Culinary creativity i.e. laziness

I would like to think that my culinary skill has improved. OK, so it's nothing fancy like what my flatmates would do...still, the food taste good. I think that's the most important factor to take into consideration. Today, I stir-fry some chinese leaf and sausages with oyster sauce. Then, I pour the dish into my dry noodles. Taste really good. Simple yet satisfying. And it took me about half an hour to prepare the ingredients and cook. More time taken relative to instant noodles but more nutritious.



Now I have to think of something to prepare for tomorrow's dinner party. Sigh...

Oh Oh, the purple thingy was brought by a friend all the way from Taiwan. Think it's made of yam but not so sure. Taste pretty good. And now I have a mini sewing kit :) ...made in Taiwan (hopefully)

Home sweet home

Finally back in my room. Although the place felt a bit deserted as no one seems to be around, I am glad to have some peaceful moments after the craziness of London. Tomorrow will have to do some grocery shopping and cleaning.

"Boxing" Day...literally

Weather: Sunny (as if Mother Nature gave her approval of boxing day sale)

Two innocent young ladies walked down to Oxford Street at 10.30am, new to the whole "Boxing Day" phenomena, ignorant of the terror awaiting them. And then it began. The "boxing" crowd grew larger and larger till they filled up every corner of the road. Traffic almost came to a standstill as these people dashed their way from street to street without a care of anything but their purpose - to buy, buy, buy! Our young heroines were almost squashed by the crowd too as they attempted to find some good bargains. It was tough business. Definitely not suitable for our heroines, who soon decided to end the day after some small purchases. Perhaps better luck tomorrow.

No mince pies...but was overdosed on bratwurst

It's Christmas today. My first time celebrating this day in London. Yet, I do not feel any excitement. Probably because I have been sick, along with my travel mates. We all needed ample rest after the 9-day tour. Cooked maggi with yesterday's soup for lunch. It does seem miserable but to be able to spend this day with my friends is good enough for me. Isn't that what festivals are all about? To spend time with people you care?

Time for a little rewinding back to day 1 of my first long trip.

Day 1 (Berlin)
After 2 hours of flight, arrived in Berlin flughafen in the evening. The weather was extremely cold. Took the extremely efficient transportation system of Germany (I miss their transport system) to our hostel, Generator Hostel, which is just about 5 minutes walk from the Landsberger Allee S-Bahn station. Having dropped our luggages, we proceeded to find our way to Kaiser Wilhelm Church to enjoy our very first German Christmas Market (apparently the best Christmas market in Berlin). Indeed we were not disappointed.

Day 2 (Berlin)
Joined a free walking tour, led by Avril. Went to some important landmarks. The city felt like a really cold place. Not just the weather but the environment too.

Day 3 (Berlin - Munich)
Took a night train to Munich. Really exciting although slept the whole journey.

Arrived early in the morning. After checking in, went to join another free walking tour, led by Travis. It was a good tour. Had a group pix which was posted on the New Munich Tours website ( http://www.newmunich.com/nm/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=90&page=view&catid=4&PageNo=3&key=17&hit=1)

Day 4 (Munich - Nuremberg)
Our original plan was to leave Munich at 3 plus but our sudden interest in joining the Dachau tour (EUR15 for student) caused us to delay our plan. It was not a tour to be regretted as we learned a lot about the history of Dachau through our guide, Matt. I can almost feel the pain of the prisoners as they worked and suffered in the cold, bare land of the concentration camp. The saddest part was learning how those who died, had their bodies burnt and their ashes thrown carelessly into the wood inside the camp. Today, although memorials had been set up to remember those who died in this camp, some of them were left out. Who are we to decide that those who were left out deserved to be treated the way they were during those hard times?

Day 5 (Nuremberg)
Visited the castle (EUR5 for student) and the dungeon (EUR1.50 for student). Wished there are more English-speaking guides. The guide at the castle was talking animatedly in German but when it came to English, it was just short summaries on the rooms we went into. But he is still better than the blur, small lady in the dungeon - "This is the dead cell"...the end. What happened to the long story she was narrating in German? Sigh.

Must try: Elisen lebkruchen (gingerbread). Bought 6 big pieces for EUR6.99 from a really nice lady who wished us a nice day. Go for the chocolate-coated ones.

Day 6 (Nuremberg - Brussels)
The bus ride was a long, long one with many, many stops - Frankfurt, Koln, Liege etc. But the scenery were really beautiful, different from the palm oil scene in Malaysia. We passed a road, lined by trees, stripped of their leaves amid a white background. The "wood" reminds me of Snow White.

Day 7 (Brussels)
Important things to do in Brussels - see Manneken Piss, eat mussels and waffles, buy chocolates and lace. We managed to do it all but was disappointed to see Manneken Piss dressed up beyond recognition in a Santa costume. The European Christmas Market was a let-down too.

Tips: Do not buy chocolates or lace in Brussels. Buy elsewhere because it's cheaper (in our case, Brugge).

Day 8 (Brugge)
Brugge is truly a lovely town with its canal and distinctive architecture. However, I must say that this place is overcommercialised. We had to pay EUR0.50 for a city map (no wonder we couldn't find a free map of this town back in the hostel)!

