Monday, February 22, 2010

Happy Cooking 2: Oreo Cheesecake

So Mr. Robotic has not been putting it much effort when it comes to trying out new recipes. The steps for the Oreo Cheesecake is pretty much the same as the Lemon Cheesecake.

Worst still, the ingredients are based on agaration!!! Mr. Robotic has further fine-tuned it compared to the quantity he used for his cake. Hopefully this will help to improve the texture for future versions of the cake.

Ingredients:
- 2 packets of Oreo Cookies
- 50g unsalted butter
- 250g Cream Cheese
- 60g Castor Sugar
- 1.5 teaspoon gelatin, dissolved in 2 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 150ml whipping cream


Experience:
Mr. Robotic still prefers the Lemon Cheesecake but the tester panel (of 2) prefers the new Oreo Cheesecake because of the Oreo base compared to a Digestive biscuit one.

PS: Mr. Robotic did squats, leg lunges and abs exercises before having the cake. You are advised to do the same before taking in those Oreo calories. Lol.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Each word is a trap...

"话总说不清楚 该怎么明了 一字一句像圈套" extracted from JJ Lin (林俊杰)'s new song 背对背拥抱. Loosely translated, it means "how do one understand if the words are not spoken clearly? Each word becomes a trap."

While words can be used to express your thoughts and feelings to another, it is after all a medium of expression. Whether the intended message can be understood by the recipient will depend on the choice of words used by the sender and the interpretation of the recipient. If the words are communicated incorrectly, it can give rise to misunderstandings that prevents one from feeling.... happy.

Just recently, Mr. Robotic can cite one occasion where he as the recipient was gravely mistaken on wrong assumptions. In the end, it doubled his workload and robbed him of his time in other areas and happiness of course. Also, not forgetting another time, when Mr. Wild Animal was angry with Mr. Robotic's comment and only after clarification did it turn out that the it was yet another misunderstanding on the message.

Hence, both the sender and recipient should always clarify if in doubt to ensure that the message is communicated across successfully. Simple logic? Yet its not always applied... :)

Reunion Dinner...

Due to the different work schedules, it may not always be possible to sit down to have a proper meal together. Also, one may want to dine out with friends instead.

When Mr. Robotic was younger, he did not really understand the purpose of gathering around the table for the family's traditional steamboat reunion dinner. It just seemed like another silly rule which he was programmed to follow.

Now Mr. Robotic learns to appreciate such minor activities which the whole family gets to do together like shopping for the groceries and preparing the reunion food. It should be done more often...

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Live like we're dying...

Mr. Robotic would like to dedicate this song to his friends, especially Ms. 大眼妹 whom is lately disheartened with some people at her workplace.

The take from the Kris Allen song is that each day is short and one should give thanks and spend quality time with people who matters. Correspondingly, one should not spend unnecessary time (i.e. feeling sad) over people who are bent on bringing misery in one's life cause they are not worth it.

Enjoy the song and lyrics! :)


Sometimes we fall down and can't get back up
We're hiding behind skin that's too tough
How come we don't say I love you enough
Till it's to late, it's not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come
We could make a feast from these crumbs
And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you
What would you wish you would've done

Yeah... gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got
86400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbyes
Should be so careful who we live out our lives
So when we long for absolution
There'll no one on the line

Yeah... gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got
86400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying oh-- like we're dying [x2]

We only got
86400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live -- like we're dying

We never know a good thing till it's gone
You never see a crash until it's head on
All those people right when we're dead wrong
You never know a good thing till it's gone

Yeah... gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we've been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start livin it
Every second counts on a clock that's tickin'
Gotta live like we're dying

We only got
86400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying

Like we're dying oh -- like we're dying [x2]

We only got
86400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we're dying
Live like we're dying
[Fade out]

Saturday, February 6, 2010

And the winner of the Grammy award goes to...

So it ain't exactly a Grammy award yet. Nonetheless, Mr. Robotic is ecstatic and proud of Mr. Songwriter Wannabe for clinching the top prize for overall best composition and the best lyrics award in the 12th XQRJ Regional Chinese Songwriting Competition. There is even a CD for the top 10 finalists...

Mr. Robotic hopes one day he has achievements of such scale.... For now, he is contented with holding to his makeshift shower-head trophy and rehearsing for his would be Grammy thank you speech in the bathroom. :)

Hot hot hot...

How nice it would be to have a healthy bronzed tanned look? Mr. Robotic likes going out for lunch or a weekend swim when he gets to enjoy that brief moment of sunlight and Vitamin D instead of being cooped up in the enclosed environment all day.

The sun is way too glaring today though. Mr. Robotic was out in the sun for barely 15 minutes (without applying sunblock) and his skin turned red soon after. For those going out in open areas today, remember to put on sunblock. Over exposure to the sun is one of the primary reasons for premature aging.

Mr. Robotic came across an article lately which commented that with the different methods of improving the skin and activities that makes one's mindset younger, a person whose actual age is 40 years old can easily look and pass off as 30 instead. Hence, if you are going to be lazy in your skin care regime, you could jolly look one decade older the next time you have a gathering with your peers.

Worried? What are the other means to combat aging? For a start, choose facial products that contains Vitamin E, for its anti-oxidant elements to fight free radicals in the environment and Vitamin C, for encouraging the growth of collagen on your skin.

On such a warm day, Mr. Robotic misses the Azabu Sabo green tea ice-cream which he had just last night. Looking at the picture would help for now...