All by myself

H1N1 Virus

2009-07-26T10:45:00.002+08:00

Its official. I have the H1N1 virus. My parents sent me to the hospital last night because it was getting worse and the doctor said that I have be infected with the H1N1 virus. I must be quarantined for 7 days. By the way, I am totally NOT happy about this because my grades will drop dramatically. Totally missing out on the whole block! 20 marks GONE!!! Argh!!! I wonder if I can still get an A.

Oh well, I feel much better than yesterday already. More energy. So thats good :)

Sick

2009-07-25T13:07:00.002+08:00

I have been so sick for the past 2 days. I had a bit of headache when I woke up on Thursday morning but I thought it was nothing so I went to school. It got worse after lunch so I took my temperature and it was 37.7ºC. Since the day was almost over, I decided to hang in there. After school, I took my temperature again and it was 38.3ºC. The cycle back home was the longest EVER!

For that night, it was just horrible. I kept vomiting for at least 5 times. Terrible headache, it was so uncomfortable! The next day, my mom brought me to the polyclinic and there were so many people having a fever. So i was there for like 2 hours. It was so so cold even though i had my jacket.

Well, I am getting better now. I hope I will be fine by Monday because that when we start a new block (Sugarloaf Production). Its not good to miss out on that.

Weird

2009-06-21T10:26:00.004+08:00

I always say time flies, time flies. But do we actually embrace the time that we have? Can someone please tell me? When we lose the time, we say time flies. It is when we lose it, we do not make use of our time properly. Of course this is not always true because when we have fun, time flies too. But does that mean that we did not make use of it properly? It does not.

Now that the holiday is almost over, i am starting to miss it. Term 2 will be more hellish than term 1 I think because of the Commis Challenge and stuff. Plus I will be having the dining experience THIS COMING WEDNESDAY!!! Gosh...I have not even remember the flavours and the descriptive words! I am so dead.

Black Pepper Crab

2009-05-04T19:16:00.002+08:00

Sorry G. that this took so long to be posted. But here it is now. To tell you the truth, I have never cooked black pepper crab before (but I still have the recipe). My mom and I always cook chilli crab.

Ingredients

3 - 4 crabs, washed
4 tbs freshly ground black pepper
3 - 4 fresh red chilli, seeded, minced
4 tbs butter
10 cloves garlic, peeled, minced
10 slices ginger
2 tbs oyster sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp sugar (optional)
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method

Chop off the 2 clippers of the crab, separate the body of crab from its top shell, chop the body part into half.
Dry-fry black pepper in frying pan till fragrant.
Remove and set it aside.
Heat the wok/ whatever that can hold the crabs & the sauce, add butter.
When it melts, add garlic, ginger and chilli, stir-fry until its fragrant, about 3 - 4 minutes.
Add oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar (if using), stir well.
Add the crabs and stir to cover the crabs with the sauce, stir-fry for about 5 minutes.
Add the dry-fried black pepper and stir-fry on high heat for a few more minutes.
Serve with the garnish.

P.S. Each slice of ginger is about 3 mm thick.

P.S. Dry-frying is frying without any oil.

P.S. It depends on how big your crab is, if its big, you need to cook it longer.

Kitchen From Hell

2009-05-02T21:13:00.002+08:00

It has been more than a month since I blogged. I have been extremely busy (and a bit lazy too) with school. Its really hell! Let me start with my typical day: I will wake up at 6:00 am, have breakfast and shower and leave my house latest by 6:55 am. We need to be there by 7:50 am for the roll call in full chef uniform. After that we will go into the culinary theatre for a demo & explanation of what we will be doing that day. And immediately after that, we will proceed down to the kitchen to cook. We will be marked on the dishes we produce each and every day (so we have to be on our top every single day).

