Kym Le

On Thursday I found out through a phone call from Mum that…I was offered Dentistry at the University of Adelaide. Unfortunately it also coincided with the lapse date to respond to the offer and made me very stressed.

That night I had only two hours of sleep. Then early the next morning we flew to Adelaide. Mum and I vacillating by taxi between a couple of accommodation options, only to decide on our initial stop!

Then I walked to the university campus to quickly enrol. I couldn’t. I had no idea about the Dental Surgery courses so I walked a fair distance to the School of Dentistry and the wonderful staff talked me through what I missed out in O-Week. Sleep deprived and thirsty, it was a lot of information to digest in one go.

We rushed back to check in to my dwelling. We tried napping but we couldn’t and after a while we walked around the city buying linen and groceries. Throughout the day Mum kept on repeating “give up” to me and she was being serious. It was an incredibly tough day.

On Saturday morning Dad arrived and took us to the various places which would carry out my blood tests. They were closed. Then we headed over to the police station. They wanted photocopies of my photo identification documents so we had to return to print these out. And then we headed back and were told that the police document will arrive in a number of weeks. We spent the rest of the day driving around (yes, Dad hired a car) to buy the paraphernalia I would need. In the evening during our dinner we found out the owner was the sister-in-law of my aunt-in-law’s close friend. Adelaide is a small place indeed!

On the weekend an ATM swallowed my bank card. (Talk about bad luck!!!)

I had to rush over to the bank during my Monday lunch break, the first day of university, to get it sorted.

I will keep you updated, but I can let you know now that the first week of the semester will be just as busy. I haven’t bought the equipment needed, read through all the information in the handbooks and, most importantly, prepared myself mentally for my journey to becoming a dentist. I’ll be living alone for the months ahead so I’ll greatly appreciate all the help I can get.

Yesterday I went to MasterChef Live at Hordern Pavilion.
I won a festival pass through an ABE’s Real Bagels competition. What do you think of my response?

To go in the draw…tell us your favourite way to serve up ABE’S Bagel Crisps.
What I love to do is crack each bagel into four or five pieces and sandwich them between thick wholegrain bread for extra crunch. I’d add French remoulade on top of assorted salad leaves and a small fish fillet for that zinging taste. ABE’s bagels use superior ingredients so my burgers are fresh but incredibly tasty.

…continue reading "MasterChef Live Australia 2010".

After so many years of concentrating on my studies I am finally learning to cook. It can be so difficult to create a meal from scratch! Even so, I believe the presentation is always important.

Banana blossom chicken salad (gỏi gà bắp chuối)

Don’t bother with this unless you have a hideous banana tree in your backyard.
…continue reading "Salads and Cottage Pie".