June-July 2013

Our son, Renfred, went with Eugene to Kalibu, Philippines for a mission reece trip from 4-9 July to see what the youths from church could do over there.  Sis Ghim Har, Abel and Christine came to the airport to send them off.  Thank GOD for safety and for opening their eyes to the work GOD is doing amongst the young people there.

Square Egg Tarts with four different flavours - Chempedak, Blueberry, Chocolate Chips and original.

 

Don't they look pretty in the baking tin ? ;)

 

Chocolate Muffins with Chocolate Filling and Walnut Toppings.  Am quite selective in the type of recipes I choose.  Will always check how much butter, how many eggs, and how much sugar in the list of ingredients.  For e.g. this Chocolate Muffin recipe, I used only 1 egg and vegetable oil instead of the original 4 eggs and butter.  How I managed this?  I improvised by using my proven muffin recipe and "cheated" by cutting the top of the muffins and adding melted chocolate into the centre.  Thus it is like molten lava chocolate but it has lesser calories.  Still very delicious :)

This is the Malay Banana Fritters - Jemput, Jemput.  Made this for the CG and some church friends Sunday.  Coated them with Cinnamon icing :)

Morning breakfast with homemade Kaya and a cup of brewed coffee.  My husband and MIL love Kaya.  So I make this as and when I have the time as it takes at least 3 hours to make a small pot.

This is a new addition to my cross-stitch collection. Love the lively sea creatures in this picture.  Again, I improvised by choosing a own bible verse which I think is appropriate. 

 

Gave 2 of these Sesame Walnut Baguette loaves to a friend who told me he missed my baking :)

  

Added some wholewheat flour to the original recipe. 

Our daughter, Eliza, came home on 11 July so as to be in time to celebrate her mother's birthday.  Am touched by her thoughtfulness and love.  May the LORD use her mightily in time to come.

These are the goodies she bought for me;  knowing her mother loves baking, she bought me pecans and hazelnuts, and Mark and Spencer's cookies plus chocolates :)

These are especially selected by Eliza for my birthday - a Joseph & Joseph pallet knife/icing spatula, icing nozzles and more chocolates (mint flavour because I like mint ;))

On the morning of 12th July (which is my actual birthday), we spent our morning at East Coast, cycling and taking pictures.  Even though I did not really get to cut a proper cake and have a birthday song sang to me this year, plus my 2 close friends who usually would wish me but not this year and friends serving together in the ministry have for many a years left me out to just say "happy birthday, co-labourers in the Lord" when we remembered to wish the rest, I have Jesus, Who is more than enough plus my family.

This is really embarrassing but just for the fun of it :)

Creating wonderful memories and treasuring every moment we could have together.

Our family visited the MacRitchie Reservoir last Sunday. 

We are so glad to have Eliza home with us :)

This bridge is part of the Boardwalk at MacRitchie

More pictures please :)

After the short walk, we proceeded to patronize Shakey's Pizza at Thomson, owned by a church friend.

 

Made these profiteroles for Genesis Praise band rehearsal in June.  I used Gordon Ramsay's recipe and they turned out quite well :)

Instead of filling them with whipped cream which melt easily in our humid weather, I filled them with ice-cream on the spot. 

Made some salted toffee and added them into the ice-cream profiteroles. 

Trust the band members enjoyed them.

This lot of pictures were taken a few weeks back when Peter and myself took a 14km walk in MacRitchie.  Thank GOD we survived the walk, having no prior training or warm up (talking about myself) My muscles were aching the next day :{

This is after the Treetop bridge.

 

Trying to smile after the 14km walk :(

Crazy Hazy June

 

We have had many years of haze due to the forest burning in Indonesia but this June is the worst that we had experienced - PSI reading over 300+!  It used to be below 100 or just pass 100 for the past 10+ years but this year it's Crazy!  Hazardous!  Suffocating!  Even staying indoors with all windows closed, we are suffering from very bad burnt smoke and they are causing irritation to our eyes and throats. 

Today, our son is returning from his visit to his sister in London and we are concern for his health condition as he had asthma when he was young and since then his lungs are easily affected by weather conditions.  We hope to be able to get a mask for him to put on when we meet him at the airport later but presume all the shops selling masks would have no more stock ;(

Only GOD can deliver us from this Crazy Hazy weather we are experiencing now. 

Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
In Your mercy, would You please send us heavy downpour of rain
(not asking for just rain but heavy downpour as You are a BIG GOD Who can do BIG things)
to all the affected areas where Haze originated and also to the countries like Singapore
Where your children and their families plus the people living here are suffocating and suffering.

The weather forecast says it will only rain on Sunday but Father, You are the GOD who made the heavens and the earth and by one word from You, the earth was made.  So we only need a word from You to send us a heavy downpour to relieve us of this calamity we are in.

