Prawn Lollipops

These lollipops are perfect for parties and can also be used as starters! 

You will need:
1 kg prawns
200g flour
2 eggs
150 ml milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp of fresh thyme, coriander leaves, mint leaves (finely chopped) 

1 tbsp garlic paste
2 tsp salt
Pepper
Oil to deep fry

Directions
Clean the prawns by removing the shells but make sure you leave the tails.

In a small bowl, add the prawns, garlic, 1 tsp of salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a big bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients together and mix well to obtain a smooth batter.

Dip the prawns in the batter and deep fry until they turn golden brown.

Serve hot!

My take on Chef Gordon Ramsay’s soufflé

I’m guessing everyone (well a lot of you) know who Chef Gordon Ramsay right? From Hell’s Kitchen or Kitchen Nightmares? Yes he’s the one!

I’ve decided after watching his soufflé video to make my own! Two reasons why I did not follow his exact recipe was because I did not have the ingredients that he used and secondly, I badly wanted chocolate soufflé!

Soufflés are probably one of the hardest desert to make (according to me at least) and this one was a total fail!

WARNING: Do not follow my recipe!

If you want a good soufflé, I suggest that you follow exactly what Gordon tells you and I’m sure that it’ll turn out better than mine did.

A couple of things that did not go as planned:

1. It did not rise as much as it was supposed to
2. The top got a bit burnt
3. After a while one of soufflé exploded! Crazy but true!

It was however, real fun to make this soufflé and believe it or not, it actually tasted great!

So anyway that is how I made it!

And of course if you have an awesome recipe that you’d like to share, you are more than welcome to do so!

Ingredients
150 ml milk
100 ml cream
3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
3 ½ tbsp castor sugar (added to egg yolks)
150 g castor sugar (for meringues)
1 tbsp flour
½ tbsp cornflour
100g dark chocolate

Directions
Prepare the ramequins by lining them with butter and grated chocolate. Put in the fridge while preparing the soufflé.

Preheat your oven at 190 degrees Celcius.

Add the milk, cream and chopped chocolate into a saucepan and bring to boil. Once all the chocolate has melted, put aside.

In a separate bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar and mix well. Then add flour and cornflour and mix until you get a nice smooth texture.

Add the mixture to the milk and cream and mix well. Cook over medium heat until the mixture gets nice and thick. Remove from the fire and set aside to cool.

Next prepare the meringues by whisking the eggs whites until firm peaks are formed. Add the castor sugar towards the end.

Add to the meringues to the chocolate mixture and mix gently.

Fill in the ramequins to the rim and run your finger along the rim.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Go watch Gordon's recipe on how to make a lovely soufflé!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c4MewNvc5Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o27Br-PfPA

Corn Muffins!

So yes, once I’ve started baking, I can’t stop!

This is an original recipe that I’ve found online and turned out very delicious!

The recipe below is an adaptation from the Daughter’s Bakery blog: http://bakersdaughter.typepad.com/the_bakers_daughter/muffins/

Ingredients 

1/2 cup softened butter
2/3 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup corn (fresh, frozen or canned)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water

Directions

Soak the cornmeal in 1 cup water for half an hour and strain.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celcius. Grease and line a standard muffin tin.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until you obtain a smooth mixture. Add the eggs and combine.

Add the flour, cornmeal, salt and baking powder and mix well.

Add the milk and corn and mix thoroughly.

Put the batter into muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Ile Flottante

I have been meaning to eat an Ile Flottante ever since I was 10 years old! At 23, after looking at numerous recipes and cooking videos, I’ve finally come around to make it! 

So how did it turn out? Not bad I would say but there is room for a lot of improvement! 

I have read so many recipes that I can’t clearly remember where I got this recipe. I have read numerous ones and came up with my own. 

Let me know what you think! 

Ile Flottante 

For the custard:
350ml milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract 
3 egg yolks
75g caster sugar 

For the meringue:
3 egg whites
40g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
250 ml milk 

For the caramel:
150g granulated sugar
2 tbsp water 

First, prepare the custard by boiling the milk in a pan over medium heat. Make sure that you keep on stirring it while boiling to prevent the milk sticking to the pan. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Put aside. 

In a bowl, add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk together to obtain and smooth creamy mixture. 

Pour hot milk over the mixture and mix well. Transfer the mixture to the pan and let it simmer over medium heat for a few minutes until you obtain a smooth consistency. 

Next prepare the meringues by whisking the egg whites with a pinch of salt. When firm peaks start to form, add the castor sugar and continue whisking until ready. 

Bring the milk to boil and poach the eggs whites into the milk for 1 minute. 

Drain the poached eggs on a tissue paper. 

In a desert bowl, add the custard at the bottom and gently add 2 poaches eggs on top, hence creating the floating island. 

In a saucepan, add the sugar and water to make the caramel which should turn golden brown. 

Once ready, pour the caramel over the eggs. 

Put in the fridge for an hour before serving.

Carrot Cake Muffins

I've finally got around to bake a carrot cake! Hurray! Well I decided to make carrot cake muffins instead as they're healthier.

I have got a great recipe from the Baker's Daughter blog which by the way is totally awesome! Here is the link: http://bakersdaughter.typepad.com/the_bakers_daughter/cupcakes/

I have made some changes to the recipe and added new ingredients to make it more interesting!

So get the oven preheated and let's starts!


You will need:
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 cups carrots, finely grated
½ tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup of sultanas
½ cup of chopped almonds

Directions

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a standard muffin tin.

In a bowl, add together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.

Cream together the butter , vanilla and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and whisk.

Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix together using the cut and fold method.

Finally, add the carrots, almonds and sultanas and mix.

Add the carrot cake mix into muffin cups.

Bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

Eat! Yummy!

Home Sweet Home

Home sweet home! I'm finally back for holidays! :)

It feels so great to be back!

