I'll admit it - I want this.

Seen at Mediamarkt today...

SMEG FRIDGE WITH BAYERN PATTERN!!!

I wasn't the only one though - quite a few ppl were commenting on how geil that Kühlschrank was.

Reward lunch

Well last night's epic writing session resulted the completion of my side of the results, and a good couple of paragraphs of the discussion. I therefore decided to reward myself by going out and getting beef pho for lunch. Except the restaurant wasn't open (wtf, since when do Asians take holidays?!), and so I instead went to Takumi and got a lunch special.

I have clearly never been to Takumi for lunch because I didn't even know they offered lunch specials. The choices were bowls of ramen with various sides such as gyoza or karaage chicken.

Or my choice of salmon roe on rice. Yum, git me that omega-3.

And then my shoyu ramen. 

Although, I may have made a miscalculation. Now that I've eaten all that food and returned home...I'm feeling quite sleepy. I think I'll take a siesta to refuel the brain before returning to reading and then doing some writing.

Reverting to studenthood

Greetings readers. Tonight, I am going to do something I haven't attempted since the glory days of my honours year (waaaaaaaaaaay back in 2005!). I'm going to attempt and all-nighter (or at least, close to one) to complete a manuscript.

Now, people who know me would know that while I like to set myself crazy writing deadlines (hi, ELF lab!), I usually pace myself. For example, I might tell myself I've got a week to write a chapter of my thesis, but I would have already thought my results, what they mean, how they stand with regards to the literature, and who I would cite. Not this time. Midway through last week, I was instructed to go see a professor of a collaborating department. He had good news for me - he'd been invited to submit a manuscript to a journal because they were going to do a special on his special technique, and he thought that the work I had been conducting with his own post-doc would be entirely suitable! HOORAY! Then he told me that the submission date was in 3 weeks.

I'm going to be in Rome for the first week of September.

CHRIST, I'VE GOT A WEEK TO WRITE A MANUSCRIPT!?!?!?!

Then his post-doc told me she would be away all of this week.

CHRIST, I'VE GOT A WEEK TO WRITE A MANUSCRIPT ON MY OWN?!?!?

I know what you're thinking, I still had half of that week + the weekend so I actually had 1.5 weeks to write a manuscript. Well, not really since I'd already promised some other people I'd get a manuscript done by the end of August. I spent the rest of last week furiously trying to finish that in addition to my other work.

And now it's the middle of the week and while I've done some reading and written the introductory section plus some methods (the other postdoc can write that!), the fact remains that I still need to lay out the results (the other postdoc can do that as well!) and the discussion. Which is the hardest part because you've got to discuss your results in the context of the wider body of work. Results that we haven't quite finished analysing. As a result, I have informed my boss and colleagues that I will do 'home office' and try to become the old Mally who used to regularly give birth to a 3000 word essays in a short amount of time.

Right now, I'm in my room with lights and music on. Papers from various studies are in stacks around me based on what kind of argument they present and how it relates to what I have. I've got a bottle of water, a boiled egg for the protein, and a chocolate bar for power (glucose is a precursor of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate). Wish me luck people. Either I get at least 600 words down or I pass out.

This dog...

is so damn cute!

Patting other people's dogs is generally not acceptable on the u-bahn and probably Germany in general (at least, I never see other  people doing it), but when this fluffster sat next to me, I couldn't help letting out a squee and telling his owner that he was beautiful and could I take a photo! She allowed me and then I rubbed his ears for good measure. I love collies :D.

Saturday birthday foods

I had a busy day yesterday that was bookended by two birthday parties. 

First stop was brunch with Iris and friends at Cafe Glockenspiel were I had this:

French toast with fruit and speck. 

I never really thought about the combination before until one of the Germans pointed it out to me - when did it become normal to eat bacon with maple syrup? I remember doing it in other cities and not thinking that the presence of crispy bacon was at all strange. One of the late-arriving girls ordered the same as me because she wanted to try out the combination of the salty/savoury speck with maple syrup. On the other hand, some girls at the table said they'd never heard of french toast at all, so maybe it's just not common in Germany full stop. 

Last stop of the day was Carola's epic birthday party out in the middle of the Bavarian nowhere that featured a dazzling buffet with an amazing array of food, but a special shout out has to go to this:

COOKIE MONSTER CUPCAKE!!!

Like, don't even bother trying to tell me that that's not cool. I haven't heard it but your argument is invalid. Also, props to the cookie pops (on the bottom left) and the berry/cream/meringue mess from Laura.

Catch up at Krake with Swiss Chris

Meeting up with Swiss Chris always means at least a couple of things (out of many things): we eat and we eat well. Needing to go to STA near Viktualienmarkt before hand, we ended up deciding to check out the Schrannenhalle, thinking that we'd just go to one of the stalls, but after reading the menu for new restaurant Krake (German for octopus), we decided that, *YES!!! SEAFOOD!!!* was the way to go. 

Not having a reservation (for a Wednesday night?), they sat us at the open plan kitchen and we got to watch seafood being prepared. Nom nom.  

To go with our seafood, we had German riesling. Also pictured is the tomato and tuna amuse-bouche. Intensely flavoured and yet refreshing.

Our food! Moules mariniere! God, it's been a long time since I ate mussels like this! In fact, it's been a long time since I ate mussels at all! Clearly I need to visit Marene in Leuven :D

We ordered two pots of moules - the classic white wine based version and another with tomatoes. As much as we enjoyed these, I couldn't help telling Swisschris (who loves seafood), that he really needs to check out southern hemisphere mussels. These puny European mussels would never pass muster against the ones served at the BBC.

