Making Marriages Work

Pastor Ying wrote a series of blog entries about the 7 M's of "Making Marriage Work". I found them quite useful and a good reminder for Christian marriages and how to make it work. They may not be things that you already know, but it is good to remind ourselves. After all, we are fallen beings, isn't it?

Making Marriage Work - Manhood, motherhood

Making Marriage Work - Mates, money

Making Marriage Work - Mother-in-law, making out, ministry

Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Soup

I have made pumpkin soup before but this is the first time I used sweet potatoes as well. This is a combination of 2 recipes that I found. My guests and I really love this soup. I think this is the best pumpkin (and sweet potato) soup I have ever made.

Ingredients

500g sweet potatoes (or kumera)

500g pumpkin (Jap or butternut. I used butternut)

1L vegetable stock (I used Massel ready stock)

1/4 cup of chopped continental/Italian/flat-leafed parsley

1 med brown onion, finely diced

50g butter

250ml cream (I used light thickened cream)

Remove the skin and cut up kumera and pumpkin roughly into smaller pieces. Place them, onions, butter, parsley and stock in a big saucepan. Bring it to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 20 mins until the pumpkin and kumera are soft.

Cool the soup for 10 mins. Puree the soup. Now if you like you soup thick but would like to omit the cream, you could at this stage. Otherwise, add cream for a creamier texture and return the soup to the stove. Bring it to a slight gentle boil. You are ready to serve!

I find that I need not add any salt nor pepper to this soup, even though I used the salt-reduced version of the vegetable stock. It was really tasty and comforting to drink it (even though it is not winter now). I reckon the fresh parsley (straight from my garden) made the difference too ;)

Mango Ice Blocks

It is 3 more days to summer and it is time to make some ice blocks to quench the thirst and cool the body down. I bought some ice block container at Ikea for $3, enough to make 6 blocks. Since we bought a carton of mangoes from Aldi the other day, I thought we shall make some mango ice blocks!

It is simple - just puree the flesh of 1 mango (I was lazy and just used a fork to mash it), distribute them amongst the block containers. Top it up with mango juice (I used mango apple juice) or another fruit juice like pineapple or orange juice. Freeze! After freezing overnight, this is what you get:

Yum yum!

Free shopping (Well, Almost)

Cut out a $10 voucher for Howard Storage World from their promotional booklet. It came in the Christmas issue of Better Home and Gardens. I usually do not buy much from HSW as their prices are fairly expensive. With this voucher, I thought I will go to HSW to see what I can spend $10 on.

Spending $1.80 (on top of the $10 voucher), I got a plastic basket $3.95 (where I am able to store things in the fridge and get them out easily), 2 bottle stoppers $1.95 each and a pack of laundry hangers $3.95 that has a peg at the end of it. These are useful household things that I am able to use. Most of the other things in HSW, I do not want to spend extra money to pay for them. Anyway I got hold another booklet with the voucher at the store and I shall try again to see what I can get cheaply or for free at another store nearer to me :)

Amazing Gift & Lessons on Jehovah Jireh

Found a slip in my letterbox to have me collect a registered letter for myself. Could not quite figure out what registered mail I am about to receive. The moment I received it, I opened it and could not believe my eyes - I have won a gift $x00 from Woolies! It was a lucky draw where if you spent $50 on a single receipt, you are eligible to enter the lucky draw (only on their website) and stand a chance to win free groceries for 1 year. I recall only having 1 entry as I do not often spend more than $50 on 1 single receipt. Some would say I am so lucky, but I say this is God's provision.

I was estatic when I learnt about this provision and just filled with joy and a heart of thanksgiving. God seems to be tellling me, "Remember I have asked you to trust me? Now you know that I will, isn't it?" Recently, we wanted to make a decision which go against the original timing/plan of something important so that we could save a bit of money. We have been advised by the professional that it is not ideal but feasible. Only yesterday did we came to the conclusion that we shall stick to the original timing even though we would spend more money. We shall continue to trust God to provide and not 'tamper' with His timing. And today I received this good news :) God has given us more than what we think we would have saved. I am amazed that God chose to bless us in this way and it is a way to show us that we should trust him and not doubt His timing. Be patient and wait for His providence. He knows exactly what we need and what is best for us and the timing to give those things to us. Our responsibility is to simply trust Him.

Matthew 6:25-34

"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.

