What the f*ck moment

Just woke up. It is currently 1130am. You know when you wake up and try to make yourself feel better by saying that you need at least 8 hours of sleep...well not this time because I went to bed at 130am. EPIC FAIL ON MY PART!!! RAWR RAWR RAWR

This is yet another what the fuck moment.

Slow down everyone, you're moving too fast...

Frames can't catch you when you're moving like that.

Oh, WHAT GLUTTONY!

Oh my goddd. I just got back from KFC&Hungry Jacks after a sudden urge (very very strong craving) to get their Zinger burger, their 2 piece original chicken & mashed potatoes and gravy and an orange pop. GOT ALL OF THAT! Then before leaving the plaza, I went to Hungry Jacks and got myself a vanilla soft serve cone...MMM HEAVEN! (Note, this is after a full dinner of honey soy chicken, steamed white rice AND bananas dipped with chocolate) Well I made myself feel better by studying after eating all of that in kfc AND hungry jack's. So it's not AS BAD...I guess?

all this time while eating all these things I'm thinking to myself OH WHAT GLUTTONY!

I guess today's theme is satisfy your cravings! FML. Obesity, here I come...

Honey soy chicken with ginger

In the spirit of procrastination in the afternoon, I decided to make a honey soy marinade. I've never actually let my food marinate over 2 hours (blame it on my impatience) so I decided to try that today. It was quite rewarding as the flavours really seeped through the chicken! I mixed honey, soy sauce, raw sugar, ginger and garlic and let my chicken thighs sit in this marinade for about 5-6 hours. I then pan fried to brown the chicken and then baked at 175C for 20 minutes (let it bake while I went for an evening jog). Voila! I then ate it with a side of steamed white rice. Yumm! The ginger gave it a more Asian flavour and made me miss home/ my mother's cooking.

Entering Exam Studying Mode

So I officially have 9 full days before my mid year examinations and about 49 lecture topics to cover. Then it's HOLIDAYS (I'm going to Melbourne and Sydney to travel so I def want to have a relaxing and great break!) The amount of material we need to know is quite a lot, so I'm going to revert to what I call my exam studying mode. The plan is to get into my regular early morning jog routine (yes, I stopped jogging before) starting tomorrow. So I'll wake up at 6am, jog until 630am & then have breakfast /shower and start studying for the day. Then in the afternoon I'll go for an intense bike ride (high gear on bike) for 15-20 minutes as a study break. I might even go for a dip in my swimming pool as a break right after my bike ride in the afternoon before going for another shower.

I'm actually looking forward to this to see how well this works!

Chardonnay chicken with potato casserole

I had half a bottle of Chardonnay left to spare so I decided to cook chicken with chardonnay:

Seasoned chicken breast with salt, pepper, thyme and parsley

Pan fried portobello mushrooms and onions

Pan fried chicken breast

Placed chicken in a pot, put in portobello mushrooms, onions and added hot water and garlic cloves and a cup of Chardonnay

Left to cook with the lid on for a couple of minutes (or until chicken was done)

My roomie Pranav decided to make potato casserole

He sauteed onions and sliced mushrooms

Added oregano, chilli, rosemary, thyme, salt

Placed mushrooms and onion mixture in layers with sliced potatoes + parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese in between

Fill the bowl until it's full

At the top, he put extra layers of parmesan cheese and cheddar

Baked at 175C for 30-45 minutes to make sure the potatoes were cooked through (not crunchy)

We decided to share each of our meals and we ended up eating this combination with a small glass of chardonnay on the side.

"God save me rejection from my reflection, I want perfection"- a discussion on the topic of ageing & dying

This particular stanza from Robbie William's song Bodies summarizes what we learned this week in Human Biology with particular regards to ageing and dying.
"All we've ever wanted is to look good naked.
Hope that someone can take it
God save me rejection from my reflection
I want perfection"
There were a few points that I found particularly interesting:
- the medicalisation of death and how deaths in the past occurred at home while deaths occuring today usually occurs in the hospital setting
- Death was viewed as the natural outcome of life compared to today's view that death is the enemy (since medicine is about healing others and death is something we want to avoid at all cost)
- One of people's biggest fear when dying is that of abandonment and this is followed by the pain involved with dying. This is particularly important to note since as a future physician, I would have to deal with a dying patient/ breaking the news to patients of a fatal diagnosis. Knowing these 2 biggest fears people have of dying, I could make their dying process as smooth as possible by simply stating to the patient that you will make their passing as pain free as possible and that you will be there with them until the end (by their side). It's little things like these that I believe are very important to become not just a compassionate doctor, but also an empathetic individual
- People are usually more mentally unprepared for death than they are physically, but this one AIDS-stricken lady (in the video we watched today) was the opposite as she was mentally prepared for death but not physically dying yet
- A part of preparing for dying is to physically letting go, and when one does this, one develops a sense of calm and the body eventually slowly shuts down. I find this fascinating, particularly how does one start physically letting go? What kinds of things do they do when they start physically letting go? Is this sense of calm chemically-elicited or is it a spiritual feeling that cannot be explained by science?
- Children have less fear of death because they live in the here and now- In the video, this child that had AIDS and who wasn't told about his/her condition reassured this lady that he/she knows that he/she has AIDs and that he/she will take care of this lady and that everything will be alright. I think this is particularly interesting because a lot of people would live very differently if they were to live in the here and now like children do. (I'd like to call these things "lessons from children" that we should all take away as adults to live more meaningful lives)
- An individual interviewed in the video says that we are undermedicated when it comes to pain management. This has sparked my interest in issues around pain management and the differing levels of pain people do feel. Would fears surrounding death be diminished when we manage pain more effectively or will there be other fears that develop surrounding death?

