The Thing I Cooked In Basel

OK, this bowl of unappetizing pasta (yes, it's pasta, in case you guys can't figure out what it is) was a re-creation of what I used to cooked for myself in when I was in Basel - beside all of my everything-in-oven dishes, of course.

And yes, this is a faithful re-creation. It is not made any better, nor any worse.

A friend of mine once remarked that single guys left alone will only eat thrash. That's kinda true considering that I am cooking up food like this. Well, at least it is edible, and doesn't really taste that bad either. So, coming from someone who doesn't have much cooking skill like me, I think I did ok slapping together something like this.

I bought the ingredient last weekend. Dun really like to complain, but still I wanna say that it's hard to find those big, ripe, attractively red tomatoes I find easily in Basel or across the German border. The mushrooms here are also very small. I really miss those big mushroom. The pesto sauce here are lacking in variety and are expensive. I rather make them myself. Maybe I will do that.....

Luckily, I brought a bottle of mix herbs back from Basel. So sprinkle a bit on the pasta, and the familiar taste was back. There is this saying/theory about taste and smell evoking memory of the past, so it was kinda the case when I was eating this bowl of pasta just now. Oh, my Basel adventure... nice, unique.... bittersweet maybe. Part of my life experience, where I learned thing in and outside the lab. Made me a better person maybe? I hope....

Anyway, it's not very difficult to see that I cooked too much pasta this time. It's one of the few things that always happen. The portion will be just nice for two persons. Best buddy TH almost came close to sampling this creation of mine when he came visit last week, but decided we should eat out instead cos it'll be too much work. Oh well, next time then...

Looking Forward

Ok, today is the first day of the New Year and so I'm gonna write something about looking ahead toward this coming year. I only had about 4 hours of sleeps and a cup of coffee, so I'm just gonna write whatever comes to my mind.

2008 is a new start and it's always nice to start the year with a clean slate, or a less complicated situation. 2007 had been ...... a mess. There's some discontinuities here and there, then there's also some story arcs and events that I'm not even sure whether there will be any closure. So I will just leave these things from last year behind and move on, whether I like it or not. Better this way I guess.

I am staying put in Singapore and I have a stable job with a decent income. So there's much more stability and more routine in my life this year. This is really a good thing. I can now build on and create things in my life and really achieve something.

What is inevitable is that I will be taking care of the family - nope, I am not talking about starting a new family (more on that later), I am referring to my current family (I don't really distinguish these two actually; they are all family). The time has come for me to take the responsibility of being in charge of family matters and more importantly taking care of my parents. This means more maturity and more sense of responsibility. So I am assuming a new role and developing my character, and it will be the main thing for this year.

I had always said I wanna do my PhD. However it is unlikely that I will make it for this year intake. So what will happen this year towards my aim of postgrad study is that I will learn as much as possible from my work and meanwhile checking out some issues regarding postgrad studies. It's better to be more prepared first then just directly plunging in....

So lastly, let's talk about romance. I am hitting the big 30 in a few years time, so this means I am at this stage in life where everyone around me is telling me that having a stable girlfriend, if not a wife, is a MUST. It's no longer about just wanting a gf, it's about needing one. I am not used to having ppl around me hinting me about getting attached ("you are not getting younger....") or seeing every event/ function I attend as a match-making session ("so do you see anyone you like?") cos I never encounter such things before. Think I better get used to it. Anyway, at this stage I am in, getting attached isn't just about the "feeling", there's the whole massive marriage consideration being thrown into it too. It's just make the whole relationship issue a bit more complex. And a bit more difficult too. I dunno, this is something that's really out of my control. I'm just gonna leave it for the moment.

Ok, that is all I have to say. So here's wishing you guys out there a happy and fruitful year 2008.