Last post: Feb 18?!

(I'm refraining myself from using Chinese words/slangs on here so I can "practice" my English after not constantly speaking it for a long long time) :)

Oh my god, I'm really disappointed... I'd originally wanted to type on here from January until I leave so I could keep track of the whole exchange experience :( Ahhh, very unhappy about this the more I think. So let's not mention this :P.

Okay, lets briefly summarize Feb-July... "briefly" means a few sentences at most for each month, so don't expect too much: :P

Feb- nothing... probably the most boring month, but did the most shopping, since I just came and didn't really know anyone.

March- birthday? my sisters mailed me birthday presents... a Dior palette and pretty, like 5-in heels!!! (Thanks!!) I don't know if she wanted me to look pretty in them or she is playing me HAHA. But I tried wearing them out today for the first time... very pretty~ OHH, and need to mention my lovely friends whom I met for a short time ate bday dinner with me in the midst of midterms.

April- spring break/ didn't do anything special except maybe like schoolwork haha. We had that case analysis thing the day we go back to school, haha, and "luckily" got chosen to present. Why lucky? Because it would have been a waste of effort if we didn't present... Went to Beijing with Karen before break, which was nice because even though we were pretty close before, we understood each other more afterwards. Oh, and end of April I saw Leo Ku's Eye Fever concert.

May- last month in school... I'd really started to feel that I miss UST so much at the end of April, so May was pretty much when I complain everyday about not wanting to leave- school, hall, friends, etc. Other than that, nothing much special... schoolwork, studying, projects... so many projects/group stuff here~~! I rmb I had like 3 different group meetings in one day and got sick haha! That's like meeting 15 different people =.= Business Law's was really about writing, not too bad... Econ Development (SOSC161?)'s was too easy that it was hard lol (there's NO guideline! so didn't know what to do at first). Marketing's was really time consuming... so many different parts- stupid report and video clip took hrs.

June- finally summer vacation... did various stuff like: saw Lam Fung's first concerts at the Coliseum hehehe... basically just played haha...

July- which is this month, I'd really started to study for the LSAT... back to reality haha. Other hanging out in between, but stayed home more, played less. Oh yeah, and I have that mentoring program at Prudential/TST.

But anyway, so I hate to say that I've changed alot since the last post. I don't really like changes because it has a negative connotation (to me at least). Mentally, physically and emotionally... The easiest one to tell is probably the physical change. I'd actually gotten "skinnier" when I first got back until mid-March. Then I started to get fat again; I didn't imagine it, but my hallmates had kept telling me that I got fatter and that I should stop eating hehe. Yettt, we all went downstairs to buy lots of fatty snacks :/. Haha, they're skinny so they can afford it. :)

Emotionally? Well, since roomate moved somewhere else down the hall, I must've been the happiest person haha. When I opened my eyes in the morning, all her stuff were g-o-n-e; felt like I won the lottery or something (although I don't know what it feels like to win the lottery) especially since I was told by so many people that this would be unlikely to happen. And also, I think that the more people you meet, the more emotional stress you'll have. Well, yeah, I've met alot of people whom I don't regret meeting. But the emotional stress that comes with it is natural and maybe inevitable?

Mentally... I actually can't tell the difference between "mental" and "emotional"... haha, why did I write that then? I don't know. I probably had intended to talk about the way I act from changes in how I think. Anyway, I think I talk more than before... maybe too much sometimes haha. I don't know if I annoy anyone. But, my uncle was talking to me before and said that he loves talking to me because I always argue/express my opinions and that I'm really "fun" to talk to. I don't think I talk that much before. And also, I used to refuse to do alot of things in terms of hanging out, but now, I'm fine with most things haha. Another major change... I used to watch TVB every day, it's like I'd feel weird if I don't watch at least one episode of a drama... But after I got to HK, I rarely watch anything until recently (e.g. Burning Flames III). I guess watching TVB in the U.S. made me feel that I was attached to HK/HK Entertainment somehow...

Don't you worry, I will update this within a week :)... I promise~~~~~!