Chicken Whiskey

Following the lemon whiskey cake, I reckon I wanted to try a meat dish with whiskey. Found this British chicken whiskey recipe (which I happen to have most of the ingredients) and tweaked it a bit.

Basically I just estimated the proportion of ingredients and added garlic instead of leeks or green onions. I also dropped in a little more whiskey than required :p It turned out the taste is not something that we are used to, but it was tasty! Now other than baking with whiskey, I can cook with whiskey too! :)

Lemon Whiskey Cake

I have some lemons lying around in my fridge (lemons are in season now) and wanted to bake something that uses lemons for church's afternoon tea. The night before I baked, we were given a half bottle of bourbon whiskey from TY (who got it from A, who got it from C). I don't have that in my pantry and hence I welcomed it for me to bake/make desserts with.

After a search with taste, I found a lemon whiskey cake recipe which came in perfect with the ingredients that I wanted to use! What good timing and providence!

Forgot to take a photo before I bought it to church. These are the few slices of leftovers which we had it for brekky this morning

I am really happy with the result. The cake is fragrant (because of the lemon and whiskey), moist yet not dense. It tasted like a Christmas fruit cake, except that it is softer and less sweet. I am usually not a big fan of fruit cakes because they were too sweet. I have added 1-2 tbsp less than the required amount of sugar, which was just right. Raisins or mixed dried fruits could be used in place of the sultanas.

Recipe can be found here. Next, (if I can find the recipe) I shall attempt cooking chicken with whiskey for tonight's dinner and make butterscotch sauce with whiskey to go with sticky date pudding for my guests on Wednesday ;)

An Unwelcomed Guest & A New Beginning

On the day we came back from our long weekend away (for our 2nd anniversary), the man spotted a very unwelcomed guest in our backyard - a snake!

Notice the pattern of the snake? I found out that this is a carpet python. We think it has just ate something and hence a part of it is fatter than other parts and it was also quite lazy to budge when we disturb it.

This is not the first time we spotted a snake in our backyard in the warmer seasons (which is why I don't like summer). But this is definitely the first python we saw. I know they are not poisonous. Nevertheless, it still freaked us out!

After we disturbed the snake, it slipped from the fence and ended up amongst the plants in the corner. Those plants are ground cover and is a bit dense. When the man checked, it was nowhere to be seen. Hopefully, it has escaped back to its natural habitat - the bushland just beyond our fence. Anyway we decided to get rid of those plants and replace it with something which we are able to see the base of the plant and no snake is able to hide there. Instead of getting a decorative plant, we reckon it will be better to get a low maintenance plant that is able to bear us some fruit or beneficial to us.

A lime tree! Limes can be fairly expensive most times of the year. My SIL and MIL has a lemon tree and hence I thought we could have a lime tree! It should harvest in 14-16 weeks (that is 4 months!). We pray that it will bear us some fruits!

Along with that, we also planted some eggplant and lettuce seedlings that we bought. Also did heaps of weeding (because we did not bother with our garden for some time), which will hopefully mean that our plants can grow well and the environment will be unsuitable for snakes to reside/hunt for their food.

Between Each Married Couple

You would have heard how people say "opposites attract", just like the positive end of a magnet attracts the negative end of a magnet. Like poles repel. It is amazing how God brings together a man and a woman. In both of them, there will be inherent gender differences, personality differences, family upbringing differences. They may/may not have similar interests and hobbies, the same opinion on things, etc. Given all these possible differences (which apparently attracts boy to girl or vice versa), it is not difficult to explain why married people say marriage is hard and you have to work on it constantly (Read "Don't be lazy in Marriage"), and why some people give up on their marriages.

God instituted marriage to be good. He created man to rule over the world under Him and created woman out of the man's bones so that the man will not be alone and will have a helper (Gen 2:18). The man and woman shall become one flesh (Gen 2:24) and multiply and fill the earth (Gen 1:28) together. Both the man and woman are the same but have different roles. But because of the fall (Gen 3), man and woman relationship also failed and become imperfect (Gen 3:16). Later, the Bible (God's word) instructs us how husbands (Eph 5:25-32) and wives (Eph 5:22-24) should conduct their marriage.

