Akan datang (coming soon) Singapore!

Am packing up and preparing to leave for Singapore tonight. As I woke up early this morning at a backpackers hotel in Sydney (hubby and I were there over the weekend to attend a wedding), thinking “wow, I'm gonna be flying tonight to SG via KL tonight! How unreal that is...”

Its been almost a year that I last went back to Singapore to visit my family and friends. Earlier on, there was a part of me that was reluctant to go back... I think a part of it was to possibly face some 'pressure' from my reliies about my simple life in Brissy and also I am quite settled down in my routine of life here already. But as things happened in the couple of weeks leading up to my planned return, I wished that I could be back immediately, to be there for my family...

Having being settled in Brissy for the past 1 odd year, I realised that I've pretty much settled in my life here... the only thing is having to still take time to get used to Aussie culture and people. I wish I have my singlish-speaking friends here :p So in conclusion, life in Singapore is not what I missed, but the 3F's – family, friends, food!

More thoughts about my time here in SG. Watch this space! Singapore, here I come!

To Have and To Hold

A year ago on this same day, hubby and I made a lifelong promise and committment to each other... for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish (to obey in my case), until death do us part or our Lord Jesus Christ returns.

By God's grace, it has been a year of knowing each other better amidst all the ups and downs that we experienced in life. It felt like we have married for a longer time than one year... To celebrate the occasion, I cooked a simple sumptuous candlelight dinner for the evening. We figured that we would save the money dining out and have a simple but nice fare at home and since I do not work Mondays, it worked out well for me.

Menu: crackers with pink salmon cheese, doritos with beet root dip, creamy mushroom soup with toasted lebanese bread, flat mushroom with cheese, pan-fried black angus beef steak.
Dessert: wedding cake frozen from last year

The highlight was the black angus beef that we bought from the Brisbane markets 2 weeks ago. It was such a bargain, 2 pieces of quality beef 730g in total for under A$14. If we had gone fine dining it would have cost us about A$30 each to have the same cut of meat. I had fun preparing the meals and we ended up using 2x the amount of crockery and cutlery we normally would have used because I tried to create that restaurant feel - changing crockery and cutlery for every course. Hubby did all the washing up thereafter :p

We shared about the best things that happened in the past year of marriage. We are really thankful for the opportunity to attend a marriage enrichment retreat 5 months into our marriage. Much of our marriage grew in the past 6-7 months having gone through the retreat. I wondered how our marriage would have been like if we did not attend the retreat. Other best things in the past year include our cooking stints together and the times when we make up and forgive each other after a conflict or disagreement.

We spent some time praying before we had dinner... gave thanks for the past year, gave thanks for each other, thankful for growing in love and prayed that we will continue to grow, prayed for our family in Singapore... I thought it was a really humbling, simple and enjoyable night :)

Lord, we pray that You continue to teach us to love sacrificially and seeking to help each other grow in our godliness. Amen.

Family in the Process

My family (parents and siblings) have not really been through a real 'crisis' before. I really do not wish for unfortunate things to happen to my family but if so God wills, I am sure He has it for a good reason. We experienced our 1st and 2nd unexpected deaths in our close family last year. Through those incidents and sorting out the aftermath, my family probably got closer a bit together. To begin with, my family is the typical Asian type where my parents do not really show much of their love and emotions to their children. And amongst my siblings and I, we may hang out together but we are not very close nor know each other's deepest thoughts and feelings.

Being the only Christian and the eldest child in the family, I tend to have the 'messiah syndrome' and I do get stressed out by it at times. Being the eldest means that I am always being looked upon to decide things and also the source of wisdom in some matters. I was rather stressed at both deaths then. And now that I have moved out (not only out of home but also out of the country), that pillar is kinda gone even though I am just a phone call away. Yet I feel like I have to be there to motivate, steer and direct the family in some occasions, it sometimes feel like I have to do something otherwise no one else can do it.

