Homeeeee!

Yep finally back home. Came back on Sunday, wanted to update my blog but somehow too lazy to do that! Reached home at around 3.15pm, was super hungry because had breakfast at around 10.30am at KLCC because I had to stop by there to get my mom's birthday present (will update that in another post) and then window shopped for a while (flat rate for 3 hours of parking, so might as well hang around a bit!) William followed me back so he was stuck with me window shopping at KLCC! Hahaha! Anyway we went to the Galeri Petronas where they had an exhibition titled "Imaging Selfs", portrats by Soeaya Yusof Talismail (it's free =P). Had loads of black and white photos using various types of print for photo representations of around 80 people in the artistic scene in Malaysia. Quite nice, although I wouldn't know how to "see" art, so I was just looking at the pics =)

Gotta go to the Janamanjung Power Plant for a visit related to FYP - just to learn more about the plant, nothing more. Hope I actually learn something there...so its back to Sitiawan for a daytrip! =)

Shepherd's Pie

So most of my friends are blogging about their love life, their marriage plans, fashion and makeup, their emoings or random stuff and here I am, blogging about food! Oh well...food's more interesting! (I am SO gonna be fat in no time!) I do think I spend most of my money on food...hmmm...

I have been watching FRIENDS and I saw that episode where Rachel was preparing dessert for Thanksgiving and she wanted to prepare an English Trifle but the pages of the recipe got stuck together and she ended up with a half English Trifle-half Shepherd's Pie! And then I remembered how good Shepherd's pie tastes and so I Googled the recipe (I will also die if I am cut off from the internet for too long-most people would die from dehydration first but I would die from being starved of the internet!). So here's the recipe, looks pretty simple =)

Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

Method

1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.

5 Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Serves four.

============================================================

It's making me hungry! Must try to make this sometime during the break. MmmMmmM =)

One more paper on Friday morning and I'm done for the semester!!

New layout

Suddenly I had the idea to rearrange the furniture in my room (in uni hostel). I guess I was bored with the current layout and also the fear that from the arrangement of my speakers it might be too loud and disturb my housemates (no complaints tho =))So after Principles of Management paper yesterday I did a massive rearrange and cleanup (lots of dust under the bed!) So here's the pics before and after.

Old layout:


New Layout:


Whaddaya think? It's like an office with a bed! hahaa! It's so cool! When anyone comes in my room I look up from the screen and go "yes, may I help u?" Hahaha!

Ok..gotta continue studying Power Generation now...

Hooray!

Petrol price reduced! So must go pour petrol tomorrow! =D

Top Gear will be back on Sunday night (in UK)! Yay!!! Can't wait to watch Top Gear again!! =D

Those are great news. Unfortunately, the weather has been really weird lately. First, a few weeks ago, it kept raining every few hours and the weather was gloomy and all. Now, its so hot I can't study! =( Even when it gets cloudy there's no rain! =(

Too much rain, feel like sleeping. No rain, hot weather, cannot study. =_="

Some pics of clouds to brighten this blog:

Woooohooooo!!!

No more EMS (Electro-Mechanical Systems)! No more electrical subjects for us Mechanical Engineers to take! For this subject I actually learnt more in 2 days than during the many weeks of lectures...haha! Woohooo!!! One paper down, 4 more to go!!

Sunday morning (Sunday also must have exams...not fair!!) - Principles of Management (POM)

Tuesday afternoon - Power Generation (Must score A!! If not..major burn..haha!)

Wednesday morning - Engineers in Society (EIS) - This one...highest also can get B only I guess...thanks to the biased lecturer!

Friday morning - Heating, Ventilating & Air Conditioning (HVAC) - This paper...is a mixture of Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer and other stuff...another subject where I dunno what's happening...and since my Thermodynamics sucks, I have to memorize everything...not very good eh..but what to do...lecturer talks to the slides during lectures...

I had a break yesterday after EMS paper (only finish one paper lepak d?? =_=") so today must study extra hard! =)

Egg Sandwich

I'm sure you all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Which is why I decided to have 'Phoebe's Big Breakfast' instead of 'Phoebe's Big Lunch' =P. So here's how I make my egg sandwich:

1. Boil 2 eggs
2. Mash eggs with white pepper and margarine
3. Put margarine on bread
4. Put mashed eggs, then add layer of tomato slices, tomato sauce and slice of cheese
5. Put 2nd layer on and you have an egg sandwich!
6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 for 2nd sandwich
7. Eat sandwich slowly to enjoy to the fullest

MmmmmMMMmmMMmmmM =D

Some pics:


Ingredients: Hard boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes, cheese slice, tomato sauce, white pepper, margarine, bread


Bread+egg+tomato slices+tomato sauce+cheese slice+margarine


Egg sandwich tower!

