2012 resolutions - Keep healthy & plan for my future?

Lazy Sunday.

I woke up a bit later than usual - around 10:15 a.m. today after staying up late last night. Then I spent the whole morning surfing the internet in bed! The single duvet someone gave me made me reluctant to go out of the bed as it was so warm! With it I haven't really needed to turn on the heater over the past few days (also the weather was not as cold as before)! I met up with a friend for a good chat in the afternoon - she and I have been struggling with our health problems and recently she's been suffering from heartburn/stomach problem, same as me before. We both said we needed to rectify our bad habits and become more healthy. I gave her a big bag of bread that I got from Morrisons yesterday for 9p. I just realized, when I packed the bread for her, that there were more than 9 bread (around 12?) in the bag, which means each bread cost less than 1p! Wah!

I got some information from friends about immigration. Looks like now's time for me to think about and plan for my future...

Lunch: leftover salmon + salad vegetables with rice

Very lazy meal.. 

Dinner: potato & meat pastry + mixed vegetables with rice + sweetcorn soup 

another lazy meal of the day... 

Shopping bargains again! Yeah!

Shopping Saturday again!

Quite lazy in the morning. Was thinking of going to gym (been a week since I last went there!) but gave it up at the end! =_=' Had a good home-made lunch. :) Then I went out to Boots & Superdrug for daily necessity stuff before meeting with VIP for dinner and food shopping at Morrisons! We got 2 big bags of bread for 9p each! And 2 bags of 4 pies/pastries for 19p each! Very good bargains! But as we got too many things, we felt so stressed at the self-service that we left a gift wrap (which we paid for already!) when we left the supermarket. :(  Anyway it was good shopping! :)

The only unpleasant thing about the day was my itchy and rash skin (mainly on neck) in the evening. I'm not sure if I have come to terms with it or if I just don't want to bother about it any more; I didn't take any anti-histamine tablet as I thought the rash would be gone the next morning. But the rash skin just made me worried about my health problems again...

Lunch: noodles with salmon, courgettes, carrots, green peas & broccoli :) 

Yummy!

Dinner: our all-time favourite fish & chips! :p

Feeling down!?

I needed a good rest after a busy week.

The post-auntie&cousin visit syndrome was made worse after I had checked my blood test results. There seemed to be a mistake made by the clinic again and they may have missed out an important point about the results, which made me worried a lot because according to the lab report, I have a (big?!) problem with my auto-immune system. :(  The female doctor whom I've been seeing and who I'd prefer is on holiday till 17th Jan and so I had no choice but to book an appointment to see the useless GP to find out what's going on. :(

I thought I'd meet up with a friend of mine for a drink this morning but because I hadn't confirmed with her yesterday, she thought I couldn't make it and she was at work when I contacted her after arriving in Starbucks. So I went back home. I spent the whole day on my bed after doing the laundry. I was just tired. My little finger of my right hand got red and swollen for no reason. :(

I just feel unhappy again..

Lunch: salmon & mixed stir-fry vegetables

Dinner: pasta in sweet corn soup with turkey mince and mixed vegetables

It tasted ok but looked terrible! 

Saw off auntie and cousin :(

Auntie Sheung and Cousin Sharon have left and gone back to HK!

Auntie and cousin took a flight back to HK this morning. I accompanied them to the airport as I had free time anyway and I could help them take luggage. After checking in, we went to Cafe Nero for a drink and chat. It seems I haven't talked so much with auntie and cousin before. I did get to know more about them. They went through the security around noon and I took a train back home. When I got back home and looked at the living room and my bedroom where there were full of their luggage and clothes over the past two days, I felt 'empty'. Everything got back to normal but at the same time I felt a bit sad. :( Auntie and cousin had a very good relationship between themselves and that reminds me of my relationship with my mum - last weekend I just had a little unhappy conversation with her. It seems auntie is more understandable than my mum!?

Maybe because I haven't got enough sleep/rest and healthy eating over the past few days, my body gave me some responses - dry lips, constipation, heartburn, itchy and rash skin...  :(

A large cup of mocha for free!

These are what auntie and cousin have left me with

Lunch: udon again - with salad vegetables left by auntie

Dinner: McDonalds!

Stuff bought by mum 

Stuff given by auntie

Gifts by another cousin

Being a tour guide

I was a tour guide for auntie sheung & cousin sharon today.

