簡單的幸福 之 愛心水餃篇

濕漉漉的一天。原本打算和欣怡和怡慧一起去原宿拍大頭貼和逛街的﹐不過下午一點睡醒時﹐就看到窗外下著綿綿細雨﹐整個人也不想動﹐想度過一個懶洋洋的星期六。上網和她們討論﹐結果就決定在我家包水餃。我很慌張地告訴欣怡我沒有蒸籠﹐她很鎮定地說不用啦。*??*

有朋自遠方來﹐所以我趕快打掃我凌亂的房子﹐我們約好在超市見﹐一起買材料﹐結果我打掃好了﹐她們還沒打電話給我﹐正當我感到疑惑時﹐我的門鈴響了。。。來個突擊檢查!!! 幸好我已經把屋子弄整齊了﹐哈哈﹐ 沒丟臉!

看到欣怡和怡慧拿著大包小包的菜﹐還得撐傘﹐覺得很不好意思﹐要她們從學校走來﹐連需要用到的材料也買好了。超感動!

說著說著﹐她們倆就開始做工了﹐我只負責提供場地和照相。。哈哈! 就等著吃! 我想我只會越幫越忙罷了。

欣怡一副大廚師的樣子﹐怡慧也很積極﹐兩個人就開始準備材料了。

很認真地在洗高麗菜的怡慧 and刀法很好的欣怡。

豬肉碎﹐高麗菜﹐鹽巴﹐胡椒粉﹐雞精粉﹐少許的薑和青蔥﹐切好了﹐攪一攪﹐就可以開始包了! 我很興奮﹐因為沒包過。


ぎょうざの皮=餃子的皮﹔不過日本的皮﹐好像不太適合做中式的餃子。。。完美主義者的欣怡直嚷要自己桿麵糰﹐好精益求精哦!

忙著在MSN看Alice的 housewarming party的我﹐就只顧聊天﹐哈﹐buay paiseh lor! 不過﹐看她們這麼認真地在包水餃﹐也跑過去湊一湊熱鬧﹐煩她們教我﹐結論是﹐我還是負責洗碗吧!! 哈哈﹐超沒耐心的我﹐加上非常不靈活的手﹐還是別蹧蹋她們的愛心水餃吧。。。 她們還一直叫我和朋友在MSN聊﹐讓她們忙就行了﹐真不好意思!

看怡慧平時那麼瘋﹐包起水餃來一副賢妻良母的樣子﹐就心平氣和地坐在那里﹐細心把水餃包好﹐讓我對她刮目相看哦! 我問她們是不是每個台灣女孩都會這門手藝﹐她們只說有幫過媽媽包﹐而且在台灣也常自己在家包水餃。很贊哦! 新加坡有多少年輕人有閑情去學包餃子啊﹐我頓時感到汗顏。

經過一番商議﹐我們決定用水泡(台灣式)﹐and用奶油煎(因為我的爛廚房沒有食用油﹐而我們又要做日式餃子): 結論是用水泡比較好吃。那餃子皮怪怪的﹐不適合煎, 而且會沾鍋底。


看起來很無辜的薑﹐是怡慧和我心中永遠的痛﹕“很臭好不好！” 欣怡一臉我老媽的樣子和語氣 “薑很好啊﹐下廚必備﹐而且女孩子應該多吃。。。”(忠言逆耳吧﹐我們都有那種 `你別替這臭東西辯護` 的臉)

結果味道不錯﹐只不過薑味有點重﹐我和怡慧就一直念﹐不過也覺得好好吃! 尤其是我﹐只包了兩顆不像樣的東西﹐連煮都沒幫忙﹐卻可以吃到充滿愛心的自制水餃﹐吃在嘴裡﹐甜在心里哦!

用微波爐煮飯﹐結果失敗﹐機靈的欣怡就變出一鍋美味的粥﹐不愧是念餐飲業的﹐很棒！配著新加坡的肉鬆﹐哈﹐一頓豐盛的晚餐就ok了!


