Ping's bak chang

It's Duan Wu Jie (端午節) - Dragon Boat Festival - this month. Back home, it is usually when people make rice dumplings (chang, 粽子). The rice dumpling is made of glutinous rice and various fillings, usually beans and chinese mushrooms in addition to pork. The rice and fillings are wrapped up in a bamboo leave and boiled until cook. Ping's favorite is Air Itam ahmah and tua ee's chang but recent years, Ping haven't been eating them much. There's always so many things that Ping wants to eat whenever Ping goes home that Ping don't get to eat all of them. Furthermore, ahmah and ee haven't been making them for quite sometime already. Another type of rice dumpling that is pretty popular back home is 'kee chang' (鹼水棕, alkaline dumpling) that is made up alkaline water (don't ask Ping, have no idea what it is) and it is really good with gula Melaka (brown sugar)!!

Since Ping don't get to eat it here, Ping decided to be adventurous this time and try it out herself. Had most of the ingredients except for some that are available from Oriental Market.

Ingredients

Glutinous rice (choo bee, 糯米)
dried mushrooms (hiow kor, 香菇)
dried prawns (hae bee, 蝦米)
black-eyed peas (pek tau, 白豆)
garlic

for seasoning - soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and five-spice powder (ngo hiang hun, 五香粉)

sesame oil

bamboo leaves
Ping soaked the rice, peas and bamboo leaves overnight. The prawns and mushroom were soaked in warm water for about an hour before cooking. The recipe is actually from Kuali, but Ping didn't add any meat so it is not really a 'bak' chang. Ping also could not find chestnut and kiam ark noi (salted duck egg) so just make do with whatever that is available.

Ping started out by frying the minced dried prawns and garlic with the mushroom. Then Ping fry the rice with the spices and sauces and mix in the beans. The hardest part is the 'pak' (tie) part. Ping kinda remember what the chang looks like but not really. So Ping asked mummy but mummy's description seems to be giving Ping the triangular shape instead of the pyramid shape. So Ping looked up online and found this video on YouTube by teckiee. Haha..keng leh!



But then without someone physically showing Ping, Ping's chang all look weird. But Ping is proud of herself because out of the 10 chang that Ping pak, only 2 went loose! So chin chai pak also never mind. heheh..but learning how to pak is now on Ping's list of 'stuff to learn from gee kim'.
Tua ee, what do you think of this? ahdik, can show this to gee kim and get her comments? Hehe.. Oh yeah, Ping also just realized that this type of chang is actually called 'kiam bak chang'..maybe because of all the tau eu that we use?? This is also the 'nyonya' style chang. The cantonese style has a lot more fillings in them like the one in the video - all kinds of different tau and don't know what yong and other stuff.

Ping also could not put too much of the filling in like the one in the video. So Ping's filling is actually very little compare to most of the bak chang that are much bigger. Usually, bak chang is pretty filling but Ping's bak chang, Ping can eat two to three.

This afternoon, brought some of them to the picnic we had at the Riverside Park at downtown Lansing. The girls liked it but Ping wish that tua ee and gee kim get to try it to see if it is 'passable'. Hehehe..

Lee Hom is back!!

Premiered today (or yesterday in Taiwan). After all the 'chink-out' style, he's finally back to the classical! Well, at least for this song. Still don't really like the "Xi Chu Dong Fang". Like listening to the chinese opera only lah.

王力宏 - 落葉歸根 (Falling Leaf Returning To Its Roots)

Fennel

Know what is that? Don't know leh. Don't think M'sia has it. Or if got also is very rare because Ping has never seen it until now.
It was the first Friday without Steph. Jen, Kristi and Ping went to Horrocks (that's because Ping wanted to go so Ping actually made a decision for our Friday night activity!!) so that Ping can get cheese curds. Since we were then, we also wanted to get some stuff for dinner - easiest is salad! Bought some romaine lettuce and then Jen suggested getting this vege thing that looks like grass with a huge round root - FENNEL. That was the first time Ping saw it. If Ping had seen it without Jen suggesting to get it, Ping wouldn't have bought or even tried it. It looks like grass. Like some kind of 'chang' that Ping wouldn't like. It is also know as 小茴香 (xiao3 hui2 xiang1) or pokok adas.

How to eat it leh? First have to separate the 'grass' part. This part taste a bit like 'anice' and seems to be the taste of ulam.

The bottom part looks like an onion but it is very hard and had to be sliced. It is very garing and almost tasteless. Jen says that it can also be roasted.

Both parts can be eaten. Ping don't know what else is the fennel used for but it taste really good with as part of salad, especially the green part. Now that Ping tried it, Ping likes it a lot. Makes Ping think of nasi ulam but cannot find any 'long kalui' to make it. Maybe can make it with the fennel....hmmmm....

Chilli plant

Ping's chilli plant is now pretty tall! But then still got no 'huan chio'. Don't know if it will even flower.

smoothie

After strawberry picking, got so much strawberry want to do what leh? Strawberry smoothie!!

Mix 3/4 cup of strawberries with a cup of blueberry yogurt. If Ping want it to be more 'cheng', add water or soymilk. Prefer the soymilk because it doesn't dilute the taste of the strawberry too much.
Adding orange is also pretty good. Lots of fiber!

And with the Magic Bullet, it is as fast as adding milk to cereal!!

