on making cheesecake

hello world.

Ive decided to finally make a cheesecake today. I have been making it since last year, but never really got around to make it. Sadly, I belong to one of those poor family around who cant afford an oven and an electric mixer (Sob...), so I have no choice but to make a non-bake cheesecake instead.

I got a recipe from the Internet and went to Phoon Huat (the Bedok outlet) to buy the ingredients and some tools. As it was my first time buying baking stuff, I bought the wrong stuff -_-. It was only after I paid that i saw the right pan I should be using... but nevermind. I can still use the one i have bought...

then went shop n save to buy more ingredients.. total cost is arb 30 bucks.. heartache sia. ha.

i immediately started making once i got home. It was so fun! As i dont have an electric mixer, I was using my arms to mix the stuff. hey, not easy k, with the butter and cream cheese. ha. As I poured the filling into the crust, I realise I have too little filling... -_-. first time making wad. it's ok to make mistakes. ha. I really enjoyed the whole process. I will make it again! perhaps now with some added flavours.. and i will make less crust. ha.

now it's in the freezer chilling.. (as u can see from the pic, how pathetically little the filling is. ha)

Will see how it tastes like later.. haha.fun fun fun!

on breaking record and louisa

went swimming yesterday and i broke my own record! woot. 62 laps nonstop. my previous record was 60. though it's just 2 laps, but still.. ha. hands felt numb after that. but overall the feeling was good. moreover, the sun was great. finally, i got darker. ha.

had my last lesson with louisa ytd. she's a great girl, always so outgoing. cant wait to see her dance on tv on sat! i am confident that she and her partner will win! and hopefully, she can get into arts school.

on this weekend

Hi world.

ok, let's see. sat had lunch at cafe cartel with zzz, rox and leen. i chose cafe cartel cos for memory's sake.. when we were in year 1, the whole team went cafe cartel at plaze sing after nat cross. our table ordered some platter (i think it's seafood), more food and most imptly, VIKING AND THE ROCKS. haha. when i was at the tampines mall outlet a few weeks ago, i was rather disappointed tt the menu has changed and i couldnt find that dessert. but when i went to the restaurant on sat, woo hoo! i saw it! it was at the top left hand corner of the page... and it was rather small compared to the other desserts... and i was super duper excited abt it. ha. so ordered tt lor.
i love this cos of the big cookie chunks which go so well with the ice cream... yummy.

and this is the platter we ordered and shared. we ordered one set of sandwiches also.. yup. sinful.
caught up with them. nan de 4 of us meeting up tgt.

me and leen

zzz

rox and zzz

us 4. i dun really like this pic cos we are like far from each other...

after tt caught Fantastic 4 with him. show's not bad. short and straight to the point.

then today went his place and slacked. i love sengkang lib. haha. got my fav james patterson and robin cook. my goodness. luckily i could borrow 8 books. but in the end i borrowed 7 cos got one at home. and yet, there were more robin cook books i hadnt borrowed.. hmm. maybe one day i shld go back there and borrow the rest. oh right. i cant wait to get started on these treasures. ha.

and he borrowed books on asian financial crisis and some financial books. yup. totally different from mine. ha. but it's good to have interest in such stuff. know what is going on in the world. sometimes i wish i'll be interested in such stuff too, and so perhaps do well in econs without help and i dunno, maybe these will come in useful when i do business in uni. i have been exempted from taking econs in uni. im sorta regretting my decision now, cos i feel i need the lessons to help me recap on the stuff ive learnt. then again, i want more free time. ha.

anyway, then watched 'the incredibles' in the afternoon. 2 superheros movies over the weekend. ha. had lunch and dinner at his place. yup.

next sat he confined... but having nights out. perhaps i'll be gg down to lot 1 to meet him. yup.

ok, milk run next sunday. now now.. how shld i get to jiak kim street..

on lessons

ok, so this week, my milege is pretty good. i got a little shock when i realised the milk run is next sunday. so fast!


