0 A true JEM

Drugs paper was so bad today I should have cried. Instead, I relieved my sorrow with a bout of grocery shopping (4 peaches, 10-grain BRM pancake/waffle mix) and whipping up a yummy one-bowl-buddha-bowl lunch (couscous, garlic cod, avocado, blush tomatoes, red peppers). And then random surfing of the www until now. Is this yet another year-4-graduation symptom?

I haven't posted a picture in a long while and here's my pre-exam breakfast fuel. Delicious but sadly, did nothing to help in my writing speed and memory.

Steel cut oats cooked in almond milk (Natura, unsweetened) spiced with vanilla & cinnamon, on a bed of chopped strawberries, blackberries, nugget of Laughing Giraffe vanilla almond macaroon, chopped mango pieces. Baked for an additional 10 minutes to get it all hot and bubbly. Topped with my concoction of JEM cinnamon maca AB/melted raw chocolate truffles (Ultimana)/raw macadamia nut butter + more toppings of crushed almonds and dried cranberries. The shade of pink is so lovely, isn't it?

JEM nut butter definitely lives up to its name. For the cinnamon/maca version, it tastes exactly like caramel, and if you're familiar with asian cuisine, full of that gula melaka (jaggery) flavour. That's because they sweeten it with coconut palm sugar. My next haul from Raw Food Living will definitely include another of their products - likely the cardamom one. Sounds exotic!

***

Update. Was dreaming about pancakes for tomorrow's breakfast and then mum came home, with not just one box, but TWO or maybe THREE boxes of durians! New idea: durian pancake! Like Four Seasons style. My intention initially was fluffy pancakes with blackberries and strawberries but now, it's gonna be crepe style with thick chunky durian pulp! With all these going on, I can hardly focus on studying! Bad girl.

0 The Eve

What a shocker. Logged in to IVLE only to find out that CA marks had been uploaded on 17 Apr (more than 2 weeks ago?) Worst of all, I got a disheartening, horrifying, nightmarish C+ for my CA, which bloody accounts for I-don't-know-what-percentage-because-the-module-is-so-not-updated. Worst grade ever in my entire undergraduate life. To compound the problem, I can't freaking find my lecture notes now. And EXAM is on FRIDAY. Is this a sign of bad things to come? Freaking C+, gotta PULL it UP to at least B+. Oh helps.

0 2012>2013

I ushered in the new year... by not ushering it in; I was in deep slumber, knocked out and unconscious. Initially I even contemplated going for watchnight service. But as I crawled into bed at 9 PM (just after dinner and newspaper reading), I knew I was a goner. What an eventful start to the new year, ha.

2012 was a year of turbulence and self-discovery. It started off with re-adapting to the intensity of NUS's curriculum, after spending a relaxing semester at KCL, which may even be considered a semi-holiday. Of course, there was much nostalgia and pining for the days of yore. Politics of Heritage was also one of the most challenging, stressful but rewarding modules I'd taken so far. Of course, the highlight was the trip to Cambodia which really opened my eyes to the less fortunate and atrocities of mankind; my previous travels were largely limited to the first world countries. Starting lab was another turning point. I'd never imagine it could get so intense, or maybe it was the nature of my project. Even before commencing the project, finding the right professor proved a challenge as a faced many rejections.

Spiritually, I think I can say I've grown a teeny weeny bit. At least I try to devote the best part of the day (mornings) to reading the Bible and learning God's word. I hope to continue this practice in 2013, as well as to do more prayer and read deeper into the Word, and not just read for reading's sake. I would love to join a small group in church, but I'm so afraid of commitments, especially when my schedule is so unpredictable. I know this is an unexcusable excuse, for nothing should override God as priority. But still...

It has also been a lot of fun on the gastronomy side. Although I still like dining out, I now much prefer home-cooked food and experimenting with ingredients. This (oops, I mean last) year many new creations were replicated or developed, from breads from scratch to curries and protein powders. The tradition of oatmeal continues unabated, but with more flourishes and toppings. I also overcame my fear of coconut in 2012; now I enjoy coconut butter in appreciable amounts, use coconut meat without second thought in smoothies and drink coconut juice with gusto. The top few dining highlights in 2012 were (in no particular order): Pollen at GBTB, Waterfall Cafe at Shangri La, Wah Lok at Carlton Hotel, Wild Honey at Scotts and the sweet potato curry from Palm Sugar (?) restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Actually I loved all the food in Cambodia. Unfortunately, I lost even more weight, and am at my lowest physical point ever, if that is even possible. :(

In 2013, I hope to gain weight (drink supplements consistently and treat it like it's medicine); grow stronger spiritually and have a deeper relationship with God, and hopefully discover God's purpose for my life; learn to live and let loose; learn to treasure friendship, family ties, and not be so insular.