So that was my breakfast for Monday morning...not very festive eh...but it was good and healthy! Haha..It didn't really feel like Deepavali cause I was just sitting in the apartment trying to study...

Returned safely

I thought I lost my 512MB pendrive for good, since the last time I remember using it was for the last Techflow meeting which was about 2 weeks ago. I only realized a few days later that I must have dropped somewhere when I took out my car keys from my pocket! I thought I'd never see it again but amazingly, it has returned! Last night Sarah n Agnes went to Al-Salam in Kajang for dinner and the workers who found it kept it nicely and safely and returned it to them. You see, after Techflow 2 weeks ago we went there for late dinner/supper and as usual its the usual bunch of us so they remember us! It seems that they kept it in one of those small plastic zip-lock baggies. So kind of them =) There are still honest people in this world!!

Listening to Andrea Bocelli =) Swaying along to the music!

Jalan Alor or Jalan Kejora?

Taken from Thestar.com.my

It’s decided - Jalan Alor will keep its name

KUALA LUMPUR: Jalan Alor will keep its name - that’s the decision of Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique.

It is understood that the decision was made by him after listening to feedback from the public and City Hall following the uproar over the name change of the world-renowned street to Jalan Kejora.

Sources said the minister had taken into account the views of both sides before making the decision.

Bone of contention: Fong (left) looking on while a trader points at the new road sign.

However, Zulhasnan, when contacted, declined to confirm his decision, saying that it would be made known next week.

“I have listened to the explanation by the Datuk Bandar. I also understand the wishes of the people in Jalan Alor, especially the hawkers and traders in the area.

“I am fully aware that Jalan Alor is a world-renowned street, particularly its attraction as a food centre for tourists,” he said.

The name Jalan Alor has been in existence for 35 years. Alor means groove or lane in Bahasa Malaysia while Kejora means Venus, the second planet in the solar system.

Zulhasnan said he had studied the various views and had made a decision on the controversy.

“The Datuk Bandar will an­­nounce the decision next week, please be patient,” he said.

On Tuesday, Zulhasnan stepped in to intervene after many people voiced out against City Hall’s decision to rename Jalan Alor.

Zulhasnan said he had asked Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan, the Datuk Bandar, for a report on the rationale for the name change.

On Tuesday, The Star reported that web portal Yahoo! returned more than 900,000 results for a search on “Jalan Alor” while news of the name change made it across the globe.

Ab Hakim had said that the decision to rename the road was planned three years ago, with other roads in the Bukit Bintang area to be renamed after planets to create a new image.

Earlier yesterday, traders and residents of Jalan Alor embarked on a signature campaign to protest against the change in the road name.

A group of about 30 traders gathered at the road junction, shouting: “We want Alor! We want Alor!”

Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, who organised the campaign, said the traders and residents found the name change a nuisance as they would need to revise their business address, company letterheads, business cards, rubber stamps and update the details in their MyKad, bank accounts and other legal documents.

“This is stupid! I have eight websites and now I have to change the addresses in all of them,” said a businessman.

“It is such stupid move and we are hoping that the DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) will change its mind on this,” trader Lee Kien Kee said.

Fong said he would submit the signatures to the Datuk Bandar next week.

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Makes you wonder, these people got nothing better to do issit? Just sit around and plan for 3 years to change road names? And name them after planets??? It's so sad that they want to change the road names of many famous roads. Especially those from the colonial era which sounds just fine, in face nicer and easier to pronounce than their current names, I think. Especially those roads named after royalty/famous people/??. Like all those nice road names in Ipoh, now changed. When my mom brings me somewhere in town, she remember's it by its old name, and then we see that its some weird name now. They just wanna erase all evidence that we were colonized. (I think I read that in an article sometime ago about changing road names) Honestly, if the new name is decent enough I wouldn't mind. In another article, it was stated that "ROAD names in Kuala Lumpur are changed to make life easier for the postman when delivering letters." If the postmen are good at their jobs, they would know the road names and locations by heart in a matter of days lah! Don't you think changing the names would confuse them?? =_=""" Seriously...why don't these people with power do something more useful? You should read the second article and see for yourself how ridiculous people and rules can get.

Spaghetti ala Phoebeee

As I mentioned earlier, I went to Cold Storage and bought loads of groceries. Among the foodstuff I bought was for spaghetti =D. So here's how I cook spaghetti (everything here is approximate, cause I don't really know the recipe =P):

Ingredients:
2 tomatoes
2 bombay onions
400g minced meat
1 can tomato puree
2 cans prego cheese & herbs
oregano
1 can button mushrooms (slice/dice)
500g spaghetti (boiled and kept for future meals)
2 tbsp olive oil (healthier and italian =P)

Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins (can also clean while cooking)
Serves 10 or more meals (depends on the consumer)

Method:
1. Heat up olive oil
2. Stir fry diced onions
3. Add meat and cook till meat is brown
4. Add Prego and then tomato puree
5. Add mushrooms and then diced tomatoes
6. Add oregano to heart's content
7. Keep stirring and add water if necessary.