anyway, yesterday was my last cognitive lesson with karishma. she's this P5 girl, who seldom passes her Math exams, and has a rather wild imagination.. But, she's super-duper sweet, full of energy and always shares good stuff with people ard her. I hope she has learnt a lot through these lessons with me... a total of 24 lessons, compared to the usual 18. Part of me is happy that


I no longer have to travel to goldhill, but part of me is sad I wont be seeing her again... Sigh. Bought for her a Starbucks Oreo Cheesecake. It's nothing compared to the things she has given me (biscuits, earrings, bangles, sweets, etc) and the lessons she has taught me. She makes me realise that out there, there are many kids who are not doing well in their studies, not because they are not smart, but because they face difficulties in certain aspects of their learning process. for example, for her, she faces challenges in visual processing and logic and reasoning. That's why if she were to do circle or area of triangles questions, for example, she cannot see that just be shifting the figure here and there, the question is pretty easy. instead, she'll get stuck.

Perhaps it's because i have been a pretty consistent student, that's why I dont face such problems, and during my primary, sec school days, I rarely get in touch with people who have such problems. Bascially, she makes me realise the types of problems some kids face.. yup.

Anyway, ya, told her a lot of stuff about life, and i wish her all the best in her future endeavours... Oh, she told me she was going to eat at Subway after the lesson. It was going to be her first time there. I told her, MUST EAT THE COOKIES!!! ha. ESPECIALLY WHITE CHIP MACADEMIA... ha.

took a photo with her. sad it's rather blur...

Next week is gonna be my last lesson with jia hui, louisa, yun pei and shawn as well. then i'll finally be off work. gonna take a good rest in july... before school starts in august. boo.

went for the medical check up at ntu ytd morning. Sad to say, I've shrunk, but i have lost weight. woot! seriously, I think the machine is screwed up, cos everybody who used tat machine claim tat they have shrunk. one girl actually shrank by 2cm. like, woah. anyway, the whole check up is pretty stupid, if u ask me. waste of my morning. at least ive gotten it out of the way.

meeting up with the crossers later. alright! and fantastic 4 with him in the evening. woot

on stuff

sis is now a fitnessfirst member. she paid thousand plus bucks for a year's membership. When i first heard it, i was like, WOW. she was never really the exercise type of person, so it's like,a a MIRACLE that she actually signed up. but it's good la. and alvin signed up with her as well. so both of them can motivate each other to work out. fitnessfirst is good. got many outlets ard spore. fana and me went before once for the free trial thingy. cool grp lessons and facilities. I was a bit tempted to join.. but no la. Too exp and when i start uni, I can just use the facilities in school. but i have 3 free entries! woot.

ok, so army half marathon is coming up.. 26 aug. He's asking me not to join. ha. but most prob im joining. it's a good stepping stone to stanchart. aileen's coming too. not sure about zzz. alright. another motivation to train.

I was just looking at the calendar and realise july is coming, which means 3 races are coming. ha. i dont know man, on the day itself will I choose to be lazy and just run for leisure, or just chiong. Obviously i should chiong and get a good timing so i wont be wasting my money. but sometimes, laziness just kinda envelope me. ha. see first la.

so now, more long runs!!!

and finally, i have mailed out the relevant uni forms and settle the hostel stuff. phew. and now the medical checkup. hmpf.

oh, I had duck rice for dinner last night. actually, it's nth to blog abt, but cos i havent eaten duck rice for a really long time, and i had a sudden craving for it ytd, so ya, decided to eat that. and oh boy, it was super yummy. ha. and i love the chilli. mmmm~~~

on sunday

hmm. went for cogntitive lesson in the morning at goldhill. then made my way to united square to buy his mum a bouquet of flowers. the florist probably earns like hundreds of percent of profit la. for the same amount of money, i can get a much bigger bouquet if i go to the wet market. oh wells. then to popular to help him buy a card.

lunch was at this dim sum place at changi village. his parents, grandma, bro, sis and her guy were there. hmm, now i know he doesnt like dim sum and is a picky eater! he ate char kway teow instead. -shakes head- you are missing out a lot, dude! dim sum rocks, esp char siew pastry. ha. ate a lot and was really full.

