~My Recipe~
Serving: 2 person
Ingredients:
~200g sliced fresh mushroom (preferably shitake mushroom/swiss brown mushroom)
~half white onion (sliced)
~potato(diced) *do not put too much or else you'll get mushroom paste instead of mushroom soup
~half tea spoon thyme *it's better to get fresh herbs, but those in bottles also do well
~50ml white wine
~30ml fresh milk
~50-80ml hot water (depends on how thick you want the soup to be)
~25g butter
~quarter tea spoon chicken stock
~half tea spoon crushed black pepper
Steps:
1. Heat a pot with medium fire. Melt butter in pot. Add sliced onions and herbs. Fry for around 3minutes.
2. Add potato. When potato looks like it's sort of cooked, add the mushrooms. Stir fry for 10 minutes.
3. Add wine and chicken stock. Simmer for 30minutes. Add hot water if needed. (Just in case it burns out...Oh and make sure to stir it continuously...)
4. Pour the simmered ingredients into a blender. Pour milk into the blender. Roughly blend the ingredients.
5. Pour blended ingredients back into pot. Add hot water. Heat the mixture until it boils(a bit).And also make sure to stir it continuously...Add pepper and stir thoroughly...*You may add half tea spoon of salt if you think the soup is not salty enough...
6. Pour the mixture into 2 bowls and...wuala~~ You've just made yourself(and maybe someone else) delicious and creamy mushroom soup~~ =>
This was my first time cooking mushroom soup and it turned out GOOD~~ (well...maybe a little bit thick but still, it tasted yummy~~)I'm so happy...heehee =p
hmm...wonder what I should do next? MINESTRONE soup? oo or maybe TOMATO soup?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010
Last Thursday and Friday, I volunteered for the Standard Chartered Marathon 2010 race pack collection. And I can say that was really a great experience...Since the first day of summer break, this was the first volunteer work that I've done so far. I have to admit that it was quite tedious though, volunteering from 12pm to 8pm for two days. But I learnt a lot from this experience. I took some pictures but because my comp 'kena' virus so I'd better not upload the photos just yet in case the virus 'infects' my phone. So basically what I had to do was to key in the runner's IC no. into the computer and pass a goodie bag (which includes the marathon singlet, a runner's guide, a New Balance 30% discount voucher and the runner's bib number) to the runner. As usual, there were times when there was an error with the computer system(for example, lag) and so the runner's had to wait and when they started to get impatient and questioned the problem, you could only answer that there was something wrong with the system. And then, some of them just explode like a volcano 'I've been queuing up for more than an hour and I still have to wait some more ar?' / 'You guys are so inefficient.' . Well... I have to admit that the system was a little inefficient though. Planning to volunteer again next year...maybe even join the marathon...maybe the 5km one...or the most, the 10km one... and this morning I was taken a back when my dad told me that someone collapsed and died while running the 10km category...According to the news, this young man died on the way to the hospital...and also the young man could not be saved also because the ambulance came late and it was not well-equiped...I guess the organisers will be having a hard time dealing with this problem...wish them all the best~~
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Knee surgery and child birth
Haih...I guess I might not have time to blog tomorrow so I'll just blog all at one shot today...In case I forget the exciting parts. This morning, at 8am I arrived at Sunway Medical Center again. And today I got to witness a knee surgery and 2 Caesarean child births.
The anesthetist for the knee surgery was the same as yesterday's heart surgery. Two surgeons were in charge of this knee surgery. So the case was the patient's joint between the knees was uneven and what the surgeons did was they cut the part of the knee bone(which included the uneven part) and then inserted an artificial joint. This knee surgery was quite noisy as the surgeons had to saw the knee bone. For this surgery also, the patient was not fully anesthetised. Only her knees and below were numb. The best part of this surgery was I got to be part of the team...although it was only for 2minutes and I did the 'keh-leh-feh' job...One of the surgeon told me to hold on to one of the patient's knees while he wraps some plastic thingy and bandages around the thigh area...O and I also helped to answer the surgeon's phonecalls...nyanyah I felt like the surgeon's assistant...Call me assistant Ting...lolz...From this surgery one of the things that I've learnt is to be a surgeon, you must not empathize the patient...what I mean is you must really believe that the part of being operated is fully numb and the patient won't feel anything. Why did I come up with this thought? It was because of the way the surgeons clean the operated part before they stitch the section up. They just stick a sterilized cloth into the knee area and wipe that part...urghh...