Please forgive us of our iniquities and the iniquities committed by our leaders. 
They have no compassion for the people but GOD, You are the Compassionate GOD Who heard the cries of the Israelites in Egypt and it was You who delivered them from their bondage and sufferings.  Father, only You can deliver us.

Thanking You in advance.
In Your Son's Name we pray,
Amen

A Mother's Day Song for you

V1

Blessed is the mom whose mind is stayed on Christ

Trusting Him by faith, and not by sight.

Seeking first GOD's kingdom, His righteousness

The LORD, her Shepherd and her Guide

 

V2

Daily fix your eyes upon the LORD

Casting all your worries and cares on Him

Asking Him for wisdom in all you do

And grace sufficient to see you through

 

Chorus:

 

(So you sing) 

Love lifted me

Love lifted me

Jesus' love overflows through me

Love lifted me

 

 

Our praise band is up for duty this weekend and it happens to fall on Mother's Day.  So I suggested to the guys "why don't you all sing us moms a song or give a special item to encourage us :)"  It has been quite sometime since we have special items to minister to the worshippers and some have asked why.  Anyways.  One of them said "cool idea, how to go about doing it?"  So I started searching the website for Christian songs but most of them consists of words from children to mom. 

 

That night, I asked the LORD for a song that would encourage the moms from His Word.  The next minute, I started to compile Bible verses and that's where the words of the above song came about.  After that, a tune came to mind but it was kind of from the 70s.  Anyways, I sang out the song and whatsapped the bandleader and the guitarist brother who said it was a cool idea, hoping they would use their talents as musicians to fine tune, edit the words, etc.  In the meantime, I also sent the words of the song to the other guys in the band, hoping they as musicians would also give some pointers or help to improve it.

 

The bandleader responded and said he's quite busy at work but would go home and take a look at it.  The next evening at the Northpoint Cold Storage, I heard a song and another tune came to mind.  This time, I think, it's more in the 80s (hahaha am much influenced by the songs back then).  So I came home and edited the words and fit them into the new tune.  Then I recorded the song and whatsapped it to the same two brothers.  That same evening the bandleader sent the chords for the song and also did very minor edit to the song and said the mp3 would follow suit.

 

Today, he sent me an email that the song,needs more tweaking, like new wine, must let it mature and maybe debut in 2014.  My first reaction was "sure, as I also agree it could be improved further."  Then the worship leader sent another email saying that after listening to the mp3 said "it sounded like it needed more input to improve to give it a lasting impression.  Appropriateness of the lyrics, theme and biblical soundness is only part of a package to a great singable and lasting song." 

 

These words came after I asked the LORD for a song to encourage the moms of the church.  And GOD inspired with words from the Bible and a tune.  This kind of thing does not happen everyday, at least to me.  Plus He gave it about a week in advance so that the musicians could put their heads together to fine tune it.  May be it is just for this season that He wants to use this song (be it not perfect in tune, musically, etc) to just encourage the moms.  Some more, I thought it ties in well with the respond song of this week's sermon :)

 

Frankly, am disappointed because we always want to "perfect" things and not let GOD use the broken and imperfect things for His own purposes.  We tend to see things our way, do things our way and believe we can do it better rather than let the Holy Spirit do the convicting and empowering.  I believe GOD's Word is a double-edged sword and He can use His words to accomplish His purposes even though it may not be 'matured" or polished.  His word will last, not the tune or the lasting impression or whatever package the song may come with.  Hebrews 4:12.

 

Since the moms of the church will not get to be encouraged by the above words, may you be encouraged to look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. 

 

A Blessed Mother's Day to you :)

 

April 2013

Looking at the pictures I have taken, I realized I did quite a bit of cooking and baking for the month of April :)

Was curious how the Japanese Chef make the Charshu (Char Siew) so I searched the Internet and found out how they did it.  Guess what, I went to the market that particular day and bought about S$30/- worth of pork belly!  And to the supermarket to buy Sake and Mirin, etc.  This meal is quite expensive and took many hours but it was worth it as long as my husband and son like it :)

 

On that same day, I also marinated another lot of pork to make Hongkong style Char Siew.

 

Love this recipe which I found also on the Internet.  The Char Siew tasted so good that I decided to keep this recipe for good ;)

My husband and I ate this Japanese Charshu Rice at a Japanese Restaurant in Nex and I decided to use some of the Char Siew I had to make this dish.  It is really yummy - I used the Char Siew sauce and some teriyaki sauce to cook the Char Siew and they tasted just like the ones from the restaurant :) 

My husband "craved" for American Breakfast without carbo. So I woke up early that particular Sunday morning to cook him and our son this :)

Thank GOD for my Petite Square Pan - love using it to bake bread and cakes.  This is Cranberry and Blueberry Bread with Cream Cheese in the centre.

