... and the stomach rules

generally (but thankfully not all the time),

i get cranky and grumpy when i'm hungry and food is no where in sight.

well, i was hungry.

and i love my bf for loving me even when i'm hungry

:D

*hearts*

i never get bored of it

i was skyping with my mom the other day and somehow the conversation went towards the direction of food (as it always does with me. eventually i'll bring up the topic of food and how much i miss/love penang food. sigh i am that predictable). and in particular,

milo peng or milo ais.
(notice how i coloured the words in brown :P )

milo peng is sacred. milo peng is an institution.

yeah i know it sounds easy to make... it's only milo right? but WRONG! it is only easy in theory but to get the right consistency of unholy sweetness and creaminess with the 'kau-ness' of milo is not easy at all to make. in fact, one really shouldn't attempt to make it at home because you won't get it to taste as good and the whole fun of ordering it in the first place is because u can't make it at home. lol i feel like i'm tying myself in knots.

*pause* omygosh the sky is so beautiful!

where was i?
oh yes milo peng. hehe. and then there're people who try to make variations of their milo (which is still cool): holo (milo and horlicks yum!), milo power, milo kurang manis.... which brings me to the fact that mamaks (as in the ones selling roti canai) can never ever understand when you ask for milo kurang manis. they will seem like they understand but when it comes, it is still (or sometimes even more).. just as sweet as always. it's like they're automatically programmed to bypass any "less sugar options". strange.

3 more months to yummy dirty penang food again!

ahh i'm such a foodie. food constantly occupies my thoughts, which comes through as words (you know how i love to talk about food), which in turn makes me hungry and input as much as i can (explains the sightings of hamsterlike cheeks. *pulls at cheeks* SIGHHH!), which is then followed by reading food blogs which tempts me to eat even more. and the cycle goes one.

i've been following some amazing food blogs with pictures of equally amayzinggg food which i'm so tempted to try making em. the thing about food blogs is that they make cooking seem so fun and is more than just putting food under heat to make them safe for consumption.

it's an art, it's a joy, it's a lifestyle.

* i so agree! :)

some particular ones that i like:

My first kitchen
i've tried some of her baking recipes and so far they've turned out really good so yeah...
and love how she advocates using fresh ingredients and no skimping on calories, eat-first-worry-later attitude. someone after my own heart :)

GreenLiteBites
something i just discovered not too long ago. healthy food blog. she makes healthy food look delish! being a product of my mother's upbringing, i think eating healthy (i must have vegs and fruits every single day) has already been ingrained in me. but the swell part about cooking myself is that i can cook the food that i like to eat. heheh. hence, the hunt for healthy food i like.


now all this food talk has made me hungry...

one day up mt hutt

during the winter break when ann ann came down to visit, we went skiing :)
yeah the pics are all up on fb but just because i wanna talk about it so here's a repeat. hey i haven't been skiing before so the excitement is understandable, right?


so, after a 2 and a half hour bus ride to the peak of mt hutt, which is where the ski fields are...


taa-daahh!

hmm granted this picture does not do justice to the place at all. it was definitely much prettier than this. snow white peaks that look deceivingly easy. anyway, the big black dots are the ski lifts that bring experienced skiers/boarders to the top. and the smaller dots that look like ants are the people i think.





and i was... struggling to manage my skis i think. they were heavy and i felt so clumsy in the ski boots which by the way, are a real pain to walk in. it's like heavy platform shoes which are so hard and tight i think i took 5 whole minutes just taking them off.





all set and ready to go!
even the baby hill was not as easy as i thought it would be.
i don't know why but generally, the boarders look cooler than the skiers. and boy do we look fat!! i wore so many layers that i was actually sweating before the lesson started. hehe.



skiing is actually not too difficult to learn. but to know how to maneuver properly and do exactly what you want to do is another story. because snow is slippery it's harder to stop and turn etc. but fun when you're going real fast. hehe. and i only fell twice.



and happy senget-headed smiles at the end of a tiring but satisfying day.

:D

*dislikes*

drunk white people who yell out racist comments like "go back to china" to you.


not every asian looking person comes from china.
fool.

...

to move on to pleasanter topics...

i went for a bach by candlelight concert in the famous-it's-on-all-the-postcards-featuring-christchurch cathedral. yeah i know, a cathedral is such a weird place to have a classical concert, or not if you think about it from another perspective. but imagine this: candlelights (and a few well placed spotlights to highlight certain angles), a deliciously old and well preserved building, and baroque music. i'd say it blends really well together. though, it would have been good if the stage was bigger and we were not blocked by columns in our $15 plastic seats. but i shouldn't complain because bach is awesome! :)

i loved the chamber orchestra (or at least i think that's what you call them) and the church organ solo performance. the singing so-so and didn't enjoy the violin solo at all. i know he was playing a really tough piece but boy was i glad when the 13 minute or so solo ended.


something of bach's i think a lot of people will know...




i'm really glad that there's an abundance of orchestra concerts, ballet performances, musicals and the like here. cos i like them and they're not too expensive too.

it's a mood thing really

sitting in the library, staring out of the window to the moving crowd of bodies in the deepening dusk on a rainy day, with sonicflood's 'back home' in the background...
i couldn't have chosen a better song to set the mood really.


so yeah, i'm in the library... again. seems to be one of my favourite hangout places in uni now that i have to spend more hours at uni. which means more hours of studying (i hope!). somehow i find i'm more likely to concentrate and study than goof off and go online every half an hour in the library than at home.

