WINE TASTING

Sorry people I was too bored after pia-ing for my Language Arts SIP so now I have a lot of freetime.

^_^ sharing and presenting to you... the art of wine tasting.

(a question to you guys : wine tasting = art?)

3 STEPS - LOOK . SMELL . TASTE

LOOK:

The wine should be held in front of a white background so that the colour can be seen!
E.g. White wine : green - yellow - brown (more colour means more flavour and it's older ^_^)
E.g. Red wine : pale red - deep brown red (lighter colour means older!)

Rim colour: the... meniscus. YEPP! purple tint = young . orange - brown = maturity
Swirling: observe body of wine for alcohol content and/or sweetness level

SMELL:

2 methods:
1. take a quick sniff. formulate the flavour. take another sniff
OR
2. just take one big sniff <-- aint this simpler.

RMB to swirl before smelling!.
allow oxygen to enter wine.
"releases the esters, ethers, and aldehydes that combine with oxygen to yield the bouquet of the wine. In other words, swirling aerates the wine and gives you a better smell."

You should be able to smell either:
wood, flower, herbs, spice, fruit, earthy(notsure?)

*remember the smell of the wine that u dont like and don't buy that one. XD

TASTE

heh. finally! drink up! ... still got steps...

initial taste: your initial impression of it when i just touched ur tastebuds...
taste: take in some air, slosh wine arnd in mouth to taste better
(examine body and texture of wine: light/rich? smooth/harsh?)
after taste: the time the taste lasted in mouth and was it pleasant.

1. Swish the wine around in your mouth

Now we know that all the taste buds on your tongue can detect sweetness, sourness, bitterness and saltiness! (not like what we learnt in primary school, tip of tongue = sweet) So to let all your taste buds enjoy the wine, swish it around in your buccal cavity!

2. Smell the wine
70%-75% of what we taste is what we smell!!!
If you don't smell the wine, you won't be able to enjoy it fully. Without our sense of smell, we CANNOT detect flavours such as smoke, chocolate or herbs.


OK PEOPLE!!!
enjoy packing your luggage!

Brought to you by [[ace`]]
and her aussie group members junhan jillian ky

Shock closure of UNSW Asia in Singapore!

Hihi, pls read today's front page... the newly opened UNSW campus in Singapore will be closing in June! Reason cited is smaller-than-expected student enrolment.

This leads us to wonder:
Is their marketing to blame? Did they advertise enough, considering such aggressive ad campaigns like SMU's?

Is it because students still desire the Australian education experience, which they can't get in Singapore? Is the experience more important than just having the name UNSW on your cert?

Cheers mates!

Cheap (?) Stuff you can get!

Alright. This is late, but yeah... Haha.
Things you can get with 5 Ozzie Bucks! (or around there o.o)

Food:
- TimTam (US$1.50) [Btw, its a recommendation on 5 Takes forum to try every single flavour ]
- Natural Confectionary Jellies (US$2.95)
- A decent dinner and a pint of beer at a random pub
- The pint alone costs Au$2. O.o
For supermarket goers:
- A newspaper, Plus:
-- 2 litres of milk
-- 1kg minced beef
-- 1kg of cheese
-- 1 stack of printing paper
Shower Stuff:
- Shower gel, milk, oil, soap bars (US$4-5)
Gifts:
- Keychains: road signs, pendants, koalas, boomerangs, kangaroo, kookaburra, wombat, opal rock, aussie flag (US$3-5 individually)
- Stuff in the kitchen:
-- Australian Aprons (US$8)
-- Tea Towels (US$5)
-- Pot/Oven Mittens (US$3.50-4.50)
-- Mugs/Cups (US$4-5)
-- Coasters (US$5)
-- Fridge Magnets (US$3-ish)
Car Stuff:
- Road signs (US$2, 4, 7 dependent on size.)
- Bumper stickers/Decals (US$3)
Other Random Unassociated Stuff:
- 24-hour ticket for infinite Aussie train rides
- 45-piece puzzle (Au$4.50)
- Clip-on Koalas - the type everyone's sick of now (US$1)
- Finger puppets - zomg cute (US$4)
- Plushies - mostly koalas (US$5-7)
- Hat/Tie/Lapel pin (US$4)
- Pen with Australian flags or roadsigns plastered all over (US$2 each)
- Mousepads (US$7.50)
- Gift certs, Ties, paintbrushes, Stamps, and a lot of other teeny things.

alrighty, that's all we've got.
We thank random search engines, more search engines, and even more of em.
I personally thank my Australian friends whom i have not seen as it is on a random online game forum.

and i personally do NOT advocate going out in the middle of the night to go pubbing, nosiree no. that would be bad, undisciplined, possibly unlawful, and we'd get ugly hangovers the next day UNLESS we drink a pint of water and eat a Panadol before we go to sleep.. yeps.
(p.s. stock up on panadols? yall think? i can't find how much they cost there. XP)

So. Cheers!
ZOMG 6 DAYS TO TAKEOFF ZOMGWTFBBQSHIFTONESHIFTONESHIFTONE!

btw, this is kevin signing off. XP

Must Try Food In Sydney!