I'd say there is some truth in "opposites attract". An extrovert often (but not necessarily) marry an introvert. A talker often (but not necessarily) marry a listener. Differences make life more interesting but also create conflicts. It takes time for the couple to make the differences work for them, such that they will serve to complement each other and not allow them to break the relationship apart. With working out and through the differences, it is where the couple will grow stronger and deeper in their relationship. The guidelines of 'working out' a marital relationship is written in Ephesians 5: 22-32, where the husband is called to love, lead and sacrifice for his wife just as Christ does for the church and the wife is called to submit and respect her husband just as to the Lord. God has commanded husband and wife specifically and individually. I think God knows that husbands will fail to love, lead and sacrifice for his wife and wives will fail to submit to and respect his headship. God did not commanded wives to love, lead and sacrifice for their husbands and husbands to submit and respect their wives. (This is not to say that there is no place for wives to sacrifice and husbands need not respect their wives) By God's grace, when 2 sinful persons come and commit to Him, husbands and wives can grow to become husbands and wives in Ephesians 5. God is gracious.

Opposites do not attract all the time, especially if you are differing in your values in life (which, if you are a Christian, is shaped by the way you understand the Bible). Similarities in marriage are often good but sometimes can be a source of conflicts. e.g. if both loves to talk, then no one will listen. If you share similar hobbies, you can have fun and leisure together. Having similar values in life shape the way the married life is led and has implications for all aspects of life, including parenting our next generation.

Differences or similarities, I guess my point is that marriage is hard work anyway. Marriage is good, is fun, can make us happy, but marriage also challenges us to holy and godly through our sin and weaknesses. Getting to know each other's strengths and weaknesses help the weaker to grow and both to work together in ministry for the glory of God. Marriage serves to grow us in living out that mysterious relationship between Christ and the church. And because we are still living in this sinful world, that perfect relationship will only be attained when Jesus comes again.

(I suppose there is so much more to write but this is where I will have a break ;))

Bread Top Has Opened!!

Singapore has Breadtalk and when they were new, it was such a hit with everyone!

Pork floss bun (with cream in the middle) and red bean swirl

Similar packaging as Breadtalk

New in Queensland (there are already many branches in VIC and NSW), Bread Top has just opened its first store at Garden City, Upper Mt Gravatt. It is located kinda outside Godfreys on the upper level. The store is so new that as I type, it is not listed on the Garden City nor Bread Top's websites.

New Bread Top at Garden City

What is the appeal? Asian breads :) I reckon Bread Top has some relation (good or not) with Breadtalk. The breads that they sell are similar. Even the logo is somewhat similar. I first tried Bread Top in Sydney and I was so happy to be able to find something similar to Breadtalk here. For the record, I have not eaten Breadtalk in Singapore for some time, even when I was still there... I guess the discovery of Bread Top was just something that brings back memories of Singapore and its food.

Try it! Oh how I miss that pork floss bun..... :)

I Love Brisbane!

(Top from left) I touched a gecko (eeks!!), native live geckos, indian lunch
(Bottom from left) Live cooking demo, I love BNE, my favourite (not the colour though) Mini

W brought me to a show/fair not too far from our place last Sunday. Had a little fun in the hot sun looking at various Brisbane City Council displays and environmental efforts.

Was quite cool to see some live geckos and snakes (most were kept in their plastic containers). There were 3 tamed geckos that were outside their containers. I thought they were fake but they turned out to be live ones which just don't move much because they are tamed. With that, I touched one of them gently and still had goose pimples all over me...

It wasn't a huge event but it was a relaxing 1 hour spent walking around, eating, looking at things and breathing the Brisbane air. This is what aussies like to do on their weekends... I would, so long as it is not too hot :p

Peranakan Delights

Borrowed this cookbook from the library. Hubby and I have been craving for peranakan food since we watch the Singaporean drama a year ago "The Little Nyonya". Unknown to many, the school that I attended for 10 years had peranakan roots too. It was set up to educate chinese girls academically and to equip young girls for their future roles in life as wives and mothers. Hmm, hasn't it achieve that purpose in me? ;p

Well I am NOT a peranakan but I do like its food - rich in taste, spices. Those who can really cook peranakan really cooks very well. I kind of regretted not learning now. But here is my chance! With this cookbook (of which I have copied down some recipes), I hope to add these peranakan dishes into my repertoire. You will know if I succeed if I blog about it ;)

Delightful Surprise In the Mail!

