street food stall! It was soooooo crowded! We ordered octupus, small intestine and chicken kidney. Yums! Especially with the mustard! 



Next up? Food again! Lol. We walked all the way to Reclamation street for our favorite Chan Kee's roast goose! I had my usual goose leg rice which was amazing as always! Mum had the goose noodle soup! 



Both of us were so tired that we ended our evening at about 7pm hehe. Went back to rest in our hotel room!








Sunday, 24 May 2015

Hong Kong Travelogue: Day 1 at Jordan and TST!

My mum and I are in Hong Kong! We were supposed to take the 1am red eye flight last night but it got cancelled due to bad weather conditions. We got rescheduled to fly this morning at 8am instead. So we kinda lost out on half a day! 



We arrived in HK only at 1.30pm after a very turbulent flight. I was seriously praying throughout the entire journey because it was soooo bumpy. I was honestly very, very afraid. Gave thanks when I landed!

We took the airport express to Kowloon as usual and took a cab to our family's favorite hotel, Novotel at Nathan. We arrived just in time for check in! Yaaay. Felt so good to be able to just rest and freshen up after a bad flight. 


We walked over to Parkes street and had an awesome lunch at the Mak's noodle! Soooo glad I discovered this place last year. Was so excited to let my mum try the yummy soup noodles. We ordered beef brisket + tendon + wanton noodles. They were soooo gooooood. Definitely did not disappoint. 




That was not all! We hopped over to Australian dairy company to have their awesome milk pudding, both original and almond flavored. Also their milk tea which was so so only. Their puddings were amazing though! We're planning to go back to have their famous scrambled eggs + ham macoroni for brekkie tomorrow. 



Our next stop was Tsim sha tsui for some shopping! We basically walked around Granville and Cameron road until it was dinner time. I found the egg tart store to let my mummy try their yummy milk tart! It was good but I remembered it being better in winter! 


We bought stuff from Sasa (found my fairy drops mascara yay!) Bossini, Etude house, Innisfree, Bonjour, some clothing stores, fixed my mum's watch. Oh and we bought some nice and cheap umbrellas! Lol. Some highlight of the day =p 

We ended our night with dinner at our favorite Macau restaurant, which unfortunately isn't as good anymore. We had our curry beef brisket and roasted pigeon yum! 



Sunday, 10 May 2015

(Family time) Mother's Day weekend!

I celebrated my 2nd Mother's Day over the weekend. Can't believe it!

We had a simple celebration on Saturday. G and I brought Leia + Jo to somerset for HDL dinner. G hadn't tried it yet so I wanted him to bring him even though I had HDL just the night before!

We walked around 313, orchard central and orchard gateway before dinner. We tried the awesome honey creme ice cream. And G got a nice leather sling bag from Tokyu hands! 

There are sooooo many designer shops at orchard central and gateway. We seriously wonder how they service! It was so quiet even on Saturday, what more on weekdays. 

Anyways, HDL dinner was good! Kinda ordered a lil too much! Gotta love their signature dipping sauce. Spicy but oh so yummy!






On Sunday, the Chens all went home for an impromptu family dinner. It was awesome. Love going back to Nim Gardens! The best way to celebrate Mother's Day!

Took lots of photos!






Saturday, 2 May 2015

(Me time) Best BSB concert ever!

2nd May was Backstreet's boys concert in Singapore. My friend and I went together... And seriously it was an AWESOME night. I had the best time ever. 

Before the concert, I was actually feeling skeptical. I was thinking about how good they could be given their age. 

They were so darn good! Like really, really good.

The Bsb sang sooo well together. And there wasn't any lip synching. Just good, powerful  and genuine voices that could harmonize together. There was this acoustic, acapella bit of the concert where they just sang and played the guitar + bass. Totally blew me away. 

They still had the moves despite their age. Sure, they're not as smooth as before. But seriously, it didn't matter to all us fans out there last night! We still felt like girly fan girls, all in awe of our boy band idols lol.

The Bsb are really damn good performers and entertainers. Nick carter was awesome at 'hosting' their performance. He still sounds so young, funny and lively. Brian was acting his funny self. Kevin, still very very serious and manly. I actually like Aj's singing a lot. And howie d was entertaining as well. 

They got the whole theatre of Singaporeans all riled up, crazy, cheering, swooning and dancing on their feet. I've never been to a concert where SOOO many people are singing their hearts out and dancing on their feet. I seriously went all out and had the best time ever. 

During the concert, I was telling J how I miss such music and lyrics. The good ol' music. Sounds like I'm getting old hehe.

I'm amazed at how many hit songs Bsb has had over the years. I sang along to so many songs though I'm not even the type who intentionally remembers lyrics or memorizes songs. *wistful sigh* oh man, seriously I would pay to watch them again. 

So glad we made the decision to buy the tickets. It was the best impromptu decision ever. We kinda got our youth back yesterday. To be all 12-15 years old again. 

I'm still feeling high from the concert. I think I'm going to be listening and watching a lot of bsb for the next 1-2 weeks lol.