Day 57 - The Sweet Eggscape

What a great mini-break! Today I was back at the office and have a four day week to lift my spirits. If that isn’t good news enough, here in HK we have two more 4 day weeks to look forward to thanks to an abundance of holidays this year. That’s right people – 3 weeks of back-to-back 4 day work weeks. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the foresight to plan any holidays…so I’ll be spending them ALL in Hong Kong. Sadly, the first thing that comes to mind is “great, now I can work out when I want!!”. The biggest treat it seems I can give myself these days is the luxury of not getting up at 6 to do my exercises….

But anyway back to the Easter weekend! So much to report but I’ll stick to the good stuff. Most importantly, it was the hallowed INDULGENCE! [cue chorus of angels and heavenly light]. This Easter I decided to forego all chocolate (btw, nice timing on the indulgence Patrick. I am sure there were a few happy PCP bunnies out there this year) and roll it up into one hold-onto-your-tastebuds-and-pull-out-the-elastic-waisted-mum-jeans feast!! Gilles and I were a bit divided on this – I was favouring Spanish and he was gunning for surprise surprise – French. Then I figured I might try to play my ‘nostalgic for home cooking’ card as well which led me to bbqs and Japanese food – hmm, both largely PCP compliant – dammit! So in the end we went for French because as Roland rightly observed, that stuff will kill you so what the hell. I will confess this outright – I am pretty sure we blew our caloric quota by about a gazillion and then some. There was champagne, cheese, wagyu beef, a rainbow of heady sauces, a ‘bit’ of foie gras, desserts, digestif…    



Half devoured goat cheese concontion



Choices...choices...



 

Scallop topped with all manner of

decadence in a heart attack sauce 

Let there be - light Champagne!!! [recue chorus of angels...]


you get the picture…OH! and not a single EGG in sight. Ha! Oh my it was worth it even if I am to be condemned to PCP purgatory.The former foodie ghost of meals past has been resurrected from the dead and is back spreading the food love…I have been haunted ever since. I still love food, that hasn’t changed and I doubt it ever will, but now it seems I can appreciate a good meal every once in a while and not feel guilty about it because the regular exercise routine is there to fall back on. The question is whether I can make things stay this way after PCP. What was interesting is that I didn’t crave more, I was abundantly satisfied with what we had (albeit excessive) and could happily return to my chicken/fish & veggies for everyday which makes the sense of indulgence that much better.

On Sunday night, I took my friend for her last authentic HK experience before leaving - Sunny Paradise Spa & Sauna. It sounds a lot more suspect than it actually is folks. I figured she needed an experience she wouldn’t forget and I needed a massage to ease my PCP bruised and broken body. This place needs to be seen to be understood but in essence it gives the term ‘foot massage” new meaning…an army of ancient aunties hang from bars on the ceiling and dance nimbly around on your you back, cracking your spine with their toes and working out all those crippling knots.  It’s terrifying as all hell at first but completely rejuvenating. Now I feel like I can face another 7 days of PCP battering.

The weather has been amazing these last few days in HK. I had my fingers crossed it would hold out for the weekend and luckily it did. Yesterday a couple of friends and I decided to hike to High Junk Peak and then reward ourselves with a seafood meal at Po Toi O, a little fishing village at the end of the trail. Why it is called High Junk Peak I have no idea most probably because you need to be in an altered state to be crazy enough to clamber up this mountain. I suppose all the endorphins I am getting from PCP puts me squarely in that category now and so I dragged two unsuspecting companions along for the ride. It was the most perfect day for a hike but unforgivably boiling….we were completely hammered by the sun and now I have a lovely patchwork tan complete with backpack strap marks to prove it. Nevertheless I did notice how much fitter I am…the hike wasn’t easy but it was definitely easier. Usually I am the straggler at the back but somehow I seem to have developed mountain goat DNA and was the annoying perky person at the front yelling out ‘good job!’, 'you’re almost there’, 'you can do it!’ etc. These remarks were greeted with a stoney glare by one of my friends while the other flipped me the bird despite being doubled over in a stitch which I thought was pretty impressive but also fair enough – I would have done exactly the same to myself. My enthusiasm did fade a few hours in and by the time we finished the hike, I was back to my crabby self crying out for a shower and a diet coke. 

Looking back on our trail

At the summit!

We climbed that crazy hill!

It was really a great day out though and our best prize of all was the amazing seafood feast at the end of it all (and a taxi back to HK island…). Good job – woo!!

Picking out our fresh seafood lunch.

I realise I haven’t reported that much on the exercises….I swear I’m not trying to deflect – I’m still doing them and suffering. Today's leg sets were particularly grueling (Patrick you're a maniac!). I see my diet has barely changed this week. Gilles is back on proper food in the evening which actually doesn’t make me as jealous as I thought it would. I am strangely enjoying the light feeling of not having a full meal in my belly at night but I am also compensating by watching a lot of Asian Food Channel…

Week 8 photos are now up!