SHARP EL-546L

My beloved SHARP EL-546L calculator has officially died. I think it's been with me since Sec 1 and that's 8 yrs?
No wonder i have trouble moving on even to it's successor SHARP EL-546VA.
Surprisingly SHARP EL-546VA has fewer functions and with some of the buttons re-positioned, i inevitably have to pause and look for the buttons!
Honestly, it can be quite irritating and time-wasting.
But i better get used to my new calculator than never.
I was curious and i went to the sharp website to take a look at the new calculator models. It seems like the whole world has moved on and like qiantai says, 我们都老了. What happened to the WHOLE SHARP EL-546 series?
My SHARP EL-546VA is not exactly new either (even after all these yrs with it sitting in my drawer, i still prefer my old SHARP EL-546L and i nv got used to EL-546VA and that's how much i love my SHARP EL-546L!!!). It's just a spare calculator cos my 546L has died before.
Sigh.. imagine SHARP EL-546VA dying after i get used to it.
Fortunately, i wont need the calculator as much as an engineer!

OMG!

Indeed... as i always tell my kor,"New day new discovery"

It's always interesting when i can learn sth useful for my family and myself while reading my medical books.

Vitamin B3 aka Niacin found in legumes and nuts now have a different meaning to my family.

Maybe it's time we cut on our nuts and legumes :)

On a different note, i happen to chance upon this pic that reminded me so much of my europe trip (Naples in particular). Xiaoxuan, Weixiang, Ningqi and Yang will know why!


Some other Naples pic :)

tiramisu day

Y'know, all these while since i last posted, i've been thinking about my first cookbook and dreaming of starting a mini baking sch. Since i'll be so busy, perhaps my plans to compile the cookbook will only materialise after i retire.. and that's so loooong from now! Been thinking about the "baking/cooking sch" idea and i thought that need not wait till retirement. I can always start small and have a couple of friends over to learn some of the things i enjoy making.

Tuesday was a good example. We made tiramisu! I started my prep to teach them way ahead by illegally squatting in borders to flip thru the italian cookbooks to find the most authentic and at the same time easy-to-make recipe. It's so funny, cos i sprung up so quickly when the security guard told me not to sit on the floor that i got myself a carpet burn beside my ankle in the process.

More pictures...

Notice there's a smaller and heart-shaped tiramisu! That's kenny's vday effort for his very lucky sweetheart :) Looks pretty right?

I kopped the next few photos from gabriel's page (hope u dont mind!) I thought the photos were very well taken. Not sure why i wasnt in much of photo-taking mood tt day.


Step 1: Friends learn how to separate eggs


My new electric whisk. I still prefer my philips whisk, but i guess it had overworked :(


Beating of egg white. This is why i prefer my philips. The container was transparent and i didnt have to stop the whisk unnecessarily to see if it's done cos i can see right through from metres away while doing sth else.


I thought them what is meant by "folding in" which is commonly mentioned in recipes.
Very important step!


Topping the marscapone cheese on top of the coffee&liquer-soaked lady finger
(hey eurotrip pple, we ate this in italy rmbr? I think ningqi likes it)

Anyway, besides tiramisu, we tried making so truffles and moulding chocolates too:)


I cant rmbr who made this truffle, but note more of the truffles in the background.

I just hope tt after tuesday, my friend went home knowing tt baking and choc making isnt as daunting or difficult after all :)

ALSO, i hope kenny's sweetheart liked the tiramisu :)

Oh, on that note, thank you kendrick for the pretty flowers and choc :)

Tulips really make my day. Stimes i wish i can grow them on my balcony!

Creative Mind

My friends were real amused with a dream i had last wk and interestingly, i had another pretty interesting dream last night.

Dream #1:
There's been much talk abt the donut factory in town and it's very looooong queue. I had this dream abt my friends on this ulu thai island which surprisingly has a donut factory too! The best part of it was there was no queue! Then kenny came along wanting to verify the autenticity of the donuts. In the end, we were all very happy that kenny and qiantai declare the donuts to be as gd as those of raffles city basement :) haha

Dream #2:
I dreamt of a german exchange program in san francisco. How is that possible right? But i really enjoyed it cos my host live in a very beautiful house overlooking the san francisco coast. It's amazing! I rmbr looking out of the window to see the waves and seagulls at different time of the day.
It was just amazing how pple in my dream were all conversing in german.
I guess i miss german and san francisco :)

greenbean

Any idea how much i love my greenbeans and soybeans?