看她們疲憊不堪的樣子﹐我還那麼元氣!一邊看富士電視台的爆笑綜藝節目﹐一邊吃自己做的菜﹐沒想到我還感到很有成就感﹐覺得我們還蠻厲害的。*笑*第一次有這種感覺﹐和兩個在日本相識的好朋友﹐吃的不是山珍海味﹐但嘴裡嚼著她們為我做的水餃﹐流到心裡的是一份暖暖的感動﹐這是簡單的快樂﹐也是在平淡中得到的幸福吧。

吃完飯後﹐我們就一起寫作業﹐很有成就感的一天!

不同的背景﹐卻能在東京相遇而結成好朋友﹐憑著對日語日本文化的熱忱﹐我們會在異鄉一起努力﹐追求我們各自的夢想的。茫茫人海我們能相遇﹐這不是巧合﹐想告訴你們﹐謝謝你們讓第一次自己生活學習獨立的我感到不孤單﹐同時你們的愛心和關懷也為我帶來鼓舞。I really thank God for both of you, both of you are angels sent by God!

快樂的一天! *一臉幸福的小馬*

Eating in!

When we get bored with eating bentos, we cook.. Xinyi and Yihui have their stash of Taiwanese goodies in their rooms! Yeah ;)


Cooking our meal in the `Halal kitchen` at the dorm. Not so crowded because it is reserved for the Muslims to cook their meals. (no pork please!) Anyway we know the people because Ezzi, D, Lin, they are from my class.

Xinyi, holding up our vegetarian pasta sauce for inspection.. Halal? CHECKED! ok!

Yihui and Xinyi, the experts in the kitchen, as usual i just need to wait and take photos. ha!

Communal dinning for the Malaysian students plus studying for Kanji test (we have it everyday after lunch). We Chinese people, have it easier, but I really admire them for their efforts, they bring those composition writing pads (with boxes) and practise writing each Kanji for rows and rows.

Their omelette and ikan belis make me think about Changi Village Nasi Lemak and prata..... *drool* Can someone DHL some Kayu pratas to me?

交流会with Japanese University Students

Went for this exchange tea-party at the Student Hall after school on Tuesday (16.5.06). There are some Japanese students (mostly freshmen i think) who came to interact with students from my school.

quite crowded. we were waiting on the steps cos they were taking a long time to register each student. Someone took my photo when i was stoning!
Me, Xinyi, Yihui, Sasri, Ken sat at the same table and ended talking to one another, ha, so anti-social.

There weren`t enough Japanese students to go around so we had like 7 of us to 3 Japanese. We tried to converse with them using our not-so-fluent Japanese, most of them are 18 years old... ha! But we played some ice-breakers and pretty soon everyone was having fun. The students who were sitting with us were Kanae, Shiori and Kouchiro.

The event closed with a mini performance by the choir (Xinyi,Yihui and Sasri were in it), they sang a Japanese pop song `Sakura` and `Rasa Sayang`. Felt really at home hearing the familiar melody and everyone sang along, clapping their hands.

Took a group photo. There will be Round 2 in June. Although the event was only 2 hours, it was pretty interesting, think it was organised by students from our school and some association.

You can see Shiori and Kanae standing on my left and the guy with the hip curly hair is Kouichiro on my right. The guy in front in a black blazer is Yone from Waseda Uni. He joined us pretty late when the event was ending.

Not bad, managed to get their contacts. Will invite them to go on outings with us so that we can all brush up on our Japanese. The Japanese students told us they signed up for this event at their schools as well, they don`t know one another too. Looking forward to Round2!

Carnations, green shoes and a green guitar strap...

Went to Shalom today, was happily jumping up and down worshipping God, singing at the top of my lungs: `God you are good and your mercy endureth forever... People from every nation and tongue, from generation to generation..... We worship you, Hallelujah Hallelujah.. you are good, all the time and all the time, you are good!`

Was suffering from minor depression and wallowing in a bit of self-pity on Saturday because it was raining the whole day and i couldn`t go to Ueno Zoo with my classmates. The facｔ that it is the first weekend since Alice and Nira left didn`t help - was having withdrawal symptoms.

