Since selling my compact digital camera several months ago, I’ve been relying on my trusty Sony Ericsson k800i to capture everyday snaps that usually end up as blog posts here. However, most of them never get downloaded (I’m lazy that way) or are forgotten altogether. I’ve just gone through my phone’s memory card and here’s the current batch just sitting there to be blogged about. What I didn’t realise is that a lot of them are about food. What can I say, we do love to eat!

We’re trying to change our diet and introduce more vegetables and cut back on meat. This stir-fry is one of the first experiments in our kitchen and although I like the way the mix of colours go together, it was just so-so in the taste department. I’ve forgotten which recipe this was and it didn’t feature in our dining table again.

My previous blog post was about the incredible canned chorizo from Purefoods. A couple of friends have pointed out since that the canned sausage shouldn’t be eaten on its own and would probably go well with other ingredients in a pancit (noodles) or fried rice recipe. Be that as it may, I still don’t think I’d go for the sausage packed in lard. We’ve discovered this fresh Continental chorizo from the chilled food section of the local grocery and we’ve already used it for a stew and Jambalaya. Delicious, albeit still a bit fatty! Colours in the photo are a bit off but can’t be bothered to edit.

Hubby bought several packs of Graham crackers about a month ago, intending to eat it with ice cream but never got around to it. It reminded me of cheesecakes made by aunts and my mom while I was young so I thought of making one. This is my first attempt at it. I’d like to make a healthier version of the traditional cheesecake so I opted to use yogurt instead of cream cheese. I was also intending to serve it to guests but I wasn’t impressed by it when I tasted a slice so the guests never even found out that we have this in the fridge. A couple of days passed and we were having this regularly for a snack. I guess you can say that it has aged well! The original recipe didn’t have an accompanying photo and a submitted this photo. I believe a photo helps in making other cooks try a recipe, don’t you?

Bananas here are affordable again (after prices went through the roof after a terrible storm) and we always get some when we do our grocery shopping. Trouble is, we always forget about them and we end up with spotty, overriped bananas. I have enjoyed adding them to soy milk to make smoothies (200 ml soy milk plus one banana blended together makes a great smoothie) but I was ready for something new. I also had some french vanilla yogurt left over from making the cheesecake and so searched for both ingredients in Allrecipes.com to see what I could make out of these two ingredients. I found a highly rated muffin recipe and tried it. It was fantastic! I’ve now made this twice in two weeks and here’s the latest batch! Yum…

While baking those muffins last weekend, I noticed that my lone muffin pan is starting to show signs of rust. Thus, I took advantage of Myer’s current stocktake sale and went out to get these. We wanted a silicone pan this time and these pink ones were the cheapest. I don’t care for the colour much but it won’t affect the muffins and hubby and I are the only ones who’ll get to see them in use anyway. I also got some custard cups for another kitchen experiment I am planning to do soon. Hmmm… if you tell my parents I’ve been out shopping for kitchenware and been busily searching for recipes and trying them, I’m quite sure they won’t believe you. I’m not sure I believe it either! Ah, let’s just say it’s a lesson in self-sufficiency.

Now that winter is here, my hands and feet are perpetually cold. Doesn’t matter if I swath them in layers of clothing or socks, it takes awhile for them to heat up and quickly gets cold again. Hubby’s arms and feet are warm enough so I usually press my hands or feet against his to quickly get them warm again. Trouble is, he complains about it saying my hands or feet are too cold. His solution was to get me this wheat pack which is basically just a bag of wheat which can be heated up in the microwave and retains its warmth for about 30 minutes. Now we could both be happily warm and cosy. The downside to this is that the bag naturally smells of wheat when heated up and makes me think of oatmeal and how much of a waste it is that the wheat inside my heat pack isn’t filling up someone else’s belly. On the other hand, hubby reminds me of the water and energy we are saving since we aren’t using a water bag instead.

Then there was the time when I’ve signed us up for publisher Simon & Schuster’s mailing list about a fortnight ago and as a thank-you gift, we each get a free book. We don’t exactly get a choice as to what specific book we would receive but we got to choose the category of book we would be receiving. I chose Mystery and Thriller and got A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish while hubby got Sacred Bones by Michael Brynes for choosing Action and Adventure. I’m not sure if they give out the same books to everyone who chose the same category or if it’s totally random. However, I’m quite happy with the book I got and hubby said that the subject of his book is something he’s interested although not quite sure about its plot. We both intend to read the book we got, the only thing is finding the time to do so.