If you have another rice cooker you can boil the spaghetti while cooking the sauce. Add some salt in the water, and boil spaghetti till it expands a little. Around 15 mins. You can break the spaghetti in half so that it fits in the pan and will be easier to eat =) After boiling, strain the water and mix with some olive oil to prevent spaghetti from sticking together.


Trusty ol' rice cooker

Ingredients:

L-R, clockwise: diced tomatoes, minced meat, diced onions, button mushrooms


L-R: Kimball's Tomato Puree, Prego's Cheese & Herbs, McCormick's Ground Oregano


Voila! Food & Photograph: Phoebe, Plate: WZ's from IKEA

MMmmmmmmmmm....awesome!! It's how my mom cooks it except the proportions are different (more meat, more tomatoes and onions)...i think =P Tastes good anyway!!

LOL!

more animals
Other humins have OCD too!

I heart Cold Storage!

Went grocery shopping at Cold Storage (they have the most awesome stuff!) in Alamanda last Tuesday night and bought up to RM100 worth of groceries! Not surprising though...last time I managed RM140...but wait, that was shared with WZ...so...hmm...anyway with so much food now, I have no money left to go out and eat. Will be hibernating in the apartment until finals ends I guess...

Saw this yogurt thingy there...hmmm...funny name...haha!

Humor Dos and Don'ts

Interesting article found on IEEE Spectrum

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Carl Selinger
First Published October 2008

Optimist: The glass is half full. Pessimist: The glass is half empty. Engineer: The glass needs to be redesigned.

I’ve told that joke at parties many times and have always gotten a laugh. Tell it to a group of senior engineers who have heard it a hundred times, though, and you’ll get a polite, stony silence at best. Your ability to use humor can play a positive role in your career, but judgment is called for. Here are a few dos and don’ts.

Back in 1997, I met baseball legend Henry “Hank” Aaron. He had arrived early for a meeting at my office. We were alone, and he seemed uncomfortable. Sensing this, I had the New York brashness to tease him about the recent World Series in which the Yankees beat his former team, the Braves. We had a good laugh. Use humor to break the ice.

In those days, one of my co-workers regularly fell asleep in the afternoon while reading. One day our supervisor beckoned us to Andy’s cubicle, where he gently placed a note on his reading material that said, “We’re all watching you!” Andy woke up, saw the note, and looked around sheepishly. We were in hysterics. A bonding experience! Playful stunts can lighten the mood, so long as they don’t offend.

The safer strategy is to tell jokes about yourself and your own foibles. For example, in person, I can implicitly refer to my own appearance. I’m 5 feet 5 inches [1.65 meters] tall and bald. So when others complain they’re having “a bad hair day,” I say, “Every day is a bad hair day for me.” If a program is running late and the moderator asks me to be short, I say, “I’m always short.” Develop your sense of self-deprecating humor.

Those jokes rely on my physical presence, where people can also see me smile. Humor frequently doesn’t convey itself in e-mail. The slightest sarcasm can come across as mean. Using emoticons, such as a :-) or a “wink” ;-), can help. Ensure your messages are taken in the spirit you intended.

Even a joke that is guaranteed to be funny can get you a bad workplace reputation with people who might be put off by these trivial spamlike messages. Don’t mindlessly forward e-mail jokes at work.

On the other hand, you can send free e‑cards for many situations, such as thank-yous, congratulations, and other sentiments. They can be a refreshing change. Just make sure they’re appropriate for a business communication. There’s more to humor than telling jokes. Find ways to add a lighter touch to all your communications.

Rarely are we engineers called upon to entertain, but we often make presentations where humor can hold the audience’s interest and reinforce our points. I was on the engineering panel at a middle school career day recently, and while I didn’t tell any actual jokes, the principal later thanked me for “being so funny.” For example, when I had the students calculate the minimum required “red time” interval at a street intersection, I pretended to be a slow-moving older pedestrian crossing the street. My overacted role-playing was effective and lighthearted. Integrate humor into your talks.

You’ve probably seen cartoons in presentations where the caption is too small to be read, or you just don’t get the point of it. On the other hand, popular comic strips like Dilbert and Peanuts can be useful. I’ve used a Peanuts cartoon to illustrate stress: the first three panels show Charlie Brown lying wide awake all through the night; the last panel shows him standing on the pitcher’s mound, thinking, “Before a big game, there shouldn’t have to be a night before.” Humorous slides must relate to the content. Cartoons must be clear.

