Eat Rave

*Updated with pictures*

I've been eating and snacking NON-STOP the past week. And it's not really a huge surprise. Since when I hardly talk about about good food and icecream right. I remembered just one or couple of weeks ago, I was on an icecream rave and the past week? A cake rave.

Woah, my goodness me, thinking of those number of slices of cakes I ate last week kinda made me feel like puking. It was really an overkill. Seriously.

I had in total 7 slices of cake. And only 2 flavours (!) - Chocolate and cheesecake. Interestingly, one of which, I baked! -shocker right?- Not exactly entirely my own effort of course! I had the help of my dear sister. =)

Let's see, I had,

2 whopping slices of Awfully Chocolate signature cake and 2 slides of tofu cheesecake (which is home made by my dear "chef" in my cell group)

2 slices of my own London Cheesecake (taken from Nigella Lawson recipes, I simply adore watching her cook show on Discovery Travel & Living!) In fact, she is both my sis and my favorite cookshow host.

1 oreo cheesecake from Cheesecake cafe, yet again.

No more cheesecake from now on.

Well anyway, the London cheesecake turned out to be edible (since we followed the recipe EXACTLY..) and according to Youie, tasted better than Cheesecake Cafe's cheesecake. This one is the real shocker. That means if I mass produce or rather mass bake cheesecakes, I can set up my own shop lah. I'm tweaking the recipe a little to play around with the ingredients. Thanks to this friend of mine from cell group who kinda fire up this enthusiam in making cheesecake.

Here's how our the home-baked cheesecake looks like.

Oops, it was our first time baking a proper cheesccake so didn't really spread the sour cream topping evenly. Anyhow, it still tasted damn good.

So proud of my sister and myself. Thanks to Mum and Dad for helping out too =) We kinda made a mess in the kitchen.

And click here for the London Cheesecake recipe I got from Nigella Lawson's Website. Happy Baking!

Steamboat Saturday during cell group was really really fun and I had such a great time participating in the grocery shopping, the preparation of food, and of course the eating! I never knew grocery shopping can be an art, I mean like when it comes to choosing food and raw stuff, there's a step by step checking process (oh my.) And you know what, the advice came from one of the male species. What on earth is happening to the guys today. Haha, they cook and they bake (with zest). I was told to check the vegetables for freshness and I just assumed, Ok look at the leaves, and pick the greenest right? Apparently, that's not all, it is not all about green-ness of the leaves, have to check the stems as well.

And I shan't elaborate anymore. Simply, buying groceries is not as easy as I thought it was.

I like the fact that men these days can cook and handle the kitchen better than women. It was really amusing when the men were in the kitchen preparing the food, the ladies were sitting in the living room happily chit-chatting away. HAHAHA. Evil laughter. At least, I helped to wash the vegetables and wrap the wanton (first time!). It was easy to identify the wantons I wrapped, because all the ones I wrapped turned out to be rectangular in shape. LOL. Yea, the guys did a way better job than I did. Not shocking by now.

Other haps,

Dinner at Siglap's Famous Fu Lin's Ampang Yong Tau Food Place (in my opinion, the best YTF)

It was supposed to a girls' get-together but only the 3 of us could make it. Oh well, there's always a next time. And, it was still great pigging out on hawker fare.

We seriously over-ordered. Super over-estimated our appetite. Haha.

This cheesecake place, just down the road.

Youie and vet who is our little petite girl behind the driver's wheel. She utters funny comments when she drives. Stuff along the lines of, "Shoo Uncle, get out of my way, don't overtake meeeee.." So endearing...

Youie! Vet and I were shocked when we saw her hair. Super punk rock. Totally fits her image as a gungho dragon boater. Fierce... My hair looks plain boring beside hers. =\

It was overall a nice week of feasting. Although it was a mad week in school but it ended on a good note so I'm really grateful that another week has just flew by.

