Sing A Song, Seattle Grace: Grey's Musical Event

Celebration! No class and Grey's Anatomy! Cheers!

So first, some good news. Yesterday I had my...wait for it...my last class. There was no celebration or champagne. It was a pretty dull class about corporate governance and having not slept the night before or eaten for that matter, I was not in a fun place. But my days of 5am wake up calls, and dashing for the 6.34 bus are over! Needless to say, the grandpappy of assignments still plagues my life - the dissertation and another minor annoyance better known as a mood board (yes, believe it...I have to do a MOOD BOARD!!). However, the end is nigh, peeps! The end is nigh!
And a bit of housekeeping. Click here, like it, that's all.

And now to the crux of the matter...

Sara Ramirez as Dr Calliope "Callie" Torres

I am not sure I have truly expressed how I feel about Grey's Anatomy on my blog. I have mentioned my love for the show in passing a couple times but in reality, I love it. Being in London, while a great experience on a lot of fronts, is a total Grey's buzzkill. Sadly, as with most of the American shows, the episodes are behind the US airings - 7 episodes behind. I can stream the episodes of course, but the fun was always in watching the show with friends via Facebook. There is a cult following on my friends' list and now they watch it without me and I have to catch up. And I just realised as well, that I am going to have to miss the awesome experience of watching the Grey's finale with friends as well.  The Grey's finales are usually epic and a must-see and had I used the grey matter that I have been putting to the test on assignments and exams, to plan my "vacation", I would have booked my flight after the finale. lol. Yes..it's that serious.

In any event, the Grey's musical event was tonight, or in my case, this morning (wow...it's 4am!), and I will admit, I had some serious misgivings about this. While I love a show trying new formats, I was not feeling a musical Grey's. I could not imagine my favourite surgeons singing, scalpels in hand. It sounded awful, mind numbing and annoying. So what did I think of it then?

Eric Dane as Dr Mark "McSteamy" Sloan

There were some brief nauseating musical moments like Owen's sudden outburst to calm the other attendings. Could have done without that. I thought sometimes the singing got in the way of the script. I must say, the singing was good but when I tune in to watch Grey's, I want the drama. If I wanted to watch tv musicals, I would watch Glee. It was just too much for me, for the most part. But to Shonda's credit, it did not overwhelm the story as much as I thought it would. It was woven in to the episode where it made sense and at least there was no dancing in the hallways of the hospital or anything. The Callie sequences were the ones that worked best and made the most sense and fed into the emotion of the episode. Not to mention Sara Ramirez's voice is beautiful. Amazing! Callie worked. She worked. Cro Magnon and Karev - not so much. lol. Kudos to McDreamy aka Patrick Dempsey for admitting he cannot sing and would not be singing. I could not have my image of him tainted by out of tune, no tonal quality squawking. I give the episode an 8 still - it was not that bad really. I survived.

*spoiler alert - stop if you don't want to know how it ended*

The episode itself was brilliant and of course, tear jerking and it was not even 2 minutes into the thing and I was beside myself. I kinda wish Callie had woken up with amnesia and forgotten she was in love with Arizona and then maybe see Mark and fall madly in love with him but no such luck. The Callie/Arizona wedding is looming. God. I feel it for poor Meredith though. And finally, the student is outshining the teacher and Dr Altman is suffering from Christina tabanca - I mean, first Christina took her man and now like she want to take the wuk too. Heifer. lol..

I am so glad it had a cliched tv end - with baby and mama alive. If the baby had gotten up and sang, it would have been the end for me though.

Let's hope they never do a musical Law and Order: SVU. I do not think I am ever going to be ready for a singing Det Stabler.

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Makeup Porn, courtesy Chanel

The eyes have it!

I love a well done eye. Makeup, I mean. It's always the part I place most focus on when doing makeup, especially since I don't wear lipstick as I mentioned here. These days, I have nowhere to go where I can do a pretty makeup job like this. At least not anytime in the near future, but I love makeup porn. I just do. My makeup job these days includes chapstick and mascara (my one daily  must-have).