That's Ping's breakfast for the week. Still got one more tupperware of strawberries. Wanted to try making strawberry pie but then Ping don't really like to eat them and there's no one else to eat so will just stick to smoothie. :P

Strawberry picking

Summertime is when all the tasty fruits 'bloom' and are cheap. Ping have always wanted to go berries picking (well since no berry plant can grow in M'sia), especially strawberries. Ping loves blueberries too but don't really know what to do with it besides eating it with cereal. Raspberry is so so only because most of the time they are sour.

So this weekend, a bunch of us drove down to Sturgis, which is about an hour south of Lansing, to a fruit farm - Nottawa Fruit Farm. The strawberries picking season is only about 3 weeks. They are pretty fragile fruit as we also saw lots of 'chau' strawberries. Strawberry plant is a bushy plant that is only about 1 feet tall. According to Wiki, the strawberry fruit that we're eating is actually not the fruit but an accessory fruit. The real fruit of the strawberry plant is actually the small biji that is inside the strawberry.

We got there close to closing time so we only spent about 30 mins there, which was good enough because Ping got tons of strawberries!! When you get there, they give you a basket made out of a box and guide you to a patch where it has not been picked. The plants are arranged in neat parallel rows and they'll tell you where to start and where's your limit. Since they are low on the ground, it can get pretty messy but we were lucky because it hasn't been raining for a few days and it was hot enough that the ground was dry. The strawberries are usually not obvious. You have to move the leaves around and look inside the bushes for the strawberries. They are much smaller than the ones we can buy from Meijer but as long as it is sweet, how small also never mind ler.

Pick pick pick....Guess how much this costs...
USD2.30 only ar!!! It is 50cents a pound!! Usually for that price, can only get 1 lb from Meijer. Bigger and looks prettier lah but size and look does not matter when it will eventually be eaten right???

Justin Timberlake vs. Jay Chou

The song choice for aerobics can be pretty important because it makes working out much more fun. On Thursday, the song the instructor picked was Justin Timberlake's SexyBack!!!! Ping thought that when Steph left, there's going to be no more SexyBack but no! Ping gets it twice within an hour's workout session! But guess what....

It actually is a really good workout song! (This is going to get Ping into so much trouble if Steph is around since Ping always gets annoyed when Steph plays the song out loud in the office...but she'll forget bout this post when she's back..kekeke!!) The chorus part blends really well for alternate or direction steps. It is long enough for about three sets of around the world.




BUT! Ping has not come to the stage of getting the song into Ping's workout playlist. The best workout song is still Jay's 同一種調調 (The Same Tune). This is the best song if wanna do footballers pace or a basketball squat and jump. However, the heart rate goes up pretty fast with this song too because the pace is much faster than JT's SexyBack. Gotta alternate it with a slower pace for basics or medium level grapevine.

Macaroni and cheese

Now that's a typical American food. Almost everyone have their own version of mum's macaroni and cheese. There's also the Kraft 50 cents one up to the ones in the classy restaurant that costs USD8-9. Ping used to like them quite a bit until Ping started working in Burnham Hall. Everyday see until sien edi. Somemore they like to flood it with cheese and the pans are so hard to clean!!!

But every once in a while, Ping would get them from Meijer. Each box comes with macaroni and a packet of cheddar cheese (seems to be the favorite cheese here because they use it for almost everything, including a dip for broccoli!!! AND a topping for white rice!!! Gila right?).

Few weeks back when Ping was busy preparing for committee meeting, didn't have time to cook so Ping got a box of mac and cheese. Chopped some tomatoes and sliced some sausage (or as they call it here, hot dog). Bought some sliced carrots too (too lazy to slice it *bleh*).

Boiled the macaroni, drain the water, heat up a pan and stir fry the macaroni, tomato, sausage and carrot until it is slightly soft and there's some juice from the tomato. Then dissolve the cheese powder in the 'juice' and fry until it is partially dry ---> that's 3 day's punya lunch!!

South Haven's North Beach

The best thing about summer - Saturday can be an offday! Don't need to do homework! Of course not every Saturday lah..but Ping was glad to go somewhere for a while. Michigan so boring, where to go leh? It's sunny out, it's warm, we've got M'sians who misses the beach - go beach lor!

Went to South Haven's North Beach. It's been a while since Ping went to Michigan beach too...exactly 4 years ago actually. That was when BK brought Ping there to see the sunset...that was the most spontaneous trip we've ever made! Ping came home, he said let's go, bring you go somewhere. :) One of the best trip though! Thanks, dear!
Drove a bunch of M'sians, a Hong Kongnese, and a Canadian. With such a mix, Ping really miss the feeling of being with friends back home. All kinds of language - malay, hokkien, cantonese, mandarin, english - like rojak only. They are definitely a nice bunch to have in the car ride. Pretty 'chin chai' ppl also.

When we got to the beach, everyone are like so jakun. Like never see beach before. Haha...the feeling was just awesome!!! The sand, the water, the wind, the sun...too bad got no leng chai to kap only. *bleh* But Ping wasn't really looking either ler. We were too busy building sandcastle as LP has never built a sandcastle (even though she's from Penang!!!). The sand is much finer than the one in Penang, kind of like the one in Redang/Perhentian (err...whichever one that Ping went before..with Yong, Mei and Emily). Because of the heat from the sun, it is hard to walk barefooted because the sand gets really hot (although according to Joe, it is pretty cold deeper inside). The water though, is cool and would actually be really nice to swim in but none of us brought our suits. Oh, Ping also found a cute little beetle!!

Once we did the sandcastle, we buried Joe in the sand! (That's how he know that it's cooler deeper into the ground). That's what happens when one guy goes to the beach with 5 girls. We thought of stuff and he has to go along with it. Pretty sporting guy so it was fun! (haha! ahboy, maybe we should do this to you next time I go home..keke).

