hello.

been a long long time. updates.

shuhan and i are kinda done with driving(learning) and will very soon be at the mercy of testors. exciting. we hold fast to the belief that we will fail within the circuit. sigh. driving is very expensive and unaffected by gss.

my plants are doing ok. not fantastic, but the weather is starting to get not so insanely hot (or i may be getting more positive about it) and i think my plants will thrive better. but i'm not allowed to buy more plants cos my mum says next time who will take care of them. which is true... so i will give them all away. haha i'll set up a plant adoption post maybe in august.

i'm knitting a scarf out of this wonderful yarn thats 98% soya. its very soft but gets very mao mao the more you touch it. the kinda thing that i'm worried will leave fluff everywhere and disintegrate slowly:( but seriously the material is quite fascinating. bamboo is actually not bad too as we found out at lasalle! i will finish it eventually! must must. i realise that very few things i knit actually come in useful. will let u know if i finish it and use it.

this is probably the most grateful, i've felt in a long long time. and i thank God for the many many many doors He openned and the people He has sent to help me. for those who have not talked to me in ages, like zishan fungs and the random lot that read my blog without my knowledge, i finally know where i am going for uni! i'm going to Goldsmiths college, University of London under MOE scholarship. whatever i am expecting i bet it will be still very different. and ahhh very excited yet scared. and every day i keep thinking oh i must bring this and bring that and i'm starting to think i'm wanting to bring too much things with me... but definitely one big box will be koka mee:) and so far pple i know who will be within 1700 sq km of me are shuhan, lydia, (zix?). so if i ever die of loneliness i'm gonna crash with shuhan:)

strange enough, i'm quite concerned with what i will be eating there... i will not survive on sandwiches everyday:( and i think they have upgraded the common room's oven to a microwave. so either i learn more microwave dishes, or i learn how to use the rice cooker as a steamer. or i bring with me this funky contraption my mum just gave me which looks like a nonstick frying pan and wok hybrid. which is totally cool and quite heavy. heck if i can i will bring my own fridge.

absolutely random, but i keep thinking of shuhan's rendition of jamie oliver's "put dee toe-mah-ohs inn dee uh-ven" gasp. i am so gonna try out jamie's restaurant. as recommended by food and travel.

oh yes. mango cheese cake receipe. as koped from food and travel magazine may issue. i don't have a picture to show u cos err i guess i was lazy to take a photo and i think a photo won't do it justice. go try it. its awesome. the only problem with it is the biscuit base. i have no idea why it did not taste as good. might be something to do with the staleness of my biscuits haha. but its a VERY SMALL problem. the rest is awesome. i hope i'm not infringing on some copyright issues. rmb folks, this receipe comes from a magazine! and its a gd one too. with loads of receipes. i can't seem to do all, but this one is really noob-proof.

for the biscuit base.
200g digestive biscuits (i vaguely rmb mr chia saying that marie biscuits are the best you can try that too i guess)
and 1/2 cup melted butter.

1. crush the biscuits in a plastic bag
2. combine crumbs and butter
3. pack it into a 22cm spring form pan. (ah this is interesting. go google whats a spring form pan. i used this thing that lets u adjust the circumference but it has no base and i wrapped it in aluminium instead.)(if u think i'm not being clear i totally agree. go google for pictures) (actually u can use any pan. just that a spring form pan will allow u to get the cake out of the tin by opening up the side. the whole point is that to get a cheese cake out of the pan there is no way u can overturn the cake out.)(also, u can get it at ntuc finest between 15.90 to 19.90)
4. bake at 180 degree c for 10mins

for the cheese cake part
500g philadelphia cream cheese (2 packets) (totally auntie, ntuc is having it at 4.65 till 30th june)
1/2 cup mango yoghurt
225g sugar
5 eggs (i put 6 cos the eggs i had at home were measely small)
1 fresh mango cut into small cubes. (you can put more!)
extra mango or other fruits for garnishing.

5. place cream cheese yoghurt sugar in a mixing bowl and mix with electric mixer on medium until well combined
6. add eggs one at a time at low speed, until just blended.
7. mix in the diced mango
8. pour into the tin and bain marie. this means put the cake tin/spring form pan in a larger pan and fill water in the larger pan until its about 3cm, at half way up the outside of the cake pan.
9. bake at 160 degrees c for 50-55 mins or until top is slightly browned and centre is almost set (i used a 19 cm diameter cake tin instead. this we call gei kiang. (act smart) so my cake was bit too high and i had it in the oven for 1 hour 15 mins.)
10. when done, let it cool a bit, loosen it with a knife or whatever and remove the side cake tin. cool it completely and let it chill in the refridgerator for at least 6 hours.