It sucks pretty bad to be sloughing your ass off for the exams when Christmas is around the corner! The mention of “Christmas” frustrates so many of us Uni students. The carols they play in the supermarket taunt us. Even the sweet scent of cinnamon and vanilla subtly torments us.

I can’t wait for the exams to be over! I can’t wait for Christmas sales where I hope to buy two items. A pasta maker and a hand mixer.

 I must say that I am proud of our considerably well-equipped kitchen (shared among 17 people). Among us, we have a pop-up toaster, a toastie maker, a griller, two slow cookers and a rice cooker on top of 2 ovens and 3 hobs – not bad for a students’ residence eh? I keep telling myself that I have to stop accumulating possessions because of the storage problem over Summer! In fact, I’m have already ran out of space in my modestly- sized room. BUT BUT BUT. These items are so useful especially now that I really enjoy cooking.

Liz and I made Jiao Zi from scratch two days ago. The dough was a little too thick for steaming but about the right consistency for frying. I must say that they were very tasty for a first attempt, we fed them to 3 Singaporeans, 2 Americans, 1 Scottish, a German and an Irish. We used Balsamic vinegar mixed with light soy sauce for the dip, plus what I call “Californian Chili”. I forgot to buy ginger /= Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures as my hands were covered in flour. So have you figured out why I want the pasta maker? Aye, not so much for making pasta but for making dumpling skin and possibly Ban Mian. Using the rolling pin just isn’t efficient enough!

My first subscriber’s issue of The Economist arrived in the mail yesterday. My original intention was to subscribe to New Scientist which is, in my opinion, the best Science & Technology magazine for the interested layman. I changed my mind because I got so sick of reading scientific journals whilst researching for my essay and assignment. I also figured that the numerous university libraries offer wonderful collections of journals and online subscriptions (FREE!).