Great, MATLAB just crashed. Hope your day's going better.

There a loads of food blogs out there!

FOODBlog - KIPlog cooks and eats (and drinks)
Nothing-new to eat?
What's Cookin'?
The Red Kitchen
Saute Wednesday
The Making of a Restaurant
bookmac - the food and drink log from london

And they're all terrific! I wonder if it's worth it to bring another one to life...

It's the Golden Jubilee weekend! Queen Elizabeth II has been reigning for 50 years! I find that quite amazing and she's not going to give up yet. There's also a site for the Golden Jubilee Weekend. What are your plans?

There's no Friday Five today so I've taken one from the archives. This one's from November 2, 2001.

1. Do you eat breakfast? What did you have today?
Usually I do during college time. But lately, I've been working on my project only so I haven't been waking up early enough for breakfast. But I made it today! Sausage sandwich with lots of ketchup. I got a bit nauseous afterwards.

2. What beverages do you usually have in a typical day?
Water. A cup of coffee. A fizzy drink.

3. White bread or wheat bread?
White! I love sourdough too.

4. What's your favorite kind (potato/tortilla/corn) and flavor of chip?
I think tortilla chips are the best (aren't they corn chips anyway?) but I must have them with hot salsa. Potato comes a close second...especially Kettle Chips.

5. How do you plan to spend your weekend?
I have to work on my project still! It's the Jubilee weekend though! Argh! I'll probably watch the procession on television on Tuesday...or I might actually go there. They've moved one of the Bank holidays to this weekend so it's a 4 day weekend - Friday to Tuesday.

From all my posts about food and what I've been cooking lately (when I have the chance), you can probably tell that I love food! I've been thinking of starting a whole food blog that would accompany this one. I haven't the time now to start it but perhaps in the summer.

But to tide over all you other foodies out there, this is my latest must read.

I made Hainanese chicken rice yesterday for the first time and it turned out very well! Blai didn't have a mortar and pestle (and I didn't expect him to) so making the ginger/spring onion sauce and the chilli sauce was quite difficult (squishing with a fork!). But they turned out better than I expected. The rice could have been flavoured more and so I'll add a bit of chopped up ginger next time I make it. The picture to the left isn't my chicken rice but it looks similar.

For those of you who don't know what chicken rice is, it's a poached chicken and rice dish. The chicken is quite plain and is only flavoured with whatever aromatics are placed into the boiling water/stock it's poached in. The chicken is also served at room temperature. The rice is very flavourful as it's made with garlic, shallots and the stock where the chicken was cooking. Yum! There are also a variety of sauces that go with it all. The stock is also served as a soup - I added carrots and onions to beef it up a little, like how a restaurant back home makes it.

I didn't follow one recipe explicitly but I used ideas from these three recipes: GourmetHunt, Gourmet magazine, Margaret Chan's recipe. Another sauce that is commonly used is a ginger/garlic sauce - I suggest pounding together ginger and garlic and salt. It's all a matter of taste so if you don't like garlic as much, use less and the same with the ginger. Actually, it follows for all the recipes here. I didn't make the chicken oil - there was enough oil floating around in the stock!

This morning, I took the leftover chicken and fried it up with dark sweet soy sauce and lots of shallots and some garlic and had that for lunch. I highly recommend it!

Finally, all my posts from yesterday can now be published. Blogger was having some kind of problem yesterday and I could post but not publish. I'm not going to whine uncontrollably about this glitch - I'm already so glad that such a service as Blogger exists for free. Long live Blogger!

Hmm...here's something called This or That...and this one's all about summer.

1. Charcoal or gas BBQ grill? I've never used charcoal so I'll say gas for the ease of use.
2. Beach or pool? Beach
3. Sneakers or sandals? Sandals
4. Sunblock or suntan lotion? Sunblock
5. Iced tea or iced coffee? Iced Coffee!
6. Touristy beach town or quiet camping trip? Beach town
7. Theme park or baseball game? Theme park
8. One or two piece swimsuit? one piece!
9. Bicycling or rollerblading? bicycling
10. It's 95 degrees outside. Do you prefer to go outside in the heat, or stay in and hide behind the air-conditioner? air conditioner please!

