"Ren you shi shou, ma you shi ti"

A certain disturbing news came to me quite recently, forcing me to wonder where the education system is heading.

A lecturer made a mistake in a small test paper, causing confusions among students. A student reacted, out of rashness, wrote a complain letter to a major newspaper. While I was not informed of the actual outcome of that action, I was assured that the paper never did publish it. The lecturer apologised to the students and promised to take into account the mistake, in addition to asssessing if the mistake had greatly caused discrepancies in grade (apparently, there was hardly much impact).

Questions: Was the student right in reacting so? Was there no better way to react? Had the newspaper published this piece of letter, not only will it risk tarnishing the reputation of the school but may also affect the career development of the particular lecturer. I am not trying to protect anyone here, neither am I trying to find fault with anyone. I am just concern that students nowaday can behave in such rash manner without considering the consequences.

End of feast, start of term

Yesterday was the last day of our 3-day celebration. Spent the whole afternoon with some Malaysian friends. It felt good being surrounded by familiar people. We talked and talked for hours. The gracious host overfed us with spaghetti in tomato soup, pizza, cengkodok and ice-cream. Personally, I enjoyed cengkodok the most. Rather overdosed on feast at the moment. Not planning to eat much for the next few days. Diet.

Class started this morning. Woke up on time. Phew. Lecturers underestimated the class size and we had to move from one lecture hall to another. Not bothered as the weather was just nice for walking despite the strong wind. The classes didn't feel much easier compared to last term. Need to work harder.

Successful experiment

I think behind every meal, there's a lesson to be learnt.

Started the day with belgian hot chocolate and french toast. The hot chocolate didn't turn out too well with the lack of chocolate taste largely because of an underestimation by the person who prepared it. It wasn't out of expectation.

Did major shopping today. My favourite cornflakes was on sale. Buy 2 for the price of 1. I ended up buying 4 packets. Stocked up on some ingredients too. I have decided to be a bit more adventurous with my cooking now. Might as well try for a MA in cooking ;)

For dinner, I tried Chef Chips' roast chicken, marinated by basil, chives, garlic salt, coarse black pepper, soy sauce and sesame oil. I thought it turned out pretty well although I must say that the taste is a bit unfamiliar. The fried rice was awesome but I can't say the same for the vegetable soup. Too much of tomatoes made the soup too sour. However, the cook begged to differ and felt that she shouldn't put carrots (it wasn't her idea to put carrots). On the contrary, most of us thought adding carrots are fine but not the tomatoes. This is not the first time I have witnessed her stubborness. Are all cooks like this?

Dessert was bubble tea. I love the chewy "frog's spawn" (the more normal name is tapioca pearls). Bigger bubbles would have been more perfect.

Late

I have ever felt this rush before...being late for class...that was quite an experience. My alarm went off. I shut it off as usual but this time, I forgot to wake up. When I finally feel awake and looked at my clock, it was 8.53!!! My class was going to start in 7 minutes. There was no way I can get ready in time and even if I can, my school is still 6 minutes walk. I quickly cleaned myself, grabbed my bag and dashed out only to find another coursemate late too. Apparently, she was waiting for yet another coursemate. I know it's bad but I felt a sense of relief. I do not like being the latest one in class and knowing that someone else is late makes me feel better. Terrible...

For the party tonight, we had honey-roasted mandarin chicken, curry turkey, balti chicken, sour and spicy soup, tomato eggs and for dessert is chocolate cake topped with cherry ice-cream. It was pretty amazing. This is the first time I tried roasting honey chicken and I thought it tasted pretty good. The curry turkey was too dry though. As for the tomato eggs, it was the best ever tomato eggs I have ever tried cooking.

Watched "The Brave One" by Jodie Foster. Not too bad although it was testing my patience a little. The ending was quite touching - what a true friend will do for another friend. Reminds me of a quote "A best is someone who said where shall we hide the body when you tell her you killed someone".

.

Tesco, dinner, choc fudge, taboo

It's finally over. Well, not over over but over for now. The process will repeat itself in two months time but can't be bothered now. Work hard, play hard. That's a good motto.