I happened to come across this site (actually it's more of a blog) which lists in great detail the various restaurants in Sydney, from the CBD to Chinatown, from Darling Harbour to the beaches, from the North to the South, from the East to the West, this site provides information perfect for those keen on having the best delicacies in Sydney. Systematically listing and classifying the restaurants by location, the author of this blog does a fantastic job in introducing the must-try foods in Sydney.


One restaurant that caught my eye was the Pier 26 @ Darling Harbour. This restaurant serves a wide variety of dishes, like BBQ Prawn Skewers , but what really made me drool was the Beer Battered Fish & Chips, with tartar sauce and lemon.

Here's what the author had to say: "Fish and chips are similarly swoonworthy. The beer batter is light, airy and almost cloud-like in appearance. The fried is fried to a pale golden brown, in fresh oil which leaves no sticky residue. Chips are crunchy batons, the tartare sauce has the right among of zing."

Check it out at http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com/ !!!

Posted by Kwan Yong, Jillian, Audrey and Jun Han :P

Chemistry, the central science

Thanks Sharon!

Yup, when we step out of Singapore we realise that it's actually a very small place... and it's good to broaden our horizons so we won't be frogs in a well, and realise that Singapore actually has much to compete against and much to improve upon =)

It's also very different living far away from your family and parents... read: Freedom! Can be made the best of, and can be abused... but the flip side is that you need to do everything yourself! Pay the rent, bills, tv license, manage bank accounts, write cheques, buy groceries, cook, clean, wash clothes, buy a car! Haha!

Another question:
What courses are available in UNSW or Macquarie that are not available in Singapore?

For me to know and for you to find out... =)

Reflection! ((:

Hey! I am fast (: Look at the time. LOL. Okay, here's the reflection for my group!

Okay, my group reckon that there ARE indeed advantages about studying overseas. Although you have to leave everything down here in Singapore that you like to go over there just to study, there are indeed advantages, like you would be able to get a better job and you are exposed to more things around the world and that you have a wider perspective of studying as a whole.

Also, as my group did on psychology, we realised that there are more things out there than only Biology, Chemistry and Physics. We realised that the world out there is indeed very big and free for us to explore, and we should not be stuck here in our own little world, thinking that we are everything, we know everything, and we have seen everything. Also, there are the aviation and petroleum courses that the other groups presented on.

Therefore, we should all realise our potentials now, think about our future, and now what we want for ourselves now! (:

Group... Nameless Till Now!
Hsien Liang, Sheng Chow, Xin Yue, Kelvin, Sharontan (:

Conflict of Beliefs. What I think of what he thinks.

refering to kevin's post, and also the film we watched...

humans, like any other living organism on this earth, strive for only one thing: Survival.

and also like any other living organism on this earth, he is also driven by one other thing: Fear.
Fear of factors that endanger his survival. Fear of factors that may endanger his survival. Fear of factors that seem to be endangering his survival. Fear of Differences.

in a possible scenario..

you were walking home peacefully. you're imagining eating dinner with your family comfortably at home later on before you start mugging. suddenly you see a cockroach approaching. you freeze. the neurones in your brain start firing. what is that thing? it's so small, it's got wierd things on its head, it's got six appendages and it looks dirty! ARGH! it doesn't look like me. it must be dangerous. i've got to protect myself. then you decide whether to run or to annihilate the threat by stepping on it. your brain starts calculating the risks involved in both possibilities. it figures that dirtying your shoe is not as bad as letting the threat live and later eat you alive. then you start stomping your feet.

have you ever thought about what the cockroach must be thinking? Imagine..

you were scurrying on the ground. sniffing the air for food. you pick up an scent. mmm, smells good. you follow the scent trail. you're looking forward to it cos you havent had a nice meal in ages. suddenly you sense something else. you stop in your tracks. you then see a human coming in between you and your meal. the neurones in your cerebral ganglia start firing. what is that thing? it's so big, it's got a wierd head with no feelers, it's only got four appendages and it's so undirty! YUCK! ARGH! it doesnt look like me. it must be dangerous. i've got to protect myself. then you decide whether to run to the nearest hole or confront the threat. your tiny brain starts calculating the risks involved in both possibilities. it figures that there is a higher chance that this thing would run cos all those you've before ran when you approached them. you then dash in its direction. you then experience darkness.

yea. so it really isn't so different how organisms think.
it even applies to face-offs within the same types of organisms.

like humans.

when the white people landed on a previously-assumed uninhabited island, they had a shock when they saw darker-skinned people waiting on the shores. the white people had never seen these people before. their instincts tell them that these people must be dangerous. cos they dont look like the white people. they must have some kind of a disease or something. they must be removed!

when the white people landed on their shores, the Aborigines must have had a shock to see wierd looking people with light skin and thick hide. they have never seen such people before. their instincts tell them that these people must be dangerous. cos they dont look like them. they must have some kind of disease or something. they must be removed!

both parties had the same thinking. but why was there only one that so-called succeeded?

because they could. they were the stronger ones, equipped with technology. they were the ones who had the advantage. they were the humans that could step on the cockroach.

the other party was weaker. they did not have technology on their side. all they had were hunting equipment. they were the ones who had the disadvantage. they were the cockroaches who could not scare the humans away.

life is all about survival. survival is all about winning. winning is all about advantage. advantage is all about differences. differences is all about nature. nature is all about life.