Happy mood

Instead of bitching life all the time, I still have a optimistic side of me that gives me the momentum to live.

I am in a super happy mood today. I can't really figure out why, there's nothing particularly excite me..but there's a whole bunch of things that get on my nerves:
1) have been working furiously every night, today I came home at 11:30pm
2) hitting the road block in horse riding, haven't progressed for the past couple of months.
3) given up my studying, which I blame on my demanding job
4) still waiting for my company to hire me the replacement, still doing two jobs at the same time
5) keep being bugged for pair trades, causing brain cell damage and increasing stress level.
6) not eating right, only surviving with cheap eats and sandwiches

I have a big project due the next day, I wasn't half way done with the write up in the afternoon, I haven't been sleeping enough for the past weeks, but I was staring at my excel model with a smiling face for almost half an hour.. what's wrong with me???

I figured where I got my pleasure from...
1) super cool colleagues, my whole team has very good chemistry
2) talked on the phone with two analysts after the earnings result, I explained to them my analysis and backward calculations, their response was like: you are right, I haven't thought of that...I was like, ah?
3) still making money with pair trades
4) people start listening to me and asking for my recommendation, hardwork pays off!
5) collective sweets and snacks rave daily at 5pm
6) having fun with friends and families, bb chu rocks!

I hope I can sustain this positive vibe for as long as it can last.... at least this year is much better than last year. Cheers for 2008.

Hamburglar

Me: Where's my drumstick??? I had it in the freezer...who dare to steal my drumstick?

BB chu: I don't know.. I can't even reach the freezer myself... I've no idea where it goes?!

Trendy slang

Do you know how the young crowds speak nowadays?

It's not like I am advocating the informal language among the young crowds, there's no formal writing or pronouncement to that language...and I still believe in the beauty of chinese literature with profound terminology..it's part of a reality check...sometimes you gotta catch up with trendy slang to close that generation gap....

These two are totally out of the blue and hilarious....









So funny..who would think of these words..

Rivera

I followed Pierre Herme's recipe to create this chocolate cake for J's b-day. The formal name of the cake is Rivera.

What's so special of this cake is its divine lemon curd - rich without a sense of heaviness. I love having a layer of sourness to bind with the chocolate-y flavor. Layers of chocolate chiffon cake also lighten up the cake. It's not as filling as it seems..or have I been eating too much lately.. =P..

This is actually my first time making lemon curd.. mainly because i am not a big fan of its unpleasant and dense buttery texture and it's too filling for me. This recipe, although a bit complicated, helped remove my aversion towards lemon curd. The citrus aroma is firstly released by rubbing sugar onto the lemon peels, and additional lemon juice is added to the egg mixture and then constantly beating the mixture to incorporate air until it's double in volume. Butter is then added to the batter and forms a smooth silky texture.



I tried a different recipe to make the chocolate mousse..again super complicated as comparing to my own recipe. First need to whip up the cream to medium peak, set aside. Secondly melting the chocolate and cooling it down into room temperature. Thirdly making sugar syrup and heating the syrup until it reaches 257F exactly (cannot go over or you will end up having caramel), carefully incorporating into the egg mixture in a steady stream, the main purpose is to cook the egg mixture at the same time beating it up to create volume. Beating the egg mixture with highest speed if not the syrup will become hard candy, then fold the chocolate into the whipped cream, and finally little by little folding the egg mixture into the chocolate mousse.

Hum.. I am sure this lemon curd can be perfect for a tart, with toasted meringue on top....better than hongkie egg tart which I have been eating everyday recently..

HAHAHA~~~~

Mom's day

Our version of mother's day celebration.

Lunch at sun tung lock - delicious but tiny dim sum dishes, must order the fried whitebait, really like the ambiance, occupying the 70' cottage apt bldg with very high ceiling, luckily we got a private room without reservation.

