I don't need

After 1 month and a week of cooking for myself in Glasgow,
I've realised a couple of food items that is not a neccessity:
Mushrooms
Carrots
Onions
Potates
Pork Belly
Garlic

Those 6 things listed were a pain in a butt to finish.
The mushrooms became mouldy even before I could use them.
There are still a few one month old carrots in the fridge.
Onions are sold in bulk. I use less than one per week.
Potatoes are only useful for soup and mashed potatoes.
Pork belly is too fatty for daily/weekly consumption.
Garlic - i only need half a clove per month.

Midnight

1.40am. Spent hours on making a resume. Still having some hiccups and will have to work on it later in the day. I CANNOT believe it is taking me this long to get the resume done. I've used my resume before in KL and had no problems getting hired.
BUT I guess, different country, different city, different requirements..............

Changing something that has been like that for years is pretty hard.

Right now it is already snowing in Northern Scotland. Frost coming in one day time to Lanark, which I am guessing is pretty near here. I feel like the weatherman....

Anyway, all the talk about snow coming soon. Maybe next week!
Im gonna have to wake up later at 7am to a -2 degrees temperature (and i'm still wearing shorts and sleeveless shirt)...

*what a pointless post*

Just a post about today

Today was the busiest Monday ever.
My Monday began by waking up at 7am, reheating the ABC soup I cooked the night before.
Filled up my water bottle, then boiled hot water.
Drank milo... *I NEED MORE MILO!*
Packed the ABC soup.
Throw rubbish coz it was my Monday duty.

8.30am headed to class.
Four hours of lectures straight from 9am till 1pm.
Lunch 15mins.

1.30pm went for lab. I volunteered to counsel the patient. I was actually nervous, which was stupid because I am not usually nervous in these kind of circumstances. But, I was. Need to rebuild that lost confidence!

Lab ended at 4.40pm.
I rushed home to get changed n reached Union at 5pm for the batch rep meeting.

The meeting lasted till 8pm. There were guys, but no hunks. But plenty of strong females. Like those with girl power and wanting to fight for their rights kind of ppl. LOL... I just sit and listen to them talk.
Chips was my dinner! I felt kinda bad eating junk for dinner after one month of good regular eating habits.
I took some chips and a can of coke home.

I gave the chips to Amy and the Coke to Chiew Vien.

All in all, the day was long, but I met new people, I wasn't tired as I thought I would be eventhough I slept at 2am the night before.... and I made people happy by giving them free food :P

Sunday - Car Boot Sale, Church, Group discussion

I just checked the weather forecast, n it says this Tuesday's temperature could reach to zero degrees at night. I've never checked the weather forecast so much in my life. I'm not sure if I prefer the rain or the cold.

Today I was pretty busy.
I felt like I had appointments after appointments.
After the steamboat party yesterday, Faiz invited me to go to a Car Boot Sale situated near Royston Hill.

KarMun, Wei Guang, Sook Yee, Wendy, Faiz, Chei Wan and I left the uni at 8am. It was a 30 minute walk to reach our destination. The compound was huge and it was an outdoor sales. I was definitely overwhelmed by the number of 'car stalls', each stall selling a variety of items, from children's toys to electronic items to clothes to bedroom stuff to books, toiletries, fruits, fish, meat and other food.

One stall that I didn't like was the one selling animal food. They sold dried pig's ears, bones and other smelly and unsightly dried stuff.
The stall I fancied was the one selling fresh fishes and the fruit stall.
There was also stalls selling jeans and food stands.

I am happy with the things I bought such as two storybooks which cost 50pence each, a box of grapes costing 1pound and two packets of chocolates for 1pound.

After the Car Boot Sale, I followed a bunch of friends (Weei Foong, Zi Fen, Lillian, Kah Lian, Yunn Shuen, Audrey, Kit Yee) to attend their Sunday church, which was a 40minute walk. I was curious to know what the people did on Sundays in church. Suffice to say, it wasn't my cup of tea. It felt like I was listening to a lecture, which I have enough of on weekdays.

Later at night, I had a discussion in my room with Wai Ling, Zi Yi, Woon Chit, Sophia and Lee Jing. I need to buck up on this part, as I was unprepared.

Coincidentally, I was with different bunch of people at different time of the day.
On a sad note, Hectic schedule begins tomorrow......

Steamboat

A steamboat party is one of the most convenient party to do. It really is a no brainer. Just have to make sure the broth has enough flavour. With the right amount of flavour, anything dumped into the broth would be bearable to be consumed.

Ingredients added this time were:
Wantan

 Lettuce

Brocolli

Minced meat to make pork balls

Brownie

Crabstick

Sausage

Tomatoes

Mushrooms

Frozen prawns

Of course, the ingredients above were not as fancy as the ones we usually have back home in KL.
Money matters :P

We had tom yam broth and plain broth.

We also had li ying's homemade pan mee to fill our empty tummies.

Brownies with vanilla ice cream to end the night.




Did I mention I gymmed in the morning?!
Nvm.. I'll be taking a 25 minute walk to a car boot sales. 25 mins there and another 25 mins back....

Great day

A perfect weather somehow makes everything fall into place.

Today...
I gymmed.
I did laundry.
Someone gave me a pretty jacket.
I ate nasi lemak for lunch.

It is sunny!

I could hardly open my eyes with the sun shining through my bedroom window.