There’s a diverse audience out there, and different people find different things funny, or even offensive, so be careful and err on the side of caution. Hank Aaron and I come from disparate worlds—enough so that insulting his team was a bit risky. Be careful of cultural differences.

Humor can be an important facet of your work—and personal—life. Use it wisely.

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So, be careful when you joke =)

OCD

I can't stand it when the dishes on the dish rack are not arranged according to the order I've set...it's worse when its just randomly chucked on the dish rack...It's not hazardous or anything but why don't the rest feel the same way about the order of dishes?? I mean...it's so much easier on the eyes when its in a proper order right?

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do

The first thing that crossed my mind when I was watching Mamma Mia! at the cinema a few weeks back was "If only I was part of the band that was playing all the songs!!" It wasn't even "Hey these people are great actors/actresses" (Ok that was my second thought). My point is, I wish I was playing in a band. But unfortunately I don't play the piano/guitar that well so I can only play up to a sad level! Can't play Abba here unless I have a keyboard =P Anyway after a few weeks of continuously listening to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack and singing along until my throat hurt (I think I know why it's been raining a lot recently...hahaha!) I switched back to listening to James Morrison. He's really awesome! If you haven't heard his song 'You make it real' then go and get the album! Or watch or listen to it on Youtube! Or download it! His songs are easy to play also, and it's easy to sing cause it's low notes! Here's one of my fave songs from his latest album:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE DON'T STOP THE RAIN - James Morrison
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tabbed by: xMaxie77

Tuning: Standard

Am C Dm Am G

Am C
I don't know where I crossed the line
Dm
Was it something that I said
Am G
Or didn't say this time
Am C
And I don't know if it's me or you
Dm
But I can see the skies are changing
Am G
In all the shades of blue
F G
And I don't know which way it's gonna go

C F
If it's gonna be a rainy day
Am
There's nothing we can do to make it change
G
We can pray for sunny weather
C
But that won't stop the rain
F
Feeling like you got no place to run
Am
I can be your shelter 'til it's done
G
We can make this last forever

C
So please don't stop the rain
F
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Am
Please don't stop the rain
G
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Am
Please don't stop the rain

C
I thought that time was on our side
Dm
I've put in far too many years
Am G
To let this pass us by
Am C
You see live is a crazy thing
Dm
There'll be good time and there'll be bad times
Am G
And everything in between
F G
And I don't know which way it's gonna go

C F
If it's gonna be a rainy day
Am
There's nothing we can do to make it change
G
We can pray for sunny weather
C
But that won't stop the rain
F
Feeling like you got no place to run
Am
I can be your shelter 'til it's done
G
We can make this last forever

C
So please don't stop the rain
F
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Am
Please don't stop the rain
G
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)

Please don't stop the rain

Dm C G
Oh we're a little closer now
Dm C G
And finding what life's it's all about
Dm Am
Yeah I know you just can't stand it
C G
When things don't go your way
Dm G
But we've got no control over what happens anyway


C F
If it's gonna be a rainy day
Am
There's nothing we can do to make it change
G
We can pray for sunny weather
C
But that won't stop the rain
F
Feeling like you got no place to run
Am
I can be your shelter 'til it's done
G
We can make this last forever

C
So please don't stop the rain
F
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
Am
Please don't stop the rain
G
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
C
Please don't stop the rain
F
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)

Can't stop it, can't stop it, just can't stop the rain
Am
(Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall)
G
Let it fall, please don't stop the rain
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Awesome song! Other notable songs in this album (Click for chords):

1. The Only Night
2. Save Yourself
3. You Make It Real
4. Broken Strings (ft. Nelly Furtado) (Easier if you capo 1st fret and transpose chords half step down)
5. Nothing Ever Hurt Like You
6. Once When I Was Little

From his first album, Undiscovered:

1. If The Rain Must Fall
2. Undiscovered
3. You Give Me Something

From his Live at the Sydney Opera House album:

1. Waltzing Matilda
2. Please Don't Talk About Me
3. Mack The Knife
4. Wonderful World (Instrumental)

Fingers got blister d!!!

How we face exams

Got this in a forwarded mail a long time ago..it's so funny and true:

New school semester:


At the first week:


At the second week:


Before the mid-term test:


During the mid-term test:


After the mid-term test:


Before the final exam:


Once know the final exam schedule:


7 days before final exam:


6 days before final exam:


5 days before final exam:


4 days before final exam:


3 days before final exam:


2 days before final exam:


1 day before final exam:


A night before final exam:


1 hour before final exam:


During the final exam:


Once walk out from the exam hall:


After the final exam, during the holiday:



Have a nice day!!