Friggin' Scared The Shits Out Of Me

It's Halloween today... Chung Fui woke up thinking it was just another ordinary university day. Well, he was wrong.

Woke up refreshed nice and early today, for the first time in a long while. It was a chilly morning, but nevertheless decided to open the curtains wide and smell the sweet sweet fragrance of the student accomodation when...

WHAT THE (@(#*%&#)%(*&*&#@^*&!^@!!!

A window cleaner was hanging outside my 5th floor window! I was stunned as he gave me a lil' smile and a wave.

So much for an uneventful Halloween. Geeez...

Better... But Not Much

I've slightly recovered from being ultra lazy recently, thank God. Now everything seems more alive.

My personal food menu has expanded from:
1) Spam with bread
2) frozen chicken nuggets.

to:
1) Grilled Spam burger with melted Cheddar cheese & fried egg.
2) Fusilli cooked with chicken breast mince & mushroom sauce.
3) Smoked salmon slices with Philadelphia cream cheese bagel.
4) Teriyaki merinated chicken breast stirfried/soup noodles.
5) Grilled chicken breast with Thai style lime & cashew nut sause served with salad.
6) Melted Gloucester cheese & ham toastie.
7) Lemon & pepper fried rice.
8) Oven-baked potato with melted cheddar cheese, butter with topping of tuna & sweetcorn mayonaise.
9) Spicy chicken thigh cutlets cooked in "Mah Poh" tofu served with white rice.

I've come along way. I'm so very proud of myself. =)

How ever I wonder if winter blues is getting to me. I get tired very often these days. Just yesterday, I fell asleep whilst showering. I woke up to find myself sitting in the shower floor back leaning against the wall while the hot shower drizzles on my face. I've slept for 40 minutes. =P

PS: Just saw a Dettol advert which quotes, "kills 99.9% of harmful bacterias". What I don't understand is, why make a detergent that only kills 99.9% of harmful bacterias where it only takes 0.1% of the harmful bacterias to actually kill you? Ponder ponder...

I'm Lazy and I'm Ashamed of Myself

I'm so lazy these days its unbelieveable. I mean, at least I still have the motivation to pick up course books to revise and go to lectures on time. Besides that, I've been living like a tramp under the roof.

If strangers were to come visit me they'd think I'm heartbroken or something - ungelled hair, unshaven, wearing creased jeans & T-shirts. The expression I portray is moodless and even my usual huge "longan" size eyes have been reduced half into like... The appropriate oriental size.

Since my sister have been MIA for weeks lodging in her friends place doing her dissertation for masters, I've been alone for weeks. Even worse, after quitting my job, I hardly communicate with anyone. Days go by where I don't even speak or make a sound - and when I do, my throat makes wierd moaning noises.

I'm so moodless to do anything that I just satisfy my hunger with whatever is leftover in the fridge. For the past few days, I've just been living off my sister's frozen chicken nuggets. Oh, the SHAME! To think I used to be a chef. It's disgraceful, Chung Fui.

OK, time to move on. Will pop down to Tesco and get some fresh food. If I don't kick my own fat arse, nobody will.

My Kinda Ride

They say your ride defines your personality and reflects your character. I've long been a fan of Ford Mustang cars - but this one... tops my list.

The Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500 rumbles like the thunder when you start the 500bhp engine; roars like a tiger when you push the gas pedal to the metal. It's raw, powerful and wild; YET it's cool, conservatively classic and stylish.

Watch this video... Love that attitude! WOOOT!

Try and stop me from buying one in future... Just try. =P

Why My Seminar Mates Hate Me

A seminar of around 20 students and a lecturer - a presentation presented by 2 students every seminar. Q&A after presentation. Plain and simple. Now the explaination:

(After presentaion.)

Presenter A: "So, any questions?"

Me: "How accurate do you think, was Rome's geographical knowledge of both her empire and the areas outside it and what implications has this for the formulation of military and geopolitical strategy?"