Does anyone else find this sad? The Singaporean government has released a dating manual for its citizens. But not just any citizen...they're intent on matching university graduates with other graduates only. I think they must believe that their offspring will be highly intelligent... it's horribly elitist and kinda creepy.

The official guide has such lists of what is considered romantic (ie. walk on the beach) and what would make good dates (museums, book shops). Oh dear.

If you're interested though, I don't have a copy of the official guide but I did find another Singaporean dating guide.

Oh, look at these Spongebob Squarepants toys! I need a Spongebob Squarepants toy!

Spongebob Squarepants is so adorable! Whoever created him should get an award. I've only watched the show once at home...I need to watch it more often! He's just so cute working at the burger joint!

Join the Spam fan club! Learn some new Spam recipes (particularly under the Exotic Spam category)! Download a Spam screensaver! All at the Official UK SPAM website! Others may cringe at the spiced ham product but I like the stuff.

Azrina has a site! Just in case you're wondering who she is, she's in my course, in my year, and is working on her project on the computer next to the one where I'm working on mine.

Read this article in the paper this morning while having breakfast - The Law of Averages in the Independent. It discusses the dangers of statistics while giving statistics on Mr and Mrs Average in the UK. Very humourous! I love how they put the average number of men that women sleep with in a lifetime but they neglect to tell us what the corresponding number is for men. Is the figure too shocking for us?

I have a confession to make...I don't particularly care who wins the World Cup...I just enjoy watching the sport occasionally. And I won't even have time to take a peek at the television at the beginning since it clashes with my project work!

Stuff to eat while watching the World Cup. You may have to register with the Telegraph UK site to read this article.

I always try to read the Telegraph on Saturdays as I truly enjoy reading Zoe Heller's opinion pieces. I can't find a link specifically for her but here's her latest article. She's based in New York and has won prizes for her writing. She tells it like it is in New York after September 11. It was through her that I learned how the Red Cross was pushing people to accept money they didn't need.

I've joined BlogSnob and it's quite a groovy system. A link to your blog appears on other blogs registered with BlogSnob. It's a whole advertising system...and works very well indeed.

Finally figured out why MATLAB was giving me a problem with wavwrite. No path stated. Well, it definitely could have given me a better error message than:
??? Error using ==> wavwrite
Sorry. No help in figuring out the problem . . .

Blai came over last night and we watched White of the films in the Three Colours Trilogy. The other two are Blue and Red and I've only watched Blue. It was very good yet very strange and in some parts, a bit implausible. But very moving...so I recommend it.

Also scarfed a pint of Pralines and Cream Haagen Dazs, Bridget Jones' style. Also learned that there are more flavours available in the States than in the UK. Rats. I would love to try the Chocolate Raspberry Gateau flavour.

FHM has compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Online Games. It is definitely worth checking out it you have some spare time. I found this link through kaymc.

discover what candy you are @ stvlive.com

Awww...





Find your inner donut.

This is making me hungry. I'm going to meet Kanwal and Penny for lunch soon.

Friday Five:

1. What's the last vivid dream that you remember having?
Hmm...it would be the one where Karl Lagerfeld (of Chanel fame) was applying makeup to my ears. Don't ask. I saw his picture in the paper before I went to sleep.

2. Do you have any recurring dreams?
Um...none that I can think of off the top of my head.

3. What's the scariest nightmare you've ever had?
The scariest was when I dreamt that I had lost my brother. I woke up in tears and continued crying for a good 15 minutes. Luckily Blai was there to calm me down.

4. Have you ever written your dreams down or considered it? Why or why not?
I have never written them down but I have considered it. I thought it would be interesting to see what were the recurring themes in my dreams. I never got around to it since I can barely do anything when I first wake up in the morning.

5. Have you ever had a lucid dream? What did you do in it?
I have them all the time! But I always forget them soon after I wake up.