The current 'crisis' that my family is going through now is of course, not something that we'd like it to happen. Although it is a really difficult time for particular member of the family, I could also see how this situation can potentially rally all of us together to be strong together. It breaks my heart to know that a member of my family is hurt and I do wish that I could be back at this very moment to be there to help hold up the situation and be a 'messiah'. However I am glad in some way that I could also be with the family in spirit and be in communication via the telephone. Yet I realised that it was better for me to talk and express what I would have found it difficult to say over in person. I know that my family is aware of hubby and my love and support with the family even though we are not present physically.

It also made me realised that I have to commit and entrust my family to God due to my absence. I mean I ought to entrust them to God even when I am physically around but it becomes more of a challenge when I am not around. I realised that I cannot be a 'messiah' even though I may feel like I am one to them. Really, Jesus is the true messiah. It only makes me pray more for my family's salvation and that they will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Messiah. I know this doesn't sound good but in the past I would wonder why is it that I feel like I don't love my family enough to desire much of their salvation and actively praying and sharing with them? I never had the answer but I remembered praying for that love for my family and it seems to be answered through these current circumstances. I felt saddened by the situation, and yet I know I have to be strong for my family to encourage them and spur them on, more so also that I have Jesus. All the more I pray that they will know Jesus not so that life will be better, but that they will have that future hope in Jesus and a life eternal. Perhaps this is also a good opportunity to show them hubby and my Christian worldview and (hopefully) maturity and love, that they are able to see the difference in us being Christians.

In a personal way, I also thank God for the chance to grow my relationships with individuals of my family. E.g. I had a long 1-to-1 talk with my dad last night for the first time. Dad usually does not say more than 10 sentences to us each day and hence last night was a breakthrough for us. If anything, I hope that through our conversation I managed to encourage him and he could see my growth and maturity through the things I say to him and that he will realise that I am truly a grown girl... and for him to slowly realise and eventually be able to show his love for us more openly and freely. I have had conversations with other individuals in my family too but this with dad was the most significant.

I am also thankful that I have hubby to partner me in this journey together as I face my family, to be there to support me beside me and also a chance for him to participate with us in this situation and to grow closer with my family. There are many opportunities for me to grow closer with hubby's family because we are living in the same country but not for hubby with my family.

Through it all, I still thank God because hubby and I are able to see how this 'crisis' will potentially grow each of us in my family and something for everyone to learn. May God continue to change us and work in us... Makes me look forward to be back in Singapore (which I will be in 2 weeks' time) and for a short holiday that we are planning to go together. This would be our 2nd family holiday but our first with the latest addition of hubby (total of 6). We only really went away once as a family of 5 and this was about 3 years ago)

Would you pray for my folks and siblings' salvation? Thank you for your partnership :)

Moved by My Little Friend

I had previously blogged about my little friend, Cha - about her thoughts of me getting married and her reaction when she saw me in my glasses. Cha is (now) my 6-year-old little friend.

Cha was my flower girl when I had my wedding celebration in Singapore. She wants to be a flower girl but she only wants to be MY flower girl and no one else's. She probably figured that she wants to be loyal to me. And so the old joke was that if I never got married, she will never get to be a flower girl. After the wedding, I (and her mummy too) told her that she can now address me as "aunty island" (as supposed to che che island. che che means "older sister"). However she refused and replied "No! You are always my che che island". I thought that was very sweet of her because I saw the place of me in her heart.

About one month after I moved to Brissy last year, Cha's mummy emailed me and told me that both of them were painting the ceramic Pooh Bear piggy bank that I gave Cha some time ago. As Cha was painting it, she told her mummy "Mum, seeing pooh bear just makes me feel like che che island is here with us. Won't you agree?"

Apparently, Cha has been telling her mummy a few times that she misses me. She knows that I am in Australia and I have spoken to her over the phone before. One time, earlier in the day before I rang her she told her mummy "Mum, I miss che che island. Tak boleh tahan (malay term meaning unbearable or "I cannot take it anymore!")"

