This is absolutely stunning too:

And this one just blows my mind away!

It is normally served as side dish in Japanese or Korean restaurant. I really love the one served by a Korean restaurant that we go frequently in Chatswood.

Googled “seaweed” and found out that it is really a nutritious food:

Wakame fronds are green and have a subtly sweet flavour and slippery texture. The leaves should be cut into small pieces as they will expand during cooking.

Since long in Japan and now also in Europe, wakame is distributed either dried or salted, and used in soups (particularly miso soup), and salads (tofu salad), or often simply as a side dish to tofu and a salad vegetable like cucumber. These dishes are typically dressed with Japanese ingredients including soya sauce and vinegar/rice vinegar.

* In China, it is called qundaicai (裙带菜). Chinese production is concentrated around Dalian.
* In Korea, it is called miyeok (미역) and used in salads or soup.
* In French, it is called “fougère des mers”.

Wakame is a rich source of EPA, an ω-3 essential fatty acid. At over 400 mg/100 kcal or almost 1 mg/kJ, it has one of the higher nutrient:calorie ratios, and among the very highest for a vegetarian source. However, 100 grams of wakame is more than 44 tablespoons of dried wakame. The usual consumpton of wakame is closer to 1 or 2 tablespoons.[2] Wakame also has high levels of calcium, iodine, thiamine and niacin.
[Source: wikipedia]

The next task for me is to find out how can I make this yummy dish myself!

I love heels and I love price reduced heels!!

Just 19 dollars - what a steal!

Mary Jane style - I just love it and got them at 29 dollars!

Latest addition to my shoes family - love the simple and elegant design using satin as material. Quite comfy. Got them at 40 dollars~

Could you see the trend here? Getting higher and getting more expensive!! I should stop shopping! I normally wear 2.5 inches heels in Malaysia and Singapore. After I got here, I start to wear higher heels like 3 and 4 inches! Hopefully I wont break my feet wearing these killer heels..

Christmas is just around the corner! It is so amazing how time flies! This will be the second Christmas in Oz!! Another month to go and I should start to prepare Christmas Gifts for my beloved family, friends and co-worker!!

Let me think what should christmas gifts should I buy them..

Let me start with my husband. He is always a gadget man. He loves computers and cars. What should I buy him for this Christmas? He just installed strut bar for our car to improve the handling. He just assembled himself a brand-new, super-duper-lightning fast computer! It is always hard to find Gifts for Men. The choices are more limited. I guess what he would want most at the moment will be a Land Rover! I remember how he lingered around the showroom of Land Rover, savouring that powerful, macho Discovery 3 another day. But it is definitely out of my budget! How about a laptop? He would like it. He has been complaining his old laptop to be bulky and slow. Oh yeah, I should buy him a blood pressure monitoring device. Prevention is always better than cure!

Land Rover Discovery 3

I miss my family in Malaysia so much. Buying them wonder christmas gifts will remind them how much I am loving and missing them from Oz. A food hamper will definitely nice but it is a little bit too far to send a food hamper. That would cost outrageous delivery charges!! My mum would like some skin care products while my sister will love perfume. She is a big fan of Ralph Lauren. Meanwhile, I always love Issey Miyake.

A dream in water

How about my youngest brother and sister? They are still very young and would love toys as gift, I believe. I believe Andy would love a brand new Nitendo DS Lite while SinYee will love the complete set of “Harry Potters” novels..

Oh, I wish I got more bonus so that I can spend more on gifts for my beloved family and myself for this coming Christmas. But during the turbulent time due to the financial crisis, we all should be contented with what we have and cherish our family more! Gift ideas are not always limited to expensive gifts or hampers. I believe my family would be happy with my presents for them even that they might not be expensive or luxurious.