Me? I've been alright though - trying to focus on school and controlling hormonal rages. Managed to get out of the house this weekend for dinner and a movie. Huge thumbs down though to the snoggers next to us. I mean, if you really want to spend 2 hours kissing, can't you do it at home?

Thumbs up to Wahaca at Canary Wharf, specifically to our waiter, Brendan, who was a ball of energy and courtesy. I just love Wahaca.

But, Matthew McConaughey - can he be any hotter? The Lincoln Lawyer was excellent and for me and my date - both of us huge Michael Connelly fans - it was well scripted and well cast. I give it a thumbs up - an unmanicured, shabby cuticles, thumbs up!
 
I really love the Black Pearl nail colour Lisa is wearing in the video. Nail polish porn.

Lust and enjoy as much as I did.

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Foodie Pics: Curry Tabanca

I always say, I could eat curry every week - maybe not everyday but definitely once a week and it had been a while since I had a good curry. And my mantra is, if you want something good, best you do it yourself and so I did. I had promised a friend to come over and cook Trini curry for him this weekend and we did that, while watching my dismal cricket team play India. It was lovely. And so after introducing a Brit to Trinidadian curry on Sunday, and ultimately teasing my own tastebuds for the spicy goodness of a curried chicken, yesterday, I went to Tesco and got chicken, chick peas, potatoes and chapatis.

First, I seasoned the chicken last evening so it could marinate overnight. Lots of onions, garlic, green herbs, , peppers, geera (cumin) and curry powder. Chief curry powder, and Chief ground geera - not the crap they have here. It looks beautiful doesn't it?

I love cutting drumsticks in half for curry. To me boneless chicken for curry is sacrilege

Then this morning I cut up my potatoes into small cubes. I also chopped some onions, garlic, peppers and threw them in some very very hot oil, with some whole geera, (I just love geera) before adding curried powder mixed with water for the chunkay. Then, in went my chick peas and then later my cubed potatoes. Bubble bubble...

The channa, better known as chickpeas, bubbling in the curry

With my oil extremely hot in my dutch pot, I added the seasoned chicken and allowed that to cook in a covered pot for about an hour. I nyammed on a toasted sesame bagel with a scrambled egg white and some hot chocolate while this was going on. Did I mention I started cooking at 8am?

Putting the chicken on to do its magic

I finished cooking before 10am which was great and cleared the kitchen and packed everything away until 2pm lunch hour. I did make dhalpuri from scratch on Sunday but there was no way I was doing that today so I picked up some chapatis and heated them in the microwave for about 20 seconds. I also, last night, brewed some green tea and added the juice of 3 limes and some sugar for a thirst quenching iced green tea. Lunch was then served.

Tuesday lunch - curried chicken, curried channa (chickpeas), chapatis, iced green tea with citrus

Close up of the meal, with the chicken so tender, the flesh was falling off the bone. It was bliss. Jealous much? Back to work.

Curry a la Trininista!

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London Spring Wine and Cheese Festival

When I woke up this morning there was a big ball of light in the sky and it looked gorgeous outside. Pity it did not also feel gorgeous. The weather vacillated from hot to cold every 5 minutes it seemed. And by now, it is just biting cold. Weirdest weather ever.

So went down to Southbank to the Spring Wine and Cheese Festival and it was a nice time. A bit crowded, and the exhibitor staff were a bit grumpy and sometimes unhelpful but all in all it was a good afternoon out of the bedroom I call home. And leave it to me to actually forget I am fasting from alcohol. It somehow never clicked that I was going to a Wine festival during Lent - I guess I am more stressed out than I thought. And thanks to Sonso for reminding me AFTER the 4 glasses of pinot noir rosé. God will forgive me this slight indiscretion I am sure.