After the cookery, we will have a 45 minutes break and start the lecture/ knife skills. All these will end only at 4:00 pm or 5:00 pm (depends on how fast we work). To add on, we still have lessons on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm. After that, when I get home and shower, it will be almost 7:00 pm already. Have dinner till like 7:30 pm and need to print the recipes for the next day and read them well. By the time I am done with that, it will be at least 8:30 pm or 9 pm already. And not forgetting that I will need to iron my chef uniform for the next day. After that, I will need to get ready for bed because of the early next day. And it goes all over again.

Not forgetting that we still have homework, which is to cut up carrots into different sizes and that will take at least 30 minutes. So, to conclude, I really do not have much time for anything else. Well, thats the life of a chef-in-training. What to do..... except to live through it (hopefully).

Finale

2009-03-31T15:34:00.002+08:00

Oh finally!!!! The big big day tomorrow. I am finally getting out of Singapore. Will be leaving home at 7am. The coach is 9am and its at harbour front (I know, its so far). And everything is almost packed now, just need to put in the medicines, toothbrush and thats it I guess. I am so so excited already. I hope I can sleep tonight.

But still have some last minute school stuff to do. Need to pass the injection certificate to my friend because the school needs it by 14 April and I will not be in Singapore. They will have the kitchen orientation on 14 April and I will miss that. So disappointed. I don't want to miss out anything. But no choice, the tickets are already booked. And don't get me wrong, I am equally excited about the trip and the orientation.

So, see you guys when I am back!

P.S. I will be bringing a journal so I can write down everything and will be posting it on here after I am back.

Time

2009-03-15T00:51:00.005+08:00

Time flies. I have not ben blogging because I was busy preparing for the music exam, buying my friend's birthday present (gosh, that was long, but worth it), and work.

I just came back from work at the Holiday Inn ParkView Hotel. My feet are absolutely killing me. They need to be soaked in warm water hehe. Last Wednesday was the CCM Dinner and Dance and it was just all right. The food was absolutely divine but the activities they planned were boring and meaningless (as expected though). Well, that was the last day of 1J02 and that was the saddest part of it all. We love our class so much! A bunch of weird people (including me) but still, we love each other :D

离开的快乐？

2009-02-22T11:11:00.002+08:00

Yesterday was R.'s Singapore Farewell Party at the Equinox with many of his cute friends. I did enjoy myself very much until the moment I saw Marc across the street when we were walking to Chinatown. Already the farewell party was like sad and happy at the same time and everything just went downhill from the moment I saw "you-know-who".

我会永远爱他的。他可能是我唯一最爱的人。所以当一个你最爱的人离开时，我想你也会很伤心吧。那就是我的感受。

A Grave Dug Up For Myself?

2009-02-16T00:47:00.002+08:00

Exams are coming again. And this is the first time I am so worried. I did not do well in the mid-semester exams and that pulled my coursework grades down. So now, I am really studying my butts and brains off. Every night when it hit 10 pm, my brain cells will be totally dry and useless. I want to absorb more and fast!

As long as I can pass this semester and go to year 2, I will be the happiest man boy on earth. This semester is really tough. I just want to get into the kitchen and do what I wanted to in the first place: Cook! Please please please, let me get through this semester!

Food Seduction...

2009-02-06T09:48:00.008+08:00

I know, I have not been blogging for quite a while about myself. But who's reading? I doubt anyone will be reading this. Okay, lets get down to the food business.

We finally went to the Top Table. For those who doesn't know what it is, it is a restaurant run by the students of Culinary and Catering Management. Normally we just go there to look at the facilities and never to sit down and enjoy the food, or hear about how they will torture us next semester but always telling us not to worry.

Okay okay, back to the food. It was a 3 course meal and for the appetizer, I had tomato soup which was just pure pure pure! No msg, no colouring, just plain tomato! The best I have tasted so far I would say.

The main course would be the chicken with ham wrapped around it, with rocket lettuce and salad dressing. That one was a hit also. They used herbs which just go so well with the chicken, just divine! From this angle, it looks like something else, but it sure taste nice! :P

The dessert was really worth dying for! Chocolate pudding. The chocolate was just oozing out from the outer shell, fighting to come out. A flow of dark plight, so dangerous that you don't dare to eat it. Actually, it looked so damn nice that I didn't want to eat it hehe.

