Fast Food Rap

We will resume our coverage of Adrian's Bahamas trip and thanksgiving recipes after this break:

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Thanksgiving Dinner Part II - Dinner!

So... I just had to try to cook a thanksgiving dinner, after all when in rome do as the romans. Since americans must celebrate thanksgiving, I thought, WHY NOT? Besides Charmaine obtained a great turkey recipe. So the week before the actual dinner, I did research online, got tips and tricks from my Boss' wife, Marcia, who is super experienced at doing thanksgiving.

Menu:

Turkey
Mash Potato
Chestnut Stuffing
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Cake
Cranberry Walnut Cake
Cranberry sauce
Sugar Coated Pecans
Poppy Seed Cake

With me as the executive chef and char as the sous chef and alicia contributing wine, we set about doing our first ever thanks giving dinner! It started on friday night, I started make the cakes and defrosting the turkey. I had to use a speed defrost method i learnt on the food channel cos we made a mistake on the first turkey and it kindda smelled funky. Anyway as a tip, when defrosting, ensure the turkey is always below 40F so that no bacteria gets in. Or use Cold water and change it every 30 min.

Starting out

Anyway, I spent the entire night doing up most of the cakes. In the morning, the Turkey Sous Chef, Charmaine, started work on the turkey stock and the stuffing. We spent the greater part of the day doing the turkey and its related stuffing. After that i did a quick salad and mash potatos.


The Turkey Sous Chef and the Executive/baking Chef with the main course(success as expected ^_^)

By 7pm everything was done!!! WOOT, alicia and kai an dropped by with the wine and dinner was GOOD to GO!!! I did carving of the turkey which was a real challenge. It was really fun though heh.

Anyway Enjoy to pics of food, I shall post the recipes up ASAP

Sugar Coated Pecan


Pumpkin Pie


Turkey


Cakes Cakes Cakes


Family Shot

Thanksgiving Dinner Part I - Time to give thanks

Thanksgiving is around the corner, so I guess I should give thanks for stuff...

Anyway I am really thankful to my parents who brought me up the way I am, they are like the major guiding lights in my life. Just 1.5months more and I shall be home ^_^

*Note due to lack of time and just feeling plain lazy, I shall thank a few more ppl and just generalize the rest*

My boss at CCI, Dr shafer, and the rest of the CCI gang. Dr Shafer was definitely a mentor not just in business but life as well. I will miss CCI when i go back.

Cpt Fong who was my OC in the army, somehow his policy on leadership really really stuck me and I still try to live by that. Not to mention the guys at 8SAB (ORDed)

My Chem Eng friends like, Shenzhi who got me on the path to baking(she will kill me if i never mention her.. KIDDING!!! dun kill meeeee), Xinyi, Phyllis, Dennis, Weecheng, Matt, Henry, Sitong, Janice etc etc etc ... I guess Chem Eng life would suck withour yall

My Sec Sch friends, esp Wy-en, Byon whom I hung out with nearly everyday, cya guys back in Sg, must lan game more so i can beat you both 2v1.

Soon Teck and Edwin, my army buddies. Congrats Soon Teck on getting Married. Edwin you better study harder.

While on NOC I definitely made lots of friends, My chestnut family, which includes Pacey, the coolest roomate.. ok 2nd coolest, my OCS roomate was cooler, but you are more arty. The rest of the house, Law for being a fellow football fan, Cat for being her cute and blur self, Deliang for organizing trips, our SEP housemates Char and Weijia (for diluting the house rent :p KIDDING LA)both of you brought lots of life to the household. Part time chestnut Estee, thanks girl you are da best. Alicia and Kai an who are becoming more and more Chestnut despite what pacey says. Niki, for praising my cakes to the cows come home. The rest of my NOC batch 7. Not to forget batch 6 and 8 too! and GEAN!!! You maybe old but you are sure young at heart, the best program director ever!

Angela for being a baking mentor.

My Gaming buddies like Derek, FL, Ara, Net, MC, Mag it was fun playing DAOC and WOW with ya all. Special thanks to my Onee-Chan FL... dun kill me. And Derek you no longer owe me money ^_^

All my relatives and other people I met along the way as well, I guess I am really running out of things, I am just writing stuff as they pop in my head, so if i do miss out on you, it was really just an honest mistake, after all everyone I met shaped my life somehow.

Anyway there we go, Adrian just ranted out what he is thankful for and I will next bring up the more exciting part which is well... WHAT I COOKED/BAKED for thanks giving! YES FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOOOOOD

Fly Eagles Fly!

Fly Eagles fly, on the road to victory...
Fight, Eagles Fight...
Score a touchdown 1,2,3...
Hit em' low, hit em' high, and watch our Eagles Fly...
Fly, Eagles fly, on the road to victory!
E A G L E S - Eagles!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That was the Philadelphia Eagle's Song (NFL team). The fans sing it before the match and everytime the team scores. Me, Lawrence and Deliang had the luck to obtain tickets (very hard to get at a low price) for a Philadelphia Eagles game at the Lincoln financial fiend (home). It cost $69 for a standing ticket, but it was definitely worth it.



Philadelphia Eagles vs Washington Redskins

The Eagles are on a rebound from a horrible 2005 season and right now they are definitely showing improvements.

