Las Vegas Strip Photos

Hello Las Vegas -- Arriving

After 6 hours long fight, arrived Vegas 9PM local time.

Checked in to Mandalay Bay, got a strip view room at high floor. Very nice.

Becaues of the jet-lag, I woke up 4AM

Pics coming soon...

Casual Dinner

CVS experience.. afterthoughts

I used software to edit a photo, saved it in USB and brough to local CVS to print. 4x6 photo is 25cents. I selected the photo from my USB and submitted the order, printed out an order slip says .25. Waited for 10 minutes or so, the photo was printed. The staff picked up the photo, she was about to put it into a regular photo envelop, then she saw my photo and changed to an envelop for passport and charged me 7.99.

Me: I printed 4x6 photo, and this order slip says 0.25. Why do you charge me 7.99?
Stupid: You printed a passport photo.
Me: I printed 4x6 photo. I didn't select passport photo or use your machine for passport photo.
Stupid: Those are passport photo.
Me: What I used the photo for is not your business.
Stupid: They are passport photo, you have to pay 7.99
Me: It is photo from my own USB, it is 4x6 photo.
Stupid: You can't print 4x6 passport photo.
Me: I would only pay the price for my order, and this slip says my order is 0.25. What's in my photo and what I use it for is not your business.
Stupid went into the office for a minute or so and came out: You have to pay 7.99.

This is one of the most stupid things I ever come across... Okay, I walked out... Called the store manager, complained to her, she asked me if I still have for the order slip. I said yes, then she said I could come back and will honor the order in the price the slip says. She apologized to me and said she would talk to her staff. She called the stupid staff in the office and let another staff do the print for me. He was a lot nicer and gave me the photo for free even though the manager asked him just to charge 0.25. It took about 5 minutes to print the photo again, when it was done, I saw the stupid staff walked out of the store and got into her car and left. Oh???

Afterthoughts:
1. Did stupid talk to the manager when she went into the office?
2. Did the manager protect her staff or punish the staff?

3. I was grumpy at work today, would I have done differently if I had good mood?
4. Should I handle this differently in an elegant way? -- biggest rule of thumb I have is that as a consumer, I hold ultimate power, and that is the ability to show elsewhere

Simple Pound Cake

Recipe:
1 3/4 cups (230 grams) all purpose flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup (226 grams) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) superfine or castor sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Zest of a lemon or orange (optional)

350 degree, bake for 50-60 minutes.

I pured batter into muffin mold, rest baked into a loaf.

Each kids ate two "pound cake muffins" + 2 slices from the loaf, then skipped dinner.

Weight Loss Diary #30: One pound melted away

I have stopped daily recording my weight in, simply because the loss rate is steadily slow. The new habbit is to record only the weight goes down. So here I am: 131 lbs for today's weight in!

The slow progress can be well explained. Colder weather, busier work and parenting, less work out, toward last 10 pounds (the most difficult pounds).... too many execuses :)

So for the outlook, hope to reach 130 before my Vegas trip next weekend; hope NOT to gain weight during the trip; set end of year goal to be 125!

Morning Conversation

Dad: Why did you wake up in the middle of the night?
Son: I couldn't sleep. I stayed up all night long.
Dad: Why?
Son: I was thinking the changes of my whole entire life.
Dad: What?
Son: Actually I was thinking why I change my favorite toys. From Thomas, to trains, to transformers, to Bakugan, now Dinasours.
Dad: Oh...

Pressure Cooker Recipe: Healthy Porridge

Simple Recipe:

mung bean 1/2 cup

peanut 1/2 cut

1 fistful of rice

Add water to 8 cups

Use "High Pressure" for 30 minutes, natually release pressure after program finishes.

Add brown sugar for sweet taste -- I used 4 teaspoons for whole pot

Steamed Lobak (Radish) Kuih

This radish cake (lobak kuih) is one of they yummy dim sum I always miss...

Finally I learnt how to make it myself. And it is indeed very easy.