yeah i'm turning into a nerd okay?!
and it's a good thing. really.
(yeah keep telling yourself that denise)


my fingers are itching for a piano... how i miss it. i mean, i do play for church and there is a battered old one that sounds like it hasn't been tuned in years in the common room. but it's not the same as having one within your reach anytime you feel like stretching them fingers. and i don't feel comfortable doing my personal worship time in a public place. that's just... weird. but thank God for the guitar that somehow has fallen into my possession; at least for awhile. i still have to pause before every Bm but it's better than naught.

it's all good :)


back to boring uni stuff... i suppose i now sound like i have no life outside uni. yah deal with that!
i was just released from a babies class. lol before it starts to sound dodgy, let me clarify... a class about how humans acquire language from infanthood. i know, it's weird right? me: the person who is like, not interested in children taking this course? but you know what? it's actually darn interesting. did you know that we have more neurons at 3 than we'll ever have in our whole lives? and haha! beer does kill off inordinate amounts of neurons. my point of all these years finally proven.


and i'm getting hungry. man i eat so much more here than i did back home. it's a mercy i can still fit into (all of) my jeans. new zealand is such a dessert place that it's positively unsafe for me to venture out anywhere before i'm tempted to buy this and purchase that. grocery shopping is always a battle of want vs need vs fear of getting a rounder face than i already have. so difficult i tell u. and i NEVER worried about putting on weight ever. until now that is. thanks cadbury!


k time to chao! icf tonight.

first week

of sem 2 and i'm already feeling swamped by all the reading and assignments for my classes. haih. hopefully this is not a foreshadowing of how the rest of the sem is going to turn out.

ahh still need to find my bearings and get my gears in place. hols make people lazy...

how time flies... i've already completed my first sem here and i roughly another 4 months to go before i head back to my beloved humid little island. so far so good, no complaints i must say.


some changes to be made this sem:

new flatmate- megan moved back to the states and angie from singapore has moved in. she's pretty cool but i still miss megan and her wacky americanness.

i have to cook more cos she's gone. dang.

more classes, heavier workload.

but other than that, i don't see any other major changes. as they say, life goes on...

Hold my hand

i'm sure most of my friends know i'm proud to come from penang and of it's hokkien heritage. hehe. although i've never been really fluent in hokkien, it's moments like this when i'm proud to be half hokkien (i'm half cantonese as well but that's an even bigger fail cos i can't speak it).


one of the most beautiful hokkien christian songs which never fails to stir my heart whenever i listen to it.

so have a go at it and i hope you are blessed by the song like how i was :)





and for banana-ish people like me...

English Lyrics of Hold My Hand:

Hold my hand, Oh my Lord
Please do not leave me
I still have to travel down this road
I need your companionship
Hold my hand, Oh my Lord
Please do not leave me
Sometimes I would be afraid, and Sometimes I do not know which path to take
Sometimes it is as though I cannot hear your voice
Hold my hand, please be my companion
Make my steps firm and steady
I come to your door, and hear your voice
Telling me: "Come to me, my child"

purr...

this has been a week of cats.

first was the motel cat at greymouth that darted out of our room scaring our pants off. i have no idea who was more startled; us or the poor cornered cat. haha.

then was nathan and kirsty's shy (as cal's dream girl) cat: jandals.
and today, was waylaid during tennis by the manja-est random black cat who came up to say hello and be adored.

***

hols have been fun so far. and as usual, time flies when you're having fun. this is my last week of hols already. sigh...

but at least i did most of the things we came up with on the checklist... watch a ballet, trip to the west coast, rewatch LOTR, dinner at friend's place, helped cal shop for new clothes, talent night, cashmere hill...




next on the list: skiing! this should be interesting. hehe.

22 men, 1 ball, 4 years once, it's that time again.

GAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!! life is sooooo unfair!

lol... what a way to start this.

ok let me rephrase.

*ahem*

you know how world cup only happens once in 4 years. i repeat: FOUR years. and i have the misfortune to not only have exams during this momentous period of time, BUT to also happen to be in a place where darn cricket is more talked about than football! what atrocity! yeah it's sad to see people getting football fever back home while i'm stuck here with matches playing at ungodly hours of the night and no one to hype about with me :(




it sucks to be in nz when it's world cup season.
football that is. not rugby. i don't think i'll ever learn to like rugby i'm afraid.


sighness... the things i will miss this world cup.
no watching at mamaks, no arguing over who's the best etc, no watching with a huge group of people shouting at the tv, no world cup commercials, no random sighting of team jerseys, nothing. zilch. how sad is that?
so people back home, you better be thankful and enjoy it while you can.
i really miss home a lot at this point.

by the way....

GO SPAIN!

Muahahahahahaaa...

like a rainbow, it's beauty after the rain

i feel pathetic. haha.
i feel like i shouldn't be missing you this much.
i feel as if i shouldn't be caring so much.
yeah i feel bloody pathetic.
i feel like an annoying fly that won't leave you alone.
i feel like i could be positive about it.
but don't know how.
i must i must not start pitying myself.
cos that would be even more pathetic.


you know what?

i really wish i could go home. even just for a while. i really wish i was home. i need to be home. i feel like i'm drowning in quicksand. i have just been thriving lately. not really living. but i guess that's what inactivity does to you. it's only when i'm alone in my room that it comes real bad. but like i said, no self pity please.


i only have a few aims for now. one of which is to ace my papers. for at least if i lose control of my whole life, i know that there're some things i have the power to control still.


i think i need to get out of this hole soon. before i lose every shred of dignity i still possess.

on the bright side... there IS always a bright side, thank God for that! so at least i've got that to look forward. and i'm starting to think, perhaps this is in God's big plan for my life. that his perfect love encompasses all other kinds of love. in my weakness, i draw my strength from Him.



i think i'm just looking too much into things.


though sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
now i know why mornings are always filled with more hope than any other time of the day.