Dinner at home:
steamed fish

baby abalone

pan fried veggie

my creation: mullet roe fried rice, yummy!

drunken chicken
Ferrero Rocher style ice cream cake

dessert wine to go with the cake

My last conference

For people who know me well I have been whining about this for the longest time. One of my previous job's responsibilities is to organize an internal conference for the investment team and reporters around the world. I have been doing this for the past 3 years, and since I am transitioning to a different role, while we wasn't been able to find me the replacement for the past 6 months, the task naturally fell on me to organize my last conference.

People think organizing events is fun and entertaining, you get to liaise with different teams to come up with the agenda, brainstorming new ideas for the conference, socializing with numerous ppl during the after-party. But it is not fun to me at all.. I don't mind sitting in front of the computer for the whole day doing research, or talking on the phone and discuss business strategies of specific companies with peers, working on excel models and linking cells for a couple of days straight...at least you are getting credited for all the outcomes and hardwork you put in... I am definitely not the type of people who like to liaise with numerous people on mining details, teaching others on procedures while you think they should be teaching you instead, emailing back and forth on minor issues while you can actually fix everything by youself if you have enough time... working with others are difficult, particularly working with whom you think are not using their brains is the worst case scenario.

Anyway, enough piss out of me, I am finally done with the final conference, the outcome was great. I was being praised for great ideas for the presentation, driving active discussion among team members, catching people's attention instead of lullabying them into deep sleep. My boss thanked me for being multitasking for the whole event, as the event coordinator, the person who put together all the presentations, moderator, presenter, and the translator.... I am exhausted after the event and required the next couple of days to recoup my lack of sleep.

So glad that it is finally over.... now shifting my focus to something that is actually going to impact my bonus payout..

Mario

Who is this little guy with a mushroom head???

okay I am giving you my profile if you still couldn't recognize me..

Yeah! It's me.. super mario bb chu

One little karma

Do you believe in karma? I just got one little retribution based on my abnormal and indulgent diet.

The story begins with my recent breakout on my face...I used to have pretty good skin, occasional blemishes but I can still go to work and would not be ashamed of my skin tone without makeup. But just a month ago I started having this acne problem which quickly spread out like infection.. For a long time I felt like whenever people started talking to me they all stared at my major disaster area instead of my eyes...I finally realized how frustrating it is to have bad skin with volcanoes bursting incessantly.

So at one point I really got tired of the problem and went to a western medicine doctor for rescue, who diagnosed me with bacteria infection or stress related issue, and then funny enough we started to discuss in details about my period schedule and my sleeping habit...which made me embarrassed b/c the dr is actually quite young and cute. But the western medicine wasn't quite effective, so I turned myself into the chinese herbal medicine.

Seeing a chinese medicine dr is a pain in the ass..first you need to get a number which will get you to wait in line, and then you need to show up in person and wait for at least half an hour but mostly more than an hour before the dr put her fingers on your wrist to examine your tongue and pulses. I always wonder how can a dr knows what's going on inside one's body with just pulses?? well.. surprise surprise her diagnosis was that I have been eating an abnormal diet especially eating too much chocolate and crackers that made my skin turned bad...What a sad truth which I don't want to admit.. especially sweets is the one thing that can divert my attention from stress and work and she is now taking this away from me! So this is what I am having every night now, a gigantic bowl of black mysterious mixed herbs which stink and taste like shit, and downing this is like going through a tunnel of hell...thanks good I can have haw flakes to dilute the nasty aftertaste. what an evil retribution for overindulging myself with food that actually tastes good..

Creme brulee

Making creme brulee is super easy, is just a matter of combining cream, eggs, sugar and your choice of flavors, and then baked in the oven for an hr. Basically it is a zero failure dessert but outcome appears to be far more complicated than the procedure itself.

To me, the best part of creme brulee is not the cream itself but the sugary crunchy caramelized topping that makes a contrast with the creamy custard. I made this simple vanilla flavor with loads of vanilla seeds. Different flavors can be combined with the custard, the variety stretches from simple citrus to earl grey tea to chocolate to sesame. And what's the fun part? is a warrior approach of holding a powerful blowtorch to burn the top sugar layer....(b/c guys are afraid of women holding a dangerous weapon).