Last Tuesday, I travelled about half an hour from the city centre to turn up and support some of our Malaysian students here in Kursk, who took part in this 'Student SpringFest Talent Competition' or 'Фестиваль Студентическая Весна'.

If you remembered, I mentioned here during this Chinese New Year Concert that we had in Kursk- the Vice Dean of Foreign Relations who attended the event was very impressed with some of the performances, particularly with the 3-member girl band (comprising of Ariel, Pek Jinn and Audrey) and the newly formed 9-piece Musical Orchestra/Band Dragon 9. She then invited them to the said talent competition, where (apparently) the best talents from all over the city gather to showcase their singing and musical capabilities.

I thought I was in for maybe something like American Idol- one marvel of a singing performance followed by another, but BOY was I way wrong!

The whole 5 hours I sat there, you would have thought I was attending a Heavy Metal, Head-Banging, Pot_and-Pans-a-Clanging, Hardcore Rock n' Roll Concert. Aside from the students from our University and maybe one other act, the rest of performances that day were one and the same- hard rocking, heavy metal performances. There were quite a few surprising talents though in Kursk, it seems. One band for example, blew me away, a 3-piece band that named themselves 'Still', which played a music which I can only describe as alternative rock. Kind of something like the band Coldplay or Incubus would play. In fact, until this day (3 days after the concert) I still have their music ringing in my head.

But I can tell you one thing, the students of our University did particularly well, I arrived just as Ariel, Pek Jinn and Audrey took the stage to perform Lydia, the Taiwanese Hit Song made popular by F.I.R.


Here's a clip of them performing on the night of the Chinese New Year Concert.


They were then followed by Dragon 9, who performed 'Qi Ji' or miracle.


Here's the clip of them performing during the night of Chinese New Year.


While here's the clip of them performing 'Blue Dragon', the OST of Team Medical Dragon, a popular Japanese Medical series, during the SpringFest.


It may be biased, but in my honest opinion, our students were just flat out the best during the competition. Some of the other acts were also rather impressive, and then there were those who were scary to witness... There was this one act, for example, what I can only describe as 'Goth-rock'? In full gothic attires, the girls with dark, black make up and the men with leather jackets or in one case- fish nets and a leather corset! One other band named 'One Second to Death' was a typical Kurt Cobain era teenage angst and anger filled band, only thing was they are way past their teens... In fact they were University students...

Alas, even though me and Ming wanted to stay till the end of the concert, there was only so much rock n' roll that you can take. I left at 6.30pm with a headache, a ringing ear drum and feeling roughly like I've been hit by a train...

But like I predicted, our students not only won the competition, they clean-sweeped the top spots! And mind you there were 30 performances that day! Congratulations to the winners!

First Place- Dragon 9
Second Place- Hemoglobin (A Russian band from our university, winners of the same competition the previous year)
Third Place- Ariel, Pek Jinn, Audrey

I guess I should explain my abscence from the blogging world. Over here in Kursk, even though Chinese New Year celebration ended about half a month ago, a group of us Chinese students felt it was our responsibility to come together and organize a concert. It has been 3 years since the previous one was held and of course, the stakes are higher just as the task at hand would be as much coarser and tougher.

And ever since November, I've been a part of this committee, hell bent on throwing together a concert that would, in a layman's term, kick some ass.

So last Saturday, finally all the bits and pieces fell together in the form of our Chinese New Year Concert 2008.

My responsibility, on top of throwing together a mini Chinatown, was to see that the event ran without a glitch.

Here are some snapshots done of the ChinaTown.







Basically it consists of several 'stalls' which serves to explain different facets of the Chinese culture- there's the Calligraphy Stalls, where you can get your name written in Chinese character; there's the Lion Dance Spectacular, where you can photograph with the Lion Dance Costume, with my tv playing clips of Lion Dance performances; there's the Beijing teahouse, where you can learn how to make chinese tea the traditional way; and then there's the Chopstick shack, teaching you how to use your chopsticks correctly!

The show started off with a lion dance performance by Andrew and Kong, and right from the moment the concert started off, everything went exceedingly well.



Here are some selected highlights of the night,



A 9 piece Chinese Muscial Orchestra, playing a song called 'qi ji' or miracle. I honestly thought that the performance was simply the best that night. And it's also the first time that we showcased such a wide array of talent. Just watch the clip and you'll see what I mean.


