Chocolate to sore throat

Yesterday afternoon I had the absolute craving for "kinder Schokolade". Normally I don't give in to this craving since I can't stop after one bar, I always eat all eight of them. (Just thinking of it makes me sick now.)

Well, yesterday afternoon I bought and ate it. Which resulted in a asthma attack!! Who would've guessed that I'm allergic to "kinder Schokolade"?!!!! In any case I went home and as soon as I got there I took my asthma spray. HUGE mistake. Why? Well, because right after my nap I had a sore throat and started to cough. This cough went on the whole evening and when it was time to get to sleep the cough subsided and gave way to my throat hurting when I swallow. This kept me awake half of the night. At 3 AM I was fed up and took an Aspirin. Then I could finally sleep.

As you can guess I feel like crap today. My throat is still sore, swallowing still hurts, I just took another Aspirin and I'm freezing. And unfortunately I can't stay in bed today. This evening is an event at the Business School in Berlin where I want to take that masters class and I booked my traintickets yesterday evening. And taking off tomorrow is also not really an option since we'll write a test. Damn!

Well I'll treat myself to a hot chocolate from Starbucks in the breakfast break. Maybe even a Double Chocolate Muffin or not, because my skin is really good at the moment. Cereals are bad for me. Though not as bad as "kinder Schokolade"!!

Oh gawd, I just want to crawl into my bed.

But I KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Weight gain and "Matter of Trust" fighting the oil

Dang! 700 grams more than last week. I shouldn't have eaten the cereals last week.

Well, I won't eat cereals this week for sure.

A more serious topic:
Through BBC News I found out about this public charity "Matter of Trust", fighting the oil in the mexican gulf in their very own way, making hair booms.

(http://matteroftrust.org/programs/hairmatsPhotos.html)

These guys are amazing to me.

(http://matteroftrust.org/)

If I had a hair salon, I would send the hair over to them. Maybe you can ask your local hair or dog dresser to help this way?! Or collect the hair (Charity cut in a local park or on main street?!) and send it over to Matter of Trust. I think I have a few dollars left from my trip to Hawaii. I'll check as soon as I get home and send them via air mail to help them buy the needed mesh. If I don't have some left I'll contact them to wire some money to their account. So even if you ar bald, there is a way you can help them, too.

Keep moving forward!

Taste Bud Adventures - Week 3 - Mini Tomato & Mozzi Salad

Good evening.

Welcome to our weekly Taste Bud Adventures. Todays recipe "Mini Tomato and Mozzi Salad".


But before we begin: the obligatory Sunday bike ride review.

Chris and I met at 10:15 at her place and oh wonder: she was already out and ready! So we decided to drive around the Cospudener Lake again. This time we had our cameras with us and we stopped every now and the then to take pictures. I will post mine throughout the week. The weather was lovely, sunshine but cool enough to not overheat. Summing it up, I was happy to be out there with her. It's always hard to get up in the first place, but as soon as I hit the road I'm glad that I left my bed.
Here are todays stats:
distance: approx 20 k
time: 2:05 hrs (including several photo stops)
in zone: 1:07 hrs
HR: 123 bpm

One thing I'll do differently next Sunday is: I'll make my bed before I leave the house! It's a huge difference if you come home to an uncluttered room or not. Today I came back to a cluttered room and it drained me off all the good energy. Not a feeling I want to experience again.

TASTE BUD ADVENTURES - MINI TOMATO AND MOZZI SALAD

Ingredients:
Cherry Tomatoes
Mini Mozzarella Balls
Olive oil (extra virgin)
Fresh herb for example chive
Spices

Kitchen stuff:
Cutting board
knife to cut the tomatoes
oven-safe portion bowl
oven-mitts
Spoon
Oven

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven if you want to eat warm with molten mozzarella. (180° C = 356° F)
2. Wash the tomatoes (take however many you think you need, hungry you are and depending on the size of your bowl)
3. Give a little bit of the oil into the bowl (max. 1 tablespoon) and swirl it around so that the inside of the bowl is oiled.
4. Cut the tomatoes into small quarters or smaller, depending on the tomato size, cut the mozzarella too.
5. Now "layer" the ingredients. First some tomato quarters, then some mozzarella, then add spices (freshly grinded pepper, salt, spice mix, chives). Repeat until bowl is full or you run out of tomatoes / mozzarella.
6. Put the bowl into the preheated oven for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on your oven and how molten you want the mozzarella). Be careful and use the oven mitts!
7. Take it out, using your oven mitts, when the cheese is molten and put it on a heatsafe surface.