then went back his place n slacked. yup.

and im really touched by what u mentioned in your blog. :)

anyway, to running now. i realise i shld be hitting 21km now since, it's like halfway through the year and 42km's coming... but i'm NOT and that's BAD. ok, more long runs needed... perhaps this coming week i shld do more long runs. yup.
and im praying i'll stay injury-free! the new shoes is not bad. still adjusting to it. yup.

on annalakshmi

ok, so annalakshmi has changed... boo. not buffet style anymore. had to order through a menu. but food was not bad. angela and i stpeed into the restaurant at 4.45pm, but they said to come back at 6pm. BUT it was printed on the glass window next to the door that operating hours is from 11am to 10pm. -_-' what the hell. in the end we went the central to check out the place.

the central is not bad la. a lot of small shops, like far east those kind. basically, they sell similar clothing. ha. both of us think business is really very bad. it's like, less than hundred ppl in the mall. im not kidding. and there are quite many shops, so competition is tough. i wonder how these shops are surviving... I went square 2 yesterday also. same concept, many small shops. but the crowd was bigger la.. yup.

went back to the restaurant. we were the 1st ones there. ha. ordered semolina dosai, garlic naan, some hollow-like prata-ish thingy, mixed veggie curry and cauliflower masala. so sad, dont have the sweet pastry i like... they only serve indian ice cream. decided not to try that after the incident at muthu's curry. ha
we were really full after the meal. not bad la. each of us paid 5 bucks for the meal. ha. we realise the boss is really smart to set this restaurant in chinatown, instead of little india, so it's able to distinguish itself from the other indian restaurant.. yup. smart.
anyway, we finally settled our bintan trip date. like finally. it was nice catching up with her.

oh ya, the big mail from ntu has arrived. all the registration thingy.. sigh. im not looking forward to school. just the thought of doing all these registration kinda just dread me down. im sick of having to make new friends, "Hi, I'm Ling Xiu. you? Oh, i was from vj. you? you staying in hall? which one" blah blah blah. and then still have to go for medical check up. sian. im enjoying my slacking life now. ha. my brain is already dead... just thinking about going for lectures, lugging this laptop of mine around is so.. tiring.. haiyo.
time really flies huh. one moment it was just after As.. now, uni starting soon. argh

on too-many-people

ran at mac reservoir with zzz ytd. i was rather appalled by the number of tree trunks hanging above our heads as we ran. they were like hanging across the track, going to fall anytime. very dangrous, i must say.

sigh. received some bad news yesterday... rather upset by it. though i dont really feel the impact of the news now, but perhaps ten years down the road, this will affect my life. crap crap crap. i didnt know it'll be THAT bad.

i hate taking the train. seriously. it's always so so packed, even though i enter at either ends of the train and it was during non-peak hours. when do all these people come from?! dont they have to work or smthing? and screw the holidays. argh. singapore is just too over-populated. i dread to think how pack this country is going to be years down the road. gosh.

and it's tiring to travel. i mean, though we'll be either sitting or standing at one spot while the vehicle/train is moving, but it's just tiring... i dread the day when i wont be staying at hostel anymore and will be travelling from east to west and west to east almost everyday ON THE BLOODY TRAIN...

on a lighter note, im going cycling today! then meeting up with angela at annalakshimi for an early dinner. woot. it has been a really long time since i've last eaten there. it's been like, what, 5 years? i love indian food. the curry... yum. too bad there wont be any meat cos it's a vegetarian restaurant. but, it's okay. i hope it still serves this sweet pastry which i love the last time i was there...

on tdy

ahaha.. pple who have left comments on my blog.. thanks. :)

anyway, didnt go bedok reservoir today to run. did long intervals on the treadmill. feels good again. alright.

meeting zzz and rox on thurs evening for dinner. too bad aileen not in spore. thanks zzz for arranging this meet up! paiseh again for the trouble caused.