The beaches here a bit weird. Most of them are privately owned. There are only very limited space for 'public'. Gotta be careful where we set up otherwise can kena halau. The parking lots have an interesting way of collecting money - honest system. There's no pondok or no ah pek to jaga your car. They have a yellow box where you just put the money in. If this is in M'sia, for sure nobody pay wan.

After all the messing around in the sand, we got ice-cream, hang around the beach and lepak. 好放松, 好開心, 好好玩哦!

蝸牛

Phew...committee meeting is done! Ping was super worried the night before because that was Ping's 'conditional pass' - to have a committee meeting in 6 months. Ping spent almost the entire night going through all of Ping's experiments to make sure that she can justify why she did what she did. It turned out to be okay. Got some really good suggestions and it seems like the sun is shining again.

This is the first weekend that Ping brought her guitar out again after a long time of having the guitar collecting dust. Wanted to play something slow and was googling around for chords and found the chords for Jay's 蝸牛. It sounds much better with piano than guitar but now Ping can't get rid of that song! It is a very positive song though. Jay had dedicated it to the Tsunami victims, encouraging them to stay strong.

蝸牛 (Snail) (Haha..Ping just realized that she doesn't know what is snail in Hokkien..hmmmm)

我要一步一步往上爬
Wo yao yi bu yi bu wang shang pa
I need to climb step by step

等待陽光靜靜看者他的臉
deng dai yang guang jing jing kan zhe ta de lian
Wait for the sun to show its face

小小的天有大大的夢想
xiao xiao de tian you da da de meng xiang
Small sky but with big dreams

重重的殼掛著輕輕的仰望
zhong zhong de ke gua zhe jing jing de yang wang
With a heavy shell, quietly look forward

我要一步一步往上爬
Wo yao yi bu yi bu wang shang pa
I need to climb up step by step

在最高點撐著夜片往前飛
zai zui gao dian cheng zhe ye pian wang qian fei
Errr...at the highest point, endure the night and fly ahead

小小的天有流過淚和汗
xiao xiao de tian you liu guo de lei he han
Small sky with past tears and sweat

總有一天我有屬於我的天
zhong you yi tian wo you shu yu wo de tian.
There will finally be a sky for me.

Err..it probably doesn't make sense in English but that is due to Ping not very good at translating it into English. Basically, what it means is that I have to work my way up step by step, enduring all the challenges that comes by and not letting go of my dream just because of a small challenge (small sky). In the end, I will finally find a place of my own (a sky for me). It is definitely much better in Chinese.

*If you want to listen to it - 蝸牛* Don't think he has an MV for this since he wrote it for someone else.

Mixers

During the ASM conference, there are also activities planned for the evening such as mixers. It is an informal social event where people of the same interest meet and talk about stuff, usually more science. This year, Ping didn't go to the division mixer - a mixer for microbiologists of the same field of study, like Ping's is microbial ecology or the MSU mixer - a mixer for all the attendees from MSU and their friends.

However, Ping did go to the Microbial Diversity mixer. That's the course Ping attended at Woods Hole last year. Ping is not a big fan of social events like that but this one is actually not too bad as Ping knows more than half of the people there and Steph is there too!! Even tua tau keh is there. It is also not crowded at all. The best thing - great appetizers!! Americans typically have really fancy decor and delicious finger food for social events.

There's pies - pecan is Ping's favorite! Ping actually had 2 of it! Yeah, basically had her dinner there. There's also some berry pie. The one appetizer that is served most often is vege trays and cracker with cheese. Ping had never learned to eat raw broccoli but Ping did started eating raw carrots when Ping came to MSU. Ping still don't like celery, even if it is cooked, unless it is cooked until nua nua in the soup and Ping cannot see it or pick it out.

They also had a chocolate fountain!! It's white chocolate but a chocolate fountain!!! That's the first time Ping saw one, what more dip from it! You just have to pass the fruits through the flowing chocolate a few times until you coat the fruit. It was a little too sweet but most of the appetizer stuff are usually sweet. Although their dessert stuff are sweet, American appetizers are actually much healthier - fruits and vege - compared to our nyonya kuih that are easily 'tiok chek' or chiak siow pa.

There also tiny pastries that looks really pretty. Ping didn't try all of it. Just had the coconut dipped with chocolate one (the lowest one in the photo) and it was good.

Victoria Day in Canada

ASM conference usually starts on Sunday evening. This year, it started on Monday evening because Monday (May 21st) is a public holiday in Canada (oh by the way, Canadians write their dates like we do in M'sia - 21/05/07 - instead of like the Americans) - Victoria Day. Not sure what they do on this day as Ping didn't observe anything out of ordinary except that all the shops are closed.

Similar to Hong Kong, their malls are underground. Much smalller as it is usually under one building only. Still remember when we were in HK, daddy would bring us into the mall from one entrance and when we exit from a different entrance, we will be on a different street. The malls here are much more organized and not as crowded but Ping didn't get anything because everything is so expensive, even more than in the States. Ping only went to one of the mall. Theng Theng went to Esprit and said that their style suits us better. Based on the fashion on the streets, they are much more like the Asian than American too.