Oh those were the many times when the food seduced me so much! I would like to have it over and over again :P

Home-made Pineapple Tarts...

2009-01-25T12:54:00.002+08:00

I am not going to write any introduction about this because you just HAVE to try it for yourself and surprise yourself!

FILLING

Ingredients

2 medium-sized pineapples, skinned & cut into small pieces
120g sugar

Method

Put pieces of pineapple into food processor and blitz until it becomes mushy.
Put the mushy pineapple on a clean cloth and squeeze out all the juice.
Cook the remains (not the juice!) of pineapple in a saucepan over low heat (keep stirring).
After 5 minutes, add sugar to it gradually. Mix well.
Continue stirring over low heat for about 30 minutes or until the mixture looks dry.
Cool the filling before putting it into the fridge for 20 minutes.
Remove from fridge, take a teaspoon of it and form a ball with your palms.
Set them aside.

TART

Ingredients

250g butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg yolk
440g plain flour
1 tablespoon milk
1 egg, beaten (for glazing)

Method

Preheat oven to 165 Degree Celsius.
Cream butter and vanilla essence on medium speed for 4 minutes.
Add egg yolk and continue mixing until well incorporated.
Mix in dry ingredients on low speed until a coarse, crumbly texture forms.
Add in the milk.
Place dough on a surface and knead for 2 minutes.
Seal it with cling wrap and chill it for 30 minutes.
Remove from fridge and pull out some to form 2.5 cm diameter ball.
Flatten ball and put pineapple filling in.
Wrap the dough around filling and make it into a ball.
Brush pineapple tarts with egg wash.
Bake for 15 minutes.

Makes about 40.

P.S. While waiting for the filling to cool, you can start with the tart. Just put both the filling ad the tart in at the same time and after 20 minutes, take out the filling and start rolling. By the time you finish, the tart will be ready to be taken out.

P.S. Brush as much egg wash on them as possible, it will give them a very nice golden-brown colour.

For Those Cookies Lovers...

2009-01-19T17:01:00.003+08:00

I was making this yesterday using the "Professional Chef" book. It was called "Chocolate Chunk Cookies". However, I was out of chocolate chips, so I decided to change it to almonds. And I added a twist to the recipe. Hope you guys like it.

Ingredients

163g flour
3 teaspoon of cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch of salt
100g butter, SOFT
35g sugar
25g light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract/ essence
7 - 10 pieces of almonds

Method

Cream butter and sugars on medium speed, until smooth and light in colour (5 minutes).
Mix eggs and vanilla essence in a small bowl.
Chop almonds to tiny pieces.
Add to butter-sugar mixture in 5 additions, until fully mixed (scrape down if needed)
Measure dry ingredients.
On low speed, mix in dry ingredients and chopped almonds.
Mix till just incorporated.
Prepare a sheet of cling wrap. Scoop the batter and put on cling wrap, wrap up, put in the freezer. Freeze for 30 minutes (or until it is hard enough to roll on your palms)
Chop any chocolate into 1.5 cm wide, roll each chocolate into a ball of cookie batter.
Flatten cookies with a fork (that will create a pattern for the cookies also).
Put into oven for 12 - 14 minutes, 190 Degree Celsius.

Makes 25 (depends on the size of each cookies)

P.S. Adding the egg-vanilla mixture to butter-sugar mixture in 5 additions will help the eggs incorporate better. Mix till it looks a bit fluffy.

P.S. If the cookies are still a bit soft on the underside after cooling, don't scream! Just flip them over and bake for another 6 minutes in the same temperature.

Two Birds With One Stone...

2009-01-12T21:16:00.003+08:00

It has been such a hectic weekend and hectic monday also. We (group members) stayed in Changi Airport from friday night all the way to saturday afternoon just to complete the HT Marketing report. And I must say, it has really paid off BIG time.