Today the new year gave an impetus to try out a new breakfast: buckwheat groats porridge. Previously I had only tried buckwheat flakes before which has a very earthy taste and definitely would benefit from some (natural) sugars. As a fail-safe strategy, I did a cream-of-banana-cinnamon-vanilla with buckwheat groats, cooked in water/soy in 1:2 ratio. The groats were much less absorbent than oatmeal, and did not get creamy at all. Although according to instructions, the groats would be cooked within 10 minutes, I doubled the cooking time as I did not want to be biting into stones for breakfast. It was topped with the usual tahini, protein nut mix and a special (last) chocolate-covered raisin. The result? Either the groats were tasteless or the banana-cinnamon-vanilla spice completely overwhelmed the expected earthy taste of buckwheat. I may reduce the cooking time to 10-15 minutes for some chew; this time it was quite soft although the groats still retained their individual shape. Overall it was not a bad experience. I am also looking forward to experimenting it in salads and savoury dishes like pesto buckwheat.

For lunch I also prepared an artichoke - a first experience. Another post will be dedicated to this!

Seeing prof for ISM arrangement tmr morning :( My last ISM. A tinge of regret that I procrastinated last sem and shifted it to this sem.

Bible verse to tide through the year (or at least the month or week)- Joshua 1:6-9

6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

0 Confused

Why do I feel increasingly that I chose to study the wrong degree? This confusion is getting worse as graduation draws nearer, and is not helping as I'm losing motivation and steam to study as hard as before.

People say many end up with a career that has nothing related to one's degree. Maybe I would end up like that.

Meanwhile, I still have to deal with the pain-in-the-ass ride-on ISM module, FYP and three other LS modules. 6 more months of endurance, and I'll finally, truly be free.

Meanwhile, some cosy, festive cheer to liven up the depressing situation.

P.S. I was good girl and drank Ensure Plus and Ensure yesterday and today respectively. May the routine continue.

0 Beet this [smoothie]!

All it takes it just a little effort [and a whole lot of noise tolerance] to whip up this chokeful-of-antioxidants smoothie. This consisted of a chunk of roasted beetroot, slices of frozen bananas, Lifetime Basic's protein powder, scoop of chocolate mole powder, chia seeds, and a dollop of Rachel's ginger greek yogurt. The result was a thick, satisfying smoothie. The earthy notes of the beets were noticeable but nicely balanced by the sweetness of the 'nanas. Chili chocolate gave it a nice warm kick to the ice cold smoothie. I like contrasts, and this smoothie embodied multifarious textures and tastes.

I'm the most effective procrastinator; should really get back to studying. Feel an impending doom for tomorrow's paper. Yay for being the last exam but nay for being rather unprepared. Whatever, just wanna get over and done with possibly the second last round of exams in my entire life.

0 Sweet little thing

If summer were to be encapsulated in taste, it would be a yellow nectarine. Initially rock hard, I experimented by sticking it into the oven at ~60 degrees for about 20 minutes. That certainly did the trick. Warm sweet nectar fills the mouth and brightens the soul, perfect as a pre-exam sugar boost.

Unfortunately, Stem Cell exam did not go too well. Again the issue was insufficient time, thanks to my slowness in writing.

0 Tofuel: tofu fuel

I was so bowled over by the divine experience of the tofu pudding that I just had to make it again. This time, the base was the same (Morinu firm tofu, 3/4 frozen nana, chocolate mole powder), but I changed the source of protein. Specifically, this morning's one features Vega Complete Health Optimizer (natural flavor) which explains the bile-like, greenish appearance of the pudding. But looks are deceiving; this was one delicious, thick creamy pudding, with a block of chili cherry Chocolove to boot!

