Cookie time

Monday before I was SOooooooooooooo craving for cookies, so yesterday, while my rice and curry was stewing and cooking at lunch, I baked Afghan cookies, ok... with my own twists, mainly due to lack of ingredients and er... miscalculations :P

So for those who doesn't know what Afghan cookies are, it's basically chocolate biscuit with crunchy corn flakes within the biscuit, and topped with chocolate icing.

Yummy~~~~~~

A Clooooooooseup of my yummy cookie (excuse the bad fotography)

Ok.. in honest truth it didn't taste that nice, i replaced the cornflakes with hubbards's honey puff thingy, which is ok, except it made the cookie slighly on the sweeter side even tho i reduced the sugar from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup. Hm... then i accidently added only half the amount of butter, which meant the cookie itself wasn't soft enough, adding onto the rice/wheat puff became a super hard cookie. HAHAHA silly me~ But well, apart from it being superly hard, it tastes quite nice, cashew nuts (instead of walnut) works really well with chocolate.

anyway.. thats' my photo blog for a while.

Can't wait to go back to auck ^^ yeah!!!!

Oh yea.. for ppl who's got a moment to spare, ponder this past exam question with me.
"... The neuroscientist have developed a method for stimulating brain performance using low amp direct currents. The company (you work for) has found that if they give the patient a drink before the electrical treatment, then they can stimulate a specific part of the brain so that the performance is enhanced. The compnay wants to commercialise this exciting research and have asked you to organse a series of focus groups to identify potential products that could be developed by the company. The company would like you to identify the most appropraite ppl that shoudl be included in each focus group, and why you think theys houdl be selected."

Ok... so first i thought, old ppl like to improve brain performance right? but my classmates reckon, students like us likes to improve brain performance too, which make sense, but i do'nt think students will be running into hospital to get this kinda super new brain enhancing treatments. What do you ppl think? Also the question asks what type of focus groups to use, a full (8-12 ppl) mini (4-5) and telephone. Basically you use mini if you want like.. indepth answers from selected few, and you use telephone if you discuss sensitive issues. Do you think old ppl talkign about their, er.. lost of memory is considered sensitive?? heheh i am stuck.. no common sense :P

Hot water vs cold weather

This is totally cool/weird/interesting.. whichever way you look at it. So the weather is like.. super cold here, me basically dread goign out of the room coz it's just so cold.

Anyway.. last night I was boiling hot water for my hot water bottle, and I accidently spill some boiling hot water on my hand. It suprisingly didn't hurt that much, but I run cold water on it for about 10sec before i return to my warm room. But while talkign to DAnny last night, I kinda noticed how that area swelled up? ok swellign is not a good word, more like there was a bump, like no pus or whatever you call it underneath, so it hought it's probably gonna develope into a huge burnt blister in the morning... surprisingly, it didn't. IN fact.. it looks perfectly normal @____@

HAhaha.. so the match between hot water vs cold weather, as judged by my own hand!!! COLD WEATHER WINS!!!! hahaha

in fact.. the weather is so cold that Shuli's olive oil gone half solid, first i thought it's coz she put it out in the sun for too long so it's gone rancid, then i was like..wait... rancid doesn't go solid right? :P

schedule

Hihi ppl~ here's a schedule er.. sheet of what i'll be doing when i am back... man it's completely filled :P la la la~~

Sat: morning arrives, Snorlax is picking me up, then probabily hang around till dinner time, then goign to Tina's for sleepover
Sun: probabily go home and have a good sleep
Mon: day: reserved*, night-going out with len + other girls, well, whoever else is free
Tue: day-reserved*, night- having dinner with Mike and Jeff
Wed: reserved*
Thur: family day
Fri: leaving at 6am :'(

For the reserved, few of those spots will free up, basically saving it since snorlax was looking for ppl to help him at the museum, so if the museum guy set one of those 3 days, i'll go and help him.

So yea.. so excited ^^

online rumours

Sometimes, i really wish ppl would just stop publishing rumours about food. Well, ok the way I see it, is unless if there's hardcore proof that certain food is bad for you, just take everythign in moderation and it should be fine. I mean.. i can more or less understand how ppl don't like food additives, they aren't design for their healthiness. So if today ppl write a whole article on how eating sausages will make you die 10 years younger or what not, I would say thats' an exageration, but ok, at least I know for a fact that the stuff they add in sausages aren't that good for you, so eating less sausages IS probabily better for you health long term.

What annoys me, is when ppl write articles about natural ingredients!!!! SERIOUSLY my flatmate is absolutely paranoid ok!!!! and since she know i am doing food related stuff, everytime when i see her while deciding what to eat, i'll get bombarded with questions.. and they are just... well.. complete paranoia from reading too much those internet rumours that she doens't know what to eat anymore... AT first i thought she's really cute for well... asking so many weird questions, but after a while... i am just... at disbelief at how much fear the media is putting into the ppl.