Made Char Siew Buns to bless some friends.  They love them :)

My husband went for a business trip to Jakarta and brought home some green apples so I used them to make this Apple Strusel Tart.  Shared some with our neighbours.

This is Roti Pete :)  My version of the Malay "Roti John".  I used the baguette I made,  dipped with beaten egg and some vegetables and pan fried them.  Delicious :)

Wanted to play with colours so I tried this rainbow bread loaf.  Pretty right?  It brightens my day :)

Served it with kaya and butter for breakfast. 

Again using the Petite Square Pan, I baked this Marble Butter Cake.  So easy to handle, No cutting, just take a piece and enjoy ;)

This plate of Hokkien Mee was cooked using a packet of Mojo Hokkien Noodle.  I just added an egg, prawns, vege and squid.  Really simple to make :)

Had some extra chocolates so I used them to make a Cinnamon Chili Chocolate Tart for CG meeting.  They love it :)

Ran out of homemade jam.  Made these four bottles of Six Berries Jam.  Gave two away and shared one with some of the people at the school where I did some part-time subbing.

 

This time, I pureed the six types of berries; Blue, Cran, Straw, Black, Cherry and Raspberries thus it is not as runny as before.  I love eating them on plain crackers :) 

 

Another batch of Char Siew Buns to share with more friends :)

 

 Notice the texture of the buns :)

Baked these Cranberry Muffins for some nurses and doctors at the Rehab Hospital where my cousin was in.  Just to thank them for their services.  Thank GOD for blessing me with this ability to bake because if I were to buy them from the shops, they would cost quite a bit and I know I will not get the quality I want. 

I used some of the Six Berries Jam to make this Sour Cream Berries Swirl Cake for Genesis Praise band rehearsal. 

These are just muffins with dried blueberries which I had bought from Japan, baked in tube pans.

A simple lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake lightly frosted with Nutella and topped with Strawberries for our children's godma's birthday.  It was a rushed job.  Had only 2 hours after Sunday service to bake this.

Pretty Anpan Flowers.  Made my own red bean paste.  I like them with some whole beans.  Tasted like those you buy from the Japanese bakery :)

This Bacon Ring Buns were made with the Water Roux method.  The rings disappeared at the second rise but the buns still tasted yummy delicious.  You can't go wrong with fried bacon and onions :)



March 2013

A good friend of ours sent me a picture of Mango flower tarts.  I tried making them to bless a young man from church who underwent colon cancer.  Thank GOD he is recovering well :)

The two guys in my family love seafood.  Bought these NZ mussels and tried cooking them with liqueur.  Supposed to cook them with white wine but I am not one who will follow the recipe to the tee;) As long as they enjoyed it, all is well :)

 

Being a Teochew, I love to eat Teochew porridge.  Just some simple side dishes and plain porridge.  Who needs an elaborate meal ;)

Used this Yunnan pot to experiment cooking with Lotus Roots, Dried Scallop, Chicken and Carrot.

A hearty soup for the family. 

My husband's 2nd MRT trip in 20+ years.  Like taking him on an excursion ;)

I have made so many buns that I have forgotten who did I bake this for and what flavour ;(  Most likely Ham and Cheese ;)

One of my favourites - Thailand Seedless Guava with finely chopped lemon peel ;0)

This is an interesting picture that I took while in JB with Peter.  We were "hunting" for food that day and we saw this butcher on a bike parked outside a provision shop.  So I approached him and asked if I could take a picture of him.  He even combed his hair and posted for me :)

Had some left over pecans so I made a simple Caramelised Pecan Teacake for breakfast.

 

We attended a Couple's Marriage Retreat as an Anniversary event instead of going overseas for a short holiday.  Thank GOD, for all these years together, we have travelled to many, many countries and we feel that this retreat is more important than another holiday in another country.  We had a blessed time and got to know some friends :) 

Since Eliza has been so thoughtful in sending us flowers from her own sales proceeds (through the Internet sales of her drawings) for our anniversary and even sent a parcel with photos, cards and notes, we decided to treat her with a gift card from Mark & Spencer for her to buy and eat things she could not have afforded with her monthly budget. 

Bought this petite square pan and love using it :)  Baked Japanese Cream Cheese Cake with it.  No cutting, just take a piece and enjoy it.  Will make this for Eliza when she comes home for her summer vacation :)

I love this taro with fish soup. Yum Yum :)  A simple meal for the family. 

Never say die, but always try.  Have been trying to make wassant but because I do not follow the receipes to the tee, I have not got the shape I wanted yet.  Thus I baked thsese in the petite square pan.  They are just as tasty :)