The Vega protein powder is derived from a mix of plant sources. Hemp is at the top of the ingredient list, which presumably contributed to the grassy smell/taste of the powder. There's also pea and brown rice protein in there. Compared to Sunwarrior, Vega has a more assertive presence. I quite like the grassy taste of it (something like Amazing Grass powder but less vile) but if you don't, Vega's definitely not for you. Both Vega and Sunwarrior have similar dissolvability. No problems with texture for both brands. The serving scoop provided was humongous (like the size of 3 tbsp?). The recommended serving is 2 (humongous) scoops, which gives 220 kcal and 26g protein, but I only used 1/2 scoop (=1/4 serving) for the tofu pudding, which was satisfying enough.

Apart from the tofu pudding, breakfast featured a tofu (beancurd) tart from Le Cafe. Talk about tofu fuel! It's similar to egg tart in appearance, but much lighter on the tastebuds. Imagine firm tau huay encased in a buttery digestive biscuit-like crust. It's not sweet, and that's what I like about it. If you noticed, there's an absence of oatmeal in today's breakfast. I unwillingly admit that over the years of nearly-daily oatmeal breakfasts, perhaps my tastebuds have become a little bored and jaded. Maybe it's not so much that I love oatmeal but the comfort the "safety" brings. Time to listen to inner cravings and honour the mind & body.

Lunch was also fueled by tofu - Amy's Indian wrap featuring spinach and tofu. I think "Indian" is a misnomer because its non-spicy at all and I wouldn't associate the taste of the wrap with Indian cuisine (e.g. no curry flavour). Nevertheless, the spinach was creamy and the blocks of tofu provided textural variations. Frozen fast food can be so good.

Amid all these, I was rushing to complete my 3-pg essay on pain/hyperalgesia, which I had spent is disproportionate amount of time for 15 marks. That's always the case isn't it? Don't know why I have to be so perfectionist and precise with my wordings. I left house in a hurry at 4.05pm, hoping to make it to school by 5pm (deadline). It must be through the hand of God that Mum's car miraculously appeared as I was running to the MRT station. She drove me to school and back!

The past few days have been relatively relaxed, mostly just completing confocal for lab because I've finished the dissection (except for lethal NICD crosses). Also lectures were canceled either due to tutorial/SDL or for no reason at all. In fact come to think of it, I only attended a grand total of one tutorial this week i.e. 2 h of school for the entire week! It's back to the grind starting next week, with CA on 8 sep, sadly.

Next week will be when I will turn 22 (sobs). I will be fulfilling my dreams of going to Gardens by the Bay and dining at Pollen!

0 Lovely Sunday

Sunday Dinner Menu [for 1]

Soup: Bob's Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix (green split peas, yellow split peas, barley, lentils and vegetable pasta)and baby carrots simmered in water for 40 mins, blended in soy milk and topped with roasted garlic and roasted red peppers.

Salad: Curly lettuce, iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and avocado massaged in a apple cider vinegar and hazelnut oil dressing.

Toast: SwissBake Abendbrot (evening bread) topped with avocado, canned tuna and the remainder of roasted red peppers.

-

It's been a while since I posted. Basically my life is on repeat mode right now: sleep, wake, eat, lab, home. Every night I reach home so dead tired I don't feel like doing anything else. Not the most healthy of lifestyles, but when time and results are of the essence, what can I do? Fortunately, I've completed the time-point experiments so now the timing of heat shocks and dissections are more flexible. But unfortunately also, school resumes tomorrow. Is it really the final year 4 already?

Apart from lab, which is dominating 90% of my life right now, this week also saw some other memorable events. Unlike mainstream Singaporeans who chose to celebrate NDP with the televised show (or at Marina Bay for those lucky ticket holders) the fam (except daddy who is in Malaysia) had a lovely vegetarian dinner at Original Sin at Chip Bee Gardens on National Day. I think they revamped their menu since the last time I went there for my 20th birthday two years ago. Nevertheless, their food remains wholesomely Mediterranean. I loved my order of Capsicum Quinoa - roasted capsicums stuffed with crunchy quinoa and topped with a delightfully refreshing mint tzatziki. It also came with antipasti (cherry tomatoes, grapes and olives in a zesty vingerish dressing) and salad. However I think the portion of quinoa was rather small for a main course. The chef's special of the day, potato gnocchi, sounded interesting, but I didn't feel very carbish that ngiht. No cameras that day so I can only rely on visual memory.

5 Gifts and thanks

Thank you for the wonderful time at Venus Transit, the opportunity to meet new people, make new friends and learn new information about the wondrous world. Above all, praise to the glorious magical universe of His divine design, His creation.