had my lesson at goldhill today. my student made a pair of earrings for me! ha. and she gave me a plastic orange bangle. so sweet of her.

anyway, now im into 90s and A1 songs. ha. e.g.same old brand new you, ready or not, , against all odds, etc. but cant really find A1 songs on 'Multiply'. hmpf. old songs are nice to listen after not listening for a long time..

on shows

alright. did intervals on the treadmill today. initially i was a bit scared i'll feel disappointed that my fitness level has dropped. but phew, it wasnt THAT bad. so yup. feeling good now. runner's high!

so tmr will be gg bedok reservoir and wed will be at mac. very good!

and my achilles tendon is not giving me any problem!
so i suppose the low milege in the past week was actually a blessing in disguise. I actually get to rest my muscles as well. and hopefully it makes me go furthur.

and suddenly i feel like commenting on what he said ytd. cos i was telling him gilmore girls was on tv while we were having dinner.
he said how do i manage to keep track of the shows i watch.
ha. i dont know. i just can do so. i dont consider myself as a total tv junkie, but i do watch tv rather often la. one of the way to relax after a long day. and i mostly watch US serials, like desperate housewives, prison break, ANTM, ugly betty, gilmore girls, supernatural, etc. one of the reasons why i like to watch US shows is cos of the good-looking actors and actresses. ha. and they dress well too. i gotta admit this, compared to local artistes, the caucasians do look better. and the setting is also better. eg for prison break season 2, i doubt singapore can create such show cos of our limited size, and so, no desert. ha.

also, somehow, the flow of the stories makes me just wanna go on watching and cant wait for the next episode NEXT WEEK. yes, they are not shown everyday, like local dramas. too much of something can be a bad thing. oh wells.

and the quality of the artistes?? i guess it's pretty obvious. ha.

i guess generally, the main reason is that our media market is just too small compared that of the US... yup.

on gathering

had a gathering with shun, yap and val on sat. he also went along. shun, yap me and him went cafe cartel for lunch. so long never eat there liao.. lunch was sinful but satisfying... ahh~~~ the triple deck sandwich was delicious... and the desserts were not bad.. i still miss viking and the rocks. ha.

then watched ocean's 13. though i was lost at some points during the movie, but overall not bad.

then yap had to go and val joined us. went starbucks and talked a while.

me and him had been acting like we havent seen each other for quite a while. ha. shun kept asking me to show her the photo in my wallet but i refused to. ha. when finally the cat was out of the bag, she was shocked. ha. val and yap were alright with it. shun was asking why we had to act in front of them, since we frens for so long liao. ha. for fun, laughter, peace and joy la! ha. her reaction was funny la.

like wad shun said, it's been about a yr and a half since the four of us, plus him, last met. wow. how time flies.


something not related: im all ready to run harder and faster this coming week. last week was pathetic. im all pumped up to go again this week. hooray.

shun and yap

me, shun and yap

him, shun and yapme, shun and val

on his early bday celebration

today was well spent. celebrated his bday though tmr is the actual day. after cognitive lesson, went novena square and bought a blackforest cake from han's. i was surprised when i saw they sell yam cake too! woot! i thought only angie the choice got sell. ha. shall try that someday.

then trained down to his place.

we didnt go to some fancy restaurant and eat. just a simple affair at home. gave him his prezzies. cos i also typed a version on his blog. so i'll just paste it here:


"being a girl, i've been sorta thinking of wad to get him for quite a while.. so i sneaked around, checking what stuff of his is wearing out and needed to be changed... he mentioned before he wanna get a new belt when he receives his pay... so i asked a bit more, like what kind of belt he looking for... white, dont want the buckle to be too big.. yup. (eh, u rmb not? i asked u while we were waiting for bus at changi beach) then when we went cycling, i noticed his water bottle was kinda old and the rubber thingy was coming off.. so, yup. got him a grey adidas bottle. i initially wanted to get him the white nike squirt bottle, but i find it a bit girly la.. yup. ha. so got him the adidas one. he then told me his previous two transparent bottles were the same design as the one i got for him. ha.

