Read this and though it's not applicable to me now, I thought I would share it for those with a significant other to pray for :)
Lord, I pray for my husband, from head to toe:
His Head –That he will look to You as Lord of his life. (1 Corinthians 11:13)
His Mind - That he will have the mind of Christ and think as the Holy Spirit would lead him and not the flesh. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
His Eyes –That You will keep his eyes from temptation and that he will turn his eyes from sin. (Matthew 6:13, Mark 9:47)
His Ears - That he will hear Your still small voice instructing him. (1 Kings 19:12, Psalm 32:8)
His Mouth – That his words will be pleasing to You. (Psalm 19:14)
His Neck –That he will humble himself before You and be strong, courageous, and careful to do everything written in Your Word so that he will be prosperous and successful. (James 4:10, Joshua 1:8-9)
His Heart-That he will love and trust You with his whole heart. (Deuteronomy 6:5, Proverbs 3:5)
His Arms-That You will be his strength. (Psalm 73:26)
His Hands-That he will enjoy the work of his hands and see it as a gift from You. (Ecclesiastes 3:13, 5:19)
His feet – That You will order his steps and that he will walk in Your truth. (Proverbs 4:25, Psalm 26:3)
Reading the Lonely Planet magazine is a surefire way to induce wanderlust in anyone. This year, other than my Bangkok trip, I have an exciting March trip, a June trip to Korea possibly, and hopefully a China trip with mummy in Dec. Oh yes, maybe another Bangkok trip in August. Quite trodden paths indeed.
Some new places I would like to visit:
Sarawak or Sabah: Just to see East Malaysia. The lush forests and sanctuaries for orang utans would appeal to me :)
Myanmar: Just want to see how life is like given all the bad press Myanmar used to get
India: Enough stereotyping. Maybe I should really see the place for myself to see if the negative preconceptions are justified.
Israel: To see where it all started... Where He walked :)
18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
Went for the training for CGLs at church last Saturday and was particularly struck by these verses shared by Pastor Lian. But before I share my reflections on these verses, let me just say that I am excited about Rock Kidz this year. Although there will be changes (already, in my short half year here, I have seen new people join us, a new leader for my team, a new leader for the department) - such as a new way of running the Fearless department with the cell group structure, starting cell groups for the girls, leading one for myself, a new team and eventually maybe a new venue - the Lord is good and He promises to equip us and see us through the changes. There's gonna be a lot of discomfort as we face changes but someday we will look back and realise that change is not necessarily unwelcome!
Well, if only I can apply this and believe it as firmly in matters related to work. I knew last year when I accepted the post that there would be a steep learning curve. Thank God things have been quite slow so far and my biggest challenge to date is to stay awake through all the meetings. I have been slowly learning the new work. Because God has always helped me through my tough times (even when I didn't realise it was Him and thought it was through my own strength) and my ex-boss has also reminded me of his own experience that this was true, I know this year will go by smoothly too.
Yet Isa 43:18-19 reminds us not to even dwell on the past. God has done good things for me before in the past, but I need not dwell on how good He was then. By faith, because He has promised so, regardless of how good He has been, I should trust that He will continue to deliver.
New things are scary, that much I agree. But He is making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Where there is no path, God has gone ahead to tread one for me. Where things are dry, His waters spring forth.
Now, isn't that a wonderful and reassuring thought to start the year with? :) It makes me want to look forward to see how things will unfold for me this year.
And the church verse of the year...
7“ Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And whose hope is the LORD. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
A tree planted by the waters - that's an imagery used quite frequently in the Bible. Someone lovingly planted me by the water. Trees are planted to bear fruit, give shade, do something useful in general. Nobody has purposely planted a tree in somewhere unfavourable to watch it die... So I shall look forward to the challenges ahead as conditions to grow myself in... I am in reach of ready waters, even when the heat comes, and I need not be anxious, for drought or not, it will be a fruitful season!
Goodbye Year of the Bunny, Hello Year of the Dragon :)
Chinese New Year preparation was as usual a hectic process, especially for Mummy but she kept on at it because it's for her favourite festival. This year, we switched from the usual cooking of 9 courses to a steamboat dinner but the preparation was not much less. To secure the freshest ingredients, we went to several markets. I had fun following her.
It's also the second year I am helping out in the kitchen. Both parents of mine are hinting that it's high time I pick up some culinary skills so that I can cook for my family in future. :P
No visitation but will be spending a lot of time at home just enjoying the company of my family, and slacking!
