recently i've been going through what i call a breakthrough phase in domestication- i've begun cooking! i am proud to say that i can now add chicken soup, stir-fried chicken AND prawn noodles, fried vegetables and mango salad to my list of accomplishments. this includes various permutations of pasta and fried rice, plus lots of baked stuff like the usual tarts and brownies and cookies. mark says that baking is cheating; i agree that instant betty crocker mixes make everything too easy, but then again i have yet to be treated to anything coming from a boy's oven. i think baking must just be a girl thing, like playing with barbie dolls and make-up.

anyway, my latest achievement: oat porridge! i know it sounds disgusting (and trust me, it looks disgusting too) but the trick is in the honey. my mom's friend told me that instant oat stuff is devoid of nutrients and might contain carcinogenic compounds from processing, and given that i'm a hypochondriac freak, this was enough to make me buy a 1kg bag of rolled oats from the supermarket yesterday. have i mentioned how i love supermarketing? i think when i start uni i'll have to make it a point to go supermarketing every week, cos it's like shopping except for food! what more could you want? i can already tell what i'll like most about married life, ha ha. anyway, the organic rolled oats called for a pot and a real live fire on the stove, which is more trouble than anybody should have to go to for breakfast, and meant i had to spend close to 20 minutes in total stirring and monitoring the stupid oats while they bubbled away like unidentifiable albino gravy. lucky liberal amounts of honey and milk saved the day, so i was quite pleased with the outcome. which is a good thing too, because it'll be a while before i'm through with the 1kg bag...

last thing! i know my birthday's coming up, so i'll be compiling a list of stuff which i want. this is to make it easier for you guys to buy me something which i'll like. of course, it's always about you ;)