I wonder if since I mentionned the word "breasts" (whoops, there it is again) there will be some loser who searches for them and ends up at my page... hmm....

After getting some audio to play out, I just don't feel like incorporating it into what I had written before. Ugh, it's so tiring. And I just want to sleep. Or go for a nice long walk in the park. Or eat. Or something else other than working. So I am playing the Lemonade Game.

Nirosh mentionned that a verse in Shakira's Whenever, Wherever includes this phrase:

Lucky that my breasts are small and humble
So you don't confuse them with mountains

Does anyone else find this to be quite stupid?

Just when my eyes are feeling better, I start losing the feeling in my legs! Walks seem to be necessary but it is a bit sad that I'm walking around a computer lab. I could walk in Hyde Park but it's more for a long walk than a little "stretch your legs" walk.

I did end up making quesadillas with Blai last night. He's not such a big fan of its unhealthy, greasy cheesiness but I sure am! There's just enough cheese and tortillas for me to make a couple more soon. Hey, I'm sure it's fine every once in a while.

Kim Kian went to Zurich over the weekend and was ever so kind enough to bring me back a box of chocolates from Teuscher. If you ever have the chance to try them, do. You'll regret it if you don't. We were practically swooning when biting into each truffle.

Quesadillas! I want one now! Like the ones they have in Taco Bell. But just read the fat grams in one and suddenly I don't think I'll be eating too many quesadillas at Taco Bell any time soon. But I will make them at home....yes, tonight! I need that cheesy tortilla now!

In case you were wondering what the heck I'm referring to, a quesadilla is commonly used to refer to something like a Mexican grilled cheese sandwich. Two flour tortillas are sandwiched together with cheese and the whole thing is grilled or fried.

However, I've just learned that a true Mexican quesadilla is not this at all. It's like a fried pie with anything at all inside. They look good... I think I'm hungry.

How can I forget? The Proms cheer me up immensely!

Actually, it doesn't cheer me up. My favourite of all Mahler symphonies (the 8th) is being performed and being conducted by Sir Simon Rattle! And I'm not in London to attend! This is one of those once in a lifetime things...and I'm missing it. Life is so unfair. So, now I'm in a doubly bad mood. Oh well, hopefully I can listen to it online.

I'm in a bad mood today. Let's see what's on the web to cheer me up...

1. Yahoo Games - play dominoes
2. Roadfood.com - food always cheers me up
3. waveOutProc - I'm using it in my project and I'm getting very frustrated with its parameters

Am creating another post to see if I can get my page to republish...seems that blogspot had a glitch in the server...

Well, should at least make this post interesting...





Take the What High School
Stereotype Are You? quiz, by Angel.

I'm getting very addicted to the games at Yahoo. Most of the people in college like Pool but I'm currently in a game of Dominoes with Azrina. I also highly recommend Word Racer and Yahoo Graffiti.

Ugh....my eyes hurt and I'm dizzy. I think the dizziness can be attributed to a lack of iron and so can be remedied by popping a vitamin or two but...my eyes.... I think it's because I've been having to stare at a computer screen for so long each day. I have to though...if I don't, my project will get a failing grade! I've been trying to do all that I've read on this - for example, look away from the computer screen every so often but it's not helping. I still go home everyday with blurry eyes and the horrible suspicion that I'm losing my sight little by little each day. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to prevent this and how to rest my very tired eyes?

Just came back from Blai, Cristo and Llyr's concert (I had advertised it previously) and it was brilliant! It was the first time I had heard Blai's piece in full and I am impressed! The place was packed and I do believe that his piece was received well. The piece was horrendously difficult and Cristo and Llyr were amazing with it.

Which Kiss Are You?

Oh great, I'm the innocent one.

Are you a Picasso or a Matisse? Or perhaps a Tracey Emin... There's currently an exhibition at the Tate Modern with the works of Picasso and Matisse and they're arranged to show how each influenced the other. I'm desperate for a ticket. I better call soon...

