Oh Look, Krill!

Almost A Decade Later

2012-01-26T14:00:00.000+08:00

I'm still into my first job and I just signed another three-year contract with the company. I think that for most people, they would have had at least two different jobs in those ten years. I'm still here.

One of the main reasons I've not left is mainly due to not wanting to get out of my comfort zone. I've been sitting at this exact desk, working at the exact same lab bench for the last nine years. Every thing is where I want it to be and I know where everything is.

That doesn't mean that I've been doing the exact same thing in the last almost decade. I'm currently on my third boss, since they seem to leave every couple of years. As these principle investigators have different research scopes or areas of interest, I've been involved in many different kinds of research, different technology platforms and best of all, I had the chance to learn a number of different techniques that I've never heard of before or something that I've only read in research papers.

It's not so bad actually.

Though, I don't know if I'll still be here at the end of this new contract. The main reason for me to sign a new one is so that I will at least have a job to return to when I'm done with my short sabbatical to complete my Masters research project. With the way that the scientific job market looks like, I needed the job security net.

Once I've graduated, if an opportunity presents itself for me to move to a different area of science (with better pay, perks and not so bad a work load *well, I can dream right?*), I might move there but in the mean time, I'll stay where I am and make the best of it.

Drowning In Plant Science

2012-01-20T13:39:00.000+08:00

Last night, I went for my first class of the semester. I had to choose between Seminars in Zoology or Advanced Plant Physiology as an elective. I decided to go with the plants module since the other was very heavy for an elective and even my supervisor had advised against it.

Plants have never been something that I enjoyed learning, personally, because the cross section of a plant looks creepy and disgusting under the microscope, but moving on.

Yesterday's class was done by a guest professor who flew all the way from Lancaster to give us the lecture. I've had a class with him in before in a previous module and he is superbly passionate with his work. Unfortunately because of his passion, he rarely takes breaks between each slides, so that made it difficult for me at least to take down as much notes as I wanted.

I felt like I was drowning in information. It was a very information dense class. There was one point in the class where I was just staring at him, watching his mouth move in words that I knew were in English but my brain just could not process what he was saying. I've never felt so out of my depth before.

He went through three different lectures and towards the end, he was explaining what each of the different graphs mean. He lost me there. I'm just so very thankful that he included the references for the papers where those information came from, so at the very least, I could read those papers on my own and see if they make sense to me.

Since the guest professor will only be in town for a couple of days, we'll be having another intensive day tomorrow. A Satuday day, for most of the day. Sigh.

I'm really hoping that I won't be as lost as I was yesterday. We'll be in the lab the entire time and we'll be doing both a lecture and a practical, with new equipment that I've never used before. This could get very interesting.

That was just the first day of the semester. I really, really, really hope that the rest of the semester won't be as intimidating.

Things I Need To Remember

2012-01-19T15:47:00.002+08:00

I need to remember that I was the one who wanted to enrol for grad school. No one forced me, so I shouldn't be complaining so much about it.

I need to remember that as much as my sisters annoy me sometimes, they're still family and that despite everything, I actually love those two annoying brats.

I need to remember that I'm already bordering on being severely underweight for my height, and sometimes wanting to look like the skinny girls is very, very bad.

I need to remember that coffee isn't really all that good for me, despite the fact that I love how it tastes.

I need to remember that I need to go out and hang out with my friends once in a while.

I need to remember that taking a break is good, just as long the break isn't the entire day and my to do list just keeps piling.

I need to remember to go say hi to my granny and tell her how much I love her. Every day.

I Can't Seem To Travel Light

2012-01-18T14:00:00.000+08:00

On more than one occasion, when someone hands me my bag, they'd comment on how heavy it is. It's not that I don't want to travel light, it's just that I don't know what to cut out from what's in my bag.

Here's what I would usually have in my bag, on a normal day:

1. A wallet, bulging with receipts and various crap.

2. My phone

3. A wallet sized bag that holds at least 3 different types of wet wipes.

4. A pouch for lady items.

5. A small make up bag containing finishing powder, two trial sizes of blushes, a mini kabuki brush, a flat top brush, 3 different eye liners, a lip shimmer, a lip plumper and a comb.

6. Notebooks

7. Pens

8. My tablet

9. A foldable umbrella

10. A pouch containing thumb drives, my 3G modem dongle and my internet banking dongle.

11. A mini hair brush.

12. At least 2-3 packets of tissues.

13. Various hair bands/scrunchies/clips

14. Keys.

15. Work pass.

Everything but the notebooks and the tablet are usually packed into a bag organiser, so that I know where I can find my stuff easier than just digging through the black hole that is my bag.

Yes, I do have a lot of items in a tote bag. It's gotten to the point where even Dude said it's heavy on the odd occasion that he carries the bag for me when I have an aching shoulder.

So what do I remove? Or should I get a better bag? What do you think?

The Day I Went Out And Did Girlie Things

2012-01-17T13:30:00.000+08:00

I don't shop a lot, unlike some of my peers. I usually only go out to get stuff when I needed them or when there's a sale that I just can't say no to. So when I saw the promo below, I can't resist.

Since my friends were going to be in town anyway, might as well get my little shopping trip done and meet them for dinner. So we spent some time at the lingerie shop and I had to resist the urge to blow my entire pay on lady items, and so after much internal debate, I settled on the ones that I wanted most and left.

We walked around the mall for a little bit, while waiting for Sarah to be done with her workshop, Jo, Avariel and I did some window shopping.

We ended up at New Look where I couldn't resist on trying out some shoes.

I didn't get any of them in the end as I couldn't justify getting them and I didn't really have a reason to. Also, since I don't have any outfits that would match the brown shoes that I was lusting after. I did however found the perfect thing to give my sister as a birthday present.

After Sarah rendezvoused with us at the mall, we headed out to Arab Street for dinner. I saw that there was a new Turkish place (Derwish, 60 Bussorah St) that took over the premises that was the former Chicken Champ.

The décor was very nice and rather classy. After a quick glance through the menu, we decided to start the meal with hummus.

It was good. Not runny like some places, with a strong spiced taste. I'd have preferred if it was a tad more garlicky but eh, it was wonderful.

Jo and I decided on a spinach pide and sucuk pide, which is a Turkish pepperoni pide, respectively.

My sucuk pide was basically a breakfast pizza of sorts as it had pepperoni, egg and cheese on bread. It was good but it would have been better, to me anyway, if it was a little more spiced. Jo's spinach pide was delicious and it tasted even better when dipped in the hummus.

Avariel had the Iskender set which was really, really good; thinly sliced lamb over a bed of toasted bread and covered with their spiced tomato sauce and yoghurt. Sarah had the Beyeti, which was lamb wrapped in pastry and covered in delicious gravy.

I would totally recommend the Iskender, the Beyeti and the spinach pide, if you ever go there.

We had a pre-dessert dessert by trying out their rice pudding.

The rice pudding at Derwish is good but I prefer the one at Anatolia.

After dinner, we headed out to the gelato place that we passed by earlier, Gelato Di Posto Storico. Jo and Sarah had a scoop of gelato each, Avariel tried the tea that she found most interesting, while I had an affogato.

I've been wanting to try it for the longest time, just never got around to getting it. The large scoop of vanilla gelato had crushed bits of Oreo cookies on it and drowned in a shot of espresso. The coffee was good, even without the gelato; with the gelato, it tasted even better. I was disappointed that they didn't have decaf coffee but I think the affogato wouldn't have tasted as wonderful if it was decaf.

I would most definitely want to go back to try out the gelato flavours that I saw, like mint, salted caramel and coconut.

It was a really good day out with awesome friends and even though I'll be getting busier from this week onwards, I hope that I get to do this again soon.

What Do you Do When You Have Writer's Block?

2012-01-16T14:00:00.000+08:00

Do you just sit there, staring at the blank page or screen, willing the words to flow?

Do you just let your stream of conciousness fill the page with inane thoughts and babbling?

Do you drink copious amounts of coffee, hoping the caffeine will jar something lose? Or that the frequent trips to the porcelain bowl will help you think?

Do you sit in the sun, letting the heat burn into you while you file away what you feel, to use in your writing?

Do you people watch and describe what they're wearing, their actions and mannerisms in your head, and then create drabbles out of the different things you see?

Do you read a lot, and widely so as to find a writing style that resonates with you?

Do you scribble into notebooks, in illegible handwriting and hoping that when you come back to it on a later date you can still read it?

Do you ask yourself random questions and then writing the answers down, and then realise that you've actually filled up a good portion of the page?

What do you do?

What Friday Means

2012-01-13T13:37:00.002+08:00

(via)

Everyone loves Fridays. It's the last day of the work week for most people and best of all, it means the weekend is here!

Friday means that I can stay up late as I won't be working the next day, so I can sleep in.

Friday means that I can drink copious amounts of coffee since I can sleep in.

Friday means that I can finally rest after the whole week of work shenanigans.

Friday means that I can go out and meet my friends or hang out with Dude.

Friday means that I'm free from work for the weekend!

Close Your Eyes And Pretend

2012-01-12T13:30:00.000+08:00

That you're sitting in one of the best concert halls in the world, listening to the best orchestra in the world playing music from your favourite classical composers and even some pieces from your favourite soundtracks.

Lean back and let yourself feel the music.

Let yourself go.

Let the music play with your emotion. Let yourself smile or cry if the music moves you.

Relax.

Enjoy.

Addicted

2012-01-11T15:23:00.001+08:00

It's been so long since I've had one. I think about it constantly; how wonderful it's going to taste, how good it will feel in my hands. I'm craving for it. I want it. I need it.

Too bad they don't have an outlet near my house.

Whovian Obsession

2012-01-09T13:30:00.000+08:00

If you woke up one morning and found a blue police box at your front door and man in a tweed jacket, a bow tie and the most wonderful hair that all you want to do is to run your fingers through it, was waiting for you and asks if you'd like to come with him.

He opens the door to the police box with a snap of his fingers and you saw that it was bigger, a lot bigger on the inside. The interior was in gold and green, with the strangest console you've ever seen; a mish mash of new and old tech.

He says to you that with the machine, the Time And Relative Dimension in Space machine, you can go to every where, would you go with him?

I would. I so would, despite the fact that Companions never end well.

Here's to 50 years of Doctor Who.

Hacking Up A Lung: Home Remedies For Coughs

2012-01-05T10:45:00.001+08:00

Being sick during the holidays is never fun. I came down with a cold that developed into a cough that I had trouble trying to shake. I've always had a hard time recovering from a cough and this time it was a lot worse than before since I had coughed badly enough in my sleep that I sprained a shoulder and pulled a core muscle. That made it really hard to move around and sleep was agonising since I couldn't lie down to sleep.

OTC cough meds or even those prescribed by the doctor didn't seem to help so I resorted to a number of home remedies, like honey and lemon in warm water.

Didn't work.

Then I tried ginger boiled with rock sugar, to make spicy but sweet ginger tea.

It worked for a short while but I was still coughing badly enough that my left core muscles were aching and I thought that if I didn't find something soon, I was going to pull another muscle.

Then my granny's maid suggest taking a tablespoon of soy sauce and some lemon juice.

Guess what? It worked! I took a tablespoon last night and it was the most restful sleep I've had in the last three weeks. I'm still coughing a little but not as bad as I used to, which was more like trying to hack up a lung. I took another tablespoon of the mixture this morning and I'm not rushing out of the office every fifteen minutes so that I don't disrupt the office quiet with my hacking coughs.

So yeah, if you're having a really bad cough, give this a try. Maybe it'll work for you too.

Hopes And Wants For 2012

2012-01-04T14:15:00.000+08:00

I hope that this coming year will be better all around; filled with happiness, love, peace and riches.

I hope for no more family drama of whatever sort.

I hope that the classes at school won't be too hectic and difficult.

I hope that the rest of my project will go smoothly so that I can finally graduate this year.

I hope to still have a job when I come back from my extended leave.

I want to start swimming again.

I want, really want to graduate so that I don't have to pay school fees or think about the project anymore.

I want to write again; to write stories of love, of monsters and ghosts.

Most importantly, I hope and want this year to be amazing.

2011 In Retrospect

2012-01-03T14:15:00.000+08:00

2011 was a year of change and procrastination. Change is the only constant, isn't it?

Big changes happened at work that left everyone reeling from shock and surprise but in the end, we sucked it up and dealt with the new situation and tried to make the best of it. one by one, the friends I made at work left for better pastures, leaving me alone, in an office full of people I can barely connect with. So I started spending more time by myself and discovered that I enjoy it very much, giving me time to rest and I get to do things that I enjoy.

I've been procrastinating on my school project. I didn't have any classes to attend so all I needed to do was start my experiments and do it. However, I didn't realise how difficult it was to try to juggle a full time job and experiments at a school that's so far from civilisation that it feels like you're cut off from everything else when you're there.

Every time I start the project, the mussels end up dying. It was very frustrating to be stalled even before you start anything. In the end, I had to make a decision that could change a lot of my long term plans. At least now I don't have panic attacks or heart palpitations every time I think about the project anymore.

I haven't been able to spend as much time as I'd like with my friends but when I do, it's always fun. I met a number of new people and experienced a lot of new things. I've been spending time with Dude and that's always fun and interesting.

However, I've hit a dry spell when it comes to writing. I have no motivation what so ever to even write anything. It makes me feel a little lost. I barely did anything for NaNoWriMo either since I was very caught up with my work and school.

Over all, the year was not bad but I wish it could have been better.

This year, I'm hoping for greater things, better things, more love, more peace and joy and most importantly, I'm hoping to still have a job.

At The Library

2011-12-30T16:03:00.001+08:00

Watching kids play Dance Central. I don't want to stare but I can't help it. It's like watching a wreck waiting to happen. Morbid curiosity, ya know?

I know I'm definitely not the best dancer in the world but when you're watching from the sofa, it's makes you go "OMG, ARE THEY REALLY DANING LIKE THAT?!"

Of course that means that we dance that way too. I'm trying not to judge but it's tough. Must. Not. Look. Anymore.

Last Friday Of The Year

2011-12-30T14:15:00.000+08:00

It's the last Friday of the year and I'm at home watching Harry Potter.

It's the eve of the new year tomorrow and I doubt I'll be doing any partying since I'm not the partying sort.

Dude is still out of the country so I'm just a tiny bit bored and there's only so much tv watching and random internet surfing that one can do.

So what are your plans for this long weekend? Out partying? If you are, do take care and don't drink and drive. Stay safe and have fun everyone.

I leave you with this:

Reading List for 2012

2011-12-29T14:15:00.000+08:00

In the past month, I've been compiling a list of things that I'd like to read and re-read in 2012. I'm not sure what I my schedule is going to be like but I'm going to try and complete as much of the list as possible.

So in random order, here's my list:

1. Waking the Witch, Kelley Armstrong.

2. Spellbound, Kelley Armstrong

3. The Lost Heroes, Rick Riordan

4. The Son of Neptune, Rick Riordan

5. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

6. Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

7. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

8. The entire collection of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

9. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

10. Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

This is what I have so far but I may add to the list when I come up with more books to read. Do you have a reading list? What's yours?

Trying My Hand At Sewing

2011-12-28T14:15:00.000+08:00

It's been more than a decade since I actually sewed anything. The last time was for a school project and even then, I was strictly supervised by my grandma and my mother. When a friend of mine showed me a site for cute cloth postcards from Taiwan, I couldn't resist and got myself a few.

They're so cute! I'd initially wanted to start with the cow but my mom, having totally no confidence in me, told me to start with something easier, like the sheep.

Well, I can't blame her since I'm known to never finish a sewing project, not even any of my crocheting project. However, I'm going to give this one a go.

My friend who introduced me to the cloth postcards made a penguin for me, as a belated birthday present.

Isn't it cute?

So I'm going to attempt, emphasis on ATTEMPT, to make at least one of these cute cloth postcards. Aiming low is the way to go.

Look What Came For Me Today

2011-12-27T17:31:00.000+08:00

The lovely people at HBO Asia sent a little gift pack today, containing a bottle of True Blood, a 2012 desk calendar and a True Blood poster that's exactly like in the picture shown.

Many thanks to Atiqah and HBO Asia. Now I have 3 seasons of True Blood to catch up on, since I only finished watching the first one and maybe half of the second season.

Moving Away From iDevices

2011-12-27T14:15:00.000+08:00

At the recent demise of my 5 year old white Macbook, I was convinced to go back to using a Windows machine.

It helped that I got a machine that's the same specs as a 13" Macbook Pro, for half the price.

