Hello?

I might be talking to the spiders creeping around the corners of this blog, but I'm here to turn on the lights and wipe the dust away – second year at college has been crazy, but these are all you need to know about the past few months of the gastronomy of student life:

The most important things I've learnt from student living:

1. Cream cheese and honey on toast makes a bangin' breakfast. Richard claims it to be "like cheesecake on toast". TIP: Stuff warm pita with the same stuff. It's ridiculous.
2. If you don't buy it, you won't eat it. Do you really need a pack of McVitie's Chocolate Digestives every time you pass (or delibrately browse) the biscuit section in Tesco's?
3. Light butter spread is pretty useless. I dunno, it might help with the calories and saturated fat and whatever, but it barely tastes like the real deal!
4. Never let yourself run out of milk. Milk is the loo roll of the refrigerator. Gotta have it at all times. No milk means dry cereal, black coffee, black tea, no means of making hot chocolate, pathetic scrambled eggs, no impromptu pancakes... and the list goes on.
5. Abstain from purchasing cereal. Mostly if you're someone like me who cannot resist eating cereal out of the box, cinema-popcorn style. I've opted for porridge oats, which are less edible straight out of the box.
6. Frozen food is your best friend. Meat, veg, pizza, pies, ready meals – the best thing to do after a long day at dance college is sticking something into the oven for dinner which hardly cost anything.
7. Sweet potato fries are the ish. Slice them up, stick them into the oven with oil, mixed spice and salt, and you're ready to go.
8. Portion minced meat before freezing. It's not much fun digging your pathetic knife into a solid block of meat when all you want is just enough for two portions of spaghetti bolognese.
9. Raw mushy sausages can become meatballs. Feeling like bits and bobs instead of rods? Worried that sausages and pasta don't look very sophisticated? Cut up raw sausages before cooking.
10. You can indeed accomplish an epicmealtime 'handle it' recipe. I've done it, and it was glorious.
11. Just take the mould off the cheese, nobody's going to die. Cream cheese and cheddar alike – I'm still here, aren't I?
12. Don't look down upon a roasted onion half. It's gooood.
13. Make and keep tons of tiny pancakes to use up expiring milk and leftover chocolate chips. You're welcome. Keep them in the freezer for an eternal breakfast backup plan.

It's been two years of student-living in an English country, but there are wonders undiscovered, the gaps of which my English boyfriend has happened to fill with his superior knowledge.

1. Fire ovens still exist. Richard had one in his student house.
2. Gravy granules! I'm learning.
3. Golden syrup or honey with beef and gravy. *Melts*
4. Mixed herbs can save your life. A sprinkle does magical wonders to almost anything.
5. Sweet and sour sauce with spaghetti is legit.
6. Actually, anything with pasta can be dinner.
7. Yes, even gravy.

Other stuff you should totally try making:

1. Peanut butter and banana milkshake: Blend two generous dollops of peanut butter, a chopped up banana, one or two tsp of sugar, and milk to cover 3/4 of what you've already got in the blender.
2. Peanut butter and banana porridge: Stir in mashed banana and however much peanut butter into your warm porridge for an energising start to the day! Much needed when you start with a ballet class every morning at college.
3. Nutella and peanut butter sandwich: I don't know why most people I speak to haven't tried this yet. Spread one slice of warm toast with nutella, the other with peanut butter, and stick them together. Watch them ooze and fuse. Enjoy.

Dorset Cereals – Honey Granola

Dorset Cereals and their whole muesli thing has always appeared to me as overpriced bird food. (PS: I'm not a muesli fan) I do like granola, though, especially with nuts and honey, so I decided to give this box a try. (PS: It was on offer)

This cereal is seriously stripped down. Oats, pecans, almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, all baked with the tiniest hint of honey and vanilla extract. This is perfect for people who absolutely love nuts and oats, as that's pretty much the main taste of the cereal.

I'm not too big on this cereal, but it's not bad either, considering how natural and healthy it is. A good choice for organic bunnies, but is definitely not for those looking for a Crunchy Nut or Cheerios alternative. And definitely no great after-cereal milk.

Sweet Home Farm Granola – Maple Pecan

It's been a while!