Yummy home cooked food

Comfy bed

Clothes washed and ironed

Space! Lots of it :p

And the list goes on and on!

Happy Holidays!

Randomness

I'll be going back home in 2 days!! I'm sooo happy and I can't wait!

Packing can be such a nightmare though specially when I have this horrible feeling that my suicase will be overweight and yet when I have a look at the things I'm bringing back, there is nothing I can leave behind!

Lol after all, I'm going back home after 5 years of study! My suitcase is bound to be overweight :)

Of course during those 5 yrs I went back home twice a year, but I also started my own little collection of household stuff which I feel quite sad leaving behind... For e.g my lovely pink mug that kept me company every single day!

And my 2 body shop perfume are almost over as well so I don't think I'll be bringing them back home!

Lolz I hate getting emotional about things but I can't help it. Every little thing has its own story and it's special meaning to me...

It's amazing the silly things I remember at times! I wish I could remember things I read in my textbooks instead :p

Well I think that this will be quite of an emo time for me...leaving behind so many memories and good friends I've made along those past 5 years.

The only thing is can say is: Good luck to everyone and hopefully we shall meet again!

Sleep, Sunshine and Radio CLock

I've been having sleep issues for a long long time now. It has its ups and downs. There are times where I can have a perfect 8 hrs sleep at night and feel just right during day light and there are times that my whole sleep-wake cycle goes haywire.

I'm finally feeling awake on this Saturday morning! It's 9.20 am and I've done my laundry, had my coffee and here I am, writing a blog post after a long time.

Now the only reason why I am awake so early on a Saturday is because I slept for maybe around 16 hours on Friday! Yes 16 hours! I kinda feel embarrassed writing about it but it did really happen! So for me the 21st of October never really happened!

I was just so tired on Thursday that I went to sleep quite early. Unfortunately, my sleep was disturbed by some phone calls and numerous nightmares. At 6.00 am on Friday morning, I had no strength to drag myself out of bed...I knocked off my alarm and a few nightmares away, I woke up feeling still very tired. I said a few prayers and went back to sleep and luckily this time, I found some nice well deserved sleep until my mum called.

I then decided to wake up and have something sweet to drink before I end up in a hypoglycemic coma because no one would ever find me in time and I would go to sleep forever... Not a really good plan right?

So, I went for a good shower, had some breakfast/lunch/dinner, watched a couple of shows and went back to sleep until 4 am Saturday!

I think that's the first step of getting my sleep cycle back on track! :)

I'll make it a point to sleep before midnight today and wake up around 6 am on Sunday ( I can't afford to sleep in because I have to wake early for the rest of the month)

And also, waking up has strangely brought back memories of earlier this year... When I was still in JB in my studio. I remember waking up early, cleaning my place, making lunch and listening to the radio... It was such a lovely time! I remember the sun shining through my balcony door and the warm breeze! It was indeed warm and I hated it sometimes but there were times when I just laid on my bed with my face facing the sun... I love having the sun shine on my face :)

Also, I miss my radio clock! Dad bought it for me in 2007 and told me that having a radio was a good idea...Of course I never believed him :p until of course I started feeling lonely and the radio became my best friend...Gosh I hated turning it off before going to bed! It was always there playing some nice music for me to sing along or dance around!

Ah the wonderful memories of a few months ago :)

This has been a post without meaning but it just felt good to write something!

Till next time xoxo

Small things I love in Life...

Strawberries, Blueberries or Raspberries!

Need my cup of coffee to wake up :)

What is life without a cupcake?!

Dresses! Totally love them :)

Proud to say that I once owned a collection of earrings 

Fresh Flowers would bring me a smile any day!

Makeup! Yes like most other girls, I do love them :)

Rainy days spent in bed with coffee and a good book or movie! 

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes and Shoes! Can't live without them :D 

Tiaras...Would love to wear one someday

Yummy Waffles with Strawberries! 

Burns

Currently addicted to 'Burns' by Jason Chen!

It's an awesome song...Check it out you guys :D

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwgzYNYoqPY&feature=topvideos_music

Unmotivated

I've been gone for so long! Why? I guess I just did not have the motivation to write any more. In fact I've started two blog entries in my other blog and they just didn't make any sense. After a few sentences, I just gave up.

I love blogging and it has been one of my favourite hobby earlier in the year. However, as from May onwards, I've just not been able to write any proper blog entries at all!

I know this is a very short blog and does not make any sense. But hopefully, this will be enough to motivate me to write further posts.

xoxo

Hurray

I decided to step on weighing scale after a while and good news here! 2 kg lost! I cannot express my happiness!

If I did indeed follow my weight loss program fully, I would have lost more weight but I’m still happy with 2 kg of weight loss. It’s amazing how eating healthier and adding a bit of workout in your life does to your whole system. And it is definitely motivating to keep on with the healthy routine!

Of course, I need to be honest with myself, I have been eating quite a bit of unhealthy food for the past week and I have neglected my work out routine. But, I am definitely motivated to get back on track and lose those remaining excess weight in the healthiest way possible!

My Crocs

Guys, I've got a problem! :( Bouhuhu!

I bought those lovely crocs which I'm loving so much but... They're tight!

Ok so I'm usually a size 6 but the size 6 of these shoes were way too big on me...seriously way too big, So I picked up size 5 which fit me perfectly...But when I tried them on again tonight, they feel tighter!
Could it be because it's 2.22 am and my feet are all swollen up? Maybe...

If you know any remedy to stretch them, please leave a comment below! :)

I think that if I wear them over and over again for a week or so, they might get looser...the same thing happens to almost all of my other shoes...they get big after a week or two! Lol

Sunday Shopping

Another day of shopping…probably one of my favourite hobbies :p So ready for another haul? I bet you are!

I think I’ve become a Starbucks addict…

 I had the hot mocha with the hazelnut flavour and that was so yummy! Anyway let’s move on with the haul!