So it was good to turn the focus back to God. Lifting Him up with my praises lifted my spirit too. Was doing a little strumming and singing (not too good, have forgotten all my strumming patterns) on my baby Taylor (courtesy of Alice and Nira who lugged it over from Singapore for me) on Saturday but nothing beats worshipping God together with people who love Him and praising Him with one voice.

It was a very touching service cos it was Mother`s Day. Several men came up to give testimonies and appreciation to their wives and mothers. And they even sang this original song to thank the women in their lives.

Imagine! Chauvinistic Japanese men being so transparent and baring their hearts to so many people in church. Many ladies were quietly wiping away their tears. Amazing! I also gave thanks to God for my mum who did sooooo much for me, as well as my spiritual mum and grandmummy who taught me well.

Carnations were given out to the mothers in the crowd. Junee asked me to dictate a message for Alice as well cos we are giving her a bouquet of carnations. Hmmm, my brother is supposed to do something for my mum on my behalf.. can he be trusted to remember my request?

Met a Singaporean businessman who was directed to Shalom by the front desk at Grand Hyatt Tokyo. Not bad eh? He told me he just touched down at Narita and he chose to reach early in the morning so that he can go to a local church and worship God. Am encouraged by his faith, it`s always great to meet a fellow countryman in a foreign land. (sounds familiar? hee.same thing happened at Jesus Lifehouse church.)

Met up with Fumi, the music director, this sweet petite lady who runs a cell comprising of mainly people from the worship team. Fumi speaks pretty good English cos her husband Wayne is Hawaiian Japanese and he speaks better English than Japanese. He looks totally like a Chinese and very tanned! They are a great couple and i really enjoyed their company. We went for lunch at this lovely cafe where you get a free flow of freshly baked bread. Yummy! First person that i think of is Junee! She`s going to love the yummy rolls here: cheese, wheat, sesame, mugwort, raisin etc.. Had a good chat with Wayne and also members of the worship team. There is a lady who plays the flute and she used to perform for the emperor at the Imperial Palace. Wow! Imagine! Only the best for the Lord! God is good i tell you, she uses the flute to minister to people during worship. She`s really good, i have heard her before.

Said goodbye to them and went off to Shinjuku at 4pm. Was intending to go to Kinokuniya @Time Square but got distracted and decided to go to PePe to take a look inside the big MUJI store.

Ended up buying a pair of shoes. Ruth will approve. Something unconventional. Something that is totally un-me. Green color. Actually was asking the salesgirl for black but this was the last pair they had. And it happened to be in my size. Size 38. Tried it and bought it on impulse.

Learnt something today: it is ok to try something different for once. You never know, you may like it! You may grow to like it! You may hate it! But at least you tried, you discover and learn something new about yourself.

Was quite insecure about buying something hard to match and a bit weird (to someone who swears by black, brown, gray and safe classic designs). But went around asking a few close friends, everyone said it`s pretty. Yeah ;) Junee said it is so me because of the buckles. I love buckles and stitching.

Got excited in the big music store before i even reached MUJI. The Japanese are amazing. They publish a zillion magazines on piano, jazz, pedagogy, scores etc. Was drooling at the pianos.. yamaha but they are really cheap in Japan! Bought another green item: guitar strap. I have the same one in pink, bought it at Yokohama, but i left it in Singapore.




Green has never been my favourite, too loud in my opinion, but recently i realise i have quite a number of green items at home. Anyway green is our network color, Ps Christina thinks green symbolises the freshness of a leave. Have to agree with her, think i am more in love in green now than ever. Wearing green makes u feel refreshed でしょう？

i love MUJI. I like the safe, natural, feel good colours AKA boring white, black, brown, gray, pale pink. Ha. Anyway time is almost 7pm and i was near Kabuki-cho, which is quite dodgy especially at night so didn`t spend much time there.

