Ceilidh

Last night I went dancing the Scottish way last night in Bute Hall. The University organised a ceilidh night for the international students. Admittedly, it's harder than it looks =) yours truly made the mistake of wearing boots there.
Anyways, ceilidh is tiring, requires coordination, and is also incredibly fun =). Strongly recommended (but don't wear boots)

On another note, I've met some pretty cool people here - a lot of Americans (some claiming Canadian nationality), some French, some Germans... and so forth. The University's pretty cosmopolitan. Oh and I ran into my first Malaysian last night. Here are Nadine (NZ) and Melanie (US) at the Glasgow Cathedral.Basically, aside from keeping Guinness in business, I've also been around the city. The cathedral at Glasgow is just amazing. The University organised a bus tour just yesterday and I'll be back again. Church services at the start of every month =)

Anyways, off to cooking dinner - having a pot luck tonight with some people. Cyas!

When it rains it pours

Unfortunately the near perfect weather I had enjoyed couldn't last forever. The honeymoon is over - might as well blog.

On Sunday, I attended Glasgow Chinese Christian Church (the church of a friend of a friend). The English service wasn't bad. Pastor's name was Gordon Cheung, but he doesn't sound like a Cheung. Sermons are even more interesting in a Scots accent. Anyways he spoke from Psalm 107:4-9 about wanderers. Actually I loved the way he structured it - he just went through the passage verse-by-verse, and elucidated. It's amazing how the Bible is just so accessible. You don't need a doctorate in theology to know God - just a heart for Him.

Prior to that, i had the pleasure of having a vegetarian brunch - some of the ppl from the church met up prior to the "half-one" service - afternoon services anyone?

Anyways, today I proceeded to slice my thumb making soup... bled for abit, I kept cooking... and tonight's oxtail soup was made with sweat, blood (literally) and tears (onions) =P... didn't quite get the mix right though... possibly too much paprika and water.

What else did I get up to? Well I met up with Severine, a French architecture student to see the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Amazing place, featuring a famous painting by Dali, and various other brilliant pieces of artwork. I'll definitely be back again, this time with a working camera. Also, we were lucky enough to pay a visit when the organ recital was on - given I'm practically a philistine in the area of art, the only piece i recognised was the soundtrack from Babe =P. But honestly, I could probably spend 3 days in that museum.

Anyways, time to sign off for now. Planning to watch a comedy gig later (once it stops raining).

The Stew

Remember the stew I was making yesterday while waiting for the pork to cook?
Turned out pretty good =). Had a bit of a disaster boiling rice though, so had to fry some bread instead - I need to work out how to make rice properly.

Stew ingredients: some beef (preferably cuts meant for braising/stewing), carrots, spring onion, garlic, tomato, onion, soy sauce, sugar and plenty of pepper. Can't give the exact recipe, because I realise I'm turning into an agak-agak cook =P

But I cant really complain about today's meal. Another satisfied customer =)
Was in Matthews - a Chinese grocer in a less well-known part of Glasgow. While doing some shopping, came across this. Doesn't taste that good unfortunately (was feeling a tad homesick)
Lest you think that all i do is cook - well to be honest, until I left Perth I never really had the time to do it, what with ministry, work and study. But food is something I'm passionate about, along with photography.

In case you don't know, I was really into photography in high school, but I just let it fade (quite sad actually that most of us give up something we're passionate about when we enter adulthood). I'm slowly getting back into it though. I'm looking towards getting a new camera over the next few days. My current one just doesn't have the functionality I need. Given Glasgow is quite gloomy, the lighting is pretty bad and the camera doesn't have quite enough settings to tweak. Ahh well - here come's the shopping bug!

Cooking

One of the fun parts about living overseas is that you tend to cook often (to save $$$ for traveling around). Breakfasts aside, I've had to cook 2 meals thus far. Why don't breakfasts count? I could cook them with my eyes closed =P. Breakfast is one of those things men should naturally be able to do. Can't be that hard to fry an egg - well actually wait...


So on my first night, I pan-fried some salmon, and stir-fried long beans and garlic (along with some rice). The cooking was going fine, until i reached for some salt to cook the salmon with.