Busy busy busy Saturday. Met Kanwal for a play yesterday. We went to see Lady Windermere's Fan, a play by Oscar Wilde, with Joely Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave. Richardson's acting was weak but Redgrave's was very good. The play overall was wonderful and I'm now looking for a cheap collection of all Wilde's plays to read. After dinner, went to Victor and Maria's (friends of Blai's) for a flatwarming party. We were all cheering after seeing the concert tomorrow listed in the Time Out! There it was...a listing with the world premiere of Blai's piece. Oh, I am so proud!

And to continue...

Things to Do with an Empty Tic Tac Container
6. Use for testing the pH of fish tank water (Shannon's idea)

This idea won't work with the new containers I saw yesterday. Orange Tic Tacs (not the lime and orange combo) are now sold in an orange tinted plastic container.

How sad, I'm in college to get some code working.

I told Blai I'd start this and so I will. Here's the beginning of my list.

Things to Do with an Empty Tic Tac Container
1. Keep ants
2. Keep spiders
3. Keep worms
4. Keep flies
5. Pill container

I'll continue the list when I can think of more uses. I know the first four suggestions are a bit cruel but we were discussing what we used to do when we were kids...oooh, we were so horrible! The whole idea started when I stared at my Tic Tacs and noticed that there's a heck of a lot of packaging for my little sweets. Feel free to substitute any other sweet container but these are nifty since they're transparent.

My site seems to be the most popular on Fridays. Wonder why...anyone want to enlighten me?

Oh goody! The Friday Five is back!

1. What shampoo do you use?
Currently it's St Ives Strengthening Shampoo...pear scented. I have a huge honking bottle of it. But my favourite is still the L'Oreal Elvive one for hair that gets greasy easily (the yellowish green colour).

2. Do you use conditioner? What kind?
It's the matching conditioner to my shampoo.

3. When was the last time you got your hair cut?
Um...I think it was around Christmas time. I went to the Vidal Sassoon Creative School and got the nicest cut I've ever had. I highly recommend the Vidal Sassoon schools.

4. What styling products do you use?
Absolutely none.

5. What's your worst hair-related experience?
Worst? Well....I can't think of any actually. Other than many flat-haired days, my hair's behaved pretty well. Oh wait, I did try to curl it once. Ugh. Thank goodness I never went for a perm.

I like ginger beer a lot. A lot.

Working on my project now...I have a month exactly until my presentation. ARGH!!! Oh, there's so much work to do!

My hobbit name is Lobelia Bunce of Brockenborings. :) Got the link from squibnocket.

I'm currently reading La Cucina, by Lily Prior. I don't agree with some of the comments at Amazon.co.uk and I believe it to be a very well written, imaginative book. Very sexy and makes me hungry all the time. I wish there were more explanations at the end so that I could confirm everything that I think happened to l'Inglese. I haven't read Like Water for Chocolate yet though...and I think I should. Lily Prior is coming out with another novel in June...Nectar.

If you have read La Cucina and are interested in the food that Rosa cooks (and if you aren't, you must be dead), take a look at Lily Prior's website where you can find a couple of recipes.

Hmmm...it's Tuesday. Just felt like stating the obvious.

Sounds like I'm going to be in Covent Garden on June 6. They're having a live relay of La Boheme at the Royal Opera House in the Piazza and it's free! Students like free things!

I am absolutely crap at designing GUIs.

Went to Brighton for the first time on Saturday. Lovely place but a lot louder than I expected. There were just so many people and cars and it wasn't even tourist season yet. Bought Brighton Rock for our friends.

Bought a lovely striped handbag when I was there at Cissy Mo, a really funky little boutique selling all sorts of crazy stuff. There was also a bag with a sausage dog on it that I had my eye on but since my striped bag was cheaper, it won.

I have absolutely no inclination to work on my project. It just feels so nice to finish all my exams.

Went for a walk with Blai last night...but little walk to the Thames ended up being a let's follow the Thames to Hammersmith Bridge jaunt and was exhausted when we finally made it back to his place.

