MY FIRST EVER FULL MEAL COOKING

I was born into a family which has alot of cooks. My grandma and auntie will cook during big Chinese festivals. My mom and nanny will cook too during normal days. I always wanted to try cooking but never given a chance because of being at the lowest part of the cooking ability hierarchy. I ended up being the helper all the time. With my partner in her hostel or home when she cooks, I am just a helper only as well.

Now that my apartment is equipped with all the cooking facilities, I decided to try out for the very first time by myself.

Therefore, today I made history! Well, not that I have never cooked in my life. I can fry vegetables, fry eggs, cook instant noodle and other simple dishes. However, this is my first time preparing a meal other than breakfast or supper. Something that can be eaten for lunch or dinner in completeness.

I cooked rice by myself. Haha! My first time. The black spot is the juice of the carrot or broccoli. Hehe!



Then, I cooked a pot of mushroom ginger chicken soup. I steamed some carrot and broccoli on top of the rice.



I had eaten my cooking and I personally think it is not bad at all! At least it is edible. Haha! A good start!

FLOATING TO UNDERWATER

Architecture is my field of study but I hardly cover anything architectural in my site. Let's go to Dubai, UAE, famed for building incredible expensive man-made structures. We all that we heard about this super expensive hotel in Dubai called Burj Al Arab.

It is floating beside a seaside connecting through a bridge as my friends who visited it had told me. Now, comes the Hydropolis, reminding you of some Greek legendary cities? This will be a hotel built underwater. Remind you of Atlantis with the underwater entrance?

You can check out some 3D renderings there to see how cool this structure is going to be. Who knows how much the room rates will be but I'm sure it will be ultra expensive. Still, it feels like some fantasy of men to always build these kind of impressive structures. They always do it in the movies- underwater cities or sky cities.

There is another link at Impact Lab.

KOBE BRYANT'S MAGICAL 81 POINTS

Shevy smsed me today to remind me of Kobe Bryant's incredible feat.

TOP SINGLE-GAME SCORERS
1. Wilt Chamberlain, Phi. March 2, 1962 vs. N.Y. 100
2. Kobe Bryant, L.A.L. Jan. 22, 2006 vs. TOR 81
3. Wilt Chamberlain, Phi. Dec. 8, 1961 (3OT) vs. L.A.L. 78
4. Wilt Chamberlain, Phi. Jan. 13, 1962 vs. Chi. 73
Wilt Chamberlain, S.F. Nov. 16, 1962 vs. N.Y. 73
David Thompson, Den. April 9, 1978 vs. Det. 73
7. Wilt Chamberlain, S.F. Nov. 3, 1962 vs. L.A.L. 72
8. Elgin Baylor, L.A.L. Nov. 15, 1960 vs. N.Y. 71
9. David Robinson, S.A. April 24, 1994 vs. L.A.C. 71
10. Wilt Chamberlain, S.F. March 10, 1963 vs. Syr. 70


Shot Chart: Kobe's made field goals. No. 8 indicates eight dunks/lay-ups. He also converted 18 of 20 free throws.

His stats for the match:
MIN 41:56
FGM-A 28-46
3FGM-A 7-13
FTM-A 18-20
REB-O 2
REB-D 4
REB-TOT 6
AST 2
PF 1
ST 3
TO 3
BS 1
PTS 81

He scored an outstanding 81 points - the second-highest total in NBA history - as the Los Angeles Lakers recorded a 122-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

After scoring 26 points in the first half, Bryant exploded for 55 after the break - four shy of Chamberlain's record for points in a half. He outscored the Raptors by 14 points after halftime.

With just under five minutes remaining and the Lakers leading, 108-96, Bryant knocked down a 3-pointer to join Chamberlain, former Laker Elgin Baylor, David Thompson and David Robinson in the 70-point club - a threshold Jordan never reached.

On the ensuing possession, Bryant drilled a short jumper to break Baylor's club record of 71 points against the Knicks on November 15, 1960.

Now, this is a moment of history worth documenting here. Kobe Bryant, like LeBron James are in the most likelihood to be the next generation of Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Many argued that Jordan is the best ever in history because he showed his greatness in an era filled with superstars, which includes legends like Bird and Johnson. Apart from that, there are many many all-star players that played in his era. Therefore, he stands out.

Miss the match? No problem, NBA compiled the whole video on their website:
NBA Kobe 81
Look for this link there:
Video: See every point: 81 points in 3 minutes

RIO FERDINAND 1-0 DJIBRIL CISSE

As much as people hate and have been criticizing his hairdo, he is still one of the last few good players left in the Manchester United squad. Why is the final scoreline written to have Ferdinand against Cisse? Well, I just want to remind you guys that Manchester United won because of Rio Ferdinand and Liverpool lost because of Djibril Cisse. Simple as that.

