Quick update

No I haven't given up anything: I am still drawing (and now painting too!), reading, cooking, home decorating, exercising, learning french (among many other things) and wanting to write my blog.

But from the extended list you understand it's really hard for me to find time to sit down and write, especially when I (still) have a full time job :-P

So last week, as part of my routine, I got myself some white flowers. Yes always white. Whatever they are, they have to be white.

Peruvian lily is always my favourite. But they are from Amsterdam and we do not always have them in Hong Kong. It happened I bumped into something as lovely as this one. I have been calling it

*My secret fountain of grace, elegance and inspiration*

I am not exaggerating. 

Totally inspired by this beautiful *secret fountain of grace, elegance and inspiration*, I made 5 drawings at home. I cannot be more grateful for how they stayed exactly the same as the photo for nearly 2 WEEKS! My dear, I really can't ask for more.

So here are my works, in chronological order of the time I made them. :)

I promised myself I will write more often *ahem*

Proust and the Proust questionnaire

Even my dearest friend who studied literature thinks Proust's text can be quite painful to swallow, it might be hard to imagine someone who was trained to be an engineer loves Proust. Yes I do. But his work is not meant to be swallowed. It has to be chewed, carefully, thoughtfully, until it resonates with your mind, perfectly aligns with your feelings, and you will understand why he is one of the most sophisticated writers in human history.

Still in his teens, his friend asked him to answer a series of questions about life, feelings and aspirations. These questions were very difficult to answer even for adults. But our dear Proust, not surprisingly, nailed it. If you are interested to know Proust's answers, read here. Since he was so famous, the questionnaire was then named after him.

Here is my take. I had fun thinking through each of these questions. I strongly recommend you to try them too! Enjoy! :)


1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I don't think perfect happiness really exists. But the illusion of perfect happiness can exist retrospectively in a form of consciously or unconsciously manipulated memory. And people are happy only when they have the desire to be happy.

2. What is your most marked characteristic?

Contradiction: Simple and complicated. Artsy and scientific. Passionate and cold. Timid and adventurous. Everything comes in pairs.

3. What is your greatest fear?

Not being loved.

4. Which historical figure do you most identify with?

I can only think of Yves Saint Laurent.

5. Which living person do you most admire?

I thought there would be many. But in the end I can only think of my mom.

6. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I can't force myself to do the things I don't like or stop doing the things I like.

7. What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Dishonesty.

8. What is your greatest extravagance?

To have an unlimited amount of time to do only the things I love.

9. What is your current state of mind?

Slightly upset because Q8 seems to be unachievable.

10. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Courage. I consider it a necessity instead of a virtue.

11. On what occasion do you lie?

Either to someone so important that I can't afford to upset, but not important enough to sacrifice my happiness. Or to others who are too unimportant to feel guilty.

12. What do you most dislike about your appearance?

It depends. Sometimes nothing. Sometimes everything.

13.  Which living person do you most despise?

Those who pretend they like you more than they really do, to get the attention more than they really deserve.

14. What is the quality you most like in a man?

Elegance.

15. What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Elegance, too.

16. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

"I don't care!"

17. What or who is your greatest love of your life?

Myself and this is very sad.

18. Which talent would you most like to have?

To love everything I think I love truly, deeply, madly.

19. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

To live my childhood again with my current mentality.

20. What do you consider as your greatest achievement?

I make a few people happy simply because I exist.

21. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

Myself as a man but with the memory of being a woman.

22. Where would you like to live?

Paris. Anywhere with someone loves me I love.

23. What is your most treasured possession?

My boundless curiosity.

24. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Living under the fear of a miserable future.
Wake up from a dream where you see the one you love who is lost forever in real life.

25. What is your favourite occupation?

To lose track of time in art of all forms. Writings, paintings, music, nature, love.

26. What do you most value in your friends?

Communication through the brain to share the thoughts and feelings. Not through non-sense or emoji.

27. Who are your favourite writers?

Oscar Wilde. Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, Milan Kundera. And the painters who put their creative mind into words, most notably Vincent Van Gogh.

28. Who is your hero of fiction.

If life is considered a work of fiction, then Yves Saint Laurent.