Lastly, this is the latest photo in my mobile phone - our dinner tonight! We had Zucchini Corn Fritters, which goes well with Ranch Sauce. I’ve made this several times now and although it doesn’t look too pretty, it’s a favourite in our house.

See what I mean when I say that the bulk of my photos are of food?

Due to the popularity of the 2-fruits-and-5-vegetables campaign of the government a couple of years back, we attempted to change our mostly meat diet to a healthier one. That previous attempt lasted all of 2 weeks and we were back to our old habits in no time. Needless to say, our girth continued to increase with no end in sight.

One of the difficulties in our previous attempt of incorporating fruits and vegetables is the lack of variety - there were few recipes that I could make quickly that would feature vegetables. Vegies also meant hard work as there’s all the peeling, washing, slicing and chopping involved. It just took too much time and effort and after a long day at the office, who really needs that?

Then there’s only a few Filipino dishes that I could find that would have vegetables in them and would only use things that are readily available in the groceries here. Another difficulty is hubby’s insistence of avoiding some vegetables (squash/pumpkin, celery, etc) so I would either have to substitute or forgo them altogether.

Another thing is that we have to watch our budget, certain fruits and vegetables are only cheap when they are in season and we can’t afford buying the same kind of produce year-round. Clearly, we have to at least try some fruits and vegetables that are currently in season that we could buy for less.

With those conditions in mind, I embarked on another attempt at changing our eating habits last month. I’d like to lose weight and don’t mind having to strategize to achieve that goal. In addition to exercising daily, I frequented recipe collection sites, bento box blogs, borrowed cookbooks from the library and started this whole project. I started at the Better Health Channel site to see what fruits and vegetables are currently in season and then searched for recipes featuring a certain fruit/vegetable from Allrecipes.com.

After that, it’s a matter of choosing the recipes to try, drawing up the grocery list, buying the ingredients, preparing and cooking and finally, the taste test. I specifically targeted recipes that received good ratings, read the comments to improve the recipe and sometimes tweaked the amounts of the recipe to suit our tastes.

With all this experimentation, we found some great recipes and some not-so-great ones too that we won’t be making again. Among our new favourites are Zucchini Corn Fritters, Chicken Jambalaya, Harvested Chicken Stew, Chicken Claridge Stew and Cream of Broccoli Soup. For Filipino style dishes, we go for new favourites Tuna Lumpia, Chicken Chop Suey, 10-minute stir-fry and basic stir-fries that feature one main vegetable with some minced or diced meat.

We also bought a small but handy food processor to help with the slicing and grating. Unfortunately, it can’t dice things so I still have to do those by hand (slowly I might add, as I sliced a deep cut into one of my fingers about a fortnight ago and don’t want a repeat). I also learned to cheat in some ways in that I could finely chop a vegetable that hubby isn’t keen on and he sometimes might not even notice that it’s there. However, I still have to watch its amount in proportion with the other ingredients or the dish would most likely be deemed not-so-great.

Even if we have a new-found appreciation of vegetables, we’re still lagging behind in our fruit consumption. It has to be a concious effort for both of us to reach for a fruit, peel, wash and eat it. Somehow, it seems like too much work or we sometimes forget about it since we haven’t formed that habit yet. One work-around I’ve tried is using fruits to make muffins or bread. My first attempt wasn’t so successful and we have yet to find a favourite fruit recipe.

A good outcome of this project is that we’re eating healthily, enjoying our food more, discovering new tastes and textures and with rising food prices, save some money on produce that are in season. If you’re wondering, I still haven’t lost a lot of weight (only about a kilo) but hubby has lost 2 kilos without doing anything different than his normal routine!

So, does anyone have some tips on how to creatively incorporate fruits and vegies in everyday life without too much hassle?

There is a restaurant chain called Nando’s here in Australia. They basically specialise in roasted chicken which closely resembles the taste of home’s Lechong Manok. You can even order plain steamed rice in some of their franchises, too. No wonder it seems very popular with Filipinos living here. It was one of our favourite places to eat, too.