(Name and address blocked out)

My long-awaited gift arrived this morning. R told me that she sent me something (presumably a birthday gift) from SG. I was just wondering when it was going to arrive when the postman knocked on my door early this morning to deliver the parcel :)

This is the content of the parcel - a pair of thongs (as what Aussies say) or slippers/flip flops (as what SGreans say) and a pair of socks. R knows that I like pink (that's what good friends are for, isn't it?) and I thought the thongs and socks is such a sweet idea. I was thinking that the socks come in handy for my walking/jogging/exercise and the thongs are good for summer. After I read the card, then I realise that these were to encourage me in my weekly swimming (thongs) and jogging/walking (socks). Well, my guess was not too far away eh? Thanks for being so thoughtful, R :)

How I look when I wear them (That reminds me that I need to get a pedicure done when I go back to SG. My toes are not in the best condition)

The parcel also had a card, which R said she missed those times where we meet up at coffee joints (hence the card above). R and I used to do some 1-2-1 discussion on a little book of questions and issues that challenge us in our Christian walk. We also shared a lot about our lives and struggles and hence I think we grew closer then. We signed up for gym membership together for 2 years and hung out a lot together (sometimes with her hubby too). Now we have moved on in our lives - I am married and living overseas and R's had 2 kids. Even though we do not do our 1-2-1 now, we remained really good friends. R is really encouraging to talk to when you are feeling down. She is also one of the toughest (yet gentle and pretty) woman whom I know. God has really grew her in maturity over these years. She is such a dear friend, always full of encouragement, creativity and really fun to talk to. She makes me laugh :D and cry too (when I am so moved by what she say/do). Now I do not really feel too far away because we are really just a phone call away.

R, I miss you too... Let's celebrate your birthday together when we get back yeah? We will be there 2 days late but I hope you'll still like your belated birthday gift (the plane is the gift box and we are the gift :p LOL).

Ambon Cake

What was left after we had some for breakfast this morning

A little mid-week blessing - ambon cake and another kueh (green in photo. Not sure of its name) made by Aunty X. My office (in a residential area) is just a street off the street that Aunty X lives on. Probably takes 2-3 mins' walk to get there. I would have to drive pass her place when I get to and fro work. Aunty X is my MIL's friend in church, a lovely Indonesian Chinese lady who spends most (if not all) her time baking and making kuehs, breads, buns, cakes, etc. She would give/share them with my MIL and her neighbours. Sometimes my MIL will give some to us. Most of them were Asian cakes/kuehs.

Aunty X has been meaning to give me her cakes/kuehs but did not get around to it. We bumped into each other some 2 weeks ago and she asked for my office address, contact no and the days that I am working so that she could ring me to go collect food from her. Hence yesterday was the first time that happened. I was so happy to learn that she is giving us some ambon cake, even though she claimed that this was from a packet of ambon cake mix. I hope to go pick up some baking tips from her some day... and learn how to make some yummy kuehs from her :) In the meantime, I shall go to Yuen's (my local Asian grocery store) to try out the ambon cake mix myself :)

Lord, thank you for little blessings like these... :)

A of Fruits

Apple

Royal Gala - from pale, golden yellow with slight red blush to solid brightly blushed. Normally slightly sweet than Red Delicious.

Johnathan - half to 3/4 scattered red stripes and blushed. Aromatic, fairly juicy, sweet.

Bonza - green/cream background with 50-60% blush. Sweet.

Golden Delicious - greenish yellow becoming golden yellow. Sweet and aromatic.

Red Delicious - greenish yellow with red stripes or completely crimson to dark red. Sweet, juicy, highly aromatic.

Granny Smith - green to greenish yellow. Hard, crisp, tart flavour.

Fuji - blushed pink/red. Firm, crisp, juicy and a distinct sweet flavour.

Braeburn - glossy, striped red with re blush over yellowish ground cover. Good, sweet, very juicy.

Pink Lady - background green changing to yellow with lovely pink or light red blush. Sweet tart flavour, crunchy.

Sundowner - (see above photo) mainly green to full red with lenticel spotting and little russet around stalk. Storage improves sugar level and makes apple sweet and flavoursome.

Lady Williams - Deep red. Tart flavour earlier in season, sweet and generally improves with storage.

Selection

Choose firm fruit, avoid bruises and blemishes.

Storage

Store in refrigerator in a vented container to retain crispness and freshness.

Uses

Eat fresh, salads or platters. Baked whole, pies, tarts, crumbles, sauces, cakes and muffins.

Preparation

Brush cut surfaces with any type of citrus juice to prevent discolouration.

