Sunday, March 30, 2008

Ikan Tenggiri Asam Pedas

Made myself some Spanish Mackerel asam pedas with okra. Just the way I always like it.
With a few stalks of cilantro, it's perfect and fulfilling.

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Saturday, March 29, 2008

Marmite prawns

Been craving for this. But I think the best would be Bovrill, as it has this distinctive beef-ish stew-ish aroma and taste. It's simple to make.

Dust your shelled prawns (preferably tiger prawns as it is very meaty and firmy texture to chew) with cornstarch flour, and deep fry it. Then prepare the sauce from a mixture of water and marmite. Melt a good dallop of honey in a wok, add in mixture, and throw in the prawns. Stir fry until it is well combined and slightly dry. Serve with freshly cut parsley or cillantro.

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A day before British Summertime starts!!

When clock strikes midnight tonight, we will put the time an hour forward. Which means, we will have less 1 hr of sleep.

It is also my last weekend before uni starts again.

Got so bored today, and went out for grocery shopping. Bought myself some spanish mackerel (Tenggiri), okra (kacang bendi) to make asam pedas tenggiri. I also got myself which I thought was tanghoon, turned out to be the ordinary meehoon. But I still made it into thai noodle salad. Also got myself MORE tiger prawns than I already have in my freezer, this time I bought the one with its tails intact. I'm making marmite prawns. Will see how it turns out. Got my chicken bought by Shahin from London as well. yay!!

Oh, I lost my lime on the way. Its probably lying down in the streets right now. ehhe. Luckily I'm living in town where shops are proximal. Imagine if that was in Halls, I'll probably be devastated. So I just went out from my kitchen to the grocery store next door to get another 25p lime! ahha

Here's my light lunch.

Thai prawn noodle salad and crispy curry chicken wings.

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Friday, March 28, 2008

Easter Holidays 2008 - Lucern, Switzerland and Milan, Italy.

The trip was a fabulous one, simply made this year's easter holiday a good memorable one. It all started with the arrival of Juliana (Cathy's cousin) here in Eastbourne. On the day of her arrival, took her to the most famous Yummy noodle bar, whose noodle is to die for! I also gave her Tim Horton's donut to munch on the way to the flat. Then we just chilled out at the beach before we call it a day.

Got our groceries for the trip done, and just chilling out before we (me, Juliana and Shahin) made our way to the pick up point. We were being a little insecure by the fact that the coach was slightly late. "Scam" was all in our thoughts, but otherwise, nothing was negative. Even if it was a scam, we would just head straight to Gatwick airport and plan a new holidays ala "lastminute.com" holiday package.

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After a long ride, we arrived safely at the borders of Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. So we were warned to make sure we stand on the right ground. Even the shop assistants speak different languages depending where you stand. It was either French, Italian, or German. Merci at one point, Grazie at another point then later it was Danke.

The following journey then got even more exciting. Snow could be seen everywhere. I'm talking about thick heavy snow here. Later, we were told to get off the coach. There we were like little kids overjoyed by the falling snow.

Few hours later, we arrived at Lucern, Switzerland. Without wasting any time, we explored the city and bought tickets to the mountains up to Mount Rigi. It's 1790m high. Up at its peak, the wind was notorious and visibility was very poor. The cable train ride was indeed breathtaking, with magnificent views and scenery. There's always something exciting to see with every inch of altitude we climb. Up at Rigi, we had fun with the snow fights and just mesmerized by the fact that snow was everywhere, as thick as 2metres. We also then rented few sleighs for us to play. The song of the day was somehow christmas songs!! aahaha The sleigh was so much fun than anything else. On the way back down to Vitznau, we took the cable car, before taking the ship back to Lucern.

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The next day, we went off for a day visit to Milan. Milan was superb!!! Fashion shopping and foods were excellent! The weather was just brilliant and very welcoming!! I wish I could stay there longer and indulge myself in shopping and good foods.

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On the third and last day, went off skiing 3000m at Mount Titlis. My first experience skiing, and I really enjoyed it. I didn't even fall, not even once. We had quick lessons from the management that was worth around £25. We were lucky however, we got it for free as the tour guide somehow favour us more than the rest! ehhehe. We were so baik bah!! Plus.. we're the "BRUNEI" group.

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On overall, the trip was excellent. It worth every penny I paid for. Although Switzerland was uber expensive, the place is simply beautiful. I probably pay another visit some other time to other cities like Zurich. And Milan, I will definitely come again next time.

