in conversation

with g'ma:

"how's the rice cooking?"

"not too good. it always turns out a little hard."

(g'ma laughs)

"what're you doing?"

"the usual, according to my indian and chinese corridormates, it's 1 part rice to 2 parts water."

"but you don't like white rice."

"yeah i don't."

"so what rice are you using?"

"brown."

"well, then you need to put more water."

"oh."

guess it doesn't take a rocket scientist but it's taken me over 10 weeks of sporadic hard-rice consumption and i still didn't get it. OH WELL.

and this was going to be my dinner

accompanied by some sauteed onions (don't ask) but right at that moment K popped his head into the kitchen and said he was going to take out pizza. which seemed like an infinitely better dinner option. without hesitation, i turned off the stove and shamelessly asked him to pick one up for me too. thank god for obliging corridormates who risk the cold to fill their (and consequently my) tummies! this photo doesn't do it justice but i was most impressed by this humble pizza from the shack just outside our building. it's thin crust which i'm a big fan of and it tasted sublime. i can't figure out why it was so good, maybe i was desperate for real food. maybe it's been too long since my last pizza, maybe i've become desensitised to bad food after forcibly ingesting my own cooking, but it's the best darn pizza i've had outside naples. it's a dangerous discovery - good pizza 100m from front door. especially with my tendency to go overboard and scant regard for self-restraint. wouldn't be surprised if these babies become my new staple and i grow too big to get through my door and then proceed to subsist on pizza delivery from K.

and i feel a little bad because as we tucked into our respective pizzas, K was translating the headlines for me but all i heard was, "...riot...denmark...hour...indecisive girl in queue...take-home exam...2am..." because all i was thinking was, "...pizzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...mmmmmm :)..." i'm guessing he gave up after two minutes but i really have no recollection of dinner apart from the pizza induced ecstasy. and apparently i was making noises as i ate that embarrassed him. maybe i'd been thinking out loud without realising it...