Posts made in March, 2013

Prenatal Yoga Class

Posted on Mar 30, 2013 in Gym / Sports, Pregnancy | 0 comments

Some of my friends who are already mothers gave me some advice, telling me to try stretching for an easy birth, a breast massage, etc. I think these are important and I was also checking on the internet.

The stretching menu for an easy birth wasn’t too new or difficult at all for me fortunately, as there are some stretching exercises that I’ve been doing when I go to the gym, that I learned from a trainer in HK and there are also a lot of poses we learned from yoga classes that we joined in HK and in Canada.
And the special selections from these were the menu for an easy birth.
So all I have to do is just do it more frequently! That’s all. But that’s the most difficult part…

From this January, I stopped going to a regular yoga class with my hubby and started going to a prenatal yoga class, with the expectation I can learn more, stretch and relax in a better way.
Prenatal yoga has more poses that are easy on the tummy and more conscious of the baby.

Different from a regular class, this one consisting of only pregnant women has a different, softer atmosphere, and the size of the class is rather small. Each new mum is different on how far along they are with their baby, so the term is shorter (1 term contains 6 classes) than the regular classes to ease the coming and going.

It’s good that I can chat with these mums about their pregnancies and share information. The mums with 2nd or 3rd babies seem to enjoy this 1 hour yoga time to escape from the regular chores at home and relax.

Up until recently, my hubby used to drive me and waited for me, but now I have my own driver’s license finally and I can drive! A bit nervous at first, as it’s been a long time, and it was at night with snow. But fortunately the winter is coming to the end and the day light is getting longer already. It’s bright until 8:30 p.m. now.

By the way, getting a cramp in the legs seems like one of the symptoms that pregnant women sometimes have during the second trimester of pregnancy.
I got one while sleeping. It was about 2 weeks ago. I guess it’s because we have more liquid in the body and I feel swelling in my legs. I sit a lot at the computer, that’s also bad. So my body wants to go workout. The doctor also says we should exercise regularly. Since my morning sickness has faded away finally, I’m trying to go back to the 3-times-a-week cycle. My pace of exercise is slower on the machine. But that’s OK. After sweating and feeling blood circulation going around the body, I feel really good and food is more delicious.
If I sleep with my legs straight, I get more cramps. If I bend them, it’s unlikely not to get them, in my opinion.

My belly now looks like a belly of a pregnant woman. At first, I could look like a chubby woman with a big belly. It was subtle… now I think anyone can tell I’m pregnant. That’s better.

We got a lot of snow on Mar 21st, and then the temperature went down to -19 c degree on Mar 24th. It felt like we were still deep in winter. But on 27th and 28th, it went up around 10 c degree. Snow started to melt a lot, and the back streets are full of big ponds! Cars are splashing mud on each other. No one would get a car-wash in this situation. We are expecting some more snow in April, but now it feels like a spring a bit.

25 weeks 25 weeks.

Canada Permanent Visa – Report 4

Posted on Mar 27, 2013 in Canada visa | 0 comments

Congratulations to me!
My official Permanent Resident Card has finally arrived!

My face is public, but this picture is releasing a negative aura, because no smile, no make-up, and I was sick… Seriously it’s not a nice photo.

It’s the same face on the right, but smaller and transparent. A more complicated card not to be counterfeited?

Now I’m officially a resident of Canada! Yay!
But to keep this status, I have to live in Canada for 2 years out of 5.

I also have a Hong Kong permanent residency, but to keep it, I only have to enter Hong Kong once in 3 years. No need to reside there.

“L&R” Made the Press Shut Up

Posted on Mar 24, 2013 in Chage & Aska | 0 comments

L&R is one of my favourite songs by ASKA.

Each line of words are so meaningful, sincere and deep. I want to jot down everything here, but maybe it’s better and easier just to listen to the song.

When Chage & Aska broke up as a unit, it became big news in Japan. The press were wondering if they were fighting or if there were any problems between them. But after they listened to this song, no more questions. They have calmed down. This song explains Aska’s feelings perfectly.

The words are not too straight but are kind of playing with laughter, and there is his expression of love towards Chage. That’s the beginning of the song.

Chage & Aska are just like the sky and the ocean: they are both blue but never mix together. “We are a left fielder and a right fielder”. That’s one metaphor Aska makes as a baseball lover. I don’t know anything about baseball though. Being these fielders, they catch everything side by side.

“When we get together someday…” give us fans hope and he is expressing the feeling and love that he doesn’t feel too bad about being with Chage. It’s very nice.

The moon appears in the song. In his songs, the moon often means a woman. But in this song, the moon could mean the bigger crowd like fans or the media, I’m guessing.

Also this song makes us think about passing the time.
Time doesn’t just pass by. Time disappears. Yes, that’s true. We can never bring the past back again. This makes me feel that each day is very important, and we should try to make the most out of it.

This song was one of two for “Anata ga nakukotohanai”. And this time, it was re-mixed and included on the album “SCRAMBLE”. The re-mix was different from the original. He was using a more dynamic tone (strong and weak) with his voice and I really liked it.

A dream of “When we get together someday…” came true earlier than I thought. They are getting together again in this summer. Wow!

Aska has almost finished his current tour, ROCKET. Only one is left. I wish we were there. The concert will come out as a blue-ray (why not a DVD!?). Hmmm.

The music from the concert also came out on iTunes to sell. But it’s only inside Japan.

Not too friendly for overseas fans…

Quinoa

Posted on Mar 23, 2013 in Home Meals | 0 comments

I can’t forget about the quinoa that we ate at the Lake Louise Chateau restaurant, and I checked it online.

Quinoa has been harvested at an altitude of 2,500 – 4,000m in Bolivia and Peru mainly. I wonder if we ate some when we were there but just didn’t know…?

According to Wiki:

“Quinoa (the name is derived from the Spanish spelling of the Quechua name kinwa or occasionally “Qin-wah”) originated in the Andean region of Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, where it was successfully domesticated 3,000 to 4,000 years ago for human consumption, though archeological evidence shows a non-domesticated association with pastoral herding some 5,200 to 7,000 years ago.

The nutrient composition is very good compared with common cereals. Quinoa seeds contain essential amino acids like lysine and good quantities of calcium, phosphorus, and iron.”

The waitress said it was a “super food”. Now I understand. It has a nice texture when you crunch it. It’s light and delicious, so I can eat a lot.

When you boil it, some kind of sprout-looking thing comes out. So I was guessing it’s some kind of sprout or bean, but it says it’s a grain and seed. A bean is a seed. So my guessing was right?

We found it at a supermarket.
Just wash and boil them. That’s all. We can eat it as salad or throw them in anywhere you like.

At the restaurant, it was red quinoa, but the one we bought was not.

The year 2013 is supposed to be the United Nations International Quinoa Year! If you’ve never tried it, give it a try!

Noorish Conscious Eatery and Superfood Elixir Bar

Posted on Mar 22, 2013 in Restaurants | 0 comments

Mar 13 (Wed)

My Japanese girlfriends and I gathered at a vegan restaurant, Noorish for lunch. It’s been about 2 months since the last gathering. It was a fun time.

My friend was writing about this restaurant and it was in my wanna-go list but I didn’t have a chance. So that was good!

This place also has a yoga school, often carries music events and sells healthy food inside the restaurant. A high-end hippie kind of place. It was already quite full by 12 o’clock. It was a good thinking that one of us made a reservation already. A lot of items on the menu sounded very  yummy.
This was what I ordered: Kelp noodles (CAN$16). I think this was flavoured with sun-dried tomatoes and so on. It looks like Harusame noodles with ground meat, but noodles are actually kelp noodles and of course, no meat. The firmness of the noodles were like Shirataki noodles (very low carbohydrate, low calorie, thin, translucent, gelatinous traditional Japanese noodles made from devil’s tongue yam (elephant yam or the konjac yam)), which I liked. We felt it was a little bit salty. It would be nice to have some plain bread or rice as a side to go with this. But still it was really good and tasty. For a pregnant woman, the amount was a bit too small. I finished eating it all the fastest among us! ^^

Kelp Noodles

These were the friends’ orders:

Kelp Noodles Kassamwich with soup of the day

It’s a vegan restaurant. So they don’t use milk and eggs either. Not even soy milk for cakes! How can they make cakes? We asked and a waitress said they use coconut oil and so on and on (I forgot).
We shared a cake of the day: Chai Cheesecake (CAN$9.5). Very smooth and delicious!

Chai Cheesecake

We were all shocked by the news that Ms. K is leaving Edmonton in summer… Hope we can gather a few more times before she leaves.

Noorish Conscious Eatery and Superfood Elixir Bar Noorish Conscious Eatery and Superfood Elixir Bar

Noorish Conscious Eatery and Superfood Elixir Bar
(780) 756-6880
8440 109 St NW, Edmonton