Another one for the road..

You had me at Helllllllo – Chair Pose!

• Aunt Flow was in town
• and my abs still look like this

In case you still didn’t get my practical joke,
there is NO bun in the oven!

Love and (en)lighten up.

I ALSO WANT A LITTLE GIRL TO PLAY AND SING WITH EVERYDAY!

Give me a couple of years
and I’ll share with you YouTubes of me and my super cute little girl
singing, walking on their hands, French-Canadian-Bugis-Malaysian girl OK?

(Don’t hold your water, I am not even trying to get pregnant yet.)

‘Till I can get my husband to agree with me on having a baby girl (he wants a boy!) as our first..

Rented a beautiful beach house at east of downtown Toronto the whole week we were there..

Went boating..

Inukshuk-making and squirrel watching..

And managed to catch Cirque Du Soleil’s TOTEM! Boy, I thought I was flexible..

I also managed to sneak in h-o-t Dubai
(it was boiling 40 degree Celcius at night! Count your blessings, Malaysia..)
to visit my long lost soulmate who lives in Dubai right now with her husband.

and of course, to stand upside down for a while.

I swear I tried to challenge gravity with the tallest building in the world behind me, ahhhh.. but the Burj is too tall for full-blown inversion or else I could have repeated this seemingly signature pose in front of fancy cities’ landmarks.

Been home and back teaching again at Upward for a couple of day nows but sadly, haven’t had my share of my favourite vegetarian Hari Raya staples (ketupat & burasak, lodeh, lontong, sambal kacang) just yet.

Anybody’s throwing out Hari Raya open house today as we speak?

How possible (or impossible) is it to make ‘healthier’ nasi lemak?

Organic ‘Nasi Lemak’

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes (seriously!)
Serves: 2 (or double up the ingredients for 4)

What you need:

• 1 cup of rice (I refuse to use organic brown rice for this just because! )
• 1½ cup of organic full-cream milk (but I used low-fat today as I don’t stock full-cream milk at home). RM14.99 per carton from Cold Storage, Bangsar Shopping Centre
• ½ a can of Waitrose Organic plum tomatoes (you may opt to make tomato sauce from scratch but organic tomatoes cost around RM25 for FOUR!) RM6.99 a can from Cold Storage, Bangsar Shopping Centre.
• 2 tablespoons of organic sesame oil (or may use extra virgin olive oil for alternative. Say big NO to vegetable oil already!)

• 1 tablespoon of no-MSG chili paste
• 1 inch of ginger (I can’t seem to find organic ginger in KL ) – halved and bruised
• ¼ organic Japanese cucumber or organic English telegraph cucumber
• ½ a yellow Australian onion, sliced
• 2 pasteurized eggs (or may opt for organic free-range eggs, you can find them at Village Grocer, Bangsar Village. Con: they cost RM33.90 for TEN!)

• 1 fistful of gluten-free organic groundnuts. RM6.99 a packet and can be found at most bigger grocery stores.
• Filtered water, organic sea salt and organic brown sugar to taste and season
• 1 foot wide banana leaf as base
• 3 strands of pandan leaves

Notes:

- I get most of my organic vegetable supply from Jaya Grocer, Empire Subang
- DO NOT add on tamarind (asam jawa) juice if you are using tomatoes like me to prevent overly-sour ’sambal’
- Unless I have guest(s), I exclude ‘ikan bilis‘ (dried small anchovy) as part of the ’sambal’ (chili sauce) and condiments for personal (and household) preference.

How to prepare:

1. In this order, prepare the rice first as it takes about 20 minutes to boil
   • and then boil the eggs which takes about 10 minutes to boil
   • and frying the nuts and making the sambal can be done in between.
2. Rice:
   • Rinse the rice twice and at third rinse, drain the water and add 1½ cup of milk (rule of thumb to cook rice in electric cooker: 1½ cup of water / liquid for every cup of rice). Sprinkle some grinded sea salt and add the ginger. Using the knotted pandan leaves, stir the rice and set to cook in electric rice cooker (fyi, we have THREE O_o as our wedding gifts)
3. Eggs:
   • Fill the pot with ¾ full of water and carefully place the eggs using a strainer (to prevent premature crack) before the water starts to boil. Add salt to speed up the process.
4. Groundnuts:
   • Using medium heat (7 from 10 on ceramic stovetop), heat up the pan and pour sesame oil (I personally feel sesame oil is best used when frying nutty and fish based sauce, grapeseed oil for low-smoke and olive oil for pasta sauce / dressing). Carefully throw a string of onions to season and fry the groundnuts until its colour turn a hairline darker.
   • Filter the nuts and lay on two layers of kitchen roll for excess oil absorption. Sprinkle some grinded sea salt for seasoning.
5. ‘Sambal’:
   • Using the same pan and oil from frying the nuts, sautee the onion in medium heat (7 from 10 on ceramic stovetop).
   • Carefully add chili paste and stir evenly for one minute.
   • Pour half a can of plum tomato broth onto the sauteed onion and chili paste. Season with a pinch of brown sugar and sea salt. Add two plum tomatoes and crush using your spatula and stir the mixture for a minute.
   • Set heat at low (3 from 10 on ceramic stovetop) and let it season for a couple of minutes before turning the heat off.
6. At this point, switch off heat for the eggs and drain the water. Under tap water, peel its skin and cut into halves or quarters.
7. Using bamboo spatula, stir the rice to even out ‘fat’ from the milk and serve rice in a bowl with banana leaf as a base.
8. Serve rice piping hot.