It was not as hard as I thought to be back to using Windows, though the keyboard placement did give me a slight problem. Anyway, the transition from an Apple OS to Windows 7 was relatively smooth and painless. Although, I did keep trying to do my Mac shortcuts only to realise they don't really work.

Since I was moving away from Apple, I had gotten myself an Android Tablet as well. However, I didn't expect the learning curve to using an Android tablet to be as steep as it was.

I had some technical issues with the tablet at first which ended with it being at the service centre for a week after only getting and barely using it for two weeks but so far it seems alright.

The home screen for the device looks like this.

Anyway, the onscreen keyboard for this tablet isn't as easy to use as I thought and I can see why some people downloaded their own keyboard apps instead of using the native one.

I'm so used to the Apple App Store that trying to navigate through the Android Market doesn't feel as easy. I have to keep reminding myself that not everything on the App Store is available on the Market and that I have to find alternatives for them.

The thing that I do like about this tablet is that it's relatively easy to transfer my files in there. I'm still unable to sync it to my computer but since it's read as an external storage device, I just drop my files into the appropriate folders and TA DA! I can read/watch them on the tablet.

Now that I'm moving away from Apple, the only Apple product left that I have is the phone but I have a feeling that that isn't going to change anytime soon in the future.

What I've Been Up To Lately

2011-12-26T20:33:00.000+08:00

Being home the past couple of weeks, I've been doing a lot of things that I've not been able to do for quite a while due to my busy schedule.

I got to meet up with my friends. I forgot how much fun I have when I'm out with them and I've missed it.

I've been reading a lot of comics lately too, catching up on my reading list.

I went for a camera workshop with my friends.

I met a friend for lunch.

I went out for a late breakfast with sister.

Best of all, I get home-made goodies.

Reliving Our Heritage Along The Footpaths

2011-12-19T13:50:00.000+08:00

The previous weekend, my friends and I dropped by the Heritage Along Footpaths event organised by the National Heritage Board. It's an event to showcase some of the disappearing trades that used to be a common sight along the footpaths in the good old days. These trades include the cobblers, barbers, ice ball sellers, fortune tellers and kachang puteh sellers.

You can still find some of these trades around the island but they're few and far between, so having this event was very interesting and educational for those of us who's never seen them before.

We were told to bring enough coins to spend for the day and so we did.

Everything at the event ranged between 20c to 50c and we might have gone a little overboard at the kacang puteh stall.

It was a very humid day and the ice ball was a wonderful treat.

The shaved ice was compacted into a fist-sized ball and coloured syrup was poured over it, making it look very much like an ice kachang, except that it's not in a bowl and doesn't have any read beans or other things in it.

My grandmother used to tell stories of how they used to buy these ice balls when my mum and aunts were children. Back in the 40s and 50s, these ice balls used to cost 5c or less and they used to just wrap them up in news paper or sometimes, nothing at all. Kids would sit and enjoy these ice treats, sucking out the syrup and then throwing the ice at each other when they're done.

The sugar syrup left use with stained hands, lips and even our faces but we didn't care because it's not often that we get to have ice balls.

When we were there, there wasn't anyone at the barbers. I would have gone but I didn't need a haircut nor do I think do they cater to women.

I remember as child, back when I was still living Malaysia, I'd follow my babysitter to his barber for his haircut. I'd sit quietly, watching the barber trim my Abah's short hair, giving him a shave and even doing a shoulder massage. I know that my late grandfather used to go to these barbers too.

When Dude told me that he needed a haircut, I suggested that he go to one of these barbers but he refused, something to do with wanting to keep his ears. Pffft, as if the barbers would cut them off.

I would have taken more pictures but I was too preoccupied with my lovely ice ball to be taking anymore. Not even when we got our fortunes told at the Indian gentleman's table. His cute little parrot/parakeet (I'm really bad at bird identification), came out of it's cage and picked out our fortune card from the pack.

The entire event was an interesting and educational experience and I hope that more such events would be held, just so that we don't lose these old trades.

Damaged

2011-12-16T21:02:00.001+08:00

You don't realise how much damage a previous relationship had done to you until something triggers those old fears and you're hit with crippling doubt and insecurity.

It sucks.

It makes you want to scream and punch someone, preferably the one that left you damaged but mostly, you want to smack yourself for letting those things get to you.

I'm Supposed To Be Working

2011-12-13T11:17:00.001+08:00

Or rather, at least reading the research papers I brought. Instead I'm just sitting here, at the basement of an empty campus and listening to the sounds of construction and the chirping of unidentified birds.

I've seen less then 50 people on campus, in the last two hours I've been here. It's peaceful. Maybe just a little too peaceful since I find it too relaxing I even do work. All I want to do is to abandon my books and just lie in the sun for a little bit. However, the skies are turning grey so that might not be the greatest of ideas.

I think it's just too nice a day to be stuck with just books and coffee for company, making it hard to motivate myself to work.

At This Current Moment

2011-12-08T15:31:00.001+08:00

I'm sitting on the floor, along the corridor, right outside my lab. It's raining where I am and it just got heavier. I'm waiting for my samples to finish centrifuging so that I can keep them and go home.

It's been a superbly long day and at this rate, I think I might be too tired to even head down I meet my friends and attend the Lomo store opening.

It's been back to back of science related activities. More jam packed than when I'm at work and that's saying something. The best part is, I might have to repeat it all over again tomorrow. Ugh.

The security officer just walked by and gave me a weird look. I guess in normal school term time, you don't get tired grad students resting along the corridor.

Anyway, samples are done. Back to the grind.

Visiting Haji Lane

2011-12-08T14:00:00.000+08:00

When Dude used to be at Haji Lane, I used to spend quite some time there. The area has a different feel to it, compared to other places in the town area. There's not much going on in the day time but it comes alive at night.

Anyway, it's been a while since I've been there and my friends and I decided to take a walk to see new Snapshop Asia site at Haji Lane. The place was bustling and there were more than a few new shops that had opened since the last time I was there.

Tokyo Bikes opened an outlet there. They had pretty, colourful bikes outside their shop. They looked too pretty to be ridden around the city area, even though that's what they're built for.

They're not the only store to have bikes outside their shop. A clothes store also had colourful bikes to attract customers, though I didn't get the name of the shop. All I know was that it had a lot of men's clothing and bicycle tires in the shop.

Right next to Tokyo Bikes, a small ladies clothes shop had a dressed up sitting mannequin right outside. It just so happens that there was a fire hydrant next to it. To me, it looked like the mannequin was keeping the fire hydrant company.

On the way back, we passed by Going Om and as always, they had cool music floating out of the interiors of the bar. The place is usually crowded with people, chilling to the music with their choice of alcohol. Truth be told, if I was into alcohol and my bar hopping friends hadn't mellowed out, I wouldn't mind spending a few hours there, just chilling and talking.

I'd love to come back and check out the stores. Unfortunately, time is luxury that I don't have right now.

When Science Takes Over Your Sleep

2011-12-06T14:15:00.000+08:00

I couldn't sleep last night because I was worried that my mussels wouldn't survive the night. It sucks when you don't have any control over this.

I know that I'm not the first or only grad student to lose sleep over their project. I don't enjoy it at all!

I just want this stupid project to get completed soon so that I can finally go back to having a good night's rest.

Having Sashimi For The First Time

2011-11-28T11:08:00.000+08:00

As much as I love Japanese cuisine, sashimi is one of the few things that I've never gotten into. The thought of having raw fish was something that was hard for me to accept. I tried it once before but it ended rather horrifically.

On top of that, my experiences with salmon left much to be desired. I always found them more than a little fishy and a they have a very strong sort of flavour that I just could not enjoy. It wasn't until I had that one lunch outing with my colleagues and my boss to a nearby fusion restaurant that I realised that salmon, when superbly fresh, doesn't have that oily, fishy smell and the taste of the salmon isn't very strong. However, due to the fact that the salmon has to be fresh, I don't trust a lot of the restaurants that I go to, to serve really fresh salmon and knowing the standard of majority of the food places here, I'd rather not be disappointed.

Anyway, one Sunday while I was out with Dude and his mom, they got really fresh salmon at the supermarket and decided to make sashimi at home. I was expected to have some and no amount of begging and whining was getting me out of that. So I had to suck it up and try it.

Dude learned how to make the sashimi from his dad, who was entirely self-taught. I watched him carefully remove the skin and removing the pin bones from the fillet. Every single part of the fillet, except the pinbones, were carefully stored.

I've tried pan-seared salmon before, but it was a very, very thing slice. It tasted a not too bad but the texture of the raw fish was something that I needed to get used to, but I had that with lots of pickled ginger and wasabi, which I guess isn't really the proper way to eat it since you can't taste the fish.

So when Dude presented the plate of salmon to his mom and I, I had no choice but to eat it since according to him, this not eating raw salmon is a deal breaker. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The fish was firm without any fishiness at all. The texture of it in my mouth was not unpleasant but I wouldn't say that it was wonderful either. I could feel the gag reflex starting but I fought it down and managed to eat another slice before I gave up.

Personally, I thought that the slices were a little too big for me but I would say that it's an achievement for me to go from not eating sashimi at all, to eating two relatively big slices. It's going to take me a while before I can polish off a plate like everyone else but doesn't mean that I'm not game.

Little Cheflings, Blowing Me Away

2011-11-23T15:25:00.000+08:00

I caught one of the last few episodes of the first season of Junior MasterChef Australia and like I've mentioned before, the skill that these kids show, totally puts me to shame. I can barely cobble together a meal without much preparation and effort. These kids make it look so easy!

Anyway, the second season has just wrapped up it's episodes I think and I'm looking forward to watching that. Below is the promo for the second season. It's got a spoiler for who wins the last season, so you might want to skip it if you don't want to be spoiled.

The kids are inspiring and I hope that one day, my own children will be able to cook almost as well as those little cheflings.

The Deal With MasterChef Malaysia

2011-11-22T11:30:00.000+08:00

After watching a number of episodes from MasterChef USA and being totally blown away by the kids in Junior MasterChef Australia, I was relatively excited that they were going to have this somewhat close to home. For once, I was glad that I had cable and I was looking forward to watching it.

I didn't catch the top 40 contestants but I started watching in earnest when they started with the top 24 contestants. After watching a few episodes, I have rather strong feelings about this show and they're not what you can call as positive, mostly regarding the wardrobe of the judges. I'm convinced that the wardrobe/stylist person for this show hates their job because they seem to constantly dress the judges in some of the most fashionably questionable clothes ever, but that's not the point of the show.

As with the other MasterChef shows, the challenges given to the contestants are not easy. With the different cooking styles of the contestants, they're expected to make something delicious and looks nice. That got me thinking, how does one judge such dishes? Taste and beauty are subjective, differs from person to person. What is spicy to a person, may barely register to someone else (this I know very well).

In some points, I would think that MasterChef Malaysia is a little tougher when compared to the other non-Asian versions of the competition due to some of the ingredients used in the challenges, like snakehead (ikan haruan), shrimp paste (belacan) and even instant noodles, specifically curry flavoured Maggi (which is a sponsor). So how does one be creative with these ingredients when you're given 2.5 minutes to grab other ingredients and then 20 minutes to an hour to prepare.

Would the judges accept the ingredients used in the traditional way? Like making sambal belacan and serving it with fritters, or other traditional Malay cuisines? Would they be marked down for that lack in creativity? Sometimes, I don't know what the judges are looking for because they kept re-iterating that everyone didn't understand the challenge and that everyone's food sucked. So isn't it their job to explain what the challenge is really about instead of just standing around?

It's just too bad that the show's done with their recording so no matter what the viewers say or comment about, it's not going to change anything.

I Wonder What This Means

2011-11-17T10:30:00.000+08:00

There's a heavy metal double bill coming to town next year, with Judas Priest playing the same night as Lamb of God.

The last time LoG were in town, I had an exam that same night so I couldn't make it. I was still with the ex back then and he wasn't around either to go with me even if I wasn't having exams.

Now, two bands that he introduced me to are playing in Singapore and I'm, frankly, not even excited. I love their music but the burning feeling to experience a true, blue metal gig is just gone. I rarely listen to heavy metal now too.

I don't know what it means. What ever it is, I don't really care anymore.

Would It Be Totally Scandalous

2011-11-14T11:49:00.000+08:00

To attend a company function, themed "When I Grow Up", dressed in a corset, with a skimpy skirt or tight pants and say that I wanted to be a call girl, just so that I can use my corset again?

Or, turn up in a white shirt, black underbust corset, pleather pants and whip, and say that I wanted to be a dominatrix?

The underbust corset I'm talking about. Just pretend that I'm wearing what I described.

Too much?

You might be wondering why I'm rather hung up about wearing the corsets. That's because I HAVE THEM! Also, I don't get to wear them often enough.

That is, if I'm even going to this company function, since I'll on vacation break during this time they'll be having this thing and I may not be free to attend anyway.

Truthfully though, I don't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. In fact, I still don't know what I want to be.

What about you? What did you want to be when you grew up?

What Do You Do When Your Research Subject Dies?

2011-11-12T12:18:00.001+08:00

The latest batch of mussels didn't survive past a week and so I'm left feeling more than a little stressed and frustrated, so I'm going to take a little break to recover from this setback.

I'm going to get Obsidian Moon, Obsidian Eye by J. Damask, which is a continuation of Wolf At The Door. Both are available at Lyrical Press. I haven't read urban fantasy in a while and I really enjoyed the first book.

I'm going to do a tiny bit of shopping since it's been a long while since I've updatedy earring collection. Not that I wear earrings all that often now but whatever.

I'm going to read some comic books that I borrowed from Dude and going to lie in bed and catch up on some sleep. The last few nights haven't been restful since my dreams have all been about mussels.

Then, I'm going to stuff my face with ice cream and maybe maple syrup, if I can find the real stuff.

I'm going to rest, relax and may be try to write since it's been a long time since I came up with anything.

Not Feeling It

2011-11-10T11:36:00.001+08:00

It's almost the end of the second week of November and I'm way behind in my NaNoWriMo writing. Strangely enough, I'm not even fretting or even worried. I think that's because I have something else to worry about.

I know I've been talking about my mussel project for ages and over the last couple of weeks, I decided to take some time off over the next few months to finish it and just get it over and done with. The project has been like an albatross around my neck that I can barely think about anything else or even muster up the enthusiasm for NaNoWriMo like I normally can.

I'm finally getting the stupid project started and I just don't have the energy for NaNoWriMo. Those damn mussels sure take up a lot of effort.

So this year, like the last, the NaNoWriMo novel is going to get abandoned not even halfway through the month. I just need to get everything else in order and all will be good. I hope.

School Observations

2011-11-04T14:12:00.001+08:00

I'm in school today, preparing some stuff for my experiments next week. Due to my day job I don't normal come down to campus in the day and encounter the full-time students here. It's a different kind of experience.

As I sat down, having lunch, i noticed that school life here on campus isn't so different to when I was in school a decade ago. Students laughing in groups, eating, discussing school work and non-school related things.

The only difference now is that the students range from at most, a decade younger than me and at least a decade older than me. As the school I chose to do my graduate studies is also where they train would be teachers, it is also where they re-train teachers who have already been teaching for many, many years, so sometimes, I can't tell the difference between the students and the staff.

Anyway, the point is that, despite me being older and that I'm also a working adult, it's somewhat comforting to know that student life hasn't changed that much. Curriculum may change, the way subjects are taught may change and especially approved school attire may change, but one thing for sure, school is where people gather, make friends and interact with each other. No matter the age of the student.

Note: This post is written after I drank a relatively large cup of relatively strong coffee. If it's incoherent, I blame the rambling on the caffeine.

Started Your NaNoWriMo 2011 Yet?

2011-11-03T11:19:00.001+08:00

It's the start of November and also the start of NaNoWriMo.

Did I write? I did. Not a lot, just enough to catch up for two days worth of words (to complete 50k words in 30 days, you need to rack up about 1667 words per day). I managed some 3000+ words yesterday.

The need and the mood to write almost always seems to start when I'm at my busiest or when I'm needed to do something at that moment. Trying to maintain that need to write is quite difficult at the moment.

It's early days yet and even though I know there's a high possibility of me not being able to complete my novel this year, I'm going to try anyway.

Also, maybe that extra strong coffee this morning may not have been the best of ideas.

I should get some writing done.

Got Away

2011-10-28T13:07:00.001+08:00

At this moment right now, my colleagues are having a lab meeting but I'm not there. I should have been there but I just can't being myself to sit in and pay attention; even if we're supposed to have pizza and other things after the meeting.

Lunch time has always been time for me to get away from work and relax. Time to be just me and having to attend a meeting during the time in the day that is one of the few things that helps mr get through a work day was just to much.

