March - October 2014 Bakes, etc

Heehee, I did not realize that I have not been updating my bakes, etc for such a long while :)

 

Starting from the most recent, the above yam and threadfin soup is one of my favourites.  The steamed pork ribs and yam was a dish that we had at tim sum recently and I decided to give it a try.  The third dish is a classic tau gay with salted fish :) 

Tangzhong Wassant.  I am not able to achieve what Provence is selling outside but these are soft and yummy as well :)

Chocolate Buns with Cream Cheese filling.

Mini Chempedak Tarts for my husband's teabreak :)

 

They guys at home were given a choice - Homemade Beef Stew and Buns or Homemade Jam on Toast with Brewed Coffee for breakfast.

Peach and Blueberry Tarts for praiseband practice.

Blueberry Tart for family members.

Love the fluffy and soft texture of this Egg Loaf recipe.  One original, the other I topped with some cheese and poppy seeds.

A simple chocolate sponge cake with caramelized bananas and peanut butter filling.

Homemade Fried Silver Fish and Peanuts.  If you have the time, homemade fried stuff are healthier as we do not reuse the oil like those from the shops.  This dish goes well with plain porridge or rice, nasi lemak :)

Renfred brought home some prosciutto so I used some of them in my baguettes ;-)

 

The inside of the mini prosciutto baguette. 

I enjoy playing with dough.  Maybe Play dough was not invented during my childhood days :)

Love to make pretty loaves like these :)

A simple vanilla sponge cake with homemade jam filling and a very simple drawing of a road bike for my hubby's 52nd birthday. 

Strawberry Chocolate Tart. 

A simple dish of Fried Chicken with herb seasoning. I am not good at following recipes, so I just add whatever I like :)

Nutella Flower Loaf

Apple Baked Ham and Cheddar Loaf

Made some Banana Walnut cakes for praiseband practice. 

Am happy with the crunchy walnuts and chunks of bananas :)

A Wagu Beef Dinner with homemade Soup Bowls and a bottle of 2005 Red Wine.

Made some mini pizza strips from the remaining olive dough where I made my soup bowls.  Topped them with Sundried Tomatoes, herb butter and curry fish.

Honey Coated Macadamia and Toffee Cinnamon Buns.  Lovely combination. 

Just love the texture of these buns :D

The night before, I made some Crabmeat Patties.  Used some of them to make Crabmeat Patties sandwich with my homemade Highway 10" French Baguette.

 

Bought these two huge flower crabs at the Marsling market, steamed them, added seasonings, etc and made my own Crabmeat Patties.  Those you eat or buy from outside are so expensive.

A friend ordered close to 100 sets of these cookies for her daughters' school Children's Day events. 

So I experimented and made different flavours and colours of heart-shaped cookies.

Quality and taste are very important to me, especially when it comes to selling my bakes. 

 

 

Chocolate, Vanilla, Raspberry, Cranberry, Lemon and Orange Heart-shaped cookies wrapped and sealed in individual small containers, ready for delivery :)

 

Orange Chocolate Tarts for Renfred's classmates.  One of his lecturers gave them a lunch treat so he asked if I could bake a dessert for his classmates.  Always very happy to do so whenever my young adults want their mom to bake for them :)

Homemade Straw, Blue and Blackberry Jam with peach liqueur from Nice.

 

Orange Cranberry and Stripes Agar Agar

Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins

Meringue topped with Balsamic Strawberry and Chocolate drizzle.

 

Made these Chocolate Tarts to share with some friends.

 

On this particular day, I just felt like doing some stencil baking.  So I baked these :D

Hope you have enjoyed looking at the above as I have enjoyed baking them.  GOD bless :)

Endurance - Melaka Century Ride 2014

We drove into Malacca on Saturday, 25 October, 2014 to participate in the Melaka Century Ride the next day.  This is our first time riding with a group of more than 2,600+ participants in a foreign land.

 

That evening, we went with of one Peter's cycling buddies, Cherlek, to do a short 12km orientation ride of the surrounding area.  At the back of my mind, I was thinking of backing out of the next day's ride :0

 

My steady and determined husband.  Really admire his perseverance and discipline in training in order to participate in such an event.

 

His not so steady but willing to try wife, together with his cycling buddies :)

 

All set and waiting at the starting point. 

 

Like real, 52 year old aunty on a road bike cycling with a group of strong and abled body riders ;-)  One year ago, I was not even able to make U-turn and cycle steadily on a bike.