To be honest, I can't think of any place when it comes to showing people around. Maybe I'm not knowledged enough about Manchester!? Anyway, I took auntie and cousin to the Old Trafford Stadium of Manchester United first - to be precise, it was the mega store of the football club that I took them to. They were not interested in the stadium but the mega store where they bought some t-shirts for uncle and cousin's brother. Since we bought day tickets for tram, we tried to make use of the tickets by going to different places. Our next stop was the Lowry Outlet Mall. I didn't mean to take them there but since they were not interested in the Media City where BBC was situated, I think it was better to take them to the nearby shopping mall where they could do some shopping! They did find some good bargains. I had thought aunt would buy something expensive but surprisingly she was very careful about her spending and she seemed to know the prices of a lot of things in HK, e.g. kitchen utensils, clothes. She didn't spend anything more than £10 for an item!

Our lunch was at Morrisons in Eccles. After lunch, we did a bit of shopping at Morrisons. Again, I got to know more about my aunt & cousin through their shopping. Auntie Sheung is quite healthy and she prefers vegetables, fruits and porridge!

We dropped off our shopping bags before heading to the city centre for more shopping. The weather today was actually quite bad - windy and rainy. When we got to the city centre, auntie sheung seemed to be quite tired already. We only went to a few more shops like TK Maxx, Primark, LV shop, 1-pound shop ,etc. They didn't buy anything besides some pants that cousin bought for her friends. We then went to a Japanese restaurant for early dinner before going home.

It was a tiring day as we had walked a lot!! Aunt and cousin went to bed at 9 p.m.! I continued going online till midnight...

Our lunch at Morrisons

It seems auntie and cousin can eat more than I do!

Dinner at Samsi

Hello Auntie Sheung & Cousin Sharon!

Auntie Sheung & Cousin Sharon have come to my place today!

I'm not sure if it's because I haven't been back to HK for two years, I had mixed feelings when they came to visit me. I felt quite nervous because I wanted to make sure they had a great time here. I didn't really talk much with them in the past. I went to the train station to pick them up in the morning. It was a rush because it happened I had to attend a meeting in which I'd be helping my ex-colleague. After they had dropped off their luggage in my place, I took them to the Chinatown where they'd meet my aunt's friend who'd then take them to her house till the evening. I was late for the meeting but I didn't miss much (actually I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to do!).

I picked up my aunt & cousin from the train station again in the evening after they had had dinner with my aunt's friend. We had a nice chat after back home. They slept on my bed while I slept on the sofa in the living room. My first time to sleep on the sofa in my flat! Not bad...

a slice of home-made bread from an ex-colleague!

Oh I want to make home-made bread too!

Lunch: Udon with turkey mince & vegetables

A bag of yeast and bread recipe from ex-colleague

Dinner: cheese & ham tortellini with turkey mince balls

No more unhappiness but food & sunny weather

What a good weather today!

After a nice night's sleep, I felt a bit better. Yesterday's conversations with mum and tall gal friend were still in the back of my mind. >_< I shouldn't let them get me down, right? Anyway, I distracted my attention/unhappiness by focusing on cooking and also starting getting prepared for the visit by my aunt and cousin who'll be arriving in Manchester tomorrow morning. I moved my accounting notes from my bedroom to living room (sometimes I wonder if having so many stuff under my bed may affect my health?! :p)

I went out in the afternoon, so as not to waste such a sunny weather with blue sky (though it was much colder than before!). I was thinking of whether to buy some more foodstuff in case my aunt and cousin need food at home? The city centre was still filled with people, but not as many as last week/before Christmas. I was focused only on things I needed (e.g. food!). When I think of how small my bedroom/flat is, I won't buy any more things! :p

Hopefully my aunt and cousin's two-night stay will be smooth. I'm getting stressed now..

Breakfast: steak pastry with cereals (& blueberries!)

The pastry was really very oily.. but tasty!

Lunch: a very lazy meal

cheese burger with some last night's leftover

Can't think of any dish when there wasn't much in the fridge that can make a dish!

Dinner: turkey mince meatballs!

The meatballs were eaten with pasta in soup!

a good or bad start of 2012?

有苦自己知!

That's how I felt after having conversations with my mum and my 'tall girl' friend on the phone this afternoon. What could I expect from them? Did I just want to update with them my life here? Or expect some pressure? Anyway, it turned out I feel a bit unhappy and stressed. :(  Mum sort of 'complained' to me - she said, 'I don't know why you like studying so much; And I don't know either what you're doing there. Is your (accountancy) course really useful? Do you study for more qualifications? Or for getting a status?' (That reminds me of what my sister-in-law said to me about my mum tending to complain indirectly!)  The 'tall girl' friend asked me to think about seriously whether I should continue my study; she said if I continued doing it, I wouldn't want to give it up and there's 'no way back'! =_=' It'd be a waste of money & time if I gave it up in the middle. =_=' Just thinking of going back to HK and living in an environment where people tell you what is 'useful' has made me stressed already. :'(  Is that why those friends of mine who went back to HK for good are not very happy? Someone has also earlier asked me to think about my future. Maybe because I've never thought and planned in advance for my future?

