Mommy, it's over :'(

The Ikemen (sans Nakatsu)

Sigh... finally my favourite drama has ended. The last drama of my summer - Hanazakari no Kimitachi e.

While my peers are enjoying shows like prison break, ugly betty, boston legal, etc, I high-school j-doramas like Hana Kimi. So un-university student like, right? But who cares, I really enjoy every second of it. So sad it has to end :(:(

But really, if u guys haven't read my previous post about the show, go read it. Then go watch the show. The guys are insanely hilarious and silly (it doesn't hurt that they are cute too). But they are also very warm-hearted. I love simple stories of friendship like this. No need to to hold your breath thinking if some guy will get caught or bombard your mind with bitchyness or rake ur brain for some cheem (hokkien for profound) case. Doesn't mean I don't appreciate those shows (i love CSI), but mindless feel-good shows are nice to have once in a while ;)

I'm gonna miss the whole Ohsaka Gakuen boys. The brawny but no brain dorm 1 boys, the cute/hot-looking and fun-loving dorm 2 boys, and the weird and silly dorm 3 boys. No more Mr perfect Nanba-senpai, childish but faithful Tennouji-sama and crazy/always-possessed Oscar. But most importantly, I'm gonna miss the "hot-blooded soccer player, Nakatsu Shuichi". I've to admit he's the best actor in that show (sorry Oguri) and highly entertaining. Boo the stupid director, producer whoever it is that failed to bring the best out of Oguri. They totally supressed his role. He's supposed to be the more lovable character according to the manga. But well, as ppl have speculated, i think they wanna promote Ikuta Toma and the other boys. But he's still my fav actor atm.

Sano (Oguri Shun) and Nakatsu (Ikuta Toma)

I hate how they crammed everything into just 12 episodes. They should make another season. But I guess the final ep (a 2-hr special) kinda redeemed it a bit. The final ep was a roller-coaster of feelings, man. I was worried during the earlier part, then LOL, then worried again, then relieved, the laugh like crazy during the Ohsaka Gakuen festival then felt really sad (me who don't usu cry while watching dramas, actually tear abit), then felt warmness (talking abt feeling lah) and squealed and had a huge grin at the end.

Btw, there's speculation that they're gonna do a SPECIAL, cuz at the end..... ha nvm u guys watch urself. I really wish they do tho.

Neways, here's a video from ep 11, the cheerleading part. Man, they must be the hottest cheerleaders I've ever seen! I totally envy Maki. I used to hate Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend, but now it's stuck in my head *.*

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Will miss u all. BABY!!!

Where's my mooncake festival?

This sucks. I can hear firecrackers swishing downstairs and kids laughing and chattering with glee downstairs. I can see them running ard with lanters. Or squating in groups trying to light up the little candles and make them into shapes like stars and all. I'm on 7th floor and I can even smell the firecrackers and burning candles. Sigh..... I wish i could join the fun.

But nooooo, I'm stuck here in my room, reading up stupid MS cuz i've no idea how to do the hw and fussing up abt my project and cca and my ever increasing readings all at the same time.

And what's more, I thought tho I can't go downstairs and enjoy the beautiful full moon, I could at least eat my mooncake while doing my work. But noooooo, I forgot that mom put it in the freezer and we don't have a friggin microwave cuz my parents think microwaves are baaaaadddd and so it takes some time for it to thaw. Gah! Crabby patty!

Mission Trip Here I Comeeeeeee!

After praying hard every night, sometimes on bended knees, my dad finally let me go to mission trip instead of to his ulu (aka in the middle of nowhere) hometown, which I am very very glad to pass. YAY!! Don't get me wrong, I don't go to mission trip cuz i wanna escape from the other horrible trip, but cuz i DO miss going to mission trip and thus i really do wanna go.

Remember the first mission trip the BRATz had on Dec '05? Click here, if u missed reading abt it. U must scroll down a bit tho.

We totally had a blast! Tho we were stripped off of our usual privileges (computer, internet, bed, clean bathroom etc), we learned alot of things. I came back a different person. Lol, ok lah not so dramatic. But really, a part of me changed, for the better, of course. That is why, this year I wanna join the BRATz in our 2nd mission trip. Cuz i noe i'll be able to help the less privileged ppl, learn new things, meet new ppl yadda yadda, but most impt, witness to non-believers (just like our lesson this morning).