We had 2 presentations today. One is Food Hygiene and Safety, the other one is Marketing in Hospitality and Tourism. So had to go through both of the presentations and familiarise myself with them in just one night! Just too rush, but I managed to familiarise 85% of both of the presentations.

For the Food Hygiene presentation, we have not gotten back any comments from our teacher yet because there was one group who has yet to present to the class due to the lack of time. For the HT Marketing, although we exceeded the time limit which is 15 minutes per group, we received excellent remarks from our teacher. "Very detailed and good research and the promotional ways were really interesting and that is the main focus of the report, Well Done!" We were SO proud of ourselves.

So today is quite a stressful day but very VERY enjoyable!!!

Incredibly Stupid...

2009-01-09T14:07:00.002+08:00

This week is just a horrible week. All the papers from mid-semester tests have been given back to us and I must say, I am terribly disappointed in myself. Nothing more I could say.

I really need to study hard and study smart from now on. No more distractions or what-so-ever. Just go go go until the end.

Family Fish...

2009-01-04T18:23:00.006+08:00

I had to translate this recipe into English so that I could upload it here and it took so long! This is because I got this recipe from my mom and she had everything in Chinese. This, again, is really simple. Nothing will burn, nothing will go bad. This is so easy that you could cook it with your eyes closed (I know I am exaggerating a little, but its just to show you how simple it is).

Ingredients

3 - 5 spanish mackerel (depends on how many people you are serving)
4 - 6 garlics (depends on your liking)
1 teaspoon fermented black beans
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
3 sticks lemongrass
4 pieces asam skin
1 cup water
2 - 3 tablespoon oil (depends on your liking also)

Method

Chop garlic finely.
Fry chopped onions and fermented back beans in oil until fragrant.
Add soy sauce.
Immediately after adding soy sauce, add water, lemongrass and asam skin.
Mix well and bring it to a boil.
When its boiling, put in the mackerels.
Simmer for at least 30 minutes. At most 45 minutes.

PS. You can just cook until all the sauce dries up. However, I like it with some sauce so I could dip the fish with some sauce before devouring it.

PS. You can also use other fishes that you like, as long as you can fit it in whatever you are cooking them with.

PS. Do not cut the fish into pieces as the fish will be very fragile after cooking.

Banana Chocolate Muffins

2009-01-02T23:07:00.003+08:00

This recipe is so easy and fast that I succeeded with the first attempt. A banana muffin recipe of course requires banana. If you have those really REALLY ripe bananas which can't be easily eaten raw, fred not. You can just throw those in this recipe and it will turn out like heaven! As this recipe uses vegetable oil instead of butter or regular oil, it is a lot healthier. So for those health-conscious people, this will be your eating-spree! Enjoy!

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas
125ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
250g flour
50g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g chocolate/ raisins (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degree celsius and line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin papers
Pour the oil into a measuring cup and beat in the eggs
Measure dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder) and out them in to a large bowl
Mash the bananas
Mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas
Fold in your chocolates/ raisins
Place equal quantities into prepared muffin tins. Fill them up to 3/4 of each muffin paper, not more. Bake for 20 minutes.

Makes 12

PS. I have already reduced the sugar content by half from its original recipe because I don't like food to be too sweet.

A Whole New Everything...

2009-01-01T02:30:00.000+08:00

After hours and hours of mind-draining Marketing in Hospitality and Tourism project, it was finally here! Time to celebrate and enjoy!

Met E. at Tampines MRT as usual then we went to VivoCity and guess what? It was so packed that it became SO noisy (luckily the bookstore was quiet, if not I would have gone crazy). We had dinner at Le Marché. It was quite expensive but the food was quite nice so it balanced out a little. Still, I think its quite expensive.

We decided to go for a movie since we had a lot of time to spare (we finished dinner at about 8 pm). So we went to get seats for a movie called "The Duchess". It was a good film as it related a lot of emotions and feelings with the audience which was great. However, it totally ruined my mood for the day because I was so sad after the film. When we came out, there were even more people and they were most probably queuing to get to the rooftop for the countdown.

