Spring Salad

Spring time. Barbecue time. Spring Salad time.

Well, actually, it is also a Summer Salad, depending on the ingredients :D

The main ingredients:

2 cups of macaroni noodles
1 tablespoon mayonaise
3/4 cup creme fraiche or all purpose cream (you may use joghurt, too)
salt and pepper to taste
one piece apple, cubed
1 cup pineapple, cubed
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, cubed
1/2 cup carrots, cubed
3/4 cup Gouda cheese, cubed

To prepare:

1. Cook the macaroni as instructed.
2. Put all the ingredients on a big bowl and toss.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Put in the ref to cool. Serve cold.

This is a refreshing side dish for a barbecue feast.

Now, for a Summer Salad; substitute or add more 'summery' fruits and nuts, etc - such as strawberry, almond, cucumber, cherries, etc. And sometimes I add some greens, too.
Guten appetit!

Happy Birthday, Ingrid!

Ingrid is my sister in law, who declared as early as now that would not celebrate her birthday next year.

Simply because she cant or wont or wants to ignore the rounded number on her age. Let's see if she would change her mind :)

As for today, we're invited for a barbecue party! Who doesnt love barbecue parties? And yes, Ingrid is celebrating.

Now MC is too excited because she's been asking the papa when she could finally stay up for a long, long time celebrating a birthday. Papa said soon. And then she learned today is her tante's birthday and so she also declared:

'Today we would celebrate until the wee hours of the morning.'

Well, we didnt celebrate until the wee hours of the morning; but we did stayed a little late. And as usual, the food was great, the company even better.

Happy Birthday, Ingrid.

I Gained

And I am still gaining! Arrrgghhhh...

In our 5-week vacation last Feb-Mar; I said it is okay. After all, I want to enjoy the vacation; and that would include the food and the rest. But I think I enjoyed eating and rested too much esp here and here. Too much that I didnt know I was gaining so fast.

It was only when I tried on my smallest bikini during the last week of that vacation that I realized, ooopsssss... what happened to me? Either the bikini shrunk or I gained :D Accepting the later, I decided not to look in the mirror again. And I decided to put the bikini away.

And off I went to enjoy the last days of my vacation -- with more food and more rest! To be frank with you, this is the only vacation where I didnt get my fill of cheesecakes! I love cheesecakes. But it was because I susbtituted those yummy cakes for the Krispy Kreme doughnuts. You see, been hearing a lot about this sweets and I wanted to indulge as we dont have this doughnuts in Germany.

So who am I to complain now? I am not complaining, I am getting ready to tell you what I am doing about this and what I plan to do about it; and here's my fitness program:

1. skipping rope for 100 times per day
2. 30 mins in the stationary bike, two times a week
3. walking, walking, walking
4. 30 mins gymnastics ball combined with weights one time per week

and I am planning to go jogging at least two times a week. I've actually started yesterday, yohoo!

Now dont ask me about my diet :)