My first stop was The Body Shop.  Their yearly member sales will be somewhere around the end of the month but I picked up the cocoa butter lip care stick, which is supposed to soften and moisturize your lips. I have developed an allergy to a wide range of lipsticks and lip balm and The Body Shop lipstick is the only brand that I am currently using.

I then went ahead to haunt for shoes! I bought this pair from Viss. It is made up of a jean material and has some silver studs on. I found those really comfortable to walk in and the colour will match any of my denims!

My next stop was Watsons where I picked up quite a few Clean & Clear products… A toner, a cleanser and blotting paper. I have tested the blotting paper as soon as I reached home and I did not really like the texture on my skin. It is a plastic-like material that is not at all smooth and my skin still felt oily. I guess I’ll give it another chance before I definitely make up my mind on this product.

I also went to FOS, where I bought some plain t-shirts. I’ve been liking plain t-shirts for a while now. They are easier to dress down and up.

I then bought a grey bag that I’m totally loving! There were two colours, namely black and grey but I fell in love with the grey one. I think that grey will compliment my outfits to a greater extent than the black would have.

And who ever said that crocs where not pretty? I managed to find great looking ones. They are actually called Lily Holiday women and they’re in the colour black. Very comfortable and they were on sales! I actually saw a second pair of shoes that was lovely but they unfortunately did not have my size.

So great afternoon shopping! It’s time to clear my place up and start studying!

Writing Things Down

It has been a pretty long break from this blog. Well not exactly, my last post was on the 9th of May but I somehow feel as if something is missing when I do not post something either on this blog or on my other one.

It is definitely fun to write about my experiences, small anecdotes and thoughts and to share them all with you! Definitely therapeutic! and indeed writing has been something therapeutic for me since my teenage years.

I first started writing when I was around 12 years old. As most girls of my age, maintaining a secret was very famous and I had no plans of not following the normal trend. Unfortunately, I never got to get a nice small diary with the lock as gift and I therefore transformed a simple copybook into a diary. I was determined not to let anyone read my secret thoughts and I hence devised a secret code for each alphabet! It was such a fantastic feeling to be writing using codes and I felt like a secret agent sending secret coded messaged to my future self.
I can't exactly remember for how long I kept this journal but I remember finding it many years later and I could no longer decipher any of the coded sentences alas!

My next stage was to write poems. I remember words flowing through my mind while I wrote them on paper but unfortunately this was short lived. I believe that emotions of a teenager are sometimes so intense that it leads to some kind of creativity. Mine at that particular time was expressing myself through poems.

Later on, when blogs became well known, I maintained one, which was kept private and it helped me greatly to express my feelings and helped to explore my weaknesses and strengths. Finally my latest most cherished two blogs: Midnight Coffee Breaks and The Blue Stetoscope
I am strongly motivated to maintain these blogs for a very very long time and I am convinced that even if life gets too busy, I will still try to find some time to write a few posts.

A big thank you to everyone who have taught me how to read and write!

The Princess Story

I was going through my birthday cards that I have received from my family and friends for the past 5 years and I came across this green envelope, which brought a smile to my face.

When my mum and sister were here in April, my mum insisted that she should buy me a birthday card.

So a while back I saw this really pretty pink card with all the Disney princesses on and I totally loved it! And as mischievous as I am, I hinted that I liked the princess card.

Fast forward a week or so, we went back to the bookstore where mum and Nuton went looking around for the princess card while I was exchanging a book at the cashier. Unfortunately, mum forgot to hide the card and I saw it! Hehe so I knew exactly that I’m going to get my princess card! :p

Later at night, they gave me the card…and the first thing that came to my mind was ‘Oh why would they put a pink card in a green envelope’?

Well it turned out that while I wasn’t looking, my sister went to exchange the card and bought me a Minnie Mouse card instead!

And so, I still didn’t get my princess card *sad face* lol

But it was hilarious! I bet she enjoyed the look on my face :p

Me, I am...

Name something that your family loves but you don’t

Of that easy! It’s gotta be mangoes and tea!

Mangoes! Yes both my parents and my sister are head over heels in love with mangoes but I am simply not. It is a nice fruit indeed but not one of my favourites. Me, I’m a berry kind of girl :p

The next thing is tea! My mother probably has three or even more cups of tea in any day of the year! She can’t live without tea! My sister has also developed an addiction of tea…of course for her, she will always try the most exotic tea flavours. Tea for me is so-so, I’m not a huge fan of it. Me, I’m a coffee lover kind of girl :p

Wishes!

Be careful what you wish for, it might come true!

I don’t know who first said that, I can’t even remember the first time I heard that statement but oh boy, I know for a fact that that sentence holds a lot of truth!

Yes indeed many a times, things that I’ve wished to happen, did indeed happen but not exactly in the way I wanted them to turn out.

I was standing by the balcony door today and caught a glimpse of my reflection on the mirror. And it stroke me how my hair now has a reddish tinge to it. Well it doesn’t look tomato red of course.

I always wanted to have red hair as a matter of fact but I never thought that my hair will indeed turn out to have a reddish tinge to it! That is just insane! This whole post sounds insane now! Lol

Well it might probably be due that my hair started to become white? Loosing it’s pigments or whatever, I don’t know but remember:

Be careful what you wish for, it might come true!

Oh Sweetness!

So I went crazy today with cakes, chocolates and sweet things! After all, it was my birthday treat day (see previous post)

I got my favorite chocolates: Ferrero Rocher!
From the food festival stall, I picked up macaroons! Strawberry and chocolate flavors, which I can't wait to bite in :)
And I also got tiramisu form Lavender!
Add to that a good Frapuccino from Starbucks!

Here is my small treasure:

Watsons Haul

 I went to Watsons today and I picked up quite a few things. Most of the store was pretty much on sales and I’ve been able to pick a few things for really cheap!