Essay time. Going to resume the work I started at 6am on this essay for a couple hours before hitting the sack. Tomorrow I am cooking a Trini curry dinner for a friend, and watching West Indies vs India at the Cricket World Cup, so no student life this Sunday. Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Here a few photos from the day.

Sunshine - a rarity in London.

Sunshine in London! Amen!

And when there is sunshine, the people leave their houses and come out to play.

Spring cometh in London

There were surprisingly a lot of sweets and desserts at this wine and cheese festival.

Desserts at the London Spring Cheese and Wine Festival

But also a lot of cheese. A lot of cheese! Some really nice, some did not smell so nice.

Oodles and oodles of cheese at the London Spring Cheese and Wine Festival

And cheesecake!! Group shot!

Cheesecake at the London Spring Cheese and Wine Festival

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Support Boo and Operation Smile

Boo
Photo courtesy Boo's Fan Page

A lot of people follow their fave celebrity on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently started a Fan Page for his dog. But no pooch comes close to gaining my love as Boo has done.

CNN recently featured Boo, who has over 920,000 Facebook fans as "The Cutest Dog in the World" and Boo is not even a celebrity dog. He does not belong to the queen or to Obama. He is just a cute dog whose owner decided needed to be shared with the rest of the cute dog loving world. Thank you Boo owner person. We love him!

Boo and his best mate, Buddy
Photo courtesy Boo's Fan Page

Today is Boo's 5th birthday and he is asking not for personal gifts but for donations to Operation Smile, which raises money for kids born with cleft lips to get the simple operation that will give them beautiful smiles and the confidence to face the world. Boo has up to 6.04pmGMT raised $1,250.00 out of the $5,000 he has hoped to raise. That is pretty outstanding for a dog. And pretty darn cute. It has brought light to my grey day.

You can find Boo on Facebook and if you want to donate to Operation Smile on behalf of Boo, you can check out his Birthday Donation Page.

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My Evening in Pictures

So since my dog entry yesterday did not go down well with some of you (imagine how I felt having to see it live and in HD) I am not going to say much today. But besides fighting off the cold, I am also fighting academia and its impact on my life.

Before...

There are more of those wonderful books on the floor

After...

I'll come to you, honey

Clearly this is a joke. But oh I wish. The real After...

Sad. And yes, I sleep next to my books every night. My books and my laptop. I roll over and they're there. My fluffy socks are usually on my feet but my toes were a bit hot. Shocker.

I am done with the books for tonight, and I am going to watch another episode of Jersey Shore now and remind myself that I am better off than most. Watching this show makes that so easy.

Mike "The Situation" and Jenni's cute doggie

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An Entire Entry about Crap. No. Really.

First, some housekeeping. For my article on the Five Must-See Spots in Trinidad and Tobago, hit the link, peeps.

Okay, so I have the cold again. Shocker. The weather really does not agree with me, nor do the germy people. Is it so hard to embrace the concept of blocking your mouth when you sneeze?

Speaking of germy and this was not germy this was just nasty. Now I am a dog lover, but I think I would have to either forfeit having a dog here, if I did not have a garden, or have a dedicated dog walker, because what I saw this afternoon, really made me look at dog ownership in a whole different way.

Just a bit of background - in Trinidad, dog shit is everywhere. There is no rule about dog shit. Most people who have dogs, have a big yard so we don't really have to walk our dogs outside. They run free in the yard and if not, the run free in the streets, savannahs and noone cares. You just have to accept that while walking through the savannah or wherever, you are likely to encounter a pile of turd, so be on the lookout.

