Shrove Tuesday

It is SHROVE Tuesday, or more famously Pancake Day!!! :D

Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it's the last day before Lent. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.

It's a common tradition of my housemates, just like last year where I was flippin' pancakes in the kitchen. And yes, a few stuck to the wall, but heck, it's REALLY fun, and its probably the only thing I dare to flip (not even omelettes) and laugh about it, :P

So come on, take a break today, flip a few pancakes for dinner! You can make sweet or savoury ones, and here are a few suggestions with a basic recipe :)

You will need:

150g (5oz) self-raising flour

50g (2oz) soft brown sugar

1½ tsp ground cinnamon125ml

(4floz) soya milk or semi-skimmed milk

1 egg yolk

2 egg whites

4 medium bananas

100ml (3½ floz) maple syrup

3 tbls raisins, soaked in warm water, then drained

2 tbls icing sugar

Method:

1. Place the flour in a bowl and add the sugar, cinnamon, milk and egg yolk. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then gently fold them into the yolk mixture.
2. Heat a small non-stick frying pan. Pour approximately 65ml (2½floz) batter at a time gently into the centre of the pan and tilt the pan to ensure even coating of the base. Cook over a moderate heat until golden brown on both sides, flipping over once during the cooking. Prepare 7 more pancakes in this way and keep warm.
3. Peel the bananas and cut into thick slices. Heat the syrup and raisins in a small pan and, when boiling rapidly, add the bananas and 2 tablespoons water. Continue cooking over a high heat until the bananas are golden and caramelised, this will take about 2-3 minutes.
4. Divide the pancakes on to 4 serving plates and dust liberally with icing sugar. Top with the caramelised bananas, and drizzle over any remaining raisin syrup to serve.

Pancakes are remarkably versatile snacks! Here are some other tasty sweet and savoury combo's that can make pancakes a delicious treat:
Sweet

Apple and cinnamon

Sugar, lemon and honey (my fave!)

Jam and whipped cream

Apricot and almonds

Chocolate and banana (oooh, my 2nd favourite!)

Savoury

Mushrooms with cheese sauce

Sweetcorn and black pepper- cooked into the pancake mix!

Ham and cheese

Spinach and bacon

Roast vegetable, olive oil and garlic

So come on, start FLIPPIN' them tonight!!!

Casanova

What a great weekend with all play and no work! hehe

Saturday was a sunny and warm day, hence I rebelled and did "Operation Spring Cleaning" to my room and tidied things up :) And then cycled to the University Botanical Gardens for a good walk to soak up the sun... Very theurapeutic day which reminds me how much I miss the countryside sometimes (college days with cows, sheeps and endless trees) and cycling. :D
At night, I went to watch Casanova with a few friends, and it was good if you want a romantic no brainer chick flick comedy! I think its a crossover between "A Knight's Tale" and "Pirates of the Carribean", so do watch it if you can. It features Heath Ledger (10 Things I Hate About You) and Sienna Miller in a medieval setting in Venice. Won't say anything more to avoid spoilers ;)

On another interesting note, I realized my blog had deviated from the food theme for quite a while. Hence, last Saturday I tried making Seafood Paella, with significant improvement this time! :D Managed to find the specific Paella rice and it made ALL the difference...

Yikes, noticed that my wooden spatula on the top left spoilt the picture LOL! Will post on Malaysian Night soon!

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less travelled by,
and that has made all the difference.

Argh, officially didn't do any work since last night and I have a Calculus crisis now (there's an alliteration! :P) Tough decisions comes every now and then, and it's hard to decide what to do... *think think*... Mannn, this is tough ...

Halfway Hall

Lots happened within the space of 48 hours. Just had my halfway hall and it was really fun seeing everyone again! Though I must say this is the first time that Selwyn's formal is not up to par. Here is the menu:

Most interesting was the Lemon Posset with Ginger Thins, which looked like this:

I really like how this picture turned out, hehe improving my camera skills :P All of us were trying to identify what EXACTLY is a "posset", which we already had difficulty pronouncing it anyways, ending up with 'pussy' etc which sounds incredibly wrong for a dessert. Taste wise its a bit like lemon cheesecake, but I was too stuffed to finish it anyways, Selwyn still has the best cheesecakes for formal, period.