Since most of the places were closed, we walked to Chinatown. As we were approaching and Ping saw all the streets name in Chinese, Ping got really excited. 那感覺真的很象在中國! But like most Chinatown, they are usually from Guangdong or Hong Kong because everyone was speaking in Cantonese. Ping would probably be out of place the moment Ping opens her mouth too. But seeing all the "eok thiam", wet market, seafood, "cheong" DVD and VCDs, stalls selling jades (probably fake), beads and various chinese restaurant. In fact, Ping got so excited that Ping just realized that she didn't have any photos from Chinatown! Was busy absorbing in the feeling of being at a familiar place.

The best was Ping get to eat some of the bakery stuff!! Got char siew pau, chin tooi, po lo pau, tan tart, they were all really good! It is really cheap too - 3 for $1 or the larger ones are 2 for $1! Of course don't come and tell me that for CAN $1 in Penang can get more than 3 lah...dollar to dollar, RM 1 可能只买到一可包吧.
The picture on the left is St. Lawrence market. It is the cleaner version of our "ban san".

There's also lots of pretty church here and there.




The one on the left here is the view from our hotel room. The buildings are very close to each other in the middle of the city. So you have to keep the blinds close all the time otherwise it can be pretty open for public viewing.

The convention center we were at was just below the CN tower (Canada's National Tower). It is also pretty close to the Union Station, which is their train and bus station (something like our KL Sentral, but KL Sentral is much more comfortable and organized). That's the brown building in the right picture. The CN tower is pretty much like our KL tower, where there's a revolving restaurant at the top and nothing else - as much as Ping heard from people since Ping didn't go up on it. Didn't feel that it is worth spending the money just to see the view of Canada when we can enjoy it by walking around. Like our KL tower and KLCC, it was once the tallest building in the world. Currently the tallest building in the world is probably the one in Taipei, Taiwan ba?

即使還有很多地方玩但跟美國的朋友去, 他們不太想去走走. 天氣由熱, 他們由不太想在外面走.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Just got back from watching Pirates of the Caribbean. It is a 2 hr 45 mins long movie! However, the middle part is slightly unnecessary. It has great graphics and action scenes but the storyline in the middle is kinda boring - almost 'tuk ku' in the cinema. Love the beginning - using the kid to start the song was definitely a great idea! And guess what! Chow Yun Fatt is actually a keh leh feh! There are also a few Cantonese phrases but Ping didn't catch it all. LP caught all of it and Ping had to ask her what it means. Best of all, Ping get to kap Orlando Bloom! Sooo yau yeng! Haha!

Back to Ping's trip to Canada, here's a pic of the car we rented for the drive. A Nissan Altima. It is a huge car! Feels so tiny sitting in it but it was worth it because it was a comfortable ride.
Isn't that big? It also don't need a key to start the car. There's a button that you have to press. Thankfully, we have Steph to drive us there. Otherwise, there's no way Ping or Kristi would have made it there with this car, or even know how to start it. It is also pretty 'seh eu' because we made it to Toronto and back with just one tank and 3 gallons.

Off to bed.. 晚安!

ASM at Toronto

Just got back from Toronto, Ontario, Canada yesterday afternoon. Yup, Ping has travelled to another country - Canada. 有特別嗎? Not really. When we first arrived at the Customs, the English accent is definitely more British like. It is definitely much easier than going through the customs at the airport - no checking your bags, no removing laptops out, no confiscating all kinds of stuff. They just asked us a few questions through the window while we're sitting in the car. But if you have vegetables and fruits you probably have to let them check it.

Just before we got to the customs, we have to cross the Blue Water Bridge. This is the first time Ping leaves US to go to a different country where Ping is not meeting with any family members. As we passed through the bridge, Ping thought of Penang bridge. 在想, 如果現在是過Penang 的大侨有多好呢. After the customs, it is just like Michigan. Flat, fields after fields, straight highway that never seems to end. But the first thing you see that tells you you're in a different country is they use the metric system like everyone else - speed limit is in km/h. M'sians always complain that the speed limit of 110km/h is low for our North-South highway but in Canada, or at least in Ontario, the speed limit at the highway is only 80km/h!! That's like the speed limit for Federal Highway? Wonder how often they catch ppl speeding at their interstate highways. Other than that, they always have different gas brand names, their rest stops are usually Tim Hortons and Wendy's.

It took us a total of 5.5 hours to get to our hotel near downtown Toronto. We stayed at one of the Holiday Inn chains. It was about 25 minutes walk from the hotel to the Metro Toronto Convention Center where the ASM General Meeting is held. It is definitely a great chance to be walking around. 也讓我想到以 前在Sunway College 的時候 - 每天走去學校. Ping was too lazy to bring extra socks so Ping just wore heels - mummy's hand-made manek eh - and proud to say that she can still walk in heels for a long time everyday like in college!!

The picture on the right is the main entrance of the convention center. See the recycling bin? That's one of the things Ping like there. There is a recycling bin every corner of the street. It is so convenient to recycle plastic and glass bottles and newspaper. They should do this in every country that can afford it. Hei..it can also create job opportunities leh.

Seen this thing on the left before? That's the first time Ping saw it. Didn't know what it was until someone parked their bike and then Ping realized that it is a bike rack!! There are quite a bunch of people who cycle - more than ppl in KL but definitely less than in China. The city is very much like KL but much cleaner. They also have hawkers by the road but they only sell hot dogs and fries. When crossing major intersections, it feels like in Hong Kong - lots of people crossing at all directions but thankfully, not as many ppl as in HK. It is also more multicultural than US - occasionally you pass by ppl who speaks Cantonese or Mandarin. 真的讓我很想回家阿!

