Since LCB only offers a 3-day week, there’s quite alot of free time at hand…here’s what I have been up to:

1) Cleaning Up – both literally and in a figurative sense. The process was unpleasant and even difficult…but it was necessary in order to achieve my desired results (and hopefully it lasts).

2) Creating – when I heard the wonderful news that a friend here is expecting her first, I got reminded of the rice wine recipe that was passed down by my granny. My mom’s really great at it and I have been relying on her for too long – so what better time than to get down and start mastering it myself! I really hope I will be able to make a good jar of wine by the time the baby arrives :D.

I managed to get all the necessary materials from East Wood and Haymarket (Asian supplies are aplenty here, I must say!).

3) Absorbing –  oh did I mention the college library is AWESOME. I spent most of yesterday lost among the shelves after shelves of everything related to food and cooking!

I also brought some home to devour during my free time.

It’s back to school again tomorrow at 7.30am – am excited!

This is what we did last saturday (which was also the first time we plated and served up for grading) – Eggplant and Tomato stew served with turned vegetables. Turning was such a pain!!!

[LEFT] Prepared by Chef Daren during demo (Pic taken using Panasonic LX5)
[RIGHT] Prepared by me during practical – Chef Daren fedback that the eggplant is slightly overcooked (Pic taken using iPhone 4S).

Takeaway: Time is precious/Life is short – focus on Big Rocks always and when in doubt, run back to your Personal Mission Statement (these are learnings from ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ training which was a corporate training I attended previously. It is a great training btw…for me, it was life-changing :P).