For the 2 Caesarean child births...I missed the first one... when I entered the operation theatre, the baby was already out...and it was wailing real loud...wa~~wa~~wa~~ The surgeon explained to me that this lady has an abnormal uterus. There were also 2 cysts on each side of the Fallopian tubes and they needed to be extracted to be sent to the lab for testing.
For the second child birth...I got to see the whole process, the injection of the antisthetic, the delivery of the child and the stitching of the wound. For this second lady, she chose not to be fully anesthetised only her lower part of the body was numb.So said, she was awake throughout the whole childbirth process. First, the blood pressure of the patient was taken. Then the anesthetist injected the anesthetic into the patiet's body. And it was then when I got sort of scolded. I wasnted to move to one side so that the nurses could pass and so, I went quite near a cabinet covered with blue cloth.(Things that are covered with a blue cloth means that they are sterilized and one's not supposed to touch them unless you have blue clothings on too...)And the anesthetist snapped 'Hey girl!Be careful not to touch the blue cloth!' Well...it was not that I was going to touch the blue cloth anyway...I was still 20cm away...haiz What happens next is a tube attached to a plastic bag(to collect urine during the operation) was inserted into the lady's bladder. Then, the gynae cut across the patient's stomach. And blood oozed out and then you could see the flesh and then the gynae stuck his hand into the wound to grab hold of the uterus. An incision was made on the uterus and fluid gushed out. Immediately, the gynae grabbed the baby's leg and tried to pull him out. Once the baby was out, it started wailing. It was a baby boy...aww...he was so cute...And his body was all white when the gynae removed him. The newborn was immediately placed on a heated bed to be cleaned. The gynae then continue to stitch the wound.
When I compare my feelings after observing a normal surgery and a childbirth surgery, I seem to want to cry while watching the childbirth one. I sort placed myself in the mother's situation and I could somehow feel the pain. Also, for the childbirth surgery, it was different in a sense that a new life is being born into the world. And that feeling was great. I'm so grateful to my mom who gave birth to me naturally(which I think hurt x 100000000000000000000000000 times more). Thank you mummy~~ =>
The anesthetist for the knee surgery was the same as yesterday's heart surgery. Two surgeons were in charge of this knee surgery. So the case was the patient's joint between the knees was uneven and what the surgeons did was they cut the part of the knee bone(which included the uneven part) and then inserted an artificial joint. This knee surgery was quite noisy as the surgeons had to saw the knee bone. For this surgery also, the patient was not fully anesthetised. Only her knees and below were numb. The best part of this surgery was I got to be part of the team...although it was only for 2minutes and I did the 'keh-leh-feh' job...One of the surgeon told me to hold on to one of the patient's knees while he wraps some plastic thingy and bandages around the thigh area...O and I also helped to answer the surgeon's phonecalls...nyanyah I felt like the surgeon's assistant...Call me assistant Ting...lolz...From this surgery one of the things that I've learnt is to be a surgeon, you must not empathize the patient...what I mean is you must really believe that the part of being operated is fully numb and the patient won't feel anything. Why did I come up with this thought? It was because of the way the surgeons clean the operated part before they stitch the section up. They just stick a sterilized cloth into the knee area and wipe that part...urghh...
For the 2 Caesarean child births...I missed the first one... when I entered the operation theatre, the baby was already out...and it was wailing real loud...wa~~wa~~wa~~ The surgeon explained to me that this lady has an abnormal uterus. There were also 2 cysts on each side of the Fallopian tubes and they needed to be extracted to be sent to the lab for testing.
For the second child birth...I got to see the whole process, the injection of the antisthetic, the delivery of the child and the stitching of the wound. For this second lady, she chose not to be fully anesthetised only her lower part of the body was numb.So said, she was awake throughout the whole childbirth process. First, the blood pressure of the patient was taken. Then the anesthetist injected the anesthetic into the patiet's body. And it was then when I got sort of scolded. I wasnted to move to one side so that the nurses could pass and so, I went quite near a cabinet covered with blue cloth.(Things that are covered with a blue cloth means that they are sterilized and one's not supposed to touch them unless you have blue clothings on too...)And the anesthetist snapped 'Hey girl!Be careful not to touch the blue cloth!' Well...it was not that I was going to touch the blue cloth anyway...I was still 20cm away...haiz What happens next is a tube attached to a plastic bag(to collect urine during the operation) was inserted into the lady's bladder. Then, the gynae cut across the patient's stomach. And blood oozed out and then you could see the flesh and then the gynae stuck his hand into the wound to grab hold of the uterus. An incision was made on the uterus and fluid gushed out. Immediately, the gynae grabbed the baby's leg and tried to pull him out. Once the baby was out, it started wailing. It was a baby boy...aww...he was so cute...And his body was all white when the gynae removed him. The newborn was immediately placed on a heated bed to be cleaned. The gynae then continue to stitch the wound.
