Monday, December 29, 2008

new lens!!

I have finally got a new replacement for my broken camera lens! Fortunately I was busy during term time so I didn't have time to buy a new one. Last night I happened to chat with my dad on msn and he told me to check the price of the new lenses. It just happened that Jessops was having a massive online sale and the price for one of the lenses was reduced from 244 pounds to 127 pounds! A very good deal indeed! But it doesn't come with VC which I think doesn't make much difference to me since I have a tripod and a speedlight.

Since guys like to introduce their new gadgets as their 'wife', I shall call new gadget my husband. Say hello to my new husband:

Tamron AF28-300 F/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Nikon AFD


it came with the flower hood


and I tested it out on Esther:




PS: daddy, what do you think about buying the 3 year warranty from Jessops which costs 30pounds? Should I go for it?

Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas from all of us!




Specially dedicated to our dear family and friends!

Merry Christmas!



PS:can anyone tell me how to edit MOV file for free? (can't use windows movie maker coz not recognised). I downloaded a free software but it turned up to have the words 'evaluation copy' constantly on the screen which is soo annoying!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Happy birthday Jon!

hello jon.

Happy birthday! This is a very belated post and my poor jon's hair must have grown a few white hairs as this post has been delayed for such a long time.

I remember when we were young, we sisters used to call jon Mr Horsie.


no, not because he looked like a horse, but because he was born in the year of horse.

anyway, this Mr Horse has grown from a small boy colt to a full-grown adult horse. I remember him when he first entered primary school and I used to look down at his class to see him in class (my class is opposite and is one floor higher than his). Sometimes if I did not have any afternoon class, we would wait under that leafless tree (under the scorching sun) for our parents to pick us up. How I miss those primary school days!

Now jon jon has just finished his high school and entering tertiary education. He will not be studying medicine to save lives like us sis but he will be saving computers instead. He is a computer expert and he knows everything about computer, inside and out. Throw him a computer problem and he will diagnose the problem for you.

My brother is not good at studies unlike us sis and he has suffer much as we sis had set a standard in the house for everyone to achieve. Education is not a yardstick to measure success in future although it gives one the upper end in finding jobs. I believe my dear jon will excel and maybe will be better than us in the future.

Happy 18th birthday jon! May God bless you and keep you. Don't play too much and study hard in pre-uni! If not how to see u in UK next time?


ps: btw, to anyone who knows jon and is reading this, please dun call him Mr Horse or else I cannot step into the house when I go back to Miri.

Merry Christmas!

Ho ho ho!

Merry Christmas everybody!

A week ago, someone told me that it feels like yesterday when she celebrated Christmas last year. Yes, it's true. I can't believe that one year has passed so quickly! I was happy to receive cards from my colleagues. Finally when I looked into my pigeon hole at my workplace, it wasn't empty but there stood a card inside, it says 'to Janice Ting (Doctor Ting)' LOL. One of my colleagues gave me a box of maltesers as she used to give me every time I work with her (maybe her idea is that I could eat those maltesers when she isn't around for 2 weeks) and she inserted 20pounds inside the card without me knowing (cheeky I know!!)! But I'm touched. I'm so gonna miss her when I leave RM for good. sigh.

But Christmas is not just about receiving but giving. It was fun shopping and buying presents for some people and see the joy in their face when I gave them. Although it was just a box of chocolates, sometimes the thought of giving something is what matters.

I will be off from work for two days before going back on Saturday! yipee. I'm also back to cleaning at my previous company which I absolutely detest now that I've experienced working in RM. Thank God it's only for 2 weeks.

Anyway, merry Christmas everybody! hope you have a blessed christmas this year!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Third year term 1 is finally over.

*heave a sigh of relief*

Thank God that I managed to survive term 1 even though I was working every weekday evening (except Monday). the result for spot test + portfolio was out today and I passed! Pass is all I need for this module but I expect higher results for both of my SSC coz I spent super duper lot of time in it. I didn't realised that it's gonna be Christmas next week. Everything seemed to pass so fast when I was busy. sigh. 3 months just passed like that. Somehow I have gotten used to the heavy workload involved in term 1 that when I did the Spanish SSC, I thought the workload was alright even though the 2nd years were complaining that it was heavy!

ok. gotta sleep now coz my eyes are super tired as I stayed up late to finish my assignment. adíos!

Monday, December 15, 2008

I can't wait for holiday next week! Can't wait for Christmas to come! can't wait can't wait!!!