So while I know that the poop 'n' scoop rule applies here, where your dog poops and the human scoops, never in my wildest dreams did I think it applied if your dog had the runs. I am walking down the street to my house and a woman is ahead of me, walking her dog. He stops to smell the fence, then he moves on, and then he stops, moves on. Then he stops and squats to do his thing and before I could look away, there is his runny poop escaping from his body. Ugh. My dinner-to-be was spoilt. But then to make matters worse, human master has a black plastic bag over her hand (cigarette in the other) and she kneels down to scoop up this runny mess. I could not believe it. And all the while, she is still smoking her lungs out, as though she is picking out oranges. She calmly sops up this thing and then folds the bag over her hand to hoist it away. O.M.G. And all the while...puff puff puff on the fag. Ciggie in one hand, bag of hot, runny dog shit in the other.

Rover better learn some new tricks
if he wants to live with me in London

I had to cross the street cause it was too nasty to look at. Sorry. I love my dogs but scooping up runny dog crap with my hand - only separated by a plastic bag - is NOT COOL. C'mon people!!! And they call us Third World? lol. Why can't the rule be,"walk with some sand to cover said crap" or if you know you are feeding your dog highly inflammatory foods, invest in some human friendly pooper scooper thing-a-ma-jig. My God! You bet your life, that dog better learn to scoop that sh... up himself/herself. I am not doing it. No way. Baby crap grosses me out and that's a small human. Dog mess? And runny mess too? Nah man. I evolved! I ain't doing it. Let me pay the fine, yes. And the scariest part of this episode? This lady will gingerly dispose of her black bag of treasure and without thinking, greet someone in the street and shake their hand, pinch their baby's cheeks or share their crisps with THAT hand. I may never let another person touch me or my crisps ever again.

And as we are on dogs, this neighbour of mine is really stifling her dog's freedom. It's like she is stalking the dog's life. He cannot bark without her flying out the house and shooing him inside. Poor creature. All he wants to do is chase the cat and chase his ball. When Daddy is at home, he plays catch with him and he gets to run and bark and enjoy doggyhood. But Mummy is a serious hater. Yet she is the one who spoils him most. Tsk.

I had an entirely different entry but it clearly went to the dogs.

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Life in Heels, Flip Flops...and Converse?

I have only started wearing sneakers (or as they are called here in Britland - trainers!) regularly since starting school again, but this is not something I would do in regular diva life. For me, sneakers are for teenagers and for the gym. I own 3 pairs of sneakers. My Nike sneakers which are probably dry rotting at home, in the gym bag, right where I left them. My white and pink Saucony sneakers for the gym, which I did in fact bring with me, but they have not moved from the spot I have put them in, and my gym sweats and hoodies have become pyjamas in this cold weather. Gotta have some pinkish gym sneaks to keep it real though. And my cheap, but denim matching school sneaks, which cost me less than a blue note (TT$100) because I am not willing to pay more than that for walking/everyday sneakers, which after this degree, may most likely end up in a bag somewhere. Funnily enough, I almost bought the pair of Converse sneakers, but the only ones they had in store that store on that day were plain black and they just were not happenin' for me.

The Converse Store in Trinidad has a great little competition on and I am giving my girlfriend's brother some pluggin' here. Basically, young Converse lovers had to design their Converse, and while I am too old and would look too stupid in any of these, they were hot. This is definitely a young man's Converse, isn't it? And in the RWB of the Trini flag - WIN! You can vote for these and help a young man's dream come true HERE. You will have to "Like" the page first and then vote but he is really passionate about his design and I am all about supporting people's passions and helping them realise them. And honestly, I really do like these. These are super chill and I appreciate that there is not a whole lot going on it like some of the others. It is clean, simple yet very distinct and fashion forward. Nice one. My pick. So vote! Click on the links and "Like" the shoe!

I really like the simple creativity of these sneaks. I can see the guys rockin' these.

From a female perspective, this girly Converse really got me. You can feel the spunk and youth in them. A 15 year old me would wear these. And while I can still tick the 24-34 box, I will not be sporting neon colours on my feet anytime soon, but the right Converse, in the right colours to suit my personal tastes - yes.

But I do find them very stylish and funky. I really love these for the Bieberettes of the world.