]]> http://instantbeauty.wordpress.com/2008/11/29/christmas-is-around-the-corner/feed/ 1 instantbeauty land-rover Ralph Lauren issey_miyake http://instantbeauty.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/sneak-preview-to-my-wedding-dress/ http://instantbeauty.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/sneak-preview-to-my-wedding-dress/#comments Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:44:05 +0000 instantbeauty http://instantbeauty.wordpress.com/?p=238 ]]> How do you guys find it??

I love yoga and due to my years of poor posture, I hope doing yoga can help me to improve my posture and strengthen my back! So I will start the section - ”A Yoga Pose A Day”!

Starting with my favourite pose:

Upward Bow or Wheel (Urdhva Dhanurasana)

(Courtesy of Yoga Journal)

1.  Lie supine on the floor. Bend your knees and set your feet on the floor, heels as close to the sitting bones as possible. Bend your elbows and spread your palms on the floor beside your head, forearms relatively perpendicular to the floor, fingers pointing toward your shoulders.
2. Pressing your inner feet actively into the floor, exhale and push your tailbone up toward the pubis, firming (but not hardening) the buttocks, and lift the buttocks off the floor. Keep your thighs and inner feet parallel. Take 2 or 3 breaths. Then firmly press the inner hands into the floor and your shoulder blades against the back and lift up onto the crown of your head. Keep your arms parallel. Take 2 or 3 breaths.
3. Press your feet and hands into the floor, tailbone and shoulder blades against your back, and with an exhalation, lift your head off the floor and straighten your arms. Turn the upper thighs slightly inward and firm the outer thighs. Narrow the hip points and lengthen the tailbone toward the backs of the knees, lifting the pubis toward the navel.
4. Turn the upper arms outward but keep the weight on the bases of the index fingers. Spread the shoulder blades across the back and let the head hang, or lift it slightly to look down at the floor.  
5. Stay in the pose anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds or more, breathing easily. Repeat anywhere from 3 to 10 times.

This is how it looks like when I strike the pose:

Upward Bow/ Back-Bend/ Wheel

My pose is no where near perfect! Do visit this website for more guidance and good example of this pose! Help and guidance from a good yoga mentor is the best if you intend to strike this pose too.

The benefits of this pose include:

Also bought a pair of new boots.. I really have to stop spending!!

I have to say that I totally love it.

You must have heard of a lot of benefits about practising yoga.. In this information age, we always have too much information and don’t know which one is true and which one is not that true. The following is an extract from BBC.

Yoga practitioners claim that all forms of the discipline offer health and physical benefits – from lowering blood pressure to improving flexibility.

Often the first basic lesson of a yoga class is deep, rhythmic breathing, which practitioners say can help to relieve respiratory complaints including asthma, as well as feeding more oxygen to the muscles to boost their strength.

It also helps to improve posture by teaching relaxation of the neck, shoulders and upper back, easing tension that can trigger aches and pains in the back.

Certain postures can also help to lengthen and strengthen the spine.

Yoga practitioners also claim that specific postures such as abdominal twists gently massage internal organs including the kidneys to improve their efficiency while forward bends can stimulate the digestive processes to help ease indigestion problems.

The inverted postures such as the head and shoulder stands, boost blood circulation and therefore improve skin tone.

The deep relaxation exercises normally practised at the end of a class can also relieve stress and anxiety, they claim.

Of course you can choose not to believe any of this. As for myself, I feel the improvement in my posture a lot. I use to crouch a lot and it is really hard to get rid of this poor posture due to habit and laziness. I have done pilates class before and my posture improves tremendously. Yoga did the same wonder to me! My back is much more straight nowadays. Due to running 2 to 3 times a week, I have tight hamstrings and calves. Doing certain yoga posture stretch those muscle groups and leave me refreshed for another running session.

I do believe aerobic exercise, weight training + yoga will do wonder for everyone. The key is to be persistent and regular!!

Like the color and material very much!

Also got this sundress from a market.. it is pre-loved.. and it is only AUD3!!

I like it very much!! And I love markets!!!