And for all of these reasons, I believe that self-reflection is very important. I found that I'm starting to deeply engage in my experiences (that will be recorded in my brain's association areas by the way) and I find myself being more in the present moment rather than dwell in the past/ look too far forward in the future. I'm starting to see personally how living in the here and now is the key to happiness because when you start doing this, you begin to stop worrying too much. After all, despite all the knowledge we have with regards to the human body in medicine and society's preoccupation with staying youthful & diminish the effects on ageing, we don't know when each of us will keel over and die. Also, will it matter how we look like when that time comes? Will it matter how much money we each have when that time comes? I think what will matter at that point in time will be the human connections that you've made and the happiness you've shared with others to make their lives more meaningful and to enable their dreams through support (as Randy Pausch would say). I might as well enjoy this ride while I still have the chance to.

Positives of being an LGBT individual- something to look forward to in old age!

Turns out this Human Biology reading has more relevance than I initially thought it would. On the topic of aging, it seems that there are some positives of being an LGBT individual who is aging. Apparently, aging as an LGBT individual would be easier than heterosexuals because

- LGBT already have support outside of their family so they don't experience the empty nest syndrome

- they also have experienced the stigma of homosexuality so they would adjust better to the stigma of ageism

- the LGBT community gives them many social contacts outside of work so work retirement does not mean changed friend networks

How cool is that? I can just imagine a physician telling his/her patient "Well on the bright side, since you've been discriminated against your whole life for being an LGBT individual, you will be able to cope better with aging!"

Oh, the things you learn in medicine. I absolutely love it! (No, it's not the buzz. My chardonnay buzz is gone already)

One more reason why we should be more positive!

Doing my reading for my Human Biology Guided Learning Session:

"Australian researcher Robyn Richmond’s study confirms personality traits may help us more than supplements and puzzles. Low neuroticism, anger and hostility; low impulsivity; high extraversion or social connectedness; high openness; high conscientiousness; low depression – these are the keys to ripe old age, her findings suggest. Of the 190 centenarians she’s interviewed, 54 per cent live in nursing homes; 85 per cent are widowed; 71 per cent enjoy family contact at least once a week; 43 per cent have no tertiary qualifications; and 88 per cent rely on government pensions. Overall their health is good. None reported risky alcohol use, and while 28 per cent were former smokers, only two do so now. Levels of anxiety and depression among the group were well below average.

Richmond credits environmental factors - including biological, psychosocial and personality - with a 70 to 80 per cent influence on longevity, leaving genetics responsible for 20 to 30 per cent. “High neuroticism leads to behaviours that accelerate ageing,” she says. “Neurotic behaviour disturbs our heartbeat and immune function, and leads to high incidence of coronary heart disease.” It is not that this generation has avoided stress. “We know they’ve lived through difficult times, two world wars and a depression, but they have responded to these difficulties well. They rate highly on trust and competence; they are dependable, easygoing, able to defer short-term gratifications such as smoking and drinking, and they respond well to advice.”

This is one more reason why we should be more positive! So the next time shit happens, I'll think about ripe old age and perhaps see this "shit" not as a problem, but as a challenge or an opportunity for personal development!