Fan Dance, choreographed by Josephine and Ingrid, was a hit also on the night


Lydia, performed by Ariel, Pek Jinn and Audrey, another amazing performance of vocal prowess


Martial Arts performance, by Ming, Nate, Jack, Nate and Qi Jie


Acapella, by GP, a Kenyan, Brian, a Zambian, and Mex, Diana and Richard, Malaysians. The greatest bit was when GP, Brian and Mex sang in mandarin! Amazing!


Bandbros, fronted by Anwar and Alexis, performing a popular mandarin song, 'Kai Bu Liao Ko' made famous by Jay Chow


At the end of the event, I could literally feel a heavy weight lifted off of my chest. But I know all the committee members delivered to their utmost best, and the concert I felt was a huge success. To the point where the Vice dean who attended the concert, told me that this was the best concert yet that she has ever witnessed.

I personally thought that the whole process was a great one, and that I am proud to have been a part of this committee, roughing it out. And Lord knows how bumpy it got at one point or another, but at the end, we delivered.

But of course, I think the stars of the night were those who worked tirelessly around the clock, some having to travel to different hostels to work until somewhere like 10pm, and some who had to miss classes and lectures in order for the concert to take off without a glitch.

Actually, I didn't really even know the significance about Men's day. Knowing me, I'd be happy if there was any reason for us to gather together and cook ourselves a meal. In fact I only knew the meaning of this celebration from reading my friend and fellow blogger, Irise's entry on it.

So here we are, 2 days after Chap Goh Meh (the 15th day of Chinese New Year), finding ourselves in another holiday, what are we to do? Celebrate, of course!

We had much much more planned out for the night, though.

Starting with this Abalone, which my friend Benny brought from Malaysia.

And the Sea cucumber that Choc Ky brought, also from Malaysia.

And this Vacuum-Packed, Pre-cooked Peking Roasted Duck that I brought from Belgrade, Serbia.


Want to go behind the scenes of what would be an expensive, high-class, 5-star dinner?

Benny started off by slicing the Abalone into a few slices.

These are the ingredients needed to prepare the Abalone-chicken stew. Some sliced up chicken breast, the Abalone, of course, and some chinese mushroom, soaked.

As for the sea cucumber, I braised it with sliced pork and some chicken mushroom, with oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and pepper as seasoning.

We also had chinese spring roll, another expensive chinese delicacy. Here you see Sandra helping me out with the rolling of the spring roll.

As for the vege, we had steamed caluli flower and carrot, with razor clams (also I brought from Malaysia).

Chop chop chop! Clang Clang Clang and Voila! Our Men's Day dinner.

Let's see what it costs:
Chicken and abalone stew with chinese mushroom= RM 80/ USD 23.5

Braised Pork with Sea Cucumber with chinese mushroom in soy sauce and oyster sauce gracy= RM 85/ USD 25

Peking Roasted Duck with Gravy, served with slices of fresh Chinese cabbages= RM 75/ USD 22

Chinese Spring Roll= RM 10/ USD 3

Steamed cauli flower with sliced carrot with razor clams= RM 10/ USD 3

Which meant...
Cost of Dinner = RM 260, or USD 77!
The fact that we had Abalone, Roasted Duck, Razor Clams, Spring Rolls and Sea Cucumber all in one night here in Kursk, Russia? = Priceless!

This is another post loooong overdue. Ever since I arrived back from my trip in Europe, it took me awhile to recharge my batteries to get it running again. But anyways I hope it's not too late to wish everybody a Happy Chinese New Year!

For this theme, there's only one thing I can think of, of course. Heavy meal- that is!

For us Chinese, we have a tradition of having a reunion dinner on the eve of Chinese New Year. This marks the most important day in the life of a Chinese. Family members are to gather together, have dinner together and celebrate together. The niche with studying abroad is, of course, missing out on all these traditions. Instead of celebrating this day with my family, I was in the train on the way back from Moscow to Kursk. So basically miserable and alone...

But then I arrived back in Kursk and made up for it in a big way, a huuuuge dinner with my friends, of course!



If you take a look at the pictures there you can see the dishes that I cooked- braised sea cucumber cooked with leaks and chinese sausages, chicken soup with chinese cabbages and fish bladder (hu pio), Sweet and Sour Pork and Ma po Tofu. I also heated up the vecuum-packed pre-cooked Peking duck served with gravy, and Shoo hao steamed the Red Tilapia and Choc Ky did the mixed vege. It was a looot of food for 6 people, so you can only imagine how heavy it was even for us!

