F4

Yes and No.
Yes its Flower 4, and No its not the Taiwanese band from Meteor Garden (though I must admit I enjoyed Meteor Garden I).
Phew, finally back online after 1 week when my computer crashed.
This photo should explain everything.... :D

Everyone, meet 'F4' (from left to right):

Winter, Spring, Autumn, Summer! (darn, we should have stood according to seasons... :P)

Think it was my bizzare idea to dress up before the cold sets in, and so happen all of us have floral themed dresses for the 'Fantastic 5' birthday formal! The Newhall formal was organized by Ash and Rachel who both have their birthdays on 31st Oct, and since there was so many bdays within the next 10 days, 5 of us decided to celebrate it all in one go :)

Here are the 5 bday people: Ash, Rachel, me, David and Alvin. Amazing night, good food and enhanced my art of pennying, and most of all the great company :D. It was good to see everyone halfway through the term, it just amazes you when you realize how long you haven't seen someone since the term just whizzes by like the speed of light. Looking forward to the holidays now for sure...

Anyways, we had a posher version of bangers and mash for main course, its VENISON sausages! Haven't had them before, but was really nice with a stronger taste than ordinary sausages, would definitely go very well with paella. By the way have you all wondered what happens when you mix wine with sugar, spice and everything nice?

Yeap, my partnerS in crime (you know who you are!) seasoned Suresh's wine with a lil' salt, sugar and pepper before pennying it without him realizing LOL! But he said it wasn't TOO bad...

The 20's Club

Welcome to the 20's Club!!!

Should I be :)? :I? or :( ? today?
Ok, let's start with the bad news...

:( ---> I felt like a dumbass in supervision just now as I just wasn't focusing on what he was saying, or hmm.. even in lectures halfway through the term? Not a good sign ...

:I ---> Losing the freedom to write my age beginning with the number 1... and have to get used to 2's. Not sure if its a good or bad thing... *deep in thought* Sign of old age? Sign of maturity? Glass Half full? Half empty? Come to think of it, when exactly is the adult age? You say you're grown up when you reach 18, yet it happens again when its 20, AND 21, but I suppose after 21 there's no more bit of teenager-ness that you could probably use as an excuse anymore... LOL

:) ---> There's plenty to be happy about for sure! Receiving visits from Alvin and Ash past midnight (talking bout Monty Pyton :D), countless birthday wishes and emails/msn's/phone calls, cards & presents.. CAKES, CAKES and CAKES (toast to obesity! LOL)! No kidding, 3 cakes! Okay, actually its sort of 4 of them really:

The first one, from best friend Shiun Haur, which arrived a teeny bit too early (he forgot the daylight saving thing, so UK is 8 hours behind), at 11pm. But nontheless cool and authentic, digitized version, which you see at the top of the page.

Time for cake 2, a lucious choc one from Thornton's:

Courtesy of the usual 'gang', THANKS lots, it was a powerful chocalate-y dose, which scored a 6.5 on the deadly sins scale :P Ok, I created that randomly, well since Scoville is the unit measurement for hotness of chillies, named after a German scientist apparently...HMm.. maybe we should call it the Lee scale :P, i.e. a measurement of the 'sinfulness' of chocolate desserts, combining scientific calculations of calorie contents, plus % of cocoa and bittersweetness, and qualitative ones like sugar high/happiness after consumption. Okay, this idea shall be cast aside for a moment for further R&D. :)

3rd one from dear Jo, my housemate:
Simple, down to earth and yummy spongecake with butter icing (left pic)! :D ---> scoring 6.5 as well on the Lee scale! Woohoo! I had 20 candles sticking there, thanks to Pete and Mike, who got it all set, bright and burning for me before the birthday song ... Andy got me a pretty little cake from M&S too! :D
Thanks everyone for making my birthday celebration SUCH a special one this year! Really appreciate it! *hugz* :)

Monday Blues

It's the mid of 4th week already, and on a Monday morning, 30 minutes before lecture, here I am blogging bout the Monday blues.. :D
Just wondering if Monday blues still hit most of you all in university?
Hmm.. seems like my favorite days are Fridays and Saturdays, but by Saturday night the slight feeling of Monday blues starts too creep in. Is that early or what?
But does it really matter anyways? I just have 2 hours of lectures today, yet weekends I usually have to rush my work in for Mondays.
But if you refer back to my first statement, then why would I enjoy weekends more if I have to work longer hours?
*puzzled*
NO, this does NOT imply I'm a nerd, LOL :) Maybe I just like the flexibility of time and perhaps the so called 'thrill'/'positive stress' that comes with my usual last-minute.com 'rushing-to-finish-that-essay' sessions.
Yikes, I'm late for lectures, that's the way to start a Monday! ;P

Designer Desserts!!!

Health issues aside, don't you sometimes just wonder why on earth people have appetizers and should just replace them with desserts, and have desserts before and after a meal? LOL :D

Okay, maybe that's a little overboard, or rather I'm on sugar high now, but that's just a random thought.

Recently, I attended a college reunion party at a hotel and was served these funky desserts. Tiny, classy and perfectly crafted, that's all you need so you can try a variety without adding a spare tyre to your waist! :)

Check THESE out!

1st Picture:
Clockwise from left:
Chocolate coated strawberries, Hazelnut cheese cake, mini choc cake with strawberry, green tea mousse, pear tart and assorted fruits.

2nd Picture (not too visible)
Front row, left to right:
Lobster bisque in a cup, choc coated strawberries and chocolate stick with caramelized sugar!

The chef must have been a real genius to create miniature versions of desserts, you can imagine that I went a few rounds to just try all of range he has served! Even my first course was desserts, haha :P

The D.D. Affair

Muahahah :P , isn't he cute? My all time favourite Disney character Donald Duck !

I went to Hong Kong for a visit and did a Disneyland trip as well to check out the hype. It's a tiny mini Disneyland really, and I wasn't really impressed with the rides, though it can be argued that I probably grew out of it, but I have to give credit to those who did the excellent landscaping for the AdventureLand especially. Leafy trees, lakes, and even a tree house for a Bali-like ambiance fits well with the occasional late afternoon breeze and chocolate ice cream :) Even the Space Mountain roller coaster ride, wasn't challenging or exciting enough for 13 year old teens as I overheard one of them saying so. Looks like for now it really is just a kids wonderland, but as its just at the baby stage, lets not be too critical and hope for more fun rides in future expansions!

Anyways, just mention HK's food scene and the word 'dim sum' will definitely appear in people's mind, and of course I didn't miss the chance to have my fair share of that! Being too engrossed in eating, I forgot to take pics of those, however here's another photo on the 'little eats' or 'xiao chi' (snacks/tidbits) in typical HK 'char chan teng's' (coffee shops):

Egg tarts, Po Loh Pau, Char Siew Pastry and Century egg pastry with lotus paste. YUMz!

It's my first taste of the authentic Po Loh pau of HK after watching it on TVB series for years, its basically a freshly baked bun with orange-y custard filling. Not bad but I still like others better like char siew pastry cause I'm a self confessed pastry addict though I know its not the healthiest thing around! LOL :) It's not often you get good pastries around too as some are just thick and tastes starchy, not like these crisp flaky ones I had. Looking forward to check out more Asian cuisine next time during my summer holidays... ;)