Gelato Or Ice Cream?

Some of you guys might have already knew that I was on a trip to Italy for the past 8 days with one of my course mates and two new-found friends. How was the trip? it was a blast! We went to all of the interesting cities and places that Italy could offer. However, exciting details of the trip will be written in the next entry as I am extremely tired right now due to the long-hours of walking during the trip and I really need a good rest now, badly.

But, in this auspicious time of the day, I decided to spend some time to write on one particular detail that we really loved in Italy - Gelato! OK, I know most of you guys out there do not know what Gelato is. And maybe some of you never even heard of that word before. Now, let me explain it here.

Gelato is actually Italy's own version of ice cream. And yes, therefore it is only available in Italy and any other versions of Gelatos outside Italy will not taste the same. It's not the same as the ice cream that you guys had in Moonlight or Treats. The difference between Gelato and normal ice cream that we can find in supermarkets is that they are very silky in terms of texture, much softer and smoother and it comes in a wide variety of flavours, even the ones that you never imagined!

The most common flavours that I can find in Italy are chocolate, fruits salad, caramel, milk, yoghurt, vanilla, strawberry, coffee, and mint. There's even some shops that has after eight-flavoured gelato! I know my housemates would love to get a taste on one of those.

Everytime we went into a Gelato shop or kiosk, we would buy different flavours from one another and then we would compared it among us. I tried all of the flavours and they were some that I like the most. One of my favourites is the fruits salad gelato. It is made by mixing all types of fruit to get that exquisite sour and fresh taste. Shahira likes to try all sorts of flavours and I think she really likes the caramel and mint ones. And she would always be the last one to finish her Gelato because she loves to savour it thoroughly and slowly. Mayura's favourite Gelato in Italy was the yoghurt-flavoured gelato. People who knew Mayura really well would know why she loved that flavour. :p And Fiqah's favourite Gelato was the Amanera (cherry-flavoured).

The price of Gelato varies between places. The cheapest one that we had were in Venice which only costs about 1.30 Euros. And the most expensive one that we could find was in Rome which is 3 Euros for only one scoop! It was really disappointing for us as well because it was difficult for us to find a Gelato shop in Rome, considering that it is the main attractive place in Italy.

If I counted it correctly, I think I had about 7 Gelatos in total during my whole stay in Italy. But it's still could not match the Gelato-fanatic like Mayura who had 9 Gelatos in 8 days!

Shahira and I with our last Gelato that we had at the airport

Mayura and Fiqah at the airport

I really missed all of the Gelatos that we had in Italy. It was well-worth the money and I hope that someday I could make my own Gelato and savour it till the last bit!

A Game For The Gentleman

Rugby has always been my passion since I was in secondary school. I could still vividly remember the first time I step foot on the pitch for training. It was extremely horrendous for me at that time. Just imagine that you need to run at least ten laps around the field and then 20 sets of shuttle run everyday. And that's not all - there was also the exercises to increase our strength which include weight-lifting and carrying one of your teammates on your shoulder. I always feel exhausted during training and there have been once reached to a certain point which I nearly gave up rugby. But, my strong mental and determination prevented me from doing that. I know that all of this training would benefit me in the future by giving me the fitness and strength to play. As what my former rugby coach said - "There are 3 things that are important in rugby - fitness, strength and tactical". Even if one of these aspects is missing, the team will not win in a rugby match. My school rugby team was absolutely amazing. We won not only tournaments at the state level, but also in national level. SBP 10's and Cobra 10's are just the few highlights during that time. We were victorious and seem unstoppable. I really missed those wonderful times. Full of joy, pride and happiness in the air. This tradition of winning has been continued even when I left and entered KMB. My rugby team back in college was also a great one. Even though we had to train and practice by ourselves, we managed to played well and won the SUKOMA Rugby Tournament two years in a row!!

Till now, my passion for rugby haven't fade even the slightest. However, playing rugby in the UK is really different compared to back in Malaysia. Well, it's not the way of playing that is different, it's just the environment and temperature here that makes it different. My hands felt numb and I my lungs felt really cold because I had to breath in cold air.

My first rugby game in UK was against the Chinese Society Rugby Team. We played 7-a-side and most of my team mates are the ones from that I played with since in college. As some of you guys might know, to play 7's you need a high level of stamina, which my team and I lack. So, in the end we lost but not much. One thing that I like was that our team pattern of play was still intact. It's just that we were not fit enough to chase our opponent which made us lose.

Malaysian Barbarians vs MUCSS

The first ever rugby team formed in Manchester (probably in UK as well)

In all, winning or losing is not the primary matter. For me, it's the love and passion for the game that counts. And I hope to get a little bit more action of UK rugby in the future ahead.

