AHHHHHHH.

At an unearthly time of 1.54am, in between studying for Organizational Communication and reading reviews for Wild Honey, AND with Chris Tomlin's songs playing in my media player, I am craving for BREAKFAST!

Not just a normal breakfast... an extravagant one! With homemade waffles with blueberries & maple syrup, eggs benedict, tomato stew and beef/pork sausages... -.-"



My angmoh food blood is beckoning me to salivate uncontrollably while my kiasu Asian study mentality says that I should stop thinking about this and focus on the "serious hints" the lecturer for Organizational Comm has sent to us via email. My friends and I suspect these "serious hints" are the exam questions itself, considering how terrible this lecturer. You'll be wondering, if he gives exam hints, why would I say that he is terrible, right? Well, that's another long story for another time.

I will make a hearty breakfast one day for DR and my family because I am inspired by Wild Honey's breakfasts =D Hope no one gets poisoned. Muahahaha

Labels: breakfast

Erm... China did it again.

Imitation milk powder, imitation branded goods, imitation everything, including their recent Shanghai 2010 World Expo theme song.

Who has forgotten about the time during the Beijing Olympics where a little girl was caught lip-syncing to a song on stage. Turns out the real singer was a little girl who looks "not as good".

This time round, the World Expo theme song is found to be a big rip-off from a song by popular Japanese artiste Mayo Okamoto. Seriously, music also can plagiarize? What's new right? They can plagiarize software and concepts, so honestly, this is nothing new. Check out the video and you'll understand why...



China, you have some explaining to do...

This is the cakes post I've been wanting to write. But technically, it isn't exactly all about cakes. The sweet things featured are all cakes, except for a couple of them. But I have to talk about them because they look vaguely like cakes. Okay, enough of justifications, I shall move on.

Here are the cakes/sweet things I like (not in order of merit):

1) Chocolate Souffle from Laurent Bernard Chocolatier
Apparently, to order this, people have to wait for 30min for the souffle to be baked. Freshness, in this case, is guaranteed! When I had this with Yue, Prisci, ZX and Char last year, I doubt we waited for 30min. At most 15 - 20 min? The raspberry sorbet was an immaculate accompaniment and good palette cleanser for the fluffy but at the same time, dense chocolate souffle.

2) Chocolate Raspberry Cake from Han's (Novena Square)
Don't belittle this simple cake because it's very good. I like the tangy raspberry bits encased in the within the chocolate layers. It has body, not just a typical sponge cake.

3) Coco Exotic from Four Leaves
This is my birthday cake. It is affordable and good. Ever since Yue brought it for us to eat on her birthday during our junior college days, I fell in love with it. The hazelnut/chocolate crispy base makes it a luscious eating experience because your mouth will feel the textures. YUMMY!

4)Carrot Cake from Cedele
Carrot cakes... my favourite cake of all time. To me, the important factor to carrot cakes is that they have to be moist inside and the cream cheese must be subtle yet smooth enough to give me the oomph! Cedele's version wins hands down (but I must say Coffee Bean's is a close second).

5)Apple Crumble by Epicurious (Robertson Quay)
Last year (or was it the year before?), Esther Neo (HAPPY that I finally met up with her recently to catch up! ;))brought a few of us to this quaint and quiet strip at Robertson Quay where Epicurious is located. Apparently, this Apple Crumble is homemade. With the vanilla ice-cream, it makes the apple crumble a joy to savour. I like the bits of fresh crumble =)

These are the 2 pictures that Prisci specially took for me while travelling on the streets of Sydney. She spotted it in the sky, snapped it and sent it to me via email. Sweet! My friend is the best!! The Aussie people actually made the word "Jesus" in the sky! Guess it's for Good Friday? Isn't that cool? Yue, these pictures are dedicated to you too!



And this:


IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED. Check out my mummy's home-made lizard trap, made with a big used envelope, masking tapes and some meat-looking bait (which I don't know whether it is raw or cooked), which managed to successfully capture a lizard ALIVE! I was daring enough to go closer and take a picture of it. I was afraid the flash from the camera might cause the lizard to scramble away but nope, it was still firmly stuck there after my blinding flash.