Creamy egg noodles pasta with chardonnay, portobello mushrooms, asparagus and spinach

So today is a special Monday because I don't have class until 4pm AND I had a compelling desire to cook creamy pasta with some chardonnay (and also felt like having a glass of it on the side in the afternoon). So in the spirit of trying something new, I did just that! I still have a slight buzz actually (and ironically I'm learning about ageing and death). Anyways, here is how I cooked it:

- pan fried garlic, portobello mushrooms, asparagus and spinach

- added cream sauce

- added 3/4 cup of Chardonnay (McWilliam's Inheritance 2008 version)

- added some salt and pepper (apparently salt brings out the sugar)

- added raw sugar

Fantastic! It reminded me of the pasta dish my good friend Danny got from Tru restaurant in London, Canada. Wow, the portobello mushrooms tasted wonderful! Mushrooms really do absorb a lot of the flavour and it just oozed heavenly sauce. (The taste was SPOT ON with the perfect balance of bitterness from the wine and the sweetness of the sugar... though I would have liked it if it was more thick...I have yet to figure out how to make the sauce thicker) Then I ate this with my egg noodles pasta and a glass of Chardonnay. Loving life! These are just one of the ways that I use to pamper myself. Hey, you only live once so why not?!?!

Robin Sharma's tips for the day

1. Get big on self-care because by caring for yourself, you will be able to give more to others.

Some ways Robin Sharma suggests you do this by:

- Plan and improve your skills

- Read inspiring books

- Get into great shape

- Spend quality time with loved ones

- Commune with nature

- Enjoy life as you chase success

You can't make someone feel great about themselves until you feel good about yourself

You can't be a source of positive energy if you have no energy

2. One of the primary traits of world-class performers is their ability to “detach from the noise” & stay on vision.

- these people ensure that the things that truly count never get sacrificed for those seemingly pressing but unimportant ones

A tip on how to follow through your plan of action

Recently, I found that when I crave something (like Mcdonald's/ KFC/ take-out chinese food), I could overcome my cravings simply by remembering the emotions/ feeling I got the last time I ate those things i.e. feeling awful. This relates to what the Winner's Bible book was talking about- your limbic system is a very powerful system in your brain that responds to emotions and controls your cravings. The more vividly you recount it (the brain works best when vision AND strong emotions are associated with the thought), the more effective this technique will be. So, when you control your emotions by remembering how awful you felt after eating those things and how good you felt after eating healthy things, you control your limbic system and you will lose that craving! At least I did since I've employed this technique. I now employ this technique to such sorts of cravings and so far, so good. I'm on my way to becoming my own limbic master (sort of, because chocolate is still getting the best of me since I haven't had a negative emotion or experience associated with chocolate).

Now I wonder if I could employ this to memorizing facts related to medicine. That would mean that for every fact I learn, for it to be solidified in my memory bank, I would have to associate strong feelings to each fact.

Now that's a LOT of strong feelings...

This is what goes on in my head after an afternoon run...

In trying to live my life more meaningfully and also go down an ACTIVE path of personal development(I say active because I would say that I would read all these personal development books but never put them into action but instead, starting from today onwards I have decided to read a couple of personal development/inspiring blogs and learning something from it everday/ do some self-reflection), I have decided to do several things in a novel way:
- Inspired by the article http://balanceinme.com/balanced-lifestyle/6-rules-of-stress-free-work-life-balance/#more-1129 I have decided to cut down on unnecessary activities by cutting down on my email-checking habits (I check incessantly as a form of procrastination)
- cutting down on my facebook habits (see above for reason)
- cutting down on msn activity (I realize it's quite a waste of time and that I would rather have a personal face to face chat with someone than just a virtual interaction...and as for the people I can't do this with due to distance, I prefer sending them an email/ a facebook message)- This has been successful so far, I haven't gone on msn for about a week and a half now. Cool!
- jogging daily (mix up my routines, don't just always jog at the exact same time every day...like today I jogged in the afternoon instead the morning)

I think doing old things in a novel way really keeps life interesting, keeps you on your toes and keeps your passion for life/ thirst for adventure alive. Well it's time for me to shower and start some school work!

Noodles with peanut sauce & Honey Glazed Orange Chicken

I decided to make peanut sauce for my noodles by trial and error. I mixed hot water, a tablespoon of peanut butter, some soy sauce, pepper, brown sugar and rice wine vinegar then let it simmer and thicken. I ate this sauce with egg noodles.

I then pan fried my chicken (that I mixed with thyme, pepper, salt) until it browned, then baked it for 20 minutes at 175C with orange slices, orange juice and honey glazed on top of it.
Voila!

I ate this all with a side of steamed corn. I think though, that the noodles with the peanut sauce overpowered the honey glazed orange chicken. I'm still trying to find different combinations of meat, vegetables + pasta/carbohydrates side that meshes well together by trial and error. So far, the best has been chicken with sweet potatoes on the side. Works well!

Medical school beating the well-roundedness out of you?

