Thursday, June 26, 2008

Living In The Orange Box

Bubbly


One week into the holidays. Im still stuck in an orange box. I know I should go out and get some sun, but the desire to stay in the orange box is too great.

The holidays have been a blast so far. Got to catch up on the movies I missed in the past 3 months. Just watched two hours of pron this afternoon. Iron man is pretty much two straight hours of gadget pr0n. Damn I wished I could fly.

Finally got the Malaysian gang hooked on poker. Hashrul is now contemplating a chip set. In return they introduced me to LASER TAG. As a life long FPS (first person shooter) gamer, the experience was exhilarating. Im now contemplating a set of taggers.

The orange box is a collection of five games. Cost me AUD90, but it's worth every cent. Of the five games, Team Fortress 2 is the most interesting. It is a multiplayer online game where two teams battle to complete objectives. Fabulously designed game dynamics. There are different classes such as pyros, snipers and engineers. Love playing the spy. It's the most difficult class to play, but once behind enemy lines and disguised as one of them (yup, the enemy actually sees me as one of them), stalking my prey and backstabbing them is really fun. The game also features very advanced statistics as it is solely an online multiplayer game. So far played about 20 hours as a spy with a record of 18 straight kills in one life >:-}

Friday, June 13, 2008

Zeitgeibers



I've been caffeine free for almost a week now. The exams are in 4 days. Making espresso is just too time consuming and i dont want to be reliant on it for the exam. One way I found helpful to reset my circadian rhythm (sleep cycle) was by using zeitgeibers - environmental cues that our bodies use to set our natural clock.

Zeitgeibers:
  • Leave the curtains open at night. Let morning light wake you up.
  • Darken your room 5 hours before bedtime.
  • Listen to loud, lively music in the morning.
  • Listen to soft, slow music at night.
  • Exercise in the morning to get your metabolism up.
  • Let your metabolism wind down towards the end of the day. Do not exercise at night.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Got Milk?

"It's real Velour, let yourself go.."
- Zapp Brannigan


Smooth, luscious, rich and creamy. Textured milk made from lots and lots of microscopic bubbles. It flows like light yoghurt and tastes "sweet" as it rolls off the tongue. Made from full cream milk, it is extremely rich and satisfying.

It took me a whole month to learn how to perfect the technique. Here are some pointers i'd like to share.

Ezra's Guide To Steaming Milk:
  • Never use "frothing" devices. They make tasteless, stiff foam that looks like detergent out of the dishwasher.
  • Always use full cream milk. Lowfat milk is easier to foam but the quality of the foam is very low.
  • Angle your frothing pitcher so that there is a whirlpool of milk.
  • Bring the tip of the wand to the surface slowly until you hear a tearing/sucking sound. Pull in enough air to double the volume of the milk before the thermometer reads 35 degrees.
  • Spin the milk as throughly as you can to break down any visible bubbles.
  • Stop steaming when the thermometer hits 60 degrees.
  • Knock the pitcher on the table to get rid of any big bubbles that may have formed.
  • Fold the milk by spinning it around in the pitcher.
  • Leave to stand for 30 seconds before pouring.