Not so interesting products

So let’s start with the non-interesting things. I got a pack of cotton buds which will probably last me a year or so. I’ve been using the brand Premier for the past one year and I’m pretty satisfied with it.

I’ve also picked up Biore cleansing strips that I have tried before and loved the results! I’m definitely using it once a week to get rid of those black heads.

I’ve also got Gillette for women daisy ultragrip razors, which I’ve never tried before. Cotton facial puffs and Oral-B dental floss.

Bath and Body Care

Next, I’ve got a Terry Loofah pad! My sister actually recommended it and said that it was quite nice.  It is apparently made of the pulp of a fruit. So I’m looking forward to try it using the Biore shower cream that I also bought! It smells wonderful, very flowery with a tinge of lavender smell.

I also picked up 4 Nivea roll-ons because they were on sales and that is the only brand that I really like. Well I also like addidas but the roll-ons are more expensive so I tend not to buy them too often.

Oh and I’ve also bought the Vaseline Aloe Vera hydrating body lotion for winter. It has got a lovely fragrance and I love the texture on my skin. Used it before and loved it!

Facial Products

For facial care, I’ve picked up clean & clear foaming facial wash and the toner as well. I’ve been trying their starter pack for oily skin for the past two weeks and the results have been better than with Garnier.

Hair Products

Recently, my hair has been totally damaged! The hairdresser today recommended that I used a conditioner and a hair mask as well. So I picked up Herbal Essences long term relationship shampoo and mask. Lovely berry smell! I can’t wait to try the mask on my hair. I’ve been loving the Herbal Essences products ever since I tried two years ago. As for the shampoo, I’ll have to wait for my other two shampoos to be over before I can open that bottle! Lol

Oh and I also got a Herbal Essences Leave on product for frizzy hair. I got all those products at a really good price so I decided to make my stock for the next few months!

Convo with the Hairdresser

Hairdresser: Have you permed your hair?
Me: No
Hairdresser: Oh so these are your natural curls?
Me: Yeah
Hairdresser: Oh nice curls
Me: Thanks!

After a while...

Hairdresser: When did you dye your hair?
Me: Uh? I've never dyed my hair before
Hairdresser: Oh I thought you did! You have golden strains of hair
Me: Yeah, it's got brown and blond strands somehow

And finally...

Hairdresser: Your hair is very dry and damaged
Me: Yeah I know
Hairdresser: You need to use a conditioner and use some hair mask
Me: Yeah but I don't really have time to
Hairdresser: At least, use a conditioner, otherwise, your hair will be too damaged
Me: Yeah I should get one

Belated Birthday treat!

Since last year, I've started treating myself for my birthday! It's not something I do all year round, only for my birthday and whenever I work well at school.

Last year, I got myself lovely gladiator shoes from Fabiano Ricco! Love those shoes sooo much!

This year, I went for a haircut and a facial. I've been neglecting both my skin and hair for such a long time that they're probably beyond repair now!
I felt a bit guilty when the hairdresser and the beautician commented on the state of my hair and skin! Wooops

So I got up today and headed to the nearby mall for my 'makeover' or so I thought :p

First stop: Hair Dresser
Now there are I think 5 hair saloons. I have tried 2 of them, and they're bleeeeeh...There is another one that I will never dare enter because I've seen the mess that they make out of people's hair! So no thank you!
Two left. One is too expensive,and that left me with one last choice.
I thought it would be a great place because I've heard a lot of good things about this place but oh boy! I'm been  totally disappointed! Biggest dissapointed of the year!

Firstly, he did not even wet my hair like everywhere else do before cutting...Was it because my hair is naturally curly? I have no idea but I don't want to think of how my poor hair will look like once I straighten it! It'll probably look so uneven because he cut my hair while it was curled up in a weird shape!
And to finish off, he didn't even blow dry properly! He simply put some hair serum and curled it a little bit! Sigh I should not have paid for that horrible haircut! Actually my hair looks exactly the same as if used to before my haircut. The only difference is that it's around 1 or 2 inches shorter! So yes, I left the saloon totally disappointed!

My next stop was the beauty saloon! I was initially thinking of whether I should get a manicure instead of a facial but I realized that since I need to keep my nails short at all times, getting a manicure would be pointless! So I went ahead for a facial :)

I must say that it was great and painful! The whole process took almost 2 hours and I think that the beautician did quite a good job.  I can't exactly remember the sequence, but she applied a cleanser, a scrub and no idea what else. I also got a facial massage and a shoulder massage that hurt like hell!
Anyhow, after the steamer, came the most painful part of the facial: removal of black and white heads! Ouch, Ouch and Ouch! It did hurt a lot!
And it was totally horrifying when she showed me the number of white heads she removed from my face! Totally disgusting!
She added that there were more but that she wouldn't be able to remove all of them today as my skin was already sensitive.

Lastly was a very cooling mint mask! Oh gosh you have no idea how freezing that was! Besides, she did put it over my eyes, whereby I started to freak out a little bit! I hate to have things placed over my eyelids! It just freaks me out! And when she said that I had to be with the mask for 20 minutes, I freaked out even more! Lol, so I asked her to remove some mask mixture from my eyes, which thankfully she did :)
Those 20 mins seemed like an hour! It was uncomfortable after a while because as I said earlier, I hate to have things placed over my eyelids!

Anyway, she then cleansed my skin again and applied some moisturizer and sun block. I was then offered green tea which I declined... I don't trust their green tea! lol

My face feels smoother and looks better! I can see that it's cleaner as well. The skin counsellor said that I needed 10 treatment sessions to see the results but I'm not as rich to go 9 more times!
I will however go once more to get rid of the rest of my blackheads.
(BTW I'm sorry if I'm grossing you out, talking about my blackheads)

By the time I was done, it was already 1.30 pm and I was super hungry. Before going to eat, I decided to check a couple of clothes shop to see if I could get anything nice and on sales.