Happy birthday Thazin!

We had an early birthday celebration for Thazin ( one of my year 3 batch mates) as most of us would not be around next week when Christmas holiday starts.

we finally got the all the Asian Chinese (well not really 100% chinese coz Thazin is a mixed Burmese + Chinese ) 3rd year medics in a picture!I'm the shortestttttt!!!! argghh.

and with the help of Steph and Melvin, I made a chocolate banana cake ( trying to imitate Secret Recipe's choc banana cake)!





Oh..I used the speedlight to take the pictures and the picture quality is sooo good! me likey =)

recipe:

Chocolate Sponge Cake:
(A)
35 gm. Cocoa powder
70 gm. hot water
1 Tbsp. Chocolate emulco or Paste ( I used 40g of cocoa powder to substitute)
1 tsp. vanilla essence

(B)
125 gm. Cake flour (105gm all purpose flour + 30gm cornstarch to make 130 gm cake flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda
75 gm. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

(C)
45 gm. cornoil
80 gm. egg yolks
30 gm. fresh milk

(D)
150 gm. egg white
120 gm. sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Ganache:

250 gm. dairy whipping cream
210 gm. melted chocolate
42 gm. butter
add sugar according to ur taste


Decoration:
Some Bananas - slice lengthwise, preferably thicker slice

500gm. non-dairy whipping cream
70 gm. cocoa powder

add sugar according to ur taste


Method for the sponge:

(1) Mix cocoa powder, vanilla essence, hot water and chocolate paste together.
(2) Mix all the ingredients (B) together in a mixing bowl then add in (C) and mix to form a smooth batter. Add in the cocoa powder mixture and mix well.
(3) Whisk ingredients (D) until stiff peak and gradually fold into the cocoa powder batter.
(4) Pour into a 9" round cake tin and bake at 177C (gas mark 4) for about 40 to 45 mins. or till cooked. Leave cake to cool completely and then slice into 3 layers.
(5) Mix all the ingredients for Ganache and then microwave it for 20 secs. , stir till evenly combined and smooth. Microwave again if the chocolate has not melted. Leave to set before onto cake. ( I used bain marie method)
(6) Mix the whipped fresh cream with the cocoa powder mixture, spread onto one layer of cake. Top up with sliced banana and continue process till finished.
Cream the whole cake with the balance fresh cream.
(7) Pour Ganache on top and leave the whole cake in the chiller to set before slicing.
(8) Slice and enjoy!!!!


PS: I'm not sure about adding water to the cocoa powder in (A) coz the cocoa ended up clumping together forming snall round granules of cocoa.


Wednesday, December 10, 2008

mi descripciones

"¡Hola! me llama es Janice, apellido es Ting. Yo tengo veintiuno años. estoy estudiando actualmente el español para mi SSC. Yo hablo 4 lenguas: inglés, mandarín, malayo y un poquito de español. Estoy soltera. Yo soy bastante alta, delgada, rubia, simpática, inteligente y trabajadora. Yo tengo el pelo largo, liso y negro. Mis ojos son marrones. Yo siempre llevo gafas.

En mi familia hay 8 personas: mis padres (mi padre y mi madre), 2 hermanas y 3 hermanos. Yo tengo 2 hermanas mayores y 3 hermanos menores. Mis padres trabajos comos ingenieros. Mis hermanos todavía están estudiando. Mis hermanas están estudiantes de medicina en las universidad de Leeds."

i'm studying Spanish for my SSC at the moment. Somehow I'm the weaker student in the class because I find it really difficult to understand the language. My teacher would suddenly come out with a question in Spanish and she would start asking everyone in the class. Unfortunately I was the 2nd one who got asked and I couldn't understand what she was asking. i was like, 'uh...uh..erm...I don't understand.'

And then she said, 'ok, i will come back to you later.' and she continue asking other students with the same question. Surprisingly everyone could answer. It means I have got to work harder and listen to more Spaniards talking!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

finally done!

I have completed my lifecycle portfolio!!!!! I felt a great sense of relief after I did the final editing to it. I have finally made it through the end after 8 weeks of stress, tears, sweat and blood shedded to complete the 8 weekly presentations, 8 weekly precis, 4 critical evaluations and one reflective commentary to form one portfolio which I will be handing it in by 4pm today!

IT'S DONE FINALLY.


YAY!!!!


PS: holidays are only 2.5 weeks away! can't wait!