We helped to set up those ground sheets. No joke considering the humid weather of late. On a side note, isn't UTown so pretty?

Thank you for the watching over the safe delivery of the iHerb order.

I was beginning to wonder if my order of SunWarrior protein powder and Nuttzo seven nut butter, made without tracking (save $), was ever going to make it to my address. Given that this is my first online purchase, I was all the more worried. But it finally did arrive, two-three weeks later, and with freebies inside to boot! So freakin' excited to try out the stuff in tomorrow's breakfast. Even Batman's excited too! Stay tuned for the review.

Thank you for blessing the world with wondrous fruits and foods.

If Eve was tempted by the apple, durian would be my forbidden fruit. Baked Mao Shan durian steel cutters with Cashew Coconut Dream was a tropical paradise and provided good fuel for lab work later. It's NOT a weird combination; tastes just like a warm version of durian chendol :D

For my first lab session, I learnt how to distinguish between male and female flies, and virgin from old flies. Post-lunch I did CNS dissection of third instar larvae. I must have gruesomely killed about 50 would-be flies today alone, in the name of Science. Every time I close my eyes now I see abdomen stripes, guts and bug eyes staring back at me, demanding for their souls back.

3 Venus Transit 2012

Don't miss your last chance to see Venus cross the face of the sun tomorrow. The transit of Venus occurs when the Sun, Venus and the Earth are aligned so that Venus appears as a small black dot gliding slowly across the Sun. This timings of this phenomenon is a quirky one: coming in pairs that are eight years apart, separated by a century. The last Venus Transit was in 2004, and the next pair would not be for another 105 years, in 2117. In other words, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime event for the world! In Singapore this is estimated to be most visible at about 9.30am, 6 June 2012.

This astronomical event is valued not only for its rarity but also the knowledge we can derive from it. Parallax, which causes the transit to look slightly different for two observers at different sites on Earth, allows scientists to calculate the distance from the Earth to Sun. Other sophisticated techniques are used to probe for the atmospheres of exoplanets, planets outside our solar system.

NUS is having an open house for Venus Transit on 5 and 6 June. Among the many events are an astro-photography exhibition by Remus Chua, a local astronomer, public talks, music performance by Robert Casteels and stargazing. I believe the music performance will be extremely interesting as it combines live celestial sounds captured by telescopes with normal 'earthly' sounds and a monologue. I'm NOT an astronomy buff, but I'm sharing all these because I'm a volunteer for the event. Meanwhile, it's fascinating to learn all these stuff and marvel and the wonders of the universe. See you there! Venus Transit @ NUS 2012.

0 Fly brains

Success of the week: finally secured an Honours project! This is almost as tough is seeking out a job. For the next year or so, I will be making lots of mutant flies, dissecting fly brains and taking beautiful confocal images of fly brains. I'll be working on the regulation of Notch signaling pathway in Drosophila neuroblasts, which at this stage the research is still very preliminary. I expect a very challenging task ahead, considering that genetics has never been my forte (urgh, genetic crosses!).But you gotta do what you gotta do, so I shall and will have to work doubly hard to understand all those Mendelian stuff, which I usually skim through in the past.

Apart from Honours, I have been going back to school for another reason - free money! I signed up for an experiment in behavioral economics where you just had to answer some math questions and you get rewarded based on the number of questions you got correct. The first round, I earned $15 in just 1 hour. Then I got called back for round two (today). The experiment was conducted in a different format (I won't go into the details) but I walked away with $7.50 only. I shouldn't become too greedy eh.

Aaaannd, I made my first ever yeasted (100% wholemeal spelt) bread today, based on Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads! Spelt is lower in gluten than normal wheat so naturally there was some difficulty with the dough texture. It often felt too slippery and weak. Moreover, Singapore's humidity (is it's been extra humid these few days) makes it even more difficult to control the yeast activity. The final texture ended up a bit gummy, which is typical of low gluten/gluten-free breads. Moreover, the crumbs were not evenly distributed, being denser near the bottom but airier at the top. I shall do a separate post on bread making with a more detailed analysis and troubleshooting guide, tomorrow perhaps?