Day 9 (Brussels Airport)
Having been worn out by our sickness and the freezing temperature, we checked out promptly at 10am and arrived in the Brussels airport 45 minutes later. We were told at check in that our flight might be delayed. Groan. Already we had to wait like 4 hours to board our flight. A delay would lengthen the waiting. We tried killing our time by going into every single shop in the airport. Finally we settled for lunch (two pieces of overcharged (EUR5) pizzas each) before heading to the waiting area. We waited, moved waiting area, waited, moved again, waited, moved...probably after moving 6 times that flight 395 comes back into the radar. Our plane had finally left Heathrow. Woohoo! After a 4-hour delay, we managed to board our plane and headed for London. Home sweet home.

We reached "home" at about 10.30pm. It felt so good to be back in a "normal temperature" place. Funny how we find that London no longer felt cold relatively.

The trip would have been great if not because of my sickness in which I lost two of my senses - inability to taste and smell.

I love Nuremberg!

Arrived in Nuremberg this evening, having departed late from Munich. Immediately fell in love with the town. Felt like living a fairy tale with castle, churches, christmas princess and cobblerstone pavements. Went for a walk at night in search of food. Ended up in McD because most shops were closed, even the Christmas Market. Will be a long day tomorrow. Cold getting worse. Lost my sense of taste and smell.

Teary time

The past week had been really tense and shall remain so till the end of this week.

The normally crowded kitchen is mostly empty now. Wtih 50% of the occupants having exams and the other half struggling to complete their assignments before the holiday break, laughters have also become scarce. Every faces I see reflected fatigue, disappointment, pressure and some with tears. (Every morning, I can hear my neighbour, talking to her parents over the phone, while suppressing her tears and anger)

Today, I had completed a test for two courses (it's a 2-in-1 module in which we study two courses simultaneously and take a combined exam). Two hours were spent on flipping through pages of questions, attempting to locate familiarity. Sometimes with success but most of the time in frustration. Two weeks of preparation and this is the outcome. What better way to break a student's spirit than this?

With the completion of this first test of the term, questions begin to sprout. Should we have tests at the end of the term (while still being obligated to attend lectures and seminars) or should we have all the tests at the beginning of next term when everyone is assumed to be more prepared having studied during the holiday? Should the courses be 100% exam-based or should there be assignments (in which students became selfish and started outdoing members of their team, straining relationships)? At a more personal level, am I here to memorise pages and pages of formulas or am I here to learn how to apply the theories?

Mystery solved

4.51pm: Pitched dark outside...sigh

Today I discovered the source of an irritating music which I often hear lately (probably cause I have been spending a lot of time in my room). It's from Wall's ice-cream truck! And to think that each time I heard it, I felt like hitting the person who did that. Shows how easily irritated I am now due to the stress from exam.

Homemade dishes

I have decided...if I ever want to change profession or this whole master thing doesn't work out, I will start my own restaurant, serving my own creations.

Here's one from my dinner tonight...stir-fry ham with baby spinach...I thought it tasted pretty good :)

On the other hand, I do have my mishap with cooking. Overcooked my ham this afternoon in the microwave! From ham, it became cracker. Not too bad though. Perhaps another creation.

When the cooker stopped working...

Just when I wanted to cook fried rice today with a flatmate, the cooker (stove) died on us. What luck! And we thought of having good meals this week as we will most likely be surviving on frozen pizza, instant noodles and bread next week amid our prep for exam.

Anyway, here are some ways to cook without a cooker (both conventional and unconventional):

Cooking instant noodles with a rice cooker (my style. I know it's uncreative but I lack the courage to try new things)

Cooking instant noodles in microwave. This is my flatmate's style. She put the noodles along with the seasoning, fish (additional ingredient) and boiled water into a big bowl. Then, she added an egg and mixed it into the water. Next, she put it into the micowave for 6 minutes. When she took it out, she added vegetables and put back into the microwave. After a few minutes, the noodles is ready to be served. Smelled really good.

I want to buy tomatoes...in Manchester

Yeap, went to Manchester today for a day trip. Almost 3 hours journey but I spent most of the time chatting with my friend. Amazing how long we can talk.

At about 11.30am, we reached a very, very wet and windy Manchester. I thought Warwick is bad but Manchester is worse! It's so so cold there, I could barely walk. At that time, I am glad I didn't choose to go Manchester. I doubt that I can ever survive there.

Upon arrival, the first thing we searched for was Chinatown because we wanted to have one of those all you can eat buffet. Finally found the place when we took the free city bus (really good idea to promote tourism). After a short walk, we decided on the place to eat, largely driven in to a restaurant (offering international buffet but actually chinese food) by the drizzle. Having paid GBP6.50, I find that the selection here is inferior to the shop in Birmingham. There wasn't even any proper chinese dessert (except cincau perhaps)!!! Quite disappointing. Made up my mind to go to Birmingham again just to have that buffet.

Spent the rest of the day lounging around the city centre where most of the malls are. Wanted to buy tomatoes (my first thought upon arriving in Manchester. Silly, aren't I? Paying GBP11 to buy tomatoes) but the queue in tesco was too long. Saw a beautiful pair of heels from Clarks but cost GBP44.95! What a waste. That shoes left such an impression on me that I left my camera in the shop :( . This was such a bad week. First I left my student ID and bank card in the WBS lounge. Then I lost one of my earring on Friday. Today, I forgot my camera! Luckily the staff kept it for me. I hope that's the end of my memory loss streak. Sign of old age perhaps? I hate to think bout this.

In all, the trip wasn't exciting (weather problem) and my friends are now not so keen to have me carrying stuffs either for myself or for them. Good for me, though I did get some lectures from them. Reputation ruined in one day. Sigh...

Mareeshia-jin desu

My nationality is in question now. Where am I from?

