That Egg Thing

I'm not really sure what it's called actually. Some call it egg custard, some creme caramel, some flan, some pudding. I have a bastardised name for it: "dan dan" (rhymes with 'fun'), which in actual cantonese is "steamed egg" (炖蛋).

It looks good, just that I'm not liking the pores at the sides...

I absolutely love this thing. It brings back memories of my mom bringing me to this corner coffee shop some where in the old town, after school, and I'll be enjoying this in my school uniform. And it always comes with a glass of cold water.

Of late, The Fuzzball has been itching to attempt dessert making (for some unknown reason) and we've been volleying all sorts of ideas like bread pudding with rum. And then this sudden childhood treat came to mind and I have been stuck ever since. So I thought I'd experiment with it today (the last I attempted this was several years ago).

I sort of got the recipe from HERE. I knew the ingredients, I just didnt dare to wing it when it comes to volume. (By the way, I halfed the recipe, skiffed off the vanilla, and put in a little not enough sugar.)

Ingredients:


1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 cups milk, scalded
4 beaten eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:


Butter 6 custard cups. (I didn't do this. Butter in this thing seems wrong, and I didn't have custard cups so I used a tin cup instead...you know, those they make teh tarik with.)

Melt 1/4 cup of sugar in a small heavy skillet, stirring constantly, until a caramel syrup forms; pour immediately into prepared custard cups. 

Add a small amount of the hot milk to beaten eggs, stirring briskly. Add remaining milk; add 1/4 cup sugar and the vanilla; blend well. Pour mixture into custard cups. 


Set cups in a large, shallow baking pan in a 325° oven. Pour hot water into the large baking pan to a depth of about 1 inch. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Unmold into shallow dessert dishes to serve. 

Caramel custard recipe serves 6.

I made some massive changes after the egg-milk mixture. I didn't bake, instead I steamed it. Remember to cover your cup/bowl/container/whatever when it's steaming. It took roughly about 10-15 minutes, then I took it off the heat, left it to cool for a while, and then popped it into the fridge.

I also think you should ready the egg-milk mixture first, then only caramelise the sugar so that the syrup is still liquid when you pour the egg-milk mixture in (mine kinda hardened a little at the bottom of the cup). Make sure you pour slowly down the container's side so as to not create bubbles and mix up the syrup with the egg-milk mixture.

The inside looks awesome though. I iz happy.

Chill it, and enjoy! Good luck :)

Storms

I love storms. I know that when it rains, it means I can't go out to do things, outdoor sport plans have to be cancelled, my car would be dirty...but there is something very magnificent about storms. Kind of like watching a fire: beautiful from far, but dangerous when you are too close.

I also love the words that are associated with storms: Raging. Violent. Unexpected.

Lightning. Rolling thunder.

I also like how they make storms as a simile to tea:

"A storm in the teacup."

"A storm is brewing."

Storms are awesome right from the beginning when the thunderheads roll in. You see the waves getting choppier, the leaves rustling more aggresively in the trees, and the wind whips up. I love the wind because at times when you feel down, stand outside on a windy day and it almost feels like the wind blows away all your problems, even only for that moment. Also it messes up everyone's hair so you don't really have to worry about how you look like. Seeing heavy dark clouds in the horizon is also one of nature's magnificent pieces of artwork.

I love the storm because when it is over, the world seems like a cleaner place. In a poetic sense, the storm comes and flushes all the dirt away, cleaning the slate anew.

I am sure a whole lot of people would be cursing me for this. I know storms suck when it strikes when you are leaving for work, or leaving for home. Storms cause massive traffic jams, flash floods. It sucks to be outside when the sudden storm strikes up.

But in a moment out of time, when you are safely indoors, look out the windows, and just watch the beauty of a storm.

Storms are awesome ♥

Tuesday

Because sappy happiness between two people should only be shared by themselves, I shall keep those expressions in my paper-and-pen-journal, and express my other self on this not-so-private-rant-space.

I think it's natural that when you read/write/cite you will reach a point where deja vu kicks in and then sentences (in different sources) start sounding familiar, and you see the same names being cited in different papers.

Leopold, Langbein, Petts, Brookes, Church.

Must be channel morphology gods or something.

Deja vu causes me slight confusion. I start questioning whether I've actually written something, or only read it and intend to write, or I might be facing plagiarism charges later.

Damn.

There's only so many permutations one can do with the words and grammar.

I like this though:
When you are actually writing, and working as hard as you should be if you want to succeed, you will feel inadequate, stupid, and tired. If you don't feel like that, then you aren't working hard enough.
--Michael C. Munger

Makes me feel less like killing myself because I feel like I suck. I was told this too: "Deep down inside, you know you don't suck as much as you think you do now." ♥

Three more days :)

Sunday

I came across this quote from somewhere (and because I'm being me on a Sunday, I'm not too bothered to google for it): Life is not easy, but it is great to have a Life.

Tell me about it.

Part of the time I just feel like killing myself with my lack of progress. It's so wtfish...I know I can do this, and I know I MUST finish this crummy thing up but it drives me absolutely bonkers. And the chair sucks and my back blardy aches (and I'm now just bitchin' about anything I can).

Doodling my Man as a goofy fuzzball (on my thesis drafts)

So to overcome the pathetic suicidal feelings, I decided to procrastinate (yes, that is the smartest thing I could come up with) by folding paper flowers. Come to think of it, being Chinese and all, "paper flowers" and "suicidal" shouldn't be in the same sentence. Oh well.

I completely suck in colouring.

I attempted four types of flowers: a daisy, a lily, a kusudama flower, and a kawasaki rose. The rose ended up in the trash can, even after two sincere attempts. The others are proudly laid on my laptop for the world to see (and with the horrid reminder of me procrastinating for a background).

Bitchin' about stupid work aside (I really really should stop calling it stupid 'cos that's just bad attitude), it really is great to be alive. I mean, if you're dead, there's plenty of things you couldn't be doing. For instance, folding origami flowers. And discovering that your colouring skills have been left behind in kindergarten. And also the occasional feeling of complete sappiness. Sappy corny happiness. That sometimes can help to forget the aching back you have. But the promise of a great back massage would, of course, be better.

Also I met Sigourney Weaver last Friday. That was kind of my highlight of the week (despite the fact that I have pictures of paper flowers instead of her). Being on a job and having to be all professional, I can't take any photos of her or ask her for an autograph...which kinda sucked. I mean, she is the Queen of sci-fi! She's a very beautiful, classy woman, who is not only down-to-earth but oh-so-intelligent as well. I am so very impressed. Also starstruck.

She hinted on a prequel of Aliens (which she is not in) and also a sequel of Avatar (and she added that James Cameron told her that "nobody actually dies in science-fiction"). She said something which inspired me to deal with my writing crisis: to approach the same idea from another direction/perspective. I liked that...but was too tired to act on it on Friday (and Saturday. And Sunday).

'Nuff said. I can't wait for Friday (although I don't like that time is going by too fast and I'm not working fast enough).

I still can't wait for Friday :)

A ♥ For Japan

Dear all generous kind-hearted individuals out there,

It's never too late to help.

If you are still interested in donating to Japan, you can do so by buying a really awesomely cutesy t-shirt from the Japanese Anime and Drama Club (JADC) Japan Earthquake Charity Drive. There are two designs to choose from and each shirt is only RM25.

Picture courtesy from JADC

All profits will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society. You also have the option to leave messages of encouragement which will be compiled for The Japanese Red Cross Society and uploaded to JADC’s website. If you are interested, click HERE for more information. The website provides a detailed step-by-step procedure of becoming a proud owner of these fabulous tees.

Thanks in advance!

Spread the word! ('cos these really are very awesome tees)

Conspiracy Theories #1

I shall name it #1 because I foresee a whole lot more. And each time I come across a baseless one, I shall refute it. Maybe I should call it "Stupid Theories", but then I want to be a teensy bit nice.

So maybe most of you haven't realised it yet, from my previous posts, but I seriously SERIOUSLY have problems with people who are spewing all sorts of baseless statements regarding the apocalyptic 2012.

Firstly, I think all these people are selfish.
If just for a moment they stop thinking that the world only revolves around them, and realise that there are many people who are separated from their loved ones in different parts of the country and the world, working hard to make a better future for themselves, they should really shut up about the world ending soon.

Secondly, I think these people are ignorant.
I mean like seriously, they are harping about the world ending because some movie with super duper effects said so? In that case Los Angeles should probably be a wasteland by now with the amount of extraterrestrial attacks, extreme natural disasters, and I don't know, zombies? piled on that city in so many movies.

