Sweet treat No heat!

Ingredients
Biscuit Base:

• 2 packs of 150g Oreo cookies
• 50g melted butter
• Round baking pan (8 inch x 8 inch x 2.5 inch)

Cream Cheese Mix:

• 500g cream cheese
• 1 cup castor/normal sugar
• 250ml whipping cream
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (1 med-size lemon)
• 3 tsp gelatin powder
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

I know you're eager but before you start... Take out your butter & cream cheese to let it soften first!

Preparations

1. Remove cream from Oreo cookies. Crush cookies to fine crumbs.
2. Mix crumbs with melted butter thoroughly.
3. Cover base of pan with aluminium foil. Spread biscuit mixture onto tray evenly and firmly. (I used the buttom of a glass to hammer it in. =p)
4. Put into freezer for 30min.

Cream cheese!!

1. Pour gelatin powder into warm water and let it "bloom" first. Then stir to dissolve. (I think it's easier to dissolve like this rather than stir immediately??) Add in lemon juice and stir mixture. (I added lemon zest i.e. grated skin of lemon. But don't so greedy until grate the white part. You have bitter cheesecake not my prob!) Cool to room temperature.
2. Beat melted cream cheese with sugar and vanilla essence until creamy.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the whipping cream until smooth. (Ok. For noobs, "smooth" means to whip till the cream actually turn from watery to puffy -- like those on cakes. It's ready if it sticks to your whisk/beater when you lift it out of your bowl.)
4. Whip the 2 mixes together. Add lemon juice mix and stir thoroughly. To add crunchy texture to the cake, you can also throw in chopped Oreo cookies as you stir the mixture gently. (I'm not sure if you should WHIP or FOLD when you mix -- cos if i'm not wrong, if you WHIP, it'll beat the air outta your whipped cream. Meaning you just wasted your energy to whip it. I use the FOLD method -- i.e use your spatula to literally 'fold' the mix as if folding oragami.)
5. Pour the mixture over your base and refrigerate for 5hrs. (Personally, I recommend you leave it overnight in the FREEZER. I didn't put in freezer and it was still rather soft after 5hrs.)
6. Sprinkle cocoa powder (optional) on cake and.... ITADAKIMASU =p~~~

Wearing the mortarboard

It's the time of the year again.

The 4th level of SIM is bustling with students clad in their convocation gowns. Some had flowers, while others had cute graduation bears. But almost all had the unmistakable SERANGOON BROADWAY paper bag. Parents were seen adjusting their children's gown/motar, their eyes sparkling & beaming with pride. Friends hustled together for pictures, turning moments into wonderful memories. Above the noisy chatter, you could hear excitement & anticipation thick in the air.

So... this is how it feels like to attend a convocation.

And that strange thing that graduands have to wear on their head... yes. The mortarboard. Why the name? Why the shape? What's with the tassle (lumps of strings hanging from the middle) falling on which side?

*bing bong bing bong*

It's DID YOU KNOW time!

The hat is called a "mortarboard" cos it resembles the metal tool that bangla workers used scrape cement onto bricks. (Bricks & Mortar mah!)

The placement of the tassle (aka xuxu) indicates one's "status". i.e. Graduate - Left. Undergrad - Right. Anyway, you only get to wear the hat if you graduate so it's ALWAYS ON THE LEFT.

****

Orh............... now we know. *nods appreciatively* I bet some people just call it "The Hat". =D

[Hogwart's School of Wizardry?!]

To you: Thanks for allowing me to experience what I missed out 2 years ago. I can never let my parents see me go up the stage to receive my cert; I can never appear in my friends' convocation photos; I can never throw my mortarboard in SIM.

But I've never never once regretted my choice 2 years back. To exchange this half-a-day glory, for my 3-day glory in Taipei. I'm sure my parents were as proud of me to see me in the Straits Times instead. =)

CONGRATULATIONS D & ZZ!!