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Friday, November 2007 (11/30/07) at 09:07 PM GMT :
Cooking!
music: My Pace - Bleach ED by Sunset Switch (I am currently OBSESSED with this song)
mood: Happy
Was trying to catch up with K's blog and after seeing her entry with the pics of all the yummy dishes she made, it reminded me of my own cooking skills.
It's funny, before I first had to cook for myself when I went to Uni, I'd always assumed that I'd never be able to cook unless I had a recipe to follow. It stems from how I used to love baking when I was a kid, since generally for baking you pretty much have to follow exactly what the recipe says in order for the cake/pastry/dessert/whatever to turn out well. My sis even pointed out that our cousin-in-law, who loves to cook and is very much a on-the-spur-of-the-moment and improvisational cook, will probably never make a good baker since he'd always have the urge to add a dash of this and a bit of that and end up ruining the dish. So I thought I'd turn out to be the exact opposite - i.e. someone who would be a horrible cook since I'd have to follow everything to the letter and not know how to adapt.
But then after a year or so of having to cook by myself, I realised I was dead wrong - at least with the recipe thing. As with so many other things, I am actually a very LAZY cook - so much so that when I actually bothered printing out recipes to follow, I couldn't be bothered to use measuring utensils and instead just splashed in whatever I thought looked "adequate". And I actually found it pretty fun to do so - sure, it may lead to the occasional mishap where something turns out too salty or too sweet or too bland or too burnt, but at the same time the whole thing about being able to make something off-the-cuff with nothing more than the basic idea of what you want to make is actually pretty fun and exciting.
Also, most of my friends will be pleased to know that now that I stay in the same flat as someone who loves vegetables, I've started making dishes with more veg in them. (Though Ga Mok claims I don't put QUITE enough vegetables as she'll like. :p) Of course, Ga Mok does most of the cooking since she hates doing the washing up, but for the few times I've cooked I've really enjoyed myself. I like cooking and as much as I like being able to cook with my friends, a recent experience made me realise that I especially like it when I get to do all the cooking by myself. Basically, Ga Mok and Dee Mok were playing catch in the flat's corridor while I was doing the cooking, and I kind of went into my own little world and didn't even realise when they were talking to me! (Though in my defense, the extractor fan thingy was on so it kind of drowned out their words when they talked at a normal volume. :p)
One bad thing about being a lazy cook, though, is that I think I'll never be able to make the more "fancy" dishes which require more time and effort to make. Maybe I should dig out some of my recipes and try making them properly, as opposed to substituting stuff here and there and cutting down on the steps. It's sad, really, because I think I'll never be a properly "good" cook unless I stop being so lazy - as it is, my food often tastes pretty ok, but it's not amazing either taste or aesthetics wise. Since I think cooking's a really important skill to have, I really should try doing it properly...
Thinking of making Oyako-don tomorrow; if I do end up making that maybe I'll take some pics to prove to myself that I can actually make good dishes if I bother to put in the effort. :p [Karma: 4 (+/-)][link] [1 Comment]
music: My Pace - Bleach ED by Sunset Switch (I am currently OBSESSED with this song)
mood: Happy
Was trying to catch up with K's blog and after seeing her entry with the pics of all the yummy dishes she made, it reminded me of my own cooking skills.
It's funny, before I first had to cook for myself when I went to Uni, I'd always assumed that I'd never be able to cook unless I had a recipe to follow. It stems from how I used to love baking when I was a kid, since generally for baking you pretty much have to follow exactly what the recipe says in order for the cake/pastry/dessert/whatever to turn out well. My sis even pointed out that our cousin-in-law, who loves to cook and is very much a on-the-spur-of-the-moment and improvisational cook, will probably never make a good baker since he'd always have the urge to add a dash of this and a bit of that and end up ruining the dish. So I thought I'd turn out to be the exact opposite - i.e. someone who would be a horrible cook since I'd have to follow everything to the letter and not know how to adapt.