After reading what a posset is, I finally knew why I didn't like it very much. It was just double cream with egg yolks, sugar and lemon juice! *gasp* How calorific can a dessert be? LOL

This is me, Pete and Emily at our table. Ahhhh feeling nostalgic a little. Oh yeah, I was sitting diagonally to the Reverand as well, the one who chose me to say Grace at formal hall. LOL, talk about coincidence. Ironically, he said Grace for the Halfway Hall, and I knew at that moment that ..... I really can't pronounce or speak Latin for nuts!

V day

Crucial week ahead, it's already half term, keeping fingers crossed ;)

The key is to learn how to react fast under extraordinary circumstances, though easier said than done. Foreseeing lots of fun (ignore the stress part), with Malaysian Night and other stuff coming up :D Busy like a bumble bee... Where's efficiency when I need it?

Anyways, on a more romantic note, Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Formal madness

Phew, what a week!
Finally got through the crisis :) Haha, its not as serious as it sounds.
Within a blink of an eye, its already Chap Goh Mei, the final day of Lunar New Year. And in 3 days time its time for Halfway Hall, i.e. a formal held to signify that you're half way through your course... -_-'' It's TOO fast!
Speaking about formal, some of you probably know that I have this 'quest' or mission to experience all 31 colleges' formal in Cambridge. Technically that'd average out to 10 per year. Hmm let's see how many I have to go, looking at the list of colleges:

Christ

Churchill
Clare

Clare Hall
Corpus Christi

Darwin
Downing

Emmanuel
Fitzwilliam

Girton
Gonville and Caius

Homerton
Hughes Hall

Jesus
Kings

Lucy Cavendish
Magdalene

Newhall
Newnham

Pembroke
Peterhouse

Queens'
Robinson

St Catherine's
St Edmund's

St Johns
Selwyn

Sidney Sussex
Trinity

Trinity Hall
Wolfson

Haha, 13/31, not up to par for the year's average, eh? It's quite a tough mission after all ;)

Irony

Sometimes, life is ironic, don't you think?
Things seems to come when you least expected it.
And when something unfamiliar comes along,

you're afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

You haven't got a clue on how to approach it,

and you start to wonder what are the possible outcomes etc.

Then the more you think, the more complicated it gets,

sometimes its just better and SO much easier

to just do as what you feel,

at that very moment in time,

a more spontaneous and natural approach,

and takes things as they come...

And that's what I'm gonna do. :)

Crisis, crisis

Grace is in work crisis yet she hasn't done a thing today. Neither does she care because work is the last thing on her mind. She's annoyed that her gigantic phone (which also functions as a weapon of self defence) died and now her sim card is giving her problems.

That's it!

Hence she is going to buy new handphone and close the old one, even though the contract hasn't ended. Moral of the story, 3 Network SUCKS big time.

On a happier note, she has decided to buy the new Nokia 6111. What color do you think is nice?

Do click on the pictures individually as the pictures were resized and looks a bit distorted due to space constraint. She would appreciate some suggestions :D

Black?

OR Silver?

Weekends

Yeepa! It's the weekend finally!

Had supervision overload the past week, 4 is not a good number seriously. Hope everyone had a fantastic CNY, with lion dance and plenty of good chinese food. :)

It's gonna be a busy weekend again with more work to do, but all's well, and it's a fun fun day today, meeting lots of different people and cha-cha-cha-ing. And then regret (a little) for playing too much and doing work last minute. Hehe, that's what all uni life's about. Maximizing fun whilst minimizing work (too much economics there eeks), brain fried too when I had a supervision from 5-730pm just now, really patient Director of Studies I have.

Okay then, off to rest and relax a bit :)