Bon Apetit!
(Careful it's hot!)

You can also eat this as a cold salad.

I hope all of your races were successes and your training went well too(Marits did!). If you have time have a look at Tri Diesels wonderful Mothers Day post. I used this weekend to clean and get rid of old stuff. And I thought about how to write my application letter for my super job. I'll be writing and sending it out before Wednesday.

Have a good start in the new week. In Germany it is fortunately a short one. Thursday is public holiday.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Update

I'm really into A*Teens "Bouncing off the ceiling (Upside Down)" this week. I saw a Star Trek Kirk/McCoy Video with it on youtube and I couldn't get it out of my head. So I bought it at iTunes yesterday evening and since then it's only this song I hear. Talking about singlemindedness. ts, ts, ts.

On the job front two things:
1. I still haven't applied for the super job/Master class. The reason: minor but time consuming technical issues with my new MacBook Pro. The data migration didn't work the way I liked it, so I had to copy and paste. Before I could attempt the data migration I had to get a firewire adapter, because "airport" at my old iBook was all "Nonononono, I don't want toooo." (Imagine a pouting technical device!) So I was dragging and dropping and organizing until after midnight.
This evening I'm invited to a friend of mine. K. I'll use this casual meeting to narrow and focus my skill set and strengths with her help. Poor K, she's got no idea what she is in for ;-)
2. Remember that I'm a member of a political party? Well, it has some benefits. Next week is a 1 1/2 day communications workshop on persuasion (In a good way! Never had dispute class(?) and need this desperatly.) for a really, really, really low fee. Just what I needed for the assessment center preparation. Hah. I love my party. (On this note: what's happening in the UK now, is going to be really interesting. A hung parliament, ohh, they're in for HUGE trouble.)

My room is still really neat. Though I will vacuum today after class. Do you have any good ideas how to order a lot of cables in a drawer? The mess in my technology drawer is really getting on my nerves. (Ouuuh, watch out, I'm developing into a neatfreak here ;-)

Yoga and stretching wise I'm getting a bit lazy. I skipped yesterday morning because I was too tired (light insomnia since Sunday, for no apparent reason). And today I was a bit too caught up in updating my financial status to recognize time sneaking around the corner.

The homeopathic screening went really well, I can recommend it wholeheartedly. I've got an appointment for May 21st for the evaluation and start of the treatment. And I'm really excited about it. Obviously almost all of my health issues are due to two problem areas. A scar from a surgery trough my navel and my upper front teeth. And some of my psychological issues could be solved too. Ah, if only my second appointment would be today!!!

Still no clearing for running, but my doc said my leg muscles are strong. (Wonder where he got this idea from?) So on Sunday Chris and I will hit the road with our bikes again.
Except for that this weekend is all about the superjob and getting my other applications out. Today I need to find out how to export and change pics in iPhoto 2009. As soon as I find out, you'll get some pill art in this post.
Here it is:


This lunch break I saw a woman with thighs as "thick" as my upper arms. It looked horrible. Like she walked on twigs instead of legs.

Good luck to Missy, Molly and all others of you for your race days (oh well, training too). I cross fingers and toes for you.

(PS: Don't forget Mothers Day!)

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Have a great goal and the rest will follow

Preparations galore for the most important application for my future as world leader namely the masters study / super job.

I have to get the certificate from my time in the Student Racing Team at my former University scanned. Did you know I was one of the design engineers of undercarriage parts of the Ty 2003/2004 race car?! Yep, I'm a real engineer!

My MacBook Pro arrived this morning. Apple FOREVER! It was delivered 1 week earlier than they first said. Thanks Apple, thanks UPS, thanks chinese manufacturers. I love you all!

My room is still neat (72 hours and counting ;-), even though I'm still tidying it.

I had heartburn yesterday and have bad skin today from the cereals of the last two days. No more cereals. I'm High Potential. High Potentials don't eat bad stuff!

My bank counselor at "Deutsche Bank" asked for my advice concerning a laptop for her daughter (5 th grade). I gave it to her. Naturally I couldn't help myself and promoted Apple, but within her best interest and according to her needs and specifications.

I've brought tons of food today. 7 Mini-meatballs (made by my mom), 2 sliced apples, 1 chocolate pudding (no cereal, but 75% dark chocolate, that's what I call "perfect snack") and 6 radishes.

