RockMyCore

It's been a long 2012.
An even longer 2013.

And now, it's already 2014.

Sorry I've been away for so long.

Saying time passes by fast is really an understatement. Purely an understatement.

A lot has changed.
Life has changed.
I HAVE CHANGED.

Life has lotsa lessons to teach those riding it's waves. And I for sure have had the turbulent waves and the calm currents. And I am deniably grateful for it, as much as I can deny and argue about it.

Well of course I ain't the same ol' Gaijin I was with the last post here. So much has changed. Like they always say, the only constant in life, is CHANGE.

The biggest change right now of course, is National Service.
Never was, never am, never will be a fan of it.


I went into NS with absolutely no expectations, no dreams or with any promises. 
Nor did I intend to come out a Gladiator.
But what I have gained, are the wonderful friends I've made along the way. Nothing can beat that.

Life now is the continual process of booking in on a Sunday, waiting impatiently and wasting my life away till Friday. Book out and live life till the whole damn process repeats itself.

I remember the day Instagram came out. And I laughed at the idea. Same with Tumblr and Twitter. 
And now, they're where my world lies now.

I'm sorry RockMyCore. 
Trying to find the time to sit down and type things out is so hard for an NS boy. 
I'm rarely at home in the first place.

But I promise I'll be back on regular basis.

Well it's not like my life is so full of adventures anyway.


But then again...

I am Gaijin.

That was fast. A week has already passed.

Damn. Soon I'll be saying that 4 months was fast.

We even celebrated Xiao Gang's birthday!



Work has officially started.
Official as in desk and chair and everything.
I even got a plant :D

Okay, camera's are strictly prohibited but sssssh yeah?
Therefore the kinda quick take shots.

  
Needa spruce up the place soon.

Make it more GAIJIN.
HAHA.
I have so much space you have no idea!

My colleagues are all friendly and funny. 
They don't dare face me in person to speak, so everything is done on MSN.
Quite cool actually.


I would say karma does kinda exist.
Or what goes around comes around shit.
My FYP sucked balls on planet dick when I had it.
I got the worst/heartless lab, managers, supervisors, lecturers whatever.
It was deplorable, unprofessional and just not standardized.

NYP has a lot of catching up to do.
They just gotta stop being so profit orientated and actually care for their students..

Okay better stop. 
Who knows my blog would have been put on STOMP.
Tsk.
Singapore

Well, I would say I have settled down already. Life's getting kinda normal.

The best part for me, is waking up to weather like this.
It's the bomb really.
Anyone who knows Gaijin will know that I would rather live in cold than to perspire like a pig constantly.


It's damn weird. 
Over here, every single day since I landed, I've been waking up at 6ish sharp.
Like automatically, and boom I'm roaming the apartment, getting breakfast and stuff.
Except weekends.
Teehee.

Now our daily lives are leave home at 8am sharp, catch the bus to work, get breakfast if hungry and off to work.
Well, that's our weekdays.
Quite straight forward actually.
Kinda got boring already.
Needa find more shit to do and places to go.

The food here in Wuhan is just awesome.
Well, mainly cause it's cheap...A BIG TURN ON.

But yeah. 
Most of the food here is somewhat spicy, cause of the dried chilies and peppers they use, which makes me their number one fan.
And it's a good thing I eat anything!
HAHA.
Which reminds me, I had some kind of meat during lunch and I had no idea what it was.
Well, it tasted okay..so no issues yeah.
As long as it tastes good and no one tells you, just eat it yeah?

Rice here is amazingly free flow.
Like seriously.
Cause well maybe cause everything is grown here....unlike Singapore.
So they can afford it.

I would say my favourite dish so far, and I'm sure many will agree is Re Gan Mian.

It was the first thing I ate when I got here and it's still something I eat the most!
It's famous all over these parts and boy is it good and filling.

Practically, it's just noodles that have been soaked in oil or something.
Then thrown into hot water and briefly shaken to remove most of the moisture and thrown into a bowl.
Then sesame paste/extremely nutty watery tahini is poured in.
Followed by pickled radishes, garlic, chives and spring onions.
Lastly, awesome chili oil.
Mix everything up and gobble it down.

