Food - A Collegian's Perspective (follow up from B)

well well...in B's blog, he basically described how an international student survives overseas
to those who don't know B, and haven't read his blog, u may either ask me...or here's the concised version...
B mentioned that as an international student in Australia, we basically spend quite a bit of time in the supermarkets like Coles or Woolworths, and compare the prices. Yes, we've gone down to that level of our mothers...but hey, that's how we survive based on the allowance we have.
anyway, he also mentioned that it's really difficult to cook for 1, and that it's much better to cook in a group...like cook a few dishes together, share the food, and then cleanup together...it basically takes a shorter period of time...and also, u won't feel that pathetic eating alone...u get some social life

well...that's B's lifestyle there...where u stay out alone
for me, I stay in a residential college, where our fees include rent, 3 meals, water and electricity, land line rental, some form of security, and pple to clean up for us

right...back to the story...
as a collegian, I basically have all my food settled for me...cereal n toasts at breakfast, lunch n dinner...here's a typical dinner (that's dinner tonight):
rice
potatoes
steamed vege - corn, french beans, peas, carrots
salad bar - lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, pasta, potato salad
a choice of meat - chicken leg/breast, meat balls
tomato soup
dessert - apple crumble and salad

that's basically a typical dinner...but mind u, I've been eating such food for the past 8 weeks of my stay in Sydney...and it can get really boring, tastless, and depressing. Besides, the chef sometimes have really bad cooking and everything tastes really weird n yucky!
so, what do we, collegians, do?
we eat out! well...once in a blue moon for me...a bunch of us will go to the restaurant down the road...order some dishes and eat it with free flow of rice n tea...not that I eat a lot of rice
and it's abt $7-10 per person, depending on the amount of food we order...
or, I may sometimes juz order a bowl of noodles, eg: beef brisket poach noodles, and that will be $6.80 for a plate...which usually lasts me 2 meals...as in, I'll eat half of it, and pack half of it for the next meal

hungry at night? dinner sux badly, but don't wanna spend that money?
here's another alternative...instant noodles!
yup yup...I have a whole stash of instant food under my bed: noodles, pasta, soup
so when I'm hungry at night, or when I don't feel like eating college food, out comes the instant food!
a pack of instant noodles costs abt $0.60 here...but it's good when u have nothing to eat :p

when u're really craving for home food...what do u do?
why...cook! of cos!!
huh? how?
use the microwave oven lor!
ok...here's my situation...my college doesn't have a kitchen for us to cook in...but there is a microwave oven in the dining hall...and trust me, u have no idea how much stuffs u can cook in that little rectangular thing...
so far, I've cooked chicken curry, fish curry, cabbage soup, tom yum soup, instant noodles/pasta, porridge, instant soup, and rice
ok...so I cheated a bit...get the soup base (or curry paste), get the fresh stuffs, and then chuck them all in...
hey hey...u can get nutritious instant noodles too! cook ur noodles, add in mince pork, fishball and egg...and there u have it! yummy instant noodles!!

so, there u have it...a pretty long entry on how Ruthie survives in Aussie land...ha ha!

ps: speaking of food...I've not had my dinner...wasn't hungry at meal time, so skipped dinner...it's 10pm now and my tummy's growling :p