I read in someone's blog that medical school requires you to be well-rounded, but due to the rigors of medical training it doesn't take long for medicine to beat the well-roundedness out of you. I currently don't find this true at all. I have been able to pursue things I love (music/cooking/perhaps some traveling soon). In fact, I find that I have more time to do the things I love. Perhaps it's due to the fact that these other things motivate me to do my work more efficiently. Then again, maybe I'm just not doing enough work then. But I mean, I think the amount of work you should do/want to do depends on what you want and what is truly important to you. This is very relative to everyone. I have yet to find this out, but I know that I definitely want to strive to be a compassionate and good physician. But I know that I would not sacrifice spending/ talking to my family or close friends for the sake of medicine. I would not give up my passion for music/ cooking for the sake of medicine. I believe that there is no sacrifice needed. You just have to make time for them. I know this because these are the things that keep me sane, keep me happy and keep me grounded. They remind me of why I wanted to do medicine and why I am who I am. That's for me anyways.

Perhaps things are looking up!

I was sitting in class today feeling stressed out over my current housing situation (we've had some issues with the renting agent and the outcome of it could result in eviction) and also I was feeling annoyed at myself for not finishing my study for the 2% quiz at noon today. Then I thought back to October-November of 2009 when I was feeling overwhelmed over this 40% written project for my Organogenesis course where my group had to write up a report on a novel technology our group came up with after reading all these scientific articles (in total I read at least 30 articles, each 20 pages long and with all these complex words). I remembered the sense of doom that I felt (I didn't get a medical school interview yet back then and so my logic was- I do horrible in this project, everyone in my group does horrible and all of us aren't going anywhere near a medical school. No pressure you know...). Plus, it was one of those projects where when you thought you had gotten somewhere, then met up with the professor to discuss your well thought out ideas, then realized that you are back at square one. This happened so many times and even near the end. Turns out it wasn't so bad after all, we ended up with a mark over 80. Looking back though, that project was the sole thing that bugged me through the whole semester. It's the exact same feeling that I feel right now, but when I think back on how it all worked out in the end, this whole housing situation doesn't seem so bad after all. I mean things could be much worse right!

Life is never easy, it never will be. Especially as physicians, it sure as hell ain't going to be! This week in our Ecology of Health class we talked about professionalism in healthcare and situations that we might come across as health practitioners that would challenge such professionalism. Most of the scenarios are very realistic and opened my eyes to the realities of medicine. You will make mistakes, some people will be angry at you for standing your ground (or not standing your ground if you choose so). It won't be all glorious and dandy. But at the end of the day I think what will get me through that, and situations/ worry that I currently have is the thought that "this too, shall pass."

Inspirational Quote

One quote that gets me through the day when I'm down is one by Helen Keller,

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we took so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened up for us."

How wise!

Winner's Bible Progress Post #1

So last night I went ahead and completed my own Winner's Bible as directed by Kerry Spackman's book. I was surprised that I actually did all of that in 1 sitting (which is very rare for me because I am usually easily distracted). Today morning surprised me also since I got up and did my early morning jog. The power of visualization is actually pretty amazing. Go me! I just got back from my run and am eating something healthy (banana and honey yoghurt with mixed berries...instead of what I would crave...eggs benedict). So once again, surprised myself. It's quite fun actually surprising myself and what tiny steps I can take. As for being consistent with leafing through my Winner's Bible...did that also today! Woo-hoo! I didn't succeed however in waking up early (well not as early as I was aiming for...I woke up at 745am when I wanted to wake up at 530am...epic fail!). There's tomorrow to try that one out! They say that it takes 21 days to form a habit. (I've always wondered what a formed habit would feel like, I meant the transition from it not being a habit to it being a habit...will I feel restless if I don't do these habits? I guess I'll find out in due time!) So jogging, eating healthy and leafing through my Winner's Bible, 20 days to go and counting down! Waking up early...21 days here I come!

As a side note, I think it keeps life interesting to try old habits (not necessarily good or bad ones like neutral ones i.e. showering right after you run as opposed to cooling down before taking a shower) in a new way. It adds spice to it! I used to think that being comfortable by following a certain routine makes me feel more at ease, but I've realized otherwise lately. I shall have to explore this further.

Finished reading The Winner's Bible by Dr Kerry Spackman

WOW, what an eye-opening book this was. The wisdom shared, especially the last chapter that was personal, brought tears to my eyes. It's time to put this to action. I've decided to start a journal (written on paper one) and also my own winner's bible. Time to do that now!

Healthy breakfast to kick off the day!

(Note that the toast was in pieces because I defrosted them and chunks came out...nevertheless, it was still good)

So I remembered that I bought a cookbook when I went for my community placement with the Heart Foundation. So this recipe is from that book (promotes heart healthy foods):

toast (sunflower seed) + light ricotta cheese + mixed berries

I also had it with banana smoothie (made it yoghurt, milk, 1 banana and a teaspoon of honey- i didn't want to make the smoothie too sweet to overpower the ricotta cheese + toast combination since they didnt have any added sugars except what sweetness the berries would bring!).