4 Dreams to reality

My dream retail business
Have you ever woke up one day with a brilliant bold idea? For most of my life I've always thought (or have been influenced to believe) that I would end up working in the health/medical/research industry. With graduation impending (about 1 year to go), I've been giving my prospective career more thought. One day I was playing around the Internet, trying to order some Wild Squirrel peanut butter but it ended up that they don't export to Singapore. This is not the first time I've encountered problems in shipping things to Singapore and then it dawned on me that I could be a food purveyor and retailer, specializing in artisanal, unique foods sourced from all over the world. Similar concepts in Singapore would be Brown Rice Paradise, Supernature or Cut the Mustard.

This is totally a wild idea but, why not?

To introduce a fresh concept that has not yet been seen in Singapore, my store would have a bulk bin section for grains, cereals and beans. I first encountered this in Whole Foods (London) and found it extremely useful especially if you just need a small amount of a certain ingredient. There could also be an in-house cafe featuring the products sold and/or homemade products. I could even start my own product line of nut butter and nut milks, sold at a much more competitive price. As for interior design, I'd imagine it to take on a rustic Scandinavian look, that is, lots of whites, light and distressed wood. Possible names for my business would be: Rise for Break Fast (with a focus on breakfast goods) or Pantry Staples (more holistic).

At this point in time, I know nuts about conducting a business, branding and contacts. Maybe I should ask if there's any vacancy at BRP. After all, I still haven't got any proper thing to do during this hols. Does that mean my last three years (four when I graduate) in Life Sciences will be a waste?

-

I feel like I'm just letting each day slip by. Today was yet another uneventful day. Well, at least I made cashew milk in the morning. Then I went TPCC to (finally) register for Passion Card. So now at least I get to present my card when shopping at Cold Storage when the cashier asks. Anyway there was a 5-year membership promotion of $6 (usual price $15 - more than 50% discount!) if you sign up for PA membership and a PA course. I picked the chocolate making class. It's a one-day class, three hours in fact sometime in June. I'm not sure how much you can pick up in just three hours but I think it's going to be fun and a new experience.

Maybe another reason why I'm feeling so dejected has got to do with being rejected by the Prof. After patiently waiting for more than a month, I sent him a reminder email, and to that he said, "thank you for your interest, I have found another student." Err... so thanks, but at least he should have bothered to get back sooner? I've set up another appointment with another Prof next week. He hails from China, works in neurodevelopment, and now I've got some readings to do.

I've just created an Etsy account for no particular reason. I thought it may be useful in my future business, which at this point in time have no idea what it will be. Soap making?

Came across a Natural Chef program in Bauman College in the US. My head is in a whizz now. Good night.

0 Another week gone by

Several interesting events happened this week.

First, met up with another potential FYP prof yesterday. I was quite taken aback - and somewhat disapointed - by the offerings. Due to resource constraints, he offered a "dry" bench project, actually two in fact: a computer animation one and a MRI analysis. I'm pinning my hopes on LKL now; otherwise I may consider Tang or Tan. It seems all my friends have secured their projects already. I'm so late in the race!

This morning I was woken up at 5 AM by an irritating engine that whirred and grooved non-stop. It's similar to those kind of inconsiderate motorcycles, except that there wasn't any Doppler effect, meaning the vehicle was stationary - and blaring. It was only 4 hours later that I realized why - a dark blue Mercedes car had rolled into the longkang. Oh, what bad luck he had. Seriously, I pity him. Only at 9 AM was the tow truck there to pull his car away.

During immuno lab today I got to test out my own saliva for IgG and IgA - an assay reflecting my oral health. S. mutans, the main bacteria for tooth decay, was the antigen. IgA is found in the mucosa and oral cavity, and so expected to be present in high amounts (though too high is also not a good indicator), but IgG is mainly in the blood so not expected to be in high amounts. However, there was 2.3 units/ml IgG detected (by indirect ELISA), compared to friend which had negligible amounts. Attributable to gum bleeding? Maybe.

This semester, if anything, has made me an essay churning machine.
Bye bye, more essays to write, although its Good Friday tomorrow.

0 Deemed worthy?

I had better document this down before my fickle mind decides on another idea.

For my final project on Heritage, I have to nominate a site in Singapore worthy of UNESCO's World Heritage status. There is a list of criteria to be fulfilled, which can be found at their website, and also listed below.

Ok, so after having painstakingly mulling over this over days and nights (truthfully, it was just a couple of hours), and considering my weaknesses (not very good in historical sites), I have my bid: Punggol New Town and Coney Island (Pulau Serangoon).