However, several days ago, we ate lunch at Nando’s at Melbourne Central. We ordered a quarter chicken meal (with rice and 390ml Diet Coke), a BBQ chicken thigh meal (with rice and 390ml Diet Coke again), and one extra side dish (2 pieces of corn on the cob) for a total of $26.85. As you can see, it is a bit expensive to eat out. And this was a non-fancy restaurant. Anyway, I paid for the meal with my credit card and thought nothing more of it afterwards.

That was, until we got our credit card statement. Supposedly, we were charged $86.85 by Nando’s on the day we ate there. We couldn’t believe it. That’s a $60 difference! (Converted, that’s about 2,300 Pesos!) At the time, I didn’t have the receipt on hand so I couldn’t be one-hundred percent sure how much our meal was but I was very sure it wasn’t over 80 bucks!

I rang up our credit card’s bank to dispute the erroneous charge. I explained the situation to the customer support person over the phone. He told me that he could easily mark the charge as being disputed. It would cost me an additional $10 to do this, he said. Then, the bank will bring the matter up with Nando’s. If Nando’s could prove that the charge was all in order, then I wouldn’t get my $60 back and I would’ve lost $10 more for the attempted dispute. I would end up losing $70 instead of just $60! Of course, if Nando’s agreed that they were in the wrong, then I’d get my $60 back but I would’ve still lost the $10 for the dispute fee.

I wasn’t sure if I had thrown away the original receipt so I was afraid to proceed with the dispute. What if Nando’s said that I signed the credit card docket that had $86.85 on it? There was no way for me to contest that claim. So, I told the bank guy that I’d first look for the receipt and call back when we have it.

Raquel and I looked all over the house desperately hoping that the receipt was just stashed somewhere and not in a rubbish bin somewhere in the city. Luckily, Raquel found the receipt just on top of our coffee table. In fact, there were two receipts. There usually is when you pay by credit card. One is the official receipt that comes out of the cash register and another receipt that comes out of the credit card device (that also prints out a docket for the owner of the credit card to sign on).

The Nando’s receipt said we paid $26.85 for the meal. However, the credit card receipt said that I paid for $86.85! It’s basically a carbon copy of the receipt that I signed. I couldn’t believe that the amount on the cash register wasn’t the same as the amount on the credit card device. I thought those two devices were linked electronically!

Now we know better. Apparently, the cashier had to type in the amount twice and unluckily for us, she typed the amount in the credit card device incorrectly by pressing 8 instead of 2, 86.85 instead of 26.85. With this in mind, Raquel and I decided that disputing this with the bank wouldn’t be such a good idea. Nando’s could always claim that I did sign for the $86.85 charge, and they would be right.

In the end, we might have a better chance of getting our money back if we disputed this with the actual branch of Nando’s at Melbourne Central. Luckily, we work in the city so we could just easily go there during our lunch break.

One day during our lunch break, I went to the Nando’s where we ate. Nearing the place, I tried to muster up some anger so that I could visibly show my great displeasure to the manager while I explained to him our problem. In the end, I’m not that type of guy. I ended up explaining the matter with the manager very calmly.

I fully expected him to immediately refund the difference to my credit card right then and there. Instead, he photocopied my receipts and told me that he would consult their video footage to prove my claim. I couldn’t believe it (for the nth time!). But since I was in a rush to get back to my office, I just asked how long should I wait for a resolution. He told me that he would call me.

I went back to work not at all hopefull for a quick resolution. In fact, I was pretty sure I would have to call back the manager after one week just to follow up on my complaint. My officemates at work couldn’t believe the situation, too. Consult their video? How would that help? Did they take a photo of me so they could make a match? Why didn’t they just refund the money directly back to my credit card? It was the same credit card as on the receipt? One of them even suggested I raise the issue to Nando’s ombudsman (apparently, each company has one).

However, near the end of business hours of the same day, the Nando’s manager called. He told me how very sorry he was for all the inconvenience and told me that I could pick up the $60 at the store that afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised at how fast they looked into our problem. And not only would I get a refund, but I would get it in cash (as opposed to debitting the difference to my credit card).

When we got to Nando’s, the supervisor (the Manager went home for the day) profusely apologised to us for the inconvenience and handed us an envelope. Inside the envelope was the $60 in cash along with a few vouchers to upsize our side dishes and/or drinks plus a fridge magnet. That was nice of them.

