Graduation!!

Finally, graduation!!

It's sad to know that I won't be seeing these guys (and a lot of other people that are not in the photo because they are somewhere in the line) for a long time.

I am really glad that I met these guys. They're awesome people who share the same passion with me in the field. They made my life in class and in the labs, and even outside the classroom.

While I'm glad that I don't have to see my so-called "friends only on Facebook" anymore, I will be feeling really sad when I leave this town, but at the same time, I will be looking forward to experiencing living in a new town.

Well, congratulations to everyone who is graduating, wherever you  are, and hopefully all goes well with everything :)

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Vuvuzelaaaaa

I want to blow a vuvuzela for my graduation.

Like, really really loudly in the middle of a crowd. That would be kinda fun and memorable.

While I'm still considerably pretty young I want to do something a little stupid but is still within the common sense boundary. Can't do that anymore once I'm a proper adult, can I?

BzzZZZTTTT---!!!

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Spring Rain

It's wet and cold, but it's pretty, don't you think?

I was walking towards Japan House for my Ikebana class and I found these wild dandelions lying on the road side.

It's beautiful.

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Osama bin Laden's Death

I don't know how I should react.

I've been reading people's reactions and while they are somehow expected, the more I read the comments, the more I feel that those comments were overdone.

I don't really know about the history between Osama and USA, but according to what I read here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10741005

it would seem that Osama noticed something wrong with the US intel system and decided that USA is evil. We, as normal citizens, might not be able to see some truths that might be hidden by the government.

And the funny part was that the one who taught Osama how to fight was USA itself.

In the end, what are we fighting for? What are we fighting against?

Are we even supposed to be rejoiced that he is dead now?

All I know is that we have to stop fighting.

A couple hours before I read the news on Osama's death, I was reading stuffs on World War I and II. The things I learned at secondary school was very limited and at the same time biased against the Allies. Be it the Axis or the Allies, they were all scary. It's full of death, betrayal, oppression... I wasn't even living in those era, but imagining the war itself made me feel really scared about wars.

In games and movies, they seemed cool. But no, in reality, wars are not cool at all.

My worst experience was during the 1997 riot in Jakarta. I lived on the outskirts so it was not that bad, but the rioters passed the back of our house. There were traces of blood everywhere, shops burned down, people screaming, looters roaming around... You're stuck in the house but at the same time, you're ready to escape.

Instead of using money to build up arms, isn't it better to use the money for people's welfare?

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zzZZZzZZZZZZ....

I keep blaming the weather for getting sleepy.

I get sleepy when it's raining and cloudy.
I also get sleepy when it's really cold outside (wrapping myself in blanket feels so awesome and warm and comfortable!!).

And today when the weather's really nice I just sat down on my bed and hours later I found myself waking up from a really long nap. Even though I have an exam tomorrow.

Speaking of Italian (it's my exam tomorrow), I suddenly feel like watching soccer because somehow Italians == soccer. They even play soccer for a festival (which I forgot what the name was - it appeared in my online homework). It's pretty cool.

And of course, I was very very very disappointed with the English team because I was really rooting for England but they got eliminated really quickly.

Pfft. Nice picture. Got it from Google.

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Finishing Up

I have to clear out all my food stocks before I graduate. Hhh.... I have so much leftover glutinous rice from my soy snack extrusion research project. 

Last Friday I attempted to make lo mai kai but I forgot that last week my fridge refused to cool my stuffs because of ice formation in the freezer, so I had no meat to work with. But I still have some Chinese sausages and dried shiitake mushrooms - they never go bad easily.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup glutinous rice
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
- 1 pork sausage, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cloves shallots, minced
- 4 dried mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp rice wine
- 2 Tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt

Steps:
1) Soak glutinous rice overnight (the water must completely cover the rice).
2) Drain the water from glutinous rice and steam for 40 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, sautee pork sausage, garlic, shallot and mushroom for about 3-5 minutes.
4) Take the glutinous rice out of the steamer. Add oyster sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, white pepper, sugar and salt into the steamed glutinous rice, and mix well. Note that at this point the glutinous rice should be a little hard because it will be steamed again. And as usual, the seasoning measurements are very flexible. Please adjust according to your taste :)
5) Mix sauteed ingredients from step 3 into the glutinous rice, and pack them into small bowls (or big bowl - depending on the way you want to serve the lo mai kai). Press it down the bowl so the glutinous rice is well-packed.
6) Steam the bowls for another 20 minutes.

These can be micowaved too, so it's okay to prepare them in advance :)

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