The knowledge of cha, a 6-year-old girl missing me and thinking of me, really moved me. I don't know why I am not as moved when my family and friends in Singapore miss me. But when I know how much this girl miss me, I am moved (to tears) by her love for me and it really warms my heart knowing that. I suppose I did not expect a little girl to miss me that much. Now that she knows I will be going back to Singapore soon, she is so looking forward to see me.

As she knows that I will be back in about 2 weeks' time, she told her parents that she wants to go Sushi Teh with me only. Sushi Teh was our favourite hunt but I have never gone with her alone. It was usually with her parents too. She did not want hubby to come along this time and she feels bad about it. In her young and innocent ways, she told me "I don't want you to be my aunty island. I want you to be my che che island. If you bring uncle W, you cannot be che che island anymore..." Cha understood that I am married but do not understand that even so, I still love her and is her 'che che island'. Except that now we are miles apart, our relationship is still there but not very much the same. In some way she has accepted that I have moved on in life but in some way, she hasn't. She still has much memories of me in the past. She cried as she felt bad about not letting hubby coming along for lunch because she does not want me to feel sad, yet she cannot deny her innermost feelings that she wants me only. Sigh, this girl, sometimes it seems funny and she makes me laugh at her little girl's silly ways but really she is so real and genuine that laughing at her ways seem to then not take her feelings into consideration.

Cha will be going to start school in Primary One next year. I pray that as she grows up, she will be a fine young lady with her big genuine heart to love and be gracious to everyone. May others see Christ's love in her too.

More "Veggie Tales"

(The lavender flowers are finally growing up towards the sky! More lavender flowers are blooming!)

Please bear with me, this 'city bumpkin' who gets easily excited about her gardening exploits. I have been extremely pleased with my garden in the past week!

A week ago, my FIL gave us 10 pots of changko manis plants. This is a type of asian vegetables that you cannot buy outside (I've not seen it being sold before). Apparently it is easy to grow them and we can harvest the leaves every now and then to cook them up and eat them. We were also given a passionfruit plant which is still small and hopefully it will grow and be able to bear us a fruit or 2 in summer. I am not a big fan of passionfruit and I probably have not eaten passionfruit until I first came to Australia to visit my in-laws. They have got a couple of passionfruit plants/trees in their garden. Since then, I like it a little more. Often I will dig out all the pulp and freeze them in a container. This is so that I can use it in future to make a drink or bake in cakes/cookies.

2 rows of 10 changko manis plants in the background. In the foreground (L-R), sage, coriander, sweet basil, sweet basil and sweet basil

Both my chilli plants are also flowering. I am a bit surprised that by this time I can count about 18 green chillies. Good thing I pruned the plants in winter and hence they can now survive a bit better and able to flower and bear fruit. The chillies seemed healthier and bug-free now and there are more flower buds that seemed like blooming soon! I am only afraid that the harvest of chillies may cause the plant's branches and leaves to hang over too much (due to the weight of the chillies on a single branch) that some may break.

The 6 chillies on one single branch. Can you find them?

This birthday, I received a box of 6 lettuce seedlings and a pack of potting mix from ST. I had to plant them on the ground (soil in a styrofoam box) the next day because they seemed like they were withering. I have since eaten some lettuce leaves from the plants. They have also been growing (but not as fast as one could in a garden with full sunshine) and I am glad that they grew a bit better after the rain yesterday.

Lettuce seedlings and plants

I think what I am most excited and looking forward to, are the tomatoes (cherry?) that are blooming. There are so many small tomatoes and yellow flowers (which eventually grows into tomato) on those 3 plants. I can't wait for all of them to turn red!

