No time no time

Sigh. School is starting again. I have a lot of things on my holiday to-do list that are unchecked, again. I always wonder why people repeat their mistakes.

I have only one pathetic photo of our BBQ on tuesday. The rest of the photos that you really want to see (the sexy ones plus the ones with half a drumstick sticking out of people's mouths etc are with alvin).

You notice that the charcoal are shaped like round soaps? New age charcoal that releases ammonia. I generally dislike BBQs because 1. its labour intensive to cook 2. i never escape unscathed....my throat is as sexy as a whole beach of sand stuck in my throat.

With the school term starting, weekends need to be nothing less than AMAZING.

Switzerland- St Gallen (27 & 28 May 2008)

I had so much inertia to blog about my post-sem travelling but once i started doing the collages on picasa, i was on FIRE. haha. The pictures brought back so many fond memories...gosh, i feel like tearing!

My last few days at St Gallen were spent snapping shots of my favourite places in a frenzy...so let me show you my running route. Truth be told, i only ran for 2 weeks i think. Haha! The thing i really miss about running in St Gallen is the amazing sights and sounds along the way.

First, i had to climb this loooooooooong flight of stairs- see the picture below for an idea of the degree of incline...

Upon reaching the top, i would be greeted by this .... plain/meadow? i honestly dont know the difference (see below)

Then i would run along the footpath...there are only 2 cows in this picture but there were usually more. Its quite disturbing to be honest when you are panting away and these cows are staring at you...but after a while you get used to it. heh. Oh and not forgetting the sound of the cowbells...going ting-ting-ting...Along this stretch, i would also meet many other runners and EVERY SINGLE ONE of them would exchange greetings with me- "Gruezi" or "Guten tag"...
Next i would see many people, young and old, lying on the green suntanning or having a nice little picnic.
Then i would pass by 3 lakes- one of them is featured below. We saw this lake during winter when it was frozen. When we returned in Spring, it was unrecognizable. People were swimming and just sitting around the lake! So that concludes the running trail. Next, we are moving on to the University of St. Gallen. There were not many places worth taking in the campus really...

Ok look at the photo carefully. Now look again. Do you see the sign "Helvetia". Yes the university shares the same entrance as Helvetia. So this state-of-the-art like building you ssee here with the square glass panes belong to Helvetia (Switzerland's biggest insurance company i believe), not the university. On the first day of school...innocent mice like myself were fooled into thinking that we had such a nice campus. What lies behind....is what you get.

Next up, the town center of St Gallen. Serene and i had lunch at this place called Schutzengarten, which apparently has many other outlets all over the country. They serve the authentic stuff...authentic meaning food that you get in Switzerland = food you get in Germany/ USA...like bratwursts...rosti...fried nuggets...yea.

This is a power rosti enveloped with cheese, ham and egg:

The St Gallen Bahnoff (train station)...

Well, I wouldnt say that St Gallen was a really interesting place to live in for 4 months, but it was a good place to live in for sure!

Glorious food

We had a cookout at Jeremy's place..his kitchen is so nice! i really like the whole island- kitchen concept thingey!

Wei made this: a really yummy bowl of sausages. ok i dont know what its real name is but she followed Jamie Oliver's recipe. It was so good!

The salad which was made by serene and i..!

Jeremy's pulled pork and the pulled pork bun below! basically, i have run out of adjectives to describe the food but everything was just so yummy..and we had like a 4 course meal for about 10 bucks?

This is a bread and butter pudding that serene made. She said it was painfully easy but i didnt believe her until i saw her doing it myself! the end product was amazing!

Carol we should do sthg like that with smu ppl when you come back!

Tattered, not torn

Ok so i have been too lazy for too long- I will be updating my blog with pictures of my travels during the month of June...soon! haha for now...i shall just do the 'my life now' for a bit...to update my friends who are still overseas...actually its just for carol la..haha..!

Just a few weeks back, my travel kakis (ie. siewjin, kian leong, serene) and i met up at clarky quay. Val lee came too cos i kept harrassing her to do so since i hadnt seen her in ages. We went to THE PUMP ROOM. its this really nice chill place..that serves real food (meaning portions bigger than finger food) and drinks of course! Best part is their live band- Jive talkin'! They are so so so good. Serene and i love this place. They play modern RnB, oldies or rock and roll and spanish songs! Its a perfect place for a weekday chillout!