When I first saw Mike Riley to be the refereee in this match, I was telling myself right there, right then, "Oh Oh, Liverpool are gonna lose tonight!" Mike Riley is the No.1 Manchester United fan in the world so whoever is playing against Manchester United will have a 99.9% chance of defeat.

Ferdinand prevented Liverpool from scoring after Van der Sar is beaten and Cisse wasted so many goal scoring chances I wonder why he is still in the starting 11. Crouch? Apart from some decent jumps to win some headers, I find him CROUCHING throughout the whole match! The reason Liverpool lost is because of their ineffective and inefficient forward line. They have been having more possessions of the match from my own judgement. Imagine going away on a match and to control the possession far more than the home side and still losing. It is weird right? Although I have to admit Manchester United did pressure Liverpool in the final part of the match with a few attacking runs. One of them resulted in a goal.

There is this guy who looks quite impressive in the match. Mohamed Sissoko. Who is this guy? In my opinion, he is the most promising guy in the field during the match. Anyway, to be fair to Liverpool, Manchester United's frontline is also being very quiet in the whole match. That's why it ends up being a defender getting a goal from a header from a free kick. Alonso and Gerrard are also pretty quiet in the whole match. In fact, I fell asleep a few times during the match. The players are doing more passing than attacking. It is generally a boring match. In addition, probably I am too tired myself with such a late match and for me to spend the whole of yesterday afternoon shopping for groceries.

Still, Chelsea ended the match with a surprising draw so all is not lost yet. Liverpool should really think of how to score more from now onwards. If they carry on like this, they will be having a hard time finding the net. My predictions speak for itself. I am depending more of the midfielders to score because I have no faith in the forwards. You cannot rely too much on the midfielders to score screamers all the time in every match. I don't know, I just feel Liverpool's weakness is their attacking line.

Just to remind you guys that Luca Toni scored twice again last night and is leading the Serie A charts with 21 goals. Trezequet is second with a distant 15 goals and followed by Adriano with 11 goals tying with Gilardino. There are 21 matches played to date in Serie A meaning Toni has been scoring 1 goal per match! I will be very surprised if he is not starting upfront for Italy in the World Cup 2006! For sure!

In La Liga, Barcelona are still continuing their winning streak even without Eto'o who just scored a hattrick in the African Cup of Nations and with Deco suspended. They are now in the 18th match winning streak. This is definitely the season of Ronaldinho and FC Barcelona.

MAIL FROM TEG



Teg, I saw this mail inside my mailbox this morning!

You sent me a CHELSEAFC Official Centenary Season MatchDay Magazine 05/06? Well, still I will read it because I respect Lampard and Robben!



Thanks and alot of appreciation for all the effort and money spent. I hate Drogba so seeing his face in the main cover really piss me off! Hehe! I will review it ASAP!

FOOTBALL: MANCHESTER UNITED VS. LIVERPOOL

Manchester United 0-2 Liverpool

Steven Gerrard and Luis Garcia are the scorers. Even if Manchester United are at home.

This is my prediction. Wayne Rooney and van Nistelrooy got red cards. Woooh, how I love that to happen. I never like them for the rest of my football watching days.

This is the most worthy match to watch this weekend. I will surely try to catch it!

MEIJI CHOCOLATES

Always got cheated by Meiji chocolates packaging. They are just so attractive. In addition, I am a chocolate lover so I don't mind my money being cheated trying all types of chocolates.







Now, they are not just good looking, they also taste good! Of course they are not high class but at least better than most of those in the market shelves.

My ambition is to finish eating all their chocolate collection but there are just too many in the market. I wonder how long it will take for me to finish one round.

TEVA TERRA-FI 2



Teva is always famous here for their sandals. It is created by Mark Thatcher in 1984 as thr first sports sandal which is at that time is for rafts and rapids of Colorado.



I went out today to shop for one because I hear alot of good things about it. I thought it will be great to get a pair of sandals than wearing shoes all the time. I want more air and yet not to look too informal if I am meeting my supervisors.



I chose this Gandolf Blue design and I love the whole pair of sandals when I wear them. They are really comfortable and provide ultimate cushioning. Got this for a discounted price of S$83.





Here are the features for the model I bought.