I wish I could say that I haven't been updating much because of my incredibly packed schedule due to being so super-popular that I have to meet up with three to four different friends per day, but that is not the case. While I am free and easy in Singapore, all my friends are in school on weekdays, and cooped up at home on weekends burying their heads in their books for the crazy school system which I've managed to escape!

Fortunately, before I head back to London next Wednesday, I'll be meeting up with friends for a bit, to celebrate birthdays and say goodbye!

When there is no pau, wonton mee, moon cake, egg tarts or curry puffs for breakfast, I grab myself a bowl, a spoon, some milk, and the carton of cereal above.

Wait a minute, those strange things don't sound like things people usually have for breakfast, says England. You're right, but only if you aren't in Asia.

Prior to contrary belief, Asians are in some ways pretttttty unhealthy eaters. Just walk through the Taiwanese streets full of fried-food vendors, or check out the Singporean ah peks ('uncles', i.e men aged 50-ish and above) in the kopitiams (hawker centres) at nine in the morning eating nasi lemak (fragrant Malaysian rice with varying side dishes) with fried chicken and egg.

To feel slightly back-to-routine again, I occasionally have a bowl of cereal when I sleep in and wake up too late to be served breakfast, or when Mum isn't in. USA-imported Sweet Home Farm cereals come in a fat carton and several other flavours which I haven't seen or tried.

The clusters in this cereal don't easily come apart like the one from Tesco, (which tastes amazing by the way) and the pecan nuts are wholesome and appealing. They taste noticeably unique, and far from the standard-sweetness of Tesco's and Sainsbury's versions – there's a deep, woody flavour in this cereal, a sigh of actual maple syrup! The sweetness doesn't hit you in the face, but there's a good amount which leaves a fabulous cereal milk to slurp up!

The milk used here is Pura's regular whole milk, which has been the standard purchase in the household for years – there's no annoying taste, yet it isn't completely bland, a perfect blank canvas for cereal-consumption, and even for drinking it on its own.

Going to creep to my kitchen now and eat out of the tupperware (which it has been transferred to due to potential pesky ants) with a spoon, shhh!

Crunchy Nut Clusters with milk chocolate curls and honey

"Crunchy Nut is on offer!" my sister suddenly half-yelled as I was standing in the cereal aisle of Tesco deciding between the healthier Special K options or Cookie Crisp and sugar-coated things.

For £2 (U.P £2.69) we got a 450g box of cereal clusters and chocolate curls.

The clusters of puffed rice, peanuts, and oats were simply decadent! The honey coating was extremely yummy, and as always for Crunchy Nut, the peanut fragrance really came through, in a sweet rather than nutty way.

The clusters really stuck together, and didn't fall apart easily even when submerged in milk. The chocolate curls were not so significant, but provided the tiniest hint of taste and soft texture. The milk became quite sweet as a result of the honey, hooray!

A great cereal, I'm definitely getting it again some time. This cereal is basically for everyone – kids, granola-lovers, nut fans, chocoholics, sweet teeth, the whole lot!

Cybercandy | Part Two

Click here for part one.

Moving on, we are faced with a variation of the peanut butter cup by Megaload, which is filled with caramel instead of peanut butter. (£1.15)

From left to right, the caramel cups are topped with Almond 'Buttercrunch', Candy-coated chocolate pieces, and Peanut 'Buttercrunch'. Not as interesting and original as the combination before, with their peanut butter cups. The m&ms are here again, between two very similar-looking 'buttercrunch' variations. This pack doesn't get me as excited as the peanut butter cups. I mean, two out of three of those were slapped on the top with a whole cookie!

The caramel was runny and smooth, and the cup reminded me of a Cadbury Caramello Koala.

There was nothing very special about it taste-wise, but it sure looked pretty as I ate it.

I couldn't tell the difference between the next two. Because the chocolate and caramel combination is already very strong for the tastebuds, the pathetic brittle (almond buttercrunch above, peanut buttercrunch below) doesn't do anything, and it felt like their purpose was unserved.

Likewise, these caramel cups are pretty and unique, and make great gifts. (i.e. pop some into my letterbox please, I wouldn't mind)

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Treats (£1.29) is a snack bar variation of the original Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, much like the Lucky Charms Treats bar. 

My friend, Esther, and I sitting in the middle of Piccadilly Circus on a sunny day, taking pictures and enjoying the weekend. Sometimes, you have no choice but to enjoy yourself in London so much.

