Saturday, January 20, 2007

A Time to Cook

I'm quite happy today, partly because Liverpool won Chelsea 2-0, amazing. Anyway, I'm happy because I managed to cook something edible for June, ha! As promised, I managed to cook a pasta dish for her. It's strange 'cos yesterday my friends just made dumplings, both steamed and pan-fried and most important, they are quite nice. Thanks to David's simple recipe. I thought it's gonna be just put some minced pork into the pre-made dumpling skins. Probably too simple for us, David might have taught, so he decide to teach the guys or ShuHong taught the group how to make the skin from the dough and flour. I'm pretty impressed. The group is having fun, as if they are playing with play-dough, ha! Alicia's wallet size dumpling is real funny. Now I really appreciate dumpling to be small. Once all ready, put it to boil or pan fried. I thought the pan fried ones taste better but I guess its personal preference. But sad to say the pan fried process really create a lot of smoke and even make the whole place, floor really oily, that's what I hate. Anyway, most of us would care only the eating process. We had so much last night, too much bee hoon from Raymond. More carbo from Patsy then I bought the greens. So it's a quite balanced meal. So I believed all enjoyed themselves. Today I decided to cook Salmon with spaghetti with pesto sauce. Since reading so much of Dr Young's recipes, I decide to go for some different spaghetti, I bought the spaghetti made from whole meal. The color is much darker, looked like Chinese noodles after cooked. I thought it has a slight sweet taste. Anyway, I bought too much salmon, one big piece each for me and June. I marinated the salmon with lemon juice and garlic with a bit of salt, for 15 minutes. Then tried grill it but there's too much liquid 'cos of the lemon juice, I should dry the salmon before grilling it. So I took a longer time and they don't look grilled in the end but never mind, this lesson is for me to learn. I had fun and enjoyed myself. I'm also happy that I didn't use as much dished today so I don't have a great deal to clean up. I thought I'm much better at cutting garlic today, like a chef, ha! I think I like to cook Italian better than Chinese 'cos it's much simpler. Oh, another thing I did wrong is to take up the spaghetti too early while they are still boiling, think 5 minutes earlier than the instructions. They are still edible, just a bit hard. Still, I'm happy that June like my dish this time. I wonder what's she going to cook next...

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Generous Friends

TingHsin gave me Jay Chou's latest album for my Christmas. It's a bit late but I really appreciate it. Though I must say that I do not have much of a thing for his songs. And the only song of his I tried to sing was his "Fearless' soundtrack which in my opinion, I didn't sing too bad, ha! Anyway, still, I do like some of his songs like the second song "Listen to your mother' on this album, it's quite nice. Funny, he has a few songs all relating to mothers. Anyway, I do appreciate what TingHsin did for me, he's always so generous. I thank God that he put a few generous people in my life, like my dad, TingHsin, Pieter, and Jason. TingHsin always sponsored our meal and drinks, so is Jason. Jason always buy my drinks until some times, I just felt embarassed. He would also initiate to give people a treat as a reward to encourage people to improve in their running. Pieter would easily share whatever he have with people. Of course he share almost everything with Desmond. And he is always happy about it. Of course I benefitted greatly from their generousity but still I learnt that I too have to learn to be generous. You just make the person's day when you did something gernerous for that person. Of course, all men should learn to be generous. The ladies are all looking out for this very important point in a man. Not just about buying gift but also about being thoughtful. Well, Tang please take down notes here.
I wanted to be more generous but everytime when I want to give, I always think about what I have left or do not have. I hate being stingy or calculative. But being thrifty is a different thing. I need to know how to balance between thrifty and generous. But I always must remember to give is always a joy and a pleasure. After giving, seeing the smile on people's faces is also a joy and a pleasure.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Powerful Verses

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." - Mat 19: 26

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." - Mat 21:22