- Patented Universal Strapping System
- Microban® Zinc based anti-microbial protection
- Fully adjustable padded heel
- Encapsulated Shoc Pad™ in heel
- Patented, dual-density midfoot shank provides superior support

Midsole:
- Compression molded EVA

Outsole:
- Original, non-marking Spider Rubber®



I strongly recommend this over any sports brands. I saw Nike and Addidas but I think none come close to Teva's quality. The most satisfying thing about wearing this pair of sandals is the great curves it has to support your feet. It is very well supported that you don't feel much impact when you walk. It is just comfortable.

BOOKING TABLES

It has become a habit in Singapore to book tables with almost anything. A pack of tissuepaper, a bag, a book and the list goes on and on. There was a period of time when there are many things left unattended on the tables and got stolen. The most famous item is of course the handphone.

After that, there seems to be a heavy campaign to tell people not to leave things on the table. Therefore, they actually created a signboard mounted on the table saying that you should not leave your items unattended or to book the table.

Now here is the story. In my faculty canteen, there are 2 seater and 4 seater tables. Majority are 4 seaters. Many students in the past put bags, books and water bottles to book tables while they line up to buy food in the canteen stores especially during peak hours like lunch time and dinner time. This is to make sure that there are seats available to sit when they come back with their food.

Even with this signage mounted at the center of every table, they still do that. Today, I went eating with a China Phd. friend. We went around to find seats and managed to find a 4 seater table with a bag there. I told him let's find other tables to sit but he insisted we sit there because if they really want to sit there, there should be only one person.

Soon afterwards, the person arrived with his food and tell us that there are 4 friends so can we move away to some other tables around. My China friend didn't want to move and wanted to fight for his right. He said it is wrong to use a bag to book a table. Then, I added in saying that the signage is also mounted on every table to clearly tell us about such habits.

He said everybody is doing it and convinced us that we are doing it too. My China friend replied that he never do such bookings of tables with his items. The guy replied that we are wrong for doing it. My China friend replied that it is him who is wrong. The guy said he already requested us to leave politely and it is bad courtesy of ours to hold on his place. Then, I tried to clear the matter and told my friend to just leave. No need to argue with the stubborn guy.

Then, my China friend only wanted to leave and said he is wasting our time. The guy said we are wasting his time. Off we leave the place.

Now, who is wrong here? If you are us, what will you do?

For me, we are definitely correct because there is no law on earth to book a table with items. My point is also strongly reinforced with the clear signage mounted on every table in the canteen. I can surely believe we can get the table to ourselves if we blow the matter to big proportions but what the heck, we are just having our lunch.

Finally, no, I never book any tables with my items. I do put my bags or items on tables if there are many of them lying around and the reason I do that is because I am carrying too many things until I cannot carry the plate, fork and spoon / chopsticks. I don't do it during peak hours.

FOOTBALL: REAL BETIS 0-1 ANTONIO CASANNO

When he was bought by Real Madrid, I only remember his scoring records in the Serie A. I don't remember him as a player with attitude problems and a big belly. After a few matches, I still wonder when his belly is small enough to debut.

Finally, his debut came and he scored within 3-4 minutes on the field. OK, it is just a domestic cup competition. Is it a good sign to come? Will he achieve consistency in scoring like Owen when he was here? It is too early to judge anything but surely, as long as somebody is scoring goals in front, I will be alot more confident and calmer watching future matches.

Now, here is the lamest question of all:
Who has a bigger belly? Ronaldo or Cassanno?

Yeah, can somebody tell me what is the big deal in Theo Walcott until Henry pleads him to join Arsenal? He is compared to Henry and Rooney (which is a curse comparison). Has anybody watch him play before?

FOOTBALL: CLIPS

Football Clips

Some great clips compilation for your viewing pleasure.

If you guys know of any other great sites to download great clips, please share.

DOG YEAR





Happy Chinese New Year in advance! I am flying home again this year! Yeah, lots of firecrackers and fireworks!

This is the dog year and I got this dog couple from Bossini for buying enough clothes to reach the amount stated. This traditional Chinese dressed dog couple plush toy has an inbuilt 12-second voice recording capability. It will blink on the head to indicate that there is a new message for you and you can play or record by pressing on the button as well as.

DONATIONS CHARITY DONATIONS CHARITY ........

In Singapore, if you ever go to the city, there is no way you can avoid people asking you to do donations. It can be coupons, it can be coins and notes and so on.

A few weeks back, I came across people selling you booklights for charity! It is in support of HOME, Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics by JDL International Pte Ltd I think. I got this booklight for a donation of S$10. People doing charity are getting creative by the day to persuade us to donate. Sigh! Still, if you are willing to do it, don't grumble. You have a choice. It has to be sincere.

Still, I complain because it is getting really disgusting. They are covering the streets in big numbers. When you see them around, you automatically want to avoid them. There is just no ending to how many types there are in the streets!

