Prancing Pony`s Paddock: January 2007

いただきます！

As promised, here are the photos of me trying to cook in sushi-land.

Thanks to angels like Lena, Pastor Shingo and Jimmy who taught me little tricks to enhance my cooking.. not that I am whipping up a 10 course meal ( oh thank you for the F&N lessons, Mrs Sia and Mrs Lee..but i have since gave eveything back to you.. 1997 till now?) but after a while, you DO get sick of outside food.

Cooking the stew as Pastor Shingo had said.. dump everything in and simmer..

I miss my mum`s hay-bee-hiam french beans... need to stock up on hay-bee when i go back to merlion-land. Trying to cheat by stir-frying with garlic olive oil cos i don`t have garlic or any spices to fry the french beans.

My japanese rice came out.. OKAY... was trying to figure out how much rice to put into the pot in the first place. Very fast, done in 30min!

Simmered the stew like mad for about 30minutes but it was still kinda watery.. but my carrots were soft and fluffy... ahhhh heaven!!! And i thought of home as i chomped on the french beans.. prepared, chopped, stirred for like 1 hour only to finish dinner in like 20 minutes.. but i felt healthy and a huge sense of accomplishment!

Thank you God for the food and please continue to bless me and the people I love and care about... in Jesus`s name.. AMEN! いただきます　(itdakimasu)！

Welcome back Jel!!!!

At Cafe Comme ça opposite Shinjuku station with Jel! Jel ordered a yummy strawberry tart and mine is a kinda plain looking cheese tart (tasted very good!).

Woohoo! Finally met up with Jel, who left for US in August last year for her exchange as part of her Waseda Masters programme. It had been a good 6 months!!

We met for dinner and chatted.. it seems just like yesterday that she was bringing me and Lihan around Tokyo, catching the ramen uncle at Ikebukuro with Jer and even staying at her place during MOL 2005!

We talked and talked from 5pm to 11pm haha!

Welcome back, girl! I missed you! ;D Thank you for the encouