everybody say OOOEEEEIIIIISHHHIIIII!!!!

just got back from akane's birthday party. she just turned 21.

however, it was more of giving her invited guests a treat because she, together with her other japanese kitchen buddies ie. akari and hide, made the following:
japanese potato salad
tamagodashi
onigiri
tori karage
japanese stewed pork (think see-yew-bak japanese style)
japanese sandwiches
salad
potato croquet

geez. from scratch, by hand. i'm really put to shame because my chinese cooking aint no chinese cooking. stirfry mixed veggies is no way in the same category as making something like onigiri (which btw i tried my hand at helping to form. i like playing with my food sometimes.). stirfry veggie is like very very low down in the rungs of the home economics hierachy. its the bestest japanese food ive had so far, so much so i dared to say that even the likes of azuma and tatsuya can't compete.

gasp! blasphemy!

but if you think of it from the perspective of students making it with lots of love and care, and with normal ingredients bought from føtex (one of the many danish supermarts), you'll share my sentiments.

i miss my good old bongout at robertson quay. but then again, i could always kidnap akane, akari and hide and bring them home with me. bottomline is, need to improve on general standard of chinese cooking.

did i also mention that akane made her own strawberry shortcake? pictures will be up when ive got wireless. lost it again.

you need to pay to use malmo loos

and that includes rights to take photos!green light to put in your coins to use the loo. 5 swedish kroners! thats like more than 1sgd.
check out the small box at the top left hand side. its a sanitizer for the toilet seat!

my mom never told me how to cook a chicken drumstick

it was supposed to go well.

i had everything prepared for a miso chicken dinner a la bongout (at robertson quay at home). i had my carrots, ginger, garlic, even eggplant! and my chicken drumsticks, coz they were cheaper than the fillets today at fakta (supermarket in cph for the uninitated). and i cooked abit of soba.

so everything went well, i was panfrying my veges, putting the soba on boil... until the tapwater started getting a little dodgy (it turned brown! and i freaked out) and then discovered that chicken drumsticks arent supposed to be cooked in a frying pan. because it takes very very very long to get the chicken meat inside to cook. so i look out my vege and made miso-yaki-soba, eating it and trying to coax the raw chicken to faster cook finish. and keep on pouring in water to make it boil.

what a disaster. it doesnt taste bad, but it was a calamity in terms of process. and it makes me upset!

what doesnt kill you only makes you cook better.

lazing in lund, much ado about malmo (pt 2)

at the kbh h (central station) heading toward lund//passenger shots//evidence of reaching the lund station//our first lunch in lund//burger king//self-portrait

the oldest apothecary in lund//sweden also have hotdog stand//glass kulturhus: read fanastic lime sorbet//for you nair! lund's cricket team stand plus lcd tv showing bollywood mtvs//the cannot-make-it goth cum metal concert//random statute//classical quintet at the uni//lund's bustop//random apartment(observe the reflections of the autum leaves on the windows)

the law faculty//on the streets//in case you dont know where i am//the white house//pink boardshorts//yet another building//wendy and weicheng walking//weicheng still leading the way//berries and more where they came from

apparently a laser show was going on//beautiful creepers turning burgundy for the autum//uber cool sweets shop//the shopowner, maria, putting on some 60s music on her trusty gramophone//wendy and me//another uni building//rune stone//lund uni's main hall

no one can ever resist a chocolate fountain//random chandellier//lunds domkyrka//inside the church//a statue of the giant, finn//entering the crypt//one massive candlestand

purple trains to malmo//malmo central station//waikit and myself//a view of some EU flags//malmo's radhus//marching tin men//picture of the sewer cap//on a malmo street//waikit and sam with the lund hoodie

the turning torso

random trigger happy shots of around malmo//"caviar" at ica (ika) supermart near weicheng's hostel- after having been weaned on netto and fakta for so long, ica is amazingly disarming in terms of food variety

look familiar? its the ikea canteen!

scorching sun//lazing on the beachfront in front of the turning torso//waikit's pepsi max advert//on a malmo bus//the guys peering over the edge

done!

lazing in lund, much ado about malmo (pt 1)

one thing. lund and malmo are terribly HOT places. in terms of what ive been experiencing so far in copenhagen, south sweden is uncomfortably blazing. im so going to fry and die of heat when i return home.

anyway, was in sweden from sat to today, and it was refreshing to get away from the city abit and go into reclusivity. lund is a very small town, like a magnified version of frederiksberg (for those living in cph). its quiet and basically serves the university population. its kinda inconvenient and expensive to get around, so our dear weicheng walks something like 2 km to school everyday. otherwise the others just ride to school on bikes. we were there for the lund kulturenatten, which was pretty happening, with free jazz concerts in the main square and some random goth-deathmetal show (which was just bad) in some random grassy area. we had fantastic hotdogs though. the next day we headed out to malmo ikea and the turning torso. ikea is huge, obviously, but it sells almost the same kind of stuff as we have back home. but the meatballs were pretty gorgeous! tastier, fresher, huge dollops of lindberry jam. and super duper apple pie. :) sticking too much with waikit and sam, who keep goading me to eat is very bad. anyways the turning torso is an architectural marvel, and it pretty much faces the oresund, so we relaxed abit on the beach also. like i said it was blazing those few days we were there. might have gotten a little darker. and today we headed to do some shopping at malmo. again, they have something like stroget here in cph, and it is slightly cheaper because the swedish krones are weaker than danish ones.

anyway i will shut up now, apologies for the lackadasical post. pictures soon!

dont say i didnt tell you who i met!

what can i say. just what can i say! me, the james gomez, jun.