Some of the many cherry tomatoes which are still green. I last counted 53 of them amongst 3 plants... and there were still many flowers that are waiting to grow into tomatoes

What I need to get now, is small water crystals so that the plants continue to be hydrated during those days that we are not in Brisbane and unable to water them daily. If anything, seeing flowers bloom and fruits grow into harvest, is the best thing for summer :)

First Year Anniversary - Home

This entry records some thoughts after I saw photos of a renovated home of someone I know from school days. The HDB flat (government apartment) undergone quite a massive renovation. I must say that the finished product was quite nice and well designed. I like it... but really, I like the decor of most homes I see and have been to.

Here in the Aussie scenes, Better Homes and Gardens recently featured Australia's Best Homes in a few of their episodes. They were also featured in their December issue of the magazine. All of those houses have great scenery surrounding it and most of them focussed on both practicality and stylish designs. By practicality, I mean big and useful kitchen with big areas for dining and entertaining and family area, materials used are good for both the cold winter and the hot summer. All of them are so stylish, that it doesn't look much like a real home but more like a show unit. I suppose to me, a home has to also look cozy and has a neat type of messiness. At least that is a sign of human activity and reality, as supposed to a totally clean and neat...

Speaking of houses, today marks the 52nd week that we have moved into our townhouse. 52 Saturdays ago, we moved in here... on 10 November 2007. Ask me how it has been?I'd tell you I (and hubby too) am only just full of thanksgiving and I should be thankful... We moved into this about 13-year-old 3-bedroom townhouse and we did not do any renovation to the place. If you asked me personally, I'd really like to do something about the house - perhaps paint some walls, change the kitchen (I don't like green and it is full of green), have a non-carpet floor and to have a study. But because of our hasty move (just a week before our wedding) and the fact that we could not afford it, we didn't do anything to it. We moved in with much given + bought 2nd-hand furniture and furnishings, thankful for a roof over our heads.

A year down the road today, I still hope to do what I'd like to do to the house, or perhaps even have a bigger place and more so for the reason of having more people over (to stay over or for a meal). But the thought of a bigger place means more cleaning and maintenance.. and most importantly we are probably never gonna be able to afford a bigger place and hence not think about it (unless God so chooses to provide). Yet in more ways than one, I have reasons to be thankful and contented for... this place is possibly larger than some of my friends' in Singapore (that's because of the scarcity of land there) and probably about the same area as my parents' home in Singapore (including our backyard and garage). If my parents could rear me and my siblings up in a small 3-bedroom flat (until we moved about 10 years ago), I don't see why I can't do the same?

The Bible encouraged and reminded me, that where I am on earth is only temporal. Everything on earth will fade away and I must look forward to that heavenly home where I belong. Jesus has gone before me and prepared a place for me in heaven. I am guaranteed that perfect home when Jesus comes again. I have still much to learn about contentment. But for now, it is what we do with this earthly house/home that God has provided for us... I pray that we will continue to learn to be generous with what we have (even though it is not a lot) and to be hospitable to others. By God's grace and providence, we have been able to do that for the past year and we pray that we will continue to be generous and hospitable with our house in many years to come.

Happy first year anniversary, my home :)

10 Ways to Discourage My Husband

Top 10 tips to discourage your husband (descending order):

10. Keep your home messy (or frighteningly neat!)

9. Gossip with him.

8. Don't tell him how much you appreciate him. Instead, complain.

7. Critisize him.

6. Don't forgive him.

5. Don't help him.

4. Never submit without a fight.

3. Keep him celibate.

2. Commit adultery.

1. Fall away.

[Read the article here]

I must say I definitely have succeeded in the above in more ways than one. Yay!! ???

Lord, may your grace be sufficient for me. May I stay away from temptation to lead my husband away and to tear him down. I pray the Holy Spirit will guide and lead me to fail in the above attempts so that the Chief Enemy will be cross and disappointed with my failures. Amen.

Once A Slave to Heroin, Now A Chef

I have been reading ieat's blog to get myself familiarised back with Singaporean food, in preparation for my visit back in about 26 days' time... I have also drawn up a list based on the location of the food centre, so that when I visit the centre, I will only eat the specific food so that I will not waste my calories...

