Yi Shan has nicely set me the task of making tong sui. Ling zhi kang in particular. That's not going all too well since I have only a very vague idea of what is actually in ling zhi kang, until I call my mother tomorrow that is.

This is only task number one of many other cooling deserts I have been set to make for our household. Its not that we're really dying of heat (living underground and all) but this is the hottest weekend London has faced this year. We are seeing highs of 32 degrees, people! (You south east asians and southern asians - yes, I am pointing at India - let us have our moment of sweltering glory for a minute here). I just cannot begin to imagine the temperatures in Spain. I'm starting to think the only solution is to lose the extra clothing.

So here we have yams, sweet potatoes and sago ready to be made into bubur cha cha. I am chilling cincau in the fridge so we can have it together with the lychees which are also chilling out with them. (Oh, bad bad pun... will not happen again, I promise!) We have two tubs of Haagen Daaz sitting nicely in the freezer too. Unfortunately Ben & Jerry's are still not on sale, but their official website has a really cute explanation of how the ice cream is made.

I need a new pair of shoes. Not having anything with heels is killing me, because I am too short for my new skirts! Michelle was in London this week and finally persuaded me to get those skirts I've been eyeing, after I finally decided what length and colour I wanted which took all of 4 days. Thank heaven for friends like Michelle who've stuck by me since Standard 1 and 15 years later tells me to stop being a dingbat and just buy it if I like it! But now I have no one to talk me into buying shoes. Not even Amar who has finally returned to Warwick (you have gone back haven't you, and you aren't just lurking around?)

Busy, busy week next week. My Godmother has invited Lionel and me over for dinner on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday the good ol' MSoc bunch will be watching Woman in White with some of the Emperor's Gate household. Then on Friday, it's off to Barcelona (where I suspect we will bump into hoards of people we know) and then to Andalucia (where we will see nobody but gypsies and bullfighters... what a relief!). In the meantime I'll just work on segmenting speech signals. Don't bother about me.