graphic singapore

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thursday nights, oh how I miss you so

Thursday nights are gone. Those were the nights when one felt most alive and most depressed, those were the nights which the week culminated in, the climax of the week-long struggle. And every Thursday night was a battle where the feeling of helplessness evolved into hopelessness then into desperation and after much strenuous intellectual gymnastics and heaving, a paper emerged with soft cries in the wee hours of the morning, a paper one was not really proud of but a paper nonetheless. From a blank slate at 10pm to something of questionable substance at 5am to talking about it in class at 2pm to the disbelief that the professor actually thought the paper was worth an 'A' a week later. Thursday nights used to keep the week in check, one had to be vigilant with time, with readings, with work to avoid being overwhelmed on Thursday nights. It ordered the disorder of college life. But those times are gone now and I sit around on Thursday nights feeling a little deflated, feeling the bittersweet taste of Thursday night past on the tip of my tongue without being able to savor the satisfaction of purpose that it use to give.

guatemala roadside food fun

Chicken meat, cow meat, lamb meat and mystery meat with grilled spring onions, frijoles and heaps of tortillas and sugarcane juice under naked bulbs on a dark alleyway, under an umbrella as shade from the moonlight. In the mornings, the market food of arroz con leche, gruel with chicken bullion, tostadas and chuchitos as the flies landed and lifted off the food, and it's sights like these that make the food taste so much better. For snacks, lunch, dinner and everything else in between: fried chicken EVERYWHERE! None of that touristy lonely planet restaurant crap which are usually empty, expensive and where the only locals present are the staff, avoid them like the plague! And for fortification: lots of Gallo. These are a few of my favorite things. And the people too, really the nicest and most polite people I've come across thus far! And this is not some tourist brochure junk crap propaganda. I kid you not. Life just feels so much more alive!

redefining success and the ills of meritocracy

summer dreaming

 

 

 

 

scrambled eggs

funeral

moroccan love

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

3-4 lbs chicken 
Salt

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped

The peel from 1 preserved lemon, rinsed in cold water, pulp discarded, peel cut into thin strips
1 cup green olives, pitted
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

(source)

I made this last Friday in a pot. I used chicken drumsticks, bought by my dear friend since she has so many points, and marinated them overnight with the mentioned spices in between eating a dinner of shin ramen and milk (bad idea) and writing a paper. I caramelized the onions in the pot, browned the chicken in a pan before transferring them into the pot, threw in the olives and raisins, squirted some lemon juice which was a poor excuse for real lemons and put it on low heat. It was surprising how much liquid came out from the chicken. It tasted great, like liquid smoke, as Luke put it. And taste got better as the liquid reduced. Couldn't really taste the lemon, but the olives and raisins were a nice touch. All in all, the dish made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside but not quite warm enough.

No photo, I forgot to take one. 

I figure I should start writing about my adventures with food, after reading Luke's blog, since that's pretty much what we look forward to every week, cooking on the weekend.

:(

7 weeks

9 papers

1 presentation

2 finals

suffering!

yucatan dreaming

 

sunset, merida

 

lonely cloud, chichen itza

 

cab number, merida

 

gamble away, tulum

happiness is only real when shared, islas mujeres

ate too many tacos, drank too little beer, dipped in the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen in my life, wept a little, felt lonely in the company of others, compared mayan ruins to khmer ruins, engaged in external and internal conflicts, talked to a mexican man who wanted to marry a filipino in mexico instead of the philipines because of the better divorce laws, thought too much, acted too little, didn't enjoy myself a whole lot (but who said travel was all about fun?), died a little on the inside all in the name of character building

out the window, in the room

Adentro from andrew lim on Vimeo.

Who was General Tso?

tilty shifty