When I compare my feelings after observing a normal surgery and a childbirth surgery, I seem to want to cry while watching the childbirth one. I sort placed myself in the mother's situation and I could somehow feel the pain. Also, for the childbirth surgery, it was different in a sense that a new life is being born into the world. And that feeling was great. I'm so grateful to my mom who gave birth to me naturally(which I think hurt x 100000000000000000000000000 times more). Thank you mummy~~ =>
Witness of a heart bypass surgery
So this heart bypass surgery was yesterday and I didn't get to see the most interesting part--the sawing of the sternum but the rest of the surgery was just as interesting. Basically the surgery was to cut part of a vein from one of the patient's legs and connect it to the heart, like a bypass 'cause one of the patient's coronary arteries is blocked. For this heart surgery, the patient's blood circulation system and vemtilation system depended on two machines. So on the screen, there is no heart beat rate and stuff like that. This surgery was much more bloodier than the brain surgery yesterday. When I entered the operation room, the anestethist's son was alrealy in there. He's currently doing A Levels at Taylor's Subang campus. One of the highlights of this surgery was the surgeon accidentally punctured the heart and blood gushed out like a fountain(I'm serious), just like a mini fountain. And I was like o~~ The duration of this surgery was around 9 hours(from 8am to 5pm).Really long huh...I think the heart surgery is the most challenging surgery among the others 'cause if the heart fails, then the patient will die. So I guess it's really stressful being a heart surgeon. Another I thing I learnt was to be a surgeon, you've got to be good at sewing...seriously...Also, you cannot have shaky hands. Another thing noticed from all the operations that I've observed so far...all of the surgeons are males...how weird...Even the surgeon who was in charge of child birth was a male...hmm...Is it because males are more stable?I don't know...O and I got to have a look around the ICU unit...
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Witness of a stomach and brain surgery
I was lucky enough to experience a stomach and brain surgery yesterday. I arrived at the Operation Theater(OT) floor at the Sunway Medical center at 8am. I was greeted by an OT nurse and she brought me to the female changing room to get changed into the OT gear. It's exactly like what you see in dramas such as ER, House, Grey's Anatomy etc. -- teal-colored short-sleeeved shirt and long pants. Also you have to put on a shower-cap-like-thingy and wear a surgical mask. O one more thing you have to wear a Crocs-like shoe which are only to be worn in the Operation rooms. As I walked along the corridor, I could feel stares at me. Well..it's probably because I'm new I guess...And so what were my feelings at that moment? -- Excited and a little nervous...It's my first time so...
The first operation was the stomach one. The room was not as I had visualized earlier...In drama series when an operation is going on, the lights are usually turned off except for the ones above the patient but for this operation the lights were on throughout the whole process. There were four nurses in charge of this operation. One of the nurse told me that the patient has 'triple A'(Abdominal Aortic ... something I can't remember). But in short one of the patient's blood vessels is swollen/ has something stuck to it...either one...I forgotten too...lolz Anyways I then greeted the anesthetist and introduced myself. By the way this anesthetist kinda looked like my secondary school's(CH) principal...haha...According to one of the nurses, he is the best anesthetist in the hospital.Ooo I spoke to the best~~ Okay back to the surgery. According to that same nurse, the anesthetist is plays the most vital role in a surgery. It is he/she who is responsible of the life of the patient besides the surgeon. The anesthetist has to give the correct dosage of anesthetic to the patient. And in order to do so, he has to analyse the blood sample of the patient carefully. Also, throughout the surgery, the anesthetist has to monitor the blood pressure of the patient. O when I entered the operation room, the patient was still conscious. This was different from what I experienced 3 years ago when I had an operation. In my case, as soon as I entered the OR, I was immediately given a dose of anesthetic and I went to 'sleep' soon after that. For this operation, the anesthetist explained to me that there are two types of anesthetics. One is the local anesthethic in which it numbs the area injected while the other one is called the general anesthetic in which the patient loses consciousness. And so
after 20 minutes of poking and injecting...the patient 'fell asleep'. One more thing the anesthetist taught me was how to dry one's hands with a towel after washing and one of the ways to wear the surgical gloves. To dry your hands, you have to start from the clean part (which are your fingers) to the less clean part (which is the forearm). It is kinda hard to explain the 'how to wear the surgical gloves' part so I'll just leave it. But what I have to say is you don't just simply shove your hands into the glove like how you do when you're putting on gardening gloves. You have to be extremely careful that the fingertips part of the glove is always clean 'cause this is the part which is going to be in contact with the patient's body. Then, the surgeon entered the OR. And the first thing he asked was 'Where is my goggles?' 'Did anyone see my goggles?'. My first impression of this surgeon was 'hahaha'. Seriously, he gave me the 'playful' kind of feeling. And guess what his goggles, unlike the others which had navy blue rims, were fluorescent yellow and green...Interesting huh?
First, the patient was covered with a huge piece of blue cloth. One more thing to take note is you're not supposed to touch anything that is covered with blue clothes 'cause some of the bacteria on you might 'fly' over to these sterilized equipments. Then, here comes the best part(I thought).The surgeon cut the stomach part with a scalpel and what I expected did not happen. I thought that once you cut any part of the skin, blood will ooze out but surprisingly it didn't. Then, the anesthetist started chatting with me about school stuff. When I glanced back at the operation, (this was the best part)...I saw the surgeon digging the intestines and the stomach and placed them beside the body. I was like...Okay...but thank God I did not throw up. Actually I find it kind of intriguing. The small intestine looked like a continuous chain of sausages...
20 minutes after this stomach surgery began, a nurse called me out of the OT room and brought me to another OT room in which a brain surgery was going on. I entered the room and was sort of shocked. The patient has already been injected 'off to sleep'. And this time the patient's position was kind of weird. She was lying on her chest, her whole body paralysed...She looked like Superman flying to me minus the right hand sticking out in front. This patient had a tumour on top of her head, near her brain. The size of the tumour is as big as my fist. o_o I don't want to narrate the whole process again but maybe I'll just state the highlights of this operation. This one was bloodier than the previous stomach surgery. Blood splattered on the floor...Didn't bring my camera along with me so there're no photos and I guess you guys will just have to imagine the scene...
Today I witnessed a heart bypass surgery but I guess I'll blog again tomorrow...This one's kinda long...But I can tell you this bypass surgery was really really interesting~~ => O and a reminder for those who want to do an internship or something like what I did (the observer) in a hospital, it would be better if you'd revise some of the bio stuff 'cause the doctors/anesthetist do ask questions and you don't want to look stupid...like what I experienced -- I forgotten the difference between superior vena cava and inferior vena cava....oops...=p
The first operation was the stomach one. The room was not as I had visualized earlier...In drama series when an operation is going on, the lights are usually turned off except for the ones above the patient but for this operation the lights were on throughout the whole process. There were four nurses in charge of this operation. One of the nurse told me that the patient has 'triple A'(Abdominal Aortic ... something I can't remember). But in short one of the patient's blood vessels is swollen/ has something stuck to it...either one...I forgotten too...lolz Anyways I then greeted the anesthetist and introduced myself. By the way this anesthetist kinda looked like my secondary school's(CH) principal...haha...According to one of the nurses, he is the best anesthetist in the hospital.Ooo I spoke to the best~~ Okay back to the surgery. According to that same nurse, the anesthetist is plays the most vital role in a surgery. It is he/she who is responsible of the life of the patient besides the surgeon. The anesthetist has to give the correct dosage of anesthetic to the patient. And in order to do so, he has to analyse the blood sample of the patient carefully. Also, throughout the surgery, the anesthetist has to monitor the blood pressure of the patient. O when I entered the operation room, the patient was still conscious. This was different from what I experienced 3 years ago when I had an operation. In my case, as soon as I entered the OR, I was immediately given a dose of anesthetic and I went to 'sleep' soon after that. For this operation, the anesthetist explained to me that there are two types of anesthetics. One is the local anesthethic in which it numbs the area injected while the other one is called the general anesthetic in which the patient loses consciousness. And so
after 20 minutes of poking and injecting...the patient 'fell asleep'. One more thing the anesthetist taught me was how to dry one's hands with a towel after washing and one of the ways to wear the surgical gloves. To dry your hands, you have to start from the clean part (which are your fingers) to the less clean part (which is the forearm). It is kinda hard to explain the 'how to wear the surgical gloves' part so I'll just leave it. But what I have to say is you don't just simply shove your hands into the glove like how you do when you're putting on gardening gloves. You have to be extremely careful that the fingertips part of the glove is always clean 'cause this is the part which is going to be in contact with the patient's body. Then, the surgeon entered the OR. And the first thing he asked was 'Where is my goggles?' 'Did anyone see my goggles?'. My first impression of this surgeon was 'hahaha'. Seriously, he gave me the 'playful' kind of feeling. And guess what his goggles, unlike the others which had navy blue rims, were fluorescent yellow and green...Interesting huh?
