Nice weather! Always have been keen in doing something outdoors but couldn't find anyone to do it with.

"Why must I be dazzled by her silky smooth hair?"



Why Pittsburgh's weather must be this cold again? Sun was out bright but step out and you'll feel the artic chill. Back to wearing my wool coat to class again.



Screwed my Intro to Chem E exam I think. Took 3 hours to finish the exam. The Professor was more than helpful for giving tips and an hour of extra time during the exam itself. Still, I got the wrong answers for M4 and M6.



Things to do:-

- 15111 1st Recursion Homework: write a function

- Experimental Physics: Lab Report 2.. correction of the screwed 1st

- Physics 2: finish homework 11 and get everything right

- *Faith: go for confession

- write letter to MARA

- call AT&T



* it's Holy Week

Spent the whole saturday cleaning the apartment with Kenneth. Rearranged the furniture and the house looks more spacious now. Borrowed the floor's vacuum cleaner and vacuum the dirt-filled carpet. In the evening, both of us hosted a dinner for our freshmen friends. It's his idea so I just backed him up with fried rice.



Very unproductive this afternoon. Chem E exam tomorrow but I've yet to start on any solid revision. Must look for a basketball jersey for the 10 points.



Need to run for review session.

Spent the whole saturday cleaning the apartment with Kenneth. Rearranged the furniture and the house looks more spacious now. Borrowed the floor's vacuum cleaner and sucked every single foreign particle from carpet. In the evening, we cooked dinner for our freshmen friends. It's his idea so I just backed him up with fried rice.



Very unproductive this afternoon. Chem E exam tomorrow but I've yet to start on any solid revision. Must look for a basketball jersey for the extra 10 points.



Need to run for review session.

It's getting cold again and I'm back to wearing wool coat to class today after leaving it in the closet since Spring Break. The shorts and skirts are gone again. Sigh.



Anyway, my weekend sort of started last night since nothing was due today. I joined James, Hermain and Hui Ling for a late dinner at P.F. Chang's @ Waterfront. There were a lot of patrons despite the lateness of our arrival at the doors of this Asian Bistro. I like the "guest caller" device that the server gave us that blinks when our table is ready. I really like the atmosphere, the charm of this sleek restaurant. The food is good although they are labelled "Asian American" dishes" In fact, they are Asian American dishes that you don't get at the regular Chinese takeaway. I ordered the mango chicken which was fantastic. Fantastic. Fantastic. The appertizer was even more fantastic. Lettuce wrap with mince chicken inside with the special sauce made at the table by the server.



I really want to open a restaurant one day. Maybe watching Emeril's Live a lot inspires me.

i can't believe she sat next to me then



apu!!! i can't believe i got 17/25 for my first formal report. sob sob sob. i'm terribly scared now. what if i perform poorly for my next 2. sure get B already. the only consolation i had this evening was my conclusion was read aloud by my professor. Personally, explaining mechanical oscillation by saying that oscillations occur because there's inertia and elasticity in the system is simply elegant.



i guess i should share my recipe of my quick early morning supper. recently, i'm back into eating fried rice which can be prepared in 15 minutes (excluding time taken to cook the rice).



Ingredients:

2 cups of Jasmine rice (available in most Asian groceries in Pittsburgh)

3 sausages (cut each into half and then dice them)

1/4 of a whole red onion (red onions here are HUGE)

*if you have a jar of Lee Kum Kee minced garlic in your fridge, use garlic. even better. emerile loves garlic.

2 (sticks?) of green onions

some light soy sauce

around a tablespoon of salt



Usually, my hunger signal doesn't come immediately. Around an hour before I really get hungry, I could foresee that I'll be craving for food. So, I'd head to the kitchen and cook that 2 cups of Jasmine rice. While it's cooking, I would do some work, do laundry or even take a shower.



Once the rice is cooked, I would transfer the rice into my frying pan for temporary holding. I like using the rice pot to cook (tell me if it's not good to do so) since with its tall cylindrical walls, the rice would not jump out as I use my wooden laddle violently to stir it.



I don't use tablespoons to measure the amount of oil. Instead, I have my measurement technique which I name the "circle technique". Make a quick circle of pouring the vegetable oil from its bottle. The oil must not flow out too much and not too little. The trick is by having the right angle between the tip of the oil bottle and the horizontal plane (30 degrees below the x-axis?).



With the stove's knob at high, heat the oil for around a minute. Not too hot because you'll char (not the Java primitive type) the onions and garlic in ten seconds if you do. not ten seconds but seriously, too hot of oil will turn them into carbon. Then, throw in the onions/garlic and give a good stir for 20 seconds. Then, throw in the diced sausages. Give another good stir for a minute. When the sausages and onions start to turn dark in color, throw the rice in. Give a third good stir. Make sure the rice, sausages and onions are well mixed. If you have another laddle, give the mix a toss like you do to a salad bowl.



once your mix look like fried rice, you must make sure it taste like fried rice. bring in the soy sauce, salt and some seasoning (shh... don't tell your mummy or your girlfriend). Give another good round of stir. I think this time, you have to stir the fried rice really well. The more violent your stir is, the better your midnight supper will taste. My Chem E lecturer, Prof. Powers, always mention that the engineers' way of beefing up the production of a chemical plant is by putting more pressure and more motion to the mixing. Thus, anologous to a physical mixer, a good fried rice is when the cook stirs it well.



After 5 minutes of Chinese-restaurant-style stirring and making sure the bottom is not burnt, I would turn off the stove and transfer the rice pot to a neighboring, unheated stove so that I could leave it there without worrying it getting more cooked. Throw in the sliced green onions and give it a final stir. Get your plate or bowl and serve your fried rice in it.



If you're a fan of eggs who doesn't give a damn on cholestherol, you can fry on with the yolk half-cooked and top your fried rice with it. Ketchup goes well as a sauce to it but right now, I have a contianer of sambal which I tried making last weekend and it goes perfectly well with any food.



Bon apetite.

I was just told that I can't take 18-100 in the summer. I regretted not taking the course this Spring. Now I have to delay taking 18-220 to FALL JUNIOR YEAR!



I feel so down.



Anyway, 06-100 is a fun course thanks to Prof. Powers.