As I was searching for the places to eat crab, I came across this recommendation of "Eighteen Chefs". ieat reviewed the food and also the chef, B who was a drug addict but gave his life to Jesus. He now is a chef at "Eighteen Chefs" and the interesting thing was, he spent a few months working at Jamie Oliver's fifteen restaurant. He probably the only Singaporean chef whogot to work there.

The testimony of B was encouraging... I have not really heard nor read his testimony prior to this, although I know/heard of him through a friend in church (who also used to be a drug addict). I think I also heard Ben play the drums (or was it guitar?) at H's wedding. I have eaten at Goshen before and have met Ben... it is true that he looks really fierce and scary but really he is a nice bloke.

Read B's story and food recommendation of Eighteen Chefs and be encouraged :) I will be there to eat lobster mornay and black pepper crab baked rice ;)

Healthy Carrot Cake

Recently chanced upon this carrot cake recipe which uses olive oil instead of butter, which is a healthy alternative for cakes. Since then, I have tried this a couple of times and I really like this!

185 ml extra light olive oil
180g sugar
3 eggs
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250g grated carrots
50g chopped almonds (or walnuts)
50g chopped sultanas or raisins
50g chopped cranberries or craisins

250g cream cheese
2.5 tbsp icing sugar

1) Beat sugar and olive oil in a mixing bowl until well-mixed and sugar seemed to dissolved.
2) Add one egg at a time, beating well with each addition.
3) Gradually add sifted flour, baking powder and bicarb soda and beat well.
4) Fold in carrots, sultanas (or raisins), almonds and craisins.
5) Pour batter into a 22cm tin and bake for about 50 mins at 180 degrees.
6) Cheese frosting: Beat cheese until smooth, about 4-5 mins with an electric beater. Add icing sugar and beat well. Spread this mixture over baked cake.

ENJOY!

Most Successful Char Siew of the Year

Hubby and I read about ieat's blog entry on Fatty Cheong's char siew and decided to try it for ourselves last Friday when the family came over for dinner to celebrate my birthday. We used collar butt pork and since we bought it the Sunday before, we thought we will marinade the meat instead of freezing the meat and then thaw it a day or 2 before Friday to marinade it. We also anticipate that the longer the meat is soaked in the sauces, the better the result will be.

Prior to this attempt, I have tried making char siew from another 2 recipes. The first was the Chinese BBQ Pork from Donna Hay. It turned out ok, good tasting, but definitely without the authentic char siew taste. My 2nd attempt just over a month ago was better and good. I didn't add any red colouring to on both occasions.

I used this "Fu Chung Beancurd" in place of bean paste in Fatty Cheong's recipe. This beancurd was used in redneck's recipe and since I specially bought it for char siew, I might as well just use this.

In there, we have about 1.4kg of pork. We had to adjust the amount of sauces estimately. Of course I had to use my 'agarism' (estimation) for this. In the end, I still had quite a bit of marinade left over... The above, strips of pork rained with white sugar and oyster sauce.

Hubby cleverly used the plastic bag that used to contain the pork as a glove to run the pork strips through the marinade ingredients.

The red colouring made it look quite gross... as if the meat was covered with blood!

There, we used the xue di zi to bake the char siew... except that I was too busy cooking and preparing other stuff that I forgot to baste it.

The result was awesome! This is really quite close to the taste authentic char siew. Although we could easily buy good chair siew from HK shops, we figured we like the idea of trying it and then see if we could reproduce for ourselves at home. I'm sure my mother will be quite proud of me. She can make good siow bak and I can make good char siew! :p Will make it a point to go down to try out the real Fatty Cheong's char siew when I am back in SG in a month's time. So then I can try out what should it taste like!

