China!

China has changed so much since i last went there some years back. I used to be able to testify that all the horror stories about China's poor sanitation facilities were true, but now, though there's still plenty of room for improvement, i think it's quite tourist friendly!

Sg>Xiamen>Shanghai>Suzhou>Nanjing>Wuxi>Yiwu>Hangzhou>Shanghai>Xiamen>Sg

I shall upload the photos before i get too lazy to do them next time. I'm having trouble studing MicroB anyway.. :)


Xiamen airline aircrafts are very small! 2 3-seaters on each side only. But the service was quite good :)


Shanghai 南京路。



We queued for the famous 南翔小笼包。They were absolutely worth the wait! Not only were they yummy, they cost SGD$2 for 16!
One thing about china i will not forget is the common bad translations!
For example, 南翔鱼翅蟹黄灌汤包 was translated as 'dumpling stuffed with ovary and digstive glands of craD


新上海 and 老上海. I wanted so much to see the much talked abt 东方明珠塔。But it was too foggy! My mom said this will be a good reason to visit shanghai again -grin-




新天地。 the place where young people hangout.


七宝镇。


|Food of Shanghai| Spot the roast dog meat and pig snout on a satay stick!

|Suzhou| 古色古香？










所谓：“上有天堂，下有苏杭”， don't you think 杭州 is very pretty! Too bad i had very little time there. I will definitely go back :)

Sometimes

I typed this really long post with photos of my china trip and it had to disappear :( Now that most of my time is tiled to different people, commitments and obligations, i wonder if i have time to retype that post.

i always believe that things happen for a reason. But..
Sometimes i just wonder why certain things have to happen.

Schade...
manchmal vermisse ich, echt glücklich zu sein.

Cool pics (to be updated)

I wish i have more time to upload more pics or make better collages, but i dead seriously need to finish packing and check that i've brought everything for the trip.

Anyway, enjoy what i've come up with so far!


Apple strusel cake baking at my house! Check out the smiley on the cake and the cool photography. Was fun eh?


I made oreo cheese cake on my Happy Ikea day. I havent tried oreo double stuff myself but this is prob oreo double stuff x 6! If u're wondering, i had to separate the cookie from the icing for the cake base and the icing was mixed with cream cheese :)
Will upload the pic of my oreo cheese cake if i rmbr, wenhui said the cake looks like a giant oreo cookie with the top biscuit removed :) How cute!


Long overdue pics of my oatie double chocolate cookies :)

Beautiful dream*

Just posting sth to remind myself i dreamt of a beautiful house last night.
It was so real! I hope i wont forget and i can post abt it later

IKEA DAY!

I havent been THIS happy for quite some time. How much better can a day get when there's IKEA visit, IKEA Food, the company of funniest friends i can possibly get and at the end of the day accomplish things i wanted to do?

The new ikea is...
(1) Very big. The "IKEA" sign itself is so big that i sorta got distracted when i was driving -grin- Yang says that the Ikea hotdog is very BIG too:)
(2)The cafeteria is also very BIG.
(3)The cafeteria has these really cool trolleys for food
Just look at us, dont we look happy and excited about lunch?



Lunch was really sumptous and everyone was very happy :)
I like my brocolli soup! Hmm... I think when i take a break from baking, i should try making stews and soups. I've always thought they're excellent alternatives to our usually meals when there's bread available for dipping :)

The walk around the store was gd for digestion cos there are many more show units than the ikea at Alexandra.


Weixiang, Weili and Wenyang - The boys getting comfortable on one of the couches :)

The green snakes are back! They once replaced the snakes with the multi-coloured ones which i didnt really like.

Weixiang looks happy doesn't he? :)


You'll have to see it for yourself how big the new ikea really is. The front view of level one with the shelves of the funiture on both sides was truly spectacular to me. It's damn big la!

As i personally believe, ikea visits are only complete when you have their signature ikea hotdog. So here we are enjoying the yummy post-ikea visit treat :)


Many thanks to weili for the photos :)

Just for Fun

Seems like i cant run away from chocolate ya? :)

CHOCOLATE THERAPY!

You scored 81% SWEET, 62% CHUNKY, and 77% UNIQUE!

chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies & swirls of chocolate
pudding ice cream

You, my friend, ooze sweetness, just like this ice cream flavor. But there's much more to you than that...you tend to view things differently than other people and you like to engage yourself in creative, challenging activities. You're spunky, but not too wild, which is nice. Those who understand you tend to get along with you very well, appreciating all that you have to offer...and you offer a lot :)

I havent seen or tried this flavour before. Now i'm really curious if i'll like it :)

Dumpling Sunday

Is there a better word for 水饺 such that people wont think i'm taking about dumplings we eat on 端午节？

Anyway, my mom and i made 88 dumplings today.




It was quite fun!

Flip flap

Wenhui said he can tell that i like my sprouts a lot. I really do. It's unbelievable that i actually miss and think of them when i left them in hall -lol-. They are so adorable! I'm hoping they'll survive when i transfer them into soil. Anyway, i found out last night that one of my soybean sprout looks like the solar powered toy i like a lot called flip flap. Watch the video i found on youtube! Isnt it cute?
I'm not sure why i'm so fascinated and obsessed by something so small :) It's interesting how sth so simple can make me happy :)

Enjoy the video!