 

Another picture of aunty behind the cyclist in orange jersey.

 

When I reached the coastal area, I was separated from the rest.  So I stopped and took a couple of pictures and a video of the sea.  Must enjoy GOD's creation on your journey, right? ;-)

 

After leaving the coastal area, I cycled through the kampong alone. 

Along the way, this song came to mind

"My life is in You, Lord, My hope is in You, Lord,

My strength is in You, Lord. In You, yes, in You."

I kept on singing and enjoying the experience of cycling alone in a foreign land.

 

Do I look tired?  Hahaha, this is where an inexperienced rider got "conned".  While I was enjoying my ride, there was this guy (part of the organizing team) in a car, asking if I was okay.  I told him "Thanks, yes, I am able to carry on."  So I continued but the vehicle kept following me until I pai seh and said "Okay, I will get up the vehicle."  Little did I realize that it was more torturing to be in a vehicle, slowly going after riders who are tired and I wished I had continued cycling instead of being pai seh :(

I was shortly transferred to a lorry, being told that it would go straight to the resort.  Instead, it went round the route, picking up cyclists who were either tired, got cramps or got slight injury.  One of their own marshalls on motorcycle also came up as his motor bike had a puncture.  Got to talk to this cyclist in white jersey from Kuala Lumpur.  He said he ran out of water and his buddies - 7 of them told him that they would wait for him before the start of the ride but all "deserted" him.  Maybe that's why we learn that in our Christian life's race we always say "run the race, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith." - man will fail us but Jesus would never.   

Here's another picture after more than 1+ hour in the lorry.  I counted, there were 15 cyclists with 15 bikes!  I regretted getting on to the vehicle and the lorry.

Pete did very well, he completed his first century ride well within his targetted time.  So proud of him :-D 

 

Since I came back earlier than he did, I showered and went downstairs to welcome my hubby.  He put on his medal with pride, tired but happy with his achievement.  Well done, dear! 

The next day, before setting off for home.  We gathered and took pictures for remembrance.

So happy and relaxed :)

At Malacca, enjoying Mee Sua Soup and shopping :)

 

This was dinner on the second night at PappaRich as there were not many eateries near the resort.

 

These are the two medals received for our participation.  For Pete, he completed the ride and he well deserved it.  For me, I only did about 1/3 of the ride but most of all, I thank GOD for the safety and experience, especially cycling alone on the road in a foreign land when I have not even participated in such events in my own country.  The part I enjoyed most was, when I was singing and cycling past the kampong area.   Now back to life's reality and to persevere on my eternal race, looking unto my Saviour and hearing Him say "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." on the day I meet Him face to face and maybe receive a crown :). 

 

The official results were out today.  Look at what I received.  I could not help but laugh at how humorous GOD is - it stated here that my timing was 4hours 47mins and 7 out of 154 in my category, 263 out of 2672!  What a joke!  The best 4 riders in the Yew Tee team clocked in about 5.15hours and I am ahead of them????  It is really as what the Bible says, "the last shall be the first." :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0M0NALW7EM&gl=SG&hl=en-GB

Shekinah's Breakfast cum Ice Cream Sunday, 12 Oct 2014

 

Isn't this a lovely picture of brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ?  Last Sunday, they were treated to a cone of homemade ice cream each, with 3 flavours; Vanilla and Berries (used one pod of vanilla - no artificial flavouring and homemade berry jam), Mango and Orange (pure mango and orange zest also no artificial favouring) and Kahlua Coffee. 

 

This is also in line with the WEFC 50th Anniversary of thanksgiving for the Body of Christ.  It's amazing we are all beautifully and wonderfully made by GOD, very different in many ways, but yet we serve one Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.  

 

May I never lose the wonder of GOD's mercy and amazing grace

May I ever bless His Name and sing His praise

May I ever be grateful and thankful for His salvation, love and grace

May You, Lord Jesus, ever be first in my life all of my days.

 



The people whom you thank the Lord for....

In line with WEFC's 50th Anniversary, pastor Kee Oon announced over the pulpit last Sunday that it would be nice to encourage the fellow believers in the Body of Christ by writing a thank you note to them and paste it on the church's face pad.

When I heard that, many people whom I would like to thank the Lord for, came to mind.  Must say, this is not the first time I thank the Lord for them.  Here goes the list :

1)  First and foremost, I thank GOD for His great love to send Jesus to redeem us from our sins.  Without this, there would not be a Body of Christ, we would not have brothers and sisters in the Lord, etc.