I was frankly thinking of never eating there again. But since they handled this issue so quickly, I forgave them. The free vouchers certainly helped in soothing ruffled feathers. Bribes do work.

For Valentine’s Day, Raquel and I went out for dinner at one of the finest restaurants in Melbourne. People we know keep on gushing about this Italian restaurant so our expectations were a bit high. Personally, I would have preferred to have gone to a fancy Chinese or Japanese restaurant instead but I thought it was worth eating there once, specially since I have a $350 voucher for that restaurant, hand-signed by the owner/chef, as prize for winning an art competition a few months ago.

The restaurant itself wasn’t large but it was still quite obvious that it was a fine-dining restaurant. They had a headwaiter (or is it called maitre d’hotel?) wearing formal wear plus several more employees waiting on us, ready to serve. At the lobby, there was a whole wall with photos of the owner with various celebrities and hand-written letters of personal praise for the establishment. The toilet even had those stacks of folded hand towels which you dispose of in a basket after one use. We totally felt out of our element.

When we sat down, the maitre d’ offered (more like insisted) to take my blue backpack for safe keeping in their office. They probably just don’t want me to strap my backpack behind my seat or leave it lying on the floor. Raquel left her bag on the floor but soon, one of the waitresses came over with a small old-world upholstered stool where Raquel’s bag could sit. Very fancy.

While discussing what we should be ordering, they brought us what looked like breadsticks in a tall silver cylindrical container along with four slices of bread in a metal basket plus two varieties of butter: salted (which tasted like wonderful creamy cheese) and unsalted (which tasted like, uh, butter). We weren’t sure if the “breadsticks” were indeed breadsticks or some decorative plant with no leaves. In the end, we didn’t touch those. We did eat the bread in the basket but I found it really tough to bite. I even tried ripping it to pieces but still found it very tough. Anyway, the butter tasted great so it wasn’t so bad.

We had a difficult time deciding what to get. We basically have $350 to burn there but after looking at the prices of the dishes, the money probably won’t go a long way. We ordered two appetizers to begin with and the portions were smaller than an entire cheeseburger at McDonald’s. It tasted okay but for $40 each, I would have expected it to have tasted like something that fell out of heaven! Or at the very least, the portion should have been bigger. Ah, well, it’s free anyway, we justified to ourselves.

After the waiters got our empty plates, one of them approached us with a plate. On the plate were two very small salmon-topped pastries. Apparently, those were also complimentary. I didn’t realise you get a lot of free food eating in fancy restaurants. Although I don’t personally like salmon, I wasn’t about to let a freebie get away so I took one anyway.

Anyway, due to the small food portions, we were far from being full. So, we ordered our next meal. We both got entree-sized risottos. These were about $48 each if I remember correctly. The portion of the risotto wasn’t big either. We weren’t surprised at this point. We did get an extra side dish which the waiter suggested: a small bowl of spinach with a bit of parmessan cheese for added flavour. It actually tasted quite nice. But again, we couldn’t stop thinking about the cost and portion size of what we had just eaten. For that much money, we expected more or something that was delicious by far.

Still not full after the risotto. I had wanted to eat something with meat this time. When I looked at the menu, I saw an entry called Wagyu beef and was immediately drawn to it but then saw the word carpaccio after it and thought to myself, “oh no, you don’t!” I recently went to an office lunch where I ordered an angus beef carpaccio and when the dish finally came, it was a thin shaved piece of beef which looked raw. In fact, it was raw! There wasn’t much meat there and there was a bit of a salad and all that for a whopping $20! I won’t fall for that again.

Okay, so no beef carpaccio. But there was a 1kg rib steak in the menu for about $160. That would probably be good. Although I’m sure I won’t have problems eating meat, I felt like the 1kg steak might just be too much for both of us. We might end up being too full.

In the end, the waiter suggested the 500g lobster they had on special for that day. I can’t remember having ever eaten lobster before so that was a good time to give it a go even if it did cost $120 (as far as I can recall). We have a $350 voucher anyway.

The lobster finally arrived. It was nice of them to split the lobster to go into two plates for us. They also set aside the bulk of the lobster flesh aside for convenience but still left much of the lobster’s carapace and limbs for us to slurp clean, I assume. What I didn’t expect was to be slightly grossed out by the sight of the lobster itself. It reminded me of an oversized insect and taking it apart with my cutlery and nutcracker silverware only added to the gross factor, for me. In the end, I only ate the lobster meat that was already set aside and that tasted good. It certainly went well with the extra bowl of spinach that came with the lobster.