But then after a year or so of having to cook by myself, I realised I was dead wrong - at least with the recipe thing. As with so many other things, I am actually a very LAZY cook - so much so that when I actually bothered printing out recipes to follow, I couldn't be bothered to use measuring utensils and instead just splashed in whatever I thought looked "adequate". And I actually found it pretty fun to do so - sure, it may lead to the occasional mishap where something turns out too salty or too sweet or too bland or too burnt, but at the same time the whole thing about being able to make something off-the-cuff with nothing more than the basic idea of what you want to make is actually pretty fun and exciting.
Also, most of my friends will be pleased to know that now that I stay in the same flat as someone who loves vegetables, I've started making dishes with more veg in them. (Though Ga Mok claims I don't put QUITE enough vegetables as she'll like. :p) Of course, Ga Mok does most of the cooking since she hates doing the washing up, but for the few times I've cooked I've really enjoyed myself. I like cooking and as much as I like being able to cook with my friends, a recent experience made me realise that I especially like it when I get to do all the cooking by myself. Basically, Ga Mok and Dee Mok were playing catch in the flat's corridor while I was doing the cooking, and I kind of went into my own little world and didn't even realise when they were talking to me! (Though in my defense, the extractor fan thingy was on so it kind of drowned out their words when they talked at a normal volume. :p)
One bad thing about being a lazy cook, though, is that I think I'll never be able to make the more "fancy" dishes which require more time and effort to make. Maybe I should dig out some of my recipes and try making them properly, as opposed to substituting stuff here and there and cutting down on the steps. It's sad, really, because I think I'll never be a properly "good" cook unless I stop being so lazy - as it is, my food often tastes pretty ok, but it's not amazing either taste or aesthetics wise. Since I think cooking's a really important skill to have, I really should try doing it properly...
Thinking of making Oyako-don tomorrow; if I do end up making that maybe I'll take some pics to prove to myself that I can actually make good dishes if I bother to put in the effort. :p [Karma: 4 (+/-)][link] [1 Comment]
Saturday, November 2007 (11/17/07) at 09:07 PM GMT :
Shokku!
mood: Amused
Had two amusing culture shocks in a row today with Ga Mok and Dee Mok.
First was when we were eating strawberries for dessert. I got the shock of my life because I'd always assumed that the only way to eat strawberries was either plain or with sugar or with whipped cream or even a combination of both. So I was all SHOCK!HORROR!OMGICAN'TBELIEVETHIS! when Dee Mok grabbed our bottle of salt to season her strawberries with! D: And if that wasn't shocking enough for me, Ga Mok told me that she eats her strawberries with sugar, fish sauce and chilli powder, and then proceeded to do so right in front of me. XD
Not that I think there's anything wrong with that, since they were also surprised to find that I actually eat my strawberries with sugar. I just find it really amusing how even between South-East Asian States, which are often so similar in many ways, you can still have enough differences to have a culture shock. Previously I'd always thought of culture shocks as being more of a Western-Asian collide sort of thing. :p (And as an aside, Ga Mok threw a small fit when I refused to try her sugar-fishsauce-chillipowder concoction. To semi-quote, "You see! Dee and I love this sauce so much that we want to share it with you!" Oh Ga Mok, I know you love me. XD)
The second one may not be so much of a culture shock as it is perhaps just my own family thing - but basically what happened was that I had some mini-pastries placed on a blue napkin which was lying on the table, and Dee was reminding me to eat them... and then she casually plucked one of the pastries off the napkin and held it right in front of my face asking "What's this one?". At which point I semi-freaked out at her because she was touching my food which she wasn't planning on eating, and that came as a shock to me since that just isn't a done thing in my family back home.