Some time back, I discovered that the Chinese (from China) thought I am from Thailand. I figure that it's because the Thai always happened (unintentionally) to sit next to me in class, NOT because I choose to sit near my "own people". Anyway, it's a flattery to be thought of as Thai given that the Thai girls are mostly cute and tiny (both of which I am neither).

Today, after introducing myself to a potential student for WBS, the next question was "Are you from HK?" I thought ok...I look like Chinese, so fine but why HK? According to him, I looked like I can speak Cantonese. Amazing. I didn't know I have that look. FYI, I am supposed to look like I can speak Hakka because both my parents are Hakka. Not sure where Hakka people come from though...perhaps someone can enlighten me on my roots?

Later in the day, a classmate was shocked to learn that I am not from Japan (this is like almost two months into the course). Someone should tell him by now that there aren't any Japanese in the class.

I wonder what's next...

Saving ME

I just want to remember today as the day my flatmate saved my dinner.

"It's snowing"

19:41 It's snowing :)
19:43 I wish. Doing corp finance now on lecture 4. Don't get his equations
19:44 Haha I know.. .but its actually snowing
19:45 Its snowing

When I saw that same message from another friend, I went out to see for myself. They were not kidding me!!! It's snowing. I tried to touch it but I couldn't. It just melted on my hand. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was like watching cottons flying all over the place. I knew then that I had to go back to my residence. It's also a good chance to experience walking under the snowfall without being perceived as "katak di bawah tempurung".



This is the second good thing to happen today. The first was that Shiro will be discharged from hospital on Tuesday. I am so glad to hear that news. It pained me to know that he had been vomitting and couldn't eat and he lost a tooth. But, it's ok as long as he is well and alive when I get back.

22:36

Trying to read. Kinda poetic to be studying in a room while it's snowing outside...till my flatmate knocked on my door and told me we have to go out. I changed into my jeans, grabbed my coat and went after her. It was crazy. My hands were freezing. It was still snowing and therefore wet all over. But who cares? We took some video, stood in the courtyard, frozen for a moment before deciding to head back into our warm rooms. At the moment, my fingers still feeling a bit numbed. I think I will get some ice-cream now ;)

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee226/phikchoai/?action=view&current=MVI_3343.flv

Good day at first...

I was so keen to write this morning because of the wonderful things I saw...and then I don't feel like writing anymore. But I figure that writing is a good way to keep one distracted. Also, I know that Shiro will be alright.

So, what was it that I wanted to write about? Plenty...

The beautiful scene I saw outside my window this morning. At first, I thought my eyes were playing trick on me. Then I realised that the surrounding did look a little different. The grass was whitish green! It was simply marvellous. The weather in the night was so cold (below 0 degrees celcius) that it led to a frost. Too bad the picture can't do justice to the beauty of I saw.

Attended another career fair. This time an international fair. Finally my collection is complete. Coz I really wanted a torchlight and now I have one from Morgan Stanley. Got a cool calculator too. Doesn't bother me anymore that Mr G took my calculator of 4 years away. In addition, I got another water bottle courtesy of Linklaters and a flower highlighter from ICAEW. I love these highlighters.

These items are in addition to some items I got last week from the Technology Fair. Most of the items were quite useless i.e. more for decorative purpose such as a rugby ball and fake globe. Don't ask why I got those stuffs. But I did get my mousepad from bloomberg, a cool mini notepad (with pen and flag) from BNP Paribas, calendar from Data Connection and a luggage tag from Standard Chartered.

With these little treasures, I am not sure if I want to go to another fair. It can be quite tiring, pretending to be interested in someone's company and asking rubbish questions. Of course, helping my friend to accomplish her mission statement (which was to get a flower highlighter, she got 3 in the end!) was a joy as she can now stopped going on and on about getting one every minute.

I think that's all for today. I am quite anxious for news now. It's very distracting. Everything will be fine. I know it.

They did it again

EW: Getting chillier everyday...sigh

It's just amazing. My flatmates. Today they had yet another dinner party. Just a small one but the dishes certainly ain't small nor simple. Let's see what we had...

1. Tomyam fish - absolutely delicious with plenty of button mushrooms (my favourite)
2. Chawanmushi!!! - i can't believe I can have this in UK. So touched...
3. 3 cup chicken (direct translation from mandarin i.e. san bei chi) - basically refers to the amount of wine and sugar added though not in huge amount. My first time tasting this dish and I love it. Should try to get recipe...
4. Beefball - First reaction is "It's humongous! Like a football". Of course upon tasting it, it's really, really good.
5. Grilled chicken - My flatmate is really spoiling us!!!
6. Stir-fry spinach in oyster sauce - phew! finally something lighter...

After this meal, I have to eat less, else I can forget bout fitting into any of my (new) clothes anymore. Sigh...

The downpour and others

It has become a habit of mine to check the weather everyday before I step out. Mainly to help me plan my choice of clothes for the day. Although the forecast can be inaccurate most of the time, it still provides some security for me. Today, it said cloudy in the evening. So, when I came back for lunch, I changed my coat to a waterproof jacket. It was a decision not to be regretted.

I was already inside the building when the rain began. And it became heavier by the minute, to the point of howling. For people familiar with UK, this is not a usual event. Lots of my coursemates were soaked from head to toe.

I personally love rainy days...more so here as it reminds me of home :)

Today I got some quiet moment of my own. I think the hectic schedule has made me an anti-social person. I went to the kitchen to be delighted by its emptiness. Cooked rice, spinach soup, mushroom and eggs (my personal specialty and also because my mushrooms are expiring soon) and sausages. I would like to believe that I am getting more skillful in cooking but a friend is of the opinion that I start from low base and so I can improve easily. Ouch!