So here I am, sitting under the scorching sun, along the Sentosa boardwalk, with a book and iced coffee.

I can feel the sun burning through my t-shirt and even my jeans but I'm actually loving it. It makes me feel alive and happy.

I don't think a lot of people will understand it but I needed this. I needed to get away.

I'm Not A Hipster. Right?

2011-10-25T11:50:00.000+08:00

I've always wanted to get a Holga after reading about it and seeing how colourful they are. I love how the photos usually turn out. Having friends who love analogue photography only helped me want to get an analogue camera of my own. Among my group of friends, we have at least 10 different types of analogue cameras between us, with different lomograpy cameras, sardine can cameras and even instant polaroid cameras too. Now we can add a Holga to the list.

Dude keeps saying that I'm such a hipster but I don't think so. I just happen to like the look of the camera and the effects that it has on the photos taken. I'm hoping that this little hobby won't be a half baked one.

It's Not That I'm Not A Morning Person

2011-10-18T13:50:00.000+08:00

I'm just not a friendly, bubbly, cheery one in the morning. Who would be if you have to go through the morning commute from hell, every morning.

I like my mornings to be peaceful, quiet and only interrupted by the mournful sigh when the coffee's gone. However, we don't always get what we want and I'm just 'lucky' enough to have colleagues who don't understand that giggling shrilly at nine in the morning is not really acceptable, especially when one has not had a caffeine boost.

Ok, so I might just be a grumpy bear in the morning. Doesn't mean I don't like people. I do. If they keep their damn mouths shut until I'm ready to deal with them.

Actually, I just happen to like peace and quiet at work at all times. So it grates on my nerves when one speaks in a loud voice, with a mouthful of food, and especially when it comes from a cute, young lady. It's most unbecoming.

Couple that with another colleague who slurps his drinks and food, it does get annoying when it's the only sound you hear other than the hum of the central air-conditioning and the infrequent sound of pages turning or phones going off.

I do try to drown out the sounds by listening to my own music but when they talk loud enough to be heard over Dethklok playing through my earphones, there's something wrong there.

Maybe I should just move to another work place where I don't have to deal with people at all.

You're Invited To The NaNoWriMo Kick-off 2011

2011-10-18T10:35:00.002+08:00

Unless you're a creep, then no.

So yes, it's the Kick-off Party once again. I'm expecting cake, crisps, soda of some kind and most definitely, meeting new people and hanging out with the NaNoWriMo Old Timers.

Date: 29 October 2011, Saturday
Time: 6.30pm – 8pmish
Venue: Multipurpose Room at B1, National Library at 100 Victoria Street

Just RSVP here and come on over. Grab your friends along.

The Upcoming November Madness

2011-10-17T11:07:00.000+08:00

In case you didn't realise, this is going to be one of the many annual NaNoWriMo posts. If you don't know what that is, just click on the web badge on top.

Anyway, I do have a story in mind but I think I'll be going into it half-heartedly since I don't have a clear picture in mind, though that has never stopped me.

Most people see this as a way to start their novels, they will eventually edit and then try to get it published. Me, I just want to purge a story and try to reclaim the writing high, which I've been trying since the first complete novel.

What ever the motivation it is for writing, I wish all the participants good luck, have fun and try not to burn yourself out.

What NaNoWriMo Has Done For Me

2011-10-05T14:00:00.000+08:00

It's the start of October and as always, I start planning and plotting for what I'm going to write for this year's NaNoWriMo. While I revel in the high of writing, trying to squeeze some hours of writing when I can and trying to purge the story I have in my head, I never once talked about the good things that NaNoWriMo has given me.

NaNoWriMo was the first event that I went where I got to meet people whom I met online. I'd always thought that writing was a solo thing and that there weren't people out there who are like me. I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong and there they were, spouting quotes from Monty Python, Terry Pratchett and internet memes. For once I could talk about something and not get blank looks.

I met people with similar interests, similar sense of humour and it was liberating to finally be able to be myself without hiding the part of me that loves books, stories and movies.

NaNoWriMo gave me a chance to be part of a writing group. I got a story published and was party of a group effort in publishing a novel.

If it weren't for this annual thing, I wouldn't have met the wonderful friends I have now and through them, I met so many more awesome people. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have discovered things that I love doing (even though I don't have much time for them anymore), things that made me discover who I really am and to not give a fuck about what others think of me.

So yeah, NaNoWriMo is awesome. Not everyone understands why I love it but to each their own.

Why I Love And Hate Rainy Mornings

2011-10-04T09:52:00.000+08:00

Rainy mornings. I love 'em. And hate 'em too.

Rainy mornings, especially when it's storming, are the perfect mornings to sleep in. I love snuggling under the covers and listening to the wind howling and the rain lashing against the window. I especially love it when there's s lightning storm and thunder is just booming, shaking even the apartment building. That mixed feeling of awe and fear is just lovely when you're curled up in bed, warm and toasty while you know it's wet and cold outside. However, rainy mornings are a bitch when you have to go to work. Even with the sheltered walkways to the train station, you get wet when the winds are strong enough to blow the rains horizontally.

Getting on the train is another matter as the trains would be slow and there would be a gajillion people at the train platform already since the trains are already so slow in arriving. Then, having to try to squeeze in with the rest of the island into those tiny train carriages, just to get to work.

For me, after getting off at the train station near the office, I'd still need to battle through the throng of people gathered at the bus stop. As the bus stop is one of the major bus stops in the area, there's a heck load of buses and people there. Always. All the freaking time. Even when it's not raining. When it rains, it gets almost impossible to get through the crowd without getting wet since everyone's crowded at the centre of the shelter and the rest of us have to squeeze through the sides of the crowd, just to get to the other side. This also means that I usually end up getting rain water dripping not just on my head but down my shirt too, which I must say is totally uncomfortable.

So yeah, love rainy mornings when I get to stay home and sleep in but when I need to get to work, totally hate it.

Celebrating My 30th Birthday In Style

2011-09-19T15:10:00.001+08:00

Or not.

Last Friday, I talked about my feelings about turning 30. I didn't really get to celebrate all that much on Friday since I was at work but my colleagues were really sweet and someone had gone out during lunch to get me a double chocolate cake.

I'm not much of a birthday cake person since I've always associated birthday cakes being smothered in sweet cream stuff which I hate, so I took to not eating cake until quite recently when I discovered, hey, not all cakes are like that. Anyway, I got a candle to blow out and everyone sang the birthday song for me. The beer party at work didn't hurt either, even though I don't drink.

My sisters decided that pizza and soda were needed to celebrate my birthday at home and that's what we had for dinner, while screaming at the TV during the rugby game.

Anyway, it wasn't until the weekend that I got to celebrate my birthday properly. The way I want to, by spending it with Dude.

I met Dude for lunch at Charco's Clementi. I had it once before when it was still at Ang Mo Kio and remember how good the food was. However, the lunch we had (ribs roast and a side of 2 salads) was frankly disappointing. The ribs were tough and cold, instead of tender and hot. The Chicken Avocado Salad didn't even have any avocado in it. Both of us agreed that weren't going to go back there again.

Then we drove to West Coast Park to see if we could fly our kite but sadly, the air was still and so we decided to take a walk instead and talked. There was this little body of water that I'm assuming was a mangrove area in the park that was like a little nature reserve thing. While we stood there, we saw a waterhen and a collared kingfisher.

As we walked through out the park, we saw black-naped orioles, olive-backed sunbirds and a lot of squirrels. We even saw tiny mud skippers on the sides of the drains too. Who knew that just a small park like that could have such a diverse variety of animals, if you paid attention.

When we're walked enough, we ended up at the McCafe nearby to cool down.

I had my first cup of coffee of the week and then promptly got my ass kicked at Monopoly Deal. It's a rarity that I lose 5 games in a row and Dude was so damn smug at the fact that he didn't even need to strategise to win. He just kept insisting that the cards wanted him to win, to which I say bullshit but that could just be me being a sore loser.

Since it was still too early for dinner, we drove down to another park near my house. Admiralty Park was a place that I've only been to a couple of times just to eat at the Sakura International Buffet, but never to wander around. I was glad that Dude was open to the idea of walking around the park trails even though we were both not dressed for a hike.

The weather was wonderful as it had rained earlier, so while the ground was a little wet and muddy, the air was cool and not very humid. There were a number of people already in the park, jogging, cycling or just walking around like us. Even though there was a clear sign that said no fishing was allowed in the area, there were a couple of people with their fish hooks in the water, hoping for a bite.

As Dude and I walked further up the trail, we saw less people and a lot more trees, squirrels and even monkeys. We saw a sign that said that there was a mangrove area and so we went to look for it. It took us about half an hour of slow walking through the trails, under the canopy before we got to the mangrove area. We were lucky that it was low tide and we saw more than a couple of giant mudskippers and another waterhen. I saw more animals that day than I've had in the last couple of months combined. It was fun.

Being on the trail and under the canopy, it felt like I was in a different place and the scent in the air was a lot like being back in my dad's home town, away from the city, when in truth, it was less than a kilometre from the main road. I never knew that such a place existed so near my home and I'm definitely going to make a point to go back again sometime.

As the sun was setting and it was getting dark, we made our way out of the park and to the nearby Botak's Favourites for dinner. I had a really fun day even though I was hungry, I couldn't eat much, so we finished what we could and we packed the rest.

The next day, we tried to see if we could fly our kites again, this time at Jurong Central Park. We managed to get the kite up for a little bit but there just wasn't enough breeze to hold it up. Even the other people who were there to fly their kites were left waiting for the breeze to pick up again.

After a couple more tries, we gave up and decided to go for lunch instead. Of course the breeze decided to pick up after we had lunch and by then were we just too full to unpack the kites again.

As we were leaving the park, I saw a lady with two tiny dogs. She had unleashed the dogs so that they could run around, I guess but unfortunately, one of the dogs decided to chase after a boy no older than four. The poor kid was screaming and trying to run away and the dad was trying to kick the dog away. The dog owner finally managed to catch the dog and leashed it again. That was the most exciting bit at the park.

Over all, I had a really great birthday weekend. I got some wonderful presents and I hope that next year would be just as great or better.

Turning 30

2011-09-16T11:20:00.000+08:00

Truthfully, I've rather been dreading today for the past couple of weeks. I used to be excited about my birthday but turning 30 and leaving my twenties behind feels like it's finally happened; I'm old.

When I look in the mirror, I can see the fine lines around my eyes. I can see how less firm my cheeks are and well, my body isn't as toned as it could be. The last two years of school and late nights too their toll. I now have dark rings under my eyes that are almost permanent and I'm tired all the time.

But with age comes wisdom and knowledge, I hope.

In the last decade, I've learnt a lot and what doesn't break you down, just makes you stronger.

I know what I don't want.

I know what I like.

I'm no longer afraid of trying new things or meeting new people.

Change still scares me a little but I cope (by having a panic attack first) but once I'm all calm, I deal and try to make the best of the situation.

I've met wonderful people online and some of them have become wonderful, great friends or more.

I know that I'll never be a full-time writer but that doesn't lessen my love for writing random stuff.

I know that life is not fair but you just have to try to make the best of the cards that you're dealt with and maybe, you may even come out on top.

I know where most of my strengths and weaknesses are.

So I guess, growing older isn't so bad after all. You learn new things about yourself, and everything and everyone around you.

I hope that this year forward, it would be wonderfully awesome, filled with people I love and respect. I hope to finally finish that mussel project and get it over and done with. I want to be happy. And loved. And also, get my hands on wonderful gadgets that I've been lusting over.

But mostly, I want a happy and blessed life.

I Fucking Hate Mussels

2011-09-14T15:13:00.000+08:00

And I've barely started my damn project. The stupid things keep dying on me and have you seen a dead, decomposing mussel? They're freaking disgusting because they don't rot, they liquefy!

Now, imagine half a tank of those liquified fuckers! Do you know how rank the entire lab can be?!

Right now I have tank of about 60-70 mussels but when I went back to feed them and change the water today, third of those fuckers died and it was horrendous.

Seriously, if they keep dying on me like this, how the heck am I ever going to get anything done?!

Fuck you, mussels. Fuck you, I say!

The Blogging Itch. What Am I To Do?

2011-09-13T11:47:00.000+08:00

Every couple of years, I have the urge to do something different with my blog. The last time the itch got so bad that I changed my blogging platform from LiveJournal to Blogger, mostly because I wanted a platform where I could easily modify the layout to one that I like.

Lately, changing the template has not been able to quell the itch and once again I'm thinking of doing something different. However, I do have some questions that I'd like to blast to everyone out there to see what they have to say.

1. Should I get my own domain/host for my blog? Actually, why do people get their own domain/host thingies?

2. Should I export my Blogger blog to Wordpress? What at the pros and cons of both?

3. Is there a local domain/host provider that you recommend? Why?

4. I'm thinking of combining my different Tumblr sites into my main blog. Is that possible to do if I get my own domain name and hosting?

Even though I've been blogging for a couple of years, in some aspect I'm still considered a n00b too, so I'll be most appreciative if you guys could tell me what you think in the comment section.

10 Things That I've Never Done.

2011-09-12T10:20:00.000+08:00

1. I've never been to Pulau Ubin. Really, I haven't. I've been to Kusu Island, St John's Island and Pulau Hantu but not Ubin; and for an environmental student, that's pretty strange.

2. I've never driven on the express way before and I've gotten my drivers licence since 2008. In fact, I've only ever driven once since I passed.

3. I've never had an alcoholic drink.

4. I've never tried illegal drugs (even though I had ample opportunity when I was in uni, if I'd just asked).

5. I've never roasted meat before. Chicken doesn't count. I'm talking about red meat.

6. I've never paid utility bills ever in my life, even though I've stayed on my own for a while. Staying in student accommodations in uni, I only paid rent and internet usage. I didn't have to worry about the water and electricity bills.

7. I've never tried sashimi before.

8. I've never watched a midnight showing of a movie.

9. I've never stayed out the whole night and return home in the wee hours of the morning or after the sun is up.

10. I've never successfully baked a cake in my adult life.

Testing out the iPhone Blogger App

2011-09-09T17:18:00.001+08:00

It's close to 5pm on a Friday when @hai_ren tweeted a link on Mashable about this app and so I thought I'll give it a try.

At first glance the app looks clean, with white background and the orange header.

When I first signed in, it brought me straight to the posting page to one of the blogs that don't use anymore. I had to figure out how to change to the blog hat I normally use.

I'm disappointed that I can't type this post in landscape. It most uncomfortable for me to type in the portrait keyboard.

Personally, I think this app is just for quick updates, with pictures and little texts since I think it would be difficult to create posts with links and multiple pictures.

Also the damn autocorrect is annoying me like crazy.

Any way, this is just my first impression of the app after only downloading it not 5 minutes ago. I'm going to give a couple more tries before I make up my mind if I like it.

Remember The Kampung Days Through A Child's Memories

2011-09-08T11:11:00.000+08:00

Eid is a time when members of the family, how ever extended, comes for a visit and without fail, they tend to talk about the good old days of staying in a kampung. Everyone assumes that I was too young to remember life back then but I do, though it's through the eyes of a four year old, it might be a different kind of memory.

My grandparents moved from the little wood and mortar house to our current apartment in the mid-80s, when the government was gobbling up land for development. My parents had taken my sisters and I for a drive to see what had happened to the site of her former home. It seemed that the area had been developed into a series of private condominiums and also some industrial area.

I might have been four and might not have spent a lot of time at my maternal grandparents home as I was staying across the Causeway at the time, I still had many fond memories of the laid back, simple life back then.

I remember the big, shady trees by the road side as my mom and I alighted from the bus. The bus stop was nothing but a metal pole with a metal sign with the numbers of the buses that stop there. A little, mom & pop shop with sweets, snacks and other wonderful things that a child loves, was situated very close to the bus stop.

My mom would take my hand and we walked along the sandy lane, hedged by tall lalang grass. I was small for my age so the grass looked so very tall. I remember hearing the cicadas chirping as we made our way to the house.

My grandparents' home was relatively brightly painted in glossy blue, green and yellow. The verandah was where my late grandfather would sit, smoking his pipe or talking to guests. As a child, the house compound seemed so big; the kitchen to one side of the house and the other side made up if fruit trees and a large (to me) poultry coop.

The house was shaded by a large tree that grew on a slope behind the house, so the darkest part of the house was the room facing the slope, where the fridge and the large grandfather's clock was. That room had always given me the creeps and I found out much later that it creeped out almost everyone too.