2)  Thank GOD for the church leaders from the Senior Pastor, the elders, pastors to the care group leaders who have served and set examples for the flock to follow.

3)  Thank GOD for the administrative staff and people who worked in the background week after week.

4)  Thank GOD for brothers and sisters in the Body, whom the Lord has used in one way or another have brought a smile to our faces.

Now for the more specific people.  Thank GOD for :

1)  Pastor Kenny, Pastor Ivan, Ghim Har and She Kheng who have played a significant part in Renfred's journey as he prepares himself to be equipped for full time service as a soldier for the King of kings and Lord of lords.  We are thankful for GOD's calling in Renfred's life and for His provision.

2)  Pastor Keng Mun and Rebecca who have faithfully and quietly journeyed with us through our ups and downs and remained our friends even though they are now serving in another church.  They counsel us when we run to them, they are not judgmental, do not avoid us and we truly thank GOD for them from the bottom of our hearts.  It was Rebecca who first introduced me to serve in the Saturday tea break and that was where I started to get "empowered" by her to bake and serve.  It's amazing, how she has played that initial yet crucial part in my baking and food ministry.  Loving them in the Lord.

3)  Pastor Twee Kim and Mrs Lee who are serving quietly amongst the flock.  Had a chat with Mrs Lee at this October JPM and learnt that even though she may not be attending the worship service at WEFC, as she felt ministered by the worship in the other church she is currently attending,  her service is to WEFC missionaries and praying for WEFC.  Am touched by her love and care for the Body of Christ here.  She has her own special ways of blessing and touching lives and she is one of those who is faithfully praying for Eliza.  When we first attended WEFC, more than 11 years back, Pastor Lee was the Senior Pastor and Pete has since got to know him better and they are able to speak truthfully in love to one another.

4)  Pastor Shern, who is now in Durham, working diligently to be a better workman for the Lord.  We are looking forward to learn from him when he comes home in two years' time.  He has been a very encouraging pastor during our stay in WEFC and even up till now, we still keep in touch as he faithfully prays for Eliza who is also studying overseas like himself but in a different field.  The Lord has blessed him with a special touch to be able to empathize and encourage others with His Word.  "And God will generously provide all his need. Then he will always have everything he needs and plenty left over to share with others." II Cor 9:8

5) Annabel and Pastor Edward.  Their exemplary faithful and cheerful service to the Lord is something anyone would like to learn from.  Annabel has been an encouraging sister in the Lord for many years.  She is the one who taught me how to make bread and knead by hand some more :)  And recently she shared her ice cream recipe and I shared my experiences and how I tweaked the recipe, etc.  Must say there are ups and downs in this journey but nobody is perfect, we are all sinners saved by GOD's grace.  So we accept each other and continue to love one another in Him :)

6)  Pastor Alfred.  We got to know him better only in the past 1-2 years when working through some church issues and he is my Worship Pastor too.  He and his wife, Yee Pin, are also praying faithfully for Eliza.  We got to understand and appreciate one another better through the "fights and arguments" hahaha just figuratively speaking.  He is very pastoral, generous and he cares.  May the Lord bless him and Yee Pin with joy, patience, grace and strength as they bring up their four "bundles of joy" :)

7)  There are so, so many like Louis and Chris, Eld Matt and Dolly, Lai Fun, Eugene and SuLin, Mimi and Yau Oon, Ser Khiam, Usha, Pastor Kee Oon, Pastor Ho, Timothy Pang and Yewya, Say Juan, Suzanne and David, Irene and Joshua, Seok Fun and Marc, Hern Tzun, Lye Kit, Lily Chau, Joseph and Jill and the list goes on.  I am sure I have missed out many more but GOD knows who they are.  And we pray that the Lord will bless you all according to His immeasurable riches. 

Last but not least, I am thankful for my husband, Peter, and our young adults; Renfred and Eliza.  GOD has blessed Peter with many spiritual blessings and insights - may he use them in humility and love to build up and be an encouragement in His Body and continue to be the role model for me and our young adults to follow in our service for the Lord.  GOD has blessed Renfred with the desire for His spiritual things and there is no better boss than GOD Himself.  May he be molded, filled and be used mightily for His Kingdom's purposes.  GOD has blessed Eliza with the talent to appreciate colours and in the areas of art.  He has opened the way for her to further her education overseas.  May she be used also greatly for the Lord in time to come. 

Hebrews 6:10

"For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do."

 

I Cor 15:58

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."