I should be heading over to the Electrical Engineering Dept now to work on the GUI for my project application but my butt is so comfy in this chair right now.

Post exam chilling yesterday involved some Chinese takeaway (if anyone's wondering, China Kitchen is currently doing a 20% all takeaways deal)and renting Le Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain on video. Oh what a wonderful film! It was loads better than I expected and it even won over Blai, who wasn't at all keen on the idea of renting it!

Today, I visited Ekachai over at Liverpool Street with Kim Kian. The place was packed with City suits out on their lunch break. Ekachai sells Malaysian and Thai food and we visited just to try their laksa which we read a good review of. Well...first strike came when the waitress seated the couple behind us in the queue before us. Hello? We're two people as well and just because we're not blonde and tall doesn't mean that the rules of the queue don't apply to us. Second strike was the description of the laksa - Penang laksa. Penang laksa is a clear fishy noodle soup. Very nice but not the curry laden thing that they gave us. This was Singaporean laksa. Third strike was the absolute sweetness of the dish! The laksa was sweet! I do not recommend the laksa dish at all and I saw that a man didn't finish his stir fry dish so I don't suggest that either...whatever it was. But the char kway teow (fried rice noodles) did look good and I might go back to try that.

Can't find the Friday Five link anymore so am filling this in from gigglechick.com.

But now I'm slapping myself on the head because I just realised that it's Thursday, not Friday.

FAVOURITE...
Food: oooh, too numerous to list
Drink: Ruby Red grapefruit juice
Colour: sometimes dark blue, sometimes red
Shoes: my Birkenstocks or the high heel ones that make me swing my hips like a tart
Candy: Rockets, Jelly Babies
Animal: elephants, dodos
TV Show: Sex and the City
Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany's? Pride and Prejudice? Don't know
Dance: I want to learn to salsa and tango
Vegetable: broccoli or gai lan
Fruit: ripe strawberries, star fruit, mangoes, papayas

ARE YOU...
Understanding: somewhat
Open-minded: ditto
Arrogant: sometimes
Insecure: oh, definitely
Interesting: all the time, in the weird sense of the word
Hungry: constantly, as everyone will tell you
Friendly: somewhat
Smart: hehe
Moody: yes
Childish: too much
Independent: um...somewhat
Hard working: sometimes, sometimes not
Organized: not at all
Healthy: i think so
Emotionally Stable: haha!
Shy: sometimes
Difficult: yes, stubborn as a mule
Attractive: um....
Bored Easily: not really
Thirsty: sometimes, I can be a camel though
Responsible: sometimes
Sad: depends
Happy: hopefully lots!
Trusting:yes, I'm very gullible
Talkative: depends on my mood. See Moody
Original: I don't know
Different: um....
Unique: hmmm...
Lonely: occasionally

WHO DO YOU WANT TO...
Kill: No comment. Hall knows.
Slap: no one yet
Look Like: no one I can think of
Be Like: I admire my Mom
Talk To Offline: ooooh...Colin Firth

My last exam is tomorrow. Thank goodness. I'm really starting to get sick of the whole routine.

Blai rained on my parade by pointing out that it will not be my last exam of my LIFE, as I stated previously, as I am planning to take some Spanish lessons next year. Spanish lessons -> Spanish exams. Blah.

Came across this competition - The International Obfuscated C Code Contest. Great site with some great unreadable code!

Just updated the concert information below. Krishnen reminded me that the "free" part was the most important thing to students. :)

One more bloody exam. I'm getting so sick of them now. Have I mentionned that this will be the last exam of my LIFE?

No Friday Five today.

And before I forget, I was going to advertise the following:

St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London

Chamber Recital
1:05pm - Monday 20 May 2002
Entry Free

C Barrios (clarinet), B Soler (violin), L Williams (piano)

Programme
Stravinsky - The Soldiers' Tale
Bartok - Three Contrasts
Soler - 'Motus' for Clarinet and Piano (World Premiere)