(Presenter A & B stares at each other. Whole seminar giggles.)

Presenter B: "Erm... well, they din't really erm... Have a good idea on the geography *shuffle notes* and erm... As for their military *shuffles more notes* they... Erm..."

Me: "Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Latin translation by Kenneth Wellesley, explains and I quote "Germania as a whole is seperated from the Guals, Raetians and Pannonians by the Rhine and Danube rivers, from the Sarmations and Dacians by mutual fear or by mountains..." shows that research that geograpical knowledge was widespread and judging from Cassius Dio's "The Roman History: The Reign of Augustus", he declared the Roman army was well equipped and seasoned for such tactical situations involving the whole command structure of the legions including positions such as "Legatus Legionis", "Tribunus Laticlavus", "Praefectus Castrorum" and "Tribuni Angusticlavi" - but what I'm curious is: do you agree with Luttwak's statement that the legion maximized the use of geographical science at that period?"

(Whole seminar giggles. Presenter A & B busy shuffling notes.)

Lecturer: "Hmmm... That's a facinating thought... So, shall we open up this question to the whole seminar?"

(Whole seminar goes dead silent.)

Student X: Why can't you just shut up, Chungy?

(Whole seminar bursts out laughing.)

My Tempura Recipe

Ok, for my long awaited tempura recipe specially for Jo Yan. Here goes:

Tempura Batter:
Prepare flour batter by mixing tempura flour (fine flour) and cold water, until proper consistency - which is like double cream thickness. Comes with practice. Add 1 egg yolk (ONLY yolk) to make better more smoother and creamier.

Fryer:
Heat up deep fryer with appropriate amount of oil (use wok if neccessary), to a temperature of around 160 celcius. If using wok, the best way to test whether the oil is hot enough is to drip a few drops of flour batter into da oil - if it rises and sizzles immediately means its hot enough.

Example of Things that CAN be Tempura Fried:
Chicken (slices rather than cubes to cook faster and more thoroughly), peppers, eggplant a.k.a aubergine a.k.a brinjal (only the skin, not the inside bit), mushrooms, sweet potato (sliced), fish (salmon or tuna), onions (diced), calamari a.k.a squid and last but not least... Prawns. Carrots can be used even in desperate situations.

Method:
Thinly dip the "things" into flour, then sink it in the tempura batter. Personally I only sink half of the vegetable "things" into the batter so after frying I can still see what what the content is. But you get the general idea.

Serving:
Serve with ginger and radish paste + tempura sauce. Oil soaking cooking paper is a good idea. As for the recipe for tempura sauce, well... It's rather complicated. =P

[Should look abit like this - it just look fancy because of the garnish... =P]

There you go Jo Yan, happy? Don't burn youself ok? =P

Studying Disability

Perhaps I've been studying like I've never done so before (revising since the beginning of term), that's why I've never noticed this before - I think I go disabled when I study, really. =P

I remember people telling me how bad my temper can get when I study. Because I go all tired and lose my mood, they all say I'm pretty bad tempered when I study. For instance, I study in Starbucks most of the time - the usual grab a coffee and sit there for a few hours routine. When I meet up with familiar people they always ask me if I'm ok. Reason: they say I look very moody. Of course! Trying getting through few hundred pages of journals + documents + case studies + published materials + books every week and see what it can do to you.

Now here's the really disabled part: I lose the ability to drink properly when I'm studying. As one would know, I revise while drinking coffee for most of the time. Only recently I realised - coffee always leaks down my lips and chin while I'm doing so. Not just once or twice - it happens EVERYTIME! This is so embarrasing, hence why I don't wear white T-shirts anymore.

I know, maybe I can use this to my advantage and appeal for special circumstances in exams. =P "Hi, they allow me dictionary and open book in the exam hall because I've got some disability on drinking while I'm heavily concentrating on my work." =P

Note to self: Don't revise and drink coffee near my laptop.