Winter 'Shoes' a.k.a. Socks

Winter's coming and I could not resist to buy this pair of home socks/shoes for home wear. I have been eyeing to buy this for some time but I could not justify the need for it. Some time later, I saw my MIL and SIL both had a pair and they were really useful and warm to wear. Finally this was on sale and I bought it at 20% off the original price at Kmart! :)

In my favourite pinks & mary janes design :)

This is a soft, knitted pair of shoes to be worn at home. It feels like wearing socks but it has a non-slip sole glued on at the bottom. There are many colours available. I know my Aussie mates will not find this an exciting discovery/purchase. But to my Singapore friends, I think they (especially the girls) will share my excitement :p

I also saw a pattern on Lincraft knitting newsletter to knit this. I will attempt undertake the project after I complete my current sweater project.

Just as I was posting this entry, hubby came back with another pair of home socks (but of different brand)!

Purple pair with different soles. This has many small circle rubber stoppers on the sole.

I mentioned it to my SIL a few days ago that I could not find it at Big W. I think she saw it today, bought it and had just passed to hubby to give to me. Now I have 2 pairs, both in the colours that I like :) Let's see if hubby will wear the purple pair. At least the colour is less feminine (although this is actually really for women :p)

I cannot wait for winter to arrive!! :)

Pineapple Tarts!

One of the food that I missed in Singapore is: pineapple tarts! Grandpa used to make heaps of them before Chinese New Year and they were my favourite. Dad used his recipe to bake some some years back. However I was never interested to learn, even though I was generally interested in baking. I suppose, when other members in my family can bake it, I figure I don't need to learn it... not until now that I am away from home in Brisbane...

My younger SIL's parents-in-law were here for a visit from Singapore. Aunty D is a very good peranakan cook. And so whilst she is here, we got her to conduct a cooking class for us. By popular demand, pineapple tarts became the choice.

Aunty D brought 1kg of her home-made pineapple jam over (there is a secret of getting that through the customs which I don't think I should divulge here :p). Today, we learnt how to make the pastry and put everything together.

Roll the pineapple into small balls... and put them onto the moulded pastry

The 3 kitchen hands - both my sisters-in-law and me!

The final yummy result after 40 minutes of baking

I will try making everything from scratch by myself one day. I need the mood and hopefully pineapples will be cheaper then.

My New Pair of Eyes

Being a resident of Australia, you are entitled to government's Medicare. On top of that, I bought some private health insurance (something which most people are highly encouraged to). At the time that I joined the private health fund, they had a promotion and waived all 2 and 6-month waiting periods. Hence I get to benefit from seeing a dentist and recently, a new pair of glasses!

How it works is this: I went to an optical shop and had my eyes tested. The fee of optician was fully covered by Medicare. In Australia, you must have your own eye prescription for corrective glasses or contact lenses. And for the premium that I paid for my private health fund, I can fully claim the cost of corrective glasses or contact lenses up to a certain maximum amount per year. So, for the amount that I am entitled to, I got this new pair of glasses free! I have only paid 3 months worth of subscription to the insurance (amounting to about A$50) thus far but I can be fully covered for this pair of glasses which would have cost me more than A$200.

For now, my brain needs to get used to the clear and bright vision that this new 'pair of eyes' gives me. And I need to get used to my bespectacled look (which I never got used to over the past 18 years) I was told to wear less contact lenses because the blood vessels in my eyes are not getting enough oxygen supply :( (hee, I just remembered a little story relating to my bespectacled look)

Baby Thots

When I was 7, mummy gave birth to my (then baby) brother. So from 7, I was expected to learn how to take care of him and my (then) 4-year-old sister together. I remembered that it was rather fun, carrying a baby, feeding him, playing with him. When he was older, I walk him to kindergarten. When I was maybe about 10, mummy began to babysit my neighhour's children. In the period of about 5 years, she babysat 2 children. Being the eldest of the family, I had then helped mummy to mind my siblings and the child that mummy babysat.

So it seems like those skills came in useful. I was never afraid to carry babies, infants, nor scared by their cries (I only felt sorry for them when they cried really badly - red face, tears all over their faces, etc) I know how to burp babies after their milk feed, how to carry them to support their necks, how to pat them to sleep, how to change their nappies, fold their nappies (in those days, we used cloth nappies).