Mad dash around Paris

First day in Paris: I love Paris!
Second day in Paris: I want to work here! Where's the namecard of that French company I got from the career fair???
Third day in Paris: I want to go home...

It was almost crazy. When I knew that I will have a friday off, I quickly made plan with my friend to do a short trip, a weekend getaway to somewhere nearby. And we ended up in Paris.

Personal experiences

The first thing I learnt about France is the unfriendly people. The air stewardess in the airport was my first encounter, followed by many other air stewardesses. Second is the way Parisians drive. Right in front of us was a zebra crossing but no car stopped. Neither did any car stop even when the light turned green for pedestrians to cross. Crossing any roads quickly became a nightmare. Third is the receptionist at the hotel. We had trouble using the lift and he just made some gestures without assisting us. It took him awhile before deciding to get out of his desk to help us. Before anyone start thinking that we are some idiots, let me describe how the lift works. We had to press a button to get the lift to come to our floor. So, that's relatively easy. The difference is that the lift may not necessary be at our floor when the light on the button goes off. It just goes off when the lift stopped somewhere. So, we had to keep pressing the button. When the lift arrived, we had to open the door (just like in the old movie). It was quite fun but definitely not user-friendly.

Back to my story...All was not lost for Paris. As we were stuck in front of the Compagnie Des Chemins De Fer, trying to find our hotel, a man stopped, spoke to us in French before changing to English to ask if we speak English. It was very kind of him to stop to help us. I think that was the first and last kind Parisian I met.

Felt cheated twice. On my final night, we found a small grocery shop near our hotel still opened. We went in to buy some sandwiches for dinner and bought a bottle of mineral water which cost me EUR0.80 for 500ml compared to EUR0.51 for a 1.5 litre bottle I bought the previous night from a supermarket. The price was not written on the bottle at all!!! The second time was for breakfast on the final day. We went into a Deli's Cafe and ordered pies and hot chocolate. The board said the chocolate cost EUR2.30 but we were charged EUR3!!!

Sightseeing

Our first day was spent on hopping onto the Paris L'Open Tour bus, costing EUR29 for two days. We went on the grand tour to get a glimpse of Eiffel Tower, Musee du Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and other buildings, braving the coldness of the wind hitting against our faces. While we did not intend to get down the bus till we had finished going round the whole line, a glimpse of a beautiful carousel on top of a hill changed our mind. It was a good, no great decision. Not only did we get some good bargains, we also saw a wonderful view of Paris from the Sacred Heart Basilica of Montmarte. Later in the evening, we managed to get on top of Eiffel Tower after lining up for nearly an hour, enjoying the beautiful view of Paris from atop amid freezing temperatures.



On the second day...

Coming from Malaysia, I have plenty of kiasu gene in me. So, early in the morning, we set out and reached Musee du Louvre before 8am. There wasn't any people in sight except for a jogger or two plus a few militarymen. Despite the drizzling rain (quite unfortunate), we had fun taking photos of the place from all angle with different poses. At about 8.30am, we spotted people beginning to queue. That was the signal for us to start getting into the line too. Half an hour later, the door to the museum opened. A long line had already built up behind us. Upon getting our tickets, we made a dash to Mona Lisa, situated in the Denon wing. We found her rather quickly and started snapping photos. Then we made another dash to see Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Along the way, we passed by many paintings, sculptures and antiquities. Two and a half hours later, we exited. We paid EUR9 for this and we never stopped to appreciate any of the arts. Such a pity.

Lunch today was considered a treat. We were drawn into Le Mondrian by its EUR13 plat du jour (i.e. lunch set) consisting of main dish and dessert. I chose poisson of the day, gratine something saumons (baked salmon in cheese). As for dessert, I shared a cranberry creme brulee (which turned into a raisin creme brulee miraculously) and fromage (cheese) with my friend. While I truly enjoy the creme brulee (because it is sweet), the fromage was too cheesy with lotsa sour fruits.



We continued our adventure, hopping into the orange line open top bus. After enjoying the scenery, we made a stop at Notre Dame. By that time, the sun had already set. We decided not to pay to see the gargoyles. Rather, we just walked around the church. We arrived just in time for the mass and had the pleasure of listening to some wonderful singing which we recorded by accident.

We ended the tour with a boat ride. Although we had to pay EUR10 for this ride, it was worth the money as we passed by some famous buildings and bridges on a cold, beautiful night. Although the ship is filled with tourists, it's still kinda romantic to just find a corner to enjoy the amazing view and the peacefulness of darkness.

Third day was rather unadventurous. We had to reach the airport by around 12pm and therefore did not have anymore time for sightseeing. We spent our morning looking for a nice cafe and we couldn't find a decent one!!! Sunday is seriously a lazy day here. What's with these people anyway???

Flying on Air France

I have only one comment on Air France. It was late the two times I had to get onto it. Based on this and the "friendliness" of the crew, I will not recommend this flight.

Nevertheless, the journey itself was amazing. My favourite part of flying is always the lift off. It felt so cool to be able to do that and each time I will wonder how is that possible. As the plane flew higher, we rose above the clouds. At some point, the plane dashed into the bed of clouds. That was when we had one of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. The view was white, a pure white. I almost thought we will see some care bears jumping from cloud to cloud. That gave me a rather wonderful feeling.