Well, nearly all the stores had huge sales but there were too many people! I went to a store that had 70% off! Imagine my delight :) I picked out a couple of clothes and I stayed in the queue for half an hour before I decided to abandon! No more patience and my stomach was screaming for food.

On my way out of the store, I stopped for a while to watch a fashion show which was taking place. The clothes was quite nice actually, mostly floral designs and very vintage! Not my style however.

There was also a food festival going on, and I had little stroll next to the stalls :) Got myself some macaroons and some fish balls!

My final stop was Starbucks where I got a chicken pie and a Frapuccino!

Back home at 4 pm! Lovely day indeed :) I enjoyed myself, and it was a great birthday treat even though the haircut is awful!

Stay tune for more :)

Grape Soda at Night

Here goes my health routine down the drain!

The picture says it all:

FIY, I'm having the F&N grape soda as I'm typing this and I'm feeling a lil' bit guilty...Ooops

Bye Bye Notes

Years and years of notes has found place in my...wardrobe! lol

I ran out of space on my bookshelf and since my wardrobe was too big anyway, I decided to keep my huge stack of notes inside. 

I finally decided to go through those notes today. I wish I took a before and after picture to show you all. Well I'm not completely done going through all my notes, so maybe there will be a picture in the near future.

So back to my notes, well I had some notes that I never knew I had! Oh and did I say that quite a lot of them were highlighted? Yes it means I've once read them but alas, I can't remember what those lines had to tell me.

Needless to say, there are some notes that I will never use again and it was time for me to recycle them away. I'm not going to lie and say that it was easy to toss them away. It was quite nostalgic. Those notes are a proof of those long hours spent at my table, trying to understand how a muscle works or the pathophysiology of different diseases. It will make me sad not to see that huge stack of handwritten notes indeed. But as I said, it's time to say bye bye.

I probably took 3 long hours going through less than half of my notes to see what I still needed and which ones I do not need anymore. I'm guessing it will take me a whole week to go through them all. But at least, it's some kind of revision, reading those notes again.

So please beautiful people, wish me luck :)

Here is how my stack of notes look like now. Believe me, it was a huge stack a couple of hours ago! Of course, I have more notes in my drawers!

Henna

So back for lunch and I thought of writing a small post. Today's topic: Henna!

Yeah you must be asking yourself...did I get henna on my hands? Well of course not! The last thing I want is to get scolded by the consultant lol

There is a video posted by MakeupGeekTV on youtube (link below) and I thought 'Oh how lovely!'

The last time I had henna on my hands was probably 3 years ago! Yes I am not kidding, it was that long! I remember as a kid, my mum used to bring me to that lady's place who used to put henna on my hand for Eid and it was lovely! As a kid, I was so fascinated by it that I wanted to grow up fast so that I could put henna on my own hands. And sure enough, the day came where I finally did a beautiful design on my hands! I remember being so proud of myself! It came quite naturally to me even though I took ages to finish the design! 

So as from that day, I started putting henna on my hands for special occasions such as Eid. I can't say that the designs I made were super nice but they were good enough and two of my cousins even requested me to put henna on them! *proud smile* lol

I remember having a huge folder of henna designs that I downloaded from the web and my mum also bought me two books so I could practice and get ideas from :) 

Of course, once I started my clinical years, wearing henna on my hands were out of question! It would be purely unprofessional. Besides, it tends to get a little bit ugly when the henna starts to fade out.

Honestly, I am quite sure that I won't be wearing henna for a very long time. Firstly because I don't think that I would be able to draw designs on my hands anymore (lack of practice) and secondly because I do not really have the patience anymore. (Does that mean I'm growing old?) Time and place might not allow me to wear henna often but at least, I've had my moments of fun with henna as a kid and there's nothing to regret now...Only happy memories :)

So here's the link to the youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLSOGtmLy5A&feature=

Unfortunately, I can't remember where my old pictures of my henna designs are but here's a picture from national geographic. Enjoy!

Cake, ants and bleh

1. So I'm now addicted to the chocolate cake from the hospital cafeteria! It's not exactly chocolate cake because it has a slightly different consistency but I still consider it as being chocolate cake! :)
Plus it is quite cheap... I.should.try.to.resist!

2. I came back for lunch and I was so tired that I decided to take a half an hour nap during my lunch break. When I woke up, my plate which I kept next to me, was full of ants! OMG they were so tiny and there were at least a thousand!!! Ewwwh I quickly threw them in the dustbin and for an hour post ant shock, I felt as if ants were crawling up my body! Gosh!

3.  I hate to have to deal with incompetent people! If they can't do their jobs, then why not resign? pfff it gives me a headache whenever I have to deal with a particular woman! Bleh, if it was me, I would have fired her a long time ago!

Oh time!

I swear, 2 minutes ago it was 3 pm and not it's already past 6 pm!

What happened? No I didn't fall asleep....somebody pushed the fast forward button! Woops

My dear friends, time is passing by way too fast! Gotta enjoy all the single moments in life, you never know when it'll be too late!

The Instant Soup Story

It's for a reason that I-don't-know-his-name invented instant food. You just take it, put it in the microwave or add boiling water and eat.

It is as simple as that! Not only is it quick but you can never spoil an instant meal...well almost never until today...

I'm sick of eating from the shop downstairs! So sick that now I buy food from the hospital cafeteria and judging by how it's going, I'll soon be having enough of hospital food too.

So, the only fast meal available was instant chicken soup that I've bought a couple of weeks earlier. It's as simple as that. Add water and the soup powder and bring to boil!
Things got nasty! The soup became as lumpy as a lump! Gosh I tried everything to dissolve the lumps but nothing worked...

What other option was left? The only thing left for me to do was to strain the soup and drink it...

Diana?

I always thought that Nadia was a simple name to pronounce and remember. But I was certainly wrong.

At home, most of the elderly aunties call me Nazia instead of Nadia.  Erm is D really hard to pronounce?
It definitely used to irritate me when I was younger, but I think with time, I've got used to it and I just ignore the Z in my name.