I had very fond memories of spending time with my grandparents at their house. In the morning, I'd follow my grandma to the poultry coop to help her feed her chickens and ducks. All I had to do was grab a handful of corn and chuck it at them. It fascinated me as the animals would waddle over, making a lot of noise and pecking at the ground for the bits of corn.

Grandpa would be feeding his pet songbirds while I watched. The afternoons had me playing in the sand in front of the house or helping my grandma gathering the fallen dried leaves for burning. (It was the 80s, everyone burnt stuff openly)

Great-grandma was staying with them and on days that she was well, she would sit outside and preparing the central vein of the coconut leaf to be made into a broom. I'd sit outside with her on the concrete wrap-around the side of the house.

Being the youngest grandchild at that time, I wasn't allowed to roam off the compound unless I was accompanied by an older cousin (which rarely happens) or by an adult (which is even rarer). So I spent a lot of time getting into mischief with sand, disturbing my grandma while she cooks or just doing what most children at that age do; nap.

I'm a little sad that my sisters never got to experience a similar childhood since they were born a couple of years after we moved but at least we have pictures to show them and so many stories to tell.

Eid 2011: A Week On

2011-09-05T09:53:00.000+08:00

It's been a week since we celebrated Eid. Usually, there would still be some lingering celebratory feelings but not this year. In fact, my family barely celebrated. Everything was done with a heavy feeling of obligation. We weren't in the mood to celebrate at all that we procrastinated the Eid preparation until the last weekend of Ramadhan, where we squeezed a couple of weeks worth of preparation into the last 4 days of Ramadhan. It was a feat and a week on, I'm still recovering from that exhaustion.

My mother had not planned to make the traditional rice cakes, ketupat, the traditional way, by weaving coconut leaves and filling them with rice before boiling. She had just planned to cook the instant ones that are available at the supermarkets, to make our lives easier. However, when presented with a bundle of cheap(ish) young coconut leaves, my mom couldn't resist and so my sisters and I were tasked to make them.

What would normal take my grandmother (when she was well), a couple of hours to do, took the three of us half a day to accomplish as we had to wipe clean each leaf individually. It was the very first time that we had to prepare the ketupat by ourselves, it wasn't any wonder why it took us so long

We ended up with a whole basket of cooked ketupats with sizes ranging from as small as a baby's fist to one that was one and a half times bigger than my fist.

We were so rushed for time that we didn't even make that many treats and cookies these year. We made just enough to serve our guests, when in previous years, I would make enough to give all my aunts at least a bottle.

The night of Eid saw my cousins coming over for pre-celebration meal and it just so happens that we had a couple boxes of sparklers and I thought, screw it, lets re-live our childhood (even though the youngest of us was 16).

We had to play at the void deck of the building as the sparklers were very smoky and we didn't want our neighbours to complain. I know that my sisters, my cousins and I had a lot of fun.

On Eid day, and the subsequent days after, we recieved a number of guests and this year, having developed Grinch-y, cynical feelings about celebrating Eid, it was an effort to slap on a smile and pretend that I'm all happy at having people whom I only meet once a year, descend to my house and ask me pointed questions about my life that aren't any of their business. So my sisters and I spent most of the time hiding out in our rooms, away from the crowds and only appear to greet the guests when the arrive and when they leave.

Maybe it was just me being grumpy but there seemed to be a record number of people pushing the buttons this year.

There was that lady with no filters what so ever, asking questions that aren't any of her business, without even attempting to make it sound less busybody.

There was that relative, who suggested to my aunt that maybe we have a black magic item that's preventing my grandmother from moving on (read: that she should be dead and that the body lying in the bed is inhibited by something nasty) (Also read: my kneejerk reaction to that was not pretty).

The best of all, the 3-year old boy who went into my room, poked me in the boob and licked my arm before running off to pull my mom's hair and then hit my domestic helper, all while the parents just shut up and watch.

I might just be a tiny bit pissed off with all of these but on the bright side, I only see them once a year.

Do you have any ~~horror~~ stories from your Eid celebrations or any festivities? Feel free to share in the comment section.

Friday Foods: Tumeric Chicken

2011-09-02T14:15:00.036+08:00

One of the things that I love about Dude is that he cooks and loves to experiment with spices. One of the latest things that he came up with is Tumeric Chicken. This recipe is very different from mine but I have to say, his recipe tastes so much better. Though that could just be because I was hungry when he served the chicken for dinner.

Dude has awesomely given me the recipe to his chicken and even pictures to go along with it.

Ingredients
2 tbs tumeric powder
2 tbs black pepper
4 tbs coriander seeds, ground in a mortar and pestle
2 tbs chili flakes
2 tbs vegetarian oyster sauce
4 tbs Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
900g chicken

Mix everything but the chicken together, for the marinate

Poke holes into the chicken skin side with a fork. The chicken should be clean and dry before adding it into the marinate. Mix well and marinate it for as long as you want.

In a non-stick pan, without using any oil, put the chicken in, with the skin side down. The fat will render out and you won't need to add any oil at all. If you want a crispier skin, remove the oil from the pan and place it skin side down in the pan to crisp up.

Serve it with rice or porridge or you can make it into a sandwich.

The marinated chicken can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.

Hipstamatic App Experiment: Outdoors, Under Sunlight

2011-09-01T16:55:00.000+08:00

Also taking using Hipstamatic, just for the heck of it.

I know that the Hipstamatic app has been around for a while and I've read about it almost everywhere. So when I finally ~~sold a little more of my soul to the great, big fruit~~ got on the iPhone bandwagon, I bought to app but due to a relatively busy time since I bought it, I haven't gotten around to trying it out as much.

Even though I've only gotten the basic pack, it still comes with 3 different types of film rolls: Blanko, Ina's 196, and Kodot XGrizzled, 3 different flashes: Standard, Dreampop and Cherry Shine, and 4 lens types: John S, Jimmy, Kaimal Mach II and Buckhorst H1.

With all these different settings, I have no idea which setting to use that's when I decided that I needed to experiment a little. I took a walk during lunch and snapped some pictures with different films and lenses, using the natural sunlight just to see what happened.

Here are the results.

The set of pictures below are taken using the Blanko film. Clockwise from the top right hand, I used the John S, Jimmy, Kaimal Mach II and Buckhorst H1 lenses.

The set below is taken with the Ina's 1969 roll, and with the same lens types. Ignore the little shading thing at the top of some of the pictures. I didn't realise that my fingertip was covering the

This was taken with the Kodot XGrizzled film, and the same lens types.

I love how the different lenses casts different filter effects on the pictures. It's really interesting how different the pictures turn out. However, to my eye, I don't see any difference between the different film types. If there is, maybe my plebeian eyes just can't see it.

Since the app has the option of using flash and also, different types of flash, I'm going to have to do another experiment just to see what happens.

If you are a Hipstamatic user and have some tips for me, feel free to leave a comment.

Friday Foods: My Traditional Comfort Foods

2011-08-26T14:15:00.057+08:00

I've always told my mother that I'm a city girl with a healthy appreciation for the traditional Malay foods. It's the simple dishes, simple snacks that I like best and my comfort foods are generally easy to make. At least to me, anyway.

One of the things that I love at any time of the day is fritters, dough fritters, with anchovies and onions. At a recent visit to my late granny's house, I discovered a variation to the traditional sambal belacan that goes superbly well with the dough fritters and boiled tapioca, another of my favourite traditional food.

Anchovy Fritters

Actually, this isn't a picture of the anchovy fritters. It's a picture of a variation of it, using over-riped bananas.
Photo by amrufm

Ingredients
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup dried anchovies, pounded or chopped roughly in the food processor
1 small onion, diced
1 egg
About 3-4 cups of water
oil for deep frying

Add in the egg and the onions together. Smoosh the egg and the onions together with you hand, to break the onion bits into the egg.

Into the flour, add the water bit by bit until it's enough to give a batter that's thick enough to spoon. Add in the egg and onion mix, and the anchovies and mix well.

Heat up the oil on medium heat and when it's hot enough, drop spoonfuls of the batter into the oil and fry until it's golden brown. Drain and serve it hot with your favourite sauce.

Here's a video on a how to do it:

The usual sambal belacan.
Photo by irwandy

The variation to the normal sambal belacan that I love to have with the anchovy fritters are easy to make and I usually make a big batch to last me a week or so.

Sambal Lonte

Ingredients
4 green chillies, roughly chopped
4 red chillies, rouphly chopped
2-4 chilli padi
4 shallots
1 clove garlic
a handful of dried anchovies
3-5g of toasted belacan
2-3tbs oil
salt to taste

Heat up oil in a pan. Toss in the chillies, shallots, garlic, belacan and anchovies in. Pan fry until the anchovies are cooked, and the onions and garlic are soft and fragrant.

Transfer all the ingredients from the pan into a food processor or a mortar and blend/pound until you get a good, chunky paste. Do not add water if you're using the food processor since you want the paste to be chunky.

Serve as accompaniment to anything actually.

I actually like to eat it on it's own.

The Cats In My Life

2011-08-25T10:41:00.000+08:00

I like cats, I really do but I also have a slight fear of them. How can one not be cautious when handling animals with sharp claws and teeth, and who wont think twice about eating you if you just happen to die and they don't have any food? But for me, mostly it's because of the teeth and claws.

Over the past couple of months, I've gotten over most of my fear of their claws. It helps when Dude keeps throwing his cats into my lap. I've gotten to the point where the cats can run all over me, climb over the back of the sofa right behind my head and having them sniff my feet. Heck, they can claw my knee too if they want, provided I'm wearing jeans.

Since I do talk about the cats relatively often, I thought why not introduce them. Also, since I can't have cats at home, I get to have taste of what it means to have cats in the house.

First up is Mama Cat, Sadie, formerly known as Kitty.

Sadie is, according to Dude, a Balinese chocolate point. She's fuzzy, smart, vocal and also rather fat.

Look at that face, isn't she just the cutest? She's almost 2 years old and I remember when I first saw her, she was about half the size she is now and not as dark.

Most of the time when I come over for a visit, I'll find her in the dark corner under Dude's desk, napping the day away. When she's awake, she'd saunter over and plop herself down in front of who ever is free, expecting pettings, scratches and lovings from the lowly humans.

She makes me want to pick her up, stuff her in my bag and take her home but because she rarely gets her claws trimmed (she's fussy like that), I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

Next is Baby Cat, Coco. Coco is the only surviving kitten of Sadie's. The other two didn't survive since Sadie was under a year old when she got knocked up by a roving Romeo. Coco was originally Harry, The Kitten Who Lived, until they realised that Harry was a female and so she became Coco.

Coco is very energetic, running around and playing with her toys. She's not a lap cat that's for sure, and she's one hell of a climber. I've never seen a cat climb as high and as quick as she does. One minute she's on the floor and the next, she's standing at the top of the cupboard, looking very proud of herself.

The one and only time she would lounge on my lap, looking forlorn was when she first came back from the vet after being sterilised. She had the saddest look on her face.

So these are the cats that helped me get over my fear, and are also the ones that leave me covered in cat hair half the time. They may not be mine but I do love them just the same.

Preview Screening of 'Game Of Thrones'

2011-08-23T10:46:00.000+08:00

Last week, I had the privilege of attending a preview for the latest show that HBOAsia is bringing in, the Game of Thrones. The event was held at ION Sky. This was the first time that I'd been able to attend an invite as I've always had classes during the last few events.

Anyway, I discovered that more than a few of my friends were also invited to attend the event. Dude came along as well as I was shameless enough to ask if I could bring a guest as I thought that he might enjoy the show. I met Sarah, Joelyn and Raven at { prologue } bookstore before the start of the event. After a couple of minutes of book browsing, Joelyn and Raven bid us goodbye and headed to the lounge where the event was held for cocktails, while Sarah, Dude and I met with Atiqah, the lovely young lady who invited us for the event.

We were told that since the canapés that were provided at the event were not halal, they had made arrangements for those of us who were going to break our fast. We met her at Meatworks and were informed that while the restaurant is certified halal, it's not shown anywhere as the diners are allowed to bring their own bottle of wine or liquor, if they so choose.

Dinner was a most wonderful affair. The food was good and even Dude, who has exacting standards for steaks, said the food was wonderful. Once everyone had eaten, we headed up to the lounge to attend the preview.

Before that, we had to put on our tags to show that we were not gate-crashing the party.

The lounge was at the 55th floor of ION. I didn't even know that the floors went up that high. When we arrived at the event area, it was like a disco, with strobe lights, drinks and music. I think Sarah said it best when she described it as, "A geek prom." I met the guys from HereBeGeeks: Peter(@prodigialgeek), Alvin(@direcow) and Wailong(@kakitaraisho), Red Dot Diva(@syzzlyn) and Clicktokill(@clicktokill).

The wonderful people at HBOAsia actually made a replica of the Iron Throne from the series, where we could sit down and take pictures. They had a professional photographer who would take our pictures and print them out and give it back to us, in between two pieces of magnetic acrylic, like a paperweight thingy.

Yes, that's me, sitting on the throne. Like a boss.

At around 8.30pm, everyone was seated and they played the first episode of the series. I didn't know what to expect really as I've never read the books. It was brutal, bloody and gratuitous naked side boob shots. I loved it! The gratuitous violence and the amount of blood that was shed in just that first episode would slake anyone's bloodthirst. It was most awesome! The episode ended too soon and with a cliff hanger that made me go, "WHAT?! THAT'S IT?! I WANT MORE!!!"

I seriously cannot wait for the next episode of the show.

We mingled a little bit more and took a more pictures but as it was getting late (and I had an early morning meeting the next day), we left. As we exited, we were handed swag bags that had a number of things that I really, really like. There was a foldable bag, that I've yet to unzip, a set of leather bookmarks with the crest of each House in the series imprinted into it, and a sword-shaped letter opener that came with its on sheath and stand.

The blade had the title of the series etched into it too.

It's one of the most interesting things I've ever gotten.

Anyway, I would say that if you like high fantasy, violence, sword-fights and sex, this is the show for you. It's like an unsanitised version of Lord of The Rings.

Here's a trailer for the show if you've not seen it yet.

I had a really great time at the event and I thoroughly enjoyed the show too. Thank you Atiqah, HBOAsia and their team for inviting me to this event. I can't wait for the rest of the series.

Game of Thrones will premier on HBO on the 28th of August, 10pm. Watch it!

The Home Stretch: The Last Week Of Ramadan

2011-08-22T10:39:00.000+08:00

Three weeks into Ramadan and now we're coming into the last eight days of the holy month.

It's a different kind of challenge this year, where all I can think about is food. One would think that it's normal when one is fasting but for me, it's not. I've never had the problem with thinking about food or hunger and this is year is the first. The cravings for carb-laden food is so strong that even on days that I'm not fasting I'd still be craving for it.

So in this last week of Ramadan, time feels like it's moving a lot faster. I've not made any Eid goodies this year due to actually being busy this year. I'm not even sure when my family will start with the pineapple tart making. The house needs to be put in order, ok, more like my stuff needs to disappear from the living room and placed somewhere where others don't mess it up so that we can pretend that we're not all pack rats.

Basically, my house is way behind on the Eid preparations and strangely, we're not panicking. I think that's because my grandma's not up and about to crack the whip at everyone to get things going. I think it's going to be a small celebration again this year, as everyone's busy with their own thing.

I'm still not feeling the magical feeling that usually accompanies the last week of Ramadan but I guess that's what it means to grow up.

Friday Foods: The Traditional Malay Fried Rice

2011-08-19T14:15:00.048+08:00

Or better known as Nasi Goreng Kampung.

Photo by hpgonline

The first time I had this was when I visited my late paternal grandmother and an aunt had made this. It was different from the fried rice I've known; it's spicy, a little on the salty side and hits the spot and burns the tongue, just the way I like it.

Ingredients
2 bowls of cooked rice, preferably stored in the fridge over night
3 red chillies, cut into big chunks
2 shallots
1 clove of garlic
3g of toasted belacan (shrimp paste)
3 long beans, chopped into 1/4 inch lengths or shorter
1/2 carrot, diced into small cubes
1/2 cup dried anchovies
1 egg, scrambled
50g of shrimp, shelled
salt to taste
3-4tbs oil

Put the chilli, shallots, garlic, belacan and a pinch of salt into a food processor or a blender and blend everything until it's smooth. Don't add too much water when blending as it will take longer to cook to a thick paste. Alternatively, you can pound the mixture in a mortar and pestle, which is the traditional way to do it. Set the paste aside.

In a wok or pan, heat up some oil. Throw in the anchovies and fry until their brown and crispy. They burn rather easily so take care when frying. Drain and set the anchovies aside.