Here's wishing one and all a Prosperous, Healthy, Wealthy, Peaceful Year of the Dragon!
Having high tea is a must for me during the school holidays. It makes me feel like a tai-tai and there are only probably two things that make me feel even more like a tai-tai – having afternoon tea during school days and marrying a rich man. However, without a tai-tai allowance, I was on the hunt for a cheaper place and Daniel found Sheraton Towers Lobby Bar had a one-for-one offer with any credit card.
The Lobby Bar
The place was quiet and we managed to get a sofa seat. That was the easy part. The difficult part was deciding between the Japanese menu and the English tea.
Gosh, I was too excited to take the picture properly. Pardon me!
Daniel’s preference was for English tea so that’s what we went for. There are fewer items than the tea we had at Regent Hotel but then again this was a cheaper option so I am not complaining. My main gripe was that service was slow even though customers were few. The tea set came with one drink per person and no, it was not a refillable drink. I had a decent cranberry juice.
Tadah! Here comes the food!
I read that the scones came with clotted cream and handmade jam so I had to attack that first. Verdict? Crumbly and I liked it enough.
Scones – the perfect vehicle for all the cream and strawberry jam I want
Next came the savoury choices.
I really took my time to decide what to try first.
Egg white and tomato. I am ignoring the olive.
This was quite yummy!
Apricot and cheese on focaccia
I like this rather unusual combination and enjoyed the fragrance of the focaccia.
Smoked salmon roll
Took a break from the sandwiches to try the smoked salmon roll. The wrap was tasteless and I found the salmon too salty. Sheraton was very generous with the salmon though.
Ham and cheese croissant
This was a simple combination but I think it’s my second favourite from the selection! It is the first time I saw this item on high tea menus though.
Prawn and roe on focaccia
My favourite item amongst the savoury food has got to be this. Crunchy fresh prawn - simply yummy. Having ended the savoury plate on a high note, I moved on to desserts!
Ooohhh which should I start with?
Imagine white chocolate shaving on a moist brownie which is then laid on a chocolate chip cookie. Does it sound like your idea of heavenly? That's the picture above. I am not a chocoholic so this might have been wasted on me but I liked the components eaten separately. The cake was soft and not too dense while the cookie was crispy.
Cheesecake with blueberry
The cheesecake was moist and dense, but why was there only one berry on the cake?
Raspberry tart
At this point I had reached my maximum utility but I braved on to taste everything. Glad I did so because the slightly sour but still sweet taste of the raspberries matched the custard well!
Chocolate tart
Chocolatey is the best word I could come up with to describe this. (It seems the food blogger has to be equipped with a good camera AND a wide vocabulary!) The chocolate was rich and had crunchy bits inside that I liked.
And for the grand finale, we attacked the macarons!
Excuse me, can we have two of each please?
Daniel opted for the raspberry one (nope, we couldn’t tell that it was raspberry by the look so more accurately he went for the red one). His verdict – the filling was sour but the shell was exceedingly sweet. Put together? Sweet and sour. (Sigh, the aftermath of his China trip I suppose.)
I found the shell too soft but I loved the subtle taste of my coffee macaron and the texture that the contrasting coffee grains provided. Definitely my favourite item amongst the sweets.
My overall verdict was that there was no item that rated horribly but there was also none spectacular. It is however a good way to enjoy an afternoon and at $33++ for two sets, it was still a good deal. I was also offered complimentary parking so that made up for the poor service earlier.
Just before the school hols ended, I needed a place for a girlfriend gathering and picked Sheraton for the quietness and the fact that I couldn't get the Japense set out of my mind. My friends tried the English set and commented that the latte and hot chocolate were tasteless. So order juice just like I did!
The most impressive part about the Japanese tea was its presentation, which got a unanimous oooh-and-aaahing from us.
The full works
Close up of the plate of savouries
The soba (not in close up) was too salty and the maki was so-so. The inari was sweet and the roe crunchy. Way better. But the star of the plate?
Definitely the fresh, succulent slices of salmon!
Nori Rice Crackers
I am not a fan of rice crackers in general but you might like something salty and crunchy to munch on!
Grape jelly
Pretty jelly that was light in taste and good for cleansing the palette between courses!
Does this look like a dark chocolate cake with a white praline on it? My friend thought so and was disappointed to discover otherwise. On the other hand, I was delighted with the bean paste and black sesame combination.