A New Unexpected Friend

As my nearly-daily routine, I would go to my gym in the city at night to get some exercise. But, last night, I was pretty occupied with some unfinished business, I went to the gym quite late, at 11 pm. For your information, my gym opens 24 hours daily, 7 days a week (except Christmas of course). So, there I went on my own in the night to my beloved gym.

A glimpse of what my gym looks like

After about an hour and a half at the gym, and full of sweat on my back, I finally decided to head for home. I walked to the changing room and turned the door knob to open the door. To my surprise, the door would not open because normally, the staff would just left the door unlocked the whole day. I entered my PIN number few times and hope that the door would open for me. But, it seems that my effort came to no avail. At that time, I hope that there was a staff still available for me to seek help, but there were none because their working hours is only till 5 pm.

Suddenly, a man tapped my shoulder. I turned around and there's this guy who said to me that the door is actually locked everyday at 12 am and will be opened at 9 am in the morning. I was speechless and stunned by this fact. I could not even call for help because my phone is in the locker inside the changing room. How could a gym that opens 24 hours everyday, have their changing room locked at 12 am? So, basically, the gym is 24 hours but the changing room is not!!

I sat down on a chair in front of the gym, worrying and thinking of what should I do next. If I were to run back home and come here again the next morning at 9 am, it would be extremely tiring and I need to withstand the intense cold temperature outside. Bear in mind, that I was only wearing a t-shirt and my trainer at that time. My second option is that I would just stay in the gym and do some extra work out that night to kill of the time till morning. But, I can't be here at 9 am the next morning because I have promised with 3 of my beloved friends to play badminton with them on the next day at 9 am as well. So, they are my first priority the next morning.

When I was thinking of what my next step is, a person approached me. It was the same guy who informed me about the changing room. He asked me if I was having any trouble. Well, of course I said 'yes' because I don't have any idea how to get home that night. To my surprise, he told me that he would help me to get home by bus that night. I was relieved. How could, a stranger who I don't know anything about him, suddenly came to me and offered me help? I guess, there's still some kind-hearted guy out there.

So, I followed him from our gym to Piccadilly Gardens and took the Finglands bus to home. On our way back home, we talked to each other and get to know about each other a little bit more. His name is Ali and he's actually from Iraq. He's a final year high school student and wants to be a pilot in the future. He actually lives quite near to my home in Rusholme. Even though his english is not so good, I could still understand him perfectly well and he is really chatty. The journey to home was brief, but I could tell that he is a really nice guy. He smiles a lot too and that has made him a lot friendlier. One thing that we agreed that night is that the gym should have posted a big notice about the changing room so that this incident won't happen to others. A lot of Ali's friend have faced the same fate as I had that night before this. But, if this didn't happened, I wouldn't have known Ali, would I?

After we got off the bus in front of Moonlight, I said a million thanks to him for helping me and hopes that we will meet again in the gym some other time. This would be a start of a good friendship. I guess I won't be alone next time when I'm at the gym. ;-)

It's Finally Over

Hi there!!

I guess most of you guys are probably aware that the reason I have not been updating my blog for the past 2 weeks is due to the exams. Now, I have just finished my semester 3 exams on yesterday's afternoon. It was a difficult period of time that I have to go through as a student. Full of sheer stress and endless efforts of revision. But, what lies in the past, stays in the past and we do not have any power to change it. Let's just pray that everything will turn out alright and hope for the best when the results will be announced on February.

The recent semester test that I just had is considered as a tough one by all medical student for generations. The questions are regarding neurology, which is the main topic for my semester. Neurology is a branch of medicine with full of hypotheses, theoretical facts, and assumptions by some of the most prominent neurologists. How our brain actually works is still a mystery that is yet to unveil itself. There are still thousands of research that is still being done to uncover the real truth about the ability of brain.

Ok, enough of all the gibberish medical talk. I just want to highlight that due to many research that has been done about the brain, the implications are that there are many theories about how the brain works. And as a medical student, we are expected to know about all of these 'theories and assumption' to be tested in the exams. Thus, my mind is overloaded by facts from neurology textbooks written by Bear, Titus, Crossman and Martini. Alhamdulillah it's now over and I can feel like the heavy burden inside of me has been lifted.

What makes the exam for this semester more difficult is that there was also an OSCE. OSCE stands for Objective Structured Clinical Examination. The name itself is self-explainatory - this is a practical hands-on exam, not a written exams. I was tested on clinical examinations regarding neurology as well such as the use of opthalmoscope, otoscope, cranial nerves testing, tendon reflexes and electromyography (EMG).