29. Who is your favourite artist?

Renaissance artists: Michelangelo, Raphael. Portrait painters: Velasquez, Rembrandt. Tortured masters: Goya, Van Gogh

30. Who is your favourite musician?

Chopin.

31. Who are your heroes in real life?

My future husband.

32. What is it that you most dislike?

Losing control of my time for someone/something that doesn't worth my time.

33. What is your greatest regret?

I have lost the feeling of being a child as I grow up.

34. How would you like to die?

Right after my own funeral. So that I know how I would be remembered.

35. What is your motto?

"Life is too important to be taken seriously"  - Oscar Wilde

A 50 years snapshot of Yves Saint Laurent

I watched Saint Laurent the movie this weekend with a dear friend of mine. If you're interested and want to watch it as well, make sure you pick someone that is equally interested and shares the same value in life with you. The couple right next to us, fell sound asleep 5 mins into the movie and wasted 3 hours of their lives, literally.

Don't get me wrong it was not a boring movie at all. And I love it more than any movie I've watched in 2014, including the very popular Interstellar (tho I love it very much too). The movie, as the name suggested, was all about Yves Saint Laurent. And I am not going to tell you anything more about it...puahaha.

Instead, my movie review will be done in a form of drawing. This is Yves Saint Laurent in his twenties and seventies.

A genius's 50 years. How precious.
What had changed, what stayed the same?

The hourglass of Dali

After my Duchamp sketch below, I immediately made another Dali Sketch. The earlier drawings of Dali was actually the VERY FIRST portrait I drew in my entire life. And it's now quite embarrassing to look at... (See Dali [1] and Dali [2], although Dali 2 was more a cartoon than a drawing.)

So I started searching for photos of Dali again. The reason why I am so obsessed with him is that there are a lot of interesting photos available, from being young and handsome, to becoming more mature (with his mustache growing ever longer). 

My friends (the very few who bother to know who Dali is)
disagreed that he was handsome. Now look at this.

And This.

(It could possibly make a good Calvin Klein Commercial)

And he got crazier....

.....crazier

.....and yet, crazier....

As I keep searching, I found some rare photos of Dali during his last years. They touched my heart, so deeply that I couldn't help but made another sketch of Dali after midnight...

If you think of Dali, you think of his signature mustache and his huge eyes, full of life, full of energy, full of confidence. It made him a very unique person, very Dali. However the Dali here looked almost vulnerable. He was probably in his seventies. And the intense power in his eyes, that once made him the most fascinating person to look at, has left him.

However rich, however beautiful, however invincible you are,

you will have to face the eventual decline of life. 

Time is cruel, and it's just as cruel to me as to you.

Everybody is equally helpless.

Dali's most famous painting, "The persistence of memory" was about time. If it's the first time you look at this painting, I resist the urge to tell you the academic interpretations of his work. Surrealism is to be felt, not to be explained anyways.

Salvador Dali, 1931
The persistence of memory, oil on canvas

This is probably one of the last pictures of Dali I can find online. His mustache now grew all white. His fierce stare was nowhere to be seen. Dali , for the first time, looked calm and relaxed in a photo.

To balance out the unusual seriousness of this post, I decided to make a cartoon of this picture. XD

Everybody will eventually be memories of the others, 

but every breath you take is a miracle of yourself.

So make it count.

More delicious Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Guilt-Free Dishes!!

Besides reading extensively, I have also been cooking too (when I was not dancing in my studio or twisting my spine in the yoga classes : P)

Here is a glimpse of what I have been cooking these 2 weeks. I don't have time to put together the recipes yet. Let me know if you're interested in any of these below, I will post the recipes as soon as I can. :)

There are 3 golden rules in whatever things that I cook:
1) There must be no sugar, sweetener, syrups added. All the sweetness comes naturally from fruits.
2) There must be no refined carbs (bread, pasta, noodles alike), and gluten. To fill my stomach I eat potatoes, sweet potatoes, quinoa and sometimes, brown rice.
3) There must be no artificial flavoring. I use only garlic cloves, onion, black pepper, chili flakes, herbs to add natural flavor.