A "Friday" Wednesday (totally random stuff)

*Skip, if you do not know want to read my nitty gritty details of my wednesday out with Jax*

Ok, I know the post title sounds strange. To explain, I was out with Jax on Wednesday and it seemed like a Friday to me since Fridays are usually our (only) day out. It was nice in a boring kind of way - plain but comfortable- nice.

We talked alot. Laughed alot. Kinda bickered over which movie to watch. I wanted to watch Rendition and he wanted to watch Seeker (which seemed so kiddish initially). So as usual, like we always do, we sat there just bickering over which movie is more worthwhile to catch. Genre clash. Sheesh.

We watched Seeker in the end... (Under my terms and conditions). And it turned out to be pretty good. Ha. Funnily, I liked it more than he did. What a dumb irony.

Anyway, since Halloween is round the corner, we talked about Halloween plans and he wanted to go for Zouk Halloween which I am not that interested in. Curious, I asked him what he is going as? And his answer, "Perhaps, King Kong or Jabba ?!" I laughed at the silliness of his answer. But its really suits him =X Seriously, sometimes I do think my boyfriend lives in his fantasy kingdom. And he said I can go along as Princess Leia. Haha, no way I'm ever going to don 2 bagel like buns on the sides of my head. I would rather go as Cleopatra which is way cooler.

And if we are going as a couple, Mr and Mrs Flintstones would be cool. Lol.

Sheesh, the stuff we talk about sometimes...

Dinner at Rendevouz Cafe, which is right across from SMU... How convenient. And it was a nice surprise because it was one of my favorite Indonesian restaurants since primary school days and I cannot remember the last time I went there for food. It was a long time back... Dinner brought back fond memories of eating there with my family back during the early to mid 90s. I remember I used to pester my parents like mad, to drop by the nearby Toys R Us to buy me Barbie Dolls. Lol.

The decor and the food still remains the same! Didn't get to try the chendol though. Darn.

Yeah, every dish is either sambal gravy or curry. We love our spicy food. Ok, we might not share the same taste in movies, at least we share the exact same taste in food. Which is really good. Haha. Sometimes, we would even compare whose threshold for chilli is higher.

One of his 'abstract' pictures. I was like, "Can we eat like, now?! Stop taking pictures lah. How many do you want to take." I was all ready to dig in. Come to think of it, we irk each other to no end and still find joy in doing so. How strange a couple can we be. T_T

Haha, this picture makes me laugh. He looks like he's shocked by the camera.

Hiding our flabs from the camera. I laughed so hard that my eyes are practically closed.


A lovely day in an emotional rollercoaster week.

and, God is indeed faithful! Thank you for the good outcome of our consultation with MB. No module had ever come close to make me so jittery over my final grade. She can be quite nice actually. We are being penalized minimally and it could have been much worse but thankfully, we managed to overcome this entire episode. =))))

Peeved

Somehow, I find it kinda beyond me to tolerate anal individuals who desperately have to dot every i (s) and cross every t (s). One who has obsessively high expectations who makes little effort to effectively communicate them across.

T_T

Having to deal with such people sucks totally! It can be particularly annoying to have to deal with that person every Thursday or rather everytime she drops us a reply via Vista Email.


I think by now, a couple of you being my classmates and good pals in school might know who on earth this annoying person is.


She is none other than MB (also known as Mega Bitch of a prof for my HR module)

No other module in my entire schooling years in university has demanded so much for a project and the thing is, we have 7 brains in the project team and we ironically find it really vexing to put in so much effort and we get shitty one line replies from her.

Dear God, Please bless all who are in my project team! We need SUPERNATURAL favor in dealing with MMMMMMB...... Let us triumph over this dire circumstance. Give us hope in a hopeless situation.

Ok, phew, I'm feeling better. I rather 'scream' and let it off on this outlet rather rattling on and on to poor Jax, who most prolly just reply with "eh-huh" and "yahyah"...... Hah...

Songs, Reading & Starbucks

Simplicity makes me happy these days. A good song, a good book and a nice meaningful conversation warms my heart and cheers up my day.