Throughout the while trip, I felt that it went quite well despite a few hiccups. We saw the things we wanted to see, we had fun, we took plenty of photos and some videos. No regret bout going there in such a short time though it was really tiring and too much of a pressure when I got back to face tonnes of unfinished work. Sortie.

Crazy night

IW: Losing sanity
EW: Freezing

It's 10 to 11pm. We couldn't continue anymore. It was too tough and we had reached a point of absolute frustration. At that moment, a friend suggested going to Tesco NOW. And everybody just went along with the idea because we needed to do something crazy. So, with the temperature at probably around 7 degree celcius, we set out for the 20 minutes journey. It was a nice walk despite the weather.

Shopping at midnight is quite fun too. There were no crowd, no long lines, we can walk wherever we want. It was kinda cool, crazy but cool. The journey back was less pleasant as it was almost 12.30am and the weather had worsen. The walk past the lake was the worst as chilly wind blew past us. Nevertheless, it was a fun night. I couldn't believe that I would actually go along with this idea knowing that I have tonnes of unfinished work. I suppose studying does rob a person of some sanity ;)

Country girl in a big city

IW: Need proper rest
EW: Sometimes cold, sometimes just windy

After 2 hectic days, I am finally back in my little countryside. How I miss the comfort of my own room, the privacy of my own space, the peacefulness of the surrounding, the walk without human traffic. What happened, you ask? Well, I need to do a little rewinding.

It began with an innocent plan to surprise a friend on her birthday. It was also a good excuse to see London for the first time. So, I got my bus tickets online, boarded the bus on friday, arrived after 2 1/2 hours. The first view I got from the city was TRAFFIC JAM. Why am I not surprised? The traffic was not only cars but human too! At first, the roads we went into was rather empty (but still not as empty as my university). And then we discovered where the crowd went. They were swamping the shopping area i.e. Oxford Street!

The next human crowd to meet me was in the tube station. It was terrifying. People walking from all directions, left, right, up, down, diagonal...I felt like a sardine. After much pushing, we managed to board the train. Phew! My next horror began when the train was not stopping at the stop I wanted to. It was after going through the trip again that it dawned upon me the train will not stop at that particular station. Luckily, my friend still managed to find me or else I will be lost...sob, sob.

After dining at China China in chinatown, I followed my friend to her hostel (very kind of her to accommodate me. Special thanks!). Given my very busy schedule, I had no choice but to work in her room. At that moment, I felt like being in a movie set in New York. I can hear people talking 9-storeys below us, police sirens were everywhere. It was quite adventurous working in this kind of environment.

The next day was spent on surprising my another friend, wriggling our ways among the shoppers in Primark (these people have too much purchasing power), trying to avoid knocking people on the road. It was tiring. Didn't manage to do much tourist thingy but bought new clothes :)

"Nevermind, we have free stuffs"

IW: Tired
EW: Nice

"So, you are just looking for accounting students?"
"Yes..."
(giving disappointed look)
"...But we have lotsa freebies"
(face brighten again...hehe...that was me)

Such an amazing day for treasure hunting at the career fair. These fairs are definitely one of my look-forward to event. In less than an hour, check out what I have gotten. Spot the things I "found" from the picture below:


















To show my gratitude to these kind companies, this is a free advertising for the "sponsors" of my new treasure. Here goes the list in no particular order:

1. A water bottle from Mercer
2. A tin of organic cocoa and dark chocolate from Green and Black's (the chocolate is simple fabulous)
3. One cute doggy keychain from EMB
4. A small notebook from Macquarie
5. A luggage tag from Standard Chartered (good quality tag)
6. A metal cardholder with mints inside (now all my namecards will be mint-scented) and a mini case of stapler, staples, blue highlighter and cellophone tape from Goldman Sachs (really cool. Check out the picture at the bottom)
7. A triangular tri-colored highlighter from Grant Thornton
8. Another triangular tri-colored highlighter from FSA
9. A handphone pouch and lanyard from Merrill Lynch (I needed a pouch for my new handphone and now I don't have to buy one! But it does come with a very visible Merrill Lynch tag. So I will be doing free advertising for a long long time)
10. A notebook and mints from Towers Perrin
11. A transparent plastic pencil case from Deutsche Bank
12. A post-it from KPMG
13. A cute bubble post-it from ABN-AMRO
14. A button pin from Citizen Act (I am not sure why I took it)
15. A nice pen fom ICAP
16. A box of mint from Dresdner Kleinwort
17. A purple rubber duck from OC&C (don't ask why I need a purple duck. It's just cute and matches my sweater today)
18. Jelly beans from RBS (lovely!)
19. A mug from Barclays Capital (I have 2 mugs now)
20. A noteboook from Citigroup, Kingston Smith and Deloitte
21. A pencil recycled from video cassettes from Barclays Wealth
22. A magnetic "Go-Anywhere" Papergrip from CIMA (it is now attached to my shelves)


My stationery set is more than complete now. Lovely ;)

Heavenly celebration for an angel

IW: Excitement
EW: It's alright

Today is a very special day for an angel.

At midnight, cake and camera ready but no candle. We didn't want to risk triggering a fire alarm, sending everyone out into the cold and getting fined :p It was such a wonderful surprise that we made our angel cried.

Come dinner time, the angel "surprised" us with a feast. It was a very international spread. There were a two-layer chocolate cake decorated with berries, japanese chawanmushi, italian meatball pasta, british sausages, thai tomyam and chinese stir-fry celery. Such a lavish meal. Now, I have to control my food intake for a week or else I can start getting new clothes.

