pre-chinese new year pseudo-steamboat.

just because it was chinese new year, and since we were gonna spend it away from home (singapore) and 2nd home (seattle), we (actually i gave the idea) decided to throw a pseudo-steamboat party the weekend before CNY at our apartments. bright and early, after a hearty breakfast of pancakes and waffles and eggs, suhui and i left for chinatown to do grocery shopping for the dinner.

we bought the usual suspects. lots of vegetables, mushrooms, fishballs, prawns, meat, fish, wan tan skin, mi fen, dong fen, crabsticks, dried shrimps, dried scallops, chicken stock and many many more. imagine 2 girls carrying all of that in 2 giant backpacks and we still had 4 bags of groceries to carry. no choice. we were feeding 16 people.

so we came back and started preparing after resting our tired feet. washed and cut almost everything and got the soup boiling with 2 kinds of bases. one was chicken stock with dried scallops. the other was dried shrimps with dried scallops too. it turned out really really good.

ok i shall let the pictures do the talking.

here's the spread we had. 2 of us were so busy with preparing the food. 'cos the rest happily went shopping at northgate. but it was fun! they came back and helped of course.

me and suhui. with a xiao bai cai leaf. =)

the wan ton ladies at work. u can see we were also snacking on egg rolls while we cooked. haha.

the girls. happy happy. back row from left: me, suhui, huishan (business major), wendy (psychology major). front row from left: jieying, yinyin, shian chi.

after dinner, we cleared the leftovers by playing zhong1 ji2 mi4 ma3. where the loser has to eat a bowl of food that is chosen by the previous loser. haha. and we managed to finish ALL the food!

the girls again. the 4 of us looked quite extra behind haha. it is a funny photo.

everyone at the dinner. =) we were snacking on egg rolls and pumpkin seeds and mandarin oranges and the white rabbit sweet. after this shot we used the multi-burst function on the camera and took a continuous series of 10 shots. like neoprints! and it was SO fun because the guys kept trying to block us girls by jumping on the table. it is really quite funny. one day if i've got the time i'll photoshop it into a collage.

yup that's it. we didn't take a lot 'cos we were all busy eating. haha.

ok the next post is gonna be vancouver pictures. (: but dinner first.

snowboarding paradox.

snowboarding experience at snoqualmie. gerri dan and their kids together with linda, suhui, alvin and i. i already tried skiing in south korea and thought it was pretty fun. so decided to try snowboarding this time. we spent USD25 on rental of the shoes and board, and USD9 on the rope lift at the learning slopes. it was quite cheap considering we rented the equipment not on the slopes, but at bellevue, a city 20 mins outside seattle. so i'm quite happy. =) and dan drove us there so that's transport cost covered, and gerri made us lunch, so that's lunch cost covered. thanks gerri! (p.s gerri you're in singapore now! i'm so jealous. happy chinese new year!)

the journey up to snoqualmie pass. weather was cloudy. but not as cold as the last time.

in the back seat of the car are 3 excited and trigger-happy girls. from left: suhui, me and linda.

the huge freeway and the gradual climb up.

all our ski/snowboard gear unloaded from the car. we had 3 snowboards and 3 skis. =)

this is miranda! or affectionately known as randy. she has the biggest eyes and she's daddy's girl. and so so adorable. pardon my plaster on my forehead. had a burst pimple that morning.

the family! from left: dan, randy, xander, gerri. dan and gerri were friends of my eldest sister since their college days at university of western australia.

this reminds me of the nokia n93 commercial with gary oldman. one shot was titled "mystery". a pair of little snow boots left underneath the bench we were sitting on.

waiting for xander to rent his gear. from left: gerri with randy, alvin, linda and me.

presenting, lianya's snowboard of the day! which failed on me in the afternoon. one of the straps broke due to wear and tear. had to borrow suhui's snowboard for the rest of the day 'cos she was resting due to a really bad fall which injured her tailbone. but she's ok now! sort of.