Went home and indulged in my forgotten chocolate mousse. Yummy. Thank God for great desserts available at 7-11 next to my apartment!

Happy Mother`s Day! I thank God for the women in my life, whose love and guidance make me who I am today.

Pigging out at my place

Invited to Xinyi to come over my place to hang out and chill on Wednesday night. Ended up some other classmates came over too. The more the merrier! We went to supermarket to buy some groceries cos they wanted to make salad and jelly. I suggested ordering pizza cos i got this flyer in my mailbox that featured really yummy looking pizzas. haha!

Introducing the chef – Jimmy! Jimmy is a friend of Kewei and Zhixiang. He is not from my class but they stay at the same dormitory at Koumaba. Jimmy hails from Taiwan as well and he can whip up many mean dishes I heard! He is aiming to go to a cookery school after doing the language course. He is really good, check out the way he cut the cabbages. Very professional!

Xinyi majored in Hospitality and Hotel Management, equally pro in the kitchen. So i just kept snapping photos while they worked hard, preparing the food.

Kewei and I decided on the pizza and I made THE call, using my 1/2 bucket water Japanese. Kewei had to take over when the guy asked about hot or spicy or something. haha. Kewei looking all cool and collected.

Yeah! Pizza arrived promptly in 20minutes! We couldn`t stop drooling.. Zhixiang and Rongrong on their way here from school, they were mugging at the library.

Healthy lifestyle! Check out Chef Jimmy`s cool presentation. He came up with this special way of eating because i don`t have enough plates : `Use the lettuce to wrap the mayo and cabbage everyone!` Hey it tastes as good as it looks!

Happiness is doubled when shared with friends!

Second, third, fourth helping of the yummy salad.

A tired-looking chef. Ha. You might be staring at a future Michelin Star Chef. ;)

Girl power! Rongrong, me and Xinyi with our pizzas. Never forget to pose while enjoying your pizza!

Xinyi making jelly using strawberry milk, lemon tea and maccha! Another chef in the making. Ha, all i did was to provide the stove and just wait to eat. Ah happiness is knowing friends who can cook..

We watched tv and chatted, it was fun cos my house is always so quiet and my stove is virtually untouched. Will have to do this more often.

幸せの小馬。Ｍｅ．

Class No.11 - A typical day in class

That`s the unexciting name of my class. We are listed by the classroom number actually. So we are actually １１番号教室。 Just heard that we will split up again in June, because we are filtered into different streams: University, Graduate School and Commerical School. That is sad cos i really love my classmates, we work hard and play hard together and we cooperate very well to bully our teacher who likes to go "OOooooosh!"



From Indonesia: Vidya (pianoできる)、Sasyri (violinできる)、Ken (guitarできる)、Miyuki (Dad`s Japanese Mum`s Indo)
From Nepal: Puri Sherpa (cute name huh)
From China: Wang Xiao, Yue Qi, Qingwen, Songshi and Xuesong.
From Taiwan: Zhixiang, Xinyi, Rongrong and Kewei.

From Malaysia (teachers to be!): Hizandi, Lin, Ezze, Arabiah and Hazerul.

Matsuoka Sensei （松岡先生）teaching us Kanji, actually we Chinese people always slack off during Kanji lessons. haha. He is the one who likes to go "Ooooossshhhh!" and he is really funny and we always horse around during his lessons.

Sleeping during our 10min- breaks : No.1 favourite activity of class#11!

Told you 松岡先生 is cute!

Gak-san (China - blue top) and D-san (Malaysia- white top), engaged in arm wrestling. Puri-san acting as referee. Gak-san won FYI. Ou-san looking amused in one corner.

Welcome to Japan! Where Cleanliness is always #1! This is the cleaning uncle who comes in to vacuum the chalk powder from the blackboard ledge and disinfect with some device. Everyday, after school without fail. Impressed?

I love my class, my teachers, my school!