Horizontal expansion

IW: Bone-cracking
EW: Bone-piercing

4 weeks - that's how long it took me to make my first trip to Birmingham. Some people I know had already been there twice. Well, better late than never. Seriously, it felt just like another city with huge shopping malls and crowds of people, wrestling their way into discounted items. Took some photos, visited the St. Martin in the bull ring, did some shopping, found Chinatown, hanged around Day In Supermarket (stocking a variety of Asian stuffs) and most important of all, had a satusfying lunch.

Long queues and low prices are highly correlated. Obviously. When I spotted the buffet lunch sign across the street, my curiosity was already rising. And when I saw the attractive pricing of GBP4.99 plus an all you can eat sign, I am positive that I need to go in to check it out. By that time, the crowd was already building. We joined the queue and in less than half an hour, got our seats. Upon seated, we were told that we need to finish by 2pm. It was 5 min to 1pm at that time. Anyway, we went ahead and it'll never be a choice I regret. The food was simply marvellous if not heavenly (I don't think this has anything to do with a lack of chinese food in campus since I have been having constant servings of taiwanese home-cooked meals). We grabbed plates of starters consisting of pork ribs, fried chicken, a variety of fried stuffs like popiah roll, onion ring, spicy and sour soup and I can't remember what else. Then we got hold of some steamed vegetables, tofu, stir-fry dishes and a variety of curry - lamb, fish, chicken etc. This continued with porridges, fishballs, red bean soup, ice-cream, fruits...yes, we mixed everything up. There was no proper selection of meal. We just grabbed stuffs amid the crowd of westerners who seemed to be enjoying the food as much as we do. My personal favourite has to be the porridge, pork ribs and red bean soup. By about 2pm, we were almost done. Not only had the queue doubled in length, we had stuffed ourselves with so much food that I am positive that I may have gained a kg or two.

This is further proven by my lack of appetite by dinner time. In the end, I just had Ben & Jerry and an orange with chinese tea. Such unhealthy meal. But it happens only once in a blue moon. Therefore, I am forgiven.

"Any bowl for 50 pence"

IW: Fun, fun, fun
EW: Still a good day

For half an hour, I just hanged around a certain stall in the marketplace. Why? Because I discovered that the price of the vegetables and fruits were dropping every other minute! Perhaps, the seller wanted to close her shop early since it was just another 3 hours before they close for the day. Or perhaps, she didn't want to keep the vegetables and fruits on Sunday as it is their holiday. Whatever her reason, it was really fun for me to watch her shouting at the top of her voice "Any bowl for GBP1" which soon changed to "Any bowl for 50 pence!" I had been eyeing some American strawberry which was selling for GBP1 per package. In the end, I got it for the same price but with additional bananas. I also bought a set of asparagus and potatoes for 50 pence. Mind you, I wasn't the only one. My friend wanted to buy some bananas but before she can grabbed a basket, the other more experienced ladies had laid their hands on every 50 pence basket of bananas they could find. It was just crazy. The crowd shadowed the seller to wherever she go as she shouted out the next best offer. I think this is my most fun shopping experience by far...though I don't actually need more vegetables.

RRRIIIIINNNGGGGGG......

IW: ???
EW: Breezy...

Early class today. So woke up early, went to kitchen to have breakfast. As I looked out the window, I saw a bunch of people in the courtyard of the residence across the lake. And then I realised they were having fire drill! I went to my room to grab a camera and managed to capture some photos before they dispersed.

Anyway, I continued my breakfast in peace, thinking how lucky I am that the fire drill is not for Heronbank. As I was eating my third slice of bread, a piercing sound broke through an otherwise peaceful morning. For a minute, I just sat frozen there wondering where the sound comes from. IT"S THE FIRE ALARM! I went out of the kitchen with my bread in hand, saw my flatmates coming out in their pajamas and we went down together.

All of us were told to gather in the same courtyard. Saw some people coming out in their interesting nighties. Some in bathrobes. Mostly sleepy faces. There was one with a bowl of cereal in hand. My flatmate thought she should have brought along her laptop cause she was working the whole night on an essay. As for me, I felt rather lucky to wake up early today (actually I wake up early everyday).

Five minutes past eight, we were allowed back into our rooms. I went back to the kitchen and found that my milo is still hot :)
















Additional comment: Pasta today tasted real good despite being kept overnight.

It's a conspiracy

IW: Marathon whole day...tired
EW: Good weather especially for warming clothes

Today is the day! I shall cook my own dinner. Went to kitchen, met my flatmates, cut the vege, took out pasta, put pasta to boil........and then it happened. My flatmate cooked too much noodles and she wanted me to finish it with her! Sigh...I was persuaded to keep my pasta in the fridge to be cooked tomorrow. I hope she didn't bluff me bout the pasta tasting nicer after cooling in the fridge.

I have come to the conclusion that there's a conspiracy to stop me from cooking. It's either there's a fear that I may cause unwanted events or that I have more than one food angel. I shan't ponder further on this. Just need to remind myself to reduce my grocery shopping from now on.

It's always like this...

IW: free...
EW: Another nice day

Today was the second day of my major grocery shopping. Remember my first major shopping where I took along a trolley bag? Well, my chisai friend thought it was pretty embarassing to meet acquaintances on our way back as we struggled with our loads giving the impression that we bought the whole tesco. This time, we repeated the same mistake minus the trolley bag to help us. Halfway through, we couldn't bear it anymore and decided to take a break, sitting under some dark spots, hiding from public eyes. As we were about to continue our way, a friend spotted us and said hi. She said,"The two of you bought a lot of things again." Actually it's just our second time. Before we can finished this conversation, yet another friend saw us and made the same comment. What luck! The sky was already dark and people can still spot us. Amazing. They have good eyes.

