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Men's Health Urbanathlon 2012: Conquered!

2012-02-20T11:12:56Z

Greetings Readers! Over the weekend I was in Singapore with close to 20 others from Get Fit Cross Fit Brunei for the Men's Health Urbanathlon. It is a men's only event and this third Urbanathlon saw 2,300 men brave a 14 kilometre run broken up by nine physical obstacles. The obstacles had clever names such as "Wall Street", "Quantum Leap", "Monkey Business" and "Corporate Ladder" (my 'favorite'), and were designed to test our strength, agility, flexibility and endurance.

The Urbanathlon also saw paratheletes Adam Kamis (a.k.a. the "One Arm Runner") and Shariff Abdullah (a.k.a. the "Singapore Blade Runner") take part to raise awareness for disabled atheletes in Singapore. In a press statement, Shariff Adbullah said "I took part in the Men's Health Urbanathlon to challenge myself and hopefully, in the process, inspire other disabled Singaporeans to live life to the fullest. As I arrived at each obstacle, I told myself that I can overcome it as long as I believed in myself. The other participants and their supporters were also very encouraging and supported me along the way. It was a wonderful experience."

It was great bonding with the Get Fit fellas over the weekend. We had fun, lots of laughs, plenty of food and we even got featured in the official highlights reel (look for us at the 7 second mark in the video below). On a personal note, I ran my best time ever! You can read more about the event here.

Here's a YouTube video of some of the highlights plus some photographs I took from the event.

King's College London (Workshop)

2012-02-15T12:53:03Z

Rolling in the Deep (cover) by Have a Safe Fall

2012-02-10T11:57:00Z

A cover of Adele's Rolling in the Deep by local talents, Have a Safe Fall.

Kitaro Japanese Restaurant's Yee Sang

2012-02-06T13:33:00Z

Today marks the end of the Chinese Lunar New Year for 2012. One of the things about Chinese New Year is that it brings people together. The other day, I was at a relative's place where there were four generations represented in one house hold! Also central to Chinese New Year is the food! A variety of dishes, but perhaps none as well known as the Yee Sang dish. I must admit, I had to wiki the origins and symbolism of this dish. What usually happens is this - a colourful dish is brought out, sauce is poured over it and then every one gathers around, sticks their chopsticks into the borders of the dish and starts tossing about its contents. Read on. It will make sense.

Allow me to borrow extensively from Wikipedia for this post.

Yusheng, yee sang or yuu sahng, or Prosperity Toss, also known as lo hei is a Teochew-style raw fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yusheng literally means "raw fish" but since "fish" is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance", Yúshēng is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yusheng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor.

Meaning of the Ingredients: When putting the yu sheng on the table offers New Year greetings. The raw fish is added, symbolising abundance and excess through the year. The pomelo or lime is added to the fish, adding luck and auspicious value. Pepper is then dashed over in the hope of attracting more money and valuables. Then oil is poured out, circling the ingredients and encouraging money to flow in from all directions. Carrots are added indicating blessings of good luck. Then the shredded green radish is placed symbolising eternal youth. After which the shredded white radish is added - prosperity in business and promotion at work. The condiments are finally added.

First, peanut crumbs are dusted on the dish, symbolizing a household filled with gold and silver. Sesame seeds quickly follow symbolising a flourishing business. Deep-fried flour crisps in the shape of golden pillows is then added with wishes that literally the whole floor would be filled with gold...All diners at the table then stand up and on cue, proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying various "auspicious wishes" out loud. It is believed that the height of the toss reflects the height of the diner's growth in fortunes, thus diners are expected to toss enthusiastically.

Photographs from the Yee Sang from Kitaro Japanese Restaurant; be sure to try their Yee Sang dish for yourselves by 8th February 2012!

A True Story about Pancakes

2012-02-05T07:21:00Z

Happy Sunday Readers! I just want to share a short story about pancakes. Have a blessed weekend!

Woke up this morning. Time on my alarm clock - 9.00am.

Brain goes "mmm, pancakes". Brain also goes "you have not made pancakes in over a year?!"

Heart back up brain and goes "MMM, pancakes". Fingers type in "pancake recipes" on the iPad.

Google provides.

Body walks to the kitchen. Body puts on Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto album.

1 Egg - check. 1 and a half cups of full cream milk - check.

1 and a half cups of flour - check. 1 tablespoon of lemon juice - check.

1 tablespoon of caster sugar- check. 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda - check.

1 Mixing bowl - check.

Body starts making pancakes.

Tummy goes "mmm, pancakes"

Heart goes "mmm, pancakes"

Family goes "Huh? Pancakes?"

Body passes the pancakes around.

Everybody goes "mmm, pancakes"