Similar to KL, they also have a lot of "ki chiak ar" all over the place. They are much more "ho giak" than those in KL and braver too. They just sleep all over the place, even in front of big corporate buildings instead of under the jejantas or "ah boi lor". But what big cities don't have right? The one thing that feels different walking in KL vs. walking in Toronto is there are not many motorcyclist in Toronto, so it feels a little safer. At least for Ping since Ping got a phobia of motorcyclist coming from behind after that stupid incident in front of our Sunway house two years ago. In KL Ping had to keep looking back or Ping just walk between mum and dad when we all there this past trip back.

Hao le, wanna go back to work already. Later going to Suria for M'sian food!! Will tell more stories sometime. But overall, Toronto 真的不什麼特別. 跟美國差不多.

movies!!

Went to watch Shrek 3 last night. Baby Shrek are soooooooo cute!!! (But not the burping part lah). The weekend before we went to watch Spiderman 3. Ping still like the first one better. This one is a bit too cheesy (too much wa ai lu, lu ai wa scenes) but then got leng chai (James Franco) to kap so ookie ler. Not too long ago we went to watch Blades of Glory. That's the funniest movie of the year!! Wonder if they showed it in M'sia???

There's lots more attractive movie this summer too! They are already promoting Simpsons The Movie with the life size Simpsons family. BK used to watch them every single day but Ping never did get caught up with it. Don't understand their jokes very well.

But next week is the opening for Pirates of the Caribbean. Ping is surprised to see Chow Yun Fatt as one of the cast. Thought he is not very good at English? Hmm... But besides the story, Ping is definitely watching 'coz got Orlando Bloom to kap. Then there's Harry Potter too!!!! The new book AND the movie!!!

bored....

已经兩点多了. 我還睡不着. 老班還沒回答我的 e-mail. 想他看一看我的 ASM poster. 只有几天又去 Toronto 了. 他每次都是 last-minute, 让我自己緊張. Oh well...

剛剛看了張藝謀的黃金甲. 戏是不措, 但, 那故事有點變变态. 貞的會有这洋的事嗎? 兒子跟媽媽成为情人?

周杰倫也演的不措但他的角色跟他在 Initial D 里的角色怎么象. 不覺得 exciting.

Blah...

萍萍

Happy Mummy's Day

Since Ping couldn't get mummy anything, here's a song for mummy...

Jay Chou's 听媽媽的話 (Listen To Mum's Advice). It was written for his mum but it really is a sweet song for all mum.



Here's a translation of the chorus.

Listen to mum's advice (听媽媽的話). Don't want her to get hurt (別讓她受傷).
Wanna grow up quickly (想快塊長大). Then I'll be able to protect her (才能保護她).

The rest of the song is about why he has to study/practice the piano while his friends are out playing and he realized that it is all for his own good now that he's grown up.

But Jay was not totally right in that either. Even after we have grown up, mum is still the one protecting us. Deep down, Ping knows that as mummy will always be the one standing up for Ping rather than the other way around. Until today, when Ping consider herself independent, there's nothing more soothing than a phone call home to mum.

December 2005. Ping finally had the amount of money mum and dad had sacrificed for Ping to pursue her study here in the States, in the bank. Ping was so happy that Ping could finally return all of it to mum and dad and maybe start sending money home. But, it turned out that even when Ping goes home, Ping don't have to fork out a single cent. Ping is still a kid back home.

Ping has the most sporting mum ever too! When Ping was in high school, it is pretty common to hear friends complain about their parents. Daddy was a little strict when he was home but when he's not around, mummy was pretty much the "as-long-as-you-finish-your-homework-you-can-go-out" kinda mum. It wasn't until Ping was in college when she started coming home at wee hours in the morning on weekends when mummy made comments about that. *grins* That's one nice thing being here...no one to answer to when Ping comes home at 2am in the morning...but on the other hand, coming home at 2am in the morning here is because of lab work, not at mamak watching Man Utd vs. Liverpool. Ping also didn't have to go to tuition for all 7 subjects (except accounts which didn't count since Ping didn't take any accounts class in school), which was the best because Ping get to watch tv at night and go to Pyramid on Friday afternoons!

Here's a bunch of pictures Ping took with mummy. They are either in 2004 or 2005. End of 2004 was when Ping graduated and we went to Disneyworld while in mid-2005 was when Ping went to Beijing. They are both the best times because Ping gets mum and dad all to herself!!!By the way, mummy, I just realized that we both like our red sweaters a lot. The one and only one I have is the one daddy bought from Hong Kong (yup! it is still as good and comfy as new!). Not Ping's favorite color but Ping is seen wearing it quite a bit in lots of photos.

Here are more recent photos from Ping's last two trips home. Again, mummy and Ping seems to be in red color quite a bit although it is not our favorite color. The red top in this photo that Ping had on is actually from tua ee so not Ping's choice but it is a nice top. The one mummy had on must all be daddy's choice since mummy's usual colors are pretty dull like Ping's. Hehehe...

Also realized that Ping and mummy has quite similar facial expression. Haha..but Ping is going to disagree with daddy that Ping will become 'round' like mummy. Really miss hanging out with mummy and daddy....hope we'll get to make a trip somewhere for Ping's next trip home.

Mummy is also a great balance to daddy's "super-optimistic" and "everything starts with me" advices. When Ping needs to blame someone or something (even though daddy would think that Ping could change the situation), Ping would be going to mummy instead of daddy. Keke...

Happy Mother's Day and I love you, mummy!