Then I realised that the plastic covering over the salt shaker (it was brand new) was quite tight. Unfortunately, the pan was getting too hot, and I was in a hurry (some other stuff was starting to burn). Rather than taking my time and getting a knife, I tried to rip it off... and successfully got a sea of sea salt over the kitchen.



Other than that though, tasted alright (aside from the soggy rice). I learnt some valuable lessons:

• To pan-fry salmon successfully, it needs to be well lubricated with olive oil and the pan must be flamin' hot.
  
• To get the skin crispy, coat it with salt (hence my accident) prior to frying (stole that idea from Chinese roast pork).
• Most importantly - I should never multitask.

So that was the first night. Tonight I felt more adventurous and attempted dad's signature pork dish: pork belly with sweet ginger and garlic sauce. Basically involves a nice long simmer of the sliced pork belly with sugar, kicap hitam and the rest of the ingredients. Easy - but takes time and you have to make sure the pork's cooked. Came out good (if I say so myself).


So while it was simmering, I figured I'd make a beef stew. Let's hope it turns out alright - it's still cooking away now. Note to self: add some flour tomorrow to thicken. Also, buy some herbs.

3 September - nearly a flight from hell.

After getting sent off by my parents and Yong and Michie, the flight from Perth to Glasgow started at 3:50pm Perth time, and culminated at 9:10am Glasgow time. I was bedraggled after the flight. Despite my pre-departure prayer.

Having lost an argument to Mum, I carried two pieces of hand carry luggage. Simple yes? Nevertheless, the increase in global terrorism means increased airport security. For me, it meant that at all 3 transit stops (Perth, Singapore, and Amsterdam), I had to remove my jacket, ipod, wallet, laptop, and drain my water. Was a tad embarrassing given it meant I held up the line for a good 10 minutes each time. It culminated at Schiphol (pronounced "schop-pel") Airport where, having nearly completely undressed, my boots set off the metal detector. Ever tried taking off boots quickly?

Oh and Changi airport was for some reason absent of air-cond - meant I reeked like a salted fish throughout the 13 hour flight to Amsterdam. I'd dressed thinking I was moving from winter (Perth) to autumn (Glasgow). Btw, the weather now's pretty similar to Perth.

Nevertheless, it wasn't all bad. Lest i sound like i'm complaining, most of the above events actually made me laugh quite a bit (after I'd arrived at my accomodation and taken a bath). Also, on the flight to Amsterdam (the 13 hour leg), I managed to get to know 2 of the guys sitting next to me - Derek P and Mark F, the former being a true blue Scotsman. Both were Aussie truckies in real life. They were hilarious. We had some hilarious discussions (Scottish words italicised)

me: I heard Glasgow's a pretty good place and the people are friendly.
D [looks quizzical]: No. [long pause] Wait... do yer drink?
me: Yeah
D: then yairss =)

And aside from the multitude of pubs in Glasgow, another thing I'll have to contend with is the accent.

me: D, could you teach me some slang?

D: Nae... even if i sporke to you all the way to Glasgow, I couldn't even start
me: Ahh... so how do i deal with it?
D [serious expression]: Don't say yes. Not until you're sure what you're hearing.

mind you, at times i struggled to make out what he was saying. Nevertheless, they were nice guys. They bought me a coffee (obviously it's quite easy to get on my good side).

Anyways... this is turning out to be a long post. Let's just say the journey from the airport to my accomodation wasn't straightforward either, owing to

1. A road block
2. A blur secretary running the Accommodation office
   
3. My failure to get a proper address for where I was staying
   
4. A very blur secretary

But on the other hand... at least the taxi driver got me there.

Today, I went out with some other overseas students - Markus L (Ger), Hannes K (Ger) and Vilde A (Nor). It was educational, as I learnt a new word at a place called Committee Room 9:

Tanqueray - pronounced "tan-ker-ri" with the last 2 syllables rushed.
"Tanqueray & tonic" is synonymous with another famous beverage that also goes with tonic. Was cheap too, at 2pounds a hit.

But rest assured, I'm not becoming an alcoholic. I'm just trying to keep Guinness in business.