Going to an NFL is an experience in itself. Its a complete festival starting several hrs before the game itself. Americans will drive their SUVs, RVs, Pickups to the stadium carpark, set up tentages, BBQ pits, ice boxes and have what is called a Tailgate party. This is a tradition every game, not only for special games but EVERY game.

Tailgate Party


Stadium in sight

Inside the stadium... it was amazing.. there was a live band, lots of makeshift shops and food stalls. OMG it was like some sporting finals back in Singapore.

Inside the stadium

The introduction of the Players was also crazy, it was like watching WWE(world wrestling entertainment). The visiting team was greeted with the usual boos and jeers. And as for the Home team..... there was FIREWORKS, CHEERLEADERS and SMOKE oh My!

In commeration of veteran's day

They literally fire off fireworks like crazy, at the start, just before kickoff, everytime a touchdown is scored and when the Quarterback(the guy who leads the offense) is introduced. Donovan Mcnabb is the quarterback for the eagles and he is treated like a hero here.

The game was a real treat, the Eagles showed lots of power on defense and restricted the Redskins to ONLY 3 points. Offensively we were treated to a really good 1st half. Mcnabb threw an amazing 82 yard to Donte Stallworth for a touchdown. It was the eagles first offensive play and they scored in 12 seconds! WOW!!! In all the eagles scored 2 more touchdowns and 2 kicks for a victory of 27 -3.



YAY

FLY EAGLES FLY!

No Toilet!!! Part duex

Turns out its not a clog on the main pipe.... the main sewage line burst.... they have to cut a hole in the road the get to it. WOOT!

Best part it only can be done today, a Saturday! That means we had no access to toilet or running water for the entire of Friday. And for my poor collegues Dave and Vlad who are working right now in the lab while i sit at home and blog.... no toilet and water for a Saturday.... 5 min walk to WAWA just to use the freaking toilet.

No Toilet!!!

Bah.... Someone or something clogged up the main pipes in my area, all toilets are NO longer function.... I have to walk 5 mins out in the cold to the nearest WAWA just to use the bathroom ><

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Videos From Road Trip

Uploading stuff on youtube took a while but FINALLY..... the ROCK has come BACK... oops i mean the videos are edited and uploaded.


To start things off, here is a random video of Cat acting Cute.... okok she is cute *dun hit meeee*





Next, I shall prove that it is indeed SUPER windy at the top mt Cadillac







View from the top






Finally.... A chestnut production... NOC promotional Video! Come JOIN NOC!!!

*disclaimer: the videos were done in good humour and in no way reflects any official stand by the university. ITS a funny video... keep it that way

Day 3 - Vermont - Chestnut and the Ice Cream Factory

Vermont is a nice wonderful place to go skiing. Nice slopes and all.... too bad i suck at it. Gonna snowboard instead.

Anyway for Ice Cream Fans out there, coming to Vermont could be considered a pilgrimage of sorts, after all, it is home to the Ben and Jerry's Factory. 2 in fact. These 2 factories churn out 90% of all BnJ ice cream. Now that is ALOT.

But before we reached the ice cream factory, we dropped by a Cider Farm where we tried out free samples of cider ( I drank quite a bit). And i got the eat the 4th ranked doughnut in the US, cider doughnut! It was Really Really Good, a Nationally ranked doughnut indeed!


Cat trying the free cider for the errmmm... kindda lost count of how many times she tried

The BnJ factory was kindda like a Chem Engineer's dream come true, looking at all the pipes and Vats, one can only think about Fluid Mechanics and ESS. The ice cream, the chunks and the swirl must be in perfect harmony to produce the perfect BnJ ice cream. Then we learnt about the dream job of almost anyone. Quality assurance for BnJ, just sit there and eat the ice cream. After the factory tour, we were given the opportunity to taste a new flavour before it hits the market shelves. "American Pie" was the name, it was a vanilla ice cream with apply pie crust and apples inside. While it was nice and good, i felt it was unsuitable for an ice cream. I foresee it going to the icecream graveyard.



Future Ice Cream Mougals?


C & C (Cat and Char) with the new flavour


Lai lai ... its the american Pie

The ice cream graveyard is the place where flavours that no longer meet the market demands are laid to rest. It is not that these flavours suck, some of them had a lifespan of 10 years! Its just the market changes. Its just like what i learnt on NOC, failure to adapt to changes in market preference can lead to a company's demise. But i digress.... the tributes written were Hilarious!!!

eg: Flavour: Economic Crunch
Tribute: "This Delightful Mash, We remember the Stock Market Crash, On Nov 6th"


RIP dear flavour, though i never knew thee


Pacey is really really sad



We also did some shopping at the BnJ shop, I got some gifts for ppl... but its a SE-CR-ET. Not too wide a selection but lots of ice cream related stuff.

Nope will not fit


If anyone thinks I am gonna bake in THIS attire... they are really really on crack or something


What is Cat Holding????


Its..............ice cream flavour lip balm!


Grp shot... the person really hates Law to cut him in half

After that it was a nice loooooooooooooooooooong drive back to Philly.... tire, exhausted but happy... finally a family trip...

Create Your Own!