oh ya, during the bike trip, we took a break at suntec. i went carrefour to buy drinks and snacks. he wanted choc but i bought biscuits, so i owed him choc. ha. so bought a bunch of choc bars for him. got sneakers, mars, time-out, kinder bueno, kit-kat... yup.

and the big card. yup. very nice card. ha. wrote what i feel inside..

though we didnt go out to some fancy restaurant to eat, i feel it was a well-spent birthday. i was really shocked when he told me he hasn't cut a birthday cake since primary 6... and he spent the passed 2 birthdays cycling on his own. personally i feel, maybe different culture, different thinking, but no matter what, birthdays should be celebrated. 2 reasons: 1) it's an annual affair. it's not like it happens every week or month. 2) it's a day to celebrate the birth, existance of a person. and be appreciated of the fact that he is around, safe and healthy. (tt's why i like to listen to ur heart-beat. ha)

yup. so, after dinner, which we ta-paoed downstairs, his family and me got ready the cake and camera and sang the birthday song. oh ya, i broke one of the small candles, in e end, that particular candle was super short. ha. if not we'll be celebrating his '18th' birthday. Oops! oh, i guess due to the fact that he hasnt cut cake for a long long time, he forgot the proper procedure- that is to make a wish first before blowing out the candles. haha. but nevermind, he relit the candles and made a wish. but cannot say what he wished for, or else wont come true. ha. better be safe than sorry! took photos then i proceeded to remove the candles and cut the cake into slices... this is my first time doing such stuff cos in school, some other girl will do it, and if at home, mother or sis will do it. ha. so hands were trembling. but i would say my performace was not bad. ha.

alright, basically that was how this day was spent. a simple yet memorable affair. "

him making a wish
him blowing out the candles
him cutting the cake
he and his family. absentees: sis and grandma
him and me. (i look so unglam)me and the big card

him and the presents

below: him and the contents of the card

on bad week

due to some personal reasons, this week has been a slack week for me, in terms of running la. milege is very low this week. -shakes head- terrible...
call it exaggerating, but i can feel my fitness level dropping... O_o

next week better be good. i'll make sure my milege will go back to normal.

aileen msged me ytd that she taking part in mizuno run. but she running with her fren. i guess im gna sign up too, especially so the event is held at bedok reservoir, which is so near my hse. ha. no need to bring bag. can warm up by running there. ha.

on kids and school hols

i hate the school holidays. cos the kids are everywhere. today when i reached the bedok swimming pool, i was so disgusted by the crowd. there were 3 swimming lessons going on. if it wasnt a school holiday, the pool would be quite empty.
I knew im not going to enjoy my swim once i saw the crowd. actually, i could have just walked back home and run on the treadmill. but i wasnt in a running mood today, and i have already planned to swim today, so i just went ahead with it.
bad choice.
i practically have to dodge every minute to avoid banging and kicking into the kids. so ya, i was swimming in a zig zag manner.. good thing is i actually swam more cos i wasnt swimming in a straight line.. ok, nvm. ha. then when kids have fun, they become unaware of their surroundings. and so even though i was very close to them, they would just bang into me and screamed. -shakes head-
terrible.
i didnt complete my 50 laps cos i couldnt stand them. did only 38 laps. bad bad bad.

anyway, supposed to collect report for sis from mount e, but cos of circumstances, mum went instead. then i went orchard to walk walk a bit before gg for my nni appt. was rushing here and there cos i didnt have enough time to slowly browse through the clothes. just looked at what i wanted, tried some on.. then had to rush to nni...
oh ya, how can i forget, the crowd is disgusting. why? cos of the kids.
anyway, after my appt, went to plaza sing to get stuff. again, people. i really hate taking the train. so after getting my stuff, i decided to take Bus no 7 from outside PS. i checked out the route before taking it la.. actually, not THAT bad.. whole trip took about 45 mins... i was just glad to have a seat and slept all the way to bedok.

i bought a new top. im spending A LOT. and it's only 7 days into June. this is very very very unacceptable. sigh.

