Trying Out New Recipes

I'm not a good cook. Sure, I can cook better now that I'm cooking almost on a daily basis, but I'm not naturally good at it. That is why I buy foodie magazines, check out recipes online to try out new dishes so that I don't bore my husband to death with the same stuff I cook every week (mostly the dishes I like to eat; I can eat my favourite dishes on a daily basis and not get bored). One of my favourite foodie blogs is Hochiak! Delicious Asian Food. The recipes remind me of the home-cooked food I get in Malaysia.

A great recipe I tried out, which Tim and I thoroughly enjoyed, was the Pumpkin and Luncheon Meat Combo.




Delicious ripe pumpkins were easily available at Coles, and I snapped up the ripest Kent pumpkin I could find for this recipe. A can of SPAM, some dried shrimps, lots of shallots, toss them all in, stir-fry up a storm, and voila! A hot, yummylicious meal on a cold winter's night. I chose a pumpkin of the brightest orange I could find as that would guarantee sweetness of the pumpkin. It wasn't easy removing the tough skin from the pumpkin though. A lot of near accidents there, that I'd tell you.




I don't normally create great successes when it comes to food, but I have to say this was a real achievement. It was absolutely delicious, and I was so excited about it that I immediately took a photograph of the dish and emailed it to Pablopabla (the author of the blog), raving about his recipe. That was just a little over a month ago.

From then on, I continued trying out his recipes, and so far, each had been a success.

Oh, and if you're interested in winning UD$100, do check out Delicious Asian Food now, and start cooking! I can't wait to see what goodies you came up with ;)

Honeymoon Hiatus

I'm finally off for my honeymoon!

As such, I'll be on a blogging hiatus for about three weeks. I won't be able to reply comments or emails quickly during that time, so don't be too alarmed, eh?

I should be able to update my Twitter every now and then, so do check it out.

Till I see y'all again, be good! ;)

Expectations

I'm raring to go back to Malaysia. I really am. I haven't seen my family and friends in what seems like ages, and I'm beyond excited to be leaving for the States in a couple of weeks. But the one thing that is really making me dread going back is this one question that I know every single person I meet up with will ask me.

"So, have you gotten a job yet?"

If you're asking me if I'm working as an engineer yet, the answer is no. But if you're asking me if I'm working as something else, on something else, then the answer is yes. It took much deliberation over the past months to finally come to the conclusion that I don't want to go back to that field. Ever.

Well, surprise surprise. It was never something I was good at, nor something I was interested in. In fact, every day back then was a challenge to keep a straight face that I've been fooling everyone with, that I was actually good in what I do. I wasn't. Engineering never came easy for me, and it was a struggle to keep up with. It was a challenge all right.

But see, I can take challenges. Don't get me wrong there. Challenges keep my mind sharp. But I'd so much rather be challenged in something that I'd love to be challenged with. Not something I have to struggle so hard to only keep up with. I don't want to just keep up. I want to excel. It really doesn't take a genius to guess I'm never going to do so as an engineer.

Again, don't get me wrong. I do have technical skills. I have strong ones, in fact. Just not in designing a chip, or troubleshooting equipment. I know how to do them not because I already knew how to, but from experience on the times that I screwed up. The technical know-how just does not come to me easily. It's bloody frustrating, that much I can say.

My mum thinks it's a disappointment that I'm leaving that field. Oh what a waste of money on your tertiary education and all that. You see, everyone expects me to be an engineer because I graduated as one. Because I worked for four years as one. It's just sad that no one ever took my second degree, a Masters degree mind you, seriously. The degree that I wanted to do, not something I had to do. And it's from the second degree that would be a start of a whole new career. Perhaps not as financially appealing as an engineer's, but it's what I want. It's time I finally do what I wanted to do all along.

I've already started on it. It's not officially launched yet, but at least it's a beginning. It's never easy venturing into something new, but dammit, I'm finally good at something, so I'm taking this challenge head on. Yes, I will be working from home for the time being, but I'm not complaining. Not yet anyway. I'm going for courses to brush up and improve my skills. I'm doing something.

So what am I going to say, in response to that question?

I'll let you know when I see you.

Come On AUD, You Can Do It!

Oh this is not good.

Why is it that only when our trip to the US was finally confirmed, the Australian dollar has to weaken? :(

The Dark Knight On IMAX

If you thought The Dark Knight was good, people, try watching it on IMAX.

Oh. My. God.

BEST. FREAKING. MOVIE. EVER.

No wonder tickets were almost always sold out. There was quite a number of movie sequences that were created specially for IMAX. And watching it that many stories high just made it so bloody awesome. The action sequences did make me a tad dizzy since the screen was so freakin' big, but the 2.5 hours was worth it.

Heath Ledger, what can I say? Sigh.

WHY LAH YOU HAVE TO DIE?!