What can you do when people around you don't support you, sound negative or disapprove of what you do?

I'm wondering if I've got beaten by the cold virus... Stomach is still not well and I have more phlegm in my throat. :(

On the first day of 2012, I have to remind myself to 'live for the moment', as the title of my blog says...

Lunch: last night's leftover!

Dinner: tofu with chicken breast, mushroom, green peas & carrots + shallow fried cabbage

New Year's Eve

Finally 2011 is coming to an end!

Having slept so much yesterday, I decided to make the most of the last day of 2011. The first thing I did was going to gym in the early morning! I thought I could wake up at 7 a.m. but when I found it was still dark at 7 a.m. I decided to delay going to gym. :p (It was not good to walk in the dark!) When I got to the gym, it was around 8:45 a.m.! I thought there would be few people but surprisingly there were already 5 to 6 people and even more later. Was it because people were trying to shed off the extra pounds they had gained during Christmas? I was not harsh on myself - I tried not to work too hard but got myself sweat a bit. Then I went back home and had a nice shower before breakfast.

I had a lunch appointment with the funny couple at a Chinese restaurant. We ordered 6 dim sum - char siu bao, beef rice rolls, siu mai, mini egg tarts, dumplings with Chinese chives (which the English husband of the couple described as coming from another planet!), and curry (deep fried) squids (which were quite tasty but not spicy). Surprisingly there were not many customers - I wonder if it was because the restaurant didn't have half price dim sum discount offer as it had done before, or because people had all gone shopping?

After lunch, the Chinese wife of the couple and I went window shopping while the English husband went shopping himself. The Chinese wife wanted to buy a breadmaker machine and so we had a look at some. It sounds a good idea to make your own bread and I was tempted to do so! :p But a breadmaker machine is too expensive! I guess I have to buy a new frying pan and chopping board first instead!

We then went to a HK-style bakery for a drink. I wanted to have a glass of red bean drink, which is my favourite, but I think I better get something hot as I didn't feel quite well. But later I found that drinking a cup of HK-style milk tea wasn't good for me either. =_='

I cooked myself a nice dinner after going home. I needed something warm, tasty and not too heavy when I didn't feel quite well - I felt like I was getting sick! Hopefully that's not the case. I'm wondering if my 'auntie' is arriving soon, according to my previous 'schedule' and if it's the reason for my being unwell (upset stomach, bloating, nausea, etc.) - I tend to be weaker before 'auntie's visit. =_='

Happy New Year.. Eve!! :p Hope 2012 is getting better! :)

A bag of chestnuts from Marks & Spencer has 40 chestnuts!

And I got them for 10p only! :p 

I gave half of them to the Chinese wife. 

Lunch: curry squids :) 

Lunch: some of the dim sum

Dinner: 3 dishes for myself! :p

steamed salmon in teriyaki sauce, onion omelette & pak choy

(清蒸蘑菇三文魚, 洋蔥炒蛋, 薑汁白菜)

I only ate 1/2 of the salmon 

I can start using this 2012 calendar from tomorrow! Yeah! 

Socially active but physically inactive

Stayed at home all day.

I found that it isn't good for me to stay in bed for too long. I did that today and had a nap in the late afternoon. When I woke up, I had headache. =_=' My stomach was also not well today. I have stomach ache and I feel like I have indigestion. :(  I still had regular meals but that unwell feeling with stomach just made me feel sick. :(

Though I didn't do much physically, I did keep myself 'socially' active by contacting friends via MSN, email, text and facebook messages - that included my Australian cousin whom I hadn't talked to for a long time!

Breakfast: highly recommend this bread - mini Cheese baguette from Morrisons!

So soft. Not too fatty/cheesy.

(and I got it with other bread for 9p only!)

Lunch: egg fried rice leftover + pak choi + beef & potato pasty

Dinner: I just fried the tofu with pieces of leftover roasted chicken legs + pak choi

The fridge is so full of food now, that it's time for me to clear it up! :p

Should say 'no no' to post-X'mas sale!

Busy for nothing day. :p

The first thing I did when I went to the city centre was to return the calendar I had bought from M&S before Christmas as I found it now cost less than it did when I bought it! The 2nd day of gym. I still found it hard to do gym long. Is it becoz I don't have strong motivation? I did a bit of window shopping at M&S after lunch, to see if I can find anything interesting to buy for mum. Things were not getting much cheaper. Perhaps now for me, anything that cost more than £1 needs to be thought twice! I was lucky though to get a bag of chestnuts from M&S for 10p only! I went to Paperchase, one of my favourite shops, as well. There were some stuff that I wanted to buy but the reduced prices were not attractive enough and when I thought twice, those things were not 'necessary'. I wasn't interested to go anywhere else but went back home. Shopping at sales times seems a challenge to me - to make me think about whether I really need to buy things when they were on sale or to remind me not to 'waste' money on shopping for luxury things!

Breakfast: What's special about this bread? 

It was bought from Morrisons. A good surprise that it did taste good,

with some tomato flavour and herbs in it. :) 

Dinner: fried egg noodles with pak choi, cumberland sausages, aubergines, sweet snaps & mushroom

It tasted good!

Last night's soup with tofu added to it tonight.

I'm wondering if there's anything wrong with the soup, 

as I had some 'response' after dinner these two nights - 

stomach ache & rash/itchy skin :( 

Time to 'wake up', be active and sociable

Back to an 'active' mode! :p

A busy day. Gym, laundry, cleaning, soup making... Keeping myself busy without a rush is good for me. There were a lot of shoppers at the city centre. I tried to avoid that by going out and going home early. The day ended with shopping at Morrisons. :D I guess the food in my fridge now can last me till next weekend!!

VIP reminded me that it's time to think about my future - how am I going to continue staying in this country? What do I want to do in future? A good reminder and questions to think about... Also time for me to become active and socialize with people; can't be anti-social any more..

Lunch: egg fried rice with green peas, potatoes & roasted chicken

Soup of the week: 綠豆生地海帶湯

Dinner: cheese & bacon omelette at Morrisons

Unhealthy but tasty! :p

Still zero productivity

The third day of staying home. Nothing new. =_='

I was struggling about whether to go out or not - gym? shopping? The cloudy weather didn't help. I gave up going out at the end, as I just didn't want to spend money yet and just thinking of how crowded the city centre would be frightened me already!  Maybe somehow staying at home allows me to avoid facing the reality? I can just sleep and eat without having to socialize with anyone..

Zero productivity. Just watched some old TV dramas. =_=' I even didn't bother to spend much time on cooking. I mainly reheated the salmon en croute and chicken legs that had been left over...

No more excuse tomorrow! Time to go to gym..

Lunch: salmon en croute with rice again.. 

My stomach has started showing me that it's got fed up with it.. :p

Dinner: instant noodles with chicken leg & broccoli

I know how unhealthy instant noodles are

but my stomach and tongue told me today that they want something like that.. 

Continued my rest on Boxing Day

Continued relaxing myself at home on Boxing Day.

Some shops were open today but thanks to the long queues in Trafford Centre, Selfridges and NEXT, as I got to know from friends on Facebook, I was de-motivated to go out but continued having my good rest at home, which was good. :p I also had a good shower, tidied up my room and had a nap. I took a break from cooking after doing some 'big' meals two days in a row. :p

My arms & legs are telling me I should go out tomorrow - not shopping but doing gym, having eaten so much without any activities over the past few days! :p

My Christmas gift!

Lunch: leftovers - 1/2 Salmon en croute + mixed vegetables :)

Dinner: fine noodles with vegetables & chicken leg :)

One person's Christmas was also enjoyable :)

Spent the Christmas day at home alone.

Christmas Day in this country is like the first day of Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. But in Hong Kong there're still some shops open while here, almost ALL shops are closed! Though I didn't go out today, I can feel how quiet it was on the street - there were only one or two cars in the back street of our flat and most of the cars in our carpark have gone. There used to be some 'banging' sounds from other flats when people open or close their doors but today I can't hear any! Anyway, how quiet it was outside didn't affect my day as I didn't go out anyway. Flatmate went out in the afternoon - I guess she may go to her friend's house to have Christmas turkey dinner?

I spent the day doing nothing but surfed the internet, watched some TV, had a nap (oh feel good these two days after having a nap!) and did cooking. My lower back pain seemed to come back and disturb my sleep. =_=' But that didn't affect me, especially in terms of cooking - Tonight's main course was baked chicken legs! I had thought of making 沙薑雞 or salty baked chicken based on the recipes on ricebowltales website but I didn't have time to buy all the ingredients - so I'd try it later and this time I used some sauce powder I had bought from Tesco. The chicken legs tasted ok but I think the sauce might be too fatty (with oil from the chicken legs and sauce powder); the sauce tasted a bit like gravy one! Though I didn't have turkey for Christmas, it was not bad to have a chicken leg instead. :)

One person's Christmas was also enjoyable!

Lunch: leftovers - fish pie, roasted potatoes, broccoli

This sauce helped me cook my chicken legs tonight!

It tasted a bit like gravy sauce.. 

It was done! :)

Dinner: chicken leg with vegetables :)