Azlin - experimenting life

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Formal Dinner New Hall

14 October 2008

Mr. T and I had been invited by Ms Fatin to join a formal dinner in New Hall (or known as Murray Edward College now!). Mr. T and I had never been inside New Hall before. Mr. T was very excited of the idea especially because he would be inside an all girls college. Hehe! Menggaru le jugak dia ni...

Ms Fatin and Mr T looking at the menu...

We met Ms Fatimah, a Part III student in Math. Wow! We salute her as Math is the toughest course in Cambridge, and doing Part III? Is like doing a MPhil..... All the best Ms Fatimah in your less than a year course!

Me, Ms Fatin, Ms Aisha and Ms Fatimah waiting for Formal Dinner to start...

My formal and not so nice dress...

I met Aisha as well... a PhD student of Dr. Ajioka in Pathology. Abg John was the external examiner for her first year viva. What a small world. We became very friendly to each other instantly!!!!

Ms Aisha and me

The dining hall is very impressive with a dome above and quite spacious.

Impressive dome above our heads!

And what I loved most was the food. The kitchen caters all kind of needs; from Halal, vegetarian, vegan up to person with allergy to nuts and so. I wish my college can be like New Hall but I don't think that will happen as there are only few me (Muslim) living in.....

The menu and our formal hall tickets...

We all had goat cheese as the starter. I didn't really like goat cheese as it was very salty and push the cheese away as much as possible from the rest...

Baked goats cheese and red pesto brioche with pine nut salad

Main dish....

Mr. T had Guinea fowl in sauce for his main dish.

Guinea fowl supreme with red onion and Madeira sauce; spiced fondant potatoes and seasonal vegetables

Ms Fatimah and I had Halal chicken instead which tasted quite good.

Halal chicken supreme with non alcohol sauce; spiced fondant potatoes and seasonal vegetables

Ms Fatin selected vegetarian meal :

Layered polenta baked with spinach and oyster mushrooms

Our dessert :

Caramelised fig tart with thyme creme fraiche

Me and Mr. T all happy as we added one more college to our list of attended formal hall...

We rested at New Hall MCR just to have some hot drink (coffee/tea) as these drinks were not served in the dining hall. Instead of having those drinks, we chatted all along and forgot about time....Ms Fatin introducing her MCR.....so spacious and modern!

Ms Fatimah, Ms Fatin, me and Mr. T sitting in MCR..

St John's and Lunch at Wagamama

11 October 2008

I walked through St John's College to my department. I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the college during autumn. The view was and still is so breathtaking! Check these pictures out...

It has been a while since the last time I went out with Mdm Zett. We didn't plan at all to meet up. I was doing my shopping in Grafton after finished my work in the lab. I was supposed to send her wedding present which Abg John and I bought weeks ago. I gave her a call and found her in Grafton as well. So, we met up and when for lunch in Wagamama, a Japanese restaurant at Regents Street Cambridge.

We both ordered seafood ramen and raw juices. The raw juice contained a mix of apple, carrot, cucumber and peaches. And it tasted very good and refreshing. Actually, Mdm Zett recommended the juice...

Mdm Zett really enjoyed the raw juice

We really enjoyed the ramen which tasted very nice, especially when we added a bit chilly oil to the soup. It added a bit 'kick' to the noodles.

I enjoyed the seafood ramen very much...

And I just love the big wooden spoon that they give us to eat ramen. So huge!

We walked together back to Mdm Zett's place. I brought her wedding present with me. She was curious to find out what both Abg John and I got her.

Mdm Zett unwrapping the present...

All happy to find a Tefal steamer inside!

I was glad to know that she like our gift. Well Mdm Zett....looks like you have to do more cooking from now on! And don't forget to invite Abg John and me when you do. Haha!

Friday, 10 October 2008

Zoology Department Cambridge

10 October 2008

I went to have lunch with few of my Cambridge friends in Zoology. Ms Kalsum had just came back from Malaysia after her long field trip in Sabah.

Mdm Zett cooked spaghetti meatballs, following Jamie Olliver's recipe which turned out to be nice. Ms ZZ brought some rice with honey chicken. I didn't bring any cooked food, only some yoghurt for four of us.

Spaghetti meatballs

Honey chicken and rice

Ms Kalsum and Ms ZZ

Mdm Zett and me

After we finished our lunch, Ms Kalsum brought us to visit her lab. It is a zoology museum. An assistant curator of the museum was in and showed us some very beautiful and interesting collection of preserved animals from all over the world.

The ladies were very interested in the collection showed by the assistant curator

Me, Ms Kalsum and Mdm Zett checking out butterflies collection

Some pictures of the collection to share with :

Beautiful butterflies

Interesting bugs..

Horn beetles..

And we didn't just learn about bugs today. We even learnt about the people in Zoology. For instance, the guy in the picture below who was having lunch with a colleague. He is none other than Maya Karin's ex-boyfriend!! Haha!

What a small world. But I think her husband is much more handsome than her ex.....

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Minister's Tour Guide!

7 October 2008

Hard to believe that I still have to do this here in Cambridge. When I was working with Unisel, I'd gained a lot of interesting experiences such as meeting and participating with events that involved VVIPs. From a person with Dato' title, former Chief Minister of Selangor which I met more than twice a year, the new Selangor Chief Minister, up to our current PM and also Sultan of Selangor. Hemm....they seemed not to be that foreign to me, I guess. But I can never beat Miss J who met our Royal Highness Yang Dipertuan Agung in a very special event. Hehe!

But here in Cambridge? On Tuesday morning, I was called by my advisor who happens to be a senior fellow of St Cath College. A minister and his family came by to discuss with him about the education opportunities for Malaysian as this college holds the TAR scholarship programme for Malaysian. My advisor felt that it'd be good if someone from Malaysia could show him and his family around. And that someone happened to be me!

I should thank Unisel for all the skill and experience that I'd gained there that give me the confidence to communicate and handle people with high position such as this minister. I'd an opportunity to show these VVIPs around Cambridge City Center. He is on a trip here in UK until October, 10th. The Director for Malaysian Student Department and another officer from MSD were there as well. I'd never met these two gentlemen but was glad to know them. The minister and his family were quite alright and friendly. So were the MSD officers. Surprisingly, I didn't feel scared or nervous. So, Unisel, thank you for making me have this capability. Or...is it Cambridge that makes me like this??

Sunday, 5 October 2008

International Night St Ed's

5 October 2008

More freshers joined St Edmund's College. I heard about 180 of them. Wow! That's a large number. I'll see more unfamiliar faces than the faces that I recognise.....

One of the activities, other than parenting exercise, was this International night that I went to. It was held in our Combination Room (CR). Most of the college members turned up and the CR was very crowded. As usual, only few Muslims in the room and only one "ME" with my head scarf in this event...

Ms Chih, me, Guangyuen, Joe

Glad to meet my old friends again. At least these are the faces that I recognise and know quite well. We chatted about all kind of thing and kept each other updated on our current progress. Such a pleasant moment....