Wonderful! The toast was still warm and crunchy and the mixed berries (i got frozen berries) and ricotta cheese were cold so it was an interesting combination in my mouth! The smoothie was a tad too thick, so the next time I'm going to add in more milk. Other than that though, the sweetness the honey gave was perfect! Not too overpowering/ not bland! Flavoursome!

Pork chop with poached pears

I got this recipe off the internet. I must say though, it's not my favourite. I think in general, vegetables/ meat with cinnamon and brown sugar don't go that well together. I'm saying this because I remember 2 weeks ago when I attempted making cinnamon carrot sticks, the outcome was not pretty. Not my favourite taste so far! Though I must say with the pork chops, the poached pears were cooked perfectly. I dont' think I would make this recipe again though. It was interesting at the very least!

So what I did was:
season the pork chops with salt and pepper
pan fried the pork chops to brown it
baked it with poached pears, butter, cinnamon, brown sugar at 350F for 20-25 minutes
Voila!

Scented candles and a cup of English Breakfast Tea

So my roomie Christine bought scented candles the other day. This inspired me to get one for myself. So today while I biked to the Annandale Plaza near my house, I stopped by Crazy Clark's to get myself a Wild Honey Scented Candle for 4$. My logic was, (I recalled reading the Winner's Bible that was written by a neuroscientist that the limbic system is very powerful and tends to override logical thinking of the frontal lobe of the brain), since smell/olfaction is highly related to emotions and emotions from the stimulation of the limbic system is a huge driver for a lot of things that we do in our everyday lives, perhaps getting scented candles would motivate me to be more productive when it comes to doing schoolwork. But I'll be honest here, when I smelled that candle aroma, I did feel super relaxed (good thing I guess). It's a different kind of super relaxed though, like I'm floating on the ocean kind, with jazz music playing in the background. I was super mesmerized by the flame dancing there. (Wow, fire is fascinating...I swear I'm not a pyro). And the funny thing was, I was scared to light the candle (I hate using lighters so I used matches and I nearly burned my finger while lighting it). What can I say, I'm a bit of a candle noob.

While the candle was burning, I realized that only the very center part was burning (where the wick was), but the outer areas of the candle wasn't burning! So then I proceeded to research up how to burn candles more efficiently. Damn, there is a lot to know about candles. Some websites were like "cut the wick to ___ length", don't blow it out when putting out the flame etc etc. I didn't know there was so much to know about candles! I just thought, buy the goddamn thing, light the thing, leave it there, then blow it out. WRONG! I also came across articles that said that candles made from paraffin actually emit toxic fumes. (Phew, good thing I found these articles because considering the candle that I currently have is made in China and only $4, it PROBABLY is made of paraffin). So apparently I'm supposed to find those ones made from beeswax. Now where do I find these in Townsville? I tried looking up candle shops in Townsville and I found one that delivered from Rollingstone (6$ for delivery and the actual candle itself is 25$?).

Anyways, I think for now I'm going to stick to Crazy Clark's cheaper candles and work myself up the candle ladder. This also gives me something else to learn about on my to do list for this break- learn more about scented candles and aromatherapy. I'm excited to learn more about myself, ways to relax. (I also forgot to mention, I am going to bike to the river area there and lay down on the grass and read some books during my next few study breaks...) So the next time I take a long bath in Canada in December when I go back, I'm going to light a scented candle, play some Steve Oliver's Feeling Good song (smooth jazz ftw!) and have some bubble bath. Mmm, I can't wait! (I can't do baths here because our rental house's bath is quite dirty and I don't know how much I can relax bathing in a dirty bathtub).

Also, I was planning to make green tea and lo and behold, I found a packet of English breakfast tea in the green tea box in my pantry (my mom probably took it from the Holiday Inn and put it in the green tea box). But anyways, I rediscovered my love for English breakfast tea. (I bought Earl Grey tea but realized that maybe I don't really like it as much...it's too herby-tasting, plus it doesn't go well with added sugar and milk). So next time I am stressed or just trying to wind down from a long day at school, it's a cuppa English breakfast tea and some scented candles. Oh yeah, I won't forget the smooth jazz listening as well.

Funny how life works eh!

Honey lemon chicken Gordon Ramsay Style

Easy recipe!

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and thyme.

Sautee the garlic, put in chicken thighs. Add in soy sauce, hot water and honey.

Add in a little bit of lemon juice and lemon slices.

Allow sauce to reduce

Sprinkle parsley over it.

Ta-dah!

The final product I must admit though, was a bit too sour. I put too much lemon juice in there/ lemons though I only used half. I must learn to follow the recipe. This is what I always do: skim through the ingredient list then assume the order of cooking the ingredient and also assume the amount of each ingredient. So technically, I'm not really following the recipe. But I like it that way better! It makes me feel quite experimental.

