Birthday decorations

Some time back I wrote about a birthday calendar in the office. What I didn't mention was that they were going around decorating the cubicles of those whose birthday it was.

They were recycling a row of triangular flags spelling out "Happy Birthday", a cardboard sign saying "It's My Birthday!" and some balloons (they probably had some extra stock of balloons... since those shrink or pop :P ). Some more hardworking people would do some extra stuff.

Before my birthday, I sketched out a couple of prohibition signs.

Those "triangular flags" that I mentioned are pictured on the right... each triangle holds a letter of the greeting.

Because I have no wish to have a bunch of banners and balloons at my cubicle... trop criard! Too eye-catching... More subtle decorations I wouldn't mind.

And what's more, a few weeks earlier a neighbour's cubicle had been decorated... and he was told later that he was supposed to do the decorations for the next person. Er... I don't really want to have that obligation...

But on the day itself, all the banners and balloons still came.

I actually like how my pets are all around; it's like they came out to play! :P

My Jigglypuff and Totoro were on my docking station, you can see Cowboy clearly, and Amy Rose is on my Frodo (the black thingy, which is actually a radio, the kind police cars have). Even the koalas are hanging around! (literally)

It's just a little unfortunate how my Pikachu's arms got "broken" in the process. You can't really see it in the picture, but one arm is gone and the other got longer instead. But no matter, it could be easily put back into place.

(The banners are not in the photo because they were higher up.)

It seems that my sketches were noticed after all... there was a little note appended.

I guess those balloons do look like scissors... Sorry, I can't draw!

Just to clarify though... I do appreciate the decorations... and I did thank the person who did them (I found from someone else who was "responsible"). But I do have mixed feelings about this "obligatory" stuff. Oh well...

A "hot" story

Today I had yong tau foo in the Technoplex cafeteria. After getting my yong tau foo, I went to the condiments area to get chillies (they have cut chilli padi there, and soy sauce too, besides chilli sauce and sambal). There was none. I asked one of the cafeteria workers nearby, are there no more chillies? She said no, but then later she called to me and brought out a bowl. After she had scooped me a spoonful, she told me "this is chargeable". I went "What? How much?" I didn't really catch her reply but I think she said fifty sen. Then she asked me whether I wanted more.

I didn't think that the quantity she had given me would be enough, so I said yes (surely I wouldn't be charged based on number of pieces of chilli, right?). Then I went to the counter to pay. But turns out I wasn't charged for the chilli padi after all. I just passed the slip of paper with the yong tau foo price on it to the cashier, and he keyed in the same price. No addition for the chilli. I'm not sure whether the cashier knew that he should charge for the chilli. I'm not even sure whether the lady who gave me the chilli was pulling my leg. I kind of believed her because usually the chilli is already there, swimming in soy sauce... and usually if it runs out, the bowl containing the soy sauce would still be there. Today I was given dry chillies and I added my own soy sauce.

At first I was thinking maybe too many people took the chillies and they felt they were making a loss or something... Now I wonder. I will need to see whether they have chillies next time...

The cake, the photo, and the flash

Yesterday WW bought me a slice of cake. He activated the camera on his phone and passed it to me so that I could take a photo to send to the parents.

I asked, is the flash on?

He said "Let me do for you" and took the phone from me. After fiddling with the settings a bit, he passed it back to me.

It turned out he had just turned the flash off. But I wanted it to be on!

I said as much, and he groaned, what exactly do you want?

But I hadn't asked him to switch the flash on or off, I had merely asked whether the flash was on!

And this, folks, is a classic example of people making assumptions too early, causing them to hear what they thought was said, instead of hearing what was actually said. -_-

Poached egg

When I was still in France, a friend told me how to make poached egg. She said, just crack an egg into very hot boiling water, and it's done! I tried it out, but wasn't successful... I can't remember how it turned out, but the egg definitely did not manage to stick together.

Today I wanted to make grilled orange fish (or fish à l'orange if you want it to sound more classy). I had a wholemeal loaf too, so I thought, let's try making poached egg again. I searched online for tips, and found this video by Jamie Oliver.

The tips I got were:

1. Crack the egg into a bowl first.
I guess this makes it easier to put the egg into water in one go.

2. Make a whirlpool!
I saw this tip in several other recipes. Jamie Oliver says that poached eggs should be made with fresh eggs, and that the whirlpool method is only necessary for less-than-absolutely-fresh eggs. Anyway, my eggs are definitely in the latter category, so whirlpool it is! The swirling water created by the whirlpool is supposed to help push the egg white to wrap around the yolk. Though in my case, the water didn't seem to swirl for a long enough time after the egg got into it. (I'm thinking maybe my pot wasn't big - read: wide - enough) So the egg white didn't really wrap around the yolk... as you will see.

He also said that the water should be simmering, not boiling... but I don't think I got that temperature right. Maybe next time...

Now for photos!

Like I said, my egg white didn't really wrap around the yolk. It sort of fell off.

The second one fared even worse on the egg-white-loves-and-protects-egg-yolk part.

They are actually still stuck together... but by only a small amount of white. :P

But when we cut the yolk...

Lovely. And so is the second one!

So, I consider it a pass. Not with flying colours, since presentation fails. But the taste is what's important! And... I also hope to lose less egg white in future... some were left in the pot. :(

Rudolph the red-nosed... Viva?

This morning I saw a Viva with antlers. Yes... brown antlers coming out the side of the car, somewhere between the front and back doors. Close to the roof.

My Viva wants antlers too!! :P