Wholesome Dinner by Chef Marc

2 days ago (Saturday) I made pan-fried marmite-salmon for dinner.

It was a commendable effort as it was quite tasty.

However, the thick middle portion wasn’t too cooked, so towards the end,  I put it back into the pan and fried it awhile more. Need to improve on this.

Last Saturday, I steamed Hong Kong Style Cod Fish. 2 weeks of wholesome dinner (patting myself on the back) hehe… Hope dearie enjoyed both meals.

Leaving our Past Behind

Title: Leaving our Past Behind

Text: 1 Tim 1:12-17

Preacher: Ps Simon Eng

1. Be honest to face our past … and admit to God our wrong (v13,15)
   Paul was honest about his own past when he described how we was before, even though it was not something to be proud of.
   In order for us to find healing and grace of God from our past, we have to confront it.
    
   Top 3 negatives from the past

1. Regrets about things done and not done. Missed opportunities, mistakes made.
   Do not carry regrets into the New Year.
2. Difficult experiences resulting in bad memories, causing phobias, fears.
3. Painful relationships causing hurts, disappointments, regrets, bitterness or un forgiveness

Face them with God in the picture. Find room in our hearts to Glorify God! (v17)

God knows the amount of pain and tears we have shed.

Do not be defined, condemned by our past, instead, let it decorate our life. John 21:15-17

1. Learn from our past (v13b-14, 16a)
   Take time to do some reflections.
   Nobody has all the answers yet. Things are not perfect but God will reveal his answer and grace to us.
    
   Book Recommendation: The Calling Journey by Tony Stoltzfus,
   
    
    
    
    
   3 Major Areas of Learning

1. Learn about our journey
   We all go through 4 mountain tops and 3 valley lows
    
2. Learn about God
   God is both in our mountain top experiences and the valley deep lows.
   Exercise our mind, will emotion to be in tune with Him.
   Paul received God’s strength (v12)
   Paul received God’s grace (v13, 16)
   Paul received God’s abundant grace (v14)
   Do not glorify our past and pain. When we spend time thinking about those, we are glorifying it instead of God.
    
3. Learn about ourselves

• When in the valleys, allow God to deal with ourselves.
• Do not point fingers at others
• Look deep within our own being
   

1. Move on from our past (v17)
   Do not remain in the past, we must move on.
    
   Embrace:
   Faith: the unexpected good can happen!
   Hope: the better is coming, we’ve turned the corner, spring is coming the winter is over.
   Love: to believe and trust in people (again) ; to love with His love.
    
   Gen 41:51
   Joseph moved on; Joseph’s 2 sons:
   Manasseh: God has made me forget all my troubles and all my father’s household.
   Ephraim: God has made me fruitful.
    
   Believe that God will make me fruitful
    
    

Struggling in Vain

Just now after lunch, I went to pay my bills.

In front of me, there was a middle aged uncle (maybe my dad’s age?) struggling with the SAM machine.

I know how such machines can be challenging for the older generation, so I will be especially patient when they are using, not wanting them to feel pressured.

I offered my help, but he was very hesitant and declined, even offered me to use the machine first.

I declined and asked him to continue using it after helping him with the first step.

He told me he was unfamiliar with the machine but insisted on doing it on his own… so I respected that and stood behind.

I then saw that he was paying some “bankruptcy” fees… that probably explained why he didn’t want any help with the machine even though he was unfamiliar with it.

I saw that he was progressing fine until he clicked on a button which led him back to the homepage again ( I think he was trying to pay another bill but pressed wrongly, all his earlier information lost so he may need to re-key all over again) . Not sure if he is able to continue again from there without any help… sigh…

I didn’t want to impose or insist on helping as he might feel irritated so I left and went to the mall to use another machine so that I will be in time to catch the bus back.

 

Are we like this at times, declining help even though we are struggling because of perceived shame when the one who offered help would not even judge you. That person just want you to be able to complete your task successfully.

NEX Please...

Last Saturday, on a whim we decided to travel down to NEX for dinner. Thanks to Circle Line, we were able to reach the place seamlessly in less than 30 mins.

