Monday, February 26, 2007

The CNY Chronicles

So, it's the year of the Boar again. I say again cos this is the second time the chinese zodiac has reached a full cycle - a full 24 years of life.

How was CNY this year? It was as usual, celebrated among my own family members. No visiting relatives or the whole family reunion hoo-ha. Some people do love mingling around with cousins and uncles and aunties but I was never one too close with my relatives.

With relatives out of the picture, thank goodness for the people I've know since my school days. To put it in a way, I actually have two 'gangs' of friends; one is my lower secondary group of pals and the other my upper secondary friends.

So activities are usually carried out separately with these two bunch of people, though they might overlap some times. I might go to a friend's place a few times with different friends. Ah the beauty of being a transfer student.



Malaysia's next top model - who will it be?

Hence, new year was spent visiting friends, catching up with each other, hanging out, gambling and one thing I won't forget, sweating it out during the day time. Yes, this year's CNY celebration was HOT! Climatically speaking, if there is such a word.

I heard that those with the sign of the Boar are not going to have a good year, although it is, technically speaking, OUR year. We'll see how it goes.

Here's wishing a prosperous year to all of you porkies out there! No offence, really!

thought completed at 10:40 PM | 0 comments

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Thursday, February 15, 2007

How to whip up a Valentine's meal to please your partner

It was lovey-dovey day again this year, and not wanting to spend a bomb at a time when restauranteurs literally 'chop' you off, I decided to make my own homemade valentine's meal.

This "How-to" post of course, is intended mainly for guys whom I assume are mostly noobs at cooking. Girls may take note too, it'll please your man plenty, I guarantee. To make things simple, I whipped up some spaghetti ala deriku style.

The ingredients: A pack of spaghetti (or in this case, whatever pasta you fancy), grated cheese, tomato puree, a tin of Campbell's soup and also some milk. Everything available at your nearest hypermarket.



Total cost - RM50. Pleasure your partner will have - priceless.

And you'll even have leftovers for next year :)

So let's start off with the spaghetti. Take roughly two servings and soak in boiling water. Make sure there's enough water so the pasta won't stick together.



No that's not lidi. It's spaghetti in uncooked form.

For immediate servings, wait for 15 minutes or so. You can also try small pieces to make sure they're soft but still having some level of firmness, referred to as al dente by the Italians. When you're satisfied, drain the water and you have yourself a plate of spaghetti.



They say the Chinese invented spaghetti, so to all chinamen out there, you should not have any problems preparing this. It's in our blood.

Next up is the soup. Now this should be easy, except for the can opening part when you have no can opener. Once you've got the mushy stuff out (they resemble lards of fat), mix one can of water and stir to simmer.



Why does food look disgusting before it's cooked?



No can opener so I had to improvise with a kitchen knife.

You can make your own tomato puree but I simply got the ready-made version for the sake of simplicity. Just heat up and add some salt to taste.

See, that's me! Proof that I made it...

After the puree is heated, just pour it over the spaghetti and top it with some grated cheese. Of course, what's a meal without any meat. So I came up with half a chicken, pepper-roasted to perfection. Voila! Valentine's dinner for two.



You didn't think I'd know how to roast chicken, did you? Thank God for Ayamas.



Oooh...Ayamas!

One happy customer. THE customer.

So now you have Deriku's secret recipe for spaghetti. No more excuses next time the girlfriend asks you to cook something for a special occasion.

For more cooking tips, why not visit my other culinary experience? Have fun!

thought completed at 10:10 PM | 3 comments

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Monday, February 05, 2007

Boredom

Has work dumbed my blogging senses?

I have to ask this because I've been sitting here for nearly two hours, watching a rather silly episode of Smallville and at the same time, trying to think of something to post. And Kristin Kreuk is not the factor, I assure you.

Yes, work is getting rather routine nowadays. And somehow the degree of routineness just relates inversely to blogging interests. Not that I have lost the edge to blog per se, but it's just hard to come up with something worthy to blog about.

Has work dumbed YOUR blogging senses?

Source: ontogeo.ntua.gr

Seriously need a way to overcome this bloggers' block now. Bloggers' forum? Bloggers' meet? Any comments and suggestions are welcomed!

Working is sien...

thought completed at 9:28 PM | 1 comments

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Death Note 2: Not a review

Just watched Death Note 2: The Last Name.



I know I'm not one of the first to catch this movie at the cinema, but after watching the prequel without much expectations, I could not miss this even though I had to watch it alone.

Considering that it's been screening for a while now, I'll just skip the reviews and go straight to the verdict: Excellent!

Definitely one of the best movies I've ever watched in some time. The plot is well written, characters well played and the twists are so darn unexpected that I'm beginning to doubt my powers of deduction.

So go watch it while it's still being screened. The DVD experience is just lacking I tell you.

Misa Amane aka the second Kira is cute! Kawaii ne!





Played by Toda Erika...favourite Jap babe of the moment :D

Technorati tags: death note, misa amane, toda erika

thought completed at 3:23 PM | 0 comments

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