ikebana #2

These flowers are really lovely (Chinese cherry blossom and Anthurium flowers). I swapped the base for a black one this time, which I think complements the colours of the flowers.

Million dollar question

Is this abalone?

Reunion dinner

Had our reunion dinner earlier with KK, another Singaporean student here.

It is quite a sumptuous one, with prawns, lobster balls, scallops, dumplings, vegetables and "abalone" (this one is interesting - will post more details in the next entry) for our steamboat in the rice cooker, and KK made deep fried dumplings and braised chicken with mushrooms. Suffice to say, the 3 of us were so stuffed there was no room for fruits after dinner!

All 3 of us agreed we miss our bah kwa, and also HL miss his pineapple tarts, and I miss my love letters...*drool*...

Happy Lunar New Year of the Pig!

Happy Lunar new year of the Pig!

These are 3 CNY cards I received this year - the one at the top is sent by my brother and sister in law, the one in the middle is sent by my parents and the one at the bottom is hand made by my good friend Baoqi and her soon-to-turn-3 year old daughter, Rayna!

It is heartwarming to receive these little mementos from Singapore during this festive season.

Here's wishing everyone a super duper good year ahead, with happiness and health (and of coz, a little windfall from 4D or TOTO would be nice) =P

1/2 way mark

We are 1/2 way into our stay here, 5 months since we came - 4 more months.

Feels like much longer though, maybe because we have already settled into a comfortable routine and lifestyle here, and I am keeping myself meaningfully occupied with work and study...

In any case, we cherish our time here, and more so, our remaining 4 months, so we can bring these memories back to Singapore with us, come June...

ikebana

It is the Japanese art of flower arrangement.

In contrast to the decorative form of flower arranging in western countries, the Japanese flower arrangement creates a harmony of linear construction, rhythm, and color.

The entire structure of a Japanese flower arrangement is based on three main points (in a triangle form) that symbolize heaven, earth and humankind.

I signed up for 3 sessions of ikebana class - the teacher has been learning ikebana on her own time for 7 years, and volunteered to teach on campus. The class size is kept small (7-8 students so that she can devote more attention to each student), and we only need to pay $10 for each session for the flowers.

This is my first flower arrangement using this flower called "spider mum" - a kind of chrysanthemum. The base that you see here is actually courtesy of the teacher - she also makes these ceramic plates as a hobby!

The classes are every fortnightly - so keep a lookout for my next ikebana arrangement on Feb 23rd! :)

Raspberry cheesecake

this is the cheesecake I made before the ski trip...

looks pretty decent right? but it was a tad too sweet - I just followed the recipe but next time I will add less condensed milk...

ski trip in Tahoe

This is beautiful Squaw Valley at north Tahoe.

we went skiing last weekend at Lake Tahoe, a 4.5 hours drive from Stanford. The trip was organised by HL's class, and we booked a house for 22 people in Squaw Valley, host of the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Due to traffic, we only reached the resort late on Friday night, and just chilled out that night, with lots of booze in games played and loud music blasting. They also got the fire going in the fireplace, so it was really nice and warm...

The real action was on Saturday - everyone can't wait to ski and was up bright and early on Saturday morning - we went to Alpine Meadows to ski, instead of Squaw Valley, as it was much cheaper, and only a 10 min ride away!

Both of us took a beginners package for US$79 each, which includes 2 hours lesson, ski rental and beginner ski lift ticket...

I think overall, we enjoyed this trip very much - HL seemed to have a thing for skiing now, thinking of the next chance he has to go again!

These are some of the pictures we took that day - the rest are censored coz I looked too fat in them - haha!

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