what will it be tonight?
studying abroad is not as glamorous as most people would think where the image is you go to the lecture theatre wearing thick jackets passing through parks watching the squirrels and the falling brown leaves and everybody’s enjoying themselves.
in fact it’s a struggle. you’ll struggle to get up in the morning, especially when the temperature outside is minus one degrees and you are in your deep and warm bed. then there’s the sudden feeling of longing you get when you think of good old malaysia. every international student i met, be it from malaysia, canada or saudi arabia just can’t wait for the summer holidays on may when they can finally put down the books (for a while) and go back home.
one more of the battles you have to fight in this war to gain knowledge is to decide what to cook for dinner. i hear some of you laughing but this is a real challenge. i can recall during the days in matriculation college, when the stomach started growling i could just go to the café and lash out two ringgits for a good meal. eating out on a daily basis is not a good option, especially for dubliners where a just-satisfying-enough meal will cost eight euros on average. that’s about RM40.
so the best option is to cook your own meals and with chicken as the least expensive protein source, your kinda stuck with chicken. we’ve tried almost anything we could, fried chicken, grilled chicken, chicken curry, chicken kurma, tandoori, chicken soup, rendang, masak merah, masak kicap, masak lemak, you name it. what else can you do with chicken? don’t mention of tom yam. i lost count of how many times we made tom yam. we even experimented a few times, throwing in any sauces or spices we saw into the pot sometimes with impressive results, but most of the time barely edible.
no, i’m not being ungrateful. i’m just highlighting the daily challenges we have to face here. being thousand of miles away from home gives me valuable experiences and makes me very appreciative of what i have. it makes me a competent cook too.
tonight it’s my turn to cook. anybody’s up for some tom yam?
in fact it’s a struggle. you’ll struggle to get up in the morning, especially when the temperature outside is minus one degrees and you are in your deep and warm bed. then there’s the sudden feeling of longing you get when you think of good old malaysia. every international student i met, be it from malaysia, canada or saudi arabia just can’t wait for the summer holidays on may when they can finally put down the books (for a while) and go back home.
one more of the battles you have to fight in this war to gain knowledge is to decide what to cook for dinner. i hear some of you laughing but this is a real challenge. i can recall during the days in matriculation college, when the stomach started growling i could just go to the café and lash out two ringgits for a good meal. eating out on a daily basis is not a good option, especially for dubliners where a just-satisfying-enough meal will cost eight euros on average. that’s about RM40.
so the best option is to cook your own meals and with chicken as the least expensive protein source, your kinda stuck with chicken. we’ve tried almost anything we could, fried chicken, grilled chicken, chicken curry, chicken kurma, tandoori, chicken soup, rendang, masak merah, masak kicap, masak lemak, you name it. what else can you do with chicken? don’t mention of tom yam. i lost count of how many times we made tom yam. we even experimented a few times, throwing in any sauces or spices we saw into the pot sometimes with impressive results, but most of the time barely edible.
no, i’m not being ungrateful. i’m just highlighting the daily challenges we have to face here. being thousand of miles away from home gives me valuable experiences and makes me very appreciative of what i have. it makes me a competent cook too.
tonight it’s my turn to cook. anybody’s up for some tom yam?
2 Comments:
I go through the same, monotonous routine everyday. I'm sick of eating noodles, sick of brocolli, sick of iceberg lettuce, sick of apples and pears, and I am extremely sick of wearing layers of clothing before stepping out of the house. I just can't wait for spring to come!
yap!! agree.. hey hadi.. look at bright side, 2 months + we're out from here. hihi..but u lebuh 2 months lah..hihi *wink*
Post a Comment
<< Home