Stay healthy (and hungry) my friends

XOXO

Sugar-Free Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Pie

Healthy Full Breakfast  

Gluten-Free Salmon Potato Pizza

Easy Cheesy Salmon lunchbox 

Pomegranate - another superfood that you should include in your diet

Oatmeal with apple, pomegranate, blueberry, yogurt and cashew

I have modified my last fruity oatmeal recipe by adding one more magic ingredient: Pomegranate seeds. And I used red instead of green apple this time, for the sweetness (and colour lol). Pomegranate is a very healthy fruit. If you want to know more, read until the end of the post. Otherwise just remember pomegranate is good for you.

With blueberry and pomegranate seeds in a bowl, it has to be the most anti-oxidizing breakfast EVER.

How to deal with a pomegranate

If you search the internet a lot of "tips" will tell you to cut a pomegranate in half to start with. NEVER! And don't even think of digging a spoon into the fruit, unless you have someone else to clean the kitchen (and your clothes) for you. Pomegranate seeds are very juicy, and the juice is intensely red. I can guarantee, any attempt to cut through a pomegranate will result in something like a murder scene.

For me I will score the skin of the fruit horizontally 8 times, peel the skin as carefully as I can, and take the exposed seeds out one by one. I have very steady hands and I find it quite fun to do so, although it took me around 10 mins to deseed the whole fruit. It's not at all difficult, but just be patient and gentle.

There are websites teaching you how to open a pomegranate in 10 sec, and it often involves "gently pry open" the fruit. Hmmm...to be honest I don't think this is technically possible. Prying open a pomegranate has to be violent. Some suggests you can submerge the fruit in water to make it easier. I haven't tried it before but I guess it makes sense. I will try next time and let you know if it works. :)

A perfect job done. Yes, I know : P

Why pomegranate is good for you

Pomegranate is tremendously anti-oxidizing, beating even blueberry and green tea. Punicalagin is a substance that can only be found in pomegranate. Research suggests it can help lower blood pressure, protect blood vessels, prevent heart diseases, fight cancers, and it is extremely good for our skin. There are skincare products that claimed to contain pomegranate extract. But I guess the effectiveness do not even come close to consuming the fruit directly.

Beyond the fruit

Interestingly, pomegranate was featured in a lot of famous paintings in history, not only because it is beautiful, but also its unique symbolic meanings.

Source: Wikipedia

• If it's a baby boy holding the fruit, he's very likely to be Jesus Christ. Pomegranate represents life, death, and resurrection in Christian symbolism. (shown above is Botticelli's "Madonna of the Pomegranate")

• If pomegranate is associated with a woman in mythological paintings, it represents fertility and marriage. This is borrowed from the story of the Greek Goddess Persephone, the Queen of the underworld. [ Read here ]

• Other fruits commonly seen in paintings with a symbolic meaning include grapes (the sacred blood of Jesus) and Apple (sin)

Next time when you walk into a museum and see a painting of a table of fruits, chances are this is a religious painting with a great deal of hidden messages for viewers to decode. (Below is Caravaggio's painting "Still life with fruits")

Source: Wikipedia

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As a side note, I will be travelling to Paris in the last week of September. I know a lot of friends may be travelling around the same time too. If you happen to be going to Paris or Amsterdam please do let me know. May be we can meet up and enjoy a nice French dinner together ;-)

The Major Panda Event in Hong Kong

It happened a month ago but I just didn't have time to put everything together. When I finally decided to write about my Italy trip and flipping through my iphone photos, I accidentally found them.

The pandas were sooooo cute it's difficult not to share.

If you haven't heard of this event before, read this: 1600 Pandas World Tour

It was an exhibition were you can find 1600 cute paper pandas. So here are the photos. Enjoy :)

They are cute!! Aren't they?

 

 And there were cute panda cartoons on the walls. Perfect for photos :)

 

All about bananas

I love bananas, probably ever since I was a kid. If it is not the most delicious fruit in the world, it has to be the most convenient. You don't need any tools to crack a banana, you don't even need to wash it. Sometimes I am just amazed by God's perfect design. Don't agree? Read the Banana Fallacy.

Brilliant, isn't it?  LOL

I do not totally agree with the last point, though. Yellow alone is not just right, yellow with black spots is.