Oddly enough, I have no problems with people handing me bits of food to eat (eg. if you were to break off a piece of your sandwich and give it to me, I'd eat it), but when someone picks something off a plate and then puts it back on again, I can't stand it - perhaps it's because I was brought up to think it impolite to touch food that's not yours and that once you touch something on a plate with your bare hands you have to eat it. In any case, it was actually quite amusing since Dee Mok and Ga Mok were quite surprised at my vehement reaction. XD I suppose it ended up being indirect payback for the shock they gave me for the strawberries thing. *laughs* [Karma: 3 (+/-)][link] [No Comments]
mood: Amused
Had two amusing culture shocks in a row today with Ga Mok and Dee Mok.
First was when we were eating strawberries for dessert. I got the shock of my life because I'd always assumed that the only way to eat strawberries was either plain or with sugar or with whipped cream or even a combination of both. So I was all SHOCK!HORROR!OMGICAN'TBELIEVETHIS! when Dee Mok grabbed our bottle of salt to season her strawberries with! D: And if that wasn't shocking enough for me, Ga Mok told me that she eats her strawberries with sugar, fish sauce and chilli powder, and then proceeded to do so right in front of me. XD
Not that I think there's anything wrong with that, since they were also surprised to find that I actually eat my strawberries with sugar. I just find it really amusing how even between South-East Asian States, which are often so similar in many ways, you can still have enough differences to have a culture shock. Previously I'd always thought of culture shocks as being more of a Western-Asian collide sort of thing. :p (And as an aside, Ga Mok threw a small fit when I refused to try her sugar-fishsauce-chillipowder concoction. To semi-quote, "You see! Dee and I love this sauce so much that we want to share it with you!" Oh Ga Mok, I know you love me. XD)
The second one may not be so much of a culture shock as it is perhaps just my own family thing - but basically what happened was that I had some mini-pastries placed on a blue napkin which was lying on the table, and Dee was reminding me to eat them... and then she casually plucked one of the pastries off the napkin and held it right in front of my face asking "What's this one?". At which point I semi-freaked out at her because she was touching my food which she wasn't planning on eating, and that came as a shock to me since that just isn't a done thing in my family back home.
Oddly enough, I have no problems with people handing me bits of food to eat (eg. if you were to break off a piece of your sandwich and give it to me, I'd eat it), but when someone picks something off a plate and then puts it back on again, I can't stand it - perhaps it's because I was brought up to think it impolite to touch food that's not yours and that once you touch something on a plate with your bare hands you have to eat it. In any case, it was actually quite amusing since Dee Mok and Ga Mok were quite surprised at my vehement reaction. XD I suppose it ended up being indirect payback for the shock they gave me for the strawberries thing. *laughs* [Karma: 3 (+/-)][link] [No Comments]
Tuesday, November 2007 (11/13/07) at 09:07 PM GMT :
Blog Backlog Update!
mood: Accomplished
I updated with a backlogged post! Scroll down for about three entries or so and you'll see a post that I started on 14th September and ended up finishing only today. :p [Karma: -6 (+/-)][link] [115 Comments]
mood: Accomplished
I updated with a backlogged post! Scroll down for about three entries or so and you'll see a post that I started on 14th September and ended up finishing only today. :p [Karma: -6 (+/-)][link] [115 Comments]
Thursday, November 2007 (11/01/07) at 09:07 PM GMT :
Fun with States
music: Juuni Kokuki OST
mood: Cackling with hilarity
For those friends interested in what stuff I'm studying this semester, here's a small fun bit:
I'm doing a module on Foundations of Public International Law, and one of the issues we look at is the concept of statehood, where we look at the criteria for statehood, when states actually become states and when they are recognised as being states etc. So anyway, in our first tutorial, we were told to go check out these two websites which are the homepages for two self-proclaimed states. I recommend anyone to go check out those two pages - there's no need to really read them thoroughly, just do a quick skim through of the "about" pages and then check out the pics of the defined territory of each state, I'm sure you'll find it hilarious. XD
Also, there's this extra bit my friend shared with me that her tutor told her (we actually have the same tutor but she forgot to tell my group this):
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
were you told about the island near scotland that the UK used to expand it's territory?
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
haha, no, we weren't
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
what about it? did they fight over it with scotland?
