*851 - yet another strawberry photo

Does this lovely mutant strawberry not look exactly like a clenched fist to you?! :)

*850 - how terribly interesting

I just discovered the intrigue of the "follow" function. I've never been the subscribey type of person but there is always a first. Hmm. I suppose it's only useful for blogspot users.

*849 - strawberry fields

Strawberry-picking today was so delightful. We waddled merrily through the strawberry fields, lovingly examining each strawberry for maximum ripeness and plump juiciness, eating a gazillion fresh-picked (and slightly muddy) strawberries along the way. I am especially partial towards the mutant strawberries because they are the strawberries that reject commercialism! Superficiality! Stereotypes of what the ideal strawberry should look like! Anyway. They really are delicious :)

With a slight grimace because they were kinda muddy


One of my lumpy mutants :)


Washing them so we could eat them right away


While driving! ... naww. Given my driving skills, we would not have been quite alive.


Pretty strawberries in the sun :)

*848 - fangirl

After watching fourteen entire cycles of America's Next Top Model (mostly during the last three exam periods), Nicole Fox (cycle 13) is by far my favorite contestant ever, with Elyse Sewell (first cycle) being my next favorite because of her ridiculously fabulous and witty blog (which has since been abandoned, boohoo).

Also, cycle 14 is so bad that I can't even be bothered to watch the finale episode to find out who won.

(Okay, I just did. Meh.)

*847 - bleu de chevre

Who knew that Ithaca had so many hidden gems? We visited Lively Run Goat Dairy and had a blast. Mrs Owner was cute and knowledgeable and let me slice her curds. But the highlight of the trip was definitely the baby kids (just a couple of weeks old)!!! Lively, friendly, nibbly. Cuuuute!!!

Why, hello there.


Slurp.


Say cheese!

*846 - arepas

Cooking tip from Mrs. A: keep cut avocados in the fridge with their pits to prevent discoloration. It actually works!

Fancy arepas with avocado chicken, lemon garlic shrimp, brown sugar roasted ham, munster cheese, romano and parmigiano shavings, and homemade salsa.







It's been WEEKS since I had my last dance class. It's been an abrupt change from hours of dancing every day to near-zero calories burned per day. Eww. Time to hit the gym for the first time in ... a year, perhaps? Running hurts me so bad--just one half hour session is enough to leave me me sadly withered and trembly for days :( How pathetic! But it does me good. Now that's irony.

-

Back from a half hour jog. Huffed and puffed, face as purple as a beet, blister on toe, quivering uncontrollably, and staggering about even more so than when smashed.

*845 - overdose

Nagging and incessant fretting = representation of love. Repeat to self.

Actually, they understand me so much more than one might think.

*844 - frolicking

Through the vineyards:



By the lakeside:



In the fields:



And with the parents looking on serenely (having grown accustomed to my antics over the years):



Also, Mum is mabuk (new Malay word learned tonight) asleep in bed, Dad is perfectly fine, and I am secretly mabuk as well but they don't know heehee. Good thing the Asian glow genes don't run in the family.

Hermann Wiemar Gewurztraminer, delish!! Knocking me out conveniently at midnight, seeing that we're rise-and-shining at 8 in the morning.

Also, I miss you dreadfully.

*843 - graduate

I am now officially a proud Cornell alum. Wow.


The obligatory poised, smiley photograph with the parents.

Yes, the parents are here and it's been tiring but fun. The Meeting of the Parents, waterfalls, picnics, beer, wine, fancy dinners, simple home-cooked meals, bakwa and bahu, beautiful bed and breakfasts, etc. Ten more days till they leave! And who knows what's going to happen after that.


(A tiny little section of the Buttermilk Falls that you have to hike up 153576985067 steps to! Proud of the parents.)

*842 - (twenty) two years old

The best birthdays are quiet, unpretentious affairs, like going for a giggly midnight sprint, barefoot in the grass, and having an indoor picnic (picnic towel on the ground and all) with a birthday donut--Boston creme, of course. All that, with your favorite person.

*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