So. The winner for today is this stupid line circulating the Net:

"USA lost many lives on 9-11-01. Now, Japan lost more lives on 3-10-11. Add the 2 dates together to get 12-21-12."

I just cannot help it but to ridicule people who put this up. There are just so many things to put down:

1) There are roughly 196 countries in the world, not only two: the USA and Japan.
2) Please know that 9/11 was a terrorist attack. A terrorist attack is NOT a natural disaster.
3) What about 12-26-04 (Phuket tsunami), 5-18-08 (Sichuan earthquake), 1-12-10 (Haiti earthquake), 2-27-10 (Chile earthquake)? Just to name a few. If you add all the dates together, you get a bunch of numbers for your lottery. Winning the lottery is not guaranteed.

So come on, people. Stop it already with all these nonsense. You do know that when you put things like this up, it doesn't make you seem smart. Not at all.

If somehow at the end of it, the whole thing turned out to be true, and everyone died, no one's going to be left alive to reprimand me about this.

But in the meantime, stop panicking over really stupid things.

Knowledge is Power

You know how the old saying goes.

In these current times of panic and grief, and with the borderless global community, know that not everything you read on the Internet is true. Just because somebody claims that the information is from a certain 'reliable' source also does not make it true.

For instance, CNN: Hot chick is now ruler of new island community, formed from this chunk of land breaking off from this piece of peninsula due to active tectonic plate activity.
Fact: CNN does not have a report on this.
Fact: The "Hot chick" in the headline refers to yours truly.
Fact: Everything else after "CNN: Hot chick" is utter rubbish.

Therefore if you received text messages that are something like this:

"4:30 in the afternoon, a nuclear power plant exploded in Fukumi. Do not go out if it rains later today and tomorrow. If you are going out, wear a raincoat or use an umbrella because if you get rained on it’s said to be dangerous. There is tendency that your skin will be burned, you will go bald or will get cancer. Please pass."

or this:

"BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asia countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24hrs. Close doors & windows. Swab nec(k)skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Phil at starting 4pm today. Pls send to your loved ones."

remember that just because it says "BBC FLASHNEWS" doesn't make it true either. And instead of panicking and passing them on blindly (and perhaps heading straight to the pharmacy and clear out every bottle of Betadine they have in stock), find out how true these things are.

Looking at the first "warning", let's just say, if the rain is so dangerous as to cause chemical burns, baldness, and cancer, I am pretty sure a flimsy piece of synthetic material (umbrellas and raincoats) isn't going to provide you with much protection. And notice that the message has no explanation as to why exactly the nuclear power plant explosion has anything to do with the rain (and we shall discuss that later).

By the way, it's Fukushima, not FUKUMI. And it's Newsflash, not FLASHNEWS. Little mistakes like these also indicate the lack of reliability of these rumours.

The second message is also similar, but this one has one extra precautionary step which is to swab Betadine on your neck. First things first: Please know that Betadine is basically an antiseptic solution for cleaning wounds and used for disinfecting surfaces. ANTISEPTICS do NOT protect you from radiation sickness.

That in itself already made the whole "warning" very questionable. To add to it, these rumours start getting out of hand by claiming the occurences of ACID RAIN (which kind of explain all the warnings regarding staying out of the rain etc.) due to the nuclear power plant explosion.

Please know that a nuclear fallout and acid rain are two completely different phenomena.

Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally when lightning strikes and sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions.

The burning of fossil fuel also releases sulfur dioxide. Thus COAL power plants is a cause of acid rain. Not nuclear power plants.

A nuclear fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion, so called because it "falls out" of the atmosphere after the explosion. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust created when a nuclear weapon explodes.

Note that a nuclear power plant explosion and a nuclear explosion are also two different things, just like a nuclear reactor and a nuclear bomb are two different things.

Here are some links, just in case some people still believe that a chunk of uranium from the core reactor is going to land on them tomorrow when it rains:
- Science officials: No threat of nuclear clouds, acid rain in PH
- Philippines hit by 'nuclear cloud' hoax
- Meltdown alert at Japan reactor

Irresponsible people start hoaxes like this by preying on people's fears. Ignorant people spread them out because they are, well, ignorant. You only fear the unknown.

Don't be ignorant, do yourself a favour and find things out for yourself.