Tripping the light fantastic, baking and umm..family tax.

Meep. I'm back! After half a month, here I am.

Much stuff has happened of late.. took part in Notts Varsity Ball which is a ballroom/latin dancing competition. Me and partner, Liyana got thru 'till the 2nd round for jive, cha cha and waltz and got thru till the 3rd round for quick step for the individual part of the competition. Some of the other Nottingham beginner couples made it 'till the semis and two even made it till the finals! One couple which really made it through quite far in most of the dances was this couple comprosing of two girls. What really set them apart was the fact that they were really confident and you could really see they were enjoying it all.

That's probably a stark contrast to my thinly-veiled smile with my mind actually really in deep thought about the beat and the steps. Lol.

Ah well, baby steps. Not a bad outing for our first competition still. Cambridge really stood out and swept most of the prizes I have to say. For the team event, I couldn't take part as Liyana had to rush off to Warwick to tend to her boyfriend. *sigh* Yes, tis be sad. I, Joachim Leong, left on the dancefloor. Heh. Nevertheless, that didn't stop me and Leanne(who came to support a friend from Manc) from shouting out our support for Notts! (Although I have to say, the hordes of Cambridge students possibly drowned our voices out..)

At the end of it all, it was one of days where I was so beat that I slept like a log till the next morn. Mm.. Sleep.


Hhmm.. In the culinary department, at a pure whim.. I baked something. Edible. And no paramedics had to be called in thankfully or neither was the services of my brother or Alex, my housemate (both 5th year medics) were required. I baked Jamie Oliver's recipe for Brownies! Lots of sugar, butter, sour cherries, pecans, Gold and Black's dark chocolate and a touch of the family baking magic (courtesy from my mom's side.. alright i'm possibly making this up, but do humour me.) and an hour and half later, voila! Umm.. slightly soggy but yummy brownies! I possibly did a mistake of taking it out of the baking tray too fast resulting in the brownies unable to retain its square-ish structural integrity due to the fact that the chocolate takes sometime in solidifying. Hm.

The next morning, the brownies seem to be in better shape although they were kinda crumbly and were not squarish as they are meant to be. For the tasting bit, I took some to lectures and tried to find guinea pi.. I mean, honest food critics. It was well recieved... so, it was a success! Just have to work on getting them into the squares and I'll probably try 'em with some cream with lemon zest.


A common question which I get after I let it slip that I'm staying with my bro, is: how's it like staying with my bro? Well, I've gotta say.. something's never do change.

Before my bro came down to the UK for his Alvls, we've practically been living under the same roof for the whole of our lives. And we still did each time he came back in the summer. What usually transpires back home... is my mom, being the rationer and supplier of the household's goodies would store goodies (chips, sweets, chocolates, goodies in general) usually for either as gifts for others or mostly for special occasions(ie: family outings). When me and my bro were much younger, we would actually 'forage' through the cupboards in the house in search of these goodies and share it among ourselves. (and also effectively share the blame with each other when my mom usually finds out, which she usually does, being the acute, sharp Mom she is... God bless her)

Over the years, we've changed tactics and so has our mom changed hers. She started hiding stuff deeper in the house and had secret stashes usually in her bedroom and we also started to 'hunt' these stashes individually. (so we could get more to ourselves, you see..) Usually we'll get hold of these stashes and hide in our rooms and finish the food off before the other or my mom finds out its gone. When one of us discovers the other has found something, we usually force each other to share it (or if we're feeling guilty.. we'll tell the location of the goodie and share it to effectively.. ahem.. share the blame.. i mean, guilt) Lol. But in most case senarios, the other would have nearly finished the can of pringles, the bars of chocolate and a fight for the last chip or the last square of chocolate ensures. Survival of the fittest and all that stuff.

In hindsight, maybe it's the urbanization of our survival skills. Honing our hunting/foraging skills.. I mean, isn't it a jungle out there?

Alright.. So I've probably given you a bad impression that me and my bro led an improvished childhood and we fought over tooth and nail over everything. Lol. Nah, it wasn't like that. There were many a time where my mom would usually buy something and ask us both to share it out. This usually resulted in either of racing to finish it up to see who could get the most of it. Like a 1.5 litre of ice cream usually lasted 48 hrs tops after being purchased. Mom would always said "Learn to enjoy it slowly, don't race to finish it off...!"

And well, here we are today. We still race off to finish stuff we bought together for the household or poach each other's goodies. Each time we buy ice-cream, we're race off to finish it to get as much of it. (ie: the 8 Mars Ice Cream a month ago. grr..^%^*%$@*. Yes I do keep track!)

Why, just a few weeks back, I bought some jellybabies and left it in my cookie jar and it was meant for a couple of friends I had asked over for dinner. I left it on the dining table and left for class. When I got back, I went up to my room and the jar was right there next to my comp, half finished! *sigh*

Something's don't change alright although nowadays we don't actually duke it out but cuss and swear at each other for a while. (usually.. it's me doing the cussing coz I usually buy most of the sweet stuff/crisps) But thinking about it.. my bro buys most of the comics and I read it off him. (And he cusses and swears when I don't put them away nicely) Hmm.. Maybe we've got a kinda symbiotic relationship here going.

Well, I term this phenemenon... Family Tax. In our family, whatever's yours is mine and vice versa. Resistance is futile.. hiding the goodie will merely result it in being finished or taxed even more heavily.

The guy who said, "Nothing's certain but death and taxes"' probably didn't know the Leong brothers staying on 45, Highfield Rd, Dunkirk... But he certainly knew what he was talking about. Hm.

Overandout.