So last last sunday, my mom actually baked some stuff as well. On the left you see Lemingtons (or Lamingtons) which are actually butter cake thingeys coated with thin chocolate and coconut shavings. At first glance it looks very sweet but its not...(ok i think my mom just added less sugar la). And on the right you see Harum Manis (but i call it by the more glam name- Steamed banana muffins) haha. its really nice when they pop out of the metal baking cups like little fatties and they are so springy and light to eat...Mmmmm

Ok a friend of mine currently works here part time during her hols so ive been to this place a few times. Its so near SMU..just opposite the national library. A really nice, warm and cosy eatery with equally nice, warm staff. The food is also very reasonably priced and they serve pretty good stuff like sandwiches, salads, pastas...their desserts are yummy too. Go down and try it soon?

Well before my blog turns into a full-fledged food blog (because food is just so my passion) i should talk about some other stuff. I was talking to another good friend of mine whose mum does some community service and she told me stories about how there are actually young children who commit petty thefts like stealing toothpaste because their parents are not around and they dont have money. Now its not like as if ive never heard of stories about the less fortunate in singapore. Its just that after being away for some time, enjoying myself in europe and then coming back and getting all stressed out because everyone else in this world seems to know their career directions and goals except me...kind of made me take so many things for granted.

I know that i need to be stressed out a bit as well..to push myself to do better in life. And learn to extend my life plan beyond a booking horizon of 2 weeks. But instead of always lamenting on what i dont have and start feeling sour..to really just thank God for everything and be grateful for what i have. I am really fed up with being caught in this pre-rat race warm up crap. In addition...i should start doing some community service. not just to fulfil the SMU requirement but sthg more sustainable in the long term...we might not realise it but sometimes a little help goes a long way..think about how much a tube of toothpaste costs?

So why this title for the post? I had lunch with fangwei at kenny rogers last week and you know how you get to choose your 3 sides? so i said "ok i'm torn...i cant decide between A....B.....C....D....or....E....F" and he looks at me and says "you're not torn..you're tattered!" haha. The paradox of choice. if they had only served mac and cheese and baked rice for example, i would have been perfectly happy. But no...they give you so many choices and after you decide what you want...you keep thinking if you are missing out on the stuff you did not choose. So how does more choice give consumers more value i wonder...

ok the weather is purrrr-fect. i shouldnt be sitting at home like a granny. tata.

Spain again

I could get used to life in spain, really....! You will know why after i update my blog haha!

Life is a journey that is homeward bound

Time flies! I have been so busy packing up...so, thank you everyone...for all the love you guys gave me when I left for exchange- all the letters, emails etc! I'll be back to return it to you when i come back to HOT and SUNNY Singapore on 6 July! ;)

Will update my blog only after i return to Singapore because I'm going to be taking a sabbatical from my laptop..haha!

CIAO...hasta la proxima!

Luyi!

Last episode of Top Chef

This was how it looked like in St Gallen last week- temperature was way above 20 degrees. This week however, the temperature dived below 10 degrees again..just as we were all about to put away all our winter clothes!

I feel this inexplicable sense of duty to take a photo of my last cooked-from-scratch dish here. (Over the next few days...i will be distributing or using up excess premixes, pastes, chicken stock cubes WHATEVER..its all systems go). So yea, we had this packet of plain flour, a tap which presents a never-ending source of fresh Swiss water and a whole lot of vegetables in the fridge....

Voila...deep-fried aubergine/ red peppers/ mushroom! the batter is really really simple. you just put any amount of flour..and gradually add in water until you get the right consistency.

And i also wanted to use up all the excess pasta which explains the mix of penne and spaghetti...after finishing our wonderful meal and starting to wash up...i realised that i had forgotten all about the poor fish i had put into the oven to bake! It was one of those you know 35-minute wonders from supermarkets..where you just put the whole thing into the oven and it comes out nice and tasty...so i dragged everybody back to the dining table just. to. eat. that. tasty. fish.