*841 - straddling time zones

I am 21 here, but 22 in Singapore!

*840 - fancy pancakes

Perhaps the most complicated midnight pancakes I've ever made:

Cinnamon banana pancakes shaped like cute little ladybugs, topped with a heaping spoonful of home-stewed strawberry jam, fresh blueberries, and banana slices, drizzled with chocolate. With a glass of white wine, of course.

*839 - red bean swirlies

These delicious swirlies turned out so much prettier than I expected! Fluffy, generously sweet, and tasted of nostalgia. Mm-mmm.





(Recipe from My Little Space)

In other (shocking) news, today marks my last ever exam as a college student!

(And shocking news call for a shocking new blog layout featuring my cupcake and his cupcake: Magnolia Bakery, NYC.)

Has 15 years of academics really come to an end? I am oddly blasé about it, perhaps because the thought of yet more books, papers, exams suddenly seems a lot more inviting than the hazy Grown-Up Working Life.

*838 - and he doesn't remember taking these photos

From a set of 20-ish pictures that were all taken within a span of one minute while wobbling up the slope one Friday night.

*837 - life's not all that bad

I think we'll make it :)

*836 - disruptions

It's too easy to just vanish
But too difficult to re-emerge

*835 - homesick, but not

I'm trying so hard, but it seems so impossible
Every day is like a countdown-
to what?

*834 - wine for breakfast

Slope Day = thesis submitted. Yeeaaaahhhh!

Slope Day itself was overrated (as usual), mostly because D**** was pretty lame. Did not enjoy his songs. Though I'm sure lots of people did, so, good for them!

Smores, the untraditional way:
Cracker, melted chocolate, and mini marshies in the toaster


On the slope!






If you squint real hard, you can see D****. It really wasn't too hot being part of the drunken crowd. If I liked him, maybe!

*833 - the last week of classes

It's the last week of school in my life, ever.

What an odd realization! Very mixed feelings (more negative than not) if I stop to ponder upon it, but for now, I'm blissfully blasé. It hasn't quite hit me yet that I'm leaving.

Coming up (though not soon enough): a quiet reprieve, a secret birthday getaway; something I've always longed to do but never quite managed.

*832 - brunch

And a decadent brunch to use up the leftovers from the decadent midnight feast (which makes it sound rather less spectacular but it was fabulous nonetheless).

Melted brie and strawberry slices



More of that simple but amazing stuff:
smoked salmon & cream cheese & capers on a cracker



Poached eggs with a dollop of creamy avocado-lime dip,
cherry tomatoes, toasted garlic & olive oil baguette slices

*831 - :)

Besame.

*830 - on a special day

An impromptu midnight Weggies run was long overdue. There's something quite thrilling about skidding happily down empty aisles and taking your time to sniff the cheese, peruse the cereal, and prod the avocados to your heart's content.

What began as a let's swing by Wegmans for some cheese and crackers to go with the wine became a full-blown $70 grocery trip! Which culminated in ...

A fruit-cheese-fondue platter with strawberries, grapes, crackers, brie, cute little marshies, and oozy melty chocolate



Mango salsa and guacamole dip: sweet, salty, and tangy all at once



Bruschetta with toasted tomatoes, a splash of balsamic vinegar and basil, and a generous grating of cheese



A pat of cream cheese covered with smoked salmon and topped with capers on a cracker



With some French chardonnay.

Decadent, really, for a 2 am snack. But everyone deserves a little indulgence on a special occasion, yes? :)

Results: round happy tummies, leftover ingredients for a ridiculously complex Sunday brunch, and a hankering for a better camera that would capture my culinary delights. Now for some more of those chocolate-dipped strawberries ...

*829 - rulloff was a murderer!

This made getting up worth it:





Eggs Alaska (i.e. Benedict plus salmon and bacon) with home fries on a sunny weekend morning (well, afternoon). Mmm.

*828 - what a baby!

So annoyed adsfjkl;adfs;fadkjl@! Seriously. You are a walking caricature of Immaturity.

*827 - handmade ravioli

Joining the ranks of "Interesting Things To Make From Scratch Once In Your Lifetime But Never Again" is ...





Homemade shrimp ricotta asiago ravioli--that is, if you don't have a pasta machine. (It's pretty fun otherwise!)

Delicious though; watching N gobble it up in pure bliss was almost worth it. Kinda. Maybe. Well. Anything to make A happy :)

Handmade-ravioli-sans-pasta-machine is right up there alongside donuts-sans-someone-to-mop-up-an-oily-kitchen-after-you-make-a-mess, though also undeniably delicious. Mmm.

*826 - any recommendations?

Canon G11?

*825 - i miss you

Come back!!!

-

Also, ever since I checked out Steve Madden men's loafers online a few weeks ago to update myself with what is chic and what is not in the Men's World, ads have been popping up incessantly in all manner of places. Creepy. This is the type of marketing we talk about in IMC class.

*824 - someone tell me why

Sometimes I just want to
Get away
Far far away
Far far far away
But then I always come back
Because it is never anyone's fault
But mine
Because all I want
Is for things to be the way they
Once were
Once upon a time
It feels so long ago
It feels too long ago
It has been too long
Why has it been so long
Why is it so hard
To just be happy?

*823 - soon

3.5 hours from now and one of the craziest weeks of my life will taper off nicely into a soothing weekend doing little else but catching up on all the work I have missed out on the past weeks. Just fantastic. I don't even know if I'm being sarcastic or not.

Now, to put on my suit and heels and drag a giant poster board up the slope ...

*822 - a haircut is in order.

Time to swing by NYC one of these weekends.