Steph's graduation

Yippee!! Steph is now a Dr! The beh ik lang eh lok kun. Happy for her but Ping is also going to miss her a lot. The first time Ping met her was when Ping came to the department for a visit. But at that time, Ping still wasn't sure if she was really staying for grad school so at that point, to Ping, she was someone whom you bump into throughout the life journey, say hi and walk on. It was when Ping joined the department that Ping knew she would be someone Ping would like to know more. Ping was walking along the hallway of 6th floor looking for a professor's office when Ping bumped into Steph again. She was nice enough to give Ping her email address! But we only got close when Ping joined the Schmidt lab...she's been Ping's 'bestest' friend, and the most valueble mentor. Ping would not have made it through this far without Steph. All the nerdy discussions...she was the only one whom Ping can talk to about it and who took time to understand Ping's stuff...the Friday nights...weekends in the lab...afternoon walk to Grand River.

We had a celebration for Steph at The Post on Wednesday night after she defended. We were supposed to go to Peanut Barrel but there were too many people. We then walked towards Harpers but guess what...there was a line!! Can you imagine???? It's final's week..the MIDDLE of final's week and those kids got time to go to the bar for half-off beer. Usually finals week, we don't even want to do anything. Just want to bury our face in the book. But maybe there are just lots of people who were done by Wednesday.Anyway, back to the celebration, we ended up going to the Post. Ping actually like that place. Not a big fan of most bars, The Post is more subtle. No crazy undergrads, no crappy music, no smoky atmosphere...pretty comfy. But as usual, Ping didn't get any drink....had dinner there instead. Ordered some Thai Pasta with chicken, Steph got nachos and dips, Allison got mac and cheese (don't know if it taste different but it definitely look more 'gourmet'), Daniel got some kind of burger, and Kristi got black beans nachos but we didn't see any black beans at all!! We kept saying that we didn't see any black beans but then leh nobody said anything to the waitress. 可能喝了太多酒吧. *grins* The black bean nachos also came with pickled jalepano..it taste like 'cheh huan jio' but not sure if cheh huan jio is jalepano or not. The ang mo didn't eat much of that so Ping ate them with the pasta...they don't exactly fit each other but ho chiak enough lah.

Just before we were all about to leave, Dion suggested that we should do a shot. Ping insisted not to get one but they got one for everyone. A bit 不好意思 if don't take it right. They got 'bomb' which is a mix of Red bull and rum. Taste pretty good. So Ping actually drown it down (yup, Ping did. The last time Ping did that....Ping was jumping up and down at PD - that was when Ping was at PD with BK's friends when they did the tequila shot...that was definitely a once in a lifetime thing!). At first Ping didn't feel anything...but by the time we were about to leave, Ping felt like she had her head stuck in a heater! 好才沒有吐出來. Definitely wasn't Ping's best behaviour that night. Lucky thing Daniel was there to give us a ride home. Otherwise Ping would probably end up sleeping in the office.

Last night we went to Steph's commencement ceremony. Definitely different from Western's commencement ceremony. Ping like's the way they have the video of Western's campus at the end of the commencement ceremony. They didn't show anything like that at MSU. But, there was a Sparty guy. He actually sat there for the entire ceremony too.

After the graduation, we adjourn to Steph's place for 'dinner'. Steph and her 'parental unit' had prepared some crackers, cheese and fruits. It was a very American style..similar to a mini 'hi-tea' when we go to hotel but don't have to spend crazy amount of money. There's crackers and cheese slices. They usually eat the cheese by itself or eat it with the crackers. There were also slices of turkey and ham which they are collectively known as 'cold-cuts'. We usually eat them with roti but here, they eat them just like that. As for the fruits, unlike the regular Malaysian style (papaya, melons, mango, nangka), they are a combination of melon, grapes, and raspberry.

Ping likes the cheese curd the most. Ping usually don't buy cheese 'coz when you eat out in the States, almost everything has cheese. Ping don't need more cheese at home. Furthermore, Ping don't really know many recipes that need cheese. But Ping couldn't help snacking on the cheese curds. Ping probably finished all of Steph's cheese curd. On top of that, Steph even gave Ping the remaining that she had in the fridge. Ping could probably finish the entire bag in two days!! Err...they are really good mah!

Congrats Steph!!....Dr. Steph!

Happy Wesak Day

Another year goes by where Wesak Day is just another day. This is one of the season that makes Ping homesick. There's ahmah's birthday in April. Wesak Day and mummy's day in May. Ping's b'day and daddy's day in June. It is rare that Ping can make it home for any of these occasions, or any occasions at all. Usually gotta decide which occasian Ping wanna go home for. Yeah, cannot be tham sim but .....

It's Wesak Day today. Didn't even go to the temple this past weekend. Just the thought of driving for 1.5 hr to Detroit or 45 mins to the Thai temple is enough to not feel like going. Okay, maybe it is all about effort. If Ping really wants to go, irregardless of how long the drive is, Ping would have gone. But driving is not one of Ping's favorite thing to do.

It's been a while. Ping miss the big huha over the Wesak float, lighting the candles, the 'laujuakness', the cheerful spirit and simply doing stuff with Li Foong and Sze Huey. (By the way, Li Foong, thanks a bunch for the card and the postcard!! Keep a look out for one going your way!) But really, does it matter? What is Wesak Day anyway? Isn't it more important to be practicing the Buddha's teaching everyday?

But Ping just can't help feeling homesick. Called home last night. One of the rare times when ahdik is also home and everyone was spending time together. They were on their way to Air Itam ahmah's house. That means that everyone is going to be there. True, whenever Ping goes home, there's usually big gatherings. But for the rest of the year, Ping just can't help feeling left out.

Anyway, Happy Wesak Day to all that celebrates it. May the Triple Gem be with you always.

As for Ping, let this be a night to ponder over one of Buddha's last teaching - Nothing is permanent - Tomorrow will be a new beginning....like the trees that were bald a couple days ago and is blooming today.

end of semester

Yippee!! No more classes to take!! Yup, Ping is done with coarse work. There's good and bad. At this point, Ping is just happy to get to focus on research only. It's been quite an adventurous semester but it's the worst semester since Ping enrolled for grad school. Maybe it is "kha khi chui su" for taking so many coarse work and also teaching assignments AND be on the graduate recruiting committee. Ping learned a lot but Ping was not very good at juggling all of it because the one thing that suffers is the one thing that is most important to Ping at this point. 結果呢? Ping disappoints herself.

It feels like the door has disappeared. Feels like 钻牛角尖. Spent the weekend reading about Big Gorilla. Why does something that seems to exciting can be so discouraging when you are the one doing it? It's like the Fear Factor that we watch on tv. Wow, that must be really exciting. But when you are the participant, you just want to get out of it. Ping could go on reading and the ending is often 'wow'! It is pretty new when you think about it in the way of microbial ecology and the impact of Big Gorilla on nutrient cycling. But why when Ping think about the next Ping has to do or when Ping sits down and write about the experimental design, the only thing on the piece of paper in front of Ping is "Hypothesis: Approach: " Yup, that's it. Lots of things passes by the mind but they just don't linger long enough to be written down. It's like a ping-pong game going on in there. Maybe this....Nah...How about this...Don't think so... Aih...烦死了!

Anyway, besides that, Ping is still glad to have time to hang out with Ping's girl friends on Friday nights. We went to the mall this past weekend and saw Spartan Toyato's showcase. Saw this car and thought of ahdik. Seen this before in M'sia? Looks like the beginning of your name..don't know how they pronounce it though.
Also like the Toyota Yaris...should be more popular in M'sia now too right? Like it? Give me "Chap sar Cheng bee kok lui" then cici get you one. Hahahaha...
Also went shopping at Kohls. Ping could usually find some clothes, usually have to decide which one to buy but this trip, Ping wasn't really into shopping so didn't really look. Just wanted to spend time with friends. But in the end, Ping found a nice dress and laughed a lot. *grins*

Will write more once things get back on track. No worries...Ping will see the sun again...just don't know when. It'll be much better now. The only thing that Ping have to think about is research!!

Chinese Language Support Pack

Ping just discovered something new today. There's a Chinese Language Support Pack that we can install from the Windows XP cd that allows us to type in Mandarin!!! Ping is so excited that Ping reorganized all her chinese songs with proper characters that don't show up as boxes!!!

Ping had ran out of 'demo' copies of Chinese Word Processor to download. Ping started out using NJ Star WP, starting with their old version, which expired after 90 days. They then had new version, which gave Ping another 3 months. Unfortunately, these demo programs seem to know that you have used it for 90 days because after expiration, Ping would uninstall it, delete all the files, download it again and reinstall, but it wouldn't work. It will just keep telling you that your 90 days is over. So Ping had to format her C:/ drive to get rid of whatever code that tells them Ping had used the program before. Did that in June last year just before going to Woods Hole.

Since then, Ping had installed two versions of NJ Star WP and Key5. Ping is currently running out of demo versions to download and these word processors are just way too expensive to get in the States. So Ping decided to look around for Windows based ones and while going through the Control Panel, Ping realized that you can install a foreign language pack!!! Gave it a try and it's great!! You can shift between typing in English and typing in Mandarin with Alt+Shift. For the Mandarin characters, all you have to do is type in the pinyin with the tone ie. hen3 hao4 wan2 and you will get 很好完. Furthermore, Ping don't need NJwin Viewer to see the characters!!! Yippeee!!! Don't need to feel guilty about trying to hunt for downloads or using pirated versions!

By the way, Ping has complete collection of Jay's new 依然范特西 and 七里香 albums already!! 5 more to go!!

晚安!

smoothie

Yippee!!! 终于打分完了!!!

It took Ping almost three days! Of course not continuously lah. Stopped to read some other stuff, to watch 恶作剧之吻 and went jogging (it is finally warm again!!!). While grading, sometimes Ping wondered 这是大学生还是中学的学生呢? If that was what we did during secondary school, sure no one will read it. Ping had first hand experience when Pn. Saadiah said she won't read it when Ping handed in her buku karangan. Ping had to learn to write super huge for PMR and SPM!!! Even with Ping's tiny handwriting, it was much neater! 真的不明白为什么他们会写到真么烂. Seriously like cakar ayam only.

Now Ping can finally get back to lab work!! Yippee!!!

Thought of getting a smoothie and the best smoothie in town is from Blimpie. There used to be one from campus but they replaced it with McAlister's Deli after Ping's first year. So Ping went to Meijer last night to get some fruits and came across the Bolthouse Farms Strawberry Banana shake. Don't like it! They add apple juice!!! But Ping finished it anyway. Those who don't like apple...don't buy it. The main section of the label didn't say anything about apple juice and there's no picture of apple but if you read the description and ingredients carefully, there certainly is apple juice. That will be the last time Ping gets any of the Bolthouse Farms smoothie.
By the way, this picture was taken with Ping's Nokia 6315i. What do you all think? Not bad right? Definitely better than Ping's old Sony Ericsson although Ping misses the small size of that phone and it's capability to send and receive SMS from home.

