I've been watching Vogue Magazine's 73 Questions series on YouTube since it premiered with Sarah Jessica Parker - still my favourite!

Vogue describes the series as:

Filmed in a single shot, we ask some of our favorite personalities 73 questions to see what they like, what they hate, and most importantly – what they know.

Inspired by that concept, we did something similar at Supersport, but instead of 73 questions, its 50 in 5 minutes. Since I don't update my blog as much, here's a little update on all the things I like, love, dislike and sometimes hate.

xo Reem

the end of bad birthdays

Consider the paradox of celebrating the day you were born on All Hallow's Eve - a day people go out of their way to honour the dead. By coincidence or not, that morbid energy has translated to a personal stroke of bad luck around and on October 31st for me.  

Between dealing with relationship problems, break-ups, my grandma admitted to ICU, or falling seriously ill at this time of the year, I had given up on birthdays. I was on the qui vive this year - out of habit more than anything else thinking, okay let's prepare for the next big tragedy shall we?

Leading up to the week of the 31st it seems like history will repeat itself. By some heavenly miracle though, it was mended and ta-daaa no repeat of yesteryears. Come the actual date, I felt nothing but bliss.  

And so I threw a party! 

For me it was bidding goodbye to the chain of bad birthdays versus celebrating the actual birthday itself. I wanted a chilled out day by the pool with some of my closest friends at home. No compromise on serving delicious yet healthy food though. None of that typical party grub of deep fried, full fat, processed stuff. (read: pizzas, sausages, chips...). 

Poke bowls were the first thing that popped into mind. They're relatively new to the Malaysian food scene and despite the poke in its name, has nothing to do with that now so yesterday location-based augmented reality game. Keep it classy guys, please.

Poke bowls are a Hawaiian delicacy that have been around forever. It's like a salad, where you choose your base of brown rice, greens or both then load it up with condiments such as cucumber, edamame, corn, tomatoes before rounding it up with freshly marinated raw proteins (my favourite is salmon). And don't forget your dressing - Aioli Lime is the bomb-est!

They're my new obsession basically, and I wanted nothing less than THE FISH BOWL at my party.

They make THE best poke bowls in town. Rule of thumb is you can't have a good bowl without fresh quality ingredients and these guys just get it right.

Naturally, they were a hit! People were going for 4-5 rounds I kid you not.

To balance out all that healthiness, there was of course cake.

I left that part to my boyfriend. Well, almost. 

Told him he had to order it from my friends at KEKANDCO or he better be prepared to get his face smashed with the not KEKANDCO cake.

It was the one thing about the party I told him to keep from me as a surprise and omgggg, I loved, loved, loved the design when he brought it out.

 It was inspired by my recent addiction to watching Youtube makeup videos by my favourite Youtuber, Kathleenlights. SO pretty, it almost broke my heart to cut it up.

Big massive love to this girl for bringing the party to life! She took it to herself to plan, organize, prep and clean up after, without me even asking. Especially with the food. Cannot thank you enough my JEEEEEL! What will I do when you leave??? 

To top off an already amazing week, I briefly caught the 6-1 win to Watford while cleaning up after the party.

Not realising the impact of the result, this popped up on my phone:

Best birthday, EVER.

xo - Reem

good things come in small packages

Sponsored post

While some girls call diamonds their best friends, I may be a little different. Not that I would mind receiving some of those sparkly gemstones for my upcoming birthday *cough*october31st*cough*


But a diamond has never rescued me from my stomach having a crazy circus run. When I don't have meals consistently at the right time, have foods that are too oily, too spicy, too milky, you name it, my tummy will act up. Which is pretty much all the time.

Probiotics on the other hand, which is another name for friendly bacteria helps neutralize the imbalances in your digestive system while keeping it healthy - and in my case, less embarrassing trips to the toilet. 

A bottle of Yakult may be small but don't be fooled by its size. It was developed by medical doctor and microbiologist, Dr Shirota back in 1935. Not just some business man who just wanted to create a regular drink to sell. Each bottle of Yakult contains over 30 billion good bacteria, also known as Lactobacillus casei Shirota (named after its founder) to keep the digestive system healthy. I take one each morning, and it's become so much a part of my daily routine just as much as coffee.