For the OSCE, I have been practicing a lot at Qoma's house with my competent comrades. We practiced day and night, focusing more on the skills that we expected would come out. A day before the OSCE, we practiced from 4 pm in the afternoon till 12 midnight. I felt extremely exhausted but it was really beneficial because with more practice, confidence will build up gradually. With this, I offer my profound thanks to all second year medics for their help and support.

Apart from the MCQ exams and OSCE, there was also the anatomy spot test. I had to cover anatomy for the head, neck and also the lower limb. I'm quite ok with the lower limb, but the head and neck is really a mind-blowing one. Before this, I never knew that the neck contains so much stuff. It is a really complex organ of the body as many nerves, blood vessels, muscles and organs are located there. I hope I did well for the head and neck station in anatomy.

In all, the important thing is that we, the second year medics have finished the exams in one piece. I believe we have prepared enough before the exams, and we have performed very well during the exams. I prayed that all of us will get good results and may we become a succesful doctors in the future.

Roti Paratha Maniacs

Over the past few days, my house a.k.a. Manar accidentally caught an addiction that is so tempting, yet so tasty, that you can't even have the will to resist it - the addiction to Roti Paratha!!

It all started when one of my housemates bought one packet of Roti Paratha from Worldwide, a halal groceries store in Rusholme. His intention was purely innocent. He never thought that all of us would be 'trapped' in this kind of addiction.

I regret the first ever moment we cooked Roti Paratha in this house. The aroma released from its cooking is simply alluring. Even Muslim, who rarely get out from his room, ran down the stairs and traced the irresistable scent which leads to our kitchen and check on what we were up to.

When we have finished cooking the first batch of Roti Paratha, thoughts were boggling in mind about what it would taste like. Its appearance is very similar to the Roti Canai that we have in Malaysia - round in shape and yellowish-brown in colour with 'freckles' on it.

With my thumb and index finger, I gently took a small part of it, dipped it in sugar, and put it in my mouth. I spontaneously reacted as if I'm one of the food judges in the Manga series 'Yakitate Japan' - completely amazed and speechless by its delicious taste. It is crispy on the outside, soft in the inside and have that same exquisite and scrumptious taste as our traditional Roti Canai back at home. I took one bite after another, and before we knew it, the first batch of Roti Paratha was finished. I know the addiction is building up in me, and before it gets worst, I managed to refrained myself from eating more Roti Paratha.

The next day, some of my housemates bought another packet of Roti Paratha. They had succumbed themselves to defeat and loss the fight to the urge and craving for Roti Paratha.

It is utterly irresistable and it seems to me that some of them has even lost control of their normal eating timetable. Once, Apip and Nageb secretly cooked Roti Paratha at 3 am in the morning for themselves just to cure their addiction to Roti Paratha. It looks like when you are really addicted to a particular thing, you won't care whatever the time it is to do it. Let it be in the early morning of the day, or even late hours of the night, my housemates will cook Roti Paratha whenever they want to even though they are not really hungry.

Then, there was a time when my housemates bought 40 pieces of Roti Paratha from Worldwide! It seems like a huge amount to you but no food is too much for my housemates. They managed to finish it in just one day and one night! Now, that's a really big appetite for Roti Paratha and those were only few examples that I could write of. Trust me, there are other occurrence that you won't even imagine happened!! Once thought to be a snack for all of us, now it has turned to be a 'meal of disaster' for this house.

There are two factors that I think is particularly important which contributed to this addiction - the cheap price of Roti Paratha (20 pieces for only 2.79 pounds) and the location of Worldwide which is very near to our house. Hence, each time when of my housemates get back home, they would eventually bring back a packet of Roti Paratha from Worldwide with them.

The food that made my housemates go crazy

I am not suggesting for my housemates to stop eating Roti Paratha, but merely advicing them to control their food consumption intake. I know that a bit of Roti Paratha won't hurt you, but a lot of it would seriously bring a negative impact to your health. You guys know that I love you all and that's why I'm writing this entry. Cheerio.

Revision vs Nasi Lemak

There's nothing sexier than a man who is cooking delicious cuisine in a clean and organized kitchen. And that was what I just did last night. After a long day of revision, I finally decided to take a break by paying a visit to Al-Faruq house which is located not far away from my home. This decision was made abruptly by Icam and I that night. So, we set aside our mounting revision notes and headed towards Al-Faruq with our agenda in mind.

