Monday, 29 December 2008
Breads
I am not an all-time bread lover, but i do fancy most types of breads. :) I love breads, ranging from the normal plain toast (like those in Siang Malam), to those with ingredients and toppings.
oh, provided, they must be fresh of course. :) I've never personally been to a real bakery where bread and pastry are prepared, but I once captured a video of Frau Grau (a german lady) baking fresh bread in a traditional German way. She does it not as a job, but she bakes almost every other week, and the amount she does is enormous, enough to last her whole family for many days.
Speaking of which, i find the practice very interesting. Firstly, there is no additives added (hence she bakes frequently to provide fresh bread supply for the family), it is cost saving (no electricity, no gas), and the bread can be prepared to one's taste (she has her own recipe for each type of bread, of course). On top of all, the most unique thing is that a huge stone-oven is used, instead of any other normal oven. I believe (and tried with my very own tongue!), the aroma and taste of the breads are unique their own!
Bread is said to be one of the oldest prepared foods, and it is a staple food in many parts of the world. I guess that's how the word 'breadwinner' is coined? :)
And now, time to for getting some real sleep. I need to work tomorrow and i cant seem to be bothered about not being sleepy yet at this wee hour.
Thursday, 25 December 2008
My First Christmas Ornaments
.
People say christmas ornaments are one of the simplest yet greatest way to express love and cheer of the season.
This year, WC greeted me with Christmas ornaments specially ordered from the Royal Selangor. I woke up today and decided to make a photo out of the 7 ornaments. The snowflake, Xmas tree, jingle bell, holly, pressie, candy cane and stocking... I truly treasure each of them because the beauty of the season is silently expressed in these sparkling ornaments. They create some sort of magical moments, deep in my heart. They bring memories of the past and they bring hope of the future.
And i told myself, "there is a reason to the season".
Merry Christmas. :)
This year, WC greeted me with Christmas ornaments specially ordered from the Royal Selangor. I woke up today and decided to make a photo out of the 7 ornaments. The snowflake, Xmas tree, jingle bell, holly, pressie, candy cane and stocking... I truly treasure each of them because the beauty of the season is silently expressed in these sparkling ornaments. They create some sort of magical moments, deep in my heart. They bring memories of the past and they bring hope of the future.
And i told myself, "there is a reason to the season".
Merry Christmas. :)
Monday, 15 December 2008
The Starwalk: Dec 14, 2008
I am a speed-walking virgin, and the Starwalk 2008 was indeed my first experience of such marathon. Since i've only tried long-distance running during my undergrad years, speed-walking is definitely more strenous than I thought it is!!
My sister agreed to join the competition category with me. :) This year, there were at least 14000 participants at the Penang StarWalk. That was amazingly a huge crowd! There were quite a lot of professional speedwalkers, especially the males.
i well knew that speedwalking demands lots of motivation and stamina. With only 2 weeks of last-minute training, i was pessimistic about keeping my pace at a constant speed for the entire 10km walk. And so i thought it would be a good idea to spot some speedwalkers who were walking at a perfect pace for me to catch up with.
I spotted a young lady in her late 20's with a trim and spare figure of a marathon walker; I think she is even smaller than I am!! Her arm swings were swift, and she moved with a spectacular pace, well-coordinated with her feet movement. She didnt make giant steps, but one thing was that she kept to a constant speed, so she hardly slowed down. Her graceful movement really made me gazed in awe! I followed her pace and immitated her rhythm. It was pretty strenous at first, but after a while, i found myself walking comfortably at the pace she was walking. I tagged behind her closely, but never did overtake her.
I could only manage to follow her for the first 4-ish kilometres, until an Indian guy came tapping on my shoulder. The guy pointed at my right foot, and gahhhhhhhh, then did i realise my shoe lace was loose!!! I was so reluctant to make a halt, but i knew i had to. Hastily, i went to the side of the road and had my shoelace tied up. As i looked up, the lady whom i was tailing a while ago was no longer in my sight. I somewhat lost my motivation to carry on initially. I got up anyway and continued to walk, but i knew i was going slower than i was in the first half of the course.