Hey TV shows, you are wrong!

I find great joy when I learn things in class that points to TV shows' fact faults. A few things are:
- Water breaking during pregnancy (this amniotic fluid from the amniotic sac actually contains prostaglandins by the way) is not always the first event that occurs as it can break at any point during active labour
- Labour actually takes a darn long time. If TV shows were to show the actual thing nobody would include childbirth (oh wait, let me be pretentious and call it parturition now) in their show

Sometimes I wonder how TV show writers decide what kinds of medical facts to include in their show and how they never consult knowledgeable people about it. In this example, it would be any medical student/ simply googling it up?

Maybe they are just too busy writing up the drama part of the script.

I'm just putting it out there!

On gaining clarity

CLARITY:
"But this morning, there's a calm I can't explain. The rock candy's melted only diamonds now remain."

Robin Sharma- Concentrate to Win

I watched a short youtube video of Robin Sharma and his main message was of "concentrate to win". He talks about Thomas Edison, who when asked how he succeeded said that the secret to success is to put your mental and physical self into one problem and work at it incessantly. Apparently many people don't succeed because they try to do too many things at once. So today I'm going to challenge myself to see how much I can concentrate on 1 specific thing at once without my mind wandering off to someplace else and enjoy the moment of doing that 1 specific thing without all this clutter around my mind. Alright, time to test this out!

Robin Sharma's 6 rules for superior energy and fitness:

1. Eat less
2. Don't eat after 8pm - you're not going to sleep as well
3. Don't eat white food - cut down on sugar, bread, pasta
4. Drink more water
5. Daily movement - exercise
6. Replace sugar with e.g. muesli, cereal, fruits

My "summer" (aka winter in Australia) goals

So while taking a break from writing my ecology of health assignment, I've come up with a few goals I want to do this "summer" (aka June-July break) since I won't be seeing my family (all gone to Canada then):

- buy a guitar and learn to play it

- record a song cover with me playing the guitar

- stay at a backpacking hostel alone and meet other people who are backpacking and travel with them

- sit in a cafe in Melbourne/ Sydney alone

- learn a bit about make-up

That's it for now!

Pasta cream sauce from scratch!

I've always thought that pasta cream sauce took a lot of time to make so I would always buy those ready made ones, but I would never be satisfied with how it tasted - not creamy enough, not salty enough, not even tangy feeling to it enough. Boy was I wrong! I came across a recipe in the Woolworth's magazine and I decided to make it finally! It was super easy:

- pan fry mushrooms and garlic

- mix in thickened cream, lemon rind, lemon juice and salt and pepper to flavour

Voila!

I'm also trying to cut down on eating red meat so I didn't use minced meat like I would normally make pasta with and used mushrooms instead. Like Robin Sharma would say, you don't want to be feeding low octane fuel if you want to feel great!

Red Party and the Shit Show Night

I biked to campus at night with my roomie Christine and decided halfway there that I don't really want to party, so I ended up biking with her to the Douglas area. I must say, it was a very calming bike ride with the breeze blowing in my face. It was perfect biking weather. Then at the last minute, after getting a phone call from Ash asking me where I was since she was already at the pre-drink, I made up my mind to go! I'm super glad I went though! Some highlights from the night that I was reminded today when I chatted with people who went were:

- I said specific words with an attempted Aussie accent. My current specialty words are Saturday, here, better. I tried to incorporate these words into sentences as much as possible. So now I speak with a Canadian accent with a tinge of Aussie accent (It sounds funny let me tell you!) I must say though, speaking like that made me feel special. Like more Australian. Though I heard that Aussies like the Canadian accent, so I think I might try very hard to keep this Canadian accent. Got...to...fight...the...urge...

- I wanted to sing so badly when I saw people performing on the stage and I tried convincing this guy I met at med camp (forgot his name) to play the guitar while I sang but apparently you can't perform if you weren't part of the original line-up. POO!

- The bartender didn't know what a screwdriver drink was and I had to explain to her what it was made of

- I helped a girl crying in the washroom who said that she has chest pains. Apparently I find joy in helping crying people when I'm drunk. I remembered asking her some medical questions like "Do you have a heart condition?" or "Did you exercise today, that might explain why you feel some chest tightness?" and she eventually got up (maybe she just got annoyed at my questions but then she stopped crying and said thanks to me...it's hard to read non-verbal communication when you are quite drunk so it's really up in the air really) I don't know what happened to her after that though, though this other girl was like "OMG THAT GIRL YELLED AT ME AFTER SHE LEFT THE TOILET" haha!

- I remembered smoking the last part of a cigarette and burning the tips of my finger at the last puff (Somehow my brain didn't register the need for me to put out the cigarette). Oh alcohol!

