Year of the Tiger

So how was everyone's CNY?

It didn't hit me until I sat down just now and counted, but this is the 6th consecutive Chinese New Year I've spent in England, away from family and ang pows. I thought it was only the 5th, but no. I started university in the autumn on 2004, so this does make the 6th.

I was 20 the last time I celebrated CNY with my family.

It's a bit scary, how time flies. Initially, for the first few CNYs, I was glad to be away from home, to not have to force smiles and call out pleasant greetings/wishes at extended family and distant relatives that I don't know much about and don't much speak to. Yes, it was interesting for a while to hear who is dating now, who has been kicked out of college, who got who up the duff. But it was just a fleeting curiosity - I soon lose interest, because it's really about as interesting as hearing other people talk about what happened on Big Brother. I don't watch it, I don't know the contestants, therefore I don't give a hoot about who did what when and where. Even if it's juicy and scandalous and gossip-worthy, why do I care? These people mean nothing to me.

My parents would be scandalised to hear that last bit - I can almost hear them now, saying something along the lines of, "They're your blood family!"

I think my interest in CNY and family gatherings waned when I found out how two-faced some of them are. CNY is about wishing people well and prosperous for the new year, but why would I wish people well when I don't like them? For the money? No thanks. The only people I care about and will wish well are my immediate family and Boy's immediate family. Actually, Boy's cousins seem quite nice and friendly too, so they're okay by my book. My cousins? Ugh. No.

Actually, I should be honest. The only "ugh-y, no" cousins are mainly from the paternal family side, the two-faced backstabbing aunts and uncles side. The ones who boasted about themselves like they're gifts from the gods. The ones who wouldn't bat an eyelid when they turn their backs on you if you're ever in need. The only ones I've gotten anywhere near close with is my father's oldest sister and her daughter A, who housed me for ten days whilst I was in Singapore way back when. They were really nice and generous to me (but there are stories that go deeper than this). But again, they live in Singapore, a good five hours away from where I used to live (and about a gazillion miles away from where I currently live, which is worse, I guess).

The aunts, uncles and cousins from the maternal side of the family are actually really friendly. It's a shame that I don't see much of them because there is a huge age-gap between me and them usually (most of them are in their 30s now) and they live in Klang Valley area their whole lives and I've lived in the east coast of the peninsular my whole life (until college and England, that is).

At this moment though, I'm not sure if I miss celebrating CNY or I'm still glad to be away from all that hassle. Enough time has passed for me to think "It's not that bad, surely" and that time may have distorted my view of things/events, but something at the back of my mind still reminds me that there was a very good reason why I like it here and it probably is still valid.

One thing's different this year though - my mother has yet to tell Brother #3 to pass on the message of how this year is going to be for me, the Wood Rat! :P

The Strawberry Sundae that Disappointed

Above is my strawberry sundae from Gateway Park (Brewers Fayre) that was a disappointment because it lacks the promised wafer on top, and strawberry syrup drizzle were all stuck at the bottom of the sundae (kinda stupid, right?), and the strawberries were still frozen chunks of ice!

*sigh* I miss the days of Knickerbocker Glory from Tootsies. Why oh why did they go into administration? :(

Dinner on Friday was made of...

Rib steak and cheese petit pains, +onions on mine.


Gooey delectable chocolatey goodness in a ramekin, hot from the oven.


Mmmmmm...

You love my food posts, really. :P Considerably non-witty, non-wordy, and more diet-breaking than any of my lengthy posts.

Re: iPad

I'm not a geek reviewer. I don't review. I typed out a review about the BB Curve, and gave up on that because I got lazy.

But I'm just so disappointed about the iPad.

Nevermind the horrible name, but the features are unexciting after all that hype. Don't get me wrong, it does look very good - Apple hasn't lost its touch on that - but seriously? No multitasking? No Flash support? It's effectively what you get if you crossbreed the Kindle and the iPhone - a touchscreen eBook reader that runs some other apps.