I think my taste in music is seriously changing. I love listening slow and meaningful songs these days. Yeah, its the growing up phrase.The moving into working adult-hood phrase. Strangely, I find comfort and solace listening to Carrie Underwood's songs. Instead of taking a nap, I loitered around trying to find something to do and chanced upon a forgotten Carrie Underwood's album. I made use of the surround sound system (which my mum won in a company's lucky draw) to blast the music while I just listened to the lyrics.



I kinda got teary while listening to her songs.





"Don't Forget to Remember Me"



18 years have come and gone
For momma they flew by
But for me they drug on and on
We were loading up that Chevy
Both trying not to cry
Momma kept on talking
Putting off good-bye
Then she took my hand and said
Baby don't forget


Before you hit the highway
You better stop for gas
And there's a 50 in the ashtray
In case you run short on cash
Here's a map and here's a bible
If you ever lose your way


Just one more thing before you leave
Don't forget to remember me


This downtown apartment sure makes me miss home and
those bills there on the counter keep telling me I'm on my own
And just like every Sunday I call momma up last night
And even when it's not, I tell her everything's alright
Before we hung up I said
Hey momma, don't forget


To tell my baby sister I'll see her in the fall
And tell mee-maw that I miss her
Yeah, I should give her a call
And make sure you tell Daddy
That I'm still his little girl
Yeah I still feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be
Don't forget to remember me


Tonight I find myself kneeling by my bed to pray
I haven't done this in a while
So I don't know what to say but
Lord I feel so small sometimes in this big cold place
Yeah I know there's more important things, but

Don't forget to remember me
Don't forget to remember me



-------------------------------------



"Jesus, Take the Wheel"



She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati
On a snow white Christmas Eve
Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy with the baby in the backseat
Fifty miles to go and she was running low on faith and gasoline
It had been a long hard year
She had a lot on her mind and she didn't pay attention
She was going way too fast

Before she knew it she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass
She saw both their lives flash before her eyes
She didn't even have time to cry
She was so scared
She threw her hands up in the air


Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this all on my own
I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I'm on
Jesus take the wheel


It was still getting colder when she made it to the shoulder
And the car came to a stop
She cried when she saw that baby in the backseat sleeping like a rock
And for the first time in a long time
She bowed her head to pray
She said I'm sorry for the wayI've been living my life
I know I've got to change
So from now on tonight



Jesus take the wheel
Take it from my hands
Cause I can't do this all my own I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
To save me from this road I'm on
Oh, Jesus take the wheel
Oh, I'm letting go
So give me one more chance
Save me from this road I'm on
From this road I'm on

Jesus take the wheel
Oh, take it, take it from me

******

19th October -Friday


We Are Book Geeks.

I've finally remembered to bring my long-forgotten cammie (it's taking a long break from the SZ trip) along for our day out.


These days, nothing beats sharing a large mug of hot chocolate (since he doesn't drink coffee) and reading together in Starbucks for hours. Haha, sounds really boring right, reading, people watching and talking at Starbucks. Actually, surprisingly, it's actually nice to sit around, commenting on fashion styles and on a lookout for good looking people. Jax and I have a weird hobby while shopping. We are always on a lookout for pretty girls to talk about. Ha...Hence we decided to opt for the European style of sitting outdoors to indulge in people watching and book reading.

Him, reading "The Tipping Point" By Malcolm Gladwell which is really an interesting and thought provoking read. Like Freakonomics, a book that boldly challenges conventional wisdom, traditional stereotypes and perceptions. I like the fact that we love reading the same genre of books and we are such book geeks. =)

Collected clothes from MDS during their mass meetup. New clothes to wear! I've jumped onto the bandwagon of online shopping. Like finally. All thanks to the influence (more like brainwashing.. heh) of Julez and Eileen who are loyal supporters of online shopping. At the end of the day, I cannot escape from the clutches of Jax's incessant nagging.