Victory!

IW: zzzz...
EW: "Raindrops keep falling on my head..."

My mom must have prayed for a food angel for me. Since I can't really cook, she has been worrying that I won't be eating right. Well, she was certainly right. I am planning to eat stuffs like noodles, pasta that doesn't require much cooking.

BUT luckily, I met victory who loves to cook and has the time to do so plus always overcook the amount of food. Bless her. Just today, I went into the kitchen thinking of cooking instant pasta. And there she was, cooking rice, boiling soup, frying meat. I thought I will just let her finish but she invited me to join her!!! So, I offered her some vege (I don't have that much food stock sadly, that are worthy to be cooked by her) so that I don't just eat free food coz I do feel bad getting free dinners esp since it's not the first time.

To cut a long story short, I had another good, nutritious meal. Although I did become a guinea pig as she experimented with a new dish. Turned out perfect. What more can I ask for in this faraway land where good chinese food is hard to get?

Micro is still a pain...

Shrunk, perfect, free

IW: Erm...
EW: "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy,..."

Shrunk - My zara sweater!!! Just one wash and it seemed tighter. The weirdest thing is that the sweater grew longer too. The sleeves are almost covering my fingers!!! I don't really remember it being so long before the wash. I suppose if I wash it often enough, I will get a sweater skirt.

Perfect - That seems to be one of my tutor's favourite phrase. No one thought he was a tutor when he walked in to adjust the pc. Personally, I thought he was the IT guy in his faded jeans. What a shock to find him suddenly addressing the class. But he was a really nice tutor with clear spoken english. Funny too. When some students got confused and asked how he got a certain spreadsheet, he replied,"You just click, click, click". Hehe

Free - A friend told me that eventhough I have no intention to look for a new job, it doesn't hurt to attend some career talks coz at the end of it, they offer free food. So, I took his advice and signed up for my first forum. Not only was the forum a good break from academic stuffs, the food was pretty decent too! Lotsa sandwiches, chicken yakitori and some rolls. Another satisfying meal. Looking forward to the next one... ;)

The day would have been perfect if I could also solve all the micro questions :(

5 dishes + 1 soup

IW: zzz...
EW: Breezy

Dinner last night was the most perfect meal for me in more than a week. Initially, it was supposed to be a potluck dinner but when Chef came along, he just took over the kitchen. The guys in the group were just amazing cook. Having said that, the girls (except yours truly) are similarly impressive. There were stir-fried broccoli with mushrooms, fried egg with onions, prawn and ham, ginger chicken, steamed pork, "marn" (cantonese) pork plus my flatmate's delicious meatball soup. Initially, I was supposed to contribute the egg dish but the Chef seemed to be programmed for cooking and he just did it automatically. Amazing. So, I got to eat good chinese food without actually having to cook. Perfect.

Result: Everything was just so delicious and heavenly.


The soups are in small bowls. Ginger chicken is in the big black bowl. Broccoli is right in front and behind it is the steamed pork. Fried egg is the dish on the bottom right. Last but not least, "marn" pork is on the top right hand corner.





The reason why I am only writing this after midnight is because I just spent 3 hours trying to solve a micro question with my studymates. Such a torture and we are not even halfway when we ended the session. To be continued tomorrow :(

"I believe you can fit into the kid's size"

IW: Nice
EW: Nice

Went to Leamington Spa today for shopping!!! Not a bad town at all eventhough it's not as big as London. There's plenty of interesting shops. Was adviced by a friend to get a windbreaker because the rain in UK can be very harsh. So, went into a nice sports shop and saw some stuffs on discount. Knowing me, I will always go for discounted items. Unfortunately, they ran out of my size. Then the lady in the shop suggested I try the kid's jacket cause I am quite small!!! I didn't think that I lost so much weight when I came here. Anyway, the kids sasparilla jacket fit me perfectly and I like the violet colour of the jacket plus it comes with a shocking pink fleece jacket.

Onion + mushroom + egg

IW: Breezy
EW: Still nice

My first attempt at cooking one of my favourite egg dish - fried onion and egg. BUT my friend thought it might be blend and suggested putting some mushrooms. Ended up putting in chestnut mushrooms - new kind of mushroom to me. Here's the recipe...

Fried onion, mushroom and egg

Ingredients:
1. One big onion sliced
2. Mushrooms of any kind (sliced)
3. Eggs (depend on how much onion & mushrooms are put in) - beaten and mixed with some salt for taste

Steps: First, heat up pan. Pour in oil. Heat oil. Put in slices of onions. Fry till half-cooked. Add mushrooms. Continue frying till almost cooked. Pour in eggs. Fry together for awhile till eggs are cooked. Dish ready to be served.

Was in the kitchen from 6.30pm till 10pm, chatting while dining. A friend love the dish. I hope she meant it.

Embarassing moment of the day: Went into the wrong class during toilet break!!! For a second, the place looked slightly strange. And then, it became clear that this wasn't the class I was in before toilet break. Oops. Hope no one saw that.