But it was great, I have to admit, that despite being so far from my family, I still got to relive and cherish a part of our culture and tradition in this foreign land. And if you look at all the dishes that we prepared, you have to admit they were pretty hardcore traditional!

Hope you guys have a nice week ahead! Happy Photohunting!

This is another post that's long overdue. The Winter solstice festival, or dong zhi as we chinese call it, is one of the many major chinese celebrations, which is celebrated on the 22nd of December. In mainland China in the olden days this day mark the peak of winter, and usually it is a time when the families gather together and cherish each other.

During this festival, normally the family make a type of dessert called tang yuen, or glutinous rice balls. In the Chinese tradition, round normally signifies unity, and it symbolizes the unity and togetherness of the family. Anyway, for those of you who are interested to learn how to make some glutinous rice ball dessert, this is for you-

Balls, Lotsa Balls... (Glutinous Rice Balls- Wet and Dry Types) Recipe
Ingredients:
2 cups of Glutinous Rice Flour
2/3 cup of Cold water
Castor Sugar
Pandan Essence (Extract from screwpine leaves, or Pandanus amaryllifolius)
A few pieces of Sliced Ginger
Ground Peanut
Red/Green Colouring


Steps:
1. Pour Glutinous Rice Flour into a bowl, and mix in cold water little by little each time, kneading it the whole time. Adjust the consistency until you achieve a smooth dough which doesn't stick to the fingers.


2. Divide the dough into little small portions and knead into small balls.

3. Other variants to glutinous rice balls includes adding some ground peanuts into the centre, and pinching the edges together to have some ground peanut fillings. Otherwise, you can 'trap' your family and friends, like me, by secretly hiding some WASABE PASTE into the rice balls, heehee!

4. You can add some colouring to the dough, giving it a more colourful appearance.


5. Boil water in a pot, add sugar and Pandan essence. A new suggestion by a friend was to add a few slices of ginger into the soup, which takes away the floury taste from the soup.

6. Throw the balls into the boiling soup. It takes only a few minutes before the balls are cooked. When all the balls are cooked, they float to the top.

7. You may serve either in bowls with the soup, piping hot (wet type) . Or drain the balls, and mix them in a mixture of ground peanuts and castor sugar, which serves better chilled (dry type).


The best thing about doing little desserts like this is the interaction that you have during the whole process. The laughter, the chit-chat, the hearty conversations are as important as any part of this recipe. So do it together with your friends/families!

-The following scenes may contain grotesque and violent images and is not suitable for viewing of people who lack a sense of humour. Viewer disgression is adviced-

This post is a few days overdue,

Kit Fong has been mentioning it,
so has Johnny,
and Ingrid.

I've been wanting to post it but have been caught up in too many things of late. Anyway, ever since I was young, my parents have been reading me lots of nurdery rhymes, aesop fables and the likes, which you can see, more or less, influence me in my way of thinking (waaaaay too optimistic), my gesture of speech (never serious), and my literary point of view (nonsensical).

But one of the poems which sticks out vividly in my mind, includes something like this- 'Run and run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!'

And this Christmas, when I read that Gingerbread people were on sale, I was more than delighted to be reminded of a piece of my childhood.

A few days ago, they started distributing the gingerpeople, and I received a few.

So here's a play by play instruction on how to eat a gingerbread man-

1. Gingerbread persons have a tendency to run right after they are baked (not so the women, since they trip and fall on their laces way too often), so lock the back doors, make sure the cat flaps are blocked and other exits like the fireplace or windows are shut.

2. To eat, grab him by his foot.

3. Amputate him, this way, he won't be able to run.

4. Take a bite off of the other foot.

5. Now that he has no way of escaping, it's time to bite off his grubby, fingerless hands!

6. Bite off what's remaining of his torso.

7. Last but not least, put an end to his misery but biting off his head.

8. Though if he had sweat glands he'd probably look more like this-


Anyway, thanks Lynn Wei, Niny, Diana, Sakthis, Ru Yi and Pei Fern for your gingerbread people. My mum says once someone gets you something, you need to repay their kindness twice over, so I baked them all Christmas croissants instead.


I googled up the poem I mentioned above, and found this, for old time's sake, here's the Gingerbread man rhyme-

Once there was a gingerbread man,
Baking in a gingerbread pan.
Raisin eyes and a cherry nose,
Trimmed right down to his fingers and toes.
A gingerbread man in a gingerbread pan!

