update

just to whet your appetites :D with some developing CuTlinary SkiLLs...
well, australia taught me to be a better chef in one year than a doctor... haha. but that's for the time being... that's why it takes 6 YEARS to become a doctor, and which is still not enough to become a good one... to become a good doctor requires more years of training, experience and passion, and compassion [keeping your heart soft]. And so, i think its much easier to become a chef than a doctor because for one, you'll definitely learn from experience [cook a bad meal, and you'll SUFFER for it... hahaha. which of course reminds me of the time I cooked ''crispy'' hard rice because i didn't know how to use the rice cooker]... And not to mention, INSTANT food packet preparations and the AMAZING VARIETY of sauces you can get off the shelves... cooking's never been easier as compared to 50 years back.

so anyway, as a part time mini-chef student, an introduction of the dishes from the top,

1) Omelette with 3-day old Soy Sauce BeEf [minced beef]. well, why 3 day old? cause the fermentation process takes about 3 days... haha. kidding. i kinda cook ONLY once for about 3-4 days... and so i get tired of eating the same dish again and again and over again... so normally byt the 3rd day, i'd take the dish and cook it into something else [or give it away... hahaha]... you can make it into a lot of different dishes, like OMeLette or Fried Rice, or even fried noodles... haha.

2) TanDori ChickeN [i think]... . but i cooked it not with an oven, but on a stove, with a pan, aluminum foil.... i didn't have the most available oven around [oven's packed with pots and pans...], so i wrapped the food in aluminum foil, placed it on the pan, and put a lid over it... tAdaa.

3) sweet and sour pOrk. well, i've been cooking this dish for the umpteen time... but this time
round, i decided not to scrimp on NOT getting pineapples... cos normally, pineapples are quite expensive, and to me, quite a waste of money and not a necessity [who eats the pineapples from a sweet sour pork dish anyway... haha] but oh well, this was sorta like my last self-cooked dish in AuStralia and so i decided, be extravagant, just a little bit.... and guess what? the pineapples made a difference... it added flavour, and made it sweeter...

and so, here are photos... and as the saying goes, a photo says a thousand words...
then again, don't trust photos...
looks are always better than... say... taste? haha. seriously, 99% of the time, it doesn't taste as good as it looks... not to mention, i've got a canon camera that takes wonderful photos.
and with wonderful photos...it makes everything look as if it tastes decieving wonderful. haha


well, since i came back to singapore, I haven't really gotten to cook for anyone yet... yet...


yea... mmmm... seee...
this is the reason why....


i've got a maid, who's an excellent cook. really thank God for her, now that meals at home are really really good. she makes the best western food, home-made pizzas, german potato salads... YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMiEee. sooo haha. i'm sorry i didn't get to cook for anyone yet... well, i've just gotta admit... her cooking is fantastic.

yea, so, that's the good part. we've never actually got a good enough cook for the house besides my mum.. and but she's busy normally at work. and really thank God for getting a good maid. so, now, its so much better and easier for my mum :D

oh yah.

and I've got an ice-cream maker from Australia, and now we can make all kinds of ice-cream [HOME MADE!!!!!!!] [Geleteria 8200 - Sunbeam]. Well, it was a good buy... and now, we're experimenting on different ingredients... there's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many kinds of COMBinations you can do with ICeCream.... PEACH, LYCHEE, CHOCOlATE, CoFfEe, GreeNTea, GrEeen ApplE, GraPes, AloeVERa...la la la la.. and the good thing is, it makes the ice cream in about an hour!

well, you can't get this ice-cream maker in Singapore, and so I got it from Australia... it was literally blood-sweat and much tears lugging the 12 K.G. box from the shop to my Sydney house... i literally died.... haha. but it was worth every drop of sweat now. :D

QuIet Time A.K.A mini-Semon

haven't done this in AGES. blame it on busy'ness, exams, blah blah... well, its actually laziness and a lack of time management.

so anyway since I'm back, they say an idle mind is the devil's workshop... and that's so true.
so i decided to pick up a few things...
1) Jazz Piano
2) Jazz guiTar or something different
3) A different language
4) Continue writing mini-sermons

ISAIAH chapter 58
" Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don't be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins! Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf pretending they want to be near me.
'We have fasted before you!' they say. ' Why aren't you impressed?'. We have been very hard on ourselves and you don't even notice it!' " Verses 1-3

you see, there's so much danger in being ''Christian'' with the inverted commas.

reading/studying/investigating the bible is no doubt, IMPORTANT... but what does God really want? Knowledge does not help unless it changes your heart... unless knowledge turns into conviction... You see, even being interested/delighted in reading the bible is not what God wants... many people are so interested in reading and studying God word, and become experts at it in bible school...

verse 6, "No, this is the kind of fasting I want. Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chans that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from relatives who need your help."

Matthew 15:16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

so it isn't just about knowing the bible, nor is it just about fasting and pious acts.
it's about glorifying God... it's about bringing a good name to God before men... that's evangelism, that's being an ambassador of christ...

and like the 2 greatest commandments say
Love God
Love Men
and these 2 are not mutually exclusive...
one cannot do without the other, and ESpEcially when Jesus already paid the price for salvation... You can't love people and not tell them about Jesus...and Yet, you can't love Jesus and not obey His commandments...

So my favorite example from the old testament on why christians should evangelise comes from Jeremiah...

"So these messages from the Lord have made me a household joke, But if I say, 'I'll never mention the Lord or speak in his name, his word burns in my heart like a fire. It's like a fire in my bones! I am worn our trying to hold it in! I can't do it!" Jeremiah 20v8b-9

If you read Jeremiah, he loved both God and his nation, Israel...

There were times Jeremeiah even wept for them.. pleaded with God... that's was his love for his people. and you see, the messages God gave Jeremiah were as much messages of Warnings as it were messages of Salvation.

Going back to ISAIAH chapter 58 v 1 "Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast. Shout aloud! Don't be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins!"

Just like Isaiah, Jeremiah had to do the same... both of them were called to be courageous, not be timid... to warn the people... to bring a message of salvation... Just like christians today too.
And keep this gospel message ONLY in your heart, and just like jeremiah says,
"it wears you out trying to hold it in"...
even if the reason for holding it in is 'timidity', or an underlying pride.

so you see, a christian cannot take the middle ground... it's one way or another... scary eh.

and so,
i'm not the most perfect christian out there, and definitely not the best example to follow... sometimes I feel that I lack a lot as a Christian... especially in the areas of evangelism... in the areas of NOT compromising... in the areas of Glorifying God...
and it's not the easiest thing to overcome... but i guess, a very fundamental question I ask myself constantly is "What matters most?"

so still, i pray that God will use me to reach my friends and the world around me...
and let not pride nor timidity, nor procrastination stop God from using me... and you too.

:D