WHAT? There hardly seems to be a link between Punggol and Heritage!

Don't be too quick to judge, as you will see.

So here is the selection criteria to qualify for a WHS. It must fulfill at least one criteria below (seems easy right but there are so many possible sites to choose from hence the dithering!)

Cultural site
1. to represent a masterpiece of human creative genius;

2. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design;

3. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared;

4. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history;

5. to be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change;

6. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria);

Natural
7. to contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;

8. to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features;

9. to be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals;

10. to contain the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation.

I plan to nomiate it as a mixed heritage site and use the ones in bold i.e. (ii), (iv) and (x) as justification.

UNESCO WHS are almost synonymous with thousand-year long historical sites like Angkor Wat (Western imperialist idea of heritage) but recently they've shown to be more open to modern constructions. A case in point is Berlin's Modernism Housing Estates (awarded WHS in 2008), which was the source of inspiration and I plan to use as a comparative study. For time's sake (have to go school soon) I shall not elaborate my justifications (that will be left to the essay and not on this blog). All I need to do now is SOURCE FOR TOWN PLANS AND OTHER EVIDENCE [major headaches].

At least I've decided. One major step cleared.

I've actually considered some other possible WHS for Singapore. What do you think?
- Bukit Brown cemetery. [Although somewhat interesting given the recent debate, it means I will have to document the architecture of the graves = have to go down to cemetery several times (not very appealing and out of the way) + not very good in this kind of historical and architectural stuff]
- Balestier (multiple interesting monuments like the last wayang stage in Sg and shophouses, but they are all very disparate and difficult to find a common theme)
- Tiong Bahru - for public housing again but downside is I'm not very familiar with the place (then again, I'm not familiar with Punggol too, but at least Punggol has the 'natural heritage' part = more to talk about)
- Historic and Civic Districts of Sg e.g. Little India etc. (typical but b-o-r-i-n-g)

Ok folks, that's all!

1 Fragments of thoughts

I want to experiment with sous vide - eggs, salmon, chicken breast.

I want to whip up a mean white wine seafood pasta (shrimp, scallops etc.).
[Yesterday's squid ink pasta with cod and tobiko in Chreese sauce was nothing short of awesome, but it's not counted, because after all, it's from a package.]

I want to have a laid-back brunch - ricotta pancakes at Skyvve, blueberry pancakes at Rider's cafe, Californian at Wild Honey.

I want to eat cake - strawberry shortcake from Flor.

I want to enjoy nature - Punggol Waterfront.

I want to do photostories - Nikon 7000.

I want to do everything but study for tomorrow's test, Thursday's Immunology, look at the Scratch program, continue writing my essay which I have not touched for 6 weeks or so, do lab report.

For breakfast, I had the last of my steel cutters baked (~1 tbsp), added protein powder and a ball of chocolate spread 3/4 way through, topped with Carman's oats and amaranth muesli. As always, leave the best to the last; scrape around the edges, moving inwards, so that eventually you'll end up with a dark semi-solid, semi-liquid orb of viscous matter - dark, rich bitter warm chocolate that sensuously coats your tongue as you imbibe.

Today I bought wholemeal ciabatta from Cedele and had a tuna 'wich, half with garlic piccanti and the other half with beetroot chutney. Somehow, both tasted similar - vineargy and oniony. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of garlic and beetroot?

I got back two major assignments today - Heritage essay and com sci tutorials. Both were done well, I say. But in return, I get slapped with two CAs this week.

Bye and off to study.

0 Hello Khmer

Seven days in a "developing" country. I think it'll be an eye-opener, learning about the politics of a place as you traverse it. I realized that despite my travels, I had never really visited such "backward" places, and it makes me all the more be grateful of having been born into Singapore.

Yesterday started with a bang at Wild Honey, Scotts Square. We "traveled" to Persia with the Persian French Toast, California with a veggie tofu scramble and (??) with a fontina and feta cheese scramble.