To be honest, eating here reminded me a little bit like how I used to eat out in Melbs. A bit cool, a bit funky, and a high level of service. Perhaps we're too used to eating in Biergartens or Gasthoefe now but when we went to pour our own wine, a waiter came over and said that they were supposed to do it. Until that happened, I'd forgotten that we used to complain when the waitstaff didn't refill our wineglasses quickly enough *cough Rockpool cough*.

So if anyone is visiting any time soon, I'm happy to go back and test more dishes :D

Writing!

In the past couple of weeks, I've resubmitted a manuscript for review and most fun of all, I helped a colleague with re-writes and edits before she submits this week. The most satisfying thing? We managed to trim the manuscript from nearly six and half thousand words to less than five thousand.

So fingers crossed and thumbs pressed that both get accepted and I can add to my (professional) publications list!

Cravings

I was at the gym yesterday - WOOT! - but before the session, I developed a serious case of Asian Food Craving. (That distant scream you hear is of The Asshole Leprechaun crying in disappointment.)

Anyway, as I walked towards the gym, my mind started thinking about how much I would really like some noodles, yeah....it's been a while since I got myself some ramen....but then while I was chugging some water on the elliptical trainer, I was thinking that I should get a soy egg in the noodles to up the protein content given that I was working out....actually, maybe I should just skip the noodles and go to a meal that's got a better protein to carb ratio...so as I was on the rowing machine, I realised it had been a while since I went to the Korean restaurant and even longer since I had bibimbap....mmm, that combination of rice, vegetables, egg, and beef with a spicy sauce and some kimchi on the side...hmmm, it had been a while since I'd eaten asian pickles, I thought while doing my weights...maybe I should get some bun bo la lot since that's something I never make for myself and it's relatively high in protein, with a good fresh vegetable mixture, but as I was doing my stretched, I was mentally ticking off the Viet restaurants in the area and whether they were open....

And so in the end, I settled on this:

Boiled meat and vegetable jiaozi.

Relatively high protein, lower in calories than if they were fried, I was pretty satisfied.

Although I kinda wanted to chase them down with a bowl of soup noodles....

Self Control

Yesterday was a public holiday in Bayern and I decided to take today off just to give myself a long weekend. Normally on a day off, I'd probably be found reading in bed or cleaning the apartment, BUT NOT TODAY. After a discussion with Pato Peach, it was decided that I would hang out in her apartment (she does home office in Munich for her job in Madrid), and apply for jobs.

Doubting Tomas (her bf) was all, "Oh you girls are just going to sit there talking and doing your nails or whatever girls do - everything except work!" But you know what? That wasn't the case at all! Apart from our lunch and afternoon tea break, it was silent as we sat opposite each other, tapping away at our computers. It was actually kind of bizarre.

Following our productive work day (!!!) to top off this day of extreme self control, I accompanied the two of them to Ikea....and despite finding many things I wanted, all I purchased in the entire complex was a hotdog and drink! THAT'S RIGHT, I WENT TO IKEA AND ONLY SPENT €1.50. What the hell?!?!?!

Then to top off the day, I went home...and did some exercise?!?!

Offspring

Oh god, I can't....I just can't deal with this. Even all the way over in Munich. I mean it got spoiled for me (thank you, Facebook), but knowing what was going to happen *sniff*. I screamed when I saw how things were going to pan out and wanted to vomit. Then I burst into tears when Kate screamed. It was too much.

So all I can say is that we should remember Patrick the way Nina would think of him.

Rest in peace. 

What's been going on?

To be honest, I'm not really sure. I feel as though I've been busy for the last few weeks (which is part of the reason why I haven't been updating this blog as regularly as usual), and yet...I seem to have no evidence of what I've been doing. Anyway, here's a rundown of what I know has been going on.

The heatwave continued and pretty much everyone except myself died.

In fact, it was so like Melbs that with the lack of rain and hot weather, the grass at work turned yellow! Germans would ask me if the weather made me feel homesick, and I would reply with a, "Not really. The summer is like this in Australia...except we have this kind of weather for 3 months instead of 3 weeks!" Shadya has also been getting comments about how she must be loving it since she's Colombian except, like Australia, all buildings in Colombia have airconditioning and she's also been dying. When you've got a few days over 25C in a row, one really begins to appreciate the wonders of German insulation in a really bad way...

But during those super-hot days, me and my work peeps went to Yen-C, a newish hot-pot restaurant. As the only Asian amongst the crew, I was happily boiling my seafood in the spicy soup base while watching everyone else sweating like crazy from the heat and soup while grappling with getting their noodles out of the pot. The decision was unanimous - everyone thought it was delicious and would like to return! But during the winter and not a 30C day.

I finally read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. A time-travel/historical epic/romance novel, it has kinda inspired me to go to the Scottish highlands and see if I can find my own Jamie Fraser! Although...I'd probably have to travel back 200 years in time and my princessy-ness would mean that I'd die before he could rescue me.

Job searching is being conducted. My contract will end at the end of this year and I have made the somewhat scary decision that, as much as I love academia, it's a great job but it's a shit career, and so I would like to leave. *GULP!* I'm hoping to nab a job in medical writing though. I think this would be a great job for me :D Fingers crossed, my friends.

Resubmission

After working like crazy (sometimes) over the last month, I have managed to resubmit a manuscript! Now fingers crossed it will be accepted!!!