My favorite granola bar

Can't find this anymore at grocery stores nearby...even tried to buy online but can only find the older version :(

CNY potluck

Yee Sang for CNY dinner at SY's

Carrot Muffin with Frosty Top

Made some muffins yesterday.



Recipe from Jamie Oliver's website.

Harry Potter World

Last December, Pei Ying, Will and I decided to take a side trip to Universal Studio when we went to Florida for the course of professionalism. I was very excited about going there because I had long for visiting Harry Potter World. I always wondered: How does butter beer taste like? How does it feels like to be in Honeydukes, filled with candies of all sorts? How's Hogsmeade? How's Hogwarts...It was almost like a dream come true to finally go there. I tried not to build up my expecation but it was really hard not to do so.

We met up with Hui Ying and her sister in Orlando and together, we went to Island of Adventure on Day 1. We headed to Harry Potter World after going into the park.

The first thing we saw was Hogwarts Express

We hopped on the first ride that we saw- the Dragon Challenge. It used to be the Fire and Ice dragon ride. I don't really remember if it was Fire or Ice that we took but it was fun. It would have been more enjoyable had I not worry about losing my slippers throughout the ride.

Next, we took the Hippogriff Ride. There was nothing too exciting about this ride. I think it was made for younger children. After that, we got into the line to wait for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride in the castle.

The wait for this ride was about 45 minutes. However, there are a lot of stuff in the castle to look at while we were waiting.

Dumberdore's office

the sorting hat awaits before the ride

The ride was well worth the wait despite the nausea from it and the sudden halt in the middle of the ride. That was the best ride in the park. We went to Jurassic Park and Marvel Super Hero Island before we came back to HP World. Will was freezing in his t-shirt and decided to get a sweater. As we were walking to HP World, it started to warm up.

I could finally see some sunshine

Will decided to take another ride on the Forbidden Journey instead. I walked around while waiting for him. By noon, the park was fulled of muggles.

muggles, muggles, muggles

I walked around Hogsmeade while waiting. Zonko's and Honeydukes were packed with people. The jokes and toys available were so so and the candies at Honeydukes were mostly normal candies decorated in different package to resemble the ones in the novel. I wonder why were there so many people in these stores. After visiting those stores, I walked around and saw Ollivanders and the Owl Post.

outside Ollivander's

I didn't get into Dervish and Banges (which has a line at the entrance) before I got a call from Will. After meeting up with Will and Pei Ying (who was back from the Poseidon Fury show), we had lunch at the Three Broomsticks. The setting at the restaurant was nice but the food was not good. I barely ate the food that I got. I also tried the Butter Beer and thought that it tasted like root beer float.

Next, we went to the other parts of the park, such as

.

I) Incredible Hulk Coaster

My attempt to take a picture of Pei Ying and Will didn't went well

II) Toon Lagoon (Make sure to get a rain coat for the water rides)

Will and I coming down from the Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls . You can't really tell if it was us.

Zoom in. Better?

Can't see me again. I was hiding behind Will

III) Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges

Almost everyone got out soaking wet from this ride which was constantly turning in a "river". I was "less wet" because the rain coat could cover me down to my knees. I guess there are some advantages for being shorter than average. However, Pei Ying and Will's pants were all wet when we came out and hence the next stop was:

In to the human dryer!!!!

We explored a few other places before going back to HP world. When we arrived, there was no line at the Forbidden Journey and so we decided to take the ride again. The ride was smooth this time. Later, we went into Dervish and Banges to get souvenirs. There were uniforms, brooms, t-shirts and all kind of things in the store. I got myself a Gryffindor scarf.

After that, we headed back to the hotel to get a change of clothes before going out for dinner.

Thanksgiving

During thanksgiving, I went to Ann Arbor to have thanksgiving dinner at Huey Shann's place. It was a potluck and I spent quite a long time deciding what to cook. After some research online, I went with the garlic and sage pork tenderloin and sweet potato cannelloni from Martha Stewart's website.

I took a very long time to prepare the cannelloni. The recipe requires cutting the sweet potatoes into thin slices; boiling it in hot water for about 2 minutes; and then rolling it up with some filling inside. The potato slices would snap into halves when I try to roll it. In the end, I gave up on rolling it and made a sandwich style instead.

Siew Gee style "sweet potato sandwich"

The one and only cannelloni that I managed to make

Compared to the cannelloni, the pork tenderloin was sooo much easier to make. The prep time is no longer than 10 minutes and after that, I just have to put it in the oven and...

ta-da....it's done

Now that I look at this picture, I think I might have slice the pork a little too thin

The pork turned out pretty good, but the cannelloni was just ok and I thought that it did not worth the prep effort. I'm still holding off on trying to roast a turkey. Maybe next year, I'll try to make this thanksgiving must have dish.

Lastly, I hope everyone had a great time during thanksgiving :)

Trial and error

When I was studying for Exam 5, there were all these things that came into my mind that I thought of doing after exam. However, after exam, I did not really do much except for some reading and relaxing. Luckily, one thing that I managed to do was to bake some cakes. Some of them turned out ok while others might do better with a bit of adjustment. Here are the results from some recipes that I tried out:

1) Pandan Chiffon Cake (click here for recipe)

I baked the pandan cake for one of the Malaysian potluck. Taste wise, it was alright but the cake didn't rise as much as it should. Huey Shann and I thought that it might be due to the fact that I did not use a tube pan.

2) Tiramisu (click here for recipe)

I have been craving for tiramisu and hence I decided to try making tiramisu for the second time. I found a new recipe and thought that I would succeed this time....However, the cake was not as good as I expected. This time, I used too much of coffee and the bottom layer was kind of "flooded" and the cream became too runny. I think the recipe is alright and hopefully I would do better in my 3rd attempt :)

3) Carrot cake (click here for recipe)

Last Wednesday, I tried baking a carrot cake to bring it to our annual department picnic. I added a little more cinnamon then the quantity shown on the recipe and used one instead of two lime for the frosting. I am pretty happy with the taste of the cake.

Now that I started studying, I don't know when would be the next time that I would be in the mood of baking.

Fun time is always too short

DDR Game- when exercise gets fun!!!

I found a new way of exercising, as you can see, by playing DDR. I decided that I like the game enough to justify buying the metal pad since the rubber/plastic one is kind of slippery.

The investment is worth every penny. I am having so much of fun with the game and I play almost every evening until...

A NEIGHBOR CAME TODAY AND COMPLAINED ABOUT THE NOISE!!!

She was not being mean and I understand how annoying it would be if someone who is living upstairs keeps making noise. I did not know that it would cause so much of noise for them and I feel terribly sorry. However, at the same time, I am just sad that I can no longer play something that I enjoy so much. I don't think I should continue playing until I think of a better solution. All that I can think about now is either:

A) stop playing
B) move to a new place

I can't just move because of this, and hence I'm left with option A which I am very unhappy about.

A final glimpse of my new toy :(