The day of firsts

IW: Good
EW: Reminds me of home

20 minutes - that's how far Tesco is from my place. The first time I walked there and came back with my grocery, I was totally exhausted. This time, I came up with a solution - taking my small luggage with me so that I can just dump everything inside and push it around. It was indeed a good idea till me and my friends bought too much. We ended having a lot of stuffs to carry. Luckily a kind soul noticed our pain and offered his assistance. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

3 hours - that's the length of time me and my friends took to cook and finish our dinner. It was my first time attempting to cook for them. For the past few dinners, I had been relying on others for some home-cooked meals. Today, I decided to let them try my cooking. To cut a long story short, I managed to boil an ABC soup only (not enough salt but still taste good due to the 3 pieces of chicken drumstick dumped inside) while my friends fried minced pork mixed with eggs. We canceled some vege dishes because we ended up being too tired. Result: Meal was good and filling :)

Recipe for ABC soup
Ingredients:
Tomato, potato, carrot, onion, chicken (any parts will do)

Cut the vege into chunks and dumped into a pot of water together with chicken. Boil for 1 1/2 hours. Add salt for taste. Soup is ready to be served.

Some updates on "losing melody" - Today my friend "lost" her handphone. Well, not exactly lost. She just left it in my room without realising :)

Losing melody

IW: Good
EW: Good to the extent of some warmth :)

Following my friend's streak of losing her stuffs, I have decided to dedicate this to her...

List of things lost (and found) since 25 Sep 2007:
1. Passport!!! How can anyone lost her passport? And not even realising it till someone told her? Amazing...
2. Room key...more misplacing than losing but still...
3. Course handbook since yesterday. Hasn't been found yet. I don't think there is any hope.

3 importants things in a week. I think this is a growing list. Will update this constantly or whenever I have nothing better to say ;)

First cooking experience

IW: Perfect
EW: Perfect

Today is my first time cooking pasta. My friend bought a huge bag from tesco. Can probably last him for a month. I was put in charge of cooking the fussili and heating the instant sauce. Alright, I admit that I didn't actually need cooking skill for this but still...Anyway, my friends decided to prepare other chinese dishes - fried ham with potato, fried tofu and fried leftover vermicelli with a kind of plastic vege coz the pasta sauce wasn't enough to feed 4 persons.

As we were cooking, we realised there weren't enough cooking utensils and used the utensils around the kitchen (some of which were borrowed with permission from a Thai flatmate). Some time later, a flatmate came in to cook his lunch and he started looking at what we were doing. Actually, he was looking at the utensils we were using as some of it belongs to him! When he pointed out that this and that utensils belong to him, we really felt bad and my friend started apologising and cleaning his utensils. But he was very nice and said it's ok THIS TIME. So, in order to compensate, we invited him to join us and he spent the rest of the hour watching us demonstrating our cooking skill. And, he shared his japanese rice with us, which he cooked using the microwave and ended up being soggy.

Comments...
I think I have a very different taste bud from the chinese. While I thought that the pasta was a bit too sour, they thought it was bland. And the fried vermicelli too salty, they thought it was just nice. Difficult...It horrified me to see the amount of salt they pour over the dishes.

Warning! Over 500 steps

IW: Wonderful
EW: Beautiful

That's the number of steps I had to take to walk up the Ramparts Walk and Guy's Tower in Warwick Castle. But it was worth the climb. The view from the tower was magnificent. And the best part was that the weather was just nice today for long walk. I think I walked for more than 4 hours without stopping eventhough the climb up the spiral staircases nearly took all my breathe away. The castle is just soooo huge.

Check out this link for more info on the castle:

http://www.cv81pl.freeserve.co.uk/warwick.htm

One thing I discovered during this trip was that eels were (still are today?) a delicacy among the royalties. They would have their servants trap their own eels to be served to their guests. Hmm...Eels remind me of Japan.

Anyway, it was a good trip. Will definitely want to visit the castle again in another time of the year. Especially since I didn't manage to visit the peacock garden. Also there weren't much flowers left for viewing at this time...


Britain's greatest medieval experience (photo taken from a postcard)

You call this Chinese Food?

Final day...
Internal weather: Improving
External weather: Initially just nice, but it ended on a bad note

Rice less than the size of my fist, sweet and sour chicken that tasted sweet only (sour, where art thou?) and crackers for dinner!!! My eyes nearly popped out when I saw the portion. I can't believe this is what I am getting on my last day...My friends had to buy biscuits to truly fill up their stomach. One even planning to go back to her room to cook porridge which I think she did. As for myself, I went back to my room and finished the walkers (sorry, can't post it to you, yen :) ).

Is this how I am gonna spend the rest of the year here?

p/s: Decided to be a bit adventurous tonight and tried orange and cranberry juice. Bad choice coz it was a bit sour which tends to make one feels hungry :(

Can it get any worse?

Third day...
Internal weather: Bad
External weather: Bad

Today was supposed to be a good day. Met my flatmates, opened my account, had the afternoon off...yet some things had to ruin it, triggering the sending out of an angry email.

And just when I thought things couldn't go any worse, the fire alarm went off while I was enjoying my nachos! I wanted to continue eating but was told to leave the hall immediately to gather outside where the rain had started! And so, me and my friends grabbed our stuffs (I took my chocolate mousse with me while my friend had to sacrificed her drink as she couldn't carry it along with her tesco shopping) and headed to the door. Cold, tired and half-hungry, we spotted a saviour who brought along an umbrella. And the four of us cuddled under the umbrella for probably 5 to 10 minutes before we were allowed to enter the building again. As we moved in, I overheard that it's a false alarm and that it could be just a practice session!!!

At this point, all I can say is "Good timing".