I already read eBooks quite happily on my tiny BB screen so I have no need for a glorified eBook reader. I'm more likely to get an iPhone than and iPad - after all, iPhone is infinitely more portable and does pretty much the same things. No, scratch that. The iPhone might actually be better for it has a camera, which the iPad sorely lacks.

I don't know about you, but I like doing more than one thing at a time with my gadgets. I don't only read the news - I have several tabs open, and sometimes even a game running in the background, plus my camera downloading into the HD. Researching for things and bookmarking and copying items into other programs for future reference? Requires multitasking too.

Even browsing the net it may fail at, as the iPad does not support Flash. A lot of websites have Flash. Will the iPad then give you the best web experience? I doubt it.

I don't think I'm an Apple fangirl - I love Apple stuff. MacBook, iPhone and iPod all look fantastic and I lust after them with every fibre in my body. I suffered internally of extreme jealousy when I saw that SN had both a new MacBook and an iPhone when I visited him. But one thing I did not like about some of the Apple gadgets are the fixed battery. All batteries have a habit of dying, not holding charge properly after x number of recharges. It's unforgivable to pay the price Apple demands on their goods and realise that it isn't going to last as long as you hoped due to wear, and you can't replace the part most likely to wear out with time.

I'd hate that.

Might be a better idea to look at Modbooks, after all - it's a tablet and it runs on Mac OS, so it does everything a MacBook does (save for having a physical keyboard). Or just a plain old MacBook if a touchscreen is not necessary. And you can actually replace the battery for a new one.

Me, I'm debating between a MacBook or a cheap-and-cheerful Asus Eee T91MT (after Always Innovating's Touch Book failed to impress).

Simple fares - bread and butter pudding & homemade vegetable soup/stew

Sometimes I forget the simplest things are the best.

Two nights ago I bought a loaf of bread on the discount shelf at Somerfields after work and decided to make some bread and butter pudding. I made some before ages ago whilst I was still in first year of university, and it was really yummy (despite never having bread and butter pudding before... but the taste is confirmed by a recent bread and butter pudding I ordered whilst we were eating out). So the result from two nights ago:

Bread and butter pudding.

To those who aren't familiar with bread and butter pudding, it's made of layers of sliced buttered bread in a deep dish with generous sprinkle of ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, sugar and raisins/sultanas/fruits. Then you beat egg and milk and sugar in a bowl and pour it into the dish, letting the slices of bread soak up the liquid mixture and then baking it in the oven until the top is golden brown.

So basically ingredients that you can find in most kitchens.

Couple of mistakes I made whilst doing this:

1. Putting sultanas on the top, which got a bit burnt in the process of baking it.
2. Baking it for too long; it was just slightly too dry to be proper bread and butter pudding.

It smelt great whilst it was baking in the oven! All buttery and cinnamony. Heaven! I didn't put much sugar in it because I didn't want to oversugar it since I wasn't following any recipe, but I ended up eating it with a drizzle of golden syrup and it was fantastic! <3 Leftovers in the fridge that got a bit hard can easily be softened again by drizzling some golden syrup and milk over it and then microwaving for 2-3 minutes before eating. :)

I also made a self-imposed rule yesterday that I will not buy anything more from the grocery store until Boy gets back on Sunday so that I can finish up whatever else that is in the kitchen. This includes a whole lot of the vegetables that I bought which I might as well finish because Boy isn't that much of a fan of vegetables.

I chopped up a whole load (potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, Savoy cabbage) after work today and dumped them into my slow cooker with some chicken stock cubes and hot water and pepper and Chinese five spice and cracked two eggs over everything to make a familiar childhood soup. Because of the amount of stuff I put into the slow cooker, not only did it fill it up as if I were feeding yet another army, it also turned into more of a stew than a soup - more solids than liquid!