It's perfection I tell you.
It's so good on a chilly morning and it really gets you going.

Add cilantro and vinegar and BOOM!
Even better.


This is the most common/basic type.
Apparently there's more.
But I'm happy with this.

Well also because I haven't gone round much and found any others! HAHA!

Oh by the way, Alex and I have started a food blog!
Just started!
But damn the untimely time to go on overseas attachment.
We can't do any blogposts together.

So most of my food photos would be there with more in depth detailing.
I can't wait for us to do posts together!
But from now till August we'll be going solo.

Damn...every time the word solo comes, that bloody song from Jason Derulo just keeps going on and on in my head.


Check it out!
The Gastronomic Crumble !


Food oh food.
Always comforts the soul no matter what the occasion.

And we finally got the stove working! 
Haha.
And I cooked our very first simple meal!


    

Yeah I know it's instant noodles and sausages.
But it's first cook out so chill bitches.

And oh did I mention we got a pet?
A terrapin!

Her name is Aleesha!

You must say it like you from da hood you know.

AH-LEEEEE-SHAH!

Haha.



Isn't she the cutest thing?
HAHA.


We visited Wuchang and Hankou  over the weekends.
The crazy Hu Bu Xiang and Jianghan Street!
The shopping and the food!
Oh my lord.

SO.....

I made my own birthday cake for my own birthday party.

Wowza!

Honestly, it's my very first MAJOR baking venture.

I have baked cakes/muffins/brownies before.
But nothing on this scale.

I'm actually better on the stove then on the oven.
Nya.

So, I actually had a little sprinkle of worry on it.

Mostly objection from the parents.
But me being Gaijin, I do what I wanna do babbyyy.

SO..
I went and did a little research and got what it is I was supposed to get.

And the process continues.

NIGHT BEFORE THE PARTY.

I started the baking.

I really wanted to be on the safe side.
So I cheated.
I bought White Wings Golden Buttercake ready make cake mix.


JUST IN CASE.
I didn't want to you know, like exceed on the salt/baking powder etc etc.
So I got two packs!

Quite simple and very straight forward.

Add eggs, butter and milk and vanilla essence.

And stir until there isn't any lumps and it's all smooth and awesome smelling.
I couldn't resist.
Had to swallow some.
Awesome shizzz.

Then, separate into as many proportions you want.
I only decided on 6 colours.


Separate and add the food colouring.
Then stir until the colouring is completely diluted.


I had the hands of a toddler who played with paint!
HAHA.

Then, it was all baking.
Pour and level in buttered baking dishes.


Preheat oven to 180`C.
And bake.

Sadly, I have a tiny microwave convection oven.
So, I could only bake two trays at a time.

And by the time I finished, it was already morning.
Okay.
I must have fallen asleep here and there.
HAHA!

Filling!

After all the layers have baked and cooled, it was time to do the marshmallow filling.

This is extremely simple.
Get the smallest marshmallows you could find.
Easier to melt and easier to handle.



So, dump em all in a bowl, add a little water so they won't burn and put in the microwave.
After every 30 seconds, remove, stir and repeat till the marshmallows have all melted and it's in a very smooth consistency.




Then, layer the cake!
I kinda put too much marshmallows.
HAHA!
And it kinda over-flowed over the cake.
But it's fine.


Then freeze it for the marshmallows to harden.

Chocolate icing!

You know, Youtube is the best place ever.
They practically got everything up there.

So I got this extremely simple icing recipe.

Mix melted butter with cocoa powder and stir.




Add milk and stir again.

After everything has mixed, add the icing sugar.


Keep adding and beating till you have your DESIRED consistency.

And viola!

Icing is done!

Then, pour over cake and ice it up gently.




Actually this wasn't easy.

But it was all perfect in the end!

FOR COCOA POWDER, ALWAYS USE VAN HOUTENS. IT'S THE BEST QUALITY COCOA POWDER I KNOW!

Teehee!

And my awesome cake is all done!

It was actually extremely simple!
I think now, I have conquered the oven as well!






Who want's me to bake a cake for their birthday?!
HAHAHA!



SPEAK UP NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE!