Monday, February 13, 2006
First Day in the Lab + Chicken Rice
Just wanna post about my impression of the laboratories in Kemicentrum since it was my first time doing work in the place.
The laboratories that I am working in is new! Very new. In fact, we are the first batch of students using this lab. However, this doesn't mean that it's good. I will elaborate. Firstly, the lab is clean... very clean, however, it's disorganized. Well, compared to NUS, it's very disorganized. The used glasswares in the lab are placed randomly; though there is a corner for clean glasswares. The solvents are in a mess: placed all over different corners in the laboratories. The small apparatus like dropper, pipette filler... are also all over the place. People just use and don't put them back to its original position. I don't blame them; there is no original position in the first place. Chaos is rampant.
Stefan, my German lab partner, told me his home university's labs are worse. I can't believe it. A course lab and is in a mess? I can understand the chaos in a research lab, but a course lab MUST be kept clean and organized. By this standard, the Chemistry course lab in NUS is really top notch. Keep up the high standard!
Somehow, people are streaming over my place for dinner. Initially, I was expecting 7 people for the night; another 4 came in the end - it became another big dinner that I have to prepare. I am very flattered to have people want to come over to enjoy my cooking; but PLEASE tell me earlier so that I can prepare enough food.
Chicken rice was on the menu. The rice is easy to cook; cause I bought a bottle of chicken rice mix from Amsterdam. The chicken is the one that made my job a bit more difficult. I think most of us have ate boiled chicken that is rather tough: overcooked. And we have eaten chicken which are rather bloody: gross. The key is to cook the chicken such that the breast meat and thigh meat are tender simultaneously and also not too bloody. Actually, I think a little undercooked chicken is the key to the texture.
The chicken was not boiled at high temperature; but was simmered below the boiling point. When I was chopping the chicken (another not easy task for me; it's my first time chopping a chicken), the interior carcass was still bloody. And I thought to myself: it's undercooked! Don and Sharmaine also told me to cook the chicken again. But the chicken was already soaked in ice water and re-cooking would make the chicken tough. I gave it a shot: I cut up the chicken and debone it (it was quite easy to debone actually). Yup, the meat near the bones were still a little raw but, overall, the chicken is medium, which is actually very good standard (I think) for a first-time-chicken-rice cooker.
The table enjoyed the chicken. Cyrus said that the chicken is very delicious as it's very soft. Yup, that's the reaction I want to get. Janice and Sharmaine exaggerated that I could open a 杂菜饭 store since I was cooking different dishes one after another with quite good standard (Actually, my aim is to explore as many recipes as I can and let my friends enjoy their meals). Another dinner success and may more come...
The laboratories that I am working in is new! Very new. In fact, we are the first batch of students using this lab. However, this doesn't mean that it's good. I will elaborate. Firstly, the lab is clean... very clean, however, it's disorganized. Well, compared to NUS, it's very disorganized. The used glasswares in the lab are placed randomly; though there is a corner for clean glasswares. The solvents are in a mess: placed all over different corners in the laboratories. The small apparatus like dropper, pipette filler... are also all over the place. People just use and don't put them back to its original position. I don't blame them; there is no original position in the first place. Chaos is rampant.
Stefan, my German lab partner, told me his home university's labs are worse. I can't believe it. A course lab and is in a mess? I can understand the chaos in a research lab, but a course lab MUST be kept clean and organized. By this standard, the Chemistry course lab in NUS is really top notch. Keep up the high standard!
Somehow, people are streaming over my place for dinner. Initially, I was expecting 7 people for the night; another 4 came in the end - it became another big dinner that I have to prepare. I am very flattered to have people want to come over to enjoy my cooking; but PLEASE tell me earlier so that I can prepare enough food.
Chicken rice was on the menu. The rice is easy to cook; cause I bought a bottle of chicken rice mix from Amsterdam. The chicken is the one that made my job a bit more difficult. I think most of us have ate boiled chicken that is rather tough: overcooked. And we have eaten chicken which are rather bloody: gross. The key is to cook the chicken such that the breast meat and thigh meat are tender simultaneously and also not too bloody. Actually, I think a little undercooked chicken is the key to the texture.
The chicken was not boiled at high temperature; but was simmered below the boiling point. When I was chopping the chicken (another not easy task for me; it's my first time chopping a chicken), the interior carcass was still bloody. And I thought to myself: it's undercooked! Don and Sharmaine also told me to cook the chicken again. But the chicken was already soaked in ice water and re-cooking would make the chicken tough. I gave it a shot: I cut up the chicken and debone it (it was quite easy to debone actually). Yup, the meat near the bones were still a little raw but, overall, the chicken is medium, which is actually very good standard (I think) for a first-time-chicken-rice cooker.
The table enjoyed the chicken. Cyrus said that the chicken is very delicious as it's very soft. Yup, that's the reaction I want to get. Janice and Sharmaine exaggerated that I could open a 杂菜饭 store since I was cooking different dishes one after another with quite good standard (Actually, my aim is to explore as many recipes as I can and let my friends enjoy their meals). Another dinner success and may more come...
# posted by William : 11:19 PM