Well, we had our plans and that is to go to the bars (either Tantric or DYMK). We decided to get to Tantric first to see the crowd there. And guess what again? There were not many people there, sad to say. PLUS, the crowd there were all not really my type so we just went on to check DYMK out and it was SO MUCH better than Tantric. Although there were not as many people as Tantric, it was just such a relaxing place with the bar feeling still there. The crowd there were not as bitchy and arrogant as those in Tantric. It was just nice. I had a sprite (as I was not feeling like drinking anything alcoholic that night) and a mocktail and the mocktail was on one of E.'s friend who is working there! How fabulous! The employees there were really friendly and polite (and of course, cute).

We left around 1.30 pm and caught a train back home. The train people has extended their working hours since it was New Year's Eve and New Year. Oh well, all in all, it was such a great day.

Affection...

2008-12-30T17:09:00.004+08:00

Love love love....

What is that? I don't know. Is there really really such a thing as love at first sight? I don't know also. Can someone tell me? I want answers!

Is there something which you can be eaten and it will remove all your emotions and feelings? If there is, can someone please give it to me?

How do I control my feelings? Is it part of a growing up process? Do I have to control my feelings in order to move on? in order to become a more stable person? in order become a man?

Horrible horrible HORRIBLE!!! I want answers NOW!

A night out...

2008-12-19T23:58:00.001+08:00

Got an invitation from E. to go watch some short films produced by young people and one of his students is the main character of a film called 'toll'. It was all right. Lots of violence in the films which I don't really like much.

Anyway, the main focus was not about that but it was about this: We went to tantric and this is obviously the first time I was there. I think I may have expected too much (I know I shouldn't have). We were there around 11pm so not that many people yet and we sat down for a beer. And slowly there were more and more people and E. met one of his friends and we started chatting. After a while, E. brought me outside where it was not that cold and left me there. I was so so nervous and scared, and I didn't know what to do. So after like 3 minutes (I didn't know I could even stand there for 3 minutes!), I went back to E. as i found out that my belt came out again.

I think I was standing there and my belt was out the whole time, that was why people were staring I guess. But who cares! Anyway, we chatted and E.'s friend bought each of us a drink (so sweet) and I got a bit drunk afterwards. Normally I don't get from drinking beer. But this time I did because I didn't have dinner and just had a bun before going in. Well, same for E. so both of us got a little drunk. Around 12.30am, we went home as both of us wanted to; It was getting boring.

Oh well, now I am not THAT eager to go to the bars anymore. Nothing interesting and quite boring if you don't get hit up or you are there without your friend(s).

Last minute...

2008-12-07T18:55:00.006+08:00

Mid-semester test is coming again. How fast can time fly? *I wonder* Luckily, this semester, there are only 2 papers (Macro-economics & Principles of Management) and 1 online test (food safety and hygiene). I can't wait till its over because i have this great great idea in mind and it can only be carried out after the exams (like duh...). And obviously, I've only started studying today. However, not very efficient, was really fidgety. :P

So its test on tuesday and wednesday, and THATS IT! Hmmm.... actually, not really. Still have some research and projects to catch up. ARGH!!! Can't this school give us any REAL breaks?????

Birthday

2008-11-28T23:31:00.004+08:00

Today is my birthday. My friends and I had plans to go out after school for steamboat in the evening. After micro-economics, QH gave me a letter and I was SO surprised. I didn't expect anyone to give me anything. After that they all sang a birthday song and I didn't know how to react! I think that moment was the reddest my face could get in my living life.

Me, HS and B. went to Hougang mall after having lunch in school and we went to have desserts in a Hong Kong eatery. Their desserts were quite expensive but some were also very special like chocolate flakes with nata de coco which was heaven-like! Then we just lazed around there and wait for XQ and SW to finish their school. In the meantime, we were experimenting with our phones' camera.

Finally when they were done, we met at Bugis Junction and we went around to look for a steamboat place and found one at the far end of Bugis. Settled down and started to have a steamy dinner! We all ate until we were SO full that we walked so slow and like zombies.

