Of New Years & Cakes

Hi there,

Welcome to my third blog!!

You know what?? I’m really enjoying writing these blogs.  It gives me great pleasure that many of you are also enjoying reading them.

Chinese New Year

I’d like to take this opportunity also to wish you a Happy New Chinese Year!! 

Really and truly the Chinese year started on Monday (23^rd Jan), but here we’re still celebrating it.  Yesterday in fact our Chinese friends through the Loyola International Club organized a sort of Chinese Night were we immersed ourselves in some Chinese culture.  I must admit that I was really impressed, and now I surely want to go to China!!  Tomorrow I might also join some friends who are going to China Town for the New Year’s parade. 

Also, during the international night we had a quiz, and I somehow won the quiz, yeay!!  As a prize I was given a Chinese artefact, which represents one of the famous facial make-ups of the Chinese opera.

This week we had a number of sunny days.  It’s still freezing, when you go out. However on my desk behind this large glass pane, I feel quite warm, and can stay with just a T-shirt on.  This makes me feel really at home - you know sunny warm Malta.  So how can I forget you, when even the weather wants me to think of you? 

This week’s political news from Malta were quite amusing.  It has been like a very well written soap opera, with its climaxes, anti-climax, dark moments and funny moments.  And all the suspense which could be felt even from here.  Some blogs are having a feast of the situation and some youtube videos are really very very funny.  For my non-Maltese readers in a nutshell there is a political crisis in Malta, which is not due to the international financial crisis, but for some other reason which only one member of parliament really understands.  

I was also obviously quite curious of the outcome of the famous vote of no-confidence.  When I woke up on Wednesday morning, everything was ready. (Here we are 7 hours late remember..) I was quite surprised to see that Pjazza San Gorg was full of people.  Don’t these people have anything better to do?  Well the saga is not fully over.  Will see how it develops….

Social Justice & Community Development

This was my second week of learning.  I am finding the subjects really interesting and I’m enjoying every bit of it.  Later on, during the year, I hope to share with you some of this knowledge I’m gaining.  I’m enjoying it also because now I have more time to read.  Nevertheless sometimes it’s really hard to spend a whole day reading, especially since the readings aren’t novels.  It’s good that my silent companion Tina keeps me company in these moments.  By the way, she’s still alive and kicking :), and sends her regards to all her new fans.  I’m jealous she got more attention than me in my last blog.

Madeira cake

Today I also ventured into the area of baking.  The reason wasn’t really because I felt like a cake, but because I’ve realised that the eggs I bought are about to expire (Didn’t know that eggs expire).   I had bought a pack of 10 eggs originally and used only 2.  My options were to either throw away these 8 eggs or else cook a lot of things using eggs.  So this weekend I planned a ‘Cooking with eggs’ marathon.  I hope that this doesn’t have devastating consequences on my cholesterol.   Anyway, my first recipe was a Madeira cake.  This uses 3 eggs, and isn’t very complex to do. And here is the result:

Not bad eh….

Actually, I’m quite proud of the result, especially when you consider that I didn’t have anything with which to weigh the ingredients.  Not withstanding this, I somehow managed through my first baking assignment.  The only defect of this cake is that it crumbles.  Will someone ask Karmen Tedesco or Nancy for the reason?  You may rest assured that crumbled or not crumbled it will still be devoured.  Tomorrow I plan to cook a quiche, using another 3 eggs.  That leaves me with 2.  I still have to plan what to do with these last 2.  Any suggestions??  I’ll keep you posted. 

That’s enough for today.  I'm off to have some Madeira Cake.  Have a strong week!!

2.Mid-week post

Slowly slowly I’m settling in. Sunday I cooked for myself, although I must admit that I wasn’t that happy with the result. Mind you I’m not doubting my cooking abilities :P. It’s just that the food here tastes so different. Bread is really sweet, and everything looks so artificial. At home I had the pride of eating mostly home grown vegetables. Here they come from across the whole country – can you imagine what chemicals they spray on them to keep them fresh? Besides I’m finding the food you buy in supermarkets quite expensive. I don’t think that my mother in Malta buys a can of tuna for about €2. Maybe its because I still haven’t found the right places where to shop from. Time will tell.

I’m slowly making the apartment Home. I’m quite happy with the view.