NEX is a gigantic mall, possibly housing every kind of food craving one would have at any one point. Hence, it was really crowded on a weekend dinnertime.

Wifey felt like having “kok kok keh” hehe… chicken… so when we passed by Chicken Pot and liked what we saw and smell, we decided to go in and try.

They were having couple set dinner promotion. It costs $33.80 (iirc) and came with the Chicken Pot and the scandalous Spicy Prawn Hot pot and 2 drinks.

We enjoyed the meal, especially since it was a rather cool day so anything hot and a wee spicy will do very nicely. We also added a plate of oyster mushroom and instant noodle to add into the tom yum soup base of the prawn pot. It is always nice to try new things with wifey.

After dinner, we shopped around and wifey got her “ball ball” earrings which she has been wanting to get for quite some time.

Even though we are very full, wifey was determined to eat her favourite MSW durian ice cream and she usually got what she wanted…

Before heading home, we bought 2 buns (banana cake) from Barcook Bakery for Sunday’s breakfast. It is quite nice. Will try their chocolate banana next time when it is available.

On Sunday, sermon was delivered by Ps Brad Lomenick on Leadership. He talks about Leading like Jesus and the 4 main points were

1. Lead Humbly and Courageously (Matt23:11-12, James4:6)
   
   
   Humble means it’s not about you. Courage means facing yours fears head on and pursuing what scares you.
   
   
   Wash the feet of the others but be prepared to stand firm on what you believe in. (BoB Goff story on his meeting with the witch docs)
   
   
   
   


2. Lead Big with Vision and Love for Your People (Matt4:18-22)
   
   
   Big inspiring vision, yet deeply focused on people around you. Lead with compassion and grace for those around you.
   
   
   
   


3. Lead with Standard of Excellence (Matt5:16)
   
   
   A standard that scares the daylight of you.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


4. Lead with a Clear Personal Mission (Matt25:23)
   
   
   Calling is where one’s greatest strength intersects his/her deepest passion.
   
   
   Faithfulness to where you have been placed is a big part of this equation.

After service, we went to Lavender for Porn’s Thai food lunch (where we had Tom Yum soup. Again.) wifey collected her facial products from Liyin.

After lunch, we went home and did some laundry and change the sheets. Dinner was at 164 where we ordered 3 Cup Chicken and a plate of potato leaves and slowly wind down the weekend.

The Oven Debuts

Last Friday, wifey has craving for Japanese food. So after work, we went over to ARC to have dinner at Ichiban-Boshi.

We haven’t been daring enough to eat sashimi since the raw fish scare as reported a couple of months back so this time round, we tentatively ordered a plate of grilled salmon. (hoping it will be cooked enough to eliminate any bacteria present)

However, when the plate arrived, the salmon was still rather raw. We ate it anyway.

In addition, we ordered 2 mini cold soba, a plate of smoked duck on special rice sushi and some interesting toppings containing carrots and don’t know what (new item, nice) and shared a set of spicy beef set which comes with chawanmushi and a hot plate of cheesy egg-y squid .

After dinner, we walked a bit more as there was a sports/cosmetics/shoes sale at the concourse. We also went to NTUC to get some milk and went home after that.

On Saturday, we woke up early to bring dad to his charity dinner at Devonshire. We reached Bukit Merah earlier as mom want to get us vegetarian bee hoon. It was nice as the vegetables wifey chose were piping hot and fresh.

After that, we took a cab down, settle dad on his table and went shopping at OG. Mom bought some shirts for dad and then we had our lunch at Cuppage. Initially we wanted to have Yong Tau Foo but it was closed, so we settled for duck noodles beside it. Not that good, the service and quality here.

We then went back to pick up dad. It took quite long as there was a bottleneck at the exit due to many wheelchairs that needed to be helped down the steps. After exiting, we failed to hail a cab so we pushed dad back to OG to get the fan to replace the spoilt one at their house.

After that, I pushed dad and wifey and mom heaved and ho the bulky and heavy fan to 313 taxi stand to go home. Phew…. Expanded quite a bit of strength but thankfully the weather is still quite ok. Once home, I assembled the fan and we left after resting awhile.

I went for my football game and wifey rested at home and I got dinner back (fish slice bee hoon soup for wifey and basil chicken rice for me) from the market after my game.

