Anyway, I was feeling bored this morning, and decided to cook for lunch and dinner. It would be a weekend project. So, after I had my breakfast, I did some grocery shopping. Not having too much experience with cooking, I sticked to cooking my favourite soup. This soup is fondly known as ABC soup in our family.

There was no rice left at home, so, I bought a small packet of brown rice. For the soup, I got some tomatoes, potatoes, yellow onions, a carrot, some chicken thigh meat with bones and some bean curd. Note that the bean curd are the rough ones as I prefer the texture, and they don’t break up easily.

After I left the rice in the rice cooker to cook, I chopped up the ingredient into large chunks, the chicken meat were already cut, so that was pretty easy. The onions gave me trouble as the mist invaded my nose and I had to hold back my tears.

Next, I just dumped everything into a big pot of water and let it simmered. It’s really that easy

After some time, half hour or so, the soup was boiling already.

I took some sample for tasting, and decided that I should let it simmer longer. The colour turned out pretty good, a slight yellowish clear liquid.

The soup was ready before the brown rice was cooked. The rice took about an hour or so. In the end, the rice looked and tasted great.

I turned off the heat earlier and let the soup sit in the pot for a while. When it was served, the temperature was just right.

I finished the rice quickly as I waited quite a bit, and was feeling hungry. With the left over stuffs in the bowl, I mashed it all up. My brother and myself would usually add a dash of soya sauce for taste. It is like baby food, and tastes really good – it goes well with rice or by itself.

So, that’s the end of my weekend project. I still have about three quarter pot full of soup, probably save for tonight. This soup reminds me of my mum’s cooking.

There once was a prince
who refused to wince
And so the witch
Miscast a glitch
A dead frog after the glints

Darkness shrouds the mind
As the eyes shut down
Soft howling of the wind
Yet the rain begins to pound

Gentle rocking lullaby
Carried by the breeze
Weary without a sigh
Slumber begins a medley.

As the sun retreats
Into the night chamber,
The moon sits
Upon the cerulean ether.

The cool evening air
Left my skin tingling.
I marvel and stare
At this beauty in gloaming.

Solitaire tear drop
Fell from an angel above
Caught amongst the vine

A token of love
From a heart as pure
As a white dove
With eyes of azure.

A love so fragile
With much tenderness.
A candle that kindle
In the night of restlessness.

A ring of paper
Against the test of time.
Though words may fade into a whisper
Our memories will always be in my mind.

I saw her gazing
From across the golden field
Smile so alluring

My heart went racing
Thoughts running wild in my mind
Wind gently breezing

We reached each other
The moment felt eternal
It was that simple.

It felt really nice
A desire so keen
Like the green tea shave ice
With sweet red beans

It was love at first sight
Or was it first bite?
It was definitely a delight
Looking back in hindsight.

Love doesn’t come easy
There bound to be one
Who will make you go all squishy
And your heart beats more often

Who is she?
The girl whom you so often think about
Daily, nightly and ever so rightly
She’d be the one you can’t live without.

Densha Otoko or Train Man is one of the more well known real-life story. A nice guy helped save a woman from being harrassed by a drunkard on the train. Due to his cluelessness, he posted on 2channel and shared his experience with the forumites. With advice from forumites, they began dating. Subsequently, the guy confessed his love for the woman and she reciprocrated. They are now happily together.

Another guy named Patrick Moberg was on a crowded train when he fell in love at first sight with a girl. Before he summoned his courage to approach her, the train stopped at a station, the commuters began to rushed out and he lost sight of her.

Back in the old days, this would have been an abrupt end to a beautiful love story that never really begin.

With the help of technology these days, the guy made a website and was featured on several popular websites and blogs. Within 3 days, the girl was identified by one of her friend, and she contacted him. Subsequently, they have been dating.

So, ingredients for romance 2.0 – internet and train. For some reasons, the train conjures up a more romantic vehicle of love than the bus.