First, the patient was covered with a huge piece of blue cloth. One more thing to take note is you're not supposed to touch anything that is covered with blue clothes 'cause some of the bacteria on you might 'fly' over to these sterilized equipments. Then, here comes the best part(I thought).The surgeon cut the stomach part with a scalpel and what I expected did not happen. I thought that once you cut any part of the skin, blood will ooze out but surprisingly it didn't. Then, the anesthetist started chatting with me about school stuff. When I glanced back at the operation, (this was the best part)...I saw the surgeon digging the intestines and the stomach and placed them beside the body. I was like...Okay...but thank God I did not throw up. Actually I find it kind of intriguing. The small intestine looked like a continuous chain of sausages...
20 minutes after this stomach surgery began, a nurse called me out of the OT room and brought me to another OT room in which a brain surgery was going on. I entered the room and was sort of shocked. The patient has already been injected 'off to sleep'. And this time the patient's position was kind of weird. She was lying on her chest, her whole body paralysed...She looked like Superman flying to me minus the right hand sticking out in front. This patient had a tumour on top of her head, near her brain. The size of the tumour is as big as my fist. o_o I don't want to narrate the whole process again but maybe I'll just state the highlights of this operation. This one was bloodier than the previous stomach surgery. Blood splattered on the floor...Didn't bring my camera along with me so there're no photos and I guess you guys will just have to imagine the scene...
Today I witnessed a heart bypass surgery but I guess I'll blog again tomorrow...This one's kinda long...But I can tell you this bypass surgery was really really interesting~~ => O and a reminder for those who want to do an internship or something like what I did (the observer) in a hospital, it would be better if you'd revise some of the bio stuff 'cause the doctors/anesthetist do ask questions and you don't want to look stupid...like what I experienced -- I forgotten the difference between superior vena cava and inferior vena cava....oops...=p
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Inspired by Shrimps...
It's summer break~~And till now I can still smell shrimps...I experimented on shrimps 2 weeks ago but I can still smell the 'shrimpy' stench...argghhh I'm sick of shrimps!!No more shrimps or any thing like that...at least for another 2 months.Talking about my EE(Extended Essay) experiment...I tested the effect of the concentration of tea on the heart rates of the shrimps... It was my first time having such an 'intimate' relationship with shrimps.I've been touching them, feeding them and catching them whenever they jumped out of the water. The best thing about the whole experiment is catching them when they jumped out of the water. The shrimp will jump 8cm high(approximately) whenever you touch them.There was once when I took 4 minutes catching one shrimp and releasing it back into the water. And one more thing is DONT estimate the strength of shrimps. They may be tiny but whenever I caught one between my fingers, the force exerted whenever it struggled amazed me. It's will to survive is so strong. Sometimes, I do not comprehend the reason for some people who end their lives so easily. There are many other people out there in the world who are striving to be alive. For example, people in poorer nations who face the scarcity of food. They would rather have mud or soil as a meal but they do not give up on life. Another example is people living in war zones who are often troubled by the thought 'Will I survive another day?'. It is not their desire to live in that state but they still have to. Because they have no choice. So for us, the ones who are much more fortunate than these people, is it rational then to end our lives just because of a small challenge. I admit that being a human is not easy. We face barriers in our daily lives. We face challenges that make us fall. However, we must stay strong. Try thinking of how lucky we are if compared to those who are not. All I want to say is LOVE LIFE.
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