Yesterday, I had my taste of motherhood babysitting my niece, the 16-month-old Belle. Her parents were working and so I helped my MIL mind her while she went for evergreen fellowship. I have taken care of Belle before but yesterday, I take care of her for a stretch of 5-6 hours by myself. I bathed her, changed her, took her to the nearby park for a walk, watched tv with her, carried her to sleep, fed her lunch, played with her, talked to her, etc.... it was really tiring physically, but really rewarding and satisfactory. I can't imagine how I would have felt if it were my own child...

Belle is a really easy child to take care of. She is really sensible even at this age. She is starting to learn how to speak new words, both English and Chinese words. Right now, she can say "pa pa", "ma ma", "mum mum" (means to eat), "gai gai" (means to shop), "pooh bear", "bear bear", "baby", "na na" (means banana), "花" (flower), "bird", "pretty", "画画" (means to draw) There are many other words that she cannot speak but you know that she understands what you are telling her. E.g. if you say "let's go watch tv", she will walk you to where the tv is". It is really amazing how children knows things even though you don't teach them. God is really good at His creation, isn't it? And to think that we are created in His image.

Belle on the slide in a small park nearby. She smiles just like her mummy, my SIL

She was really good and easy to take care of. I wished my own children will be like her!

And yes I woke up with achy biceps and back today :p What a good workout for the day!

Baking Treats

My SIL and I have been assigned to prepare morning tea in church tomorrow, which also happens to be Mother's Day. We decided to not only bake something for morning tea, but also bake some little treats and give it to the mothers in our congregation.

SIL baked 5 different flavours of cookies - jasmine tea, coffee, chocolate, black sesame, lemon & lime, while I baked some little cupcakes, inspired from the pretty cupcakes that I see in my recipe book.

Daisy cupcakes: From the recipe book (left) & the result of my effort (right)




Custard apple cupcakes: From the recipe book (left) & the result of my effort (right)

It was not easy to replicate the pictures in the recipe book. Reason being the sizes that I made were much smaller. I had made the small 3 cm diameter sized, as supposed to the normal 7 cm diameter sized cupcakes. And so when I was decorating the daisy cupcakes, I had to be really careful and use my (clean) fingers to put everything together. As for the custard cupcakes, it was not easy too. There is a custard filling in the centre of the cake, and so I had to put a layer of cake mix, top it with a custard filling and top it with another layer of cake mix. Finally I have to top it with small slices of apple. After it is baked, a dash of cinnamon sugar is sprinkled on the top of the cakes.

Together with the yummy cookies made by SIL, we put together 19 bags of such above (cookies at the bottom and cupcakes on top). The number was 19 because I only had 19 of those cookie bags that I brought over from Singapore (bought from Phoon Huat). Our English congregation only has a few mothers in our midst (thankfully! :p). 19 should be more than enough to go around. It was quite a tiring effort and I spent most of my day making them yesterday. However it was really quite fun and brings quite a lot of satisfaction having seen the end product, although I think I can improve on the decor of the cupcakes. I would probably need another occasion to motivate me to make them the next time!


In addition to that, I also made 2 other batches of cupcakes (above) for morning tea tomorrow. SIL also baked extra cookies for morning tea. Notice that the cupcakes are different. These are improvised from the daisy cupcakes recipe. I added rainbow rice sugar on top of the cakes instead of the chocolate beans and marshmallows. And I had added cocoa powder for the second batch and also topped it with crushed Flakes.

Lastly I would like to present this to my dear mummy - 2 heart-shaped cakes =)

To my dear mummy: 母亲节快乐！原主赐福给你。我不能亲自送这蛋糕给你。但我会带你把它吃掉! (HAPPY MUMMY'S DAY! May the Lord bless you. I cannot really give you the cakes in person but I shall eat it on your behalf!) :p

My Friend Needs Your Help

My friend requires your help to do a survey for her Masters thesis. If you are a Singapore citizen or permanent resident, you are eligible to answer the 19 questions (takes you 10 minutes) and you also stand a chance to win $200 cash. Please help her if you can.