Ingredients：
1. White radish 1 (1.5 - 2 lbs, shredded)
2. Dried mushroom 5, soaked, and chopped into fine cubes
3. Bacon 2, cut into small stripes
4. Rice flour half bag
5. Corn starch 2 tablespoons
6. White pepper powder 1/2 teaspoon
7. Salt 1 teaspoon
8. Suger 1 teaspoon

Simple process:
a. Heat wok with oil and saute #2, #3
b. Add 1 and boil to transparent, add #6,7,8 for taste
c. Mix #4, #5 with 400ml water, stir until consistent and form a batter
d. Pour the batter in the radish mixed, keep stirring till the batter become sticky and started to leave the pan. switch off the fire
e. Now in a container, brush a thin layer of oil, pour in all the batter, and use a wrapping film cover the top, and use palm slowly press down the paste till it is smooth on the top.
f. Steam it for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

once done, cool it, slice it, saute it until like below:

Weight Loss Diary #29: Before & Now, After coming soon

Same size 8 skirt.

144 lbs:

132 lbs:12 lbs to go...

下决心减肥算起, 刚开始的时候觉得诱惑特别大, 好在刚开始嘛, 总是雄心壮志的, 挺过来了. 渐渐的开始初见成效, 尝到了抵抗住诱惑的好处; 加上对"减肥理论"的进一步了解, 无非就是"Calories In, Calories Out", 对食物的卡量和运动的耗量有了个概念, 选择上也理智了不少. 比如一碗方便面450大卡, 我锻炼要40分钟才能耗这450卡, 潜意识上就不想吃了, 觉得不值得. 慢慢的, 就成了习惯了. 有人说减肥不在减重, 在于转变到健康的生活方式. 我觉得很有道理也很正确.

我不怎么吃西餐的东西. 在中餐上, 其实还是基本上什么都吃, 包括往往是用五花肉做的红烧肉, 猪脚, 各种肉类(猪肉, 牛肉, 鸡肉, 等等), 鱼虾蟹各种海鲜, 鸡蛋什么的, 通通都吃. 和减肥前不一样的是, 份量上有节制多了. 基本上警惕自己不要吃到过饱, 把肚子撑着. 但是每天的三顿主餐千万不能skip(包括早餐), 因为如果skip了, 往往会觉得更饿而吃的更多(这点上我是尝到过教训的). 还有的是晚上8点之后不再进食.

烹饪上也有意识的往健康改变. 比如白糖的用量比以前大大的减少, 能用brown sugar代替的就不用白糖; 要用butter的就用Margarine (大家可知道1 teaspoon butter就400卡?). 所以一般情况下对自己做的吃得放心很多.

还有一个挑战就是饭局. 有时是工作上的饭局, 有时是一家子出门, 在外就餐在所难免. 尤其公司的免费餐更难以拒绝(customer events的就更更诱人了, 咔). 我给自己定的规矩就是不要对自己太苛刻, 偶尔一次放纵没关系. 当然放纵也得是清醒的放纵了, 有几种东西我是怎么样也觉得不值得塞进肚子的(至少在达到目标之前): soda; ice cream; deserts (cake, cookie... I can make much healthier, and yummy deserts myself); BBQ food (bbq sauce 是很坏的, 200卡/teaspoon)...

就先说这么多, 不是专家, 也不算经验之谈, 仅是个人一点点体会.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

It was a rainy day. We still went out to some holiday grocery -- Chinese traditions are most food/eat oriented. :) I bought a whole fresh duck; fish; veggies, dried mushroom and more. The all get onto the dinner table today! Duck is the yummiest.

Everyday Favorite: Pinky Blockies

6 glass beads produce this lovely cute earings. (click pic can see big pic)

Weight Loss Diary 28: oz by oz

Finally this morning weight in was 132.0!!!

It gets harder in several aspects:
a. I am at the last <15 pounds goal now, the closer to the goal, the harder.
b. My son started school, everyday I have to drop him off to school at 8:20. So my morning workout is deprived, sadly.
c. Being busier at work, a lot of things to handle toward end of the year. Just busy, time to workout at work is not guaranteed.
d. Winter is coming, it gets dark early, after dinner walk is no longer appealing.
e. Evening time now all goes to kids as they are learning!

So, happy enough for the progress in oz. Can't ask for more. Keep doing my best, goal is in sight!