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
XDD
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
there's land in the middle of the sea somewhere off the coast of scotland with an area of 10 square meters
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
and on it was a lighthouse
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
to be considered an island (and therefore part of UK territory), there had to be social and economic activity
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
...... so they put a person in the lighthouse with a chicken
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
the chicken lay eggs every day, and the egg was eaten, etc, so that constituted the economic factor
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
and the man they left there was the social
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
man + chicken = island = territory = PROFIT 8Db
And finally, an extract of us being silly which was triggered off because she added something about New Utopia to her nickname (this is only funny if you've checked out the two pages first):
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
pssh. who cares about new utopia when you can be a citizen of the almighty Sealand!?
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
.... don't you want to live underwater?
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
look, i get to live on a bunch of metal poles sticking out of the sea. who wants to live underwater when i've got all that?
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
pfft, your bunch of metal poles was set on fire.... in a British conspiracy
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
we've experienced it all! we're rough and tough and we can survive through anything! here's proof!
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
"They faced and drove off armed attackers and on one occasion, a member of the family was actually kidnapped by armed men and taken to a foreign country against his will."
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
in your face, you saltwater breathing urchins!
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
that's nothing! we have a constitution... and INTERNATIONAL citizens
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
and obviously, our prince's family hasn't been kidnapped because we have good underwater security
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
you people are no more than money grubbers who charge way too much for your IDs and passports.
So yes, International Law can be very fun indeed. XD [Karma: 2 (+/-)][link] [3 Comments]
music: Juuni Kokuki OST
mood: Cackling with hilarity
For those friends interested in what stuff I'm studying this semester, here's a small fun bit:
I'm doing a module on Foundations of Public International Law, and one of the issues we look at is the concept of statehood, where we look at the criteria for statehood, when states actually become states and when they are recognised as being states etc. So anyway, in our first tutorial, we were told to go check out these two websites which are the homepages for two self-proclaimed states. I recommend anyone to go check out those two pages - there's no need to really read them thoroughly, just do a quick skim through of the "about" pages and then check out the pics of the defined territory of each state, I'm sure you'll find it hilarious. XD
Also, there's this extra bit my friend shared with me that her tutor told her (we actually have the same tutor but she forgot to tell my group this):
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
were you told about the island near scotland that the UK used to expand it's territory?
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
haha, no, we weren't
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
what about it? did they fight over it with scotland?
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
XDD
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
there's land in the middle of the sea somewhere off the coast of scotland with an area of 10 square meters
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
and on it was a lighthouse
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
to be considered an island (and therefore part of UK territory), there had to be social and economic activity
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
...... so they put a person in the lighthouse with a chicken
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
the chicken lay eggs every day, and the egg was eaten, etc, so that constituted the economic factor
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
and the man they left there was the social
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
man + chicken = island = territory = PROFIT 8Db
And finally, an extract of us being silly which was triggered off because she added something about New Utopia to her nickname (this is only funny if you've checked out the two pages first):
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
pssh. who cares about new utopia when you can be a citizen of the almighty Sealand!?
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
.... don't you want to live underwater?
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
look, i get to live on a bunch of metal poles sticking out of the sea. who wants to live underwater when i've got all that?
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
pfft, your bunch of metal poles was set on fire.... in a British conspiracy
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
we've experienced it all! we're rough and tough and we can survive through anything! here's proof!
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
"They faced and drove off armed attackers and on one occasion, a member of the family was actually kidnapped by armed men and taken to a foreign country against his will."
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
in your face, you saltwater breathing urchins!
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
that's nothing! we have a constitution... and INTERNATIONAL citizens
◕ ◡ ◕ {afk} says:
and obviously, our prince's family hasn't been kidnapped because we have good underwater security
Friends are forever, boys are whatever. says:
you people are no more than money grubbers who charge way too much for your IDs and passports.
So yes, International Law can be very fun indeed. XD [Karma: 2 (+/-)][link] [3 Comments]