Oh but wait, I now have another name! Somehow Nadia became Diana (pronounce Dee-a-na)
Lol, does that make me a princess? Certainly not :p

I guess there will always be people who will refuse to call me by my true name!

21st April

I turned 23 today! Happy Birthday to me!

23 is not exactly an age that I was looking forward to. I guess it's always a big thing when you turn 10, 15, 18, 20 and 21.  But 23...nah, just another age that sounds boring.  25 is what I'm looking forward to NOT!

Well I still had a great day today! No I didn't spend my birthday in a palace, wearing a gorgeous gown like a princess nor did I have a huge party on my private ship. But it was still great to have lovely people around :)

So a few special thank you to my dear friends and family!

Thank you mum and dad for all your wishes and for always loving me

Thank you Nuton, for the Mickey mouse card! hehe It was a cool one, even though I thought I was getting a princess card this time :p

Thank you fafa for being such a truly amazing friend :)

Thank you wal and fraii for being so awesome!

Thank you to Kaush for the lovely pink cake and card! 

Thank you Kaush, Chris, Jai, Dinyi, and Fitri for the wonderful lunch
Thank you Li Mau for this wonderful phone call :)

And a big thank you to all of you guys for making my day :)

Noodles

I decided to have one of those noodles cup for dinner, where you only need to put boiling water and let the noodles cook for a while...I then remembered a funny story that my sister told me!

So dad bought those hot cups for lunch once and he made it for my sister. The only thing you have to do really is to put in the remove the plastic fork, add the salt they give and pour in boiling water.
Well dad decided to skip one step...

When my sister was eating, she said the noodles had a plastic taste and surely enough, when she was almost done eating her noodles, she found a plastic fork at the bottom! Haha dad forgot to remove the fork and just poured hot water over it!

Hilarious! =D

Healthy Routine

Well since I've started my blog, I've had 22 views only! Should I be happy? I guess I should...Well no one really reads my blogs on a regular basis...No comments left yet. But that doesn't matter because it's fun to be writing blog posts :)

So today, I decided to start a healthy routine for the 100th time! But this time, I'm totally motivated!

My plan is to exercise for at least half an hour everyday after I come back from classes or early morning (if I manage to get up early enough).

I'm going to start eating healthily as well, which means no more junk food and I'll start cooking again.

Next is skin care! Yes I shall apply my retinoic acid religiously everyday as well as scrub my face every other day.

Finally, I guess the last thing is to go out for a small walk during the weekends instead of staying inside the whole time.

So would I be able to stick to my healthy plan? I hope so!

Wish me good luck!

My trip to Universal Studios

Universal Studios was a lot of fun!

I was there last week end with my mum and my sister and let me tell you how the whole trip went!

So firstly, we were trying to find the easiest and fastest way to get there and after researching and researching online, I remembered that some of my friends went there before. A phone call away and we started getting ready to go!

We woke up very early and got ready, went to the bus stop and waited for the red bus to come pick us up. The whole trip to Sentosa was rather smooth, except that it was tiring to be running at the immigration. I'm not kidding when I say that people run to queue! It's as if they are running for their lives! Well ok, maybe I am exaggerating a bit; they don't literally run but they walk so fast that even the gold medal champion might lose! Well, no choice, we had to follow the pace.

Candylicious! 

9.15 am and we finally reached Sentosa! Hurray Yipee! I was so excited when i could see the roller coaster from the bus...this meant that we made it safe and sound and that the fun was about the start!

Well 9.15 am was too early as Universal Studios only open at 10 am but that was ok because after buying our tickets, we went exploring around, took a bunch of pictures and had brunch.

We first entered Hollywood, where we met Woody Wood pecker's girlfriend! And of course, we had to get our picture taken with her :)

Shrek's House!

We then continued our way to different attractions and shows. I have to say that once you've been to the theme parks in Gold Coast, Australia, the universtal studio in Sentosa looks rather small but nevertheless, it was still great fun!

The 4D Shrek movie was fun but was quite similar to the one I saw in Australia, so I was not super impressed as I was the first time.

My favourite show was probably the Water world show which was amazing! And it was even more interesting because I remember watching the movie before.  Note: If you want to get drenched, make sure you sit in the blue zone! We were in the red zone which meant that we were free from any water splashes.

BattleStar Galactica

The most famous attraction was Battlestar Galactica but there was no way I was going to get on that ride, especially after having eaten a huge hamburger and fries!

The other fun place was The Brown Derbie! Well these sell funny looking hats there but no one was buying the hats...instead everyone was trying them on and taking pictures! You could tell by the state of the hats that they were no more for sales! Too many people had them on their heads!
Well, we joined in, and took a few pictures or rather a lot of pictures with funny hats! I still laugh when I look at those pictures!

Having gone almost everywhere in the park, we decided it was time to head back home.  We hopped on the red bus again, which drove us towards the immigration.  All was well until the bus left us at the immigration! Yes I guess we didn't walk fast enough and the bus decided to leave!
Needless to say, we did freak out for a while but then decided to take another bus. By that time, it was raining very heavily and throw in a couple of thunders and lighting and you have a sad, depressing atmosphere!
Luckily for us, there was a taxi near the bus stop, so we didn't have to get too wet in the rain.

Back home, after a nice warm shower and a nice warm Milo, it was time to look at the pictures and LOL!

Great day indeed!

Point of Entry

Point of Entry is a Singaporean TV show that I have started watching around 2 months ago and I must say I got addicted to it! Great story line in my opinion and the 2 final episodes were mind blowing!

The downside would probably be that some actors aren't that great but overall it was a good show.

I hope they'll make a second season! 

The World Today

It was 2 pm when my phone rang and I jumped out off my couch where I had somehow fell asleep after lunch. 