Along the way, I continued to follow a couple of other speedwalkers, but at some stretch, i was merely walking at a leisure speed... It's really amazing how the true speedwalkers keep themselves motivated to go at a constant speed without much slowing down. I really admire those speedwalking marathoners.
I was already sweating from head to toe when i finally saw the finishing banner. As i hit the finishing point, i heaved a big sigh of relief. My time was 1:16:14.
To my surprise, i then realised that i was under the women junior veterans category. I actually did feel strange when i saw many women in their 30's or 40's in the same category i was in. lol! My sister reached shortly after, making it to be entitled the certificate of completion below 2 hours as well (I'm so proud of her, coz she hardly had time to train up prior to the walk!)
we then checked the list of winners, and to yet another surprise, I saw my number on the 13th placing. we were both really laughing our lungs out as i would be getting a medal for the wrong category; the Junior VETERANS' category! I guess there must be some confusion during the registration... That being said, if i were to be in the Womens' Open category, my placing could have been pulled down to 25th or so as there were more participants in that category.
I was glad anyway and we had great fun that sunday. lots of free-flow drinks. lots of free gifts. plenty of lucky draw prizes, none of which were we able to grab home though. And to bring home a medal was not what i expected for at the end of the day, so i was really counting my blessings. More importantly is that i learnt to appreciate the art of speedwalking. I hope there will be a return to popularity of speedwalking among the people, so you won't get stared for walking with such awkward and strange-looking mode of locomotion!
Digress. After a tiring walk that Sunday, i thought i should just reward myself with the Elle dress which i was yearning to get earlier on. It was on sales anyway in Queensbay, so i made a second trip there just for that. :)
Some photos to follow:
My sister agreed to join the competition category with me. :) This year, there were at least 14000 participants at the Penang StarWalk. That was amazingly a huge crowd! There were quite a lot of professional speedwalkers, especially the males.
i well knew that speedwalking demands lots of motivation and stamina. With only 2 weeks of last-minute training, i was pessimistic about keeping my pace at a constant speed for the entire 10km walk. And so i thought it would be a good idea to spot some speedwalkers who were walking at a perfect pace for me to catch up with.
I spotted a young lady in her late 20's with a trim and spare figure of a marathon walker; I think she is even smaller than I am!! Her arm swings were swift, and she moved with a spectacular pace, well-coordinated with her feet movement. She didnt make giant steps, but one thing was that she kept to a constant speed, so she hardly slowed down. Her graceful movement really made me gazed in awe! I followed her pace and immitated her rhythm. It was pretty strenous at first, but after a while, i found myself walking comfortably at the pace she was walking. I tagged behind her closely, but never did overtake her.
I could only manage to follow her for the first 4-ish kilometres, until an Indian guy came tapping on my shoulder. The guy pointed at my right foot, and gahhhhhhhh, then did i realise my shoe lace was loose!!! I was so reluctant to make a halt, but i knew i had to. Hastily, i went to the side of the road and had my shoelace tied up. As i looked up, the lady whom i was tailing a while ago was no longer in my sight. I somewhat lost my motivation to carry on initially. I got up anyway and continued to walk, but i knew i was going slower than i was in the first half of the course.
Along the way, I continued to follow a couple of other speedwalkers, but at some stretch, i was merely walking at a leisure speed... It's really amazing how the true speedwalkers keep themselves motivated to go at a constant speed without much slowing down. I really admire those speedwalking marathoners.
I was already sweating from head to toe when i finally saw the finishing banner. As i hit the finishing point, i heaved a big sigh of relief. My time was 1:16:14.
To my surprise, i then realised that i was under the women junior veterans category. I actually did feel strange when i saw many women in their 30's or 40's in the same category i was in. lol! My sister reached shortly after, making it to be entitled the certificate of completion below 2 hours as well (I'm so proud of her, coz she hardly had time to train up prior to the walk!)
we then checked the list of winners, and to yet another surprise, I saw my number on the 13th placing. we were both really laughing our lungs out as i would be getting a medal for the wrong category; the Junior VETERANS' category! I guess there must be some confusion during the registration... That being said, if i were to be in the Womens' Open category, my placing could have been pulled down to 25th or so as there were more participants in that category.
I was glad anyway and we had great fun that sunday. lots of free-flow drinks. lots of free gifts. plenty of lucky draw prizes, none of which were we able to grab home though. And to bring home a medal was not what i expected for at the end of the day, so i was really counting my blessings. More importantly is that i learnt to appreciate the art of speedwalking. I hope there will be a return to popularity of speedwalking among the people, so you won't get stared for walking with such awkward and strange-looking mode of locomotion!
Digress. After a tiring walk that Sunday, i thought i should just reward myself with the Elle dress which i was yearning to get earlier on. It was on sales anyway in Queensbay, so i made a second trip there just for that. :)
Some photos to follow:
Monday, 8 December 2008
December: weekdays' work and weekends' getaways
was on 'haji-shift' today, so i went to work in the morning with my senior-head of department. We had to compound special nutrition drips (technically, it's called TPN - total parenteral nutrition) for babies who require them in the ward.
I went to the neonates' ward one evening last week to clerk some cases with a colleague. At first sight of the babies, my heart smiled as though they were the prettiest thing i have seen after one whole day of work. But after a while, i felt a deep twitch in my heart when i saw some premie babies crying away. These little angels are so adorable, yet being born premature, it's a tough fight to begin their lives. Premie babies usually have a myriad of health problems, and they need intensive medical support.
Currently, there are a few babies in the ward who require TPN (total parenteral nutrition) so my job is to compound drips for them. It's already been one week since i was transferred to this department, and i find that i'm learning a lot of useful techniques from my senior and the assistant pharmacist in charge.. It's all about time management, familiarity of the aseptic protocol, compounding methods, calculations etc.. oh well, it can be quite stressful, but i love the challenge somewhat.
On a lighter note, I had a great night at the Jazz Festival in Ferringghi last weekend. Thanks to 5kor for the free tickets, we really had good fun that night. The stage performances were absolutely excellent, particularly the one by the Hungarian band, DJABE and the UK top guitarist Steve Hackett.
time flies, and new year is soon approaching. :) December is going to be brisk and busy for me.. That applies to both work and activities. Will be having another work-shift on the 29th. but on the bright side, each of my weekend is now occupied, so being busy at work is nothing to complain about if it is punctuated by having great getaways during the weekends.
I went to the neonates' ward one evening last week to clerk some cases with a colleague. At first sight of the babies, my heart smiled as though they were the prettiest thing i have seen after one whole day of work. But after a while, i felt a deep twitch in my heart when i saw some premie babies crying away. These little angels are so adorable, yet being born premature, it's a tough fight to begin their lives. Premie babies usually have a myriad of health problems, and they need intensive medical support.
Currently, there are a few babies in the ward who require TPN (total parenteral nutrition) so my job is to compound drips for them. It's already been one week since i was transferred to this department, and i find that i'm learning a lot of useful techniques from my senior and the assistant pharmacist in charge.. It's all about time management, familiarity of the aseptic protocol, compounding methods, calculations etc.. oh well, it can be quite stressful, but i love the challenge somewhat.
On a lighter note, I had a great night at the Jazz Festival in Ferringghi last weekend. Thanks to 5kor for the free tickets, we really had good fun that night. The stage performances were absolutely excellent, particularly the one by the Hungarian band, DJABE and the UK top guitarist Steve Hackett.
time flies, and new year is soon approaching. :) December is going to be brisk and busy for me.. That applies to both work and activities. Will be having another work-shift on the 29th. but on the bright side, each of my weekend is now occupied, so being busy at work is nothing to complain about if it is punctuated by having great getaways during the weekends.
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