0 A goodie and a baddie

Genetics paper was crap. I spent more time thinking how to craft my answer than actually writing the essay. I got myself confused with creating a temporal control of Cre/LoxP DNA recombination with Tet/on gene expression system. If that sounds confusing enough, writing about it was even worse. But in a kind of twisted way, I actually like tough exam papers like this (when the final marks don't count to my CAP :D) rather than an easy paper like yesterday's Embryology. Can you believe the first question was actually what are the three germ layers? I should really treasure such questions because NUS will never ever come up with such questions. 'Nuff said about exams. Looky what I got here:

Pre-exam "brain" food: Salad of roasted paquito squash, baked potato, vine-ripened tomatoes and tempeh with pecan nut butter, pomegranate, blueberry and acai dressing* and balsamic vinegar.

*It's actually a smoothie (Innocent brand) which I doubled up as a dressing because it's so thick! I was studying and eating at the same time and halfway through I felt very stressed suddenly which chomping on the mound of greens really helped relieve.

Post-exam! Off too..... Mildred's - my long-awaited trip, finally.

Their dishes tread the fine line between vegetarian fine-dining and British pub food, which is a paradox, because the former is usually associated with healthy, while the latter, with grease, oil and fat. Can Mildred's pull it off?

Porcini, mushroom and ale pie with mushy peas and chips

You bet!

Mildred's used to have a take-away shop called Mrs. Marengos but apparently it closed earlier this year. Nevertheless, their restaurant still do take-aways, thankfully. When I got there at 6.30pm, it was already bustling with activity, evidence of their popularity. A queue was already beginning to form. Although they do serve some really healthy dishes like a detox salad, I went with the baddie choice of British pub food in vegan form - a porcini mushroom and ale pie with mushy peas and chips. I half walked/ran home, but with the wind blowing like crazy, but food probably got frozen barely ten minutes into the cold. I reheated half the meal in the mircowave (can't do full British meal portions) and dug in!

The mushy peas were awesome with a minty edge. The mushrooms were doused in a savoury roux-like sauce full-on with black pepper goodness that I cannot believe it's vegan. Because I had it take-away, the filo crust was soggy from the gravy, but still delicious nonetheless! I hardly touch chips usually, but I have to make an exception this time. Again, the chips were a wee bit soggy, but I believe if you dined in, it would be nice and crispy. Everything was nicely seasoned and not too salty, especially to my salt-sensitive taste buds. Maybe I can bring the fam here to dine! It's kind of expensive though. 9.25 for my pie (10.25 dine-in) but it's the end of my SEP and scrimping isn't in my vocabulary at the moment! :)

Leftovers for lunch tmr!

Le Sigh....Endocrinology & Reproduction to tackle.