Fry the shrimp in the same oil that you fried the anchovies in. It won't take long. Drain and set the shrimp aside.

Fry the pounded/blended paste in the same pan. Adding a little bit more oil will help with the frying, but not too much since it'll make you fried rice too oily.

When the paste is fully cooked (because if it isn't, your rice is just going to taste of raw chilli), add in the rice. The rice may be lumpy so break the lumps with your stirring utensil and stir to make sure that the rice is fully coated with the paste.

Add in the chopped vegetables. Stir the rice to mix in veggies and continue cooking until the veggies are cooked through.

When the fried rice is cooked to the point where the paste coating the rice granules is dry, stir in the scramble egg, cooked shrimp and fried anchovies.

Served hot with your choice of sambal or side dish.

Note: This is just the basic recipe for the fried rice. You can add in anything you want with it. Personally, I love adding in chopped up left over fried chicken from yesterday's dinner and a lot, a lot of fried anchovies. I'll usually add in a couple of chilli padi to give it that extra kick.

Friday Foods: Fried Maggi Noodles And Rice

2011-08-12T14:15:00.039+08:00

+

Photo of fried Maggi noodles by Brian J Chong
Photo of fried rice by iriskh

What do you get when you combine two different things, two different dishes into one recipe? Something totally new. While I was in uni, a friend of mine came up with this recipe, incorporating fried instant noodles and rice together. It's easy and superbly filling too.

Ingredients
1 packet Maggi instant noodles, curry flavour
1 bowl of rice, cooked and cold (preferably, yesterday's leftovers)Yes!
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
50g prawns, cleaned and de-veined
a handful of mixed frozen vegetables (optional)
1 egg
1 tbs oyster sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs oil

Boil the instant noodles according to the packet. Keep the seasoning aside to use later. When the noodles are cooked, drain and set aside.

Make scrambled eggs and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or pan that's big enough for the dish. Fry the onion and garlic until it's fragrant. Toss in the prawns and the frozen veg and fry until the prawns are cooked.

Add in the noodles and the rice. Stir it around a little and sprinkle the whole sachet of instant noodle seasoning all over the noodles and rice. Stir the rice/noodle mix to make sure that everything is covered in the seasoning. Add in the oyster sauce and mix well.

When the rice/noodles are well mixed with the seasoning and sauce, add in the scrambled eggs and mix thoroughly.

Taste and see if more salt and/or pepper is needed.

Served hot as a one-dish meal for any time of the day.

Note: Like all fried rice and fried noodle recipes, this one is just as flexible. You can add in anything you like, meat, fresh vegetables, processed mystery meat, you name it. I've only ever tried it with the curry flavoured instant noodles since it's my favourite. If you do try it with other flavours, do let me know how it turns out.

Ceramic Mug Making Lesson

2011-08-10T15:23:00.000+08:00

Over the weekend, my friends and I headed down to the Goodman Arts Centre for the adult mug making class. Ceramics/clay works was something most of us have not tried and we thought, why not?

On that scorching, Saturday afternoon, I met up with Sarah, Joelyn, Avariel and Raven at Mountbatten. Before this, I've never even heard of Mountbatten and didn't even know how to get there, even though there's a train station right smack in the middle of it.

When all of us were present, we made our way to the Arts Centre. That was when I saw this sign.

I wish they put up this sign in all the neighbourhoods because the dog owners in my area just let their pets poop every where and leave it for innocent neighbours to step on their pet leavings. It's gross.

Anyway, we had to cross the estuary and walk to the former School of the Arts (SOTA) campus, that was turned into the Goodman Art Centre.

The ceramics studio wasn't the only thing that was at the Centre. They have a few other studios and the centre also houses the National Arts Council (NAC).

We made our way to the sales office of the ceramics studio and paid for the class and the 2-year membership too. We then headed to the studio for an introduction to what we're about to do.

The studio was spacious, with a lot of equipment that I've never seen before. There was a grinder of sorts so that they could grind up unused excess clay for recycling, three different kilns and a pottery wheel. I've never seen those things up close before. Our instructor gave us a tour and showed us some of the works done by the other students and artists who use their facilities. It was interesting to see the different artworks and especially those done by young children. They were very good and very imaginative too.

After the tour, she showed us how she made the plain mugs that we were going to use for the day's class. She slapped on a lump of clay onto the wheel and with a little bit of water, she magically transformed that lump of clay into something else. Ok, so it wasn't magical but for artless people like it, it seemed like magic.

The mugs that we were going to work on were made the previous day as it needed some time to dry and harden so that it wouldn't break so easily when handled by amateurs like us.

We sat at the table and listened carefully as she gave us instructions on what to do, like making the handles or how to decorate the mugs.

It was a very interesting experience and compared to the rest of them, my mug decoration work was shoddy at best. I don't have imagination when it comes to art stuff like this so I just made what I like; cats. They weren't even nice looking cats. Dude said they look like troll heads. Ah well, at least everyone will know that the troll cat heads mug in the house mine.

So once everyone was done with their own mugs, we left the mugs at the studio to dry for three weeks. The studio will also glaze it and fire it in their kiln for us, which are part of the package. If we want personalised glazing with different colours, we could come back in three weeks and colour the pieces ourselves, for an additional payment of $10.

I hope that after the glazing and firing, my mug wouldn't look so bad. I would love to go back and learn to do more things at the ceramic studio.

Driving Through Geylang During Ramadan

2011-08-08T11:42:00.000+08:00

On Saturday, my parents decided to take take my sister and I for a drive after our Tarawih prayers, to see the Eid decorations at Geylang and see how bad the crowd was.

Look at the crowd!

I was glad that we didn't decide to park the car somewhere (assuming we could actually find a parking spot) and walk around the bazaar area that covered majority of the Geylang Serai shopping district. It was so crowded that it resulted in relatively bad traffic congestion at junctions when they cross the road en-mass. Fortunately, the was a traffic officer directing traffic or I'm sure someone would have gotten hurt.

Next up, badly taken pictures of the decorations. My only excuse, it's hard to take pictures in a moving vehicle. Allonsy!

I was disappointed that the decorations were only along Changi Road, ending at Geylang Road. In previous years, they had decorations along Sims ave as well.

This year, they had twinkling, white fairy lights draped from the big trees, blue fairy lights with dangling stars and crescents on it. It's pretty. I like that they stepped away from dangling ketupats because that's been done too often.

Even the overhead bridge was decorated rather prettily.

I would love to go back and take proper pictures of the area but highly likely it's not going to happen. Crowds and I don't really go well together.

Friday Foods: Nutella and Banana Sandwich

2011-08-05T14:15:00.008+08:00

Photo by snowpea&bokchoi

I actually discovered this a week before Ramadan, while I was searching for a light lunch at work. It just so happened that I dropped by the tiny cafe near the office and they had this. It's so easy and I just had to share.

Ingredients
Bread
Nutella
Banana

Told you it was easy.

Toast the bread to the desired level of toasty-ness. Any kind of sliced bread will do, I prefer wholemeal or multi-grain.

Spread the Nutella all over both slices of toast. Be generous.

Slice the banana into 1/3 inch thick and arrange it on to a slice of Nutella covered toast.

Slap on the other piece of toast. Cut the sandwich diagonally across and serve.

TA DA! A quick, semi-healthy sandwich that's perfect for any time of the day or night. I'm itching to try it with peanut butter instead of Nutella.

Friday Foods: Omelette The Way I Like It

2011-07-29T14:00:00.026+08:00

Photo bykthread

Eggs are one of the most versatile food stuff. There are so many uses for it and you can even have it on it's own. One of my most favourite egg related food item are omelettes. You can do so much with it and the best of all, you can have it as a meal at any time of the day.

Omelettes are a must have breakfast item for me when I go for a holiday and when the urge strikes me, I even make it at home.

Ingredients
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 of a small onion, diced minutely
1 cup of fresh mushrooms, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup grated cheese
2 slices of ham, sliced
1 tbs butter

Heat the butter in a non-stick pan until it's melted. Throw in the onion, ham slices and the mushroom. When the mushrooms and onions are soft, add in the egg.

Swirl the egg around to cover the pan. Mix the mushroom around in the egg before it starts to set to get all the mushroom covered with eggy goodness.

Let it set a little and dump in the cheese over the egg.

When the bottom omelette is all set, carefully fold it in half and continue cooking until the omelette is cooked through.

Serve with mash, sausage or my favourite, baked beans.

Note: I love using fresh mushrooms because the taste is totally different from the canned ones. I prefer using button, Swiss brown and portobello mushrooms for omelettes but you can put in any type of mushroom that you like.

I typically use chicken ham or turkey bacon due to the fact that I don't take pork.

As for the cheese, I like cheddar mixed with edam but you can put in any type of cheese that your heart desires.

Why I Go To Book Stores, And The Things I Do There

2011-07-27T10:52:00.000+08:00

Photo by LOLren

Every couple of weeks, I would drop by the big bookstore in town just so that I get my fix of book fondling.

Yes, I love to fondle books; molesting their spine, take in the scent of fresh, clean pages and flipping the pages to feel the breeze against my face. I have a book fetish and I’m not ashamed of it.

I love walking through the stacks, trailing my fingers against the spine of the books and reading the titles and the name of the authors, until one strikes my interest. If the book interests me enough, I may consider buying it. More often than not, I would go home with a book or two.

I’d admire the cover art of the books and compare the different cover art for the same book, if there is any.

I’d check out the new arrivals, even though I’ve already checked them out the last time I was there, which could be just be the week before.

The three major sections that I would always check out are the fantasy, horror and graphic novels sections, just to check if they’ve brought in anything new since the last time I checked.

I would pour over the collection of Moleskine products that they have and covet the different notebook selections that they have.

At the end of the few hours that I can spend at the bookstore, I would reluctantly leave the bookstore and look forward to the next time I can drop by.

Dear Coffee

2011-07-26T13:55:00.002+08:00

Photo bykkmarais

Dear Coffee,

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with you. Right now, I'm so full of love for you that I don't know how I'm going to deal with not having you around when Ramadan rolls in next month.

How am I to wake myself up and start the gruelling day at work if I can't have you? Heck, I can't even have your sister, tea. No caffeine fix for me in the day and you know that I can't have you in the evening either. It's not that I can't sleep but the caffeine-fuelled dreams are never restful.

I'm going to miss the sweet, bitter scent of you, especially since I found a cheaper alternative to the horrendously expensive local coffee at the food court near the office.

I may not have you often due to the fact that too much caffeine reduces the amount of iron my body absorbs, and that's bad for regular blood donors like me, but that doesn't make me love you any less.

And so my love, I shall see you again in September, when the fasting month ends and the celebration for Eid begins.

Much Love,
Me

Not Writing Enough

2011-07-25T10:14:00.000+08:00

One of the best ways to write better is to write constantly, every day. Write about everything you see, you hear, make up stories and the like.

And that's why I don't write as well as my friends and the writers I adore. I don't write enough.

Being busy with life shouldn't be an excuse to not write. Neither is the lack of ideas or mood.

If I want this enough, if I was serious enough about writing, I should write more, shouldn't I?

Friday Foods: Shakshuka (Poached Eggs In Spicy Tomato Sauce)

2011-07-22T14:00:00.002+08:00

Photo by Joe and Jo

I saw a variation of this dish a long while ago on the Food Network, though they used bacon to flavour the oil and then to sprinkle on the top. While looking for that recipe, I found something similar but more Asian/Middle Eastern.

Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 Anaheim chiles or 3 jalapeños, stemmed,
seeded, and finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
8 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. paprika
1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes,
undrained
Kosher salt, to taste
8 eggs
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
Warm pita, for serving

Heat oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 20 minutes. Season sauce with salt.

Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce's surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with feta and parsley and serve with pita, for dipping.

Note: I've not yet tried out this recipe yet, so if you do, tell me how it goes.

I Wonder What First-Time Visitors To Singapore Think

2011-07-20T13:55:00.001+08:00

When they go through the city and experience life here as a non-local?

Photo by jjcb

I wonder what do they think of the clean streets and beaches, without knowing that there's an army of cleaners who work very hard in the wee hours of the morning to clean up the mess that we, 'responsible' Singaporeans make.

I wonder what do they think of the strange, seemingly owner-less tissue packets on the tables in the hawker centres and food courts. I wonder if they think it's complimentary for guests.

I wonder what do they think of the never ending construction every where. Do they feel it a good thing? An inconvenience?

I wonder what runs through their minds when they go to the local clubs and see people dancing like this.

I wonder what do think of the Singaporean obsession with queueing up for everything and anything, even if they don't really know what they're queueing up for?

Or how rude and ugly the commuters can get if they happen to encounter them during peak hours, off peak hours, every hour of the day while on the 'public' transport.

I wonder if they'll ever come back.

And So, An Era Of Harry Potter Comes To An End

2011-07-19T10:55:00.097+08:00

I was twenty when the first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, came out in the cinemas and I went to watch it. That was a decade ago and yesterday, I went to watch the last instalment of the Harry Potter movies.

I'd always had the policy of reading a book first before watching the movie and that was the main reason for me to pick up Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone, so that I can tell which parts were changed or omitted from the movie. Philosopher's Stone led me to Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire. I read the first four books of the series in under a month. I never thought that as an adult, I would have been obsessed with a book series geared towards kids but I was. There was just something about the world of Harry Potter that just drew you in and wouldn't let you go.

Over the next ten years since that first movie, I would spend many hours reading and re-reading the books, placing my pre-orders for Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows and reading the books in one sitting, missing meals and refusing to interact with anyone until the books were done.

In fact, it was this Harry Potter obsession that got me into blogging in the first place.

The anticipation of getting the latest Harry Potter book or waiting to watch the latest Harry Potter movie is something I can't describe to someone who isn't a Harry Potter fan. The feeling of being a part of a group of people who love everything about the books, the story, the world that J.K. Rowling built for us, is just amazing. So I know that I won't be the only one who's privately mourning the end of a wonderful series.

Truth be told, I had mixed feelings about watching Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt 2. I was excited, of course, as it's a Harry Potter movie but at the same time, sad as it's the last one. The whole world saw Daniel Radclife, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint grew from the cute little kids they were, into the beautiful adults that they are now.

What no one expected was how much Matthew Lewis would change in the ten years since they casted him as the chubby, clumsy, yet brave Neville Longbottom.

That kid got hot!

The movies are like a sacred thing for me and I refuse to let anyone get in the way of me enjoying them. Prisoner of Azkaban (or what should have been called, the movie where Hermione Granger took centre stage because she looked good in a tight, pink sweater) was my least favourite movie (and book) out of the entire series and yet, I watched it twice and I told a boy who looked no more than ten, to shut to fuck up (rather loudly) because he just wouldn't shut up with the comments throughout the enter movie. Yes, I can be that mean to little kids if they don't keep quiet while I'm watching Harry Potter.

Anyway, when Deathly Hallows ended, I felt like I'd just said goodbye to a very good friend. I was sobbing through parts of the movie, despite already knowing the ending since I read the book at least twice. I wasn't the only one sobbing in the theater. I thought that they did a really good job turning the second half of the book into the movie. I'd always had trouble trying to picture the Battle of Hogwarts and I loved that the scenes from the book that happened not from Harry's POV, were translated on screen.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, it's definitely a must watch.

I know that Harry Potter will never really end, what with the upcoming Pottermore, and to paraphrase Dumbledore, Harry Potter will only truly end when there are none who are still loyal to him. As I'm looking forward to introducing the magical world of Harry Potter to my kids one day, I don't think it'll end at all.

Male Camaraderie From The Girlfriend's Perspective

2011-07-18T11:24:00.002+08:00

Over the weekend, Dude convinced me to join him for dinner with a group of his army buddies, the men he spent his National Service and reservist trainings with. I didn't know what to expect as I've never been to such gatherings before.

Photo by simonkoležnik

The dinner was at a Middle Eastern eatery/shisha smoking hangout at Sultan Gate. There were already a number of people there when we arrived. I was introduced to a whole lot of Dude's friends but to tell you the truth, I think I can only remember about five of them. As the evening wore on, more started arriving and in the end, there were at least 20 guys and 2 ladies, me and a girlfriend of one of the guys.

It was an interesting experience for me to see how these men interact with each other. As I didn't have any brothers nor many male friends, it was all a very eye opening and fascinating experience.

All of them were from different walks of life, with different backgrounds, interests and personalities but brought together through circumstances that were out of their control, namely, National Service. They greeted each other with manly hugs, slaps on the back and even kissing each other on the cheek, though I think that last was a joke.