Here's the old woman who made him so sweet,
A treat for her and her husband to eat,
She made him with flour and sugar and eggs,
She gave him a face and two arms and two legs.
A gingerbread man in a gingerbread pan!

Now open the oven to see if he's done,
This gingerbread man, he know how to run.
Out of the oven and onto the floor,
Now run away out the kitchen door.
The gingerbread man, he's out of the pan!

Now chase him old woman, now chase him old man
Chase him, yes chase him as fast as you can!
Through the garden and out the gate,
Catch him right now, before it's too late.
The gingerbread man, he's out of the pan!

Along came a cow who wanted a treat
And the gingerbread man, he looked good to eat
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a horse who wanted a snack
But the gingerbread man, he never looked back
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a farmer who wanted a treat
And the gingerbread man, he looked good to eat
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a dog who wanted a snack
But the gingerbread man, he never looked back
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a hog who wanted a treat
And the gingerbread man, he looked good to eat
Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan!

Along came a fox who wanted a treat,
And this gingerbread man, he looked good to eat.
Jump on my back, my gingerbread pet,
And we'll cross the river, so you won't get wet
Mr. Gingerbread man, who's out of the pan!

There was no place to go, there was no place to run
And a ride on the river could be lots of fun!
So off with the fox did Gingerbread go
And what happened next, you already know
To the gingerbread man, who's out of the pan

That sly old fox had a de-lic-ious treat
And the old man and woman had nothing to eat
Not a bite was left for the cow or the dog,
The horse or the farmer or hungry old hog
There's no gingerbread man in or out of the pan!

So let us go home and get out the pan
And we'll make ourselves a new gingerbread man!
And when he is eaten, we'll make us some more
But this time we'll be certain to lock the back door!
A new gingerbread man, in a gingerbread pan!

And apparently, there's a Russian version of the gingerbread man tale, about a round shaped piece of bread, who escaped after being baked. The story then tells of his journey while encountering different animals who attempted to eat him.

Part I- The movie-
If you read my yesterday's post, you'd have noticed how late my day ended. The Bourne Ultimatum is an absolute thriller! Like I said, I reserved it, knowing that a day would come that I can finally enjoy and appreciate the movie better.


Part II- A Season of Giving-
Baked 3 batches of Banana Croissant, a recipe that I adopted and introduced to my friends here in Kursk. I first saw it on a show of BBC Prime, then thought- hrm... what would happen I baked it with Banana instead, and voila! The recipe of Banana Croissant came to be.

Distributed them to close friends of mine, including Lynn Wei and Johnny. I bought 16 Christmas cards too, from my friends for the charity drive. And there were some pretty mind-blowing designs. Like these ones:


Part III- The Great Mouse Hunt
As reported yesterday, the sanctity of the vicinity that came to be known as Eddy and Teo's room was breached by a mouse. 2 days ago Eddy spotted the measly critter crawling about near the central heating grills in his room. That subsequent night both of them coudln't sleep, hearing the little one biting incessantly, as if teasing them, at papers and plastic bags.

Yesterday during our Christmas shopping we bought some glue which we hoped would trap the mouse, but alas, the cunning one eluded capture! Here you can see Teo placing a trap, some biscuits in a container, surrounded by glue!

During dinner, Choc Ky heard some rustling in the cupboard, which prompted us to do another thorough searching of cupboard area.


Teo has a phobia for rats, and jumped atop his chair before anything else.

But it was an unsuccesful search and eliminate operation. We detected a hole here which he/she might have escaped to, and what seems like rat dung in this area.


Part IV- The Christmas Dinner
After last night's impromptu dinner, I thought perhaps I should make it light tonight (yes- even on Christmas day!). For those who do not know me, my weight fluctuates like a yo-yo. It sometimes take me 2 weeks to gain about 5kg. There was once when I gained 8kg during my summer break, which I all but lost in the subsequent 6 months, only to regain them ALL BACK during the Christmas-new year season, then to lose them off once again.

The only good thing about this is I can look at pictures of myself throughout the year and have a good laugh about it.

Right as I was about to warm up last night's leftovers, Boon Juan appeared! In the season of sharing I asked if he wanted any part of last night's leftovers, some coleslaw and mashed potatoe, somehow from there we decided to have dinner together, and he fried some fish to boot. Ahh... A wonderfully simple yet delightful Christmas meal.

Merry Christmas to all of you!