DAY 120

Dec 30

1) Today is the second last day of the year 2016! Oh how time flies... A year older, not necessarily a year smarter though XD. Anyway, today I batch cooked for the next five days, using different pastas and sauces, and I reheated pizza for my lunch. Packed everything and headed to Mercer library, just in time for movie no. 1 - Howl's Moving Castle.

2) The afternoon I spent chatting with my dad on Messenger, before my friend Khee Heng invited me over to sample some of his cottage pie. I am by no means a food critic, but by golly if that wasn't some good pie. Khee Heng wanted to perfect his cooking as he was whipping another batch for our New Year Countdown tomorrow! In my opinion, it does not need any more tweaking - it is as close to professional level as it is possible to get.

3) Spent the rest of the afternoon (and evening) at his apartment. At night, I heated up the fusilli pasta with spicy bolognese sauce, before settling down for yet movie no. 2 - Ponyo. I've watched soooooo many Japanese animated films lately. Before 9.00pm, I had already packed up and walked home. Had a light supper before typing this out. Tomorrow my friends and I are going to Bray, to visit our good friend Andrew. That's all for today's blog update, and as always, thank you very much for reading. Cheers!

 

Pasta with bolognese sauce, topped with a generous helping of cheese ^^

 

My meals for the next five days

 

My breakfast

 

Lunch was a whole pizza, crammed into my lunchbox

 

The cottage pie that Khee Heng made!

 

My reheated pasta

DAY 119

Dec 29

1) Today was a really tiring day! Woke up earlier than usual to meet up with my Khee Heng and Zi Yan at Mercer. We were going on a day trip to Glendalough and Powerscourt. At around 10.30am, the bus arrived. Took us around an hour or so to reach our first stop, Glendalough. We were given 1.5 hours to sightsee, and sightsee we did. Followed the trail all the way to the Upper Lake (about 1.7km away), and stopped periodically to take as many photos as we could. Special mention to the Monastic Site, which comprised the Gateway, St. Kevin's Cross, Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Kieran's Church, The Priest's House etc.

2) After that, we returned to the bus for another half an hour ride to Powerscourt. Again we had 1.5 hours to spare, and wasted no time in exploring the huge Powerscourt Estate, famous for being ranked No.3 on list of the most beautiful gardens in the world. Some highlights include the Italian Garden, Japanese Garden, Pets Cemetery, and Tower Valley. Admission would have been €6.50 for students, but luckily that was included in the fees for this trip (€27). Didn't have lunch due to time constraints (plus the long queue and steep prices), but had biscuits and chocolate on the way back.

3) Reached Dublin 1 at around 5.00pm, and by this time the Sun had already set. So I walked back to Mercer with my friends, stopping by Bla Blas Cafe at Grafton St. to get a long overdue meal. Ordered a hot chicken roll with a portion of wedges and a cappucino, all for only €5.00! Came back to Khee Heng's apartment, where I spent the rest of the evening surfing the net. Today's animated movie is "From Up on Poppy Hill", a 2011 film by Goro Miyazaki, son of renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. The disparaty between father and son is rather obvious though; Hayao's films resonating with me a lot more compared to his son's. Anyways, had a nice long walk back home with my friend Jason, followed by a light supper of cookies and tea, and finished by typing this out. Hopefully you found my blog update interesting, and be sure to scroll down for the pics as there are TONS of them today. Have a great day, cheers!