Good morning, green thing

Some time ago, I started reading about green smoothies. Green smoothies are pretty popular among the raw food community, who blend smoothies several times a day. I did also entertain the idea of going raw,  butI felt it was too big a commitment for me. I wasn't (and, maybe, won't be) ready. My diet may be quite heavily plant-based, but I also love meat and seafood on those not-so-often occasions when I indulge!

Anyway, I've been making green smoothies for quite a while, so I thought I'd pen this down. If anything, I thought it'd be a great way get some of my necessary daily servings of plants. Basically, all you need to do is blend raw vegetables with fruit. Easy! What you see below is a shot of the things that go into my typical green smoothie. Some greens, a banana usually (make the smoothie, um, smoother than fruits like apples), two pieces of dates and water. If I go for apples, I usually add a bit of honey to the mix. Just a tiny amount, less than half a teaspoon.

I go for organic vegetables for my smoothies, and non-organic vegetables for cooking since they are still pretty expensive. No particular reason, just that I feel better about it. A $2.30 pack of organic vegetables is usually enough for 5 smoothies, so that's fine by me.

If you want a lift to your green smoothie, try adding in cacao powder sometimes! Recently, I bought a pack of organic raw cacao powder, and it makes my smoothies a lot more yummy. It feels almost decadent.

Something I learned along the way is that it's important to rotate your vegetables. Avoid using the same type of vegetables longer than a week to be on the safe side. That's because certain vegetables contain high amounts of oxalates, which can lead to calcium oxalate crystals in the body. Yup, kidney stones. I avoid spinach in particularly because it's got one of the highest oxalate content. Cooked or otherwise, spinach is not something you should eat too often. Hmm, did Popeye have kidney stones? I wonder.

Okay, I've also found out that kailan (aka Chinese broccoli) is high in oxalates too, so it's not recommended either. So go for bok choy and chye sim. Another thing that some people caution about is to avoid too much contact of your green smoothies with the teeth. I prefer to be on the side of caution, so I drink up with a straw.

Green smoothies are recommended on an empty stomach, so I take it first them in the morning. I love them! They are great wake-me-up food in the morning as I get started on my work. And, really, they taste better than you'd think. Try to get a 40:60 ratio for vegetables and fruit, and you won't go wrong.

Here's to good health!

Got your own green smoothie recipes? Share them here. 

Channel your inner Thoreau

I find the whole idea of staying for a year or two in a very quiet place by the lake and close to a mountain utterly appealing and romantic. I would love to have a little patch of vegetable garden too, you know, just to potter around and try growing my own food. This thought (the vegetable garden is new, added into the picture two years ago) has always been there since my teenage years.

But now, though, I think it's all more attractive. It's probably got to do with the fact that I'm surrounded by construction. Because the funny thing is even though I work from home now, I'm exposed to a lot of noise during the day. I'm hearing a cacophony of construction piling thumping, trucks going by, cranes turning slowly and some kind of concrete cutting or soldering on a large scale on an. almost. daily. basis. For the record, this continues on Saturdays too. My poor ears get only one day off each week.

Anyway, I came across freecabinporn (excuse the name), and there are some really nice rustic cabins out there! So quaint and pretty! I'm still undecided if I want to have Internet connection though if I were to stay in one. Modern-day inner conflicts. Tsk.

Compiled some of my favourites here, with pictures blown up bigger for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! 

All images from freecabinporn

P/S: I tried reading Walden by Thoreau a couple of times. Alas, I wasn't able to finish it.

No more injuries, please

When the clock struck midnight at the beginning of this year, I christened this year the year of fitness and exercise. I've always admired those who could go the distance with some form of exercise. Of course, there's a much less glamorous reason too. You know what they said about the negative correlation between age and metabolism? It's all true.

So I picked up Bikram yoga and running. But running doesn't come easily to me. Little did I know that by this time of the year, I would more likely have to call it the year of injuries. The road to fitness has been paved with one injury after another, most of it to do with my legs and feet. Oh, here's another one. I could also call this the year of false starts.

It was made worse when I made the extremely wise decision (note the sarcasm) to up my game last month, going for a run every day. Only to land myself the wonderful affliction called shin splints. And, my god, they hurt! At one time, I couldn't even lift each foot off the ground high enough to make it into a jog.

Plenty of late-night research, two weeks of rest, half an hour at the shoe store and a minute on the treadmill to check my running gait later, I decided to give it another go a few days back. It was a tentative start and I only clocked a measly distance of 2 kilometres, but it felt good after that. And so I went for another run yesterday, this time stretching it a little to 2.2 kilometres. And the shin splints are back.

Oh boy. So hello trusty ice pack. What's next now?

Foodie, I am

I would say there are few better ways to start a blog than with food. So hello there. Welcome to ink and glasses. It's my little blog, where I go to write after, yes, hours of writing for work every single weekday and then some. Call me crazy, but ummm yeah. 

What you see below are pictures of real, good food perfect for the weekend. Chilli crabs and cereal prawns. Yummy flavours that I think Jamie Oliver would approve – plus, they look mighty photogenic, don't they? 

I decided to start this blog as a place to share my thoughts and the things I love: food, design, green living, healthy choices (okay, these two above are not exactly healthy), photography – not in that particular order. If you love these things too, come drop by from time to time.