- I kept on thinking this girl's name was Liz when her name was actually Becky. Epic fail!

- I remembered being pushed into the dancing circle and not being ready and falling on the ground (ended up in a sitting position) and not being able to get up myself and needing some help

- I remembered introducing myself to people multiple times and they would answer "Yes, we just met a few moments ago"

- I danced between 2 gay guys at Mad Cow bar...and realized only after their flamboyant dance moves (this is like 10 songs later) that they were together and I probably did interrupt their dancing...I'm beginning to think that I have this affinity towards gravitating my dancing towards gay people. Good thing? Bad thing? I still haven't decided this.

- I just spoke to this guy on facebook chat and apparently I told him something private last night. Surprise surprise, I tend to come out to people when I'm drunk. I wonder who else I told this to. Hmm...*ponder ponder*

- Apparently Pranav said that I fell asleep while texting on the bus and Theresa was like "Look, Izzy can text when she's asleep!" and Pranav was like "her eyes are closed..." but apparently I woke up to continue texting- I vaguely remember this but I remember being really exhausted

- I remembered being convinced to go to "the shed" and agreeing to go, so we left Mad Cow to go to "the shed", so I txted Pranav that I was going to the shed...but right after we left we (don't remember who the we consisted of really) decided not to go...so I walk into Mad Cow to see Pranav looking at his text from me and looking confused. I proceed to tell him to ignore that last text. Today I think about it and wonder, why is it that I agreed to go to this shed? When I told him this story, Matt said, "Hey Izzy, don't forget to bring me back a shovel from the shed" LOL Thanks Matt.

That's it for now until I hear more stories as to what happened during this night.

Oh Jason Mraz!

I just watched Jason Mraz's video for I'm Yours and I must say, I really want to sit in the back of a pick up truck barefeet with a guitar in hand, singing and with the breeze blowing in my hair and with the sun shining down on my face. I think that would be very beautiful and mind-blowing. I'll have to add that to my to-do list before I die.

Salmon with garlic, butter and aoli sauce

Heated the butter and garlic until the garlic browned
Pan fried the salmon
Mixed mayonnaise, lime zest and lime juice to make the aoli sauce
Voila!
Delicious!

Baked chicken thigh with cranberry, honey and dijon mustard sauce over steamed sweet potatoes.

So I decided to go online and look up a recipe involving chicken and some cranberry sauce. I simply googled up this recipe, hoping it would be tasty.
- mix together cranberry sauce, dijon mustard, thyme, salt, pepper and honey
- glaze it over the chicken thighs
- cook in 350F for 40 minutes
- Serve!
Since the combination of sauce would be sweet, I decided to pair it with steamed sweet potatoes. Turns out that it was a good choice! It WAS tasty! YUM! I am cooking while I still get the chance (before I move into college residence in 3 months)!

Here it is:

The ultimate feel good collage

I just spent the past 3 hours making this collage using Picasa. I compiled pictures from Flickr from various users. Before, I used to make collages consisting of pictures of the past(i.e what I've done) but I've decided to instead of dwell on the past, move forward and look to the future. So essentially this collage summarizes my future aspirations or goals/ adventures I would like to embark upon/ places I'd like to visit/ where I would like to see myself in a few years' time and my aim was such that when I see this collage, I would feel at peace with myself. This collage is currently my desktop background and I am already feeling euphoric!

Modified coq a vin with a glass of pinot noir

So me and my roomie Pranav were going to go out to Michel's (fancy restaurant on Palmer Street here in Townsville) but ended up staying in, so we decided to cook coq a vin. Since we didn't have any red wine, we biked to the corner store, hoping to get some wine and some bacon and chicken with the bone still in. Turns out that BWS (Beer wine spirit) store was open (YAY alcohol!) while the butcher shop was not! (It's closed on Sundays...darn it!) so we had to improvise and make some changes. We tried as hard as possible to stick to the original recipe by Julia Child but ended up not having bacon, not having chicken with the bone in, had no mushrooms and so we ended up using potatoes and minced beef to replace those (well we had chicken thigh/ breasts but they didn't have the bone in them so we just used the ones we had). We were originally going to add in carrots as well (as another part of our improvisation but decided that the sweetness of the carrot probably won't go well with the bitterness of the red wine so we ended up eating that with a french onion dip as a starter. Since I was still hungry, I suggested that we have some brie cheese and some crackers while waiting for the coq a vin to cook (I guess that was our 2nd starter or a mini-entree). 30 minutes later and with a still-growling stomach, it was finally done! Here is what it looked like:
Served it with a glass of pinot noir. It did taste good but Pranav said that it wasn't THE BEST (yeah well go figure since we didn't use the original materials...he said that he will make the actual one sometime in the future and that it will be super delicious). So after that, I was still hungry and so I made myself a banana split while watching an episode of Gossip Girl and CSI NY with Pranav (I tried to spice things up by eating the banana split while covering myself up with my fleece blanket since I was cold hahah I'm convinced that I'm pretty crazy). Halfway through the shows I was like "Hmm, I think you're the only person who can tolerate my craziness.." and Pranav nodded. LOL. I spent half of the last part of CSI NY falling asleep though I did figure out what finally happened to the victims though!
All in all, it was a great fun-filled evening :)
Wow, I feel old.