I think stimes we take those packet of beans we get so conviniently from supermarkets for granted. One of my greenbean pod is finally ready for harvest and guess what? There're only THREE beans!





The beans are so small that i cant even take a proper close-up pic!
So pple, please appreciate the hard work of the farmers who grow our beans and grains!
Like what the chinese say 粒粒皆辛苦！

Anyway, i really really like flipflaps and i'm glad that wenhui and christelle like them too!
I was so happy that christelle bought one for her car :)

differing opinion

Cow A: The grass is always greener on the other side
Cow B: That's not true, there are flowers on my side!

whee!

For the first time in 6 days, i felt hungry and had a proper solid meal.
Yay :)

I hope my muscle aches will vanish next!

sigh

i'm tired and in pain...

我的天啊！

My doc called and we both agreed that the viral fever i now have isnt dengue, cos i no longer have fever.
I told him about my new and persistent symptoms and he assured me that what i have is a post infection syndrome and my muscle aches, headache, loss of appetite could last for as long as a month! 我的天啊！

The location of my aches and pain, headache and general unease can easily suggest so much more, but i guess i have to trust my doctor.

Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

sick.

西医

Y'know how the older generation always say 西医治标不治本 and 西医 really 头痛医头、脚痛医脚? It's so true! I was charting my temp when i realised that after i take my anti-pyretic medication, my temperature will fall, but rises eventually. It's the same for the pain killers. My aches and pain return too! Anyway, i was a little amused by my doc today. I've been feeling nauseous, lost my appetite and have this perpetual headache the whole of today, so i decided to call the clinic to ask if these are expected effects of the medicine or if they're new symptoms. The doc who saw me wasnt on duty, so when i told the other doc my symptoms, he said,"That can be fixed, how abt i prescribe u anti-vomiting drugs?"
I didnt know what to say really, cos i was expecting an ans like,"Maybe it has to do with the viral fever u have" or sth smart lar. Anyway, i told him i'm not too keen in taking more drugs then he asked, "You sure u dont want the anti-emetics? Do u have any anti-vomiting drugs to curb the discomfort?"
I replied,"Ya, i have 酸梅。"
After i hung up the phone, i realised that symtomatic treatment of patients may not always be gd. Just like how some docs may prescribe anti-diarrhoea when patients complain of diarrhoea. Sometimes diarrhoea is a physiological response to remove whatever that is irritating the gut. Just think abt how wrong it sounds to give anti-diarrhoea medicine now.
Interestingly, i was wondering, how does a doctor monitor the course of the illness if symptomatic treatment is already given? Anyone has any idea?

Aging 50 years

When i was at borders ystdy, i suddenly realised that i couldn't reach for a book on the top shelf and when i was ready to leave, i had a painful attempt trying to lift my bag from the ground. Y'know at first i thought the aches and pain was due to lugging my heavy bag and laptop around the whole afternoon, cos coincidentally, wanzhen commented that my bag was heavy the day before! The aches and pain got worse even after i did some stretches (in pain) at some corner of borders and in addition my head became pulsatingly painful! Then i thought perhaps i was hypoglycemic or dehydrated. Since i didnt have a proper lunch, i tried my best to force sth down my throat. It just got worse after tt and knew i cannot survive the long MRT & bus trip home, so i took a taxi.
Upon reaching home, i realise that i couldnt even lie flat in bed and the pain was worst from my spine to the effect that i suspected i had a slipped disc or sth. After much rolling in pain, i suddenly decided to take my temp. HOLY! It was 38.6! I took temp hourly and my temp peaked 39.4 at 9pm.
My muscles and joints were so painful that i took 15 mins to walk to my GP's clinic which i usually take less than 5. Haa.. when he saw me, he joked that i've suddenly aged 50 years!
It was a painful examination cos i had trouble lying flat. I told him that my psoas muscles are the most painful. Indeed, each time he gentle pulpated my back, i would wince. Because of the location of my greatest pain, my doc had to rule out UTI. Urine test came back negative and he told me to show him my arms.
I supposed he wanted to look for petechial rash, cos he asked me jokingly to name the symptoms of dengue! Sudden onset of mucle/joint pain and headache, periorbital pain and rash.
Since i do not have last 2 symptoms, i was sent home with medicine for pain and fever and was told to chart my temp. Should i still be feverish on sat, i will have to do a blood test.
I'm just hoping to get well asap. Thankfully my doc's medicine worked wonders and my temp has been dropping. Yay :)
But i'm still having those aches, looks like i' going to have another unproductive weekend. booo :(