Girlie sneaks! So young and hip.

I love self-expression and these are really great. Kudos to the Converse lovers who translated their vision to their feet. I will now tranlsate this bagel to my stomach. And again, don't forget to vote!

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The Style of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival

Sitting in London, taking in the sights down in the southern Caribbean via live streaming and social networking was pretty entertaining. The Soca Monarch show on Friday night was the most entertaining evening by far. And despite all the views about who should have won, my winner was Fay Ann Lyons-Alvarez in this mean and sexy Meiling/Anya deRogue warrior princess ensemble. She knew she was looking fierce and she worked that outfit. She rocked it! I love that she has really taken her style to a new level, while keeping her edge and her personality deeply embedded in her look. Very fierce, Fay. Congrats to Meiling and Anya on a great job on her outstanding look. It was undoubtedly the highlight of the night for me, in the midst of all the other commess.




Photo Credit: REUTERS/Andrea DaSilva

 
The King of Soca, Machel Montano, and Soca Monarch 2011, also went futuristic. It could have fitted a bit better.

Photo Credit: Trinidad Express/Dexter Phillip

Iwer George came out fiery. Gotta love Iwer's style though. He is not a spring chicken but he keeps himself looking really sharp. I was really digging his pants.

Photo Credit: Trinidad Express/Jermaine Cruickshank

Kees went pretty casual, but it's Kees - he does not need much.

Photo Credit: Trinidad Express/Dexter Phillip

Michelle Xavier was stunning in white and her makeup was perfect for her costume.

Photo Credit: International Soca Monarch

And Benjai's RWB suit went well with his song and with the spirit of the evening - true Trini-ness.

Photo Credit: International Soca Monarch

Special mention to Kees' bevy of dancing beauties who looked hot throughout the season.

Photo Credit: Kes The Band

I did not really take in the live stream of the masqueraders on the streets of Port of Spain yesterday, until the very end, but I know everyone had a good time and kudos to the ladies who made the effort to go to the gym to look good in their itty bitty costumes. While I am all about women of all shapes and sizes enjoying the mas, if you're a size 22, please - make some hard decisions about your Carnival participation and how you would like to look on the road and possibly all over the internet and in the papers. The size 12 bra may not be for you. And I am not a size 2, so I am not being a skinny bitch. Just keeping it real.

Photo Credit: Newsday/Rattan Jadoo

Photo Credit: Newsday

On to Lent. What am I fasting from? No alcohol for me despite the cold weather here. The next 40 days will be hopefully spent in reflection and zen.

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Sweet Pan!

A lot of people think of the music of the steel pan when they think of the Caribbean. The image of some dude wearing a tacky tie dyed shirt is sure to come to mind - and he is playing some cliche song we have all heard over and over, while sipping water from a coconut. That's Hollywood and maybe some lame resort pandering to the equally lame stereotype to win over non-the-wiser tourists.

The steelpan, dear friends, is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago - invented and perfected there and while the entire Caribbean region is associated with it, thought I would just remind you, it's a Trini thing. As Trini as I am. (God. I love being Trini til it hurts).

That out of the way, and with Carnival in full swing back home, I thought I would share "real" pan music. Not the cliche crap you see in movies, or get at some tourist-friendly resort, but the euphoric and energetic sound of the different types of pan (tenor bass, double tenor etc...did not know that, did you? a pan is not a pan is not a pan) in a band of over 100. It's magic. It's Panorama - the annual competition to select the best pan group or pan 'side' in the country. Congrats to the Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars for taking the 2011 title, with their rendition of 'It's Showtime'. Good job guys!

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Fantastic Friday!!!

Photo courtesy Trinibeat.com

Now, clearly I am not in Trinidad tonight for what is known as Fantastic Friday - the Friday before Carnival. The true start of the Carnival weekend, despite a long season of sleepless nights and back to back parties. Clearly I am in layers and layers of clothes and socks, praying someone sets up a "free" stream of the show so the poor students of the world can watch the thing.