We had lyk 13 ppl fr the previous one, while for this one , we have 17 ppl confirmed going. Praise God! We even have an earliteen coming with us. Isn't it great? I'm really looking forward to this trip.

Btw, ehm.... we need funds obviously. We need at least $10,000. That's solely for the project. Personal expenses (air tix, accomod, etc) come fr our own pocket. So far we've managed to raise ard $5,000+ (a gazillion thx to those generous donors) fr our fundraising day and t-shirt selling. We're still selling t-shirt (details later). The designs are christian-themed and very2 nice. U can help us reach our target by buying the t-shirts or make donation.

So if u wanna help (bless ur heart if u do), don't hesitate to contact me! I'm sure God will bless u abundantly :):):)

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So neways, here's the details of our mission trip:

Group of youth from the Balestier Seventh-day Adventist Church, will be embarking on Project Aurora in December 2007. We will be headed to Bee Yaw Ta village, a mountain-top village in Chiang Mai, Thailand (it's abt 8 hrs drive fr Chiang Mai, and we need to hike up a little to reach the place)

During this mission trip, we will be running programmes at the public school situated there. Our programmes include English Language lessons, Art & Craft lessons, Health Education, etc. Also, we would also be repairing two classrooms there which have been damaged by termites.

Late afternoons would be dedicated to Vacation Bible School for students of the school and children in the village. We will also be holding nightly evangelistic meetings for the villagers, preached by our own youth (I'll be preaching too (; )

We need funds for the construction materials (timber, nails, paint), the materials to run our programmes and vacation bible school and also for the villagers’ daily necessities. We hope to be able to purchase 100 thick blankets to bring over as it gets very cold in the winter season.

Your help will deeply felt by the people of Northern Thailand. Thank you.

For more details:
Do not hesitate to contact me for the Information Booklet (hard and soft copy available)

Or simply email us at projectpharos@gmail.com to request for it!

Cheques can be made payable to Balestier Road Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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Even if u can't help us financially, ur prayers will be very much appreciated :)

Cheezey cakes

Almost forgot I've these pics. All taken when I went out with my favourite gossiping-bitching-ranting about life, sch and the likes-mugging partner. Ok, I'm not sure about the mugging part. We did often stay back in lib to "mug", but usually we ended up doing the other 3 mentioned or some other random stuff.

So sad we don't have any common class this term. It's really fun (altho not exactly work-efficient) doing the same mod as her cuz we're so alike in many things and we're both such 'laggards' (if u don't noe the meaning of the word, google it or take TWC class :P). So it's nice to know u're not alone in a class full of those competitive smart-asses highly motivated people. Crap, we could have been in the same AMA class if not for that stoopid BOSS system.

Neways about the pics - both the tiramisu and cheesecake are from Bakerzin. I totally love Bakerzin, man, ever since my first trip there like er....5, 6 years ago. That time went with my churchmates cuz Gail was working there, so we got staff discount. I still remember how good the warm chocolate cake was. Expensive, but superb. We had other cakes also, which were good. But my fav till now is the molten choc cake.

The tiramisu and cheesecake were really good, as expected. Both were smooth and velvety. Cheesecake wasn't too sour, like some lousy ones, and the strawberry jelly on top balanced the taste well so that the u won't feel jelat (malay for feeling sick if eaten too much, i think) after only a few bite. Tiramisu had a nice amount of alcohol in it, altho a bit more wudn't hurt ;) and the coffee taste was just nice, not too overpowering.

But the nicest tiramisu I've tasted was the one i got during FT dining at NUS Guild house or sth (forgot the place's name) resto located above Carrefour, Suntec. It was damn good! Prof said they used half bottle of the alcohol for our batch. One bite and my throat felt warm already. Heard one girl from the previous class got a bit dizzy. haha...Don't get me wrong tho. I don't like to drink alcohol. I think all kinds of alcohol taste disgusting, even the sweetest and mildest wine. But I love to eat alcohol! In tiramisu, fish & chips, pasta, roasted fish/chicken/beef, ice cream, cakes, etc. And i like the smell also :P

The cake on the pic was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting from NYDC. I really like the chunky cake. U can really see the carrot bits and it got lots of walnut pieces. Nice... They put too much cream cheese tho. But u can always scrape it aside.

Btw it wasn't intentional but don't u think Dawn really looked like a rabbit eager to eat carrot? haha...

Oh n i just realised all 3 cakes have cheese cream on them. Goes to show I love cheeeeseeee :)

I made my own ice cream!