I shouldn't have talked about my knee yesterday, because it acted up yesterday evening and feels weird right now. Good thing I see my doc this afternoon. Funny thing, the mom of my friend has an appointment right before me. Fluke.

This morning I did my stretching and yoga. Does your neck crackle when you move your head? Mine does. But I don't hear it when I have my iPod on. So for the neck moves I always turn the music off.

Yesterday evening I had a looong talk with a friend of mine and she gave me back my self esteem. (No she hadn't borrowed it! Don't know why it was with her. Hahaha) And since she worked for the company which has the super job / masters study and knows my workstyle and skill set she told me I'm a perfect fit. *happy sigh*

My elle uk horoscope for this month is great. Going after that, I'll get the superjob / masters class. Strike!

Since I'm member of a political party (liberal), I think of working in one of their committee of experts, but first I have to get THE job.

Have you ever been part of a political party or considered it?

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Taking a step back to get forward - Post 150

I'll apply for a special job that is combined with getting a Masters degree.(Since I plan to rule the world, a MSc. would help and the job is great.)

Due to a really nightmarish doctor appointment I strayed from my no cereals rule yesterday.
(Gynecologists I hate them and whoever came up with their test methods should be spanked. I get cramps just thinking about this appointment.)

I've strayed from my no cereal rule today too, due to major stupidity, I didn't pack enough food for class.

My room has been neat for 48 hours now. That's a record. That's all thanks to Colin Cowie. Another week of keeping it this need and the man should be decorated.

My knee feels good and tomorrow I see my doc, so I might start with running again this weekend. ´

The last two days I stretched and did two yoga positions before leaving for class.

Unfortunately I slept like crap in the last 2 nights and that after being awake way longer than I wanted too.

My current weight is 64,2 kg. (At least it was before I ate cereals.)

I feel sick from the bagels. It was a bad decision to eat them. And even worse to forget to bring enough food.

My big scheme is to own 333.333,- € on my banking accounts in 10 years.

Apple is fast, my new MacBook will arrive on Thursday. Wahooo.

Keep moving FORWARD!

But sometimes you have to take a step back to see the way through the bog.

Taste Bud Adventures - Week 2 - Buckwheat Salad

Good evening my lovely readers.

Time for the weekly recipe. In this edition I want you to give you an easy, healthy and fast dish for taking with you to work or class, a buckwheat salad.

But before that come the stats of my wonderful Sunday Morning Training ride, which took us this time to the Cospudener Lake. The weather was perfect for this training ride, cool and cloudy but without rain. Though it seemed like it would start a few times. And it is raining now. In any case we had a fantastic time, I stayed in my zone directly under the red line for a very long stretches, high training effect if you ask me.
Okay the stats:
distance: ca. 15 to 20 k
time: 1:34 hrs
in zone: 1:04 hrs
HR: 129 bpm

Back to this weeks recipe.

Buckwheat Salad

Ingredients:
buckwheat
water
cherry tomatoes
fresh herbs
spices
some Aceto balsamico cremoso or pumpkin seed oil

Needed kitchen stuff:
knife, cutting board, a bowl, a colander, a watertight container to take the salad to work with

Time:
with the soaking two hours or over night
without the soaking 10 to 15 minutes depending on your knife and kitchen skills

(My) Preparations:
In the evening I washed the buckwheat in the colander to get rid of the really fine particles. Then I put it into the bowl and added so much lukewarm water that the buckwheat was covered but didn't float. Test out how much water you need with your bowls and your taste. Due to osmosis a lot of the important minerals wander out into the water, these minerals is what our body needs. You have to keep the water and the minerals! So try to get the right amount of crunchiness of the buckwheat for your taste, without giving your buckwheat swimming lessons.
Now close the bowl off (a plate of the right size does the job) and put it in the fridge until the morning.

In the morning take the bowl out of the fridge on the way to the bathroom, so it can warm up a little bit.

Time for the cutting. Cut the tomatoes in really small cubes, add them to the buckwheat and stir.


Now get the fresh herbs, clean them and chop them.



Add them to the buckwheat and tomatoes, stir again. Season to taste and put it into your container for work. Done.


One word of advice. The fresh herbs really, really, really add taste to the salad over time. So don't season too much, because the taste will develop over the next few hours. And remember to bring your spoon. ;-)

Bon Apetit!

Have a good new week and I hope your weekend was as enlightening as mine.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!