Random pic (I don't want this to be pictureless) :P
~~~~~~~Byebye to my messy desk at UST haha. ~~~~~~~

Causeway Bay, HK

I've been busy lately so that's why I haven't updated... though I can't even tell you what I've spent most of my time on...! It's a combination of things :)

Anyway, yesterday after class, I met Karen at Causeway Bay. It was a little weird because usually I'm in Hong Kong during the months when we have no school. So, to "vacation" and have to go to class at the same time felt different, but we were too busy with eating and wandering and walking around aimlessly that I forgot about how I was a student here. It’s pretty ironic that I said "wandered" because we ended up wandering for a long time that we ate dinner late. Oh, and we saw so much stuff that we wanted to buy hehe, so we're definitely going back sooner or later (?)! Hopefully :)

We had lunch at Itamae Sushi, snacks at Ireland’s Potato (small store that sells fries and popular among Hong Kong people), and had dinner at Macau “cha chaan teng,” which is kind of hard to explain what it is. My best explanation is that a “cha chaan teng” is a popular kind of restaurant in Hong Kong, which serves a large variety of Hong Kong style food (which is usually a modification of some other cuisines). For more info, please read about it on wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha_chaan_teng. Too bad we were too full, because we had planned to share a crepe from Marion Crepes (originated from Japan). Anyway, I had no intention of making this a food blog, but I think I’m always talking about food because I'm too “wai sik,” which is a Cantonese word that literally translates to “for food” and is used to describe someone who always craves for food. I don’t think there is an English word for this, but if there is, tell me! Some pictures:

Sushi, hand rolls, and sashimi rice bowl:

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We had fries with bacon and cheese:
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...And dinner: Macau's famous egg tarts and macaroni in stew:

Okay, I hope I didn't make you salivate too much! Just kidding, I'm probably going to miss eating American food in a few months... maybe?... I don't know, just not now hehe.

My New Rice Cooker

After comtemplating between buying a pan (and using the electric stove in the pantry) and a rice cooker, I've decided to buy the latter. The rice cooker is truly multi-functional :). First of all, and the most obvious reason, you can cook rice with it. Not only that, but you can cook food with it as well. Last night for dinner, I made some Indonesian "Mi Goreng" noodles and it was extremely easy and convenient (I let it sit on my desk and did some readings while waiting for it to cook right next to me).


Today's dinner was a little more complex. I had only a few ingredients to work with (Chinese veggies, tofu, and a can of chili bean sauce) so I just put everything in the pot and made a stew.

These are the steps:

1- Cook the rice first and let it cool, 2-Add some oil from the chili bean sauce/stir in the tofu cubes and a spoonful of sauce, 3- Add the Chinese veggies


4- Stir and put the lid on, 5- Serve over rice!


You can tell that I'm very satisfied :); My hallmate also had a "thumbs up" :)


This is so simple (but we're actually trying to think of chicken recipes for next time). Oh, by the way, I just wanted to mention 2 things that you should pay attention to when you cook rice (especially if you're a clumsy person, like myself). One is that when you cut open a new bag of rice, you've be careful that the rice doesn't spill everywhere. The bag is usually vacuum sealed, so when you cut it, it tends to deform and spill quickly. (You might've guessed, but that's what happened to me before hehe). Tip two is to make sure that you press the "Cook" button, and not leave it at "Keep warm". This is one of the most common things people do, and I've gotten into trouble with my mom (for forgetting to cook the rice) numerous times!
I hope that this entry has inspired you to cook some easy meals :)

Hong Kong

I must say that HKUST, in terms of its campus, location, and residence halls, is better than I had expected. There are stunning views of Clearwater Bay everywhere on campus, but honestly, I'm not really into the whole seaview thing hehe. The campus is HUGE and there are about 30 to 40 lifts (not "elevators" because we speak British English here) that take you up and down the campus because it's located on a hill. Also, there are residences for staff and their families. In order to get to my dorm from the main level, I would need to take 3 lifts (a total of about 25 levels down). It's really secluded and quiet here; the school even has its own supermarket, hair salon, 3 different banks, Chinese dim sum/tea restaurants, a large cafeteria, McDonald's, and so on. I've been taking the busses/minibusses to the nearest subway station to escape- a subway ride then takes me to the city center :)

Look at how blue the sky is. This is rare in Hong Kong:



My side of the room (before and after):



That's it for now, I'll do a continuation of this next time (hopefully soon).

Restaurant Week Lunch at MEGU

The other day, my sisters and I went to Megu for lunch. Carol and Karen ended up treating me as a farewell (I'm leaving for study abroad at Hong Kong on Wednesday)! I had intended to make reservations at other restaurants, but as usual, they were all booked. At some of the more popular places, there were no available tables until early February. So I chose Megu, which serves Japanese/Asian inspired cuisine, and was more than satisfied with their menu and food :)

For my first course, I had an asparagus salad with spicy Mentaiko sauce (fish roe sauce- specifically pollock roe). It tasted really good and like what I had thought - creamy, salty, and... fishy! Carol and I who ordered the same salad were trying to figure out their recipe... and we've concluded that they use Mayo as the base- in case you want to try this at home :). For my second course, I opted for Kobe beef steak with rice and miso soup for three reasons: 1) Another option was a selection of sushi, but it seemed similar to the one I had at Morimoto and I wanted to try something else this time, 2) The other entree choice was panko breaded salmon. I actually prefer sashimi more than cooked fish because I like the flavor of a fish at its purest, 3) I love Kobe beef! (Maybe I should've just gone right into reason #3 in the first place :/) The miso soup that came with it was really just any typical Japanese miso soup, but maybe a little better and less salty. For dessert, we all had the Chef's Choice Dessert which was green tea mochi with strawberry and vanilla cream (on the side) and Mille-feuille drizzled with passion fruit sauce. I couldn't find my vanilla cream at first, but I realized that it was hidden under the strawberry... very tricky :). Overall, it was really good and I want to go back for the 7-course omakase dinner! These are some of the pictures we took: