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Saturday, November 15, 2008

Singapore Food Festival - 3 days of cooking!

Hello

So today was our Singapore Food Festival, one of our biggest outreach events to the wider community in the University of Michigan.=) I think one of the great things about studying in a place with so many different cultures residing together, is that you are able to learn so many new things about other cultures. ^_^

But anyway, seeing as Xinyi and I were totally ambitious, we volunteered to make Nasi Lemak, which is a crapload of work if you don't want to kill yourself on the actual day itself. The East Quad people and myself made Nasi Lemak with Ted last year, but the amount we made was much less than what we prepared this time so.. It was hard work indeed.X__X

Starting on Thursday, we started our prep... Our Nasi Lemak might not have consisted of a lot of stuff, but it was a lot of work in totality:
- Rice
- Ikan Bilis
- Peanuts
- Sambal Chilli
- Omelettes
- Cucumbers
- Keropok

See! (T_T) Making the chilli was fun, but the amount of chilli oil that was produced was kind of scary..X__X Still, I thought the chilli was actually quite yummy, just really really spicy. [Everyone can testify to that I think!] And the keropok was fabulous for snacking on while cooking [and singing along to songs on the computer..] and so was the ikan bilis + peanut mix!! =)

Our fabulous keropok!!! =) Frying it is a very calming activity because it's so repetitive [imagine standing in front of a work full of hot oil, and having to fry a whole box of keropok keropok-by-keropok].

Massive amounts of ikan bilis were sacrificed for a noble cause. [If not us, it would have been some other less worthy person who might not fry it as deliciously as we did! =P]

The case of the leaping fish!

Guo Lu hard at work... We all took turns to cook stuff not to worry.=P I wouldn't torture GL like that! Haha.. And plus, it's pretty fun.=)

Our prep work!!! Haha.. Ginger.. A LOT of shallots.. The already prepped ikan bilis + peanut mix sit patiently like the rice that awaits delicious additions!

Our completed nasi lemak rice, sitting in the tray and ready to be transported!!! =)

Stack after stack after stack of omelette quarters.=) [We used 60 eggs in total! This is about half... I think?]

Because all of us were kind of hungry from the miserable lunch we ate [although Guo Lu's chicken thingie was REALLY good.. though spicy.. =X], we made a stack of pancakes!!! ^_^ They weren't fantastic though, which leads me to conclude that pancakes are a lot harder to make than expected.

Our stall!!! ^_^ Sadly, Chenli and my brother are missing from the photo [as am I. But o well.].. Nasi Lemak!! YAYYY!

The model plate we assembled. ;D Helps people visualize what they're paying for more easily!!! Haha.. Doesn't it look happy???

We almost ran out of rice, so Xinyi had to make more at home. =D At the end though, we were giving away food for free! =P I can assure you, Singaporeans love keropok, it was the fastest item to go..

We did pretty well overall though, and made a pretty profit.=) That pleased me greatly, but for the amount of time, energy, and manpower that we devoted to this, I think it's not really worth it after all. =( Still, when people came to tell us that they REALLY liked it, or if they kept coming back for more chilli, it made me happy! ^_^ Hehe. And also, when I invited a lot of my non-Singaporean friends to come and they actually came, I was really happy!!! Haha.. My Japanese friend brought his daughter, and she is so cute.xD xD xD

Ahh. I'm so tired and I'm aching all over from all this cooking.X__X I am now utterly convinced that cooking a lot helps you lose weight because not only do you use a lot of muscles to cook, but you also are so tired, you aren't really in the mood to eat anything!!! =P

Ok.. The last part isn't technically true since err I was really hungry just now and kept stealing food from other stalls..=P

We have loads of tamarind leftover from making the chilli. I wonder we can do with it? Hmm..

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : 枫周杰伦]
[mood : extremely exhausted]
[food : keropok? I don't want to smell like like keropok, ikan bilis and egg anymore!]

Liuyi: ありがとうございました!　今、アパートを見つけたと思うけど、Ｌｅａｓｅをまだサインしませんでした。ＮａｓｉＬｅｍａｋを作るのはとても大変だけど、友達と一緒に料理をすることは楽しいと思います!

Labels: Ann Arbor, edibles, nasi lemak, Singapore Food Festival, umich

百度来自。。。？

Hello!

So tomorrow is the Singapore Food Festival [actually today, but it's erm EARLY today so I still consider it tomorrow..=P] and we're halfway through the prep work! We've already fried our ikan bilis, roasted our peanuts, fried our keropok, made the chilli [I think it smells awfully spicy but everyone says it tastes good so...] and bought all our ingredients. Tomorrow, we just have to make the rice, omelettes, slice the cucumbers, and season our ikan bilis-peanut mix! ^_^

I am so tired but.. I think it'll be a rewarding event.=)

Anyway, from the ever resourceful Chenli [and accompanied by fabulous knowledge from Xinyi and Guolu - the resident Chinese experts], I've discovered the origins of the powerful Chinese search engine, 百度!

辛弃疾 - 青玉案

东风夜放花千树，更吹落、星如雨。
宝马雕车香满路。
凤箫声动，玉壶光转，一夜鱼龙舞。

蛾儿雪柳黄金缕，笑语盈盈暗香去。
众里寻他千百度；蓦然回首，那人却在、灯火阑珊处。

"百度" originates from the last line of the poem - it's also the nicest line of the poem and resonates within you with loads and loads of meaning. [In other words, I didn't understand it at all, especially the most important parts of the sentence. AHEM.] According to Guo Lu though, the first part is made up of descriptions.=)

But thanks to the kindness of my friends, [they refused to translate the whole thing, apparently it's rather complex] I now understand the last line and boy do I feel smart! =P It's a very nice line though, rather inspiring.=)

众里寻他千百度；蓦然回首，那人却在、灯火阑珊处。

I always marvel at how beautiful the Chinese language can sound and mean, and I wish I had studied harder at it. ;_; I loved learning 唐诗 though, so maybe I would have been more interested if we had done poems instead, and learnt it for fun rather than for exams all the time..

今日、会話パートナと一緒にＫｅｒｒｙｔｏｗｎに行きました!　とても楽しかったと思います。一緒に喫茶店でお茶を飲んで、面白いトピックを話して、すごく楽しかったです!　二人は日本の会社のカルチャーを教えてくれて、ちょっと変だと思うけど、なかなか面白いと思います。それから、私達はアニメが好きだから、いつもアニメのことを話します。ハハ!　日本語の話す練習はとても大事だと思うから、このチャンスはよかったですね!　今日も試験の点数を知りました。今、ちょっとうれしい．．．＾＿＾”来週は日本―フランスの喫茶店に行くつもりです!　楽しみに!

Everything I wore smells like oil, and is awful!!! =( I feel so bad for stinking up the East Ann house..=X でも、仕方がないでしょう．．．(T_T)

众里寻他千百度……
cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : Chasing Cars Snow Patrol]
[mood : calm]
[food : keropok! We forgot to buy the Indonesian one.. ;_;]

Liu-yi: こんにちは!　今、家賃が高くて、アパートは私の教室にちょっと遠いと思うから、他のアパートを探し見に行きました。それから、来年は友達と一緒住んでいるから、皆はもっと便利な場所を探したいです。変なことじゃないですよ! =D

Labels: Japanese Lessons, nasi lemak, poem, Singapore Food Festival, thoughts

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Singapore Food Festival!!!

Hello!

Yesterday was the successful Singapore Food Festival in umich! =) XW, GL, Kevin and I helped Ted cook Nasi Lemak... Gosh was that tough..xP But yay! We sold out within like, one hour.=) =) =) Hehe.

Let's see. The rice was tough to get right because of the proportions but! I did the damn ikan bilis and peanuts and chilli which was.. awful to say the very least. I am never deep-frying again unless absolutely necessary. Like a life-and-death kind of situation. Do you know how many times we got splattered by hot oil thanks to the refusal of the ikan bilis to dry?!!?!! (T_T) Oh! And I did all the omelettes with Kevin/GL cracking and whisking them for me.=D =D =D I must say, it's super fun to make omelettes and very very easy once you have a brilliantly hot pan and enough oil.=)

Our display plate for the stall:

I think it looks quite good.. And everyone loved the ikan bilis and peanut mixture.=) Freshly roasted peanuts are really yummy! And Kevin is the Peanut King. Hahaha. And I must say that my frying skills are not too bad even if I did scream a lot.xP

I am now convinced that I never want to open a food stall selling nasi lemak though.. I'll go crazy frying eggs, ikan bilis and chilli. But when I was frying the ikan bilis and peanuts, it was great fun stealing bits to "taste".xD xD xD

Our sign that is dying to fly away!

All of us in our bright red T-shirts proclaiming us part of the Food Festival.

Our stall!!! I was at ballroom before the food festival so I was late and couldn't take a picture of the stall with food. xP Sigh. And now my feet are hurting like crazy from the horrible ballroom shoes.xP

Even though we kept stealing food from other stalls [it's great having friends manning neighbouring stalls.=D =D =D], XW, Kevin and I were still a bit hungry so we went to China Gate to get takeaway Chinese food!

AHH! SO CUTE!!!

I was so excited to see those umm.. Chinese takeaway boxes.xD xD xD SO CUTE! Hehe! So I was like, omg! We should buy Chinese takeout more often!!!

Sadly, the food doesn't look good at all.. And it wasn't very good either.. As XW kept saying.. Once you've eaten at TK Wu [and Asian Legend] here, nothing else tastes nice. O well. At least it wasn't too expensive?

O yes! When we came back from Holland, we went to eat at Lucky Kitchen:

It was half-decent to be perfectly honest ... Not too bad considering I assumed the place would serve horrible food. Haha.=P But YAY. VEGETABLES. Look at it! VEGETABLES! I am having withdrawal symptoms from not having enough proper, nice, cooked vegetables. It is SO SAD.

And the cupcakes we carted back from Rachel's house.^_^

Wee! Such accomplishments we made yesterday.^_^ I'm so proud of everyone for making nasi lemak and must thank Ted for promising to lend us his house for further cooking endeavours! xD

cheers
*[-witchstone-]*

[music : 浪漫手机 周杰伦]
[mood : ^_^]
[food : Don't make me look at nasi lemak again for at least a few months.xP But I want to eat ikan bilis!!!]

Jiamin: WHAT?!

Fel: You see.. It's one thing for there to be tons of apples around the US but in Michigan, Fall is apple season but it's almost over because some places didn't have a good harvest.

YX: Yes! I told Jianxin before. Haha. And she was like, you know her?? Haha.=D

Labels: Ann Arbor, apple crumble, chocolate cupcakes, east quad, edibles, Holland Michigan, nasi lemak, Singapore Food Festival, umich

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