Ouchie I was definitely not supposed to be at home at 2 pm but luckily the tutor only came around 3pm. Well anyway this is not about me being late...This is about how crazy the weather has been for the past few days.

One month ago, I would rarely use to a/c and I just can't live without it now.  It only took 1 hour for all my towels to dry while it usually take the whole day! The worse is walking uphill with his heat...I was completely drenched with my own sweat by the time I came back home...Totally insane weather!

And yes, I do not tolerate extremes temperatures very well... My a/c is usually set at 23C! Yes neither can I tolerate very hot weather nor cool/cold weather!

I can't help but wonder how farmers and workers who have to work under the sun are able to tolerate this heat? Besides manual work requires more energy than simply typing a document or attending meetings. And how do people who can't afford fans go about their daily chores?

Lets face it, most of us have access to luxuries in life that are now seen as the norm. The simple fact that you are reading this proves that you have access to a computer and to the internet. While on the other side of the planet, people are dying of hunger, many have no access to clean water while others can't afford medical treatment. Has the human race become selfish that we forgot about our brothers and sisters?

Yes, this blog started about me complaining about the weather but I think before we start to complain, we should give a thought about what we are blessed to have in life and think about those who don't have the chance to enjoy the same luxuries as we do.

Lets all spare a thought and pray for the less fortunate... Let's start making the world a better place!  

Spicy Soda

I absolutely had to re-post this! This happened in 2008 I think when my cute cousin visited from France ^^

Note: This was written by Naz...

here it goes....one funny day dat was..hihiih

 

chez anissa, on nous sert du eski bollywood

 

nad: ah je savais pas ke ça existait

naz: sisi jai vu dans mon press cutting grrr yen a 2 je crois

 

donc là on nous donne notre eski

 

nad (en chuchotant) : jaime pas le gout

naz: moi non plu!

nad: on est pareil!!! là

nad et naz: LOOOOL

nad: mais qu'est-ce qu'il y a la dedans naz: je crois il y a du tamarin

nad: ah oui maintent ke tu me dis jai le gout

naz: loooll, alor si je te dis un truc tu vas avoir le gout

nad: quoi?? 

naz: rien .. il y a de la pêche (dans le spicy soda)

nad: ouaiii!!!!

naz: MDR

nad: quoi??? looool

naz: jai menti loool!!! et toi tu as eu le gout

nad: mais si kan tu m'as dit jai eu le gout

 

HAHAHA alors la trrroooop fortt...mais kesk'on a rit ce jr la..comme des folles quoi..hihi

Lemon as a Perfume

This is a re-post from MySpace..Enjoy! :)

Well I do know that ppl use lemons or oranges to perfume some stuff... Like some ppl put some orange peel on their heater, n a nice smell will diffuse aroud the house... but I've nvr hrd ppl using lemons as body perfume.

Mrs S*, a family member (though I have no idea hw she is related to us) told my mum:

Mrs S: Ayo moi mo pas alle acheter parfum moi.  Deja li cher mem...aster pas koner komier mo bizin acheter par mois...

Mum: Wi li vrai li assez cher mais pena choix

Mrs S: Moi seki mo faire, mo prend limon, mo coupe li en tranches fine ek mo passe lors moi

When mum told me this i was like errrr what??

Funny n totally weird...

  

* Names have been changed to maintain confidentiality

MySpace!

Lolz, I completely that I had Myspace blog posts!

Well some of the stories are worth to be re-posted indeed.

I do understand that MySpace will not be working anymore *sad face* and that I could transfer my blog to WordPress...Should I?

Hmm I wish it could stay the same as it is now...Ah technology why do you always have to change?

Ayam?!

This cute little girl who was admitted to the pediatric ward looked up at a painting of Tweety on the walls, turned to her mother, pointed to Tweety and said "Ayam"

Ayam??!! (which means chicken in Malay)

I just couldn't stop myself from laughing! Kids these days! Haiz, they only knowHannah Montana or Ben 10! Gone are the days where kids would love Tom & Jerry or Power Rangers or even Sailor Moon!

Now I feel old...

A little OCD

No I do not have any obsessive compulsive disorder (well I hope not) but I always feel the need to stay very organized! (well most of the time)

It drives me crazy when things are not where they are meant to be! I hate having things lying just around in my room with no specific purpose. I mean why should my cup of coffee I had half an hour ago be still sitting on my coffee table? My books need to lay in a special order on my bookshelf, my clock needs to be at an exact position on my table and I hate to have anything being on the table when I am not using it. As a matter of fact, I like to clear all table tops of any objects; I toss them all away in drawers and cabinets. Not only do they attract a lot of dust but they also give the feeling of the room being too clustered; hence the need for them to be placed in drawers!

Next come study materials! Now I am somebody who absolutely needs to write whenever I am studying. If I don’t make small notes, I just simply do not understand what I’m reading! And when I say notes, well they all need to be neat, written in specific colours and follow the same format. It drives me insane if my notes are not organised and honestly, there have been a couple of times where I decided to re-write my notes because I hated the way they looked!

Filing of those notes can drive me mad as well because I absolutely need to classify them all! No way that I’m leaving them unclassified! I mean it’s ridiculous to make notes and not classify them…how would you be able to find them back otherwise, isn’t it?

I might sound a little bit crazy here but hehe really I am not. I’m just a normal girl errm young lady who enjoys being in a clean and tidy environment. Well beware though, my room can look like a war zone when I’m too busy to clean it up!

Writing Thoughts Down

It’s amazing, fantastic how ridiculous I can be!

My mind is always full of thoughts and they flow very smoothly for very long period of times. Even when I need to sleep, I find it hard to put a stop to my thinking mind!

But when it is time to write and put my thoughts on paper (well I mean Microsoft Word), the words escape me…they just seem to grow legs and run away…and sadly enough, they never come back.