  Fact #1:   Ripe banana (sort of) helps prevent cancer  

If you don't believe me, read this. Banana produces TNF as it ripens which can trigger apoptosis via the extrinsic pathway, and promote the proliferation of leukocytes. Simply speaking, ripe banana contains a substance that is essential to get rid of unwanted cells in the body, which can be cancer cells. But is the amount significant enough to prevent cancer? very likely not. However, consider you are having one ripe banana a day, together with other anti-oxidizing super-foods and a healthy lifestyle, it may make a difference in the long run.  

  Fact #2:   Banana quenches thirst  

No, it is not a joke. I am sure you have experienced the thirst after salty meals before, and no matter how much water you drink, it doesn't help. This is because our body depends on an accurate balance of sodium and potassium to function properly (Wonder why? Read this). Even the smallest increase in the concentration of plasma sodium triggers signal to the brain for us to feel thirst, which intends to bring in more free water to the body. Ideally we should take in just as much sodium as potassium in our diet. However, modern diets often contain waaaaay more sodium (from salt) than potassium. To maintain the balance, we should eat more fruits as a natural source of potassium. A medium-sized banana alone contains more than 400 mg of potassium, doubles that of orange and apple.

  Fact #3:   Banana makes you happy  

Banana is known to help combat depression. It contains tryptophan something that can be converted into serotonin and melatonin, both neuro-transmitters something else that regulate(s) sleep and happy mood.

  Fact #4:   Banana does not make you fat  

Many people do not eat banana because they think it will make them fat. No it will not! because

1) it's filling, so you don't want to snack that often

2) there is no fat in bananas

3) there is only around 100 kcal in a medium sized banana

4) it contains both "simple" and "complex" sugar that will be broken down and released into the blood stream steadily. It's also very high in fibre and is often considered as a low GI food (Read this). If you don't bother to read about GI, just remember it's lower the better

  So...What to do with bananas?  

The bananas you get in supermarkets are usually green. To make it ripen faster I usually leave bananas with apples in the same bag. I love putting bananas in my morning smoothies, for the sweetness and the creamy texture. 

For me I don't have a problem finishing one banana at a time. But in case you have a tiny appetite, this can be your life-saver... 

* NANA SAVER *

Despite its usefulness, I am giving this product 2 thumbs up....lol

Awesome Saturday under HKD 150

I am going to share with you one of my favorite Saturday routine. If you enjoy reading, healthy meals and scenic walks as much as I do, you will definitely love Discovery Bay. It's totally affordable too!

5 things that I enjoy in Discovery Bay

#1 The Ferry

I know, the ferry is expensive (HKD 40). But it's definitely one of the most comfortable ferry rides in Hong Kong. It's quiet, clean, spacious with free wifi. And I loooove to read on the ferry. Oftentimes the 30 mins feels like a second when I get myself so absorbed in the book.

#2 The Animals

I think there are almost as many dogs in Discovery Bay as humans. From cute furry balls to giant bulldogs, you can find them everywhere. More importantly, the owners are usually very friendly and wouldn't mind you playing with their pets. 

#3 The Food

Life Cafe is my all time favorite restaurant in the universe. I go there at least once a week, either the one in Central or this one in Discovery Bay. They serve healthy, organic, vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free, yeast-free food that tastes like heaven. The place is relaxed and cozy, you can easily spend an hour or two here reading your favorite book.

Below is my lunch today: small mixed salad and sugar-free chocolate truffle. Yum yum yum.

#4 The Beach

I guess I don't have to say much about this one. The picture is self-explanatory.

#5 The Inspiration

The place is so beautiful you can take snapshots that look like postcards everywhere. Quoting Justin Kleon, the author of "Steal like an artist", here is the place where you can steal from the nature. 

(Book review of "Steal like an artist" is underway. I have recently become a fan of Austin Kleon, by the way :-P)

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And here is a tip for you: 

If you spend more than HKD 100 in Discovery Bay you can have a free ferry ticket that takes you back to Central. But you have to make sure you are seated at the restaurant after 12 p.m. 

In my opinion the best way to do this is to order a small mixed salad at Life Cafe for HKD 60, and a fresh pressed juice or coffee for HKD 35 plus 10% service charge, total HKD 104.5. Adding the HKD 40 ferry fare to Discovery Bay, you only need HKD 144.5 for a perfect weekend afternoon :-)