Come to think of it, I don't know why my french toast is considered Persian; I mean I've come to associated Persia (modern day Iran) with Persian cats and french toasts to American style breakfasts. But Persia and french toasts? Anyhow, the signature brioche bread was coated in a sweet orange marmalade, topped with stewed rhubarbs instead of the black plums as stated in the menu; the waitress had informed us the black plums were not available. I loved the brioche most - soft and imbued with hints of milky fragrance, it was delightful. The french toast was not the eggy kind (more like marmalade spread on top?) but the syrup was overly sweet [such that I totally forgot that syrup was offered]. I could manage one toast on my own, but luckily I had mum's veggie scramble and sam's cheese scramble to share to tone down the sweetness. I really liked the Californian and would order it again if I were to make a return visit. The french toast was more one-dimensional (sweet sweet sweet), but the veggie scramble and more interesting textures and flavours - crunchy peppers & earthy shrooms wrapped in a silk-robe of fluffy eggs and tofu pieces, plus the smokey grilled ciabatta!

I was probably too excited over the glorious spread and threw my mantra of "slow, savour, stop" mindful eating to the wind. Have to constantly remind myself not to get so overwhelmed :D

Moneyball somewhat redeemed the tragic experience with TTSS. Simple, straightforward and enjoyable, with a good bit of Stats thrown in to tease the mind.

Haul from BRP:
- Justin's classic AB
- Allos amaranth basic muesli (popped amaranth makes a return!)
- Sharpham Park spelt porridge
- Clif Crunch PB & Chocolate ($3.95 for 5x2 bars! - sold for clearance)

But. Last-min packing! (PS: I'm dismayed to have read that Heart Bistro at Palais Rrenaissance is now defunct (recalls fond memories of the shrimp pasta). Hope they find a new space soon!)

0 Keep on swimmin'

Workload update

3213 Neuro
1. Neuronal integration notes
2. ISM ISM ISM >> way too neglected
3. SDL SDL SDL

3223 Immuno
- None at the moment - :D

3225 MicroB
4. Lab report
5. HA Phylogeny

2207 Heritage
6. Cambodia
FINALLY COMPLETED MY ESSAY - the longest piece I ever took to write!

2201 Com Sci
7. Tutorial
8. Project

Nearly drowning, but still surviving, at the moment.

So last week I watched TTSS with Hamm. We caught a 9.40 PM show which wasn't the most brilliant of ideas because I was already tired to begin with and the confusing, indecipherable plot didn't help either. And it so happened, unfortunately, that the theatre was freezing cold like they were trying to simulate Arctic conditions in there. So the combination of cold + sleepy + confused led to quite a miserable 2 h as well as a waste of money.

But just one week later, I now want to watch either Moneyball or Iron Lady. Both seem good, with the trailer of the latter more appealing. But reviews prefer the former. Beyond thinking about relaxation, I had better plan my schedule before leaving for Cambodia. Here goes:

Tmr (Fri)
- [1], [7], [8]

Sat
- [8], [3]

My squid ink/scallop tagliatelle: white wine (Riesling) squid ink pasta + seared scallops with mix veg and cherry tomatoes, coated in Chreese sauce and topped with ebiko. Maybe Halloween came early.

Quite disappointed that the squid ink tagliatelle didn't have the briny squid ink flavour I was looking for.

0 My infinite pile of *****

3213 Neuro
1. ISM
2. SDL

3223 Immuno
3. T-cell/MHC notes

3225 Mol Micro
4. Phylogenetics of HA of H1N1

2207 Heritage
5. Essay
6. Cambodia

2201 Com Sci
7. Project Proposal/read-up
8. Tutorial - tournament problem

To-do tmr:
Morning: 3 + 5
Afternoon: 5

Aim for the weekends [in order of priority]
- Complete Heritage essay (5)
- Read up more on Neuroligins & Neurexins for SDL (2) - Sun
Draft of introduction, evidence for structural remodeling (Choi), and mechanism via actin remodeling, AMPAR/NMDA trafficking via PDS-95 completed; next step - EPSP/IPSP & behavioural studies, autism
- Watch TTSP - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Sun
- Read up on Voluntourism/Eco-tourism (6)
- Re-do (4)

Today's treat - SuperFood Slam! Very grassy & flaxy but made palatable with generous dates & cocoa nibs :)

0 Managing difficult essays

From 3562 to 2111 (-1451). My essay is now a lot more trim and healthy, but still a [not so] long way more to go. Minus 611 more to 1500!

I'm so loving Back to Nature Apple and Blueberry granola! So appley in smell and taste!

Also, so egg-cited for Cam's and the Angkor culture!

And today was a free day in that I did not need to spend 1.5 h travelling to and from school!

0 Verbose

A 1500 word essay has bloomed into 3562 words.

At least I got the essay skeleton out (and decomposed).