I've always loved gardening. I can forsee myself spending a bit more time with my spade, soil and pots :)

Nice Day

I watched <<墨攻.Battle of the Wits>> today and i thought it was a really nice movie! As true as the title can suggest, i was amazed by the wisdom of Mozi. The idea of pacifism and universal love which Mozi embraced was also quite moving. Go watch it and you'll know what i'm talking abt :)

Today's a great day cos (1)i did not touch a single bit of work [no lecture! yay!!] (2) Finally got to see Weixiang's green wall. [people who like green are rare...] (3)Watched <<墨攻>> [good show!] (4)Took train for 19 stops and alighted at Kathib for the first time (5) Enjoyed the best view an Mrt ride can offer - Lower Seletar reservoir (6)Learnt abit about Computer assembling:) (7)Went to Northpoint for the first time (8)Enjoyed my 854 bus ride (9)Enjoyed the surroundings of a new neighbourhood (10)Tried New York Pizza for the first time. I'm sure there's many more reasons, but 10 should be enough to convince you :)

I like days when i do a lot of things for the first time. Now, when was the last time you did sth for the first time? :)

Wilson greenbeans & Butterflies

My wilson greenbeans. Why wilson greenbeans? Cos these kept me going through the weekend while i studied for my CAs! Very much like how the wilson volleyball kept Tom Hanks alive in the movie Cast Away. I was truly amazed by the speed of their growth. Each time i stopped to take a break, there's bound to be changes :)
I also grew soybeans! 2 of them. One's on the right and one at the back without the leaves. Did u realise tt we were only given greenbeans to grow in kindergarten or primary sch? i didnt know how a soy bean sprout looks like, so i grew 2 to find out.
Interestingly, their seedleaves are really big. Now measuring 1.9 cm :)

I only found out recently that Wenhui is quite an expert with dogs and he knows the breeds of dogs very well! Talking abt dog breeds tt day reminded me of how i used to look through my butterfly book to try to single out my favourite butterfly family / species and remember their names. Come to think of it, it was really quite like microB. Now that i cant rmbr them, i prob wont rmbr my microB 10 years down the road.. Quite a bad sign isnt it?

Anyway, i used to like this butterfly commonly known as blue morpho. Elegant and unique i thought. But now i just like butterflies in general. Too many are equally pretty :)

Cranberries*

In the News...
Scientists are lauding cranberries for their many health benefits. Research has shown that drinking cranberry juice can block urinary infections, increase HDL and reduce LDL, and kill H. pylori bacteria, which can cause stomach cancer and ulcers. In addition, a compound in cranberries prevents plaque formation on teeth, and extracts of chemicals in cranberries also appear to prevent breast cancer cells from multiplying in a test tube.

Rmbr the adverts of sunrasia cranberry juice and post morning cereal with lots and lots of cranberries floating in the water like this as shown in the pic?



Amazing isnt it?
Maybe i should try cranberry juice some day :)
I'm just hoping it wont be too sour :)

Red Meat Linked to Breast Ca

On wikipedia today...
A study of pre-menopausal women found that those who ate more than 1½ servings of red meat a day were 97% more likely to have a hormone receptor positive breast cancer than those who ate 3 or fewer servings a week. Reasons for this may include the treatment of American beef cattle with hormones, carcinogens created when meat is cooked at high temperatures, and the presence of a certain form of iron in meat.

BBQ beef sounds bad now doesn't it? Carcinogens are everywhere!

Respite.

I had a restful weekend but it's so painful to know that i have to start work again soon for the next 2 papers!

On a more optimistic note, 4 out of 6 papers are over!! YAY!!

Anyway, most of us went to vivocity after Immunology and microbiology paper on Friday. We were "xiong" (as Eugene put it) enough to dine at cyrstal jade dining!

We really opened a table for 10! Food was ok, but i should say the experience was priceless. :)


As u can see, there's GODIVA at vivocity! Though it got me excited (it's chocolate afterall!) i seriously think they're not actually worth buying in Singapore :) Look at the box of chocolate that cost $105. I'd feel that i'm eating money!!

This weekend, i also baked! Baked sth which most people would think is not exciting at all - Buttermilk scones. Have i mentioned before that i really love scones? Used to love cranberry scone at Cedele till i realise they're not equally fresh and nice at every branch. Stimes i give it a miss :)

Pardon the poor picture quality, cos i used my lousy phone camera!


A revelation this weekend: X'MAS IS NEAR! They had stalls selling Xmas decorations and gifts at vivo and the Xmas tree at Citylink is also up!

Haha.. coincidentally, there's another GODIVA in the pic if u look close enough :)

I had a great day walking around my fave part of Singapore today. I thought abt this
许多人会在人多的时候失去自己
我却喜欢在人群中找寻自己
许多人害怕孤独
我却在独立时最了解自己

什么是快乐？什么是悲伤？
许多人希望能够快快乐乐地度过这一生
但你是否想过悲给予乐的价值?
没难过的经历就不懂得开心的可贵
不是吗？

每样东西、每一个人都有好的一面
每个人、每一个东西都有他存在的意义
我们如果尝试先从好的一方面看起
世界会自然变得完美

Such a Dreamer

While taking my nap today, i dreamt of Europe AGAIN! I think i'm the only one of the group who thinks of Europe and misses Europe so consistently. Hmm.. i'm thinking tt it has to do with my counsellor puting up his Europe trip picture in his MSN display pic last night.

Anyway, till i visit Europe again, may the memories i have there stay as beautiful and pleasant :)

My right arm is hurting from all the scribblings. Edwin told me that he finds it sad that we're often limited by or writing speed and time. It's so true that stimes there's so much more we want to say! Hope my arm recovers soon. 2 hr of writing is surprisingly worse than squash! :)