On Sunday, we decided to try our newly bought oven for the very first time. So we went to NTUC after service to get some salmon, mushrooms, broccoli, herbs and olive oil to cook for dinner.

We also bought a box of grape which taste like gummy bear. Wifey loves it.

Went home, put the clothes to laundry and after that we prepared our dinner.

Food turned out rather well and we had a nice simple meal to wind down a tiring weekend.  

My Mentors

Last evening, I met up with Danny at Ootoya at Clementi Mall.

It has been quite some time since we catch up and quite a fair bit of changes has happened since then.

We updated each other on each other’s life, plans, concerns etc.. it was, I feel, a rather relaxing and refreshing time although things have not been going swimmingly well for us.

With the upcoming changes happening in terms of ministry, I am not sure how many more times will we meet.

Thus, I am all the more appreciative of and treasure the time talking to him.

 

Danny is my third “mentor/shepherd” in Hope. After August and Des. All of them are great man and have their own unique strength and personality which I can learn a lot from.

For August, it will be his wicked wit and humour and strength in the Word. Very authentic and simple man with really deep content within him.  

As for Desmond. He is another very witty guy. Non conformist but caring and humble.

For Danny. I suppose he is the one whom I spent most time in the trench with, in terms of DMM, planning, executing the various programmes for the group. He has walked with me during my very difficult times in his own simple ways (like buying dinner over to my place to eat and chat together etc) and for that, I am truly grateful.

I can see that despite his many internal challenges and struggles, he ultimately wants to grow together, serve alongside each other, be authentic, honest and honour God with whatever decisions and actions that he took.

And because of that, Danny has my complete trust (as in, I am comfortable to tell him my struggles, fears and challenges without fearing I will be judged).

I thank God for Danny and all the different mentors that God has placed in my life. They are mighty important in my walk with Him.

Night Out at Harry's and a Simple Sunday Dinner

Last Saturday afternoon, wifey and I went down to Suntec City because she had signed up to attend the workshop “Up-cycle your Denim” organised by PA at the Public Service Day Event.

There, she learnt how to sew a holder using the materials provided to her.

It was rather tedious as the cloth is quite thick and she did well to complete her “project”. ( http://the-first-garden.blogspot.sg/2012/03/celebrating-talent.html) Well done, dear.

After the workshop which took about an hour, we left the place in search of dinner. Along the way, wifey saw a polka dot dress which she liked and so we got it. Just nice for her upcoming company’s Dinner and Dance  in November which is Retro theme.

We decided to get out of Suntec because it was getting too cold inside for me and we do not know what to eat there, so we decided to walk towards Chijmes and have our dinner at Harry’s Bar while waiting for the soccer game to begin.

It was Jurgen Klopp’s debut as our new manager, so I was very interested to see what kind of performance the team will put out. Initially I was worried that the menu will be very limited there as wifey doesn’t realy like fried western food and it was a bar after all, however my worries were rather unfounded as they do have quite a comprehensive selection of food.

So we chose a nice seat, just by the entrance which is not so warm and ordered our food.

We ordered Mushroom pizza with truffle oil (excellent) - $22

Chicken Wings (super) - $13

Harry’s signature burger (average) - $19

And a glass of orange juice (nice) - $5

The portion was huge and we over ordered… but not a problem as we packed the leftover pizza for our lunch the next day.

The match ended 0-0 but I enjoyed it greatly. The atmosphere was very good at Harry’s and I had wifey beside me, really blessed.

On Sunday, we went home after service to finish up our pizza and then prepared the food for dinner. I have gotten a black chicken from the market on Saturday intending to boil it with the herbs bought from ZTP last week.

I went to NYUC to get a packet of veges and some groceries while wifey stayed home to boil the soup and prepare the garlic…

Our soup that night was a tad diluted. Probably too much water for the amount of ingredients and herbs we had but its fine, we will fine tune it and learn from mistake the next time round.

Vege (Nai Bai) was good and we managed to finish all the rice that evening.

After cleaning up, we had our rest. Tired and fully satisfied of the time we spent together over the weekend, doing the things each other enjoy.