I do have a couple of Carnival grouses though. The first - I am an active tweeter, with 2 Twitter pages, and a love for travel, thus a lot of the tweets I follow have to do with travel. What really irks me though is that all...ALL the non-Trini related tweets about Carnival have been about Rio's Carnival. Nothing against Rio, mind you. I would love to experience a samba carnival very soon. But again, as with the lack of Trini products in Sainsbury's while Jamaica's Grace Kennedy is ubiquitous, it has to do with our marketing. Clearly. The latest insult was when BBC Travel tweeted this morning about Rio's Carnival - no fault of the BBC - but I tweeted back, "Is noone looking at Trinidad Carnival?"

The response:

We don't have a story on it, no. But if you tweet me a useful link, I can RT to our readers!

This is where the vexation REALLY started because as try as I might, I could not find a decent locally produced article on the thing!!! Ok, granted...I did not look that hard cause I was in class. However, do a Google search for Rio Carnival and the first result is the official Rio webpage - properly updated with all the events for the 2011 Carnival on the page. Everything you ever wanted to know about Rio Carnival is on this page - a virtual one stop shop. Do a Google search for Trinidad and Tobago Carnival and you get a frickin' Wikipedia entry as the first result, with the official tourism site as the third result, with the NCC's site as second. Let me just say, the NCC site could use a dose of Jesus. I was not about to share this link with BBC Travel to retweet to the world, so I went to option "official tourism site". Having a site with a link to the Carnival, that then takes you to a page with a load of external links - not impressive. Needless to say, I could not whip up an entry about Carnival right there and then, so this had to be it. The link was retweeted though if anyone cares at this point is questionable.

Secondly, I am REALLLLLLLLLLY challenged with this texting for your favourite artiste for tonight's Soca Monarch final. I should correct myself - I am really challenged by the flagrant "begging" for a text from one particular artiste. I have been streaming 96.1FM since I got home and I have heard this annoying ad more than 10 times. I have heard no other artiste on this station though I can imagine Iwer George is bashing in people's consciousness on his radio station with his own ad. But my thing is, while I support the people having a voice and a say in who their Soca Monarch should be - I really have a problem with 1) the ads begging for a vote and 2) the concept of picketing people before you even perform. I may love a song but on the night, the performance can be anything but stellar. I am not one of these ride or die fans. I love Machel - this is a well known fact - and though it is a RARE day when the Taipain is not on his game, should he flop, I cannot in good conscience text my vote for him if say, Iwer or Fay Ann was better. This whole advertising phenomenon via ads, social media and God knows what else, for a vote before you even hit the stage does not sit well with me.

And well, my final grouse - I agree someone has to make ah money tonight but there should be student discounts for this pay-per-view thing. lol. Or student exemptions. Good luck everyone and hook a sista up with a feed.

That is all. My fave for the Groovy Soca Monarch tonight. The Power Soca promises to be commess.

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Threading One's Way to Beauty

Charlotte asked in the comments section about threading and I meant to blog about my London threading experience so here it is.

When my eyebrows are bushy and look like two caterpillars, I feel undone. It's amazing how two areas of hair can make or break your diva moment. Unkempt eyebrows are a no-no. God bless the women who came up with tweezing, waxing and threading. Perfect eyebrows really frame the face, make eyemakeup look polished and clean and just are...well...necessary. If I were stranded on an island, I would want perfect eyebrows.

Worse is when someone mauls your eyebrows. I have had many a bad eyebrow experience - both at the hands of so-called professionals and self-inflicted. The Voldemort look is not attractive and I have learnt the critical skill of filling in "bald spots" with the light feathering of a dark brown eyebrow pencil. lol

At home, I would have my eyebrows waxed. In London, I have them threaded. I had never even heard of threading before my visits here but threading booths are common in my neck of the woods, and for a fiver, convenient as well. As the name suggests, threading employs a strand of thread, which is rolled over the brow or wherever you want work done. This traditional technique is widely practised in India and the Middle East, and apparently, in London. lol. Seriously though, I guess where there are lot of Middle Eastern immigrants, threading in this city is quite common. I am not complaining. It's great.

So when I realised that trying to tame these bushy brows myself was an exercise in futility back in October, I headed to the mall to have my brows threaded. It's quite popular as well, as the long line of women ahead of me confirmed. All sorts of women were waiting - black women, white women, Asian women. I really did not know what to expect from two women standing in a corner of the mall - no salon, no door - just a small booth, with a couple chairs and a cash register. But when I considered my options - an expensive wax job that I could not guarantee would not burn off my eyebrows, or worse, trying to neaten my brows myself - well, I stayed in the line.

Someone had already described threading as stomach churning, so I was going brave. But in the end, it was not that bad. It's not the most comfortable thing and I would even say, the pain of waxing strips coupled with hot wax being yanked off my brows is more tolerable than the thin thread slicing into my follicles. The end result though - very good. My brows were perfect. Threading gives the threader a lot of control over the shape of the brow, and once she knows what line and length she is going for, then it is pretty easy.

I will probably go this weekend to get them done. But here is a great video from a self-threader. I don't think I could do it myself though.

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Life is NOT like a Noodle Stir Fry. Stir Fry is Much Simpler.

Well, I woke up this morning and guess what? It was March. Time is going by at a pace. I am actually dreading this fleeting passage of time, only because this dissertation thing is a nightmare. All the decisions are also a nightmare. Why can't life be as simple as a noodle stir fry! Speaking of which...

I had really been in the mood for some stir fry. I crave the weirdest things at the most random times. So during my weekly Tesco run on Friday, I got everything I would have needed for a home-made noodle stir fry.

I got some pork, cause I love pork and it was cheap. Added my regular seasonings - garlic, onions, green seasoning, ginger, black pepper, salt, coriander. It looks good doesn't it? I had done this on Saturday so it could marinate over the weekend and soak up all the herby goodness. Of course you put it back in the fridge.

Pork marinating...

Then today I took it out and first pan fried it in a non-stick pan with a splash of EVOO. Pork is already a fatty type of meat. You don't need a lot.

Pork searing...

After pan frying on light heat for about 5 minutes - and it is really to give it some colour - I chucked it into an sturdy pan with a sturdy cover and chucked it all in the oven on a low heat for a couple hours. I continued doing my assignment while that did its oinky thing.

Then 2 hours later, I re-emerged and got started on my noodles. Added some egg noodles to boiling water, and let it cook for 3 minutes before draining. They taste good just like that too.

Noodles draining...

Then I got my veggies ready which involved me tearing the pack open. Gotta love ready-made stir fry noodles. At home I would have to cut this crap up myself if Hi-Lo was out, which was regularly.

Veggies waiting...

A bit of EVOO in the pot, and I added some pre-cut onions first, before dashing the veggies in. I also seasoned said onions with a bit of ginger and black pepper and a splash of soy sauce. Then I added my veggies and some oyster and garlic stir fry sauce.

Veggies stir frying...

Then came my noodles, salt to taste and it was done. The pork - out of the oven, and then I took some of the stock, added a splash of coconut milk powder, some ginger, garlic, parsley and about a 2tbsps of orange juice (sounds weird but it is really delicious) and reduced all that til the thickness was right for me. Add that to my pork and lunch was ready.

Mouth watering...

No white wine cause I am doing research and I am so fat it sucks. I don't like myself right now. I am in the "not liking myself time of the quarter". It usually coincides with when I need an eyebrow wax, or as in London, an eyebrow threading, and a salon job. Add puffy cheeks and a face as round as a full moon and I am a hot mess.

Tomorrow - the crap eating ends. I have a danish I need to dispose of today.

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