Sorry Disneyworld, Blacksburg comes first!

School is getting busier each day and I get more tired each day! Talking about my plans to Disneyworld, Orlando in Florida, they didn't come true because I did not book the tickets much earlier. Plane ticket prices shot sky-high but nevertheless, I spent an eventful winter break December last year. I spent most of my time in my apartment watching Korean dramas and eating. WARNING - this is extremely unhealthy and should not be followed by anyone wishing to NOT gain weight. End result, I gained a few pounds and went crazy over Mischievous Kiss, Secret Garden, and the list goes on and on. Thank you mysoju.com and hulu.com!

According to my friends, Blacksburg doesn't have that much snow compared to that last year, but it's much colder. I agree, because it got as low as -14 degree Celcius once and my hands, nose and face hurt so much even when I have my protective gear on.

Yup, that's me at the War Memorial Chapel after watching Harry Potter.

Since most of my mat salleh friends have gone home, I was left alone, but thank goodness, there are a few Malaysian families here that offer much warmth and comfort in times like this. Good food and hospitality never bores me. There is never a day that I don't feel thankful to them for being there. Even though we don't really celebrate Christmas, we still have a Christmas dinner and I got to have turkey for the second time!

Feast fit for a king.

Two turkeys! Enough for everyone =)

Cut-up turkey - the celery is soft and full of taste..Loved it!

Cranberry sauce to go with the turkey. Sour and appetizing!

Sauce for the mash potatoes and turkey.

Corn~

Dinner roll~

Malaysians as we are, rice (nasi briyani) is never left out =D

Kak Yati's sambal salted fish~

Dessert #1 - Black glutinous rice soup with coconut milk (not shown here)

Dessert #2 - Strawberry pudding

My #1 serving, total # of servings is private and confidential :P

Thank you very much *Kak Rose (Malaysian PhD student at Virginia Tech), **Abang Ridzuan (her husband) and family! The food was great and I had such a great time! I found it hard to move too (too full) =D I realized that I have somehow left out pictures of the freshly-made mashed potatoes and salad. I guess I was too hungry and excited then!




*Kak is "kakak" in the Malay language, which means "sister"
**Abang means 'brother' in the Malay language

It's all about meat!

I apologize that I did not update my blog yesterday night. I was too tired and so I went to sleep early =) As for my meat topic today, I am referring to the fact that I am currently taking an Introduction to Animal and Poultry Science class and our first worksheet requires us to visit the local Kroger (a retail supermarket chain in the United States).

We are provided with a set of papers that we need to fill in with information on the prices, brands and many other criteria of fresh meats (beef, poultry, lamb, pork) and processed ones. I did not take any pictures so just imagine my friends and I counting the per square foot tiles on the floor to estimate the size of the meat shelves! It was real fun plus a little bit of confusion.

I hope I don't offend any vegans/vegetarians here but the T-bones and ribeye steaks definitely made our mouths water. Since we were close to dinner time, we went right to Kobe Japanese Express (since they are "express", they usually do takeouts) right after our project and got ourselves some meat! I admit that I'm really big on meat as I couldn't stop myself from ordering steak; maybe it's psychological. :P

Gloria happy with her food =))

Her chicken teriyaki with brocolli

Natalie who's really happy she learned how to use the chopsticks.

Me with my meal.

Beef teriyaki with brocolli (The rice is flavored)

Thanks to the girl who offered to take a picture for us.

Overall, the meal wasn't too bad. I don't like the sweet carrots though (The orange rounds on our plates were carrots) and the beef was quite tough. They must be USDA select beef! And as usual, the meal was USD10.30 inclusive of refillable soft drinks. This day was really satisfying, and I learned so much about meat from the friendly personnels at the meat section in Kroger! I really look forward to something like this again!

Greenhouse Effect #1

Wednesday, January 26, 2011 was the day I planted my first few potted plants. As an undergraduate majoring in Agricultural Sciences, it could be really weird to many out there that I have not done all these before. Now that I have chosen to minor in Horticulture, I have to take classes that require me to go to the greenhouses here at Virginia Tech for lab sessions. I was so excited that I could not sleep well the day before. To be honest, I was more to being scared than anything else - I haven't planted any plants before in my life!

The hallway going to the greenhouses located outside.

My class is using this greenhouse; there are many more to the right - not in this picture.

From the door, entering the greenhouse.

The greenhouses felt really comfortable because it's really cold outside, usually below 0 Celcius now that it's winter time. It's humid in there and it felt a bit like the highlands in Malaysia =) I planted a tomato plant (using 2 really tiny seeds) and 2 ornamental plants to which I have forgotten the names. Sorry! But I think most of you have seen them before.

I was kind of sad that I forgot to bring along my camera that day but due to my enthusiasm, I went to the greenhouse today just to get a few pictures. Here they are:

Tools and utensils

My tomato "plant"

Spider plant if I'm not wrong

I guess you know what plant this is :)

My name tag on my 3rd plant

Time to put to put it back into its "personal greenhouse"

And let it spend some time with its friends =)

Rice plants in another greenhouse

The pipes hanging above along the walkway make really weird noises..haha

Now I can't wait for other lab sessions! It was so much fun to plant all these. I don't know if the fun is going to last but I hope that it will. I have so much more to write so I thought I might add more later tonight. Shower time!

Call me a "Lazy Snake"

I realized that I have not updated my blog since last year and I feel so bad about it. I have all the pictures though and I will post everything up as soon as I am free. There is a Chinese term for lazy people which I have incorporated into the title of this very blog: "lazy snake". My mum always calls me that whenever I'm at home, doing what I do best - laying on the couch, watching tv or looking for food. Maybe it's in my genes since both my sisters do the same thing as well. Perhaps my mum spoils us too much that we have all turned into lazy bums. At least I do some cleaning and cooking :P

How I miss my parents and my sisters! I miss them so much!

It's so cold in Blacksburg - maybe not as cold as that in Penn State or New York or even Indiana but I'm trying my best to reduce the use of the heater at home. My eyes just rolled out of their sockets as soon as I saw the electric bill for December. That's USD130! If I ever convert it into Malaysian Ringgit, my parents can power my home in Malaysia for more than 3 months! =D Especially when it's monsoon season now, where it rains almost everyday,  they don't need to turn on the air-conditioners. I kept reminding my mum not to convert the currency but her awkward smile and laughter gave her away in an instance.

If you are not as "meaty" as I am, you might just get blown away by the strong, cold wind!

I'm glad that my parents know I'm studying hard and doing good over here. So that they know that everything is worthwhile. Chinese New Year is in a week's time! How fast time really flies! That's all from me for now since I have loads to read for my Animal and Poultry Science class tomorrow!