12 of us in a cafe with james sipping lattes and cuppos. might be my first and last time really.

collages/colours of frederiksborg

nic poking his head into a not-so-secret passageway//gold chandelier//suit of armour//one of many blue chambers//the great hall//moat behind the castle//walking away from the castle to the gardens//the long fountain//view from the gardens toward the castle

various perspectives of the castle entrance and the fountain which was spewing water flying all over the place because it was so windy. it took us 15mins to wait until 2 tour grps cleared that fountain before we could take one empty of tourists. eddie was griping "why are they so selfish!!".

entering into the castle//inside the christian iv exhibition//the royal family tree// trying out calligraphy at the royal desk//calligraphy penmanship//step by step instructions with pictures on how to stab your enemy//the christian iv crest on the ceiling//surrounded by hundreds of individual crests of knights//random staircase

the phototaking starts at the s-tog station//atsuko and me on the train//4 girls and a castle//nic, me, shane, eddie, cam//me//looking small atop a rock//pretending to be lost//jj and me//nic trying his luck with 7 girls

shadow photo//a view from the moat//more views around the moat//jun and me being pushed by the wind//views in the castle

walking along the corridors//another shadow picture, this time with atsuko//barokhaven entrance//road to infinity//the long fountain

individual royal crests of the kings from christian i//painting of c4's ascension//a general warning not to touch anything.

c4 again//me and many a mannequin//rows of heads, statues with broken arms and missing legs//the bible that christian iv used- it was turned to the book of solomon//a chair//ceiling art!

more royal furniture//and some modern art paintings at the modern art section//my favourite one by andy warhol

and again, royal furniture.

security guards here have a cool job//shane and jun starting their cameras to time a shot//me taking a rest

fairytale sights in frederiksborg slot (part 2)

frederiksborg slot (frederiksborg castle) was built by christian iv, who became king techically at 11yrs (he only ascended the throne at 18 though) after his father frederik iii kicked the bucket. C4, as he is known on his royal crest, built the rosenborg in copenhagen as well as the rundetaarn (on which he made a slope so that he could ride his horse up the tower). he is also known for losing all the battles that he waged. the garden features hedges of his royal crest and that of his wife.

nic, me and jun at the privy corridor.

it may have been a little offensive, even blasphemous to take a jump in front of the chapel, but i did it all the same :)

one of the many awe-inspiring towers to come within the castle grounds.

the whole jimbang of us storm trooping the church. doreen, jj, tristan, eddie, atsuko, jun, shane, nic, eunice, bel, kam, me, zhiyong = 8 singaporeans + 1 malaysian + 1 japanese + 2 hongkongers + 1 chinese-american

the girls!

and the wannabe boyband (covers face)

fairytale sights in frederiksborg slot (hillerød)

no one can say we havent been here. its 45mins by s-tog(train) from the city centre to this north of zealand.

eunice, bel and zhiyong attempting to row across to the castle.

took this shot because it reminds you that denmark is so accessible. the castle is right smack in civilisation, only separated by a moat and you dont need to climb a mountain, cross a river, swim an ocean to enter into danish history.

the chapel before the castle reads anno 1603. where was singapore in 1603?!

almost soaked my shoes for this shot.

the back of the castle.

the weather couldnt be better for a day like this in the gardens. this is barokhaven, gardens of the frederiksborg castle. its so beautiful, trimmed to smallest detail and definitely asthetically pleasing. i'm describing it very badly.

we look like we're taking a stroll in the park, but we're actually walking pretty fast. it was a very bustery day and a few of us girls literally got swept off our feet. by the wind. nothing else.

spot terri.

atsuko and myself in the gardens.

taking a bite off one of the lovely sphere-trimmed trees.

relac in one corner overlooing the lake within barokhaven. no, i didn't wash my feet in the water.

i like the kid. she's pushing her own pram as her dad looks on.

FC København v FC Nordsjælland

the first time that im watching a soccer match that doesnt involve any vj soccer boys happens to be in the parken, home to soccer team fc københavn at østerbro. its fun being back at a match, cheering your heart out and groaning in empathy alternately. im no soccer fan, but i really enjoy match supports (honed from vj days). i maintain that vj banners will always be the standard.

you'd think we're supporting the singapore lions.
the fck side. hard core!
more fck fans. this is home ground after all.
the parken: reds are fcn, whites are fck.
the fck flag! i want!
sam, zhiyong, me, kam at the match, plus many others who were also photog-whoring away at halftime//kam, jun, me//tristan and bel checking out the fans//eddie taking more photos (again)

for the record: fck-1, fcn-0