FOOTBALL: WEEKEND SURPRISES

The headline for this weekend goes to Henry. King Henry scored a hattrick! Hail Henry! The scoreline? 7-0! What more Arsenal fans will want? After assurance by Henry and Cole to stay, the confidence is back and hence, this outstanding result. The morale boosting news set the squad fire blazing. Zidane too scored a hattrick for Madrid's first win since the new coach took over.

Chelsea was made to sweat while Manchester United lost in a derby where Ferguson gambled with starting a player who he bought days ago. Liverpool maintain their consistency and is very likely to overtake Manchester United anytime soon! Right now I am thinking of a situation of whether Chelsea will drop points at the course of the second half of the season. Liverpool is the best candidate to give them a dogfight to the finish. That is a wish all EPL fans wish for. I for one will be jumping in joy if Liverpool is able to win the title this season. It will surely put Arrogant Mourinho to shame.

Most shocking news of the weekend? Roma beat Milan! Incredible! Eventhough Milan dominated and deserved a win, I still can't believe Roma won it! Juventus are still winning so they are pulling away silently. Inter Milan too won and they will surely miss Martins for the African Cup of Nations. Hey, this fellow is only 21 and surely will have a great partnership with Adriano if both stay healthy and on form!

Barcelona continue their unbeaten run with a winning goal from Messi. However, another bad incident happened involving Eto'o for spitting at Unai Exposito. Deco was sent off for allegations of diving by pulling Carlos Gurpegi's hair. Eto'o seems to be getting away with it without any fines or suspension. Eto'o must learn to grow up and not be another Wayne Rooney wannabe. He is 100X better than the overrated Rooney.

Finally, did I hear it wrong when Anelka wants to join Newcastle United? This nomad really wants to join every single club in the world before he retires. Haha! I always joke with my friends that when Anelka retires in the future, he will hold the record for the most clubs played by a professional player in his entire life! Imagine the final farewell match they will play for him. His team mates, all 10 of them in addition to him, will come from 10 different clubs he ever join in his career. It will be interesting for all 10 to wear their respective club jerseys and play with him against another selection of 11 players. Then, you get to have an All-Star team featuring the best players of each position from the 10 clubs of choice. Haha!

PENANG UNCLE VISIT

Uncle from Penang came and brought the tau sar pneah or tambun biscuit which is one of the most famous Penang delicacies. The main ingredient is green bean, fried onion and lard. Ghee Hiang is the oldest brand, established since 1856 while Him Heang is also quite famous. Different people prefer different brands so it really depends on individuals to say which one is better. To me, both are equally good. The Bengawan Solo cassava cheese cookies is what my Penang auntie enquired for so I bought her 4 of them for my uncle to bring back.

KITCHEN AND TOILET

Here is a look at how my graduate apartment kitchen and toilet looks like.















Since I have a kitchen to myself, I went to buy some utensils. Carrefour has sales so I bought some stuffs from there. Chopsticks, spoon, wooden spoon / spatula, cooking spoon, cutting board, and saucepan are some items I purchased but not all are from there. The 16cm Supor saucepan, which has a Teflon coated non-stick interior and non-slip bottom, costs S$10.90 from the S$30+. It is made in Korea. The table knives (S$2.10) and the cooking spoon / slot tuner (S$1.30) are Metaltex brand, made in France. My Dotted dessert spoon (S$1.70) is made in Japan. The wooden spoon / spatula is locally made (S$1.00) and the 5 pairs of Year Well chopsticks are made in Japan (S$2.50). The locally made chopping board costs $8.10.





















Mom wanted a finer comb so I got her a Lady Jayne ceramic thermal radial small comb, which is made in China (S$7.50).

FOOTBALL: PEREZ, WHAT'S NEXT?

Seeing Cassano's tranfer to Real Madrid finalized and hearing about rumours of a possible transfer of Ballack to Real Madrid or Juventus, I wonder what is the next move Perez is doing for Real Madrid.

If business is doing well off the pitch so much so that football results no longer matters to Real Madrid, I guess I will just have to stop complaining and just take what is coming our way.

Honestly, I think the league is no longer within our reach. The magician, Ronaldinho and his scoring machine partner, Samuel Eto'o made FC Barcelona invincible on a winning streak that is unstoppable. Right now, all eyes will be on the clash with Chelsea. If by then, they are still unbeatable, Chelsea is probably the last club on earth to be able to stop them. Even if it means losing outside Spain and in Europe. It doesn't matter anymore. Their winning streak counts all competitions - La Liga, Spanish Cup and Champions League.