crap. father's day's coming. wad to get for my dear pop...

new song. im still a free thinker though. just like the song a lot. yup.

on 2 months

ytd was fun fun fun.

prepared a simple lunch for him. actually, i wanted to make the eggs with onion, but when i came back from the market, mum already cooked it. she said she was afraid i couldnt cook it well. -_-'. fine la. in the end i only pan fried the fishcakes and veggies. actually, my initial idea was to prepare a lunch that is sort of like, traditional and simple. porridge with simple dishes. but, since SOMEBODY thinks i only know how to prepare simple dishes, fine. I can always try to make more complicated dishes k... hmpf.

then went to cycle. he intended to bring me to some places which he likes. we cycled to fort road, then from there, proceed to their bridge near stadium waterfront. i remembered running their during nike training a long long time ago. ha. yup, nice view.

then proceeded to nicoll highway after that. I cycled there during the overnight bike hike with family before, but didnt stop and enjoy the view. but ytd we did.

then to suntec to grab some snacks. rested for a while and then cycled back to east coast.

the weather was great. Mr Sun was shining brightly ytd.

then went back my hse. mum prepared a feast. ha. it was indeed a sumptuous meal! yummy.

hmm. it was a good day indeed. doing things that we like to do and dun have to worry about time and all. yeah. 2 mths liao. quite fast. hopefully there'll be many more multiples of 2 mths to come. :) (and thks fana for your well wishes!)

on what i have said

ok, i take back what i have mentioned about running. tt was me talking when i was feeling crap. gosh.

on running lab

went running lab ytd at funan. totally rocks man. i love the service there. spent 45 mins. i explained to the salesman my feet prob and budget, and he recommended me many shoes. tried them on and tested them out on the treadmill, with no extra charges. It's really seldom that i receive such specialised service. impressive. the guy knows his stuff sia. ha. in the end bought a pair of asics GT-2120. usual price was 198, but used his safra card, got 10% discount, so reduced to 170. i guess i dun mind investing on a good pair of running shoes. it's the comfort and that fact that it suits my feet that is impt. yup.

then went his place and watched pirates.

ran 10km this morn with zzz. to me, it wasnt a good run. rah. sometimes when i run, and i run pretty slowly and am already panting, i think to myself, what's the point of running so much when im not improving? (deep inside me i know runners got their down-days also la, and for me, today is considered one. and i know i have improved since the day i resumed running, but sometimes i feel like it's not enough) then again, i'll counter argue myself by thinking the good stuff on running - like being in control, burning calories, runners' high and all.. ah. crap.

anyway, collected my A level cert and testimonial.. the folder the documents are put in is pretty cool...
ok, later gonna work.. sian. what to do from 3 to 5 pm? hmm

on ytd and tdy

hmm. supposed to go runing lab ytd to buy new running shoes but had rather bad cramps so postponed the trip.. so went straight to his place. itwas great. :) no rush at all.. just slacked at his place and watched dvd. then went lagoon to makan. the night view was breathtaking and the breeze was cooling... just basically enjoying the moment..ah~~~

great. i havent run for 2 days. great. but bo bian. once bitten, twice shy. i can feel my achilles tendon is starting to tighten and hurts a little bit. i dun want to rest for another 4 months pls. so must learn how to control myself and know when to break for a while... hopefully the new shoes which i most prob gna buy today will help prevent injury... hmm.

on ...

I was looking through the life section of the straits time and I saw the poster of Mizuno Wave Run 2007! on 22 july at bedok reservoir, 10km run... cost 20 bucks. yeah, gonna sign up for tt.. hopefully the girls will also sign up then we can run tgt. somemore it's so near my hse. ha.

bloody hell. slept at 1 am, (or was it 2am?) ytd and i was up at 645am this morning. so much for sleeping in sia...

gg running lab later. hopefully they'll recommend me a good pair of shoes tt'll prevent any injury and can last long and not cost so exp.. ha. but for the last point, i doubt so la huh..

ouch ouch ouch