There we have it – guaranteed heathier, cleaner, MSG-free
and most importantly, made-with-love organic nasi lemak!

Try it this weekend?

Kino is the youngest woman in the world to hold certification to teach Ashtanga yoga by its founder late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. She was only 29 years old when she was certified to teach Ashtanga. I am already 29 and I still struggle in tucking my leg behind my head

If you think yoga only requires flexibility (and breathing ya daa ya daa), watch this other Youtube of Kino and prepare to be mesmerized.

Oh yes, this girl can float and fly!

Everytime I feel like giving up my Second / Intermediate Series  as I thought

• my spine is not open enough
• my hamstrings are not elongated enough,
• my core is not strong enough
• I secretly & pessimistically believe Ashtanga Yoga might just be for men (in tights!)

I just sit still for a minute, look up at Kino and be inspired.

I am positive that if I invested (way way way) MORE time on my mat, standing on my hands – one day I might just be able to be as strong, as flexible and as graceful as Kino.

I also love how Kino and I are almost of the same height proportion

Ha haaa, Kino on cover of Yoga Journal side by side with an old photo of mine.
When I can still tie up my hair, that is.

While we are at it , have you voted for me to be on cover of Yoga Journal TODAY?

Love and let’s float Friday together today!

Ashtanga Yoga 411:

1. Ashtanga Yoga (the practice) is deemed the most physical yoga practice and it is said that anyone who can finish Second Series sequence to have the fitness level (strength, flexibility, control, stamina, balance, grace) of an Olympic gymnast.

More 411:

- Madonna practices Third Series

- It took me EIGHT YEARS to khatam complete First Series as I got stuck in Supta Kurmasana for years (you must be thinking, poses that THAT in only First Series, I know rightttt?). I now in my third year of Second Series and as expected, literally suck stuck at Yoga Nidrasana O_o

2. Ashtanga Yoga sequence is to be practiced in its exact sequential order. Practitioners are prohibited from moving / skipping to the next pose unless the intended pose is performed as each pose is meant to be the preparation pose for the next one.

Image from Ashtanga Yoga

3. There are three groups of sequences in the Ashtanga system. Each series starts with five Sun Salutation A, three Sun Salutation B, Standing Sequence, The *Series with vinyasa (jumping back to chaturanga dandasana, upward dog & downward dog to change every side and every pose), The Closing Sequence & Corpse Pose. A complete and continuous Ashtanga practice (some people I know take FIVE MINUTES Child Pose after every seating vinyasa!) at any series usually takes at least 90 minutes to be performed (I just have to state this to this detail because some ‘Ashtanga’ classes I went to at Tr@# Fitness / Tr$% Yoga KL are NOT Ashtanga classes at all).

The *First / Primary Series (Yoga Chikitsa) detoxifies and aligns the body.

The *Second / Intermediate Series (Nadi Shodhana) purifies the nervous system by opening and clearing the energy channels.

The Advanced Series (Sthira Bhaga) *A or Third, *B or Fourth, *C or Fifth and D or Sixth Series integrate the strength and grace of the practice, requiring higher levels of flexibility and humility.

Primary Series & Intermediate Series demo by my Ashtanga teacher, Kino MacGregor

4. While there are many aspiring Ashtangis in this lifetime, only those certified by the late founder Sri K Pattabhi Jois (now his grandson) of Ashtanga Yoga should /can teach an Ashtanga class or else the class has to be named Ashtanga Led / Mysore (self-practice monitored by Ashtangi) / -inspired.

5. Until 2008, there are only 48 certified Ashtanga yoga teachers in US. Complete directory for certified Ashtanga yoga teachers in the world can be found here.

While I do not hold any dream of becoming an Ashtanga certified teacher anytime soon,
I choose Ashtanga Yoga as my daily practice because with Ashtanga,

• I discover my every potential as a human being that every muscle, every sensation, every organ is meant to be used, appreciated and nourished
• I learn that there is really no shortcut to being healthy and practicing everyday is the only way
• I become the strongest, most open and balanced body I can be
• I accept my body and imperfections
• I am humbled by a 10001 more poses that I still can’t do
• I respect my limit and understand others’

Peace and practice, practice, practice.

So in reverse order,
here is what I have been doing and where have I been going to,
for the past one month of not updating.

Just 1 day ago

I was in Bali.

1 week ago

I was at Cameron Highlands.

2 weeks ago

I was in Pangkor Laut.

..and 3 weeks ago

I felt at my prettiest, wore the wedding dress I’ve always envisioned in my dreams
and had the people that matter the most to me present at my celebration of love.

.   .   .   .   .   .

I might just update again when I have nothing better to do but don’t get your hopes up too high, I have an exciting little project to launch before May comes

Love and gratitude.

But who am I kidding,

..this IS my playground.

If it’s not for pre-medieval policy makers we keep paying our taxes money to run our country, there would be no other country I’d rather be.

To another year of independance and hopefully a year closer to first (or second, or even third even) world country’s mentality.