That must have been the only time I’ve eaten that much spinach in one single day. I asked Raquel if they had a dedicated “kangkongan” (place where you grow spinach-like vegies in the Philippines) out in the back of their restaurant. At least, the spinach tasted good.

After the waiter took our plates away, one of them placed on our table two bowls of what looked like hot water with a lemon in the middle. We looked at each other, wondering whether this was another free dish or was it for washing one’s hands with. If it was for washing hands and we sipped it, that would have been gross. If it was actually some kind of broth and we washed our hands in it, that would have been embarassing. We ended up just ignoring the two bowls. They soon took the bowls away which sort of proved that those were for hand washing.

To finish off, we decided to have some gelato for dessert. Each order was about $24 and what we got was a plate with four scoops of sorbet/ice cream, each one a different flavour: mocha, lemon, apple and licorice. I admit that I’m not a fan of the actual licorice lolly but I found that the licorice-flavoured gelato was the best tasting of the four. The mocha probably comes in second. The lemon was too sour for my taste and the apple was a bit too sweet.

After that, Raquel had a cup of coffee and that came with 3 small treats. A small cube of lamington, a small piece of nougat and a small heart-shaped biscuit with jelly in the middle. I was too full to even take more than a few bites from these treats.

Finally, we asked for the bill. The total cost of our dinner was $380. Since we only have a $350 voucher, we had to still pay an additional $30 out of pocket. Ah, well. It was a good experience. At almost three hours, it was the longest time we had to sit down for dinner. At $380, it was the most expensive dinner we’ve ever had. Would I eat at such a fine-dining restaurant again? Not if I can help it. If I ever win a voucher for such a restaurant again, this time around, I’ll try to sell it off to my friends first.

The food, while it tasted nice, wasn’t the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. I could get food that is a lot tastier and has a bigger serving size for less money. I just don’t get the point of eating in such a place. I’ll probably be more willing to spend the same amount at a very fancy Japanese or Chinese restaurant than at a Eurpoean restaurant (well, maybe except Spanish or Portugese). At least in a fancy Asian restaurant, chances are, we can order lots of rice and whatever fancy dish we wanted. I also don’t have to worry about all the fancy European table etiquette.

In conclusion, we’re not going to try that again unless it’s free and we can’t absolutely help it.

I found that the most common question asked by people I know who are thinking of migrating to Australia is how much does it cost to live in Australia. Well, I don’t have official statistics or anything so the only way I can answer this is to draw from my personal experience living in Melbourne.

Back when we didn’t pack home-cooked lunch to the work, we spend around $250 per week on groceries with the cost of eating out for lunch included. A lunch meal will generally cost about $10. It’ll probably cheaper at McDonald’s or Hungry Jack’s (aka Burger King) with their $6 burger meals that include chips (French fries) and drink. At selected Hungry Jack’s branches, you even get to refill your drink again and again. In the end, it will always be a lot cheaper to cook your own food than to eat out.

To save even more, instead of shopping at Safeway (called Woolworths outside Victoria, I don’t know why) or Coles, shop at Aldi instead. Sure, the selection of products is a bit limited at Aldi but those you can get there, you’ll get there a lot cheaper than the major supermarket chains. We would first buy our groceries at Aldi then go to the nearby Safeway to buy the rest of the things on our grocery list that we didn’t get at Aldi.

This $250 does not include transportation costs, clothing and utilities. We take the train so that’s $158 for a monthly full-fare Zone 1+2 ticket each. That ticket allows us to take any public transportation within Greater Melbourne. If you live closer to the city (within the Zone 1 boundary), you get to pay less. We only use the car on weekends and it costs us about $30 per week to have it filled with petrol (gasoline).

As for our utilities, our latest water quarterly bill was about $90. During winter time, our gas bill can reach up to $100 per month. Gas (gaas) is usually necessary not only for cooking but for heating homes, you see. Electricity bills tend to rise during winter too due to our need to turn on electric heaters and less daylight. Our winter electricity bill can reach up to $200 in a quarter. However, we are still aiming to lower our electricity, water and gas usage so hopefully, we’ll need to pay less in the future. We are doing this not only to save money but of course to help out the environment. Yeah, I just had to throw that in there.