We watched La Bayadère at the Royal Opera House and ate lunch at Master's Diner at 4pm in the evening. We even had two minibons from Cinnabon at Piccadilly Circus. No regrets!

American cereal-ness was definitely noticeable here. It took me a long time to recognise the cinnamon taste, because most of it was just sweetness. The yogurt base was really good, and the bar was huge, tasty, and satisfying.

This was the elephant of my purchase, the main act of the variety show.

Oreo Os were the highlight of my childhood. The journey these blue boxes made from the supermarket shelves, into the multi-purpose (yes, hanging on to the handles and riding on it IS a purpose) transportation vehicle of The Trolley, momentarily hidden in one of the many white NTUC plastic bags like a cursed shell game, tucked out of reach in the cupboard, and magically appearing in a bowl the next morning next to a carton of PURA milk – all of this was ritualistic and sacred, and I treasured every aspect of these events up until the woeful year of 2007, when Post stopped producing these Oreo Os.

Where else am I going to get the best cereal marshmallows in the world? Where else am I going to get cereal which tastes like freaking OREOS?

At Cybercandy (Islington) for £6.99, it seems, with a Korean title. I cry a little, but I think about that fact that a) it is the only one of its kind, b) I can earn it back by working at my library for an hour, and c) it tastes like Oreos.

The black, crispy O's are filled with the taste of Oreo biscuits, and speckled with white bits of the stuff present in the original sandwich cookies.

Among the O's are similar-sized, sweet marshmallow circles, which have the best melt-in-your mouth feel one you get past their delicate, icing-like texture.

Like how you dunk Oreos in milk, this moreish cereal also goes well in a bowl with milk. The deep flavour of the O's is complimented so well by the milk, but don't expect any special taste in the leftover milk. You can have Oreo O's in a bowl with milk, you can have it in a box with a spoon in hand – I just wish you could have it for under £3 a box from the local supermarkets. Sam I am.

The Butterfinger (£1.19) is a famous American chocolate bar filled with dense peanut butter flakes, coated with chocolate. It is longer than the average chocolate bar, and rather heavy too. The flaky, puff-pastry like texture was rather unusual, and the peanut butter and sugar filling stuck to my teeth pretty severely. Not something I would buy again, but it was alright.

More Hardy's adventures

I returned to Hardy's Original Sweetshop at Covent Garden.

Don't buy anything made by Taste of Nature. Ever. They couldn't have picked a worse name to brand their products.

This looks like balls of paint scraped from the floors of an art class. Okay, I'm being harsh. They are colourful, but the colours serve the same purpose as those on a poisonous reptile, rather than those on birthday cakes.

Look at the colour running away from the sprinkles.

The outer cover of these things is a matte, powdery coat – some sort of soft icing or fondant. It's a rather disgusting texture to have on your tongue. There is a little crunch in the candy that you would get when biting into icing, which was nice. After that, you get a flour-y, artificial taste, which does remind you a little bit of a cupcake – made from play-dough.

I would just like to give the company a huge no-thank-you to its unique but poor products. I did express my interest in trying out some of their other products previously, but now I give up.

Next up: This 'Lucky Charms Treats' bar would cause fans of General Mills' Lucky Charms cereal to gasp – and there is good reason in doing so.

This cereal bar is absolutely yummy. Those who have had Lucky Charms' cereal will know how the crunchy charms have a hearty and sweet taste, while the marshmallows provide moments of bliss with its soft but crusty texture. These bars are just like the cereal but joined together in a bar, with a little bit of sweet white-something underneath it – I really have no idea what it is.

Although expensive everywhere in London, this bar is great to have once in a while, when you find yourself having a kid-cereal craving.

Here is another Quaranta nougat. It was my main purpose of going back into that shop, after trying the mascarpone-flavoured soft nougat.

This one is topped with chocolate and chopped hazelnuts, and is further infused with hazelnuts and chocolate. One thing that annoyed me when I opened the packet were the loose hazelnut bits on the top which rolled around everywhere instead of sticking to the chocolate layer.

Otherwise, I would describe this bar as high-quality chocolate ice cream with hazelnuts – but drier, and at room temperature.

This soft nougat is good for chocolate lovers, and although I admit guilt, I still prefer the mascarpone-flavoured soft nougat bar.