Immediately after the exam, my friends and I head to Tesco. Having survived on frozen and instant food most of the past two weeks, we had enough. Time for healthy living again. No more food rationing.

And then, it was cooking lesson for me. Flatmate promised to teach me chawanmushi. Doesn't seem so difficult now. I shall try it one day all by myself. AND I cooked sing chow mei...with some help although I did most of the work. It was sooo cool. I didn't think it turned out bad at all but the taste is different from what my friends normally eat as they are not familiar with the usage of curry powder. Feeling a bit proud and definitely more daring now. I might be able to earn my masters in cooking at the end of this year...haha.

Chawanmushi
First prepare the ingredients (anything kind of meat, mushrooms etc).
Measurement is 2/3 egg per person (i.e. per cup). Beat egg together. Boil some chicken broth (2 times the amount of eggs). Then let it cool before mixing with the eggs. Pour the mixture into the cup and steam. As simple as that. The difficulty lies in the measurement and heat.

A dinner party will never be complete without dessert. So we had choc fudge and cherry ice-cream. Sinful. Later, we played "Harry Potter" uno and taboo. It was my first time playing taboo.

"European and American women have this feature. Asians don't. Men love it. It's a colour".

Our answers range from pink to purple to green to white to all kind of colours.

What do you think is the answer? I will keep it to myself for now ;)

Roller coaster

Ever been on a roller coaster ride? How do you feel in the beginning? Excited? How bout when the ride brought you plunging down, sending your heart into your stomach? Fear? And when it stabilises again, relieved?

Notice how similar it is to taking an exam? One minute when you can't study anymore, when nothing seems to make sense, you start having thoughts...fear begins to creep in and then you decided to quit. It's like all of a sudden, your ride just plunge down and you want to step out. There might even be some regret. A moment later, as you try again and finding that you can solve some questions, you begin to see a ray of hope...like when the ride stabilises to give you time to catch your breath. You regain some self-confidence and decided to carry on. And the whole process repeats itself till it sucks up all your energy that you no longer feel any emotion and let it be.

At my point of saturation, I...

This shot is entitled "Best Friends"

Stimulating music

Spending days alone in the room studying, without stepping out for fresh air can be rather depressing without some music to break the monotone. A friend found this wonderful site featuring musics from Mozart. So, let's spread the joy around.

http://tv.rtp.pt/radiomozart/index.php

Souvenirs from Pakistan

Had a good day today. Finally managed to solve ONE (yes, only one) question from optimal control after some panic attack yesterday. Such a relief.

Anyway, just want to be reminded of what my friend got me from Pakistan...haha

1st day passed by...

Normally I spent all my new years doing nothing at home coz I believe that whatever I do on the first day will signify how the rest of the days in the year will be for me. Most unfortunately, this year I do not have the luxury of doing nothing, having been studying the whole day, preparing for next week's exam. Did I say next week? Yikes. I better continue now...

p/s: New Year's resolution was...didn't have time to make any ;)

Happy New Year!

Finally...my little dinner party is over. Another really good party with too much food (as usual). Had pizza as starter (strange eh?) followed by some dishes (fusion of chinese and indian) and ended with some purple rice sweet soup as dessert. Such a satisfying meal.

After the meal, played a few rounds of Harry Potter uno. Quite interesting. At one point, we decided to punish the person with the most cards and she had to go downstairs and rang us so that we can test out whether we can open the front door from our kitchen. Well, operation failed. The button was not functioning.

At about 11pm, got tired of uno and went to a room to watch movie. Decided on "The Fracture" starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Really good show. We were still watching the movie when the clock struck 12. At 12.01am, we paused to wish each other "Happy New Year".

We ended the night (or morning) with a piece of chocolate cake each to usher in the new year with sweetness. Sounds like a chinese tradition to me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! May 2008 brings lotsa pleasant surprises for everyone.

p/s: Found out the name of the purple cake I ate yesterday. It's crystal taro cake.