Chicago Restaurant Week

Chicago Restaurant Week
Gourmet Prix-Fixe Menus
February 19-28, 2010
$22 Lunches & $32 Dinners
Enjoy special three-course, prix-fixe meals at participating restaurants.
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This is my favorite week of the year! Being able to feast at top rated restaurants at a low low price and without compromised quality! The other perk is that portions are so big, I even get to pack them and bring it home for a second meal! I already went to Smith & Wollensky last Friday, Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Snow Crab tomorrow night and David Burke's steakhouse on Saturday. Thats the tentative plan for now, there's still room to squeeze in more restaurants!

ice cream maker

Ever since I discovered the ice cream maker, life has never been the same again. I've been experimenting with different flavours every day. Any suggestions on 'special' flavoured ice cream?

On the first day, I checked the recipe off the website and decided on making oreo ice cream. Unfortunately the quantity was too much to fit everything into the maker so I only used half of the portion. Somehow the proportions didn't turn out right and I ended up with something milky and milkshake-like. Thankfully it was still a hit (God bless the kind souls) and everything was finished in less than an hour! ^_^

*oreo milkshake

On the second day, I reduced the amount of milk and upped the heavy cream and it turned out successful! My first successful ice cream making attempt : Matcha green tea ice cream! On the third day I used milk tea powder and this time I got milk tea ice cream! Honestly I dont know what the correct proportions are. I just put milk, sugar and heavy cream all into the maker and add the flavor I want and whala, ice cream! Just make sure the proportion of heavy cream is more than milk then it'll be fine. I wish I could leave you with a recipe but I really can't, its all by tasting and 'aga-ration' (singaporean term for estimation). More ice cream making to come I'm sure!

costco

huge ass place

my roomie

my favourite place in the world. not really. but i do like shopping there, the abundance of food inspiring me to whip up a scrumptious meal! It happens to be superbowl weekend so the place was pretty empty which made the trip blissful not having to maneuver the big cart pass 10 other carts every 3 mins. the other fun part of the shopping experience is the array of food samples available. We would move from sample to sample and end up having a complete meal proudly sponsored by costco.

half way through, i lost my roommate. i tried looking for her but there was no trace of her. Until..... i spot something familiar at the egg section. hmmm...



Thankfully I managed to free her from her seclusion and drag her home. This was our final damage (for the whole household in case you were wondering).

the lodgings

i moved out of my tiny studio apartment after a year's settlement and moved into this huge apartment block, Regents with 3 other girls. some trivia about Regents, Obama used to have an apartment here and worked out at the gym. He already moved out by the time I move in so I never met him but my friends have so I do have some Obama stories up my sleeve. Anyway here is my current room.

It was taken a few days after moving in its still pretty bare. By now, I have collected even more things to occupy the room.

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I live on the 34th floor, one floor below the penthouse and i get a wonderful view of Chicago city skyline and lake Michigan. Living here has made me so much happier just because I can get the sunlight. Every morning and night I can indulge in the million dollar view of the city. I have absolutely no complains about life here!

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Before you start bitching about me being a lucky rich kid I have to clarify myself, I am actually paying way less rent living here then all through last year! Thats simply because we have 4 people living in a 2 bed-room apartment. See, we're all poor students skimming to survive. How it works, I get a room, one room mate gets the masterbed room, one in the living room and one in the dinning room. Basically there is no common area for us to have our 'gatherings'. We end up sitting at the walkway to the door or we'll just have a meal together in the living/bed room. The downside is we can't invite friends over because there's virtually no space.

My room mates and I.

Unfortunately I couldnt find a nice decent pictures of us together so this will do for now! One interesting fact is, despite our congested living situation, we don't usually have 4 people living in the apartment. Its usually at least 6 because there's always friends visiting. We get probably one-two weeks in between friend's visit with only 4 people around but other than that its usually a busy market place, friends are always welcomed! We're literally a hotel! So here's a shoutout to all! VISIT ME! FREE ACOOMODATION PROVIDED!

February 2010

I finally got myself to restart blogging about my life here in Chicago. Really the Reebonz vday promotion really got me to start blogging again!

So its my last 2 quarters, 4 more months of school before I am done. And done meaning no more opportunity for further studies. There is still the possibility of a phd but definitely not in the near future. I cannot see myself in the academic system for another 4 long years. So while I'm busying myself with school work and internship, there's also the busyness of writing up a resume and getting it sent out to potential agencies. Wish me luck and pray for me that I get employed!

-stay tuned for more bunny news!

To Reebonz: I want to win this!

The Skagen couple timepiece set not only has its own unique features yet comes together to define the basis of the bond displayed through its solid titanium framework. The black and white face signifying the different yet distinct features of each nature, the charcoal and white dial ticking individually yet tracking the same moment. An everlasting testament of the amalgmation of two individuals sharing this time of love in unison.

Back!

So winter quarter came and left. spring break came and I indulged in the much needed sun for a whole week. got myself a tan, lost tons of weight and felt much happier. Fourth week into Spring quarter and I'm happy with school and life overall though every once in a while I do wish badly I was home. I miss my various groups of friends and my family. Although I'm settled here, the number of friends and close friends I have cannot be compared to those at home and I'm definitely sick of the cold weather. The cold is slowly seeping away but too slow for my liking. It's already mid April and weather reports predict snow on Wednesday. :S Warm weather please come and stay. Alright, leaving ya all with my mexico pictures. I'll be home in July, thats confirmed! Till then, take care ya all. Drop me an email when u can!

Mexico Pictures