Even though most of them had just seen each other not more than a few weeks ago during their reservist, they acted as if they'd not seen each other for years. From what I learned, some of them haven't seen each other for years due to their jobs and other reasons. I watched them lounge on the cushions (we were sitting on the floor), talking, catching up, eating and smoking shisha. It was a very relaxed gathering, with multiple smoke breaks in between for some of the guys.

I thought there would have been more raucous laughter, more dirty jokes and for me to feel left out but I wasn't. I found that I did have things in common with them and even if you don't, they guys were easy going and rather nice to talk to. I didn't expect to enjoy myself, frankly. Though, I was told later that the guys were holding back a lot of their usual antics due to the presence of the two ladies. Even so, they weren't rowdy or rude and some of them had been drinking too.

I'm not sure if this was the norm for most male gatherings but if it is, I think it's really cool. I wouldn't mind going for dinner with them again if I was invited.

Friday Foods: Thai Green Curry

2011-07-15T14:00:00.021+08:00

Photo by jetalone

The first time I encountered green curry was when my colleagues and I went to Bali Thai, for a fellow colleague's farewell dinner. I didn't know what to expect as I've never had it before. I was surprised at how creamy, yet spicy it was. At that time, I was on a cooking binge so I searched and found a relatively simple (but tedious) recipe for green curry from scratch.

Ingredients
For the green curry paste
* 15 large fresh green hot chillies
* 3 shallots, sliced
* 9 cloves garlic
* 1 tsp finely sliced fresh galangal
* 1 tbsp sliced fresh lemon grass
* 1/2 tsp finely sliced kaffir lime rind
* 1 tsp chopped coriander root (or substitute coriander stems if unavailable)
* 5 white peppercorns
* 1 tbsp roasted coriander seeds
* 1 tsp roasted cumin seeds
* 1 tsp sea salt
* 1 tsp shrimp paste (omit this is you're going vegetarian)

For the curry
* 400 grams beef (a little less then 450g)
* 1 tbsp cooking oil (corn, safflower or peanut oil, not olive oil)
* 3 tbsp green curry paste (more if you like it spicier)
* 2 1/2 cups coconut milk
* 2 kaffir lime leaves, torn
* 5-10 small fresh Thai eggplants, quartered
* 2-3 fresh red chilies, sliced diagonally
* 1/4 cup sweet basil leaf (optional)
* 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce (or salt if you're going vegetarian)
* 1 1/2 tsp palm sugar (or regular sugar if you don't have any)
* Sweet basil leaves and red chili slices for garnish

For vegetarian:
2 cups napa cabbage or chinese cabbage, shredded
1 medium red pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks
1 cup fresh or canned straw mushrooms
1/2 cup canned baby corn
1 cup tofu puffs (or firm tofu cubes that have been deep fried)
1/4 – 1/2 cup Thai basil leaves, loosely packed.

Preparation

Toast the spices in a frying pan until they're fragrant but not for too long as they burn easily. Combine coriander seeds, cumin and peppercorn in a mortar, pound well. If You don't have a mortar and pestle, you can use a dry blending attachment that usually comes with the blender. Transfer to a bowl and put aside.

Pound the chilies and salt together well. You can use a blender for this, just try not to add in too much water. Add the remaining ingredients except shrimp paste, pound until mixed well. Add the cumin mixture and shrimp paste, continue pounding until smooth and fine.

Slice the beef into thin pieces, about about 1/3" (3 cm) thick. Sauté the green curry paste in oil over medium heat until fragrant, reduce the heat, gradually add 1 1/2 cups of the coconut milk a little at a time, stir until a film of green oil surfaces.

Add the beef and kaffir lime leaves, continue cooking for 3 minutes until fragrant and the beef is cooked through. Add the remaining coconut milk, season with palm sugar and fish sauce. When the mixture returns to a boil add the eggplants. Cook until the eggplants are done, sprinkle sweet basil leaves and red chilies over, then turn off the heat.

Garnish with sweet basil leaves and red chilies before serving with hot rice.

Note: The last time I made this, I used all the paste that I made (yeah, all 15 sticks of chili) as I thought that the curry needed to be thicker and spicier. It depends on how spicy you want it. You can also substitute the beef with chicken or fish, though that changes the cooking time. Give it a go and tell me what you think.

The Reason Behind My Online Handle

2011-07-13T09:53:00.000+08:00

Photo by Steven Snodgrass

Sometime last weekend, during the Potter Party, the following conversation occurred.

Me: Mints? *opens a can of mint candy and passes it around*

Raven: How come you always seem to have mints on you?

Dude: *looks like he just had an epiphany* So that's why you're called Mintea!

I've been asked multiple times, why does my online handle sound a lot like mint tea or minty?

The simple reason, is that I like mints.

I've always liked mints. It's the only kind of candy that I would eat.

When I started out this blog after abandoning my livejournal, I wanted a fresh start. This included a new online handle.

It was difficult to decided what to call myself and then I thought, screw it. I'll just pick what I like, like mints and tea. So... Mintea!

Photo bythebittenword.com

And so, that name stuck. It's been five years since then and I'm not looking to changing it again.

So that's my story.

Catching The Shutter Bug

2011-07-12T15:57:00.000+08:00

I've never been very into photography, since my style of taking pictures is just basically point and shoot. I don't even bother editing the pictures either. So it's very much a surprise to me when I started to develop an interest in analogue photography.

Avariel has been part of the local lomography scene for a while and she always seemed to have the cutest camera when she went out with us on adventures. Her interest was contagious as not long after that. Raven started her own collection of lomo cameras. I tried out Avariel's Diana+ camera but I have yet to get the film developed, so I have no idea how it turned out. I had fun just snapping away at almost everything.

Recently, I discovered that there are Holga lens attachments for the Instax mini 7s, which I already have. Technically, I bought the Instax as a birthday present for my sister but she rarely uses it, so I sorta claimed it as my own.

Anyway, there were the Fisheye lens attachment set as well as the Wide and Tele lens set. There were also the Close up & Macro lens set and the Filter lens set too. Cool huh?

I tried out the lenses to see how they look and I rather like the effect.

I tried out using just the adapter, followed by the wide angle lens and then the tele lens, respectively. The adapter itself added a slight vignette effect to the picture and I rather like it. The wide angle lens is rather cool. The dark vignetting looks really nice against the bright centre. The tele lens however, I'm not so sure. It's interesting but I'm not sure when is the best time to use it, or how to use it effectively.

These lens attachments have renewed my interest in getting a real Holga for myself, as I really like the unique effects that develop in the pictures.

Photo by Vick the Viking

I'd love to play around with the different lenses, filters and film types just to see what kind of effects you get. I'm the least artistic person out there but just the thought of experimenting with the different accessories sounds exciting and fun.

However, the main reason for me to not getting it yet is that, getting the camera would mean, getting the different accessories, film and of course, the cost of film would be rather high. Also, I've heard how addictive photography can be.

So at the present moment, I'm trying very hard to resist the pull to get a new camera. I'll just play around with the Instax and hopefully, just be happy with it as I'm not ready for the commitment of spending moolah on shit load of camera stuff.

Potter Party At The Library

2011-07-11T11:00:00.000+08:00

Photo courtesy of Raven

One of the best things about having friends that are very big Harry Potter fans is that they plan really cool parties. Since the latest Harry Potter movie will also be the end of the series, my friend Sarah decided to organise one for the fans, to celebrate, to recap and I think, also to mourn the end of a decade of Harry Potter movies.

The party was held at the multi-purpose room at the library and was open to all fans. We were encouraged to dress up as characters from the movie. I'd initially wanted to make a Death Eater robe but I didn't have the time (or frankly, the inclination) to sew the robe. Heck, I didn't even finish making my wand. However, I had a Gryffindor House t-shirt, so I was all set.

We met at the library and while waiting for everyone to arrive, we busied with the tying of the house ties and well, just taking pictures. I brought my Instax camera, hence the scanned pictures of instant film.

When everyone was there, some of us decorated the room, some of us got into our costumes while I the rest of us guarded the door against over-eager party attenders, and there were a few.

The party was hosted by Nymphadora Tonks and Bellatrix Lestrange, giving us the good vs evil vibe. It was fun; quizzes, house points, book recaps and even a re-enactment of some scenes in the book.

The Hogwarts teachers were dressed rather casually but then, it is a party after all.

The party was concluded with a feast that included cake, Berti Bott's Every Flavour Beans and even Butter Beer, contributed by one of the teachers. I didn't stay long for the feast but it was still going strong when I left.

I know that most of us are actually excited about the new movie but those of us who've read all the books and watched all the movies, multiple times in the last decade or more, it feels like we're saying goodbye to a beloved friend. So what better way to send off a friend than an awesome party?

Friday Foods: Black Pepper Beef

2011-07-08T14:30:00.026+08:00

Photo by irwandy

My best friend is an awesome cook and I really like the way that she does her cooking; simply throwing everything together, roughly cut and just going with the feel of it. One of the many recipes that she shared with me is the black pepper beef, which is versatile and simple to do.

Ingredients
1/2kg of beef, thinly sliced and marinated with chicken stock granules
1 medium onion, sliced
3-4 tbs thick, sweet soy sauce (or to taste)
1/2-1 carrot (depending on the size), sliced into thin strips
1 green onion, sliced diagonally to about 1-4 inch thick (or what ever size that you want)
1 bell pepper, core removed and sliced into strips or cubed
1 tbs cornflour, mixed with a couple tablespoons of water
1-2 cups water
1 egg
white and black pepper to taste
1 tbs oil

Heat up the oil in a pan or wok and throw in the beef and the pepper.

Stir it around and once the beef is cooked, add in the onions and stir until it's soft.

Add in enough water just to cover the meat and stir in the soy sauce. Taste to see if you've added enough of the soy sauce and pepper.

When the mixtures bubbling, add in the cornflour mixture to thicken. You don't have to add in everything. Just add, stir and see if it thickens to what you want it to the consistency that you want.

When it's thickened, reduce heat and add in the vegetables, mix and cover. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked through.

Turn off the fire and break an egg into the pan/wok. Serve with hot rice or you can eat it on its own.

Note: You can add in any kind of veggies that you like; broccoli, cauliflower and mushrooms are some examples that you can use.

Me And My MILO

2011-07-07T10:15:00.004+08:00

Photo by Nestle

I grew up drinking MILO, the popular malted chocolate drink. It was one of the first things I asked for when I woke up and still remains one of my comfort food/drinks when I'm feeling low. It's also a meal replacement for me when I'm just too lazy to eat or in need of a quick snack.

I didn't realise that MILO has been in the region for far longer than I thought. It wasn't until I found this ad for MILO from the 70s.

I would say that most of us in Singapore grew up drinking MILO. Now days, my MILO drink in the morning is almost always spiked with a little coffee, for that extra kick of caffeine.

Now days, there are so many variations of MILO drinks out there and one of the most popular one is the MILO Dinosaur.

Photo by mulberry leaves

This is when a large glass of iced MILO is topped with a thick layer of MILO powder. It's wonderfully sweet, cold and if not drank right, might induce cough fits from inhaling the MILO powder straight into the throat.

Even the ads have also changed with the times.

Even so, the message is still the same, MILO is good for you. It also tastes very good.

MILO is so popular in the house that whenever anyone buys the pre-packaged MILO drinks, it usually doesn't last more than a few days. It's just something that my sisters and I really love, even as adults.

When I was in Australia a long while ago, I discovered that the MILO blend in Australia tastes differently from the one that we get locally; it's more chocolaty and goes so well when mixed with warmed milk. So I was overjoyed when I discovered that we could actually get the Australian blend here. It costs a little bit more but for MILO lovers like it, it's worth paying a little bit more.

MILO is the one drink that will almost always help make me feel better.

Currently Reading: Mercedes Thompson Series

2011-07-06T11:07:00.000+08:00

As I mentioned before, I love all things related to vampires, werewolves, magic, witches and fae. So when was done with the previous series that I was re-reading, I picked up the one that went back to urban fantasy. I picked Patricia Briggs' Mercedes Thompson series.

Mercedes Thompson, the protagonist of the series, is flawed (as all interesting and believable characters are) and human, even though she isn't fully human. She can change into a coyote at will and just so happens to be working as a mechanic in a workshop previously owned by a gremlin and she's neighbours with the Alpha of the local werewolf pack.

Mercy, as she's called by those close to her, seems to have a habit of getting into trouble, though not always her fault. It just seems to follow her around. Living in a city that's packed with supernatural beings, there's bound to be trouble some where.

Moon Called is the first book of the series, where we're introduced to Mercy's world and the creatures in them. We get to know her background and also her relationship with Adam Hauptman, the werewolf Alpha. As the series progresses, we see a relationship develop and we get to know more of Adam's pack as well as Mercy's friends, and of course, enemies too. In each book, Mercy gets tossed around, hit, shot, bitten, basically hurt really bad. Clothes get torn and bloodied and people die.

What I love about this series is that, Mercy doesn't take shit from anyone, not even werewolves who could kill her with just a snap of their jaws. In fact, what ever is dished out at her, she returns it at least double and she's not above fighting dirty. She's funny, smart-mouthed, loyal and stubborn to a fault and refuses to be rail roaded to do anything that she doesn't like.

Other than the four books, Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed and Bone Crossed, there are 2 other books in the series, Silver Borne and River Marked.

Other than these books, there is also the graphic novel.

Homecoming is about how Mercy came to live in the Tri-City area and working as a mechanic. It's not necessary to start with the graphic novel. Each book can be read as a standalone novel but it's always better to read it chronologically as it is more comprehensive that way.

I'm actually halfway through River Marked at the moment and absolutely enjoying it.

One of the things that this series had me thinking, what if our world was like Mercy's; where the fae and werewolves are openly part of the community, though still not fully accepted. Would it be extremely scary to have what we used to think as just fantastical make-believe creatures are actually real and may be your neighbour? Think about it.

A Weekend Of Fun: High And Dry

2011-07-04T11:28:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since I went out with my friends, Raven, Sarah, Avariel and Joelyn, due to school and other schedules. Saturday was the last scheduled 'adventure' day before Raven goes off to Down Under for school. I missed out on the iFly and the Mega Zip since I had to go back to school for a few hours but I met them in the evening for the Luge and Skyline ride.

It was a really hot but beautiful day. So while I waited for them to meet me at Imbiah Station, I sat in the shade with a bottle of water and a book. When they finally arrived, all of us were badly in need of a rest in air-conditioning, so we headed to Victoria Secrets and other air-conditioned shops for a while.

Unfortunately, VS didn't carry their cute line of panties when we went so we headed to the various candy shops that were nearby, Candylicious and Hershey's.

Something about being in a candy store makes me feel like a little kid again; so many different type of sweets, candy and chocolate that I just want get everything. I didn't of course, since I don't have that much of a sweet tooth. I settled on a packet of Pop Rocks and mints.

The major reason for me to get that particular mint was because of the tin. It's cute and the art looks very much like the old comic strips. I was pleasantly surprised that the mints were in the shape of lips but disappointed that eating the mints may not necessarily put you immediately in the mood to make out.

Anyway, after going to both candy shops, we made our way to the Luge and Skyline area. All of us bought the 3 ride combos and headed to the queue for the Skyline ride that will take us to the top of the hill for the luge ride. I have to confess that, while I don't have a fear of heights, being high up does make me nervous, especially if my legs are dangling down.

The first ride up the Skyline was rather nerve-wrecking for me the moment we hit the peak of the line and as well as when the Skyline goes down, but my friends were awesome in distracting me. When we reached the top, we got our helmets and queued for our little luge karts. Did I mention that there were a heck load of people at the luge that day? There seemed to be a lot of tour groups that day.

When it was our turn, after a quick run down of the instructions, we zoomed down the hill in our karts. It's been a really long time since I drove, and while I know that luging and driving are very different, there's something exciting about having the wind through your helmeted hair. I was moving slowly the first ride down to the bottom of the hill, slow enough that kids were overtaking me on the right and left. Kinda embarrassing actually, but fun.

The second and third ride up the skyline were much better since I knew what to expect and I wasn't so nervous. The luge down was so much more fun since I took the trail down that had multiple turns. I was going down at as fast a speed that I could manage without flying off the kart.

I was disappointed when I reached the luge station at the bottom of the hill. I wished that there was an option to purchase more rides. I had a lot of fun speeding down hill.

All of us were dehydrated by the end of it and to make things worse, we walked all the way back to Vivocity since the monorail back was so packed and the queue was snaking all the way around the station.

I was still recovering from dehydration when I went kite-flying with Dude the next day. I couldn't find my colourful rainbow kite so I bought a new one, the gaudiest thing they had in the store.