Spring break ends

Boo hoo...the campus will be busy again. This past week has been great. Ping didn't get out a lot but it's nice to drive to campus without cars and human beings all over the place. Not that Ping has anything against human beings since Ping is a Homo sapiens herself but when Ping is behind a steering in a huge vehicle, they are pretty scary to Ping, especially those that koay lor bo khua chia.

It's been a great week for Ping. Not necessarily in terms of productivity since Ping hasn't learned that much more since last Saturday. But Ping did get more information about the two strains of E. coli that Ping was working with. Had a great time working in the lab all week. Ping loves teaching and going to the seminar that Ping is taking but they just take too much time away from lab. That is why this week has been awesome. Ping gets to stay in lab all day!!

Last week, during the gathering at Gylin's place, the atmosphere reminded of Ping during her Spring break days back at Western. There's always plans but they never materialized. Ping always end up working 40 hours a week. That's the only time besides summer that international students are allowed to work 40 hours. Ping collect hours between library and in the lab (Burnham was out of question since they are closed during holidays). Sometimes Ping can't help wonder what Ping would be like if those Spring breaks were spent going places rather than working? Probably broke and inexperienced.
Wheee...off to bed.

Ohh..by the way, did anyone go to Wang Li Hom's concert???? So jealous wei!!! Li Hom and Jay's concerts are the two that Ping would be willing to spend money on...especially if there ever is a concert where Li Hom and Jay do a piano duel. That would be awesome!!!! Haha...

MicroSD card

About a decade ago, Ping saw SONY MD player and was impressed by it. Such a small cd can hold so many songs. Then dad got a digital camera and it is amazing how one can fit so many photos into an 1in. x 1in. SD (secure digital) card.

Last week, Ping got a microSD card for her new mp3 player+handphone. It came in a small envelope and was really shock to see that it is soooooooo tiny. It is even smaller than an US 10cents coin.
Can you imagine that such a small thing can fit 1GB worth of songs? No wonder mp3 players are getting smaller and smaller. They also have 2GB ones but the price is way much more than twice so Ping decided to stick with the 1GB one first. Lucky thing the package that Ping found also has a USB adapter. Otherwise, Ping won't be able to read it as Ping don't have a SD card reader. Basically, Ping has to put the little microSD into the regular SD, which is then plugged into one end of the USB adapter as the other end is to plug into the computer.

Unbelievable!

Pengat

It's the 14th day of CNY. Tomorrow is the last day of CNY celebration. Of course it is not the last day of the new year but just the last day of celebrations (okay, okay. Dad will disagree with this since he thinks that there should be something to celebrate for everyday). But tomorrow is officially the last day of CNY celebration. It is known as "Chap Goh Meh", which literally means the 15th night. On the night of the 14th day, everyone in the family usually get together for a last reunion before everyone goes back to their own life for the rest of the year.

As usual, all these traditions and gatherings are meaningless when you're miles and miles away from home without any family members close by. However, sometimes when someone makes the effort to bring friends together, it turns out to be a pretty good time. It makes you miss home even more but you have fun and realize that there are actually people around you who feels the same.

While mum, dad, ahdik, ahmah and everyone else back home are having a great seafood dinner at home, Ping joined the chinese M'sians. On "Chap Goh Meh", the Hokkiens usually eat pengat. What is the significance? Err...dunno leh. Mummy say eat pengat..so we eat pengat lor. So Ping went out hunting for the ingredients required for pengat this morning. Went to Meijer to get the orange sweet potato and bananas, and was hoping they have purple yam but could not find any. So went to Oriental Mart to get yellow sweet potato, and coconut cream. Looked around for purple yam but could only find the frozen ones. So weird. Frozen yam??? That's the first time Ping saw it but bought it to try it out anyway.
Ping got the recipe from mum but it is the same one as in the "Nonya Flavours" recipe book (just realized that they have a different spelling for "Nonya" vs. the more common "Nyonya"). Some recipes call for black-eye beans but that is more like bubur cha-cha style.

100g yellow sweet potato (甘薯)
100g orange sweet potato
100g purple sweet potato
200g taro (yam)

1L coconut milk (from 1 coconut)
100g sugar or to taste
2 pandan leaves

3 bananas (preferably Pisang Raja)

1. Peel and cut sweet potato and taro into small diamond shapes. Steam, separately, until cooked.
2. Bring coconut milk, sugar and pandan leaves to a simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves.
3. Put the steamed sweet potato and taro into the coconut sauce. Add the banana slices which are cut just before cooking to prevent discoloration. Stir to mix.

Since Ping read online that purple sweet potato is rare to come by in the States, Ping skipped that and looked for purple yam instead. Even then, Ping could only find the frozen one. Ping defrozed it and steam it but the outer part became 'lembik'. So there was less purple yam in Ping's pengat because Ping had to remove some of the soft part (too geli to put in lah, although technically it is still edible). Ping also had to skip the pandan leaves since there's no pandan leaves here. There's pandan extract but the last time Ping tried it with the pulut tai-tai, it wasn't very strong in taste and fragrance. And of course, Ping just got regular bananas since there's no Pisang Raja here. But the bananas here are sooooo huge that it looks like pisang Raja anyway. As for the coconut milk, of course have to use can one lah. No 'ah ne ne' to sell us any 'ia cheung'.

So here's the final product....
Not sure if it is ho chiak or not but it was good enough for Ping who hasn't had it since Ayer Itam ahmah cooked it two years ago (summer of 2005). And Ping brought back an almost empty pot so it must be at least edible that people are eating it. *grins*