Here's a picture of the view when it snowed. You can see on the building there’s LOYOLA. It is in fact a University building. I have some lectures here. The other lectures are held in the other building across the street. So I really can’t complain. In our building we also have a laundry and a gym, and I’m trying to make use of both, especially the gym. One of my targets when I moved to the US was to lead a healthier life. Up to now, I’m doing this with the food but at least I’m doing some fitness exercises.

With regards to my room, I think it still needs some more work. One of the first things I decided to do was to get a plant. Which has become like a friend. I named her Tina, short for tursina.(parsley) I met her in one of my supermarket tours. I’m really taking care of it and do hope it survives for a while. First thing I’ve done was to trim it. I’ve put all the parsley in a box in the fridge and do hope to use it in my cooking. Meanwhile I’m keeping the plant on my desk, in the light and watering it regularly in the hope that it flourishes. I’ll keep you posted about Tina in my following blogs.

I’ve also realised that there are plenty of opportunities here where you could get a free dinner/lunch, by attending to some conference or group activity. Which is good because you don’t spend money or time preparing the food, and you nourish your body and soul. So when I see such opportunities I grab them, and no it’s not a Maltese mentality, everyone here does so, since the best way to use your time here is to study or socialize.

This week was also my first week where I had to start studying seriously, and my first assignment was due. It wasn’t much, just formulating a question, but believe me it wasn’t as easy as it sounds. I spent a whole night reading and researching but it was worthwhile because I got full marks for it.

The Dollar Shop

This week I also discovered a dollar store (sort of our Tal-lira – €2 shop). The difference here is that items have different pricing, not like our version where everything would cost the same.

The thing of the pricing reminded me of a funny episode I had with some old friends back home in our teenage. When ‘Tal-lira’ came to Zurrieq, on our way back home from some lessons, we decided to venture into the shop to see what they offer. We were quite a funny bunch and needless to say we were passing remarks about everything in the shop. Now I don’t remember all the details of the episode but someone was wondering about something concerning the shopkeeper. You know how adolescents are, and what they constantly think of….. Needless to say it was something embarrassing. To cut the story short, when the shopkeeper came around I nudged my friend –

“Why don’t you ask her?”

The shopkeeper turned on my friend,

“What do you want to know?”

My friend obviously froze, the only thing he could think of was:

“How much does this cost?”

Her reply

“??One pound Dooh!!!”

My friend blushed and we ran out laughing our heads off. Hope I didn’t loose you but I remembered this anecdote when I realized that in the American dollar shop, not everything costs one dollar. The point with the pricing is that it is cheaper. I got some plates and bowls, and some other stuff. Including a shocking pink bath matt for my bathroom. I choose the colour which I thought, would liven up most, my otherwise dull grey bathroom. And whilst at it, I got matching bath towels and hand towels. It’s a pity that they didn’t have matching pegs. (Those who were with me in Madrid, know what I’m referring to.)

caw

First Post

Dear reader,

This is my first blog ever. I was always reluctant to keep a diary because usually I get bored writing after a while. I know that the secret for a good blog is that it's regular - something which I never was.

Anyway enough excuses. I promised I would start one, and here it is. I'll start with little stuff, and hopefully will keep updating and improving it every Saturday, (or perhaps even more frequently) so that you'll find it fresh and ready for your Sunday breakfast. I am already starting to miss those relaxing breakfasts reading The Times and munching toast.

Tomorrow is in fact my first Sunday here in Chicago. This was a week of firsts. First time I've experienced snow, first time I owned a mac book, first time writing a blog, first time I had to clean a messy bathroom…..

Yes, because today I moved into the apartment where I'll be staying for the next months. The apartment is nice, with a nice view, (it's on the 21st floor). Apparently however the guy who was living here before me left in a hurry. The bathroom was disgusting. I attacked it with the help of a bottle of bleach and a scrub. Well it still needs some work, but at least now it looks cleaner.

I need to do something about the decor of my room too, but I have to control myself, as I don't want to buy loads of costly stuff, which I'll have to throw away in two years time. I'll try to be creative. I already started shifting the few pieces of furniture around. Anyway soon I'll have loads of reading to do - actually I already have, so I need to get cracking. When I finish, I promise photos.

In the meantime I give you a snippet of snowy Chicago.

For tonight that’s all, I’ll keep you posted.