I want to help in the internet survey

Movies Under the Stars

Hubby brought me to spend a 'romantic' evening under the stars on Monday... watching big screen movies in the comfort of our car :) Apparently there are lesser and lesser of such outdoor drive-in theatres around in Brisbane. And since we still have a valid 1-for-1 Entertainment Book voucher, we figure it would be nice to spend the public holiday evening that way :)

It was the Yatala Twin Drive-In Theatre. For A$14, both of us drove our car in for 2 movies. We watched "Iron Man" and "Spiderwick Chronicles". We brought along our own dinner, snacks, desert, drinks, blanket and pillow. I thought it was quite cool and I have never done drive-in movies before. Singapore used to have such entertainment about 2 decades ago when there was more land available. The sound of the movies was piped in either with speakers that they provide, or you can tune in to specified radio stations in the car.

The big screen and cars in my background

We spent a special and relaxing evening together. The new Entertainment Book does not have the 1-for-1 vouchers anymore. But we got a discount card that night - A$10 per adult on Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays if we present the card. Without the card, you can pay A$10 for Tuesdays. If anyone needs the card, we can loan it out :)

A poor attempt of impersonation

I definitely would like to go for this again :)

Smug

Smug made for mother-in-law as a birthday gift

Completed it in less than 2 weeks with less than 3 rolls of 50g yarn :) Bought a pack of 10 balls of yarn for $12.50 at Spotlight! What a bargain!

The Matthew 6 God

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus told his disciples, saying:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Elizabeth Elliot wrote in her book Keep a Quiet Heart: "We're not naturally inclined to love God and seek His Kingdom. Trouble may help to incline us - that is, it may tip us over, put some pressure on us, lean us in the right direction."

How true it is! The sinful, rebellious me is not naturally inclined to seek God. The doubtful me worries every now and then, wondering "Will God give me this? And will He give me that?" Whenever I look back in my life, I am convinced that God is my God and my provider, Lord and Saviour. But when I hit a little barrier in life, I question God again... or when I see a blessing being taken away from me recently, I also questioned God.

Quoting Elizabeth again, "I am convinced without a doubt that a loving Heavenly Father oversees the creative miracles in the inner sanctum of each mother's womb and that in His sovereignity there are no accidents."

(Referring to Deut 8:2-3, 5, 7-9)"The cause of our discontent: We simply do not believe God. The wilderness experience leads to the Promised Land. It is the path God chose for us. His Word is established forever, and He tells us in a thousand ways that His will is our peace, His choice for us will lead to fulfillment and joy and the way of transgressors is hard. Do we suppose that we could find a better way than His?... Be patient. Wait on the Lord for whatever He appoints, wait quietly, wait trustingly. He holds every minut if every hour of every day of every weel of every month of every year in His hands. Thank Him in advance for what the future holds, for He is already there."

The Yahweh God, Creator of the heavens and earth, the God who knitted me in my mother's womb, the God who knows me so intimately and deeply. He knows my every move, my every thought, my every emotion, my every being, my every need. If He clothes even the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, what more will He give me, His beloved child? In fact, He has already given us the best - Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for my sin. What more can I complain? If I trust fully that God is sovereign and that He is the the God of the past, present and future, then He is already in control. What more should I worry? What more should I fret?

Dear loving God, I know you love me deeply. Please forgive my doubtful heart and times where I doubt Your work in my life. My nature is to turn away from You. Thank you for the Holy Spirit which always point me to You and I pray that I will learn to seek Your Kingdom daily. I pray that I will trust in Your daily provisions. For You love me and will give me everything that I need. Sometimes I do not understand why certain things are not good for me to have at a certain time, please help me not to blame You nor throw tantrums at You like a little child. But instead, give me that of child-like faith to trust You and obey You. Amen.

A New Look

Didn't quite like the orange in my previous blog layout. Hence I have changed it to this blue one and used one of my favourite pre-wedding shot :)

Shot was taken at Raffles Marina Club, Singapore.

First Trials

I had the opportunity to try out making 2 food stuff recently.

1. Waffles
Excitedly borrowed this waffle maker from a friend. Hubby loves waffles but we figure that it doesn't justify a purchase of the maker. It is also not too cheap to buy frozen ones from the supermarket. So having to borrow the maker for a week really excites me.

I made close to 50 waffles in that one week and gave some to W's parents, grandma and sister. I froze the rest of the lot for future consumption. The pattern on the maker was really pretty - made up of 5 hearts joined together. The batter was really easy to make and about 1/2 cup of batter was put in to make 1 waffle. In 2-3 minutes, we can get a hot crispy waffle!