Lolly pops are non-brainer. Lollies are just frozen lemonade, juice, or whatever liquid u freeze in the lollies mold. Simple but really great during summer. But during the summer hols, I felt like making a ice cream. A proper smooth creamy ice cream. And remember I got tonnes of Milo? So yea, I need to finish them up before they expire.

I remembered making my own ice cream with my neighbour when I was juz a tiny tyke. She was a couple of years older, but still we were only in primary sch, I was maybe only primary 2 or 3. I don't quite remember how we did it, but i do remember it being pretty easy. We didn't even get any help from the adult. But I don't really remember how it turned out tho. Haha... So maybe it turned out well, maybe it didn't. Still I don't think it's that hard to make ice cream that u even need ice cream makers, which cost few hundred bucks. I don't think it's worth it, unless u wanna have ur own ice cream parlour. I bet u can make good ice cream without spending much.

Googled how to make good ice cream without ice cream makers. Found some, erm... interesting methods. There's one using Ice Cream Ball. The ball's definitely cheaper than ice cream maker, but where wud i get it from? Never seen it before in Sg. Then there's the Tin Can Ice Cream. It uses similar concept to the ice cream ball, but instead it uses tin can, which are cheap and widely available. But it needs rock salt. Firstly, the salt wud be wasted afterwards, and second, what if the can broke and the salt gets into the ice cream? Yuck. And it's ma fan (troublesome) having to kick it around.

So lucky me, my latest favorite flog (that's short for 'food blog') by David L has a step-by-step guide to making ice cream w/o ice cream maker. yay! and it's got tonnes of ice cream recipe. double yay!!

So, after tweaking David's Malted Milk Ice Cream recipe from his book The Perfect Scoop, I came up with Chocolatey Milo Ice Cream :)

Chocolatey Milo Ice Cream

What's in it:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
3 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 cup milo powder
4 egg yolks
a pinch of salt
optional: dash of vodka/rum
optional: malted milk balls (such as Whoppers or Maltesers), roughly chopped

How to concoct it:
1. In a large bowl, whisk together the one cup heavy cream with the malted milk powder. Place a mesh strainer on top of the bowl and set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, whisk together the 2 cups milk with the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt until smooth. Whisk together the egg yolks in a small bowl. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Drizzle a little bit of the milk mixture into the egg yolks, stirring to combine, then add the egg yolks in a slow stream back into the milk in the saucepan. Return the pan to the heat and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not let boil or it will curdle. Remove the mixture from the heat and immediately stir in the chopped chocolate, stirring until the chocolate is melted and combined.
3. Pour the chocolate mixture through the strainer into the malted milk mixture and stir to combine.

At this point, if u have the machine, then continue with the method. If not, go to Making Ice Cream Without A Machine for instructions.

Took forever to freeze...

Place the mixture in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly, at least 4 hours. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Add the malted milk balls (if using), at the end of churning.

Note: I eliminated the cocoa powder and added more Milo powder cuz I still have so much :P
Btw, according to David, to make the ice cream softer, u need to add more alcohol. But I think I added too much. Erm... like 3 or 4 tbsp. And i think tt was why it took forever for the ice cream to freeze up, like 7 hrs to half freeze and another 5 hrs to really harden :P But the waiting was worth it. It was soooo gooooood.

Time...

...seems to fly even faster this term.

It's suddenly week 4 already. I was lyk, "oh crap, week 4 already?!?" this morning.

Somehow, I still dun have the drive yet. I noe I told lyk every single soul I noe that I'm gonna be a good nerdy girl who wud study and study and study and get a GPA of 4.3 (what u laughing at, eh? I noe its toughimpossible, but I still hv the right to daydream okay!)

I seriously dunno where all my time go to. It's creepy, man. Ok, i did study a bit. Gonna study somemore. Oh and i resumed my gym session today! *yay!* First, cuz my energy level's really bad nowadays and cuz Andy kept askin if i've used the new shoes (which i got erm.... couple of wks ago :P) yet.

Oh and I still haven't upload the food pics I've been meaning to, cuz i was..... busy. yes busy....Okay i finally finished my j-drama (kurosagi and nobuta were great! and yamapi is sweeeeet. Damn Kit for 'intro-ing' him to me :P) and promised not to watch anymore till hols.

I shall upload some photos now ya, so I can delete them. They're seriously cloggin my disk space.