Loving the sun here reminds me of something my Scottish friend told me.
I asked her, "So, what do you look forward to if you get to go to Malaysia?"
She said excitedly, "I can get a tan."

Weakness

The attempt for the month of October was not to spend money.
Unfortunately, it wasn't possible.
I did try......

The idea was to use up whatever food I have at home. I did bring tons of food stuff from KL.
But, there is this nagging feeling that those food were better to be kept for rainy days... Or rather, since I'm in Glasgow, it should be snowy days.
Winter is looming.
Currently, autumn is the month I collect and attempt recipes to cook - All for the sake of winter. I don't want to risk making cooking errors in the winter and wind up with inedible food. Call me paranoid, but it is going to be very cold to step outside for long during winter (It is already freezing cold now!). Remembering winter in USA where walking a few feet into the car was enough to make me shiver, I'm not really looking forward to the Glasgow's winter weather, which would be much colder.. Hence, the paranoia ;)

As much as I try not to fork out moolah, it can't be avoided.
Needed to spend on perishable goods on a weekly basis - Unavoidable.
Shopped at 1 pound shop.
Spent on clothes to keep me warm.
Gym membership - which is a neccesity, i think.
Spending on train tickets to get to a place was *OUCH*, BUT I had a great night at that place.
Then there are also events which cost money but sounds interesting....

I need to contemplate wisely as the other thought is, "It is not my money." I do miss the ease of getting part-time jobs. I've always taken pride in my ability to work, earn the cash, spend the cash on what I want, therefore finally able to really call it mine...

I set goals and I'd always want to achieve them. But, dang, this is tough.

SeeWoo

Currently, for the next couple of weeks, I have no lectures on Wednesdays. Today cv n I opted to check out an asian supermarket called SeeWoo. It was suppose to be a 30 minute walk to that place.

The weather was chilly.
We took some pictures.

But the pictures you saw above, you will not see when walking to SeeWoo.
If you saw those stuff on the way to SeeWoo, it means you were headed the wrong directions!
YUP! CV n I took the wrong way.

We began the journey with me, thinking that CV knew the way. Hence I didn't bother preparing directions. Fortunately enough CV has gps.... n the gps told us we were headed the wrong way... If it were not for the GPS, we would have abandoned the plan...

When we were on the right track, we took some pictures of the surrounding.

 and walls that look like there is a door but actually no door.

Finally, we reached See Woo. It was located at a place called The Point.

Inside SeeWoo, it felt like I was back in a supermarket in Malaysia as everything there was faniliar - from Maggi chilli sauces to vegetables to crabs and fishes in aquariums or displayed openly covered with ice. It even smelt like a Malaysian supermarket.

Price wise, of course, cannot be compared to Malaysia. But there are plenty of things in SeeWoo, which cannot be found in Chung Ying, which is another asian grocer in Glasgow.
Therefore, in a way, with the existence of See Woo and Chung Ying, there isn't a need to send food stuff all the way from Malaysia, as everything can be found here :)

Almost a month in Glasgow

It is getting colder!
I'm happy just eating vege. But too much vege makes me think of unhealhty food such as fish n chips and chocolates :)
I am into the third week of lectures. Lectures have been challenging.
The challenge to:

• Understand the Scottish accent -- Somehow the Scots tend to ramble on real fast in one long breath. I get the first half, n at the 2nd half, I feel like a person who doesn't understand english!
• Learn the Scottish student's mentality - A huge comparison with the time studying in KL.
• Stay awake during lectures - Jetlag?? nah... just adjusting to 9am.
• Make sure my stomach dont grumble at the 3rd hour of lecture- Happened TWICE already..loudly!

If autumn is this cold, I'm imagining the number of layers I will need for winter...

I went to the gym today. 20 minutes on the threadmill n I amazed myself that I could actually go on for more. I did not do much of the weights today because I'm looking forward to swimming tomorrow.

All in all, things are going well.

*This blog has been full of WORDS for a long time. It is time to add pictures...

MSN no more... because it doesn't work!
So, I've moved to skype.... Ask me for the username if u wanna add me.

Making myself happy

Paid 75 pounds for one year gym membership at UoS.
I think it is a good price
considering the fact that it is much much cheaper than a gym membership in KL.
Furthermore, for that price, I get the same quality of facilities, equipments and a heated swimming pool is inclusive.

I have not gymmed for the past two years.

Its nice to know that the life I live in now allows me to choose what I really want to do and not depend on another person's opinion. Finally, everything evolves around me and only me :)

I like the idea I am consuming wayyyy more vegetables than I ever did in my entire life!

Welcome to Autumn in Glasgow

Hows the Weather?
Right now, it is raining heavily and windy.

When it only rains, the umbrella comes in handy.

But when it is windy and raining at the same time, it kinda spells dissaster.
3 layers are required on a day like this: Umbrella, rain coat and wind breaker.

1st layer: The 2.50 pound umbrella bought can't fight the gushing wind. The wind blows the umbrella to the wrong 'side'.
2nd layer: Rain coat is handy but the hood will never stay on my head due to the gushhing wind.
3rd layer: So, when first two layer fails, at least the waterproof windbreaker keeps me warm.. but chances are  I'll be soaking wet everywhere...

Times like these reminds me of awesome KL's indoor shopping malls and the car I can drive in KL.