the magic carpet! this conveyor belt allows everyone to climb up the learning slopes without having to do it ourselves. unlike in korea where i have to walk like a crab up the slopes. and one time i even ski-ed backwards 'cos i was clumsy and it was a nightmare i wouldn't want to re-live.

the girl in blue was sitting beside me while i was resting my aching legs. and she sat there for a really long time! even after i went on the carpet several times. i wonder.

to entertain myself while i rested.

i wanted to capture the beautiful snowflakes that fell on my glove. but...

ok here's a nicer one near the middle of the picture. the flake is just beautiful. i wished my point-and-shoot camera could have the shallow depth of field function like the SLRs. 'cos i think pictures turn out really really nice. for PNS cameras it'll only show up when you macro-mode and go really really close. like these 2 photos.

the snow falls steadily while we break for lunch. ending up with snow-ed chicken rice thingy, snowed milo with marshmallows and snowed popcorn.


this was lunch! some kind of rice. its almost like porridge. and its really nice!


here's me trying to be helpful while gerri and dan tend to their kids.


we had other stuff to eat too. like popcorn!! haha we saw gerri make this popcorn in her kitchen. its so cute hearing the popcorn pop. =) and we added maple syrup and a little salt. and it was nice!


as night fell. the lights turn on and the people head home. equals not many people on the slope, equals better learning experience. without having to fall because i was going to crash into someone.

the lights are pretty.

and there's hardly anyone left. that was how enthusiatic we were with our snowboarding/skiing.

despite extreme exhaustion (ok i'm exagerrating), must still pose with the snowboard, in the snow, and smile! kawaii!

presenting suhui-turned-lianya's snowboard!

a parting shot in the bathroom. =)

ok there are many many pictures coming your way. and videos too. last week was madness 'cos i had to hand in my drug discovery final exam paper, which was a take-home thing. so i was camping in the library doing research for many days. yes i'm a procrastinator. so now that i'm free, i can start to update this blog. so watch this space! love y'all!

videos 1 month too late.

ok i know this is way too late, but i finally gotten around to uploading videos onto youtube for your viewing pleasure. =)

the first one: fireworks at space needle on new year's day. i've got a longer video but that is too large a file to be uploaded onto youtube.

instructions: please click on the "play" button on the bottom left hand corner. wait for awhile for the video to load and buffer.



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the 2nd one: the NBA game i attended. seattle sonics vs new york knicks.



more videos to come. enjoy!

a walk down-town.

because every weekend, the same proceedings happen. one day of the weekend is devoted entirely to play. and the other is devoted to studying and school work. perfect use of time. so on a particularly boring weekend, i decided to join the girls on their first trip to pike place, even though i was just there 2 weeks ago. here are the sights and food. =)

presenting shian chi (pronounced xian4 qi2), fellow foodie, magazine-reading shopaholic. =) she never fails to make me laugh. and we exchange magazines that we buy. glamour, cosmopolitan, vogue. she stays in the block next to me, with yinyin. you'll see her later.

girl no. 2 is suhui. you've seen here on my blog before. she's my neighbour.

at pike place. glorious day again. the mountains were visible. seattle's really blessed to be surrounded by mountains, national parks, water and an amazing array of flora and fauna.

the sun. =) you can see the big cranes of the port nearby. the aerial shots of seattle that shows on grey's anatomy often pans over the port and reaches the space needle. speaking of grey's anatomy, yesterday's episode was quite good! full of drama and comedy too. perfect grey's recipe. not to mention a horrific cliffhanger. it's a 3-parter. so for 2 weeks they're gonna leave us hanging, not knowing what will happen the next episode.

downtown seattle. repeat post.

i'm the queen of self-shots, due to my stylo wide-angle lens camera. hence everytime i do a self-shot, the people are always in the frame. this time even better. the background is in too!

the trail of "clouds" that planes leave in the sky always fascinates me. because i liken it to a beautiful brush stroke on a blue canvas.

the girls about town. from left: yinyin (she's a great basketball player and really funny.), suhui, shian chi and me.

see. another artist has left a white stroke on the blue canvas. =) so beautiful.