We got the spooled kite-line to go with this new kite and headed to the nearest park, which was popular with kite flyers in the west. There were already a number of people already there and flying the kites. There was a man and his sons flying parachute like sails.

Dude helped me tie the kite-line and it wasn't long before we got the kite in the air. The strong winds helped but I wasn't used to using the spool so I had a lot of trouble controlling the kite. The last time I went kite-flying, I didn't have as much trouble with the kite. It was frustrating that I couldn't control the kite and especially when it crashed into a tree and we couldn't get it out.

Dude ended up cutting the line and then getting the kite down buy throwing his shoes at it. By then I was tired, hungry and dehydrated so we packed up and headed to the nearby McDonald's for lunch. After lunch, as we headed back to the mall from the park, we saw a man flying a kite that was easily three times the size of mine. The spool that he had was at least half a meter in diameter and he needed a sling across his shoulders to carry it. It was amazing!

Later that evening, I didn't realise how bad my dehydration was until my body temperature spiked up and I was all feverish and breathless. So Dude made sure I finished at least a bottle of isotonic drink, followed by dinner and another bottle of water. It worked, since my body temperature went down to normal and I was feeling so much better.

Despite the dehydration and the frustrating kite-flying session, I did have fun. I'd do it again but not so soon.

Friday Foods: Spicy Soy Sauce Beef

2011-07-01T14:30:00.006+08:00

Having to cook for myself when I was studying abroad meant that I usually asked around for easy recipes to cook. One of my favourite beef recipes to do was one that was give to me by my ex's mother, a simple yet spicy soy sauce beef recipe or better known as Daging Masak Kicap (pic). It's my go-to recipe when I feel like having beef and also one of my favourite dishes when my granny used to make them.

Ingredients
1/2 kilo of beef, cut thinly
2 potatoes cut into wedges and fried
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
6 shallots, sliced
a little bit of sliced ginger
Mixed together - 1 tsp chilli paste & 1 tsp curry powder
2 fresh red and green chillies, sliced
2 tsp vinegar

Marinate the beef with a little bit of salt and tumeric powder. Fry the beef in a little bit of oil. Add in a little bit of water and cook the beef until it's well done. Remove the beef from the pot.

Add in a little bit of oil and fry the garlic, shallots and ginger. Add in the chilli past and curry powder mixture and fry until it's fully cooked (basically when people outside of the kitchen are sneezing). Add in half a glass of water, soy sauce and a little sugar. You can add in a little crumbled cube of beef stock if you want. Stir until the sauce has thickened.

Add in the beef, the potatoes, fresh chillies and vinegar. Stir and simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot with rice.

Serves about 4.

Currently Reading: Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdom (Series)

2011-06-30T11:00:00.033+08:00

Lately, I've been going through my collection of high fantasy novels, taking a break after all that vampire stuff for a while. My current reading list includes the first four books from the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdom series by Mercedes Lackey. This series is basically a re-imagining of the different fairy tales that we grew up with, like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel. Add in a dash of romance, magic and battles, you get the wonderful series

The Fairy Godmother
The first book of the series gives us an introduction to the Five Hundred Kingdoms and how the Fairy Godmothers steer the Tradition, which is the magical force that determines how things turn out, into the path of least danger and hopefully happiness. This story tells of what happens to a girl who was supposed to be the Cinderella of the kingdom, but due to circumstances that prevent her from fulfilling her role in the Tradition, ends up being a Godmother.

Being the first book that started me on the series, I have to say, this is my favourite out of the lot that I have. Strong female characters who are on equal footing with their partners, are always a good read.

One Good Knight
This is like Clash of the Titans. Ya know, princess being offered to the creature as sacrifice to protect the kingdom? What if there's more to it than just simply to keep the kingdom safe? This book introduces dragons, a very special knight and a very smart princess.

Once again, you have strong, smart female characters. See a trend here?

Fortune's Fool
Katya, seventh daughter of the Sea King, is the eyes and ears of her father on dryland. When she meets Sasha, the seventh son, Fortunate Fool and Songweaver of the King of Led Belarus, sparks fly and they fall in love. As always, something happens and they get separated, leaving Katya to figure a way out the danger she's in and Sasha, finding a way to get to her, with help from unexpected places.

I've never heard of the folklore of the seventh child until I read this story. I don't know much about it other than the fact that the seventh child is granted with special powers or gifts.

Totally not relating to this story, the only seventh child I know of is Seventh Son of the Seventh Son by Iron Maiden.

The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen, Godmother Aleksia, is falsely accused of stealing men and killing whole villagers. When she discovers that an imposter had claimed Aleksia's title as her own and is the one causing all the disappearances and deaths, Aleksia goes out to fix the problem herself.

I don't know much of the story of the Snow Queen other than she takes little boys who are naughty. That's about it. To me, this is the weakest of the four books. The ending was abrupt and hurried.

As I was looking for pictures of the book covers, I discovered that there's a fifth book in this series, The Sleeping Beauty, which I've yet to read. I think a trip to the book store is in order the next time I'm in town.

Caffeination

2011-06-29T11:15:00.000+08:00

Image from antwerpenR

I love coffee. I love everything about it; the taste, the smell and even the different types of it. Even the effects of caffeination is something I enjoy.

I speak really fast.

I ramble.

I feel like dancing to anything catchy (I would too, if I was alone).

I feel like writing.

I feel like running around and just doing silly things

What I don't like is the effect of a caffeine crash.

That's when I can't breathe, I can't hear very well, I get palpitations, the shakes and on rare occasions, the runs.

That still doesn't stop me from drinking a heck load of coffee, I'm an addict that way.

Friday Foods: My Mother's Rendang

2011-06-24T14:30:00.009+08:00

It's been a really long while since I posted a recipe for this column. Things have gotten a bit hectic but fear not, here's a recipe for you.

Photo by arnold | inuyaki

One of the dishes that one must have for Eid is rendang. There are many variations of the dish, using many different types of meat. I have an aunt who makes turkey rendang. Anyway, this dish is rather easy to make, that is if you don't take into consideration the amount of ingredients you need.

Ingredients
1kg of beef, sliced
5 tbs coriander
1/2 tbs fennel
1/2 tbs cumin
20 dried chillies, cut open and soaked in hot water for at least 10 minutes
4 fresh chillies
3 lemongrass
6 cloves of garlic
3 shallots
1 large onion
2 inches turmeric
2 inches ginger
2 candlenuts
15 cloves
10 cardamom seeds
2 inches cinnamon
2 star anise
400ml coconut milk
100g kerisik
4-5 slices of tamarind, soaked in water
1/2 cup oil
1 turmeric leaf

Boil the beef with a stalk of lemon grass, a clove of garlic, sliced, and half an inch of ginger, sliced.

In the mean time, ground the fennel, cumin and coriander, and set it aside.

Drain the soaked chillies and put it in the blender with the fresh chillies, garlic, shallots, onion, turmeric, ginger, candlenuts and the bottom 2 inches of the remaining two lemon grass. Fill half the blender with water and blend all the ingredients until you get a smooth paste.

In a wok, heat up the oil and fry the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and star anise for a little while before adding in the blended ingredients. Mix in the ground spices and fry until the paste is dry, lumpy and fragrant. Add in about 1 tablespoon of salt and about 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, depending on how sweet or salty you want it.

Add the fried ingredients into the pot of beef that is boiling and stir in the coconut milk, the drained tamarind and the kerisik. Slice the turmeric leaf into the pot. Pound the remaining stalks of lemon grass and add it into the pot. Reduce the heat and simmer until the beef is tender and the gravy has thickened.

Serve hot with white rice.

So Apparently, You CAN Make Chilli Without The Pre-mix

2011-06-22T16:47:00.000+08:00

A while back, I posted about my modification to the McCormick's chilli recipe. Yesterday, I discovered that I could actually make chilli, without using the pre-mix at all and I have to say, it tastes better too.

Dude picked my up from work and I thought, since it was nearly dinner time and what I have at home isn't suitable for his slow-carb diet that he's trying out after reading The 4-Hour Body, I thought, why don't I make him dinner. The fastest thing that I could make was chilli and I could add in an extra helping of kidney beans for his carb intake. Unfortunately, the supermarket that I went to didn't have the pre-mix and I'd ran out of it at home. So I thought, screw it, I'll just see what I have at home and I'll just wing it.

It worked out!

Ingredients

300-400g of mince meat
2tbs chilli powder
2tbs paprika powder
2tbs cayenne pepper
1-1.5tsp cumin
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 can diced tomato
1 can kidney beans, undrained
1 can kidney beans, drained
2 tbs oil
salt to taste

Heat the oil over a large flame and dump in the onions and garlic. Sweat them out until their nice and soft and add in the chilli, cayenne and paprika powder. Fry the mixture until its lost it's 'fresh' chilli scent.

Add in the meat and fry until the meat is fully cooked. Add in the cumin, tomato and beans. Mix and bring to a boil. Taste and add salt to your taste.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until it's mostly dry, depending on how you like your chilli. Turn off the heat and serve.

Simple, huh?

Frankly, I'm Rather Sick of Mussels

2011-06-20T09:48:00.000+08:00

One of the benefits (downside?) of doing a research project on mussels is that what ever mussels that do not fit the requirement for my project, either too big or too small, I get to take home or give it away to someone else. Since Dude had been helping me with not only the transportation of the darn things, he also helped me clean them and put them in tanks, it's only natural to give him the mussels that I don't need. What we didn't expect was how much mussel there would be left over.

Dude took them home and cooked them and shucked them. He ended up with a kilo and a half of mussel meat which he then made into various dishes. Five days on and he still has a big bowl of mussels left and he told me that he was also getting tired of having mussels.

One very awesome benefit of dating a man who not only cooks but is also imaginative in the dishes that he comes out with, I get to taste his cooking. On one of the days that I was at his place, he made Korean mussel soup with rice cakes for me and a mussel salad for him, to go with his rice cakeless Korean mussel soup (He's on a diet. Don't ask.)

As good as the salad and soup were, I could barely finish it since it was day 4 of us eating mussels and I was not a great fan of bivalves in the first place. I'd only eat them if the taste of it was covered up by a lot of garlic butter sauce, like at Manhattan Fish Market.

So yes, day 4 and I'm already not looking forward to the next batch of mussels that will be coming in a few weeks. Urgh.

Why did I choose this in the first place?

So Not Ready For This

2011-06-14T10:19:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow, I'll be heading down to school to start with my research project. As I lay in bed this morning, thinking of the things that I need to do, I realised that I'm superbly unprepared for it. My tanks aren't set up, I haven't mixed the sea water and heck, so many other minute details that I need aren't even done yet.

For the umpteenth time, I wish that I was a full-time graduate student instead of a part-time student trying to juggle school and work at the same time. I don't have time for anything and now I'm starting to realise why my peers and my seniors before me took time off from work for a couple of months to do their project.

I'm scared. Very, very scared that I'm not able to finish my experiments and writing up my thesis by end of next year. I feel the panic starting to set in and I haven't even started anything yet.

I know that I've been procrastinating a lot and yes, that's my fault but now that it's really starting, just thinking about the scale of the work that I'll be doing, really scares me.

I'm just hoping for more time. Need a time turner. Like seriously.

The Ultimate Vampire Book

2011-05-30T16:00:00.000+08:00

Bram Stoker's Dracula was the book that started it all. They made so many movies out if it and of course, so many different shows and stories/novels based on the idea that the dead can come back to life, with a hankering for human blood.

I've been wanting to read this book for the longest time. It was while I was reading The Historian that I decided to get a copy of Dracula for myself. I wanted to know what was so interesting with this story that there's been so many different remakes/re-writes about it?

I've seen the movie. It was sweet and lovely. A rather good love story, I might add. So how different could it be, right?

Wrong.

The book was nothing like the movie at all. Sure, the book and the movie started out the same way, with Jonathan Harker going to Transylvania to meet the Count to get him to sign the papers for his new property and the ordeal that the poor man had to go through just to come back to England. While I read the book, I had scenes from the movie play in my head. However, the relationship between Mina Harker and Dracula are totally not what it's like in the movie at all.

I have problems reading some parts of it, especially the dialogue and the portions written from Abraham Van Helsing's point of view. The sentences are convoluted and may not be what see as grammatically correct, but seeing that I'm not an expert in the English language, it could be correct and I'm just an ignorant fool. Anyway, I'm attributing the strange sentence phrasing to the fact that Van Helsing, being Dutch, may not be a native English speaker.

Overall, I did enjoy the book very much. I would have loved it more if the book was more violent and bloody but I don't think that that was the writing style back then in the 1800s. I definitely have to re-read the book again to pick up on the little things that I might have missed when I read through it the first time; just like what I did when I read Tolkein's Lord of The Rings.

Are We Ready For Polling Day?

2011-05-05T16:09:00.000+08:00

On May 7th, most of us Singaporeans will go to the polling stations to vote. For some of us, it would be their virgin voting experience. I'm one of the lucky few how had a chance to vote in the last general election, though this time around, it seems to be hell of a lot more exciting.

I won't cover what issues that are highly debated during the campaigning, as have talked about it more eloquently and passionately than I could ever put into words.

I must admit that this time around, the elections have brought forth intense emotions for me.

I discovered that reading all the different things posted and shared by my fellow Singaporeans regarding the elections while PMS-ing, made me channel the Red Lanterns.

This was me the whole of last week.

Reigning in that anger was not easy, especially when encountering apathetic peers but I think I did well. I didn't kill anyone and I tried not to shove my opinions down anyone's throats.

I won't say vote wisely, just vote with knowledge and with your head, not your heart.

I leave you with the speech by V in V for Vendetta which can be found here (since the uploaded disabled embedding).

No matter what the outcome of the elections are, I hope that it'll be for the best interest of the country and the people.

Friday Foods: Lasagna

2011-04-29T14:30:00.041+08:00

Some time over the past few weeks, after re-reading Rinaz's post on her veggie lasagna, I couldn't get it out of my mind and I thought, why not attempt to make it. However, the local supermarket did not hate ricotta and thus, I had to no choice but revert to the usual meat based lasagna instead.

Ingredients
~ for ragu
250g of mince meat
1 medium onion
1 cloves garlic
1/2 tbs cayenne pepper (optional)
1 can Prego pasta sauce (onion, tomato and basil flavour)
1 1/2 tbs olive oil
salt to taste

~ for bechamel sauce
900ml milk
50g flour
50g butter
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

lasagna sheets
as much mozzarella cheese as you want (either the shredded ones or the soft mozzarella cheese if you can get them)

To make the ragu, heat the oil and fry the onions and garlic until the onion is transluscent.

Add in the meat and brown it. At this point, the juices from the mince meat will make the whole mixture all watery but that's ok. Just keep on frying until all the liquid is gone.

Sprinkle the cayenne pepper all over the meat and onions and continue frying until the powder has suitably coated everything.

Add in the pasta sauce and stir. When the sauce starts to boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes and then take it off the fire.

For the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a sauce pan and let it turn brown without burning it.

Add in the flour and keep on stirring to prevent any lumps.

Heat up the milk (in the microwave or on the stove) just under boiling point and add in the hot milk into the pan of frying flour, bit by bit. Whisk continuously to prevent any lumps to get a nice, smooth sauce.

Add in the nutmeg powder, pepper and salt to taste.

Take it off the fire and assemble the lasgana.

Oil the sides of the pan, size of your choosing, to prevent the sauce and lasagna sheets from sticking. Layer the bottom with the ragu, followed by the bechamel sauce, the shredded mozzarella (or pinches of the soft mozzarella) and a layer of the lasagna sheets.

Repeat the layers until you've filled the pan and on the top, sprinkle more mozzarella.

Bake for 20-30 minutes at 200°C.

Comments: When I made this, I realised that the pasta sauce was a little sweet, so more salt should be added to your taste. Unless you like it sweet. Also, since recipes are just a guideline, you can tweak it to however you want it, to your taste.

Oh Hey! I Made Brownies!

2011-04-25T09:43:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, I finally got around to bringing some of the cocoa powder and the large, dark chocolate chips that I had so much of, over to Dude's house. We finally got around to making brownies after talking about it for so long.

Dude keeps telling everyone that I made everything, which isn't true since I needed help seeing that we were using his kitchen and I wasn't very familiar with everything there. Also, since we used his mom's Kenwood mixer (which I'm totally in lust with), he had to help me set it up.

We used a blondie M&M brownie recipe as a base but substituted some things with the cocoa powder and chocolate chips and even adding in chopped almonds. I must say, it turned out well.

