Sometime last week, I met a chinese lady, a post-doc working in one of the labs where one of our lectures is held. The labs there are just in the early stages of being set up so everything's not yet in place. After lecture last week, we happened to say hi and started chatting.
She enquired about the structure of our course (when do we do our Master thesis etc.) and mentioned that she's actually looking for a student to do some cloning. I asked with some trepidation whether her group does electrophysiology and to my dismay, she answered yes. But she quickly added that for the project she has in mind, the electrophysiology part is rather easy. I told her my background and honestly admitted to her that I do not particularly fancy electrophysiology, too much physics... See, the thing is, I am quite sure that electrophysiology is a path where I do not want to go down, especially after our Neurophysiology module last semester. I struggled through it and prayed hard for a pass and I'd scraped through, thank God! (So, even though for the most part, I don't know what I want to do but at least I know what I don't want to do.)
She proceeded to show me around the lab, they're working on 'Pain' and explained briefly the project she had in mind. Cloning a channel in a cell line, characterising it (i.e. electrophysiology measurements) and that would make for a lab rotation report or a Master thesis. She also said that if I was interested we could discuss things and could even continue the project into a PhD if I wish. She was really friendly and nice. The short talk with her brought my spirits up and I was rather excited by the prospect of tackling the project. And at that point, and over the day, I couldn't help thinking that maybe I could do this afterall.
I had a 5-min presentation just this Tuesday and I guess I did ok in it. Got a 1.7 (think it's on a scale of 5) for it. The teacher gives each of us an evaluation of how he scored us on the criteria he has at the end of each lecture. My scores for answering questions and making the topic relevant for our course were rather pathetic, 3 and 2/2.5 (I don't remember exactly). This was, once again a confirmation of how I suck at giving presentations (especially scientific ones). And in class, when I realise how easily my mind drifts away from the lectures while my classmates listen intently and ask deep, burning questions, gives me another indication of how badly suited to this I am.
Lately, one of the main things which brighten up my days is food. (Well, I guess it has been like this for a long time. hee. :p) More so when I try to make something for the first time and it turns out as I imagined it to be. And when it doesn't then I feel rather disappointed.
A little example. Last Sat at the supermarket, I picked up a packet of minced meat at half price and then thought of what to do with it. The 3 things which I know to make using minced meat are dumplings as my mum made them (the Singaporean kind, using the yellowish store-bought wrappers, not the Chinese jiaozi), chili con carne, and bolognese sauce. So this time I wanted to try making the jiaozi skin myself (before I had only helped to wrap them with my chinese friends and they made the dough). But I wanted to try something a bit different from the normal jiaozi, and over a chance meeting with my little boss that night, she mentioned that at the party they were at that evening, the host had made shui jian bao. So when I went home, I looked online for a recipe and decided to try it. I found a xiao long bao recipe and decided to tackle it. :) It looked a bit laborious but I wanted to see if I could do it.
I was not satisfied with the results on Sunday. I'd made the filling too wet and couldn't close the dumplings properly. I cooked them in the 'shui jian bao' (panfried then add water to steam) way. I didn't taste them cos' I wasn't feeling too well but my friend said they were good. Because I still had half of the meat left and some dough, I decided to try again the next day. And I was so happy because I improved on my mistakes and they turned out rather decent! :D I'll leave you with the pictures.
In the steamer
Ready to eat :)
0 comments :
Post a Comment