Friday, July 18, 2008

Japanese food at TM (Hokkaido fair)



Okay, this is a backlog clearing now.
The pictures were taken some time back. The first was a curry bun, followed in order from left to right - crab cream corochan, rice stuffed squids, japanese mochi balls in sweet sauce, with seaweed, with different fillings, sweet potato cake and a rice cake with red bean stuffings.

The squid rice thing was not really worth the queue, it tasted quite salty, other than that, not much special about it. I was a bit disappointed.
The curry bun was normal, but the lack of queue was sort of good.
The crab cream thing was very nice, despite no actual crab meat, the gravy is thick and fragrant. This was one of my favorite food of the Hokkaido fair.
The rest of the snacks were interesting, and those red beans were delicious. The sweet potato cake tasted really sweet potato-ish.

Anyway on my subsequent visit to TM again, I never buy any more of the Japanese food.



The cakes I bought from the Royals shop opposite the NTUC were such gems. They were really delectable. The carrot cake tasted fabulous and the tiramisu also stood out from the other tiramisus I tried in the past. The chocolate mint was nice but could have been better should there be a stronger hint of mint in the taste.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

口试的回忆以及感想

不知不觉地回忆起以往的口试,不论是英文或华文,口试对我而言都算是美好的经验。

小学时的口试已经模糊了,只依稀记得当时的英文口试有看图作题。那种图画里的每个角落都要形容,都要做出一些观察让我既兴奋,又怯偎。兴奋的是可以发挥一些创意的联想,畏怯的是创意被局限在一张图画里,不能离题。倘若那张图画说得不够多,老师出题发问时,我就会变得很紧张。偏偏也不知道是学生说不够,还是老师觉得应该要尽考官的责任,似乎每次都会问我问题,搞得我的心七上八下。我在家都用华语沟通,所以华文口试并不太担心,混水摸鱼就混过去了。

中学时口试依然伴随着,格式却比较自在,变成和考官聊话题。中三的华文口试出的话题,若我没记错,是动物虐待。那算是我幸运的一天吗?一听到是我有兴趣的题目,我立刻劈里啪啦地把我所看过的报章报道拿来讨论。考官们的表情也随着变动,挺有趣的。 当然我的心情是雀跃万分的,口试顺利考个distinction。 至于中四的英文口试,话题围绕的是宠物,我的好运持续着。 考官一问:“你喜欢动物吗?”我的双眼立即发出万丈光芒。。。 。。。 口试又顺利过关了。

初级学院也有口试,这次的话题却让我有点措手不及。考官问我关于现代学生穿校服不整齐有何看法,还不时瞄我的校服。他们问起为何学生不爱把上衣整齐地塞进裙子或裤子时,又往桌子底下瞄我的校服穿着,真令我汗颜。当我回答为了舒服和遮丑时,他们似乎感到意外和好笑。当我进一步讲解为了遮盖肚南,其中一位考官竟大笑出来,令我感到有点难堪。不过,成绩揭晓是distinction时,心情好多了。

这些是我考口试的感想,希望准备考口试的,或曾经考口试的人们也有美好的口试回忆。:)