2. Konnyaku jelly
I love this firm chewy jelly with fruits in them. My mum used to make them for the family and because she makes them, I never have to make this myself.

I ran out of the jelly trays so I used anything that comes to mind

Although the "Redman" brand of konnyaku jelly mix is not readily available in Brisbane, this "Happy Grass" brand served just as well. I found "Redman" brand in one deli shop at Eight Mile Plains but it was expensive and a small packet. At Yuen's Groceries, I could get one of this larger packet which cost just a little more and it makes more than twice the amount that "Redman" could.

I was really happy with the result. The consistency of the jelly was purrrfect! I thought that it might be too watery and less firm... but hey, this was great! Apparently Konnyaku jellies aid digestion and its healthy because there is no fat. But hmm... I think the sugar content is not too low. Well, I suppose everything in moderation is good ey?

An Anniversary & An Enriched Weekend

About 3 weeks ago, we celebrated our "proposal anniversary" - the day that W asked me for my hand in marriage. A year later, here I am in Brisbane. Its amazing how much can happen in the space of 12 months...

I cooked a special meal for us to enjoy and celebrate the occasion.

Pork chop with mashed potatoes, mushrooms and veggies

One year on...

It was also timely that we went off for a short getaway down at the Gold Coast last week. Thank God for the special promotion that we got for our 4D/3N accommodation at Surfer's Paradise. Hubby had bought this as a Valentine's Day gift for us to enjoy and we picked last week with Anzac Day public holiday to enjoy the gift :) We spent time relaxing, cooking (in the seld-contained apartment), watching DVDs, taking walks, eating and visited the casino :p (we only went in to look and did not play. I was flattered when the security asked for my ID because he think that I could be younger than 25 years old!)

In the queue for buffet dinner at Conrad Jupiters. A nice Aussie lady offered to take this for us.

Right after our break, we checked out and drove 2 beaches down to check ourselves in to a marriage enrichment retreat. This MER was organised by Chinese Families for Christ. There, we spent 3D/2N with 12 other couples, learning to enrich our marriages in Christ.

Everyone who has been to the retreat left with a "Wow" and an enriched marriage. But of course we have to put into practice what we have learnt thereafter. To begin with, it was a rather challenging task because the retreat was conducted in Mandarin (there was only either Mandarin or Cantonese to choose from). Hubby had a little more difficulty than me but he eventually understood more than 90% of it. My parents-in-law had gone for this MER years ago and their marriage was transformed thereafter and hence they felt burdened enough to serve in the ministry to facilitate the retreats. Having personally witnessed the transformation, hubby and his sister decided to sign up with their spouses respectively.

Many of the things that were taught were not too new to me and hubby. But what was very helpful was the genuine and honest sharing of experiences from the facilitating couples. We also got to put into practice, how to do certain things, like effective communication, how to build up each other's emotional banks, how to share our feelings especially our negative feelings. The practical lessons helped us a lot. Being put in the environment of 12 other couples with varying years of marriage and everyone were there with a humble heart of learning, we walked away feeling really recharged to work on our marriage.

After our romantic dinner: words that read literally "We love because God first loved us. How God love us, we also love each other in the same manner"

Do not be mistakened that MER is meant for those whose marriages are on the rocks. It is to enrich our marriages. Although we are only married for 5 months+, the past attendees would tell you that it is better to attend the MER when you are younger in marriage, than later in marriage. Indeed like one couple said, we could be involved in setting up a good family of origin and background for our children and their marriages. Like it or not, our mindset of marriage and family come from our own family with our parents. So it is crucial that we begin now for our future generations... and by God's grace, our marriage, our children and their marriages will honour Christ.

MER made us better understand that marriage is tough, but it is a good thing that God instituted. We learnt practical methods on how to work through our marriage, to build in the romance factor into it and also how to practically love each other in Christ - to love and respect each other. It is not easy for husbands to love their wives just as Christ love and sacrifice for the church. It is also not easy for wives to submit to their husbands. But we all learn and progress together in this journey and I think this is the beauty of it all :)

I thank God for the gift of His love, the gift of marriage and the gift of my hubby.