Nice walk by the river followed by a hearty dinner

My roomie Pranav always goes for his daily "river walk" and I never come along (let's admit it, I am pretty lazy when it comes to walking and getting sweaty) but today I made it an exception and decided to come along. Turns out it was quite a scenic walk and a pretty relaxing one. I must say that I've realized quite a few things during this walk, one of which included the fact that I'm not such a great listener and that I tend to zone out when others are talking to me (then later on when they remind me of what they told me I don't remember hearing them speak of that, to their annoyance). It's a bad habit and I've come to strive to improve upon daily.
On top of that, knowing that the brain cannot actually multi-task efficiently, I've come to realize that giving someone or something my undivided attention would be a more efficient use of my time (i.e today afternoon for example, when my mom called me I was trying to listen to her while trying to cook my honey glazed chicken. Funniest thing was when our conversation ended and I hung up the phone, I recalled our conversation very hazily, and I had a hazy idea as to what I did to my chicken while I had this conversation with my mom.) Also, I realize that I tend to worry a lot about things- especially things out of my control. Worrying does not help solve things. Pranav was describing to me it's like a swimmer trying to get across to an island with weights tying him or her down (weight equivalent to worries and burdens of being attached to material possessions). We spoke about attachment to material possessions as well since I raised the topic of this book I am reading by Robin Sharma called "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" that points out that attachment to material possessions is one of the causes of unhappiness.
He then described to me the origins of yoga and the importance of controlling your breathing. Apparently once you master your breathing, you can master your mind. (I think this is important because then you can be disciplined enough to focus on one thing only- once again, be more efficient). This is a goal that I also strive to work towards- having discipline of my own mind.

Along the way, we saw a few pretty houses by the river and got to talking about what kinds of houses we see ourselves settling down in in the future- he prefers the more traditional ones (chateau looking ones) while I prefer the modern-looking ones (preferably ones that are 2 storeys) with the glass decks (more minimalistic style I suppose).

The walk itself was pretty long, I'd say it took us around 2 hours in total but it was really relaxing and allowed me time to self-reflect through my conversations with Pranav. When we got back home, we made dinner with our other roomie Christine. Christine made some salad (tomatoes with spinach and feta goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette) while Pranav made his chicken salad. I made steak pita with caramelized onions and steak with Japanese teriyaki sauce, pineapples, lettuce and tomatoes (I made too much and the fillings would not fit the small pita so I put it all on top of the pita and things were constantly falling out- it got messy though it was delicious!). Then we cleaned up our entire kitchen and then I made us some Cadbury hot chocolate with marshmallow (inspired by my Qantas flight- I was served this exact same concoction and it was delish!) and we sat around and chatted for a bit. Then Pranav went to stick his head into a bowl of steaming water with eucalyptus oil and looked really silly doing it. I took some pictures of it but felt bad since he was hacking up his lungs. It was funny nonetheless. So now I'm exhausted but I do feel content. Even though I did not do much studying (actually none), I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit.

Finally, a perfect eggs benedict!

Perfectly poached eggs, melted brie cheese, perfectly toasted english muffin and hollandaise sauce homemade goodness (except for the hollandaise sauce because the last time I did that I used so many eggs aka 13 eggs over a span of 3 days...i might keel over soon because of that) = heaven. It's DEFINITELY going to be a good day!


As you can tell, I have not yet figured out how to rotate this diagram on this blogging platform...tips anyone?

Good love is on its way!

So I woke up early today (aka 4am) and ended up watching John Mayer's Where the light is DVD that I just bought a few weeks ago via amazon.c a and I must say, it's one of the best live performances recorded ever (well I haven't been to many but I'd like to say it's pretty up there). This DVD has 3 different performances- acoustic set, trio set and the band set- all 3 are amazing and I would have a hard time picking a favourite. Alright, well John Mayer may be a douchebag when he's not singing, but I must give it to him, his recorded live performances reaches deep within my soul (I shit you not) and makes me feel these raw emotions I've never felt before . I love the passion he shows when he performs his music. So to honour his musical geniusness (wow that's not even a word), I basically compiled my favourite screen shots of him. Notice his facial expressions- they are all borderline sexual and it's amazing how much he gets into his music.