the only guy with us. wan quan. future bioengineer. he is smart and talks a lot of rubbish. his favorite pastime is to tease shian chi till she's speechless and unable to retaliate.

say hello to this darling schnauzer. is that how you spell it carlene? he had such a funny expression on his face i decided to snap this. i love it that seattle loves dogs. almost everyone i meet has a dog. =)

a great day to sit down on the grass for a picnic and talk and gossip and admire the scenery before us. here we hold up starbucks and yummy yummy bread.

after shopping at downtown, i came home with 2 more tops from american eagle. and we bought a cheesecake to share from the legendary famous cheesecake factory and it was yummy. really really good. and we stumbled across this shop selling cupcakes! and they were nice and pretty!! love the icing.

ok. i'll be posting pictures of snoqualmie part 2 soon. and the fascinating tale of my snowboarding experience awaits. =)

the power of N series.

ok. long time no update. midterm madness is in progress. had 2 midterms last week in the midst of my sickness. but still managed to do surprisingly well. although i don't know how the class did, but i'm happy with my grades. now i have one lab exam and one final take-home exam paper to conquer. but first, pictures taken with the nokia N73. so the quality is not as good as the lumix. but still good. =)

the microbe toys! edward this is for you! haha. this is the school of medicine bookstore, where i buy my textbooks.

the legendary gray's anatomy, where the inspiration for grey's anatomy came from. i just watched the episode on tv! it was good! but last week's was better. trailer for next week's episode looks smashing. can't wait. and lost will return on wednesday! i'm so excited.

the view from the south campus center next to my school, overlooking the lake.

the 1st snow fall! outside the grocery store. it's a bad photo but the only important thing is the snow on my hair. heh.

the quad. this is UW's version of the quad when dusk fell. it's beautiful. compared to NTU's quad. we had very clear days nowadays with the bright sun and cloudless skies. so students are starting to bring their picnic mats and lounging and basking in the sun, studying or reading.

the trees that line the perimeter of the quad. i have a sneaky feeling these are the cherry blossom trees. but gotta wait for spring. scroll down for a sneak preview.

snoqualmie pics. this was taken at the bottom of the tubing slope. where i didn't have my lumix. so whipped out the handphone from my pocket. you can see the lanes where the tubes go down.

dan and xander. posted this because xander looks so cute sitting in the tube and his eyes are barely open. =)

linda and me. with our tubing passes. waiting for the tube lift up the slope. i'm going back to snoqualmie this saturday with gerri dan and the kids again! yayyy.

japanese food for dinner one night! it was quite nice (not as nice as in tokyo of course) and cheap too! here you have the katsu donburi (? is that the name?). katsu don with omelette.

sorry wrong orientation. here you have the tempura soba! =)

on the way back home from fred hutchinson cancer research center. the sun sets over the space needle. see if you can spot it among the tangle of electric cables.

pretty flowers that look like cherry blossoms to me but i have no idea. anyone can confirm? there's only this one tree that blooms this beautiful pink flowers in front of the clinic.

here's the tree. =) love pretty flowers.

speaking of pretty flowers, this flower caught my attention as i was walking out of fred hutchinson today. it's so weird but yet quite nice. and it looks like cloves of garlic.

the sunset today was beautiful too. couldn't resist. this is the courtyard of one of the hutch buildings.

the marina opposite the hutch. this is lake union. the sun falls below the horizon behind the space needle. it was beautiful. i purposely walked to the marina after my class ended to take pictures and admire the scenery.



the lake. just on tuesday i saw a sea-plane land onto the waters of the lake. so cool.


the fred hutchinson cancer research center. from the marina opposite.


space needle zoomed in.


the sky is turning pink. and the sun is starting to set later and later. meaning winter is slipping away. yay!


the boats are lined up. i wonder if i can try fly-fishing. but that will have to wait till spring. i can't wait for spring to come! so many things to do. =)


and it slips away slowly. i was sitting on the bench, just looking out at the water. i like times like these. because i know that i'm stopping to smell the roses. sometimes people forget how beautiful this world is.

from seattle, with love. =)