Birthday Celebrations

Wednesday - Birthday celebrations began with Baskin Robbins sending me a voucher for a free ice cream. I love Baskin Robbins ice cream... something which I can't get to eat in Singapore but only whenever I go to Malaysia. My favourite flavour's gotta be Jamaican Mocha Almond Fudge. It has the coffee taste with some chocolate bits... and crunchy almond nuts to chew on.

Thursday - My boss and his wife bought me lunch. Hubby also joined us for a simple Vietnamese spread at Sunnybank. Thereafter, they also got me a little cake to celebrate in the office. Also received some lettuce seedlings and potting mix from ST. I was so delighted with the gift as I have been trying to grow lettuce (to have them for my lunch).

Family dinner feast

Friday - I received a card from company's National office in Sydney, which was a pleasent surprise. That same evening, my family (from hubby's side) gathered at our place for a potluck dinner feast. Hubby and I made bbq char siew, korma chicken and spring salad, while my 2 SIL made a Vietnamese lettuce roll with grilled pork and peking duck pancakes. Damo and I have our birthdays in November and hence we celebrated it together. WC made our birthday cake - coconut cake with passion fruit filling which was a winning combination!

Saturday - It doesn't happen often that my birthday falls on a Saturday.. and I particularly appreciate it because that means that I can relax and enjoy the day! And boy, it was a really tiring day - got out of the house at 7.30am and got home close to midnight, in between went home 2x to drop off fresh food into the fridge and to shower up and change for the evening.

Woke up at 7am to go RC & WC's place to have breakfast before RO, WC and Belle went with us to the Rocklea market (aka Brisbane Market). I have not been there before and hubby specially suggested to bring me there on my birthday. I however, got RO and both my SILs to come along too. I love Aussie markets - I like walking around from store to store to browse and may end up not buying anything. This, however is mainly a fresh fruits and veggies market. Ended up doing my grocery shopping there - bought apples, oranges, strawberries, mushrooms, broccoli, kiwis, free-range eggs, green beans, corn-fed black angus rump steak (same price as what you would normally get for a normal beef so we thought we could have a little treat to try this out), wagyu kobe beef patties ($2.50 each - cheap for a wagyu kobe beef and they tasted really good!) and a sage plant.

After a simple lunch at my SIL's, we went for S&KY's birthday gathering at a park in Indooroopilly. The highlight was when a bass guitar was presented to S (who is slightly more than 24 hours older than me). We had a great time playing frisbee (only hubby played) and fellowship over afternoon tea.

Of course by then, hubby and I were really tired out (hubby was more tired because I could take naps while he drove). Went home, took a shower and went out again. I knew that hubby had a surprise arranged for me but I didn't know what it was. I thought perhaps we are going out for dinner at some nice place (which didn't require us to dress up). I was asked to close my eyes through the entire journey (of which I fell asleep, as usual). As we arrived and parked at the back lane, I didn't know where I was until I got into the building... karaoke lounge!

Hubby arranged a karaoke session for me to sing my lungs out and for our friends to join us in some fun. Hubby figured that I miss singing (especially karaoke) and hence this surprise. It was a pretty decent place. You get 4 hours of singing and dinner for the price one pays.


After all the hype and celebrations and behind it all, I see the love from family and friends. And again I feel totally blessed and privileged to have family and friends from both Brissy and SG to love me. Although I could not see my family and friends in SG, knowing that they think of me and remember my birthday was good enough. And I am also thankful that family and friends in Brissy made the extra effort (especially hubby) to make the day special for me, perhaps so that I won't feel homesick and deprived? I am thankful as I sense that hubby's family and friends are seeing me as part of their family and friend too, that they are not just my hubby's family and friends but mine too.

I am also thankful for the gifts that I received. They were all so practical to me. It feels like they know what I wanted (and I know hubby did not hint to them). Other than the lettuce seedlings, I received 2 recipe books, bottles of aromatic body lotion and hand cream, a vase and a gift card. Lord, thank you for your blessings and love for me through people!