All hail masking tapes! And MUMMY! And that meat-looking bait! And big envelopes!

I have been wanting to share this with you all ever since I stumbled into one of Clyde Kilby's resolutions during one QT session I had with God. Decided to research more on it online and found the full 11 resolutions that Clyde Kilby, an English professor from Wheaton College had made. John Piper, a famous theologian, was one of his English students in Wheaton. COOL.

These resolutions spoke depths about life. So instead of making resolutions, such as "I want to cut down my weight by 5kg within 2 weeks", which we will seldom or never even accomplish, why not consider these resolutions which will make our everyday a joy to be in?

These 11 Resolutions may seem a bit cheem, but trust me, it is worth the read.
Presenting the 11 Resolutions, by Clyde Kilby:

1) At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.

2) Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death, when he said: “There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendour, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.”

3) I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence but, just as likely, ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.

4) I shall not turn my life into a thin straight line which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course I shall often have to do.

5) I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myself and do my work.

6) I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are, but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their “divine, magical, terrifying, and ecstatic” existence.

7) I shall follow Darwin’s advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.

8) I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, “fulfill the moment as the moment.” I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.

9) If for nothing more than the sake of a change of view, I shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves.

10) Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this veryday, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the Architect who calls Himself Alpha and Omega.

11) I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the “child of thepure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder.
****

Hope you have been inspired. I was and still am.

In a twinkling of an eye, I've reached the last week of school. Interesting that I don't feel reluctant whatsoever. Probably because my exams is only in the beginning of May and that is why I don't feel school life ending.

Anyway, today is my last lecture for COM254 and my last Discipleship Group (DG) session in NTU. I thank God for bringing me through this semester, giving me exceptionally meaningful and fun Mondays. With my DG mates and Monopoly Deal kakis (we are all reigning queens!), Mondays are never mundane.

Janice's rabbit and bear hard-boiled eggs. Too cute to eat. I had the rabbit...


Kris', my DG leader's yummy 爱心炒饭!


My DG mates. Guess where we were.

MONOPOLY DEAL after Prof Bo's lecture every Monday (except for the 3 intensive weeks of rushing for FYP report)

Vanessa and Denise with a pile of our shuffled cards


Me and Cecilia (my primary school classmate and now my fellow classmate for COM254 again in NTU!)


The scheming "Star Alliance". HAHA

My winning set *beams*

Indeed, today is one of my best Mondays in NTU :D

As I was standing in the many hundreds of people around me, worshipping the Lord during my church's Maundy Thursday's night service, deep within my soul, I was overwhelmed with immense thanksgiving. I have never known a god that can be so loving and giving... Many gods in the world demand people to offer them something before they bless them. My God does not seek benefits for Himself. He gives when we believe in Him, expecting no tangible things from us except for a heart for Him.

With Jesus on the cross, people see it as foolishness or madness but to God, he sees it as a precious love gift to the imperfect me, the imperfect you, even if it means going through isolation, ridicule, pain and ultimately, death.

Another thing I realise was that I could cry a lot and get all emotional during worship (when I sing songs with the church to God). But in daily life, we don't get to enjoy such worshipful environments. We live in a life that does not have emotional music or soundtrack to get us all inspired, repentant or certain about what we are going to do in life. It boils down to me listening to the prompts of the Holy Spirit as I take each step each day.

Thanks to a sister who shared Proverbs 16:19 on Facebook: In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

May the Lord guide me each and every day the steps to take, even as I plan my course in life.


PSSSTT. I am officially attached for ONE YEAR. HAHAHAHAHA. :D

Labels: Christianity; relationship, faith

The Reason behind Good Friday



My faith is meant to be shared and I sincerely pray that whoever reads this post will be blessed, that one day, you will come and receive Jesus Christ - the one who gives meaning to everything that we go through in life and the one who will bring us to eternal life.

Before Good Friday is Maundy Thursday. Blessed Maundy Thursday everyone!