If you are renting an apartment, you probably won’t need to worry about the water bill as the owner of the property usually pays for the water. So that’s one advantage of renting. Speaking of renting, a two bedroom apartment we rented in St Kilda East (an inner Melbourne suburb, about 15 minutes away from the city by train) cost about $1,200 per month (they will quote the rent in dollars per week though). Apartments will cost more if furnished.

If you are just starting out and you need furniture, go see Fantastic Furniture. They have the cheapest furniture packages that I know of. It’s not exactly the classiest furniture around but they definitely aren’t shoddy either. For $2000, you get a double-sized bed and matress, a dining table plus chairs, living room tables, bedsides (drawers), and a 51cm TV! You’ll probably need to assemble some of the furniture yourself though but I’m sure you’ll be able to handle it. That’s partly how they can sell it for cheaper. I bought my first furniture suite from them and I found the furniture to be sturdy and durable. And they don’t look too shabby either.

For the clothes and other spendings, you will get a better idea of how much things cost here by looking at the various department store chains’ catalogues online. Here are a few of the more popular chains of shops:
- Myer
- Target
- Big W
- Kmart

Now, you have to do the math (or as they say here, maths) and figure out how much money you need to bring with you when you fly to Australia. Be sure to bring enough money with you to last you six months here without a job just to be sure. Note that the cost I quoted above was for two persons living together. Utility bills might be cheaper if you are by yourself living in a one bedroom apartment, for example. It could be more expensive if you are a family of four, of course.

I hope this helps anybody wanting to know how much things cost here.

Are you originally from the Philippines but now live in Australia? Do you miss the taste of Jollibee burgers? Well, there is a place where you can eat something close to Jollibee’s burger steak meal minus the rice plus fries.

If you live in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane, then you’re in luck because there should be an Ikea store near you. For those of you who don’t know, Ikea is a Swedish furniture megastore that sells inexpensive household items that has branched out around the world, including Australia.

They don’t only sell furniture and household knickknacks, though. They also have a restaurant that serves really cheap meals, too, to feed all the busy and tired shoppers. Our favourite meal from Ikea’s restaurant/cafeteria is the Swedish meatballs meal. It’s basically a dish with 10 pieces of meatballs served with gravy, some berry sauce and chips (French fries) all for $6.50.

I love the meatballs all by themselves but what is a bonus for me is that the taste of it reminds me of Jollibee’s burger steak meal (burger patty with gravy and rice), only better. So, for someone like me who misses the taste of homegrown fastfood, the meatballs meal was a welcome treat.

I admit, I love my current job. I love the work and I love the other opportunities the Company is providing (such as the recent Artist of the Year competition). But there is one more thing I like about the Company (albeit a bit on the shallow side): free snacks.

That’s right. Each floor has a pantry and the pantry has these two wells, if you will, full of snacks free for the taking. There are individually wrapped Arnott’s bikkies of different types, crackers, tiny boxes of sultanas and fruit bars. The wells get refilled at least once a week.

Apart from the snack well, each pantry also has two crates sitting on the counter filled with different fruits. These boxes get emptied very quickly. Bananas seem to be the all time favourite because those disappear from the box the fastest. The trick is that once you see bananas there, take a couple immediately. Don’t wait till you feel like going for a banana as there probably won’t be any in the fruit box by the time you want to have one.

To help wash down all the free snacks, there’s free espresso from the espresso machine, free milk and free tea that comes in four flavours.

Apart from these standard free goodies, there’s the occasional free gourmet sandwiches or muffins sitting on the pantry counter. Whenever a group holds a big meeting, they will usually order sandwiches or muffins from the Company’s catering service to feed the attendees. As is usually the case, there would be a lot of left-overs from these meetings and the excess food get moved to the nearby pantry.

Lastly, there is the rare times when a visiting client from abroad decides to bring some goodies from their home country. Like this week, our client friends from the US brought back Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Nestle’s Butterfingers. How I missed those. The only time I can get these is if we buy them at USA Foods at Bentleigh.

I have recently decided to lose weight but as you can see, it is very very challenging to do so while working for this company with all these temptations. Not that I’m complaining though.