Instead of using the usual pan, we used non stick cake moulds instead. Filling it with about a table spoon of batter into each well.

Then we added extra chocolate chip on the top.

After baking it for about 25 minutes to half an hour, we let it cool and then we tasted it. It was so good; so chocolaty and I just wanted to stuff everything in my mouth.

The only problem we had was in trying to get the brownies out of the pan. We realised that if we filled it too much, the mushroom top of the brownie would prevent us from just scooping it out easily. Live and learn.

Since I know how to make it now, I'm going to make it at my house.

Missing The Supermarket

2011-04-19T13:55:00.000+08:00

You don't realise how much something means to you until you don't have it any more. That was what I found out when the supermarket at the mall closed and I was left without a convenient place to do my groceries.

The mall near my neighbourhood is currently undergoing major renovations and as a result of that, the Cold Storage supermarket had closed down. Why do I lament the closing of a supermarket that is generally a little pricier than the ones that are just walking distance from my house? The reason for that is the variety of the items available at Cold Storage.

The supermarkets very near my home are catered to the local masses, with mostly Asian products, sauces and limited choices of cheese, dairy products and various other ingredients that are imported. Due to the relatively big expatriate community near where I live, the items at the Cold Storage are catered to them; with the multiple types of dairy products, various cold cut options and even a rotisserie for barbecued chicken too.

I never realised how important Cold Storage was until I wanted to make lasagna and discovered that none of the supermarkets in the area carried ricotta, fresh mozzarella and fresh herbs. I had to settle for frozen mince since I couldn't get fresh mince anywhere. It was very frustrating.

I really hope that once the renovation works at the mall are completed, I'll get my supermarket back. I miss having all the ingredients that I want only a train station away.

Friday Foods: Vegetable Curry

2011-04-15T14:30:00.001+08:00

Photo by roolrool

When I was in uni, I only had a few recipes that I could do well and one of them was curry. For the whole year, I had curry almost every week but I've never done a vegetarian one. Even so, I find that the base or all the curries that my grandmother taught me are all the same.

Ingredients
2-3 cloves
1-2 star anise
2-3 cardamom
1-1.5 inch cinnamon stick
a handful of curry leaves
2 tbs curry powder
1 small onion, sliced
5 shallots and 2 garlic cloves, blended
2 potatoes, cubed
1 carrot, cubed
3-5 okras
1 cup of water
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tbs oil
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a pot and add in the spices and the curry leaves. When the spices are fragrant add in the sliced onions and fry until it's translucent. Add in the blended shallots and garlic. Fry again until it's all soft and fragrant, then add in the curry powder. Once the powder has a 'crispy' scent, add in the water and the vegetables. Bring to a boil and simmer until all the hard veggies are cooked through. Add in the coconut milk to thicken it and salt to taste.

Served with either white rice or bread.

Note:
This curry is so versatile that you can add in almost any different kind of vegetables; eggplant, long beans, peas and chillies. You can even put in lentils like dhal. Just soak it over night and put it into the curry when adding in the vegetables. To get an even thicker curry, boil the dhal until it's nice and soft and add it into the curry. It's so good you can even eat it on it's own.

Currently Reading: The Historian

2011-04-13T13:24:00.001+08:00

Truthfully, this is actually my second attempt at reading this book. I bought it a couple of years back at a cousin's recommendation, read about a third of the book but got distracted by something else. I'd lent the book to Dude but he never got around to reading it so I thought, why not give it another go.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is a refreshing new look at the Dracula myth and lore. The story starts out with the main character writing down her story for her successor. She retells her story from her late teens when she first discovered the lore behind Dracula and the history of the man. The interesting bits start happening when her father goes missing and she goes in search of him while at the same time, trying to evade something ominous that's following her.

The book is an interesting read but it can be a little draggy in the beginning. I've read about two thirds of the book and I must say that it's at its most interesting and I can't wait to finish it.

So, what do I think of it so far?

I found it most fascinating and interesting that the story isn't told in the usual third person or a singular first person point of view. The story and the entire background of the whole book was (so far) told through multiple first person point of views; the main character's, her father's and even the father's mentor. I love that some of the more interesting background stories were told through letters.

I love the fact that the movie included a lot of factual history about Vlad the Impaler. It was like reading both a horror book and a history book (which I love) at the same time.

However, it does get a little confusing. I had to go back and check whose point of view the story was being told in when I wasn't paying attention to the punctuation being used.

I must admit that I'm a big fan of horror movies and books. I don't get creeped out that easily or get nightmares very often from them, but this book does creep me out a little and I even had trouble sleeping due to my over active imagination.

Overall, I think it's a really good book, just don't expect the vampires to be like what you'd see in the movies.

Why Yes, I Do Read Comic Books : Power Girl #1 - #12

2011-04-11T11:55:00.000+08:00

I'm a comic book reader and I'm proud of it. I may not be a hard-core comic book reader like some of my friends but I do have my favourites, mostly everyone and everything related to the Bat-family.

A while back, Sarah introduced me to Powergirl (PG). I've seen her around and about the different Crises series but I don't really know that much about her. I picked up A New Beginning, the trade paperback collection of issues #1-6 and immediately liked it. On Saturday, I managed to pick up Aliens and Apes, the collection of issues #7-#12, and I loved it even more.

So what do I really think of the series so far?

The art is amazing! I love that PG's emotions are all conveyed in her facial expression. You don't need the dialogue to know that she's pissed off or worried. It's all in her face.

The writing is not only hilarious but it's very believable. The dialogues are smart, witty and I wish that more comics out there have amazing writing as this.

One of my most favourite parts in the volume 1 of the trade collection is the cameo appearance of the guys from The Big Bang Theory in Powergirl #4.

I thought that they looked familiar as I was reading it and it only hit me who the guys were a couple of seconds later. Howard was totally in character and he got shot down by PG most spectacularly.

Volume 2 of the trade collection also had some gems, like this interaction between PG and Vartox in #7.

PG's expression in that last panel had me laughing so hard in the train that I had to stop reading and control my laughter fits as the lady standing opposite me was giving me strange looks. See what I mean by her face being full of expression? She looks like she was going to hit Vartox in the face, which she did much later.

I totally enjoyed issues #1-12 immensely and I'm starting to love this series very much. At the end of issue 12, Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, the writers and artist, left the series and were replaced by writer Judd Winick and artist Sami Basri. I've not read beyond issue #12 so I do not know how different the story line is like. However, I will most definitely pick up my copy of the next trade collection when it's out in June, just so that I can make a comparison.

I'd totally recommend this to anyone who loves witty characters, amazing art and a really good storyline.

Friday Foods: Mushroom Risotto

2011-04-08T14:30:00.001+08:00

Photo by eatallthethings

One of my favourite cook books is Cook With Jamie. I love the pictures and the instructions are rather simple to follow. So I decided to try it out.

Ingredients

For rice base:
3/4 cups of carnaroli rice
1/2 celery, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1L chicken/vegetable stock

For the Mushrooms:
100g of mushrooms, sliced
2 garlics, chopped
2tbs butter
some thyme
salt and black pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1L stock
grated Parmesan
an extra knob of butter

To make the rice base, melt the butter in the olive oil and fry the onion and celery over medium heat for about 15 minutes until the onions are soft but not coloured.

Add in the rice and keep stirring so that the rice won't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add in the stock, a ladle at a time and keep stirring until the rice has absorbed all the stock. Keep adding the stock and stirring until the rice is about 3/4 cook (or as Jamie refers to it as al dente).

Remove the rice from the pan onto an oiled tray and let it cool. If you make large portions of the rice base, you can store it in an air tight container in the fridge so that you can use it for other risotto recipes.

For the mushrooms, melt the butter in the same pan that you used for the rice. When it's nice and foamy, drop in the mushrooms. (You can use a mix of mushrooms like porcini, golden trumpet or even other wild mushrooms. I used Portobello) When the mushrooms are tender, add in the garlic and season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Add in about half of the stock and put the rice back into the pan and stir until all the stock has been absorbed into the rice. Make sure that you keep stirring the rice as you add in more stock ladle by ladle so that they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

When the rice is nice and soft but not soggy, turn off the fire and stir in the extra knob of butter, parsley and grated Parmesan. Now it's ready to eat.

Serves 1-2, depending on how much you eat.

Personally, I think there's so many things that you can do with the rice base, so many different types of risotto. Even this risotto can be modified to how ever you want it to be, like adding bits of ham or bacon into it. So try it out.

If you want to try something even more interesting, head on to Rinaz's site and try out her Strawberry Risotto recipe.

Guess Who I Write Like

2011-04-07T16:59:00.000+08:00

I found this interesting analysis thing from Harlina's blog and I thought I'd give it a try.

I plugged in everything that I wrote from the previous post and poof!

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Truth be told, I had to Google who Cory Doctorow was but I have read the XKCD comics that reference him. It's sad that as much as I love reading and sometimes writing science fiction, I don't read as widely as I should.

I think it's time to head on to the library and see if I can get a copy of his books.

Back To The Radio

2011-04-07T13:37:00.000+08:00

With the slow, agonizing death of my classic iPod's battery, I've been going around without a music player for a while and I've been missing having music with me. Dude lent me his cute little Creative Zen but at only a 2G capacity, I miss having so much music at my fingertips. The one thing that I do like about this little player is the radio function. It's been a really long time since I've tuned in to a local radio station for an extended period of time.

Usually, I'd only listen to the radio when I'm in the lab, since it's always on if someone's in and it's always that one particular station but recently, my colleagues had been changing the radio station quite frequently and I actually found a radio station that I actually like.

The station plays a lot of the current music. At the present moment, that's what I'm looking for, something that doesn't put me to sleep and keeps me bouncing while I'm doing my work. Nothing like fast pace catchy music to keep you motivated at work. The only problem with listening to the radio is that I never know the title of the song or who the artist is.

At this present moment, I'm listening to this:

Friday Foods: Microwave MILO Chocolate Cake

2011-04-01T14:30:00.006+08:00

Photo courtesy of Dude

One of the more interesting and yet extremely easy to make desserts that I've tried lately is the microwave cooked chocolate cake. There have been many different recipes out there for microwaved chocolate cake but so far, I don't think that there's any that involves Milo.

The recipe is based on this one but Dude made some changes that turned out really well.

Ingredients
4 tbs self-raising flour
4 tbs MILO powder
3 tbs sugar
3 tbs milk
3 tbs oil
1 egg

So now that you have all your ingredients, what do you do?

Add in all the dry ingredients into a large mug and mix it all together. Mix well and get rid of any lumps of dry ingredients to get a better mixture when the wet ingredients are added later.

Add in all the wet ingredients and mix well with a fork. Make sure that the mixture is smooth and not lumpy at all.

The mixture can be microwaved in the large mug or you can pour it into small cups. Microwave for 2-3 minutes, depending on your microwave. This part requires a little trial and error on your part as each microwave is slightly different. The best way to guage if the cake is done is to see if the glass of the microwave door is covered in steam and if the cake has stopped rising.

Run a knife along the side of the mug and you can pop it out of the container easily. Serve with scoop or two of your favourite ice cream or just eat it straight out of the mug.

There are many other variations that you can do with it, like dropping a couple of your favourite nuts into the mixture just before you pop it into the microwave with add that bit of nutty crunchiness.

Amazing Africa At The Asian Civilisation Museum

2011-03-28T11:07:00.000+08:00

On Sunday, Dude and I went down to the Asian Civilisation Museum to experience the Amazing Africa event, that was held over the weekend in conjunction with the Congo River: Art of Central Africa exhibition.

I heard that there were going to be dancing, music, food and other African culture things too. Also, free coffee from Starbucks. Now you can see why we went.

Anyway, I was glad to find out that due to the open house, it was free admission to all galleries on that day. As with anything free, there were crowds of people at the Congo gallery but we managed to go through most of the exhibit without bumping into people too badly.

The real event started at 1pm, when the musicians started playing. There dancers came out a little later. We didn't stay for the whole thing since Dude and I wanted to attend the coffee tasting event at the lobby.

The coffee tasting was similar to the one that I tried a few months back, only this time, we tried only the Organic Shade Grown Mexican coffee and the Kenyan coffee. With tiny little cups of coffee, we learned how to appreciate the aroma and the taste of it, as well as how well it goes with food. Dude, like me, went for the event just for the coffee.

After the coffee tasting, we exchanged the coupons that we scored at the Congo gallery for ice cream and settled down on the green to watch the show.

The musicians from the gallery earlier and moved down to the green and started playing. The dancers had changed into a different outfit too and started their spirited dancing.

While watching the dance, it hit me how different it is to our own cultural dance. From my abysmal knowledge of Malay cultural dance, I do not recall there being a dancing that is as spirited or as abundantly happy as the one that was performed by the dancers. There were splits, tumbling and somersault as well.

The dancers had some of the audience members to come up and join in with the dancing. The audience were a good sport too. I think everyone on the green had as much fun, either watching or even participating in the dances.

When the dance ended, Dude and I headed back into the museum to continue with the rest of the Congo gallery since we left half way to see the dance event at the level two gallery. Before that, we decided to get some face paint on.

Having our faces painted and walking through the galleries earned us a couple of stares and looks but we didn't really care. We spent another couple of hours going through the different galleries and even took a break to have plantain pudding. We wanted to try out the other African food that were available but we were so full.

All in all, we had a lot of fun. It's been a while since we went to the museum and to be able to spend the whole day there is just awesome.

Friday Foods: Stove Top Mac and Cheese

2011-03-25T14:30:00.006+08:00

I've been having a craving for macaroni and cheese for a while now and there was no place near my office that made any so I had to make some at home. Having never made it before, I had to find a recipe that wasn't so complicated to replicate.

Ingredients
400g macaroni
1/4 stick of butter
1 cup of shredded tasty cheddar
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder (optional)

Boil the macaroni in salted, boiling water according to the package instructions or until al dente.

Drain the boiled pasta but keep some of the starchy liquid. Dump the pasta into another pot or pan,over a medium fire.

Add in the butter and some of the starchy liquid from boiling the pasta.

Add in the cheese and stir the whole thing well, until all the cheese and butter has melted and all the pasta is evenly covered.

Sprinkle the nutmeg powder and mix well.

Serve with more cheese or a sprinkling of shopped parsley on the top.

It's not hard to do at all. You can make your own variations by adding frozen mixed vegetables, bacon bits or ham or anything else that you want. It's that versatile.

Sucker Punch-ed

2011-03-24T10:45:00.000+08:00

As the movie opens here today, I was lucky enough to catch the preview of it on Tuesday, thanks to Dude getting tickets from The New Paper.

The trailers for the movie did a good job of grabbing my attention and with the fantasy, steampunk feel to it, how can I not watch it.

Usually, Dude and I would whisper back and forth about a movie that we're watching but Sucker Punch held my attention so much that I barely whispered/discussed the movie with Dude.

I liked the action packed sequences. The fight scenes were cool and flashy. There are bits that looked a lot like other movies but that's to be expected.

What I like most is how cosplayable this movie is. Baby Doll's whole get up is very easy; a Japanese school girl uniform, sexified, 2 guns with whoulder holsters, a samurai sword on her back. a black headband and a blond wig.

What I would like to see is someone doing the rest of the girls; Sweet Pea, Rockeet, Amber and Blondie. That's a lot of leather, fishnet, black cloth and corsets. I especially love the corsets.

The ending of the movie made me go, "Hmmmm" but overall, it's got a very motivational message.

Do catch the movie if you like steampunk, action, hot girls in corsets and fishnets and of course, dragons.

Friday Foods: Caramelised Bananas

2011-03-18T14:30:00.005+08:00

When I was growing up, my grandmother used to talk about a traditional Baweanes dessert called , literally translated, Broken Log. I have no idea why it's called that. Anyway, it's basically caramelised bananas.

The recipe below is a modernised version of it, with a twist.

Ingredients

4 ripe but firm bananas (the Del Monte bananas work nicely)
1 tbs butter
1 tsp sugar (you can use any type of sugar of your choice)
a pinch of cinnamon powder

Cut the bananas into halves, lengthwise. Melt the butter in a non-stick pan. When the butter is nice and foamy, add in the bananas. Shake the bananas gently in the pan and cook on both sides until it has caramelised a little. Transfer the bananas onto a plate.

In the pan with the left over butter from cooking the bananas, add in the sugar and cinnamon powder. Stir the mixture until all the sugars have caramelised. Pour it onto the bananas and serve.

Serves about 4, depending on how much you want to eat.

Note: For this recipe, we used slightly over-ripe bananas. It wasn't a really good idea since the bananas turned to mush after a while in the pan but it still tasted really good