Al-Faruq's members consists of 4 'not-available' bachelors - Aizat (World), Kamal Arif, Khairul Anam and Shahridhwan Ping. All of them were present except for Ping who were on a business trip in Dublin. They greeted Icam and I very nicely and offered us the best hospitality that they could offer. After a few minutes of chit-chat, we told them our plan which they responded positively with arms wide open and hearts in agreement. Plus, Al-Faruq haven't had their dinner yet because there's no one on duty to cook that night.

Without wasting a second, Icam and I get to work - pronto! Our plan that night was to cook, but we don't mean to cook just anything. We wanted to cook the most difficult and tedious dishes of all in Malay's history - Nasi Lemak Lauk Ayam Goreng. Grateful that I had Icam by my side, I don't have to worry that our cooking would be a disaster.

Icam was responsible in making the 'sambal' and 'nasi lemak'. It was amazing to see how easy he made it look like. As if with just a swift of a hand, all of the main cooking were nearly done. I, on the other hand, was in charge in making 'telur dadar' and frying 'ikan bilis', ground nuts and the chicken. I know some of you guys might laugh when I stated about my part, but believe me, making a 'telur dadar' is not easy as it looks. You need extra care, patience, the exact precision and knows the right-timing to turn over the egg. It's a skillful work ,otherwise, your 'telur dadar' might fallen into pieces, loses it rounded shape and looks like scrambled eggs.

Icam - the cook with style (note the hat)

Me - showing off my skill to cook two dishes simultaneously

After about one and a half hour of cooking, our Nasi Lemak Lauk Ayam Goreng was finally completed. As soon as the recitation of 'doa makan' and saying thank you to Allah for his wonderful blessings is done, we ate together with a big appetite in our stomach.

Our version of Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng

A visit to Al-Faruq would not have been complete without playing FIFA 2010. For your information, their house is equipped with two large televisions and a Playstation 2 console. I know some of you guys would agree with me that their game console is kind of not up-to-date, but it still served it purpose very well. We competed against each other and tried to demonstrate our best skills in playing virtual football. To my surprise, Icam was not only good at cooking, but he was good in playing FIFA 2010 as well. I mean, he was extremely good because he trashed all of us that night!

After the feast - FIFA 2010

I know that if I stayed there any longer that night, the addiction to FIFA 2010 would not stop and we would spend the whole night playing continuously without flinch a bit. So, after bidding farewell and a thousand thanks to Al-Faruq's residence, I forced myself at 1 am to head back to my beloved home.

Snowy, Snowy Manchester

Today is the second day of 2010 and it is snowing again in Manchester. Snow down-poured heavily which made 'Malaysian Banff Road' blanketed with white snow this morning. I don't know whether other parts of UK is snowing heavily as well or not, but Yahoo UK weather forecast said that UK will be hit by icy cold and snowy weather again for the next few weeks in January.

I know some of you guys are excited when you hear the word 'snow'. One of my housemates, Apip (bukan nama sebenar), was jumping excitedly with enthusiasm and exhilaration this morning and begging endlessly for us to join him play in the snow. Even though he has played a lot of snow-sliding, snow-ball battle, skiing and ice-skating in December, he still could not get enough of it. Well, this does not imply on him alone. I know for a fact that there are many Malaysians out there who will react similarly to Apip when ever there is a blizzard out there. But, bear in mind, that not all of the things that we see is good and beautiful as we perceived it to be.

Snow has seriously made a great impact in terms of transportation. Flights have to be delayed, train travels have to be cancelled and roads are becoming more slippery which made the condition more prone for accidents to happened. One of my friends got stranded in Dubai when she was on her way back home to Malaysia because her flight from Manchester to Dubai had to be delayed as it was unsafe to fly. So, she missed her transit flight and had to wait for the next one which took 14 long hours. That would be kind of bothersome, wouldn't it?

Even walking would be tricky when it snows out there. Pavements become slippery along the shoulder of the road due to the ice that melts on it. My friends and I had to be extra cautious and be aware each foot-steps that we made just to make sure that we don't slip and hit our heads on anything. I had my own fair-share of experience when I slipped for a couple of times in front of my house and trust me, it is not something that you want to do over and over again.

In all, the purpose I'm writing this entry does not mean that I would like to express my hatred towards snow. I don't hate it, in fact I love it the same way of you guys do. And I'm certainly not blaming Allah The Almighty for it's beautiful creation. I think, I am extremely fortunate to have the chance to experience this snowy weather. I'm just sharing my experiences and at the same time revealing the other 'dark-side' of white snow.

Malaysian Banff Road

City of Manchester

I guess, for you guys out there who haven't really encounter this kind of weather, you guys could have a rough idea of how it is like after reading this entry. As they say, you won't believe until you actually feel it and experience it yourself.