All the same - nice and warm in my tummy for this cold, cold night! And comfort food that is also relatively healthy!

Vegetable stew.

Yum yum. ^^

Of spending days off productively.

I got myself some clothes and bras from Bravissimo on their post-Christmas sale and they arrived on New Year's Eve. Completely sold and ecstatic with the clothes! For the first time ever, I don't have to physically squeeze or misplace my boobs in an effort to do up the side zip, and my boobs don't look like they're flattened and pushed up to my chin! Hooray! I'm tempted to go and get more shirts and tops from them right now, but I really should curb my spending. It's not like stuff from Bravissimo is cheap. :P

I'm a bit sad about the bras I bought though. I got them in the last size I know that fitted me and found quadroboobs staring back at me in the mirror. :( I'll have to return them, which is sad because I loved the look of Cleo's Billie bra - deep mulberry red with a sheer black overlay and frill trims. Looks fantastic on by themselves and the frill trims hide the top overbulge nicely, but unfortunately with clothes over it'll just look hideous. *sigh* They have run out of the size I'll need too.

No, I do not invest in bedroom-only underwear. :P

Sad.

I brushed off my failure and went into this new lingerie shop called Braways on the High Street that's a bit like Bravissimo - they cater to larger cups (up to K... mad!). Got them to fit me rather than my just guessing my size and ordering off the internet, so now I have two new sets of bras that fits, which makes me a happy girl. :) Bad news is that it's worse than I thought - it's 34*/36* depending on brand. Yeah, how the f*.

To think I used to laugh at MJ for her ever-growing boobs.

Maybe I really need that diet that I've been putting off for so long. :(

Anyway. On top of shopping yesterday (and posting out a parcel to Boy that made him a very happy man today and made his family envious), I also went and finally got myself a haircut that I've been meaning to go for since forever! The split ends were really bad by the time I did get them cut though. Ugh. I told the stylist to take off 3 inches and layer the rest. She also suggested shortening the front to frame the face.

Before & After

I'm very happy with the haircut, my head feels so much lighter and the ends no longer tangles up. And for once a stylist did not take off too much when I said 3 inches, and I actually still have enough hair to tie up into a ponytail for work.

I believe, after these 3 inches worth of hair has been cut away, that is the last of my highlighted hair gone (not that anyone but a hairstylist could tell anymore after I attempted to dye it back to black multiple times). Hooray! Fingers crossed that it's healthy hair from now on!

Tonight's dinner:

Soy sauce and garlic salmon with red peppers and broccoli baked in a bag and a side of sausage and herb stuffing with some crisps crumbled onto the top. I know, quite a large serving. :( Need to learn cook for one person, not an army.

The problem is, I'm lazy. I like cooking but not often, so when I do cook I like to do large amounts so I can just heat things up later. Problem is, if I eat small amounts of food, it will take me far longer to eat it than the food spoiling, so I just end up eating lots. *sigh*

Iced over!

Venturing out in the snow when it was freezing and there were ice on the ground, the silly people that we were. I think we wanted to have our old Nando's+movie night that we used to do quite regularly but stopped due to financial reasons. So we went out for Nando's again and watched Did You Hear About the Morgans? Pretty cute chick flick with some funny parts, but nothing too memorable. I still don't like Sarah Jessica Parker, unfortunately, and again Hugh Grant was casted as a British man who is rubbish at everything.

Which is a shame, because he is quite charming. Not as charming as George Clooney though, aged as he already is, I think he'll be fantastic in Up in the Air.

Anyway. Some pictures of frozen over Britain on Tuesday (it has been getting worse and worse since then).

Outside the shops and cinema on the wharfside.

The wharf has frozen over. I don't remember the wharf ever freezing over the past few winters I've been in Lincoln.

Some really confused ducks wandering around in circles on the frozen wharf!

More of the confused ducks leaving icy trails.

^^ I found them so incredibly cute. Too bad the Blackberry has such crap a camera!