The red bean pudding with lotus seed was a disappointment though. Sweet and smooth but would have preferred it with red beans within!
This photograph is lousy but the subject (whitebean and chestnut cake) was great!
The soya pudding with Japanese soya powder was too bland though.
There are three other items that were wonderful but I didn’t photograph. A mochi with red bean filling and matcha powder (always a great Japanese combination), a wasabi praline that was slightly salty but an unimaginably great combination and the green tea ice cream that came at the end of the meal. Please feel free to go for the tea, photograph the three items and send me the photos so that this blog entry is more complete!
The English tea is more consistent – the items are not bad though not spectacular. The Japanese tea is more unique, though the items were either way better or much worse that those in the English tea. My recommendation would be to go for the Japanese set though. The novelty factor and the highs will more than compensate for the misses. I am not sure when the one-for-one offer will end because when I called in January the staff had to check with her manager and get back to me so try to get your hands on this before the offer ends!
In this Harvard Business Review interview, Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert talks with Gardiner Morse about his research on happiness. Some key points:
• Most people do better work when they’re happy. Some managers think their employees will work better if they’re a little uncomfortable, a bit anxious about their jobs, and point to cranky artists and geniuses who do amazing work. For the vast majority of people, that’s baloney, says Gilbert. “I know of no data showing that anxious, fearful employees are more creative or productive.” Contented people don’t sit around staring at a wall, he says. People hate being bored. They are happiest when they’re working toward goals that are challenging but attainable.
• Rewards work better than threats and punishments. One boss might say, “If you don’t get this to me by Friday, you’re fired.” The employee will get it done, but after that, will never do more than what’s required and may even sabotage the organization. A smarter boss would say, “I don’t think most people could get this done by Friday. But I have full faith and confidence that you can. And it’s hugely important to the entire team.”
• People are more resilient than they think. “When bad things happen, we weep and whine for a while and then pick ourselves up and get on with it,” says Gilbert. “One of the most reliable findings of the happiness studies is that we do not have to go running to a therapist every time our shoelaces break. We have a remarkable ability to make the best of things.” We find silver linings, rationalize, and adjust to the new realities. Pete Best, who was replaced by Ringo Starr as the Beatles’ drummer in 1962 just before the band surged to international fame and is now a session musician, said, “I’m happier than I would have been with the Beatles.”
• Social contact is central to happiness. “We are by far the most social species on Earth,” says Gilbert. “If I wanted to predict your happiness, and I could know only one thing about you, I wouldn’t want to know your gender, religion, health, or income. I’d want to know about your social network – about your friends and family and the strength of the bonds with them.”
• The quantity of good experiences is more important than the quality. “Someone who has a dozen mildly nice things happen each day is likely to be happier than somebody who has a single truly amazing thing happen,” says Gilbert. “So wear comfortable shoes, give your wife a big kiss, sneak a French fry. It sounds like small stuff, but the small stuff matters… But you have to do them every day…”
• There are some basics to happiness. “The main thing is to commit to some simple behaviors,” says Gilbert, “meditating, exercising, getting enough sleep – and to practice altruism… And nurture your social connections. Twice a week, write down three things you’re grateful for, and tell someone why. I know these sound like homilies from your grandmother. Well, your grandmother was smart.”
• But happiness is complicated. People who have children are typically less happy on a moment-to-moment basis than people without children, but there are rewards. “What kind of happiness should we want?” asks Gilbert. “Do we want lives free of pain and heartache, or is there value in those experiences? Science will soon be able to tell us how to live the lives we want, but it will never tell us what kinds of lives we should want to live. That will be for us to decide.”
• Happiness differs more from moment to moment than it does from person to person. “This suggests that it’s not the stable conditions of our lives, such as where we live or whether we’re married, that are the principal drivers of happiness,” says researcher Matthew Killingsworth, who has tracked the happiness levels of 15,000 people in 83 countries via an iPhone app that asks them to say what they’re doing and rate their happiness at random moments during the week. “It could be the small, everyday things that count the most. It also suggests that happiness on the job may depend more on our moment-to-moment experiences – our routine interactions with coworkers, the projects we’re involved in, our daily contributions – than on the stable conditions thought to promote happiness, such as a high salary or a prestigious title.”
“The Science Behind the Smile”, an interview with Daniel Gilbert by Gardiner Morse in Harvard Business Review, January-February 2012 (Vol. 90, #1-2, p. 84-90)