Cooking

Tart or medium acid varieties are best for cooking. Sweet varieties are more suited to eating fresh or in fruit salads and platters.

Serving suggestion

1. Add chopped apple to salads, particularly potato salad, coleslaw and red cabbage.

2. Fill steamed, hollowed, golden nugget pumpkins with mixture of cooked chopped onion, finely chopped apple, baby spinach leaves, feta cheese and pine nuts, bound together with beaten egg.Top with grated reduced-fat cheese and cook 15 mins at 190C until golden brown.

Freezing

To prepare, peel, core, slice and place in a bowl of water with 1 tbsp lemon juice to prevent browning.

Dry-freezing, unsweetened: Drain and blanch in bowling water for 1 min. Drain and plunge immediately into a bowl of iced water and then drain again and pat dry on paper towels. Pack into containers or bags. Remove the air. Seal, label and freeze. Keep up to 9 months.

Dry-freezing, sweetened: Drain and blanch in bowling water for 1 min. Drain and plunge immediately into a bowl of iced water and then drain again and pat dry on paper towels. Mix with caster sugar, using 1/2 cup to 450g fruit. Pack into containers or bags. Remove the air. Seal, label and freeze. Keep up to 10 months.

Puree freezing: Stew fruit in pan with just enough water to cover the base until pulpy. Sweeten to taste. Beat with wooden spoon until smooth. Puree in blender. Leave to cool. Place in bags, remove air , seal, label and freeze. Keep up to 12 months.

Thaw and serve

Allow to defrost at room temperature for 2 hours before use. Puree can be reheated from frozen for apple sauce.

Apricot

Varieties include: Watkin, Godldrich, Storey, Moorpark, Sundrop, Katy, Trevatt, Hunter, Caselin and Divinity. Skin colour varies from yellowish green to deep orange. Flesh is yellow to deep orange with a large inedible seed.

Selection

Choose plump, firm (but not hard) fruit.

Storage

Store in refrigerator in a vented container to retain crispness and freshness.

Uses

Eat fresh, salads or platters. Baked whole, pies, tarts, crumbles, sauces, cakes and muffins.

Preparation

Brush cut surfaces with any type of citrus juice to prevent discolouration.

Cooking

Tart or medium acid varieties are best for cooking. Sweet varieties are more suited to eating fresh or in fruit salads and platters.

Serving suggestion

1. Add chopped apple to salads, particularly potato salad, coleslaw and red cabbage.

2. Fill steamed, hollowed, golden nugget pumpkins with mixture of cooked chopped onion, finely chopped apple, baby spinach leaves, feta cheese and pine nuts, bound together with beaten egg.Top with grated reduced-fat cheese and cook 15 mins at 190C until golden brown.

Freezing

To peel the fruit, plunge in boiling water for 30 secs, drain and peel off the skins. Alternatively halve and remove pits. Brush flesh with lemon juice to prevent browning.

Dry-freezing, sweetened: Mix with caster sugar, using 1/2 cup to 450g fruit. Pack into containers or bags. Remove the air. Seal, label and freeze. Keep up to 12 months.

Puree freezing: Put fruit in a bowl of boiling water for 30 secs, Drain and peel off the skins. Halve, remove pits and then strew with just enough water to cover the base of the pan until very soft. Puree in blender. Sweeten to taste. Leave to cool. Place in bags, remove air , seal, label and freeze. Keep up to 12 months.

Thaw and serve

Thaw in fridge overnight. Puree can be reheated from frozen.

Gift of Blessing

On my recent birthday, my BIL A gave me a gift... he made a generous donation to Gospel for Asia's Women Ministry on my behalf. It is such a meaningful gift to be able to bless the ministry of reaching the neglected, socially rejected women and bringing the gospel to them so that they may know and have hope to live their lives.

When we got married some 2 years ago, we put in our gift registry to have people give us gifts by making donations to TEAR Australia or adopt a child through Compassion. I remembered we received a 'toilet' gift where the money is used to improve sanitation by building a toilet for a home or school. We received at least another 2 gifts under the same catalogue.

Christmas is coming. Why don't you consider giving your friends and family gifts that will bless the less fortunate as well? Here are a few to consider:

TEAR gift catalogue - range from A$5 to A$5,000

CMS gift catalogue - range from A$5 to A$500

GFA gift catalogue - range from A$1 to $21,000

World Vision gift catalogue - range from A$5 to A$20

Salvation Army gift catalogue - range from A$10 to A$600

May the resources that God bless you with be put to good use to bless others!

Free Cookbook

Got this cookbook free when I purchased "Supper Food Ideas" yesterday. All you have to do is to buy a copy of Notebook, Vogue, Good Taste, Food Ideas, delicious or Donna Hay magazine and be able to get that free. Remember to ask at the check-out counter when you purchase it. The guys will not give you unless you ask for it.

This Taste cookbook has really good ideas for Christmas cooking and ideals for gifts. I am really inspired! :)

Provides busy individuals and families with easy recipes and meal solutions, using readily available ingredients and simple techniques

I bought the cheapest magazine - A$2.95. This is one of those cheap, unplanned purchase but later you realise that you have gotten a really good buy! In it, are easy to follow recipes and ideas for everyday easy and quick cooking. This magazine is not only good for me, but also for hubby (who rarely cooks). This shall kick start hubby's attempt to cook Thursday dinners, so that I can be freed up to do some exercise after work :p For starters, there are about 7-8 pasta recipes that he could cook for the next 7-8 weeks and perhaps repeat them after that? ;)

The A to Z of Fruits and Veggies

Hubby applied to get a free copy of this book from the QLD government. This is such a great book - with information on fruits and veggies that are available in Oz, its varieties, how to store and cook them. There are also healthy recipes for light meals, main meals, desserts, etc.

I have also recently borrowed a book "How to freeze - everything you need to know about freezing and freezer management" from the library. In it, there is also a A to Z list of food items and if they are freezable and how to freeze them.

I shall attempt to compile a list of fruits and veggies info, including their freezing tips. Watch this space!

I Am Another Year *Younger*...

... so my friend says... ;)

It has been a really busy past week and the weekend. For 3 week nights, hubby and I were busy preparing or making some food for the weekend's gatherings. I was especially happy and so glad for this opportunity to invite some of my closer Christian friends in Brissy to meet my NC friends at a lunch bbq gathering for my birthday. What better reason/occasion that we could do so? I was glad that it happened and that all my friends could mingle well.

In the arvo, we had some young people over for arvo tea. They were mostly Singaporean students studying in Brissy and were attending the morning service of our church. It was a great chance to have them over (to feed them), to play some games, wrap our own dumplings, cook them and eat them!

Today, we slept in a bit (especially after the long day we had). Under my request of having Japanese, we had lunch at Oishi Sushi near our place. I used to eat quite a fair bit of Jap food in SG but hardly here in Oz, because it is more expensive here. By God's provision, hubby somehow was given $50 from work by pure luck and it basically was enough to cover our yummy meal! You have no idea how satisfied and happy I was to have 2 pieces of salmon nigiri - raw salmon on some rice. The salmon was so fresh and was such a generous serving of salmon.

The generous serve and thick slice of salmon (with little rice)

Spider roll (soft shell crab) $13 and white lobster (lobster salad) $15

After church service, I was given the privilege to choose our dinner venue and I chose Mi Sushi, a takeaway store along Hawken Drive. I had pork katsu with soba noodles - simple, inexpensive and I love it! I reckon I could eat Japanese for every meal and not get sick of it! I wonder when will our next Jap meal be? In SG?

What is the most significant thing in the past year?
Being able to see God's provision for my life - every little, single detail. I know that He knows that encourages me to continue trusting and have faith in Him.

What is my birthday wish?
That hubby and I can continue to grow in love and communication.

What do I look forward to in the new year?
A slimmer, healthier me and growing more to appreciate people, especially family.

It has been a busy weekend and I have had no chance to reflect more... I will do so tomorrow :)

Birthday Cakes

Have been wanting to play with decorating cakes with fondant but never got around to it. What better chance to do it other than my own birthday! If I didn't do a good job out of it, it is ok since it is my own birthday... no one can fault me :p

It was really fun decorating the lemon pound cupcakes with fondant and the chocolate cakes with frosting. I have always wanted cupcakes as birthday cakes and here I am, making my own :) Both cakes were made with extra virgin olive oil (instead of butter) and added unprocessed bran in them.

Chocolate cupcakes with sky blue icing and white chocolate hearts and silver edible beads

Lemon cupcakes with blue or pink flowers

Play dough time!

Cupcakes stored in my cake carrier (with a cake stand inside to create another layer for extra storage)

Hopefully my next try would be prettier :)