The Yakult that we get in Malaysia is made right here in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan where their factory is. They welcome visitors if you ever want to make a day trip out of it. You can spice up your dating routine instead of just going to the movies, no? 

Or even better than a trip to the factory, why not visit the country where Yakult was born? For the first time ever Yakult is giving you a once in a lifetime trip for you and your family to visit their own brand ambassadors! 

Malaysia's very own sweetheart Lara Lana and her so cool parents, I wish they were mine, Scha Alyahya and Awal Ashaari. Can you believe Lara's only 2  years old and has 2.2million followers on Instagram? You'll be making ALOT of people jealous when you win the trip.

For details on how to win this once in a lifetime trip watch the video here, and the full terms and conditions can be found here.

One small bottle, one big trip.

Doesn't a particular Lionel Messi come to mind? A reminder that some of the best things in life come in small packages. I still want a diamond for my birthday if my boyfriend is reading this. Good luck!

xo - Reem

hello again

Okay admit it, you've missed me.

But not as much as I've missed you. I'm referring to blogging in case anyone thinks I'm so full of myself. Which is pretty valid sometimes.

As always I feel like I'm playing catch up with the kopsalad, because there's such long hiatuses between each post that I end up writing about not writing half the time. Although, does anyone even read these things anymore? That's how I convince myself it's okay not to update.

It's pretty similar to not going to the gym or exercising really.

Going back to high school, I was never that sporty athletic girl. Still don't have that lean mean body I dream of. Sports and me just don't jive. Maybe because it's too hot here in Malaysia. Maybe because I was never fast enough, or strong enough that I made up my mind early it wasn't for me altogether. The closest I got to sports was cheerleading - which I did end up being a captain for my team and bagging the winning trophy that year.

I guess it helped that despite my love for food, I didn't gain too much weight. So there was no real need for me to get into sports - like why get all sweaty, risk injury and worse, lose right?

Because realistically how many Ronaldo's can the world have? A homogeneous world of CR7's would render the real CR7 a norm. No bueno. There is that other dude who doesn't pay his taxes but then again, what has he won outside of club football?

Point is, why do we do anything at all if there's always someone bigger, better, stronger, faster than we are? Because at the end of the day we can be bigger, better, stronger, faster than we were yesterday. And that my friends is why we go about doing these little things we do - whether it's exercising, or blogging, or (insert whatever is relevant to you).

If the girl who hated sports (doing it, not watching it) can now do squats and burpees on a regular basis as a matter of choice, unforced, anything is possible. Even hail storms in our tropical home. Although, really that's not exactly a change for the best. Scratch that example but you know what I mean.

#betterforit

(this is not a sponsored post, and yes that's me)

Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin to those celebrating! Don't say no one reminded you to work off all that oily, fattening, sugary, carbloaded BUT super delicious lontong, rendang and tart nenas. This is your sign.

xo Reem

the stadium life

It's no secret, working in sports broadcasting especially when you're out on the field or traveling, all you'll get to see of a country is pretty much: airport - hotel - stadium - repeat. 

Not that I'm complaining.

So I decided to make a list of stadiums/arenas that I've been lucky enough to visit in case I get diagnosed with Alzheimer's by the age of 68. I initially wanted to write 50, but having the kind of luck that I do (of self-jinxing) I decided to extend my sanity a couple of years.

Anyway, the stadiums listed below are the ones I've watched a game in or done a stadium tour of.

I'm not including the ones the ones I've seen from outside (the likes of Yankee Stadium and Goodison Park) or any local stadiums in Malaysia, like Bukit Jalil, because those are of course, a given.

1. Anfield, Liverpool
2. Stamford Bridge, Chelsea
3. Loftus Road, QPR
4. Wembley Stadium 
5. International Stadium, Yokohama
6. Seattle Key Arena, Seattle
7. Parc de Princes, PSG 
8. Mestalla Stadium, Valencia  
9. San Siro, Milan
10. Arena Corinthians, Sao Paulo
11. Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha, Brasilia
12. Arena Castelao, Fortaleza  
13. Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador 
14. Arena Pernambuco, Recife
15. Stadium Jalan Besar, Singapore
16. Singapore Indoor Stadium

16 stadiums and counting, which will be next?

xo - Reem