She's Already Gone Away

When she's sleeping on the sofa, When she's laying in her Sunday best, when she's turning over Friday, I could swear I'm sleeping less and less... and the ocean's getting warmer, and California's on her mind, Los Angeles is tired, but we always seem to feel alright, When I'm coming over Sunday and I think about you all the time, I wonder what you're doin. I wonder why you never cry? When Boston's always raining and we never ever seemed alive, I sung about you once now, I guess I might as well  but I won't... no I won't...

Cause she's already out the door, she's already out of here she's already gone away...

Recipe 355: Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:
5 oz fresh strawberries, stems removed
1 ripe banana
1 packet Splenda or Equal
1/2 cup ice cubes
1/2 cup yogurt or coconut water

Procedure:
Wash strawberries and remove banana peel. In a blender, process all ingredients until smooth. 

Recipe 354: Steak and Cottage Cheese Salad

Breakfast: Orange and Grapefruit juice

Lunch: Steak and Cottage Cheese Salad
Ingredients

90g steak (such as New York strip, ribeye or boneless sirloin)

2 cups greens

1 cup low fat cottage cheese 

2 medium garlic cloves 

pepper to taste 

Procudeure:

1. Grill steak or sear in a skillet with olive oil and garlic and season with pepper. Let sit for five or ten minutes before slicing.

2. Arrange greens on a plate.

3. Put steak and cottage cheese.

Snack: 3 slices of pears

Progress and Risks

A lot of people have told me that natural instincts are extremely useful. Intuition as they call it. Often a handful of the mistakes I've made in life are from not trusting my gut feel. I think recently I've learned to not argue with that branch of logic because  instincts are cultivated over a period of years and they're the sum of all of your experiences making it actually a good enough resource. 

Problem is, when I do develop an opinion about something, I tend to stubbornly cling to it and there can seem like there is little hope of changing my mind. I get very stubborn and really act out and go against all odds just to get things to go my way. Well, I can change my mind and opinions but it does take a while. Sometimes even at my own expense. 

Being aware of our opinions and using our likes/dislikes can be useful in allowing us to create a framework to live by, but just the same, it also limits us. We live so dutifully within that framework that we are extremely ignorant to all that exists outside of it. In a way I've always felt like I am very open minded but really, I'm not im very close minded. I think I have a lot of options but these options i kind of fish out just the ones that really work for me and still in that framework. 

Rarely do we ever realize how trapped we are until we find ourselves victims of the same pattern repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Of course by then it is more of a last resort than a premature step.  

“Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.”

Instead of waiting for that to happen to me again, I think what I need to do is make more of a conscious effort to strive to live outside of the framework. A good advice that I once got from someone is to be more aware and conscious of the options around you... not just career-wise… but with everything. Take a risk or a gamble that you might not have ordinarily considered. Taking a chance on something you previously would have never considered might be the very thing which changes your life. Yes, it may be scary, so is doing anything for the first time but I think that it really makes me learn more about myself and I extremely enjoy the uncertainty in it. 

So this week apart from my "Declutter" challenge... I'm pushing myself and all of you to make a conscious effort this week to not judge as much, to let go of your old self and take one blind step forward. Don't overthink, just do it and give things/people/events a chance and the benefit of the doubt. Progress and good things come from breaking the habit.

Stand up and embrace this day

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. Start by standing up and embracing the goodness of this new sunday morning. 

FAVORITE DISHES

My agenda is to make you hungry first thing in the morning.

Japanese: (Toro Sashimi, Uni Tempura and Tori Karaage)

Italian: (Four Cheese Risotto, Minestrone and Florentine Steak)

Greek: (Greek Dips, Grilled Lamb Ribs, Greek salad with Fried Feta)

French: (Baked Escargots, Steak Tartare and Bouillabaisse)

Filipino: (Kilawin, Sizzling Sisig and Sinigang na Salmon)

Thai: (Tom Kha Gai, Crispy Catfish and Green Mango Salad and Thai Red Curry)

Korean: (Kimchi and Tofu Soup, Korean BBQ and Dolsot Bibimbap)

2013 FORD GT500

Powered by a massive 5.8L supercharged V8, the GT500 boasts 650 horsepower and 600 lb. ft. of torque, making the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 the most powerful production V8 in the world and enabling speeds of over 200 mph. Other features include a carbon fiber driveshaft, a beefier clutch, transmission, and axle, Brembo brakes, a launch control system to keep that power flowing to the pavement, and Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar G: 2 tires. 

Your move, Chevy. 

[uncrate]

DECLUTTER

After all the messy bessy things that have happened, I decided to quit on my very unhealthy abusive lifestyle this week and embarked on this journey of decluttering not only my mind but also my body. Which just means that I started staying away from my fried food, my bacon, spam, chips, candies and alcohol. I'm actually doing a pretty good job so far this week. I started to get back into my yoga practice, start my day with a jug of fresh fruit juice, have healthy refreshing salads for lunch and just very light dinners. 
Here are some of the things I've been eating lately... 

Maybe for the normal person these don't look too depriving or HEALTHY but from where I come from, My daily meals were downtight UNHEALTHY.

I have seen a lot of improvements maybe not on my weight yet (or I really wouldn't know because I have a phobia from weighing scales) but my skin is definitely more radiant and I feel more energized in the mornings as compared to the past months where I was feeling lethargic the whole day.
Next week though, I plan to take things to a whole new level by following this diet menu that I made inspired by both the "Cohen Diet" (which almost everyone is crazy about these days) and my old favorites the master cleanse and the Beverly Hills diet.

The menu looks something like this:


DAY 1

LEMONADE DAY

recipe for a glass of lemonade: 2T lemon, 2T maple syrup, 1/10t cayenne pepper, 10oz water

-- drink 6-8 glasses a day and you can snack on tomato soup or vegetable soup

DAY 2: 

breakfast: an orange

lunch: 90g lean beef, 3T cottage cheese

snack: strawberry and banana smoothie

dinner: veg soup and a kiwi

DAY 3: 

breakfast: 5 slices of pineapple

lunch: 1 cup tuna, 4 saltine crackers, 3T cottage cheese

dinner: 5 slices pineapple

--> drink lemonade throughout the day

DAY 4:

breakfast: a mango

mid am snack: apple

lunch: tomato basil salad with a piece of goats milk cheese and 100g lean steak

dinner: 2 bananas

DAY 5: 

breakfast: an apple

lunch: 2 tomatoes, 90g chicken breast, 2 broccolis and olive oil and balsaming vinegar dressing

snack: 120g yogurt

dinner: mango banana smoothie

DAY 6:

breakfast: one pear

mid am snack: apple orange smoothie

lunch: 45g tuna, 3T cottage cheese, spinach leaves

dinner: ratatouille and 2 slices of pineapple

DAY 7:

breakfast: 2 egg whites and 30g fat free cheese

snack: a mango

lunch: 4 celery stalks with 75g of cottage cheese

dinner: pineapple mango smoothie

I'll keep you posted on recipes and pictures when I start it. 
Wish me luck xx.