Festive Guilt
February 9th, 2012 - Thursday
Braised pig trotter with fatt choy, New She Lai Ton Restaurant, Ipoh.
Photo taken with the Samsung Galaxy S II.
With the festive celebrations over and done with, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. It has been an especially difficult time for me. I had a hard time resisting all the good food that came with the ocassion. In fact, I worry that I may have over-indulged.
I need to seriously go back to the basics of my dietary requirements of low-everything; low-protein, low-sodium, low-purine, low-phosphorous, and now, low-cholesterol. Anything to preserve whatever renal function left in my kidneys.
Another blood test is due in two weeks. The doctors ordered it to check if Lipitor has any adverse effect on my liver and especially my kidneys. The most serious being rhabdomyolysis. This is the breakdown of muscle tissues that leads to the release of a huge amount of myoglobin into the blood stream and causes kidney failure.
The only side effect that I experienced so far was the first few days after I began taking the medicine. My philtrum and upper lips twitched incessantly. The twitchings stopped a week or so later. The blood tests shall reveal whether I suffered other subclinical effects.
Tags: atorvastatin calcium, black moss, braised pig trotter, Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year Dish, Chinese New Year lunch, Chinese Spring Festival, Crystalline Atovarstatin Calcium, fatt choy, high cholesterol, hoi nin fan, kidney failure, Lipitor, liver function test, liver profile, low-protein diet, myoglobin, New She Lai Ton Restaurant, renal diet, renal function test, renal parenchymal disease, renal profile, rhabdomyolysis, Samsung Galaxy S II
The Royal Bank Of Scotland Ang Pow 2012
January 21st, 2012 - Saturday
The sight of flowers in Spring gives a sense of renewal and hope. That is the theme for the Royal Bank of Scotland’s ang pow for the Year of the Water Dragon. Plum blossoms emblazoned in gold adorn the red packets. Made from thicker paper stock and measuring at 6.50″ x 3.25″, they are also sturdier and larger than regular ang pows. What I like best about these packets is the wide horizontal opening which makes it convenient to insert currency notes. This is certainly one of the better designed ang pows around for this year.
Tags: ang pao, ang pau, ang pow, Chinese New Year, Chinese Spring Festival, hong bao, lai see, red envelope, red packet
HSBC Bank Hong Bao 2012
January 19th, 2012 - Thursday
The theme for HSBC Bank’s hong bao this year is money tree flourishing with gold coins and blooming jade flowers. Chinese lucky knots make up the tree trunk culminating with the cords weaved into a chrysanthemum flower at the base. A propitious Chinese four-character idiom called chengyu wishes that the receiver’s home overflowing with gold and jade, in short, untold riches. The flap of gold flower motif adds an elegant finishing touch to the hong bao.
Tags: ang pao, ang pau, ang pow, Chinese New Year, Chinese Spring Festival, hong bao, red envelope, red packet