Well, Real Madrid have an overweight and unfit Cassano who I really cannot tell will contribute anything to the club. However, age is on his side so even if his debut year is a disaster like what Robinho's, Robinho and him have another season to show their worth before the fans lose their patience.

Coming back to Ballack, if he does join Real Madrid, I guess he will be a much more relief than having Roy Keane. Ballack is 29 and at the final stage of his footballing career. Real Madrid are always famous in recruiting players his age to retire in their club. Of course this is always not true if you mention Solari and Figo. However, as a Real Madrid fan right now, with Raul and Ronaldo injured, I seriously don't have a clue what is going to happen in the second half of the season. I can only sit there blindly and guess.

Back to work. Hehe! Crap.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2006

Yes folks, today is Friday the 13th and I am still busy finalizing things and settling down. Both the LAN ports in my hostel room are not working and I am chasing the computer center to fix them for me. Until now, there is still no sound from them. I also got my toilet sink fixed because the water is not flowing down the downpipe fast enough. Still, the electric oven is broken and I may need to wait until next week before I can make appointments with them. I wonder how the previous tenant who stayed in my room survived with all these things broken. I mean, seriously even the wireless signal is not working too and how can they be graduate students who don't utilize the Internet in their rooms? I am still very puzzled and clueless.

SEMESTER 2 (9 JANUARY 2006 - 6 MAY 2006)

The semester starts officially today. That means all lectures, registration of modules and check-in procedures into hostels. I tried to check in last night and clean the whole room. My room is facing a forest so I am expecting cooler temperature there. Ventilation is good so I hope it stays that way. The only drawback will be the attack of mosquitoes if there are any. I need to prepare for that of course.

Will be busy myself this first week doing my own registration of modules and proposing independent studies for the whole semester ahead. The busy time comes again and I hope I will do even better this semester! A brand new year, a brand new start!

FOOTBALL: ANTONIO CASSANO TO REAL MADRID?

Will it do any good? The only good thing is that he is young and not another veteran who is going to retire soon. Therefore, it is good for the club but if he does not score as much as he did in the Serie A, it will be another big disappointment after Robinho. I will not be so optimistic as it takes time to adapt. Hopefully, the goals will come ASAP!

FOOTBALL: ARSENAL VS. MANCHESTER UNITED

This match is the best way to start the year off in football! Let's predict the score. I decided this new year to include my predictions on every match. Not sorely as the best indicator to bet but rather for the accuracy of my football predictions. At the end of the day, you could find out that I am really bad at it. Hehe! Who knows?

With 2 of my blog readers to be big Arsenal fans, I will be kicked real hard if I predict Arsenal to lose this one.

My prediction is Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United.

Well, Pires' latest comments of possible transfer is one reason I predict against Arsenal. With Vieira to be linked back again, it is really pretty disturbing for Arsenal. I declare myself a 100% hater of Manchester United so this prediction is solely based on the current form and condition of both clubs. I try to be as honest as possible to logic than feelings.

Arsenal have been scoring very little of late while Manchester United still have goals coming from Rooney and van Nistelrooy although I pretty hate both of them. The last time they met is probably the FA Cup final. I watched both of them play last season in the match that ended the unbeaten run of Arsenal's and the FA Cup final. Without Vieira and Keane, both clubs may approach this game alot calmer like what Ljungberg had stated.

Still, it is Arsenal's home so in all respect, Arsenal have a slight advantage. I will go for a 2-2 draw the most. It is very unlikely for me to see an Arsenal victory unless Manchester United really have a bad day. Whatever it is, I will definitely try to catch this match live!

The condition now is also different although Manchester United need to win badly if they don't want Liverpool to overtake them in the second place. Mathematically, Liverpool can still overtake them. Arsenal, on the other hand, have to keep in contact to get the European places for now. Challenging for the EPL crown is totally out of the picture as of now but it is not totally over.

The January transfer is open now and it seems pretty quiet. Many reported that there is no point spending in the EPL with Chelsea clearly unable to lose any matches. Well, the EPL may turn into a Ferrari affair of the last few seasons and the English FA may need to introduce new guidelines to make the league competitive again just like how the FIA did. Still, any drastic measures may destroy the competition altogether. It took FIA many years before finally finding the solution to stop Ferrari's winning streak and resulted in the youngest driver to win the title in Formula 1 history.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006!

Just relax yourself on New Year's day before preparing for a whole new year ahead.

I am formatting my laptop as my hard disk looks like a junkyard.

I am packing my things as I am going to move into the campus residence apartments. That will give me 24 hours of Internet access.

I don't have to wait or worry about public bus transport anymore.

Have a good year ahead! Let me relax myself really much before I start to battle the new year ahead. Hehe!