Spooky toilet in my Achter de Dom class venue (yes, I know why the light is like that. I'm just surprised it's in a student building)

I went to Rebo (a fast food chain) in Amsterdam and ordered a kipburger (chicken burger). They guy went to a niche and got one out of there for me. Gah.



Almost-Malaysian mannikins in Amsterdam

I haven't seen any Malaysian mannikins yet, but when I see the almost-Malaysian ones, an involuntary shiver runs down my spine. I imagine that at any moment they will suddenly animate, their eyes shining with an unearthly glow, their lips turning blood red, their mouths opening wider than you would think possible (even Ms "I can put my fist in my mouth" would be hard pressed to beat them) and start laughing as their grotesque visages warp the sanity of all who behold them.

[Malaysian friend: yeah they're scary

Me: get me a picture

Malaysian friend: ahha are u mad
yucks disgusting
not all malaysia mannikins lar
only those in CHEAP shops which i don't go
i don't go to those places
those places r dodgy]


Students all over the world round get fleeced with regards to housing. All the people studying in the First World I've asked pay/paid more than me for their dorm housing (Oregon, Chicago, Duke, Nottingham, Toronto, LSE, Durham), and they have/had compulsory meal plans too. And this, considering that prices here are generally higher than in the US. So actually I'm no being scalped that much.



I'm sure I've seen this tactic to get guys to aim before, but I can't remember where.

The bananas I buy here come from Latin America (mainly Columbia), and are not as nice as Del Monte Filipino bananas. They are, though, better than Pisang Melayu. Maybe they need to wrap the fruit in coca leaves.



Aldi has these chocolate cookies marked like so: "The Famous American Chocolate Chip Cookies. 40% chocolade". The packaging also has golden stars on a blue background reminiscent of the American flag and a gold seal saying "The Biscuit Collection". Now, I'm suspicious of generic stuff proclaiming to be great, the best, America's favourite and the like, like the so-called "America's favourite [fried?] chicken" fast food outlet that I saw somewhere in the wilderness of Malaysia, and so thought it was the usual ersatz crap, but bought a packet anyway for fun, because it was cheap and most importantly because I wanted to eat chocolate chip cookies. It turns out, though, that they're excellent. In fact, I would go so far to say that these are the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. They're crisp without being brittle, just slightly moist - neither too dry nor too wet, crumbly without falling apart and messing up the floor after the first bite, and biting into one fills your mouth with an intense chocolate flavour (27% dark chocolate and 13% milk chocolate - so it'll appeal to the Real Chocolate [TM] fans as well with its slight aftertaste). Unfortunately, even on scrutinising the packaging I couldn't find any information on where it was made, or by which company. Maybe I can talk to Aldi about the distribution rights for Singapore.



My wonderful housemate chucked 1kg of minced chicken into the freezer (I went for class after visiting the market and he lugged everything back). Better yet: part of the plastic bag is trapped between the frozen folds of the meat. We coudn't figure out a way to hack the block apart without an ice pick. Of course I know I should defrost it, preferably using water baths, but the problem is that the meat is not supposed to be refrozen after defrosting. It's currently defrosting slowly in the fridge. Oh well. If anyting goes wrong, the hospital is nearby. He also chucked in 2kg of chicken fillet and 1kg of pork cuts into the freezer, but that was still manageable since the plastic wasn't stuck in between the meat.

I keep forgetting to add pepper to my food, and occasionally salt also. Gah.


I wasn't satisfied with this omelette for 3 reasons:
1) I forget to add salt and pepper and only added it after I started eating
2) My cheese was very hard, so I gave up using the cheese slicer and chopped it into tiny slices with a knife and scattered throughout the omelette. As such, the omelette cooked before I could close and seal it
3) My helpful housemate took it off the stove before my cheese melted, so I had hard cheese lumps throughout the omelette
4) One of the slices of bread from the loaf from which I toasted bread to eat it with had fungi growing on it (I threw it away). The slices I ate had no visible infection. Fortunately, I'm still alive and kicking.

I love Aldi:
1 kg of Huzarensalade (potato/vegetable salad with sausage bits) - €1.25
6 packs of instant mashed potato (makes 500g after addition of milk and butter) - €0.99
1 litre of milk - €0.32
10 eggs - €0.99
200ml cream - €0.39
Courgette - €0.39
6 x 500ml bitter lemon - €1.89
6 bratwursts - €1.69
300g tea biscuits - €0.29
Too bad they don't have Coke (6 pack - €2.19 at Nettorama)