Yesterday I tried cooking Cajun chicken and it turned out quite nice.

Cajun sauce ingredients:
1/2 pc green pepper
1/2 pc red pepper
2 medium-size tomatoes
Mccormick’s cajun seasoning / paprika powder / salt

1. Blend the peppers and tomatoes in a food blender
2. Bring to boil in a saucepan, adding cajun seasoning, salt and/or paprika powder to taste

The sauce is enough for several servings, and tastes good enough in my opinion to match bottled salsa dip sold in supermarkets.

Cajun chicken ingredients:
Cajun sauce, as above
Skinless and boneless chicken thighs or breasts, flattened
Mccormick’s cajun seasoning / paprika powder
Fresh lime/lemon
Olive oil

1. Mix olive oil, cajun seasoning / paprika powder and freshly squeezed lime / lemon juice together
2. Marinate chicken (preferably overnight)
3. Grill or fry on skillet until cooked, sprinkling more cajun seasoning or paprika powder as needed
4. Serve with a generous dose of cajun sauce on top

I also made mashed potatoes.

Mashed potatoes ingredients:
2 whole potatoes, peeled and cubed
Light soya sauce or salt
Fresh milk
Margarine or butter

1. Place potatoes in a pot, cover with water
2. Bring to boil and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, or till tender
3. Drain water
4. Return potatoes to a hot pan/pot and cook for 2 minutes to evaporate remaining water
5. Add milk and margarine/butter. Add some soya sauce or salt
6. Mash till the potatoes are completely… mashed.

The picture doesn’t do justice… it was taken with a camera phone. =)

While looking through Creative Technology’s latest Annual Report, I was surprised to see “Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council” listed as one of the majority shareholders with 530,000 shares currently valued at about S$3,000,000.

While I understand that town councils would want to invest their funds to get some capital gains on their surpluses, I wonder if there are any policies to guide their investments. Should town councils be allowed to invest their funds in high-risk equities? Who approves the investments? And, why would the Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council invest in Creative Technology, a company that has been losing value on the stock market for years? If the town council had already owned the shares since long ago, they should have sold their holdings to prevent further losses. If they had just bought in not long ago, the question would be about how wise the decision to buy was, or whose idea/advice was it for the town council to throw their money into this counter.

I would think town councils should put their money in lower risk investments such as fixed deposits or funds with track records of stable performance… at the end of the day, town councils should not see investments as a primary source of income - after all, the funds come from taxpayers and should rightfully be used for improvements to facilities rather than as capital for investments.

Well, this is not really news, just that MM Lee publicly acknowledged this issue.

Mr Lee acknowledged in the interview that the Chinese students on Singapore Government scholarships were using the Republic as a stepping—stone.

Since the problem is now officially recognized, what is the government going to do about it? A review should be made to prevent such opportunists from using taxpayers’ money to fund their studies, only to leave the country for greener pastures later. We are defending the country for such people, and paying them too.

Perhaps longer bonds should be introduced, or better still, reduce the number of foreign students (we have enough of them around already anyway). There are lots of talented Singaporeans too, and we just need more chances and opportunities to be recognized. The government should look at our own people rather than make it a habit to look elsewhere for talents - who do not intend to stay in Singapore for long anyway.

Here’s a controversial suggestion by MM Lee in his recent interview with an American journalist - that Singapore rejoins Malaysia.

“If they would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us and even do better than us and we would be happy to rejoin them.”

Well, I suppose he is speaking for himself and his like-minded cadres only. I am sure many Singaporeans are not very keen about the country rejoining Malaysia.

Sometimes after reading comments made by Singapore’s leaders, I wonder when they say things like “Singapore will be happy to… “, etc, are they referring to the people of Singapore at large or just projecting their own desires onto the rest of the population?

What is this thing about embracing foreigners, to “use them and treat them as … citizens”? Is MM Lee conceding that the government’s ideal policy is to provide the same benefits for foreigners and Singaporeans alike? If so, then what is the purpose of being a Singaporean? Why should we work so hard for the country when we are not getting any better treatment than foreigners are? (Edit: I noted after reading another article that MM Lee was referring to the Chinese and Indian population of Malaysia, not foreigners)

And once again, what’s with our leaders always trying to teach other country’s leaders how to run their governments? I am sure than Singapore does have a civil service that is more efficient than many other countries’, however, I am not sure it is a good idea to go around telling people, “Look, you got to be like us and blah blah blah… “.

When former Malaysian PM Mahathir joked about Singapore some years back, he said that Singapore was so small that if you have a sports car, if you speed up for a while, you’ll drive into the sea… and he welcomed Singaporeans to drive their sports cars into Malaysia where they have highways to speed on. He is right. Singapore is small, Malaysia is way bigger - a small country is always easier to administer than a bigger one.

What’s with Singapore leaders trying to teach their Malaysian (and on numerous other occasions, other countries) counterparts how to run their country? One man’s medicine can be another’s poison - what worked for Singapore may not necessary work for others. A large country have different problems from a tiny one like Singapore.

Also, at the end of the day, it’s not like Singapore is that perfect - there are plenty of pointers we can take from countries like China whose administrations are not deemed as efficient as Singapore’s. For example, upon realising the problem of local governments spending extravagantly on government office buildings, the Chinese central government took action to persecute those responsible and prevent such excessive spending in future.

On this point, Singapore should learn from China - all the government offices I walked into before were furnished like 4 or 5 star hotels. What’s with trying to look posh and high-class? A government office should portray an image of professionalism and consideration for taxpayers’ money. What’s more important is that they look decent and are functional.

I hope someday we can have leaders who are more humble of our country’s achievements, so that when Singaporeans go to other countries we will not be looked upon as stuck-up people just because people read about our government’s not-so-humble statements.

I’ve often been telling my friends that teaching is not a priority for NUS - the university is obssessed with research in the hopes that more breakthroughs can be made so that NUS can become world famous.

The following statement, taken from a NUS webpage, proves my point:

NUS is a research university, with low teaching loads, excellent facilities, ample research funding and support for conference travel.

With such kind of messages to potential faculty members, it is no wonder why students are always complaining about the (lack of) quality of teaching staff.

The situation here is a stark contrast to what’s happening in many overseas universities. Take for example the University of British Columbia… it is geared towards research as well but they did not lose focus on the student population either. A lot of emphasis is placed on creating a good experience for students as compared to all the efforts here in NUS put towards keeping and attracting faculty and research staff.

NUS needs to learn how to treat its students better. Many of my fellow schoolmates have told me they would not stay in NUS for postgraduate studies… because they aren’t getting a good undergraduate experience.

These days, I’ve been trying to slack off a bit from my studies. I decided I’ve had enough of hardcore mugging at books.

I’m spending more time relaxing, trying to cook different stuff, experimenting with yogurt making, occasionally setting some time aside to cycle to a friend’s neighbourhood to have coffee and chat. I’m also trying to set some time aside to do some gardening and revive my eBay business that had given me some extra pocket money in the last year.

Am I becoming complacent, or is it just because I really need a break from hectic studying? But I am certain I will bounce back at the right time… I just hope I’m not becoming a chronic slacker.