And instead of listening to him nag, I decided to direct my attention to the performing beatboxing band nearby. In both Jax's and my opinion, really awesome beatboxing, which is essentially an art of vocal percussion and making drum beats and rhythms from using the lips, tongue and voice. I was pretty tempted to get myself a copy of their album which they are selling to fund their world tour.

Well, it was a nice date. Just enjoying each other's company doing very normal things.

Broadcast!


For those of you girls who love accessories, check out the following website =) As for the guys, you can buy them for the girlfriends. (HINT)

http://www.bead-tiful-accessories.blogspot.com/


Must support it alright. My godma's handmade collection.

P/S: For future navigation, you can link on her blog's link on my Blogroll. ;)

Grad Trips Dilemma.



EUROPE OR AUSSIE?



My heart tells me Europe (DUH?)


But my head tells me Aussie.


Friends who are involved, Europe? Consider? ;)


Europe is a good place to go now rather than wait 5 years down the road when the Euro will go crazily high...

Pre-Grad Blues...


Are you feeling it?!


I'm feeling it. Like totally. I know it's still early but I can feel this sickening feeling of the working world beckoning me to the 9 to 5 life. I'm having premature nightmares of

1. Squeezing with the army of working people in the morning train (Monday to Friday)
2. Waking up to only feel like applying for MC
3. Sit in traffic on the way home
4. The phrase of TGIF being a constant thanksgiving one
5. Not being able to travel during summer as and when I want to
6. WEARING FORMAL EVERY WEEKDAY
7. "Schmoozing" with the big shots


I want to remain as a student. Living the carefree days of msning, online shopping with my girlfriends/classmates during classes, stoning (and the occasional note taking in class), bitching during project meetings and going for late night suppers without worrying about not reporting to work on time the next morning.

It's not like I do not want to be successful in my life, not like I do not want to have a successful career. I do not know how to put it in words. It's the responsibility part, the jaded-ness in working people, the 'I have to think countless times before doing something' work-nurtured character. I do not want to be that person.

Growing up. It's funny and ironic really, come to think of it. I remembered when I was a little girl in primary school, all I wanted was for time to hurry so that I can grow up, wear high heels, put on lipstick and do the adult stuff. But when I'm here at this point in life, I look back and still see this little girl in me and she really doesn't want to grow up anymore.

And being in college is like experiencing the best of both worlds really, being carefree and getting a taste of being responsible at the same time. But it's ending all too soon.

Call me childish and naive, but I just can't help feeling a little vulnerable at times.

Mind Cafe with the SZ Gang


10 October 2007


Featuring...


Alaska*



Donna*

Michelle*

ShenYeong*

and his Mohawk of cards


Zhongwei* (Aka, Mr Full of Shit)


Qiu Xin* (She looks like the fortune cat right? Hence we asked her to give us this pose. Ha)



And lastly me,



Missing Adrian who's currently on exchange in Turkey. Lucky guy! My mum keeps pestering me to pass her Adrian's Flickr link so she can look at the pictures he took in Turkey.

Anyway, check out his Tibet and Nepal pictures here. He can take really good pictures of scenery.





Saboteur. Haha, I love this game. The most brain-less strategy game.





Hahaha.

The 7 of us.

Pictures from Michelle's cammie... She takes better pictures than I do ;)

Oh shucks, the Gold Diggers lost....

They are my "laughter pill". Haha cannot stop laughing throughout the games. We ought to meet up more often during the december holidays!

*****

I do have nice guy friends in school. I have this warped perception since Year 1 that nice guys in SMU is hard to find. Mostly are the rich snobs who think they are so high up there. But I'm glad I have nice guy friends who do the sweetest things at times...

Like Lewyn, who helps carry my laptop and hurries to open doors for girls. And he does this for all the female friends he has. Such a gentleman. Thanks for the surprise chocolates when I was upset yesterday over the networking thing. Haha.

Like Qihan, who takes the initiative to carry the girls' laptops plus he always never complain when Jules and I make him wait damn long outside the ladies' toilet. He will just jokingly go, "Did you girls get lost in the loo or something?"

Like Steven (my new friend from Gene Cell project), who knew I was damn pissed over the networking event and took brochures of the companies for Jules and I who decided to forsake the event totally. How sweet to decide to share the information he got without us asking.


Thanks guys.

Thank God, there are still Mr. Nice guys like you in SMU.


Anyway, Jules is still the best girlfriend I have in school. Thanks for sticking with me and putting up with my emotional outbursts when I get fed up. Haha. I think I kinda gave you a shock yesterday by how angry I can be. Oops. =\

Random

[A -I need to get this off my chest- post]


It was a crappy day. Thinking of it kinda makes me frustrated all over again.


Well, I shan't harp on it much longer. I went home, sat in front of the telly, channel surfed and I was lucky to catch The Lakehouse when it just started. If there is an award for the perfect on-screen Hollywood couple, Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves will win it hands down. I really really really do think they should be together. Haha. That movie really took my mind off things.

True love is truly worth the wait.


"This is the way it should be" - Paul McCartney

I'm very sure, this never happened to me before
I met you and now I'm sure
This never happened before

Now I see, this is the way it's supposed to be
I met you and now I see
This is the way it should be
This is the way it should be, for lovers

They shouldn't go it alone
It's not so good when you're on your own
So come to me, now we can be what we want to be
I love you and now I see
This is the way it should be
This is the way it should be
This is the way it should be, for lovers
They shouldn't go it alone
It's not so good when your on your own

I'm very sure, this never happened to me before
I met you and now I'm sure
This never happened before (This never happened before)
This never happened before (This never happened before)
This never happened before (This never happened before)
This never happened before

*******

Sometimes, I just want you to understand where I'm coming from. It's dead tiring having to explain over and over again and to entertain your "Why this, Why that".

I Miss YOU!


I have not seen this person for the longest time ever!

When I was in SZ, she flew off to Sydney for her studies in Radiology. Wanzhi, miss ya! Miss partying, playing Mj and eating junk food over at my place with you and the rest of the girls! We all miss your mad-cap antics and the ability to churn out funny faces faster than the rest of us when it comes to taking lame ass pictures! heh.

I'm all for Australia for grad trip now. She's not coming back till next year =(

Is Milk a Health Food?


This might come across as shocker but the answer is a No. (a Might be no, actually).

Kinda depressing eh? Especially for people like me who loves drinking milk. Full cream somemore.

The last few weeks, I have been researching on the topic of milk being a health food for the purpose of my gene cell team's project. The module is sort of like a bio-molecular, health and life science *all rolled into one* module. Well, anyway, I think I had enough on the huge fallacy that milk is a health food. Apparently as what the research indicates, we have been blinded by the milk industry. Think Got Milk? advertising.

Milk can lead to increased risk of osteoporosis, cancer, and heart disease. Blah blah blah...

Sometimes, too much knowledge or rather awareness ain't necessarily a good thing.

After all that's being said, I'm still sticking to drinking my favorite Meiji milk and yes, still full cream.

Hahaha. I'm a stubborn milk drinker.

Cold, Bored and Sleepy


*Taking a break from studying*

I am typing this post in PCC (Pacific Coffee Company). Actually, I’m typing real slowly because it’s cold and my fingers are kinda numbed to type fast. Well anyway, I’m trying to make my brain concentrate on the ultra boring and unappealing Performance Management notes. 10 chapters to be tested this coming Friday. 6 more to go. Just greattttt…

********

There is this issue which I have been avoiding from for the past 2 and a half years and I need a massive dosage of courage to face the music now. I can’t hide from it any longer. I know I will hurt, disappoint and anger some people. But I guess I have to deal with it. Dear God, give me the courage. I don’t think I can do this alone.

Courage. I’d rather skydive another 10 times than do this. Oh my goodness, the thought of it makes me want to run away from it altogether.