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Monday, March 17, 2008

Thai Green Curry - Easter Break

It's easter break once again. The weather is nice sunny and bright, but still freaking cold at -1 deg!!

I'm feeling far much better now. Can't wait to say goodbye to this flu.

Made myself good lunch treat as it's the first day of the easter holidays. Made myself Thai green curry and served with brussels sprouts with oyster sauce. Had it for the first time. I thought it would taste like kailan, and true enough it does. I'm delighted with the curry indeed. Quite easy and cheap to prepare I must say.

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I'm off to Lucerne, Switzerland in just few days time. It's a ski holiday, and I'm off skiing for the very first time. I'm not looking forward with the heights of cable car. Yites!!!

Okay people, enjoy the holidays as much as I will!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Bubur Nasi

Feeling much better, but still sniffing before it drips out of my nose! Hahhaa.... gooey indeed!

Had a good time in clinic today, although it was a boring start.

We also had medical emergency on my way to the clinic from the common room. I saw Howard hanging on to the stairs rail and as if he was gasping for air. Tina was comforting him. He looked blue, sweaty and pale. I ran to get him a chair to sit from reception and offered him a glass of water.

I wasn't panic at all, but I realised my nursing skills were just crap! Called out for first aider and I just forgot totally that I was in hospital environment where I could easily do some vitals checking. Bumped into Rosie (surgical nurse) and she offered to see what happened. So the both of us attended him and soon Silin (Cardiac nurse) came with the Emergency defib kit. That was 3 nurses attending Howard. As we were waiting for the oxygen to come, the paramedics arrived.

Being a Cardiac nurse, Silin was worried if it was cardiac problems. But I wasn't worried at all as the symptoms weren't really showing angina. But I had more about gastro problems in mind. True enough, it's duodenal ulcer. He is now admitted waiting for surgery. That's when I realised, my nursing knowledge is not gone and vain afterall, it's just a little rusty. hehe

Clinic ward round session was a little lagged due to short staff. But everything went well, and the lecturer was so impressed with what we had done!!!

Here's our discussion scribblings:
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And here's my Lunch, bubur nasi with eggs, carrots, long beans and udang.
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Thursday, March 06, 2008

Banoffee pie

Made myself happy with a huge serving of banoffee pie as dessert. It's basically a base of crumbs made of digestive biscuits and butter, topped with toffee made of reduced condensed milk, bananas as the filler and topped with fresh cream. Dash of cocoa to top it off.

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My nervy Footy

Made a casted foot out of plaster of paris. This is basically a template needed before we make casted orthotics. Since this is for practise, it will just go to waste. I thought why not make use of it? So I decided to colour it and point the main distribution of cutaneous nerve innervations. This is useful for local anaesthetics revision and anatomy as general.

Here's the result.

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Fried beehoon and under the weather.

Not feeling well at the moment. Been having runny nose and bad sore throat for a week now. My tonsils are sore and swollen. I'm stuffing myself with juice and paracetamol now.

Today, got myself vicks vapourub and made myself mee hoon.

Later will make bubur kacang and banoffee pie!! woohoo. Will post the pictures if succeed later.

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Saturday, March 01, 2008

I lost my steel pen!! 20022008

I had the pen for 7 years!!! Through good and through bad times, from my A levels to my nursing, scholarship applications and all the things that I had gone through that involved writings. I thought the pen would last till I finished this degree, and apparently, it's not. To THE PEN, thank you ever so much, you will remain in my memory. I probably lost it at the hospital during the busy hours, or it could be just anywhere where it could have fallen out of my rucksack. I used to have my name on it, but unfortunately, I had removed it as it was falling apart. Everyone at uni knows how much I treasure that pen A LOT! I wish that it would come back to me.

Not sure if I would call it lucky, I got another one similar given by Cathy few years back. It's black in colour however. (pix below)

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Results!!!

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The long awaited results are now literally in my hands!!! Although I must say they're not my best, but I have put my effort throttle to the maximum. On overall, I got B C C and D for the most difficult module on Local Anaesthetics and Prescription Medicines. I anticipated to resit that module, but alhamdulillah I won't have to as I passed it. But I may have to do a remedial class just to prove that I am competent with the medicines. Would you believe if I saif, out of almost 40 of us in the class, only 3 fulfilled the requirement of the module, which is to pass 100%!!!