S:"hey~ can i eat yoghurt at night"
me:"er.. why not.. i do that all the time"
S:" are you sure it's not gonna have a weird chemical reaction"
me:"........"

S: "hey~ is it ok if i eat broccoli with lamb?"
me: "@__@ why the heck now? ppl serve that in retaurant"
S:" oh ok~~ just want to make sure that it's ok to mix the two together"
me: "?!?!?!?!!"

and then.. just tonight... i was eating my apple with cinnamon, she was sitting next to me eating persimoon
S :"hey~~ can you eat cinnamon with persimmon?"
me :" well, why not, but haven't tried it, not sure if it's nice, you can try some"
*handed her my cinnamon bottle*
S:" are you sure this won't kill me?"
me: "........ why would it?"
S:" i don't know... no one ever ate this before, so if i am one of the first, it might have a undiscovered chemcal reaction"
me:" .... i am sure even if it does it won't kill you"

........ see what i mean!!! paranoid!! absolutely. She is also somehow completely convinced that persimmon can't be eaten in the same meal as any seafoods, due to.. yup you guess it right.. chemical reactions.

Ok.. now i am not a nutrtionist ok! i really am not! i've only taken 1 nutrition paper, and they sure didn't tell us what sort of food cannot be eaten with another type of food.

But seriously, if you think about it, anything you eat can probabily be toxic to you in some form, and in some cases be carcinogenic, but seriously! sometimes ppl need to have a little more faith in our body's capability in coping with these!! just like how ppl are saying detox programme is completely useless, because our body has a very good capabilities to get rid of normal toxins.

bleh~~ oh well.. just my viewpoint... i might get cancer one day for... eating capsicum with beef all the time who knows... but unless if someone give me hardcore scientific evidence that i can't? i am jsut gonna enjoy food whichever way i like it.

Freezing temp

Hm... the cold temperature, and freezing southerly wind is somehow not that bad.. underneath 4 layers of clothign :P HAHAHA, actually wearing 4 layers isn't as bad as i imagined.. haha,
so..start off with a short sleeve thermals i got from kathmandu, which i must give my thanks to moo, since he was the one who told me there was a sale on that... really really good.
then a black turtle neck, follow by er.. my green short sleeve hoodie-jacket thing... then of course my big black coat. HAHAHA

wonderinf when the weather gets colder, if i shud go and put on 5 layers.. hm.... dilemma

OH yea.... really really like One Piece atm... really... ok.. see.. from all the anime that i watch, there's a common theme about not giving up, and team work and friendship and blah blah blah. But One piece have a very very strong emphasis on nakama, or teammate, about the lengths of which ppl will go just to be together. It's so sweet, and i guess perfect for someone who can't be with her most impt friends..... ok.. i am blahhing.. and more importantly have a meeting in 10 mins that i shud start preparing for (A)

btw superly happy today coz i have a special letter written from a special someone ;) and to that special someone, i haven't had dinner blog for ages coz i haven't invented anythign new, normally just got home, and will er.. rush to whip up something coz normally i am dead hungry by the time i get home. LOL

ANywya.. take care everyone

Interesting.. exam questions....

My 3 years of experience in how to answer uni exam quesitons is... useless.. when i get questions like this

"develope 3 product conpects for a new snack food identifying the following
i)target market for each concept
ii) consumer benefits of each concept
iii)product attributes to meet each benefit"

note.. that quesiton was 9 marks out of 100.... and thats' not it.. it kept going

"write the discussion guide for the focus group research you need to conduct" 5 marks

first of all, i can't imagine how the heck the examiner can mark thigns like that... i mean.. is there even a right answer? i mean.. ok.. i see the point of the quesitons.. it want us to think thoroughly on all issues, but during an exam just seem like a... very un-Lucy thign to do.... thank goodness for exam choices ^^

So.. as it turned out... this cleanser thing that i got is... weird as
ok.. on the labelling regarding direction :
"use as a one step cleanser, apply cleanser onto contton wool and wipe over face and neck using gentle strokes.... Do not rinse. Use monring and night for best results."

so... what.. the.. heck is this?!?!?! *confused* Shuli reckons is somethign you use when you feel your face is oily but don't want to give a proper wash.. hm... any ideas?

Happy Birthday to Mummy~~~

Today's my dearest mum's birthday, sadly I guess it's one of the very few times that i didn't celebrate this important day with her, nevertheless I wish she'll have the most enjoyable day, having the most... yummy dinner.. without me :P I hope she'll also like the present we'll give her... yea.. emily's gonna give it to her tonight. Anyway.. thank you mummy~ I really miss you... I hope all your birthday dreams will come true. ^_____^

Had the nicest dream last night, I dreamt that i was on the way back to Taiwan, and for some reason I had to catch train and buses. Dream about heaps of random ppl like.. Kenneth who was this random person I had to stop and ask direction to, mum was there in the rush to catch the train with me, then there was frankie and eleen who were on the bus with me while we chat about the nice foods we miss, somehow Sherry and Steven were there on the bus too.... then.. just as I saw my old primary school in the distance, i woke up! yup! and the biggest disappointment of it all, was that when i woke up, i realized i am here, at palmy... not auckland. I guess I just really miss home.

Now onto my super duper blonde moment. Made dumplings wiht Shuli and her friend Ellen today... so Ellen wants to buy facial moisturiser and toner, so i was telling her which ones i used.

me: I use this T-zone toner things, it's ok, quite expensive, but it's anitbactirial, so supposely good for my pimples
E: er..... that's not... a toner.. thats' a cleanser
me: @_________________@

and the bottle is like.. only got 1/5 left >< omg it prob made my pimples worse more than anythign. hahaha.. but seiorusly, cleanser shud not be made so liquidy for confusion!!1 :P

50%.. done... almost

So had our presentation, seriously, i get so nervous that i just hae no memory of it whatsoever, i hope i have spoke slowly, i made heaps of mental note to take pause and stuff, but then.. who knows.. probabily still went like a rocket. Hahaha, one group keep telling us ours was really good.. but then i am not sure if they are just being polite, or just referring to the guys, coz man.. my groupmates are really good with presentation eh~, so calm and everything... *envious*

But yea.. come to question time...er.. well.. there was a problem with our project, in that we really didnt' have a defined product concept before we conducted consuemr surveys and stuff.. so yea... we got interogated, but hopefully we er... talk ourselves out of it :P

Anyway.. gonna relax tonight eh~~ my goodness... feel like dropping a big big big stone.

In general, it is concluded that I am horrified when it comes to presentations. ha ha.. as if ppl dotn' knwo that already.

Things I wish I'd known

Spent the two most wonderful days when parents came here, was really good timing coz sometimes it's just really good to get away from everythign, just for a little while. Tho it was so sad to see them drive away, then reality came crashing back. At least i have another getaway in 3 weeks time. ^^

Anyway.. presentation tmr.. *screams* really really envy ppl who can just.. go talk slow off the slides, unlike me have to recite everythign, which i am sure i'll get marks off for that during my proposal.. but neh` that's in July.. anyway.. wish me luck tmr.

Was flipping through Trademe old friends.. and found Brent's file. Brent's an old collegue of mine, both of us left HSM around the same time, me to unemployment, and him to Japan from some Opera stuff.. Anyway.. i stumble this while going through his blog

"Following this was Video Games Live. This concert featured music from the most popular video games; music from Halo, Final Fantasy and classics like Super Mario Brothers. The Vector Wellington Orchestra and the NBR Opera Chorus performed along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience! The concert was performed in the TSB Bank Arena to a sell-out crowd of computer geeks dressed as their favourite characters."

.....

Now remember back in March, I was buggin Danny that one of these days we shoudl go to USA or Japan or wherever for one of these concerts.. and.. he's.. telling me that there was one here.. in NZ.. In Wellington.... this year?!?!?!?!?! ME WANNA GO :'(

Parents coming

Parents coming! parents coming! me so excited and restless, can' tseem to read anything.. la la la~~~ hehehe. *jumps up and down*

My flatmate Shulin keep looking at me funny today, ask if i was ok.. goign crazy.. ha ha i sure am.. so excited.

Hehe anyway.. back go business, i received a email from someone asking for petition against UN abolishing tradiational Chinese writing. Well, as many of you know, I am not good at chinese writing at all, but i know enough to appreciate the beauty of it. The fact that part sof the word can give indication to the meaning behind it, that i think it's just makes it such a powerful writing system. ANd just because China think they are all powerful, and that they are lazy so they developed the simplified writing style does not mean that it shoudl be abolished! it's like declaring extinction to a language when ppl are still using it! and we'll be forced to teach our next generation simplified. I don't know.. i guess i believe we are in an era where we should embrace diversity rather than otherwise, religion, culture, language alike.

So, if you wish to sign your petition too, make your voice heard at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/say-no-to-united-nations-abolishment-of-traditional-chinese-in-2008.html

And if i haven't convince you yet.. just think.. what woudl the world be like if one day, UN decided to abolish the word 'people', and replace it with 'ppl', just cause everyone is too lazy to write out the proper word... makes you think doesnt' it.