Any solutions? Sure I’ve thought to myself that the next time I have a great idea for my blog post, I’m going to grab the closest piece of paper and start writing away! Well I did…I drafted 3 posts actually, and it was amazing how fast I could write…my hands were not fast enough to capture all my thoughts and at the end of the day I was left with a piece of paper smeared in a weird handwriting that I couldn’t decipher!

How did this post started? Well I have been planning to write my experiences about my paediatric rotation on my other blog but I couldn’t move past the second paragraph and that was indeed very frustrating! I thought of the whole thing, planned it in my head and when it was time to write it…blank!

Another solution that I’m going to try is to randomly come and let my mind flow and we’ll see I can write something that can make some sense!

No more planning or too much of thinking! Time to get down to work :)

Teddy Bears

I like this picture! It looks cozy and girly :)

Being Sick

It's Monday afternoon, and I am still sick.

I went to the GP this morning (I had to wait 3 hours to be seen by the doctor!) and he gave me some antibiotics; ciprofloxacin to be exact, which is broad spectrum antibiotic and acts on a wide range of gram positive and negative microorganisms. Well according to the information I obtained from the FDA website, ciprofloxacin is not usually used for URTI and even if used for LRTI, it is not a medication of first choice. Hmm I should probably ask him why he prescribed it to me the next time I see him.

Ah anyway, look at the nerdy person talking! Well I am bored and I've been in my bed since Friday and honestly I've had enough of this forced holiday! I feel quite better today so I'm going back to school tomorrow (don't worry I'll wear a mask)

By the time I came back home from the GP's clinic, it was around 1.50pm. I did my laundry, had lunch, watched TV, swept the floor and washed the dishes! Yay, all of that in 2 hours! Talking about house chores, I really wish I could be able to mop my place but given the circumstances, it would be totally unwise to do so! I shall wait until the weekend (4 days only) to do so.

Lalala I am bo-o-red!

Well I'm off to do something more productive now, like completing my modules that I need to submit before the end of the week! Wish me good luck!

I hate being sick!

Yes errr...who ever likes to be sick anyway?
Definitely not me! I'm probably the worst patient ever with a very low pain threshold.

It all started on Tuesday night with generalised body aches, followed by an acutely very very painful sore throat (yes sore means painful but I'm using two words to describe how painful it was), fever and runny nose...Ah yes, it's indeed influenza! urgh

Home remedies did NOT work this time! So far, lemon and honey in hot water used to help a lot but alas, this was not the case this time!
Even warm salt water gargling had no effect...

So I should conclude that the virus is pretty nasty!

Yeap I should stop complaining...It's not as if it's the end of the world! It's just a simple flu

That being said, I still hate being sick

Music in the Night

12.40 am!

It’s past my bedtime (kidding) but here I am reading random blogs and listening to the radio.  A song by Good Charlotte came up on radio and I was suddenly overwhelmed by a feeling of nostalgia.

Strangely, ever since I have come abroad for studies, songs have been a huge part of my life and each song relates to a part of my life. Often while listening to a song, I would remember the nights when I used to listen to that particular song.

Good charlotte! Yes I remember, I was at that time 19 years old, staying in the hostel.  My roommate was actually the one who gave me a Good Charlotte’s CD and I copied the songs on my PC and I used to listen to that repeatedly. Those were the good times…

'Hey there delilah' always reminds me of how I went down to eat one night and there was a group of people playing the guitar and singing that particular song.

Cupid's chokehold! How I hated that song and how a friend of mine used to sing it just to annoy me!

T-shirt...I listened to that song almost every night for a whole month in 3rd year until I was sick of it!

Bad romance and Alehandro! Haha I remember the jokes and the laughs whenever these were playing on the radio last year. Great happy moments :)

And the list goes on...

My dad always remembers how old he was when he hears an ‘old’ song on the radio, and I often used to wonder how he could remember the year a song came out! Well, I understand now 

Lazy Sunday Morning

‘Briing Driiiing Lalala’

‘What the heck is this noise’ do I ask myself.

‘Oh yes, it’s the alarm clock! Time to get up!’

I slowly open my eyes, reach for my phone and turn it off

Hurray I’m up at 7.15 am on a Sunday! Proud of myself I jump out of bed and make my way to my other clock on my desk to switch off the other alarm.

I draw the curtains open and open the balcony door…What a great day it’s going to be I tell myself and I make my way to the bed…

Next thing I know, it’s 9.45 am! Yes I fell asleep again! 

Bangles!

Lol yes I bought bangles for quite cheap actually!

They are shiny and nice...Just the type I've been wanting for a while and they can dress up any plain black or white T-shirt. Here's a picture:

I think they're just lovely! =)

Body Shop Haul

I was just passing by and I told myself, why not pop in and see what new products they might be having.

A nice salesgirl approached me and asked “Are you a body shop member?”
It turned out that there were sales for member going on! 30% off the first product you buy and 20% off any other products!

And I finally got:

My Aqua Lily that I have been planning to buy for the past 2 years! Yes 2 long years, and I was still deciding whether to get it or not. Even today I was deciding between Velique and Aqua Lily but I guess I finally made up my mind and bought a 30 ml bottle of Aqua Lily ^^

Next I got something that I have been planning to buy for quite some time. I was deciding between the strawberry body butter and the Love Ect body butter and I’ve finally decided to get the strawberry one because it was more moisturising and it smells so yummy!

Lastly, I bought myself the strawberry lip balm, which smells so good! I like the fact that it has a very light pink tinge to it, so it gives my lips a bit of colour and hydrates it at the same time.

So yes, I’m very happy to have finally gotten myself those few products that I’ve been wanting for a really long time! Lol





I also stopped at the book store and picked up a book! Yes, I’ve finally decided to start reading non-medical books again :p

I’ve got myself ‘The trouble with valentine’s day’ by Rachel Gibson from the Little Black Dress collection. I’m really looking forward to start reading this book!

Great afternoon at the mall today! :)

My Body Shop Perfume collection ^^