On the breakdown of each Modules, here's what I got:

Clinical Reflective account - B
Orthotic Description and Explanation - A
Vascular Assessment Proforma - B
Physical Therapy - C
Musculoskeletal Assessment Skills - A
Cutaneous and Subcutaneous Pathology - PASS
Clinical Pharmacology and LA - D
Psychology and Human Behaviour - C
Research - C

X'mas and New Year Holidays - Barcelona and the UK trip.

Cathy made her second visit here for christmas, boxing day and new year. She was here for 2 weeks and time flew very quickly.

The day before Cathy arrived, I was in Barcelona. I spent a full week in Barcelona and few days in Liverpool where I got the flight to Barcelona from. Barcelona was definitely an enjoyable experience. I would certainly come back and spend more time there. Staying at the area of La Ramblas certainly beneficial when it comes to proximity to town and all the attractions.

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Feeling exhausted from Barcelona, I simply couldn't pick Cathy up from the airport. I took the later train to London from Eastbourne and meet up in Bayswater. We then had lunch and the fun began!

The line up was, celebrate christmas in London up until boxing day to catch the hustle bustle of busy shopping at Oxford street, then off to Birmingham, then carry on the journey off to Eastbourne, Brighton, Portsmouth and Southampton.

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We then celebrated the new year in Eastbourne at FunktionRooms. It was full and and could hardly move, let alone dancing on the dance floor.

Too bad I couldn't take as much pictures as my camera went kaput!!!! If only I knew it was the battery!

Experiencing sleep deprivation and all sorts after the party, we had a long journey to look forward to, the road trip to down southwest. I rented a car,a Peugeot 207. It was upgraded from an economy Vauxhall Corsa. It was a fun car to drive, and very smooth. The clutch and gear were so smooth and easy to handle. The journey was smooth, but nevertheless a challenging one as it was my first time driving in the UK. The whole journey took us about 12 hours in total. We missed a few exits and roundabout exits. That's fine, it happens. As long everything was safe, that's the main priority.

Me behind the wheels of Peugeot 207.

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Traffic in Southampton.

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My terrified look after 3 hours of tiring drive.

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On the way back, we stopped at Beachy Head to see the night skyline of Eastbourne. It was very beautiful but we didn't dare to get any near to the cliffs as the wind was so cold and strong. The wind might just push us away down!! So here's the frozen look of our faces!

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now back in the car with the heating switched to full.

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Oh, the car was almost died as I hadn't got a clue with the warning system that says the engine gone FROZEN!!! Hahhaha until it said " RISK OF ICE" All I needed to do was just a click of a switch! Da'oh!

Overall, it was a great holiday indeed, and I hope Cathy had enjoyed her stay. We ended the holiday by witnessing the New year's day parade in London which many didn't know about and of course dinner at Harrods!

The parade was about 2 hours long and very vibrant and colourful. Mostly participated by cheerleading team of US of A and Canada.

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MadPaintball 2K8 Cosford, Wolverhampton.

Gosh, where's the time gone?? That quick?!

Well, last week I was in the battlefield of paintball up in the north. I left Eastbourne on the Friday after clinic. Fortunately I finished my Friday clinic the earliest than ever. That really helped as I have a 5 hour drive ahead. Shahin was driving as he is in the team as well. The only non-Bruneian in the team. The 5 hours drive was definitely a good one. Me being the map-reader definitely challenged my nerves! hahaha. Thanks to AA planner for the great help online which laid out the journey. Few minutes before arrival, we decided to switch on the tomtom, that's when everything went chaotic! We lost our way. So we decided to get back on track with the paper route. Indeed, we got on track. TomTom a big time sucker! Same thing happened on the journey back when we depend on tomtom to locate the nearest fuel station. It either gave us the wrong exit or the no-longer existing fuel station.

So how's paintball? It was a hell good adrenaline pumping session. We were a little behind with time but still we were the first to arrive as a team on site. There were 7 matches in total and I played 5 with 2 rests. Overall, I was quite happy that I got the experience to catch the flag, and shot quite a lot of people up to elimination. Nevertheless, the pain of pellets that shot off the "wonder how many caliber" markers was a great feeling. I got bruises here and there on my body. The pain was in total absence during the battle. Only few hours later.... then the "ouch" started to kick in!

Anyways, thanks to Mona for being a great host, and allowing us lot to stay over at her place in Stoke.

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