Went to Suntec City to look for a shoe shop for XQ because she was wearing high heels and her feet were killing her. She literally took off her high heels and walked bare foot on the streets. After much searching, we were unsuccessful in finding the show shop in Suntec. So we just went to Carrefour and started shopping. At the entrance, "POP" a present was out and was handed to me. I didn't quite expect that as well because going out like this was really enough of a present from them for me.

I saw some pretty shoes and I have always wanted those kind of shoe so I bought it. That day was just fun fun fun! I hope that kind of day will have more and the world will be a more happy place! :D

Close encounter

2008-11-27T22:19:00.001+08:00

Once, while I was riding my bike back from school, at a traffic light near my flat, i was nearly knocked down by a taxi. It was green light for the pedestrians and i crossed. The taxi driver was looking else where instead of the pedestrians. And he just drove like no one's business, nearly hitting me. I turn my bike away from the taxi and the taxi driver stepped on the break. I gave that taxi driver my evil eyes and continued cycling...

P.S. Not all the taxi drivers are like that, so do not stereotype!

Clueless

2008-11-26T19:14:00.005+08:00

Its either badminton or gym, I told him. Ed chose badminton and that it is! We cycled to Pasir Ris which normally takes me 10-15 minutes to get there. However, we got there after 30 minutes. "I thought you said it will only take 10 minutes?"

When we reached there, there were actually people playing in the badminton court already! Sadness... So we went to play at the empty space beside the badminton court (carpark). Every once in a while, there would be a car coming pass and we will have to get out of the way. That way not the funny part of having to run to get the shuttle-cock and avoid the car, the funny part was that Ed got the shuttle-cock up the tree twice. We ended up with us having to throw my water bottle up the tree (fingers crossed that it does not get stuck up there also) and we managed to get both of them down.

After badminton, we went to a pasar malam beside Pasir Ris MRT. I was so hungry that I bought more than enough. 2 cheese sausages, 6 siew mai, 6 chicken nuggets and 1 spring roll. And it all added up to be $9.20!!! I forgot to count how much it was altogether. Lucky Ed was there so had to borrow $2.20 from him (calculate how much i brought). Anyway, I was so darn full I didn't feel like cycling home (but I did).

On the other note, I never thought that many people our age would accept plu but I was wrong. Youngsters my age are starting to be a bit more open about plu issues. I came out to several friends of mine and they are all okay with it. They were shocked at first but now they are alright with it already. What a relief!

Meet the Parents

2008-11-17T17:08:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was sunday. Yet another day at home with all the unfinished homework and untouched research. So spent the whole morning and afternoon completing as much as possible. Ed called in the late afternoon saying that there is a pasar malam beside the Tampines MRT station and I decided to meet him there.

It was a little disappointing because the food section was so small and they didn't have those food that I like. Saw some roses that they were selling and fell in love with it, but as we all know, plants from pasar malam cannot last long. They will die once they have been out of the pasar malam atmosphere. So sad, but life moves on :)

We went to the park across my flat and had our goodies there. Suddenly this crazy thought came over me: do you want to come over my place? I asked. The result must be obvious from the title of this post. Anyway, my mom cooked for both of us and this is the moment that Ed knows why I like to eat at home (common sense).

After dinner, we went online on my msn and Ed flirted with many of my friends and in the end, he managed to get them to add his msn address to their contacts. So totally flirting! But it was fun, i would say.

A day with lots of emotions

2008-11-15T12:19:00.003+08:00

Had a fight with a friend of mine, R, the night before. It was just horrible! I was thinking about it the whole time during class and I just could not concentrate. I needed a distraction which is to go out that night and go wild! Ed was not free as he went clubbing with his classmates so I found Ed's friend, D.

I met him at 9pm and we went to the Esplanade to walk around. Coincidently, there was a brilliant performance by Punkh. We continued to walk from Esplanade to the other side of Singapore River. D decided to pass through some of the bars so we did. Lots of candy-eyes that night.

Went back on the last train and this trip completely took my mind of my depression which was great! What a great night out.