Praise The LORD!

Praise the LORD that Eliza got promoted to JC2! This may not mean a lot to many but to Eliza and to our family, it is GOD's encouragement and grace to Eliza because she studied very diligently, recognizing her weaknesses in certain subjects but persevered on (almost 14 hours each day in JC) for the past half a year or so, staying back in JC for revision, etc and we parents, fetching her there early in the morning and home late at night. Last year more than 100+ JC1 students got to be retained compared to only 10+ from other JCs. Thank GOD this year they only retain 20+ percent of the JC1 students. Not only was it tiring and draining for her but for us too. So we are very thankful to GOD for allowing her to be promoted. Now she can enjoy her trip to NY and Washington at the end of this month :)

I am thankful to GOD also for helping me waive close to S$400/- from my previous phone contract which I overlooked the terms and conditions and signed a new contact a few days before the old one expires. I admitted to GOD that it was my mistake but asked Him to help me waive because to me it is very painful and wasteful to pay for such fines when I would rather use this money to bless others with my baking.

Thank GOD also for helping me get a one for one replacement of my new handphone which was faulty from the start. After slightly more than a month of stress, having to pay for data plan subscription once the contract started, and not being able to use the plan and phone effectively, thank GOD, now the new phone seems to be working fine.

Despite painful issues that are encompassing my life now, GOD is still GOOD. It is understandable to be misunderstood and "persecuted" by non believers but to be misunderstood and "persecuted" by those of the same household of faith.....???? Am journalling my journey with GOD through this blog so that I will always be reminded of Who GOD is to me. Thank GOD also for Psalm 119 which we are studying now, reminding me to cling on to GOD even when things are tough. That GOD is my Portion, Strength, Shelter, Lamp and Light. Am still asking GOD to remove contempt and reproach from me.

I was listening to a CD on "Listen to our hearts"and I am being reminded that we are not there yet (this world is not our home) and that there are many hurting people like ourselves but we have GOD Who is always there for us. I am also reminded that sometimes as we serve GOD, our weaknesses are magnified and we learn to rely more on GOD as He helps us work through issues in our lives. He is not finished with me yet... I have still a long way to go on this pilgrimage. One big problem with me is my impatience - I must learn to wait on the LORD like the psalmist and Habakkuk did.

"We're Pilgrims on the journey of the narrow road

And those who've gone behind us line the way

Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary

Their lives a stirring testament to GOD's sustaining grace.

V2

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses

Let us run the race not only for the prize

But as those who've gone before us

Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives.

Chorus:

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

May the fire of our devotion light their way

May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe

And the lives we live inspire them to obey.

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.

V3

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone

And our children sift through what we've left behind

May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover

Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find."

Orange Chocolate Cheesecake

My first attempt at baking this Orange Chocolate Cheesecake. We will be celebrating Jun's birthday after our band's rehearsal tomorrow. Shh... nobody in the Praiseband knows about this yet ;) I hope they will enjoy it.

Just came out of the oven, without any decoration.

After cooling, I decorated it with some Ghirardelli Chocolate Buttons. Then I glazed it with some Mango and Pineapple Jam.

This new recipe calls for Cream Cheese and Mascarpone Cheese. I added Orange Zest, juice and grated some Hershey's unsweetened chocolate into the Cream Cheese Mixture.

Blessed 17th Birthday Dear Eliza !

Our daughter, Eliza turns 17 today :)

Her brother gave her a big angpow and we got her a Olympus DSLR Camera as she would need it for her forthcoming school trip to New York and Washington, USA.

We celebrated her birthday with a meal at Chili's, Tanglin Mall.

Yummy Egg Tarts

Would you pay S$2 each for these Egg Tarts? Well, many of my clients are happy to so. I have been baking almost every month for them. Each time they will order extras for their family members. One of them feedback that she could eat 5-6 pieces at a time and they tasted just as good the next day. I tried adding Durians and Coffee to the Egg filling but nothing beats the original.

I have baked these Egg Tarts quite frequently for church meetings and they are quite well received by all who have tasted them. In fact, ever since I learnt to bake my own Egg Tarts, I do not buy anymore from the shops outside. My family members love them too :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

We celebrated 2 of our CG members' birthdays today.

We bought some Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice cream the other day and I quite like the flavour combination. Thus I thought of baking a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake.

I searched the website for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake recipe but failed to find one that I like so I decided to make one up. Thank GOD it turned out quite well and I am quite satisfied with the result. Many in the CG like it too :)

I used Hershey unsweetened chocolate for this top layer of chocolate ganache.

This is how the peanut butter cheesecake looked without the chocolate ganache. I added 1/2 cup of Skippy Chunky Peanut Butter into the cream cheese mixture thus you see the polka dots on the cake :)

Sweet Bread with Cranberry and Almond

My first try at this sweet bread recipe. I added cranberries in the dough and sprinkled almonds on top of the bread before baking it in the oven.

Bread baking in the oven at 190 degrees C for 15 mins.

The risen dough, almonds and cranberries.

For breakfast tomorrow :)

Mini Apple Pies

I used the same pastry recipe from my Classic Lemon Tart for this batch of Mini Apple Pies.

Since I had extra pastry dough, I cut small hearts and placed them on top of each pie, which makes the pie look so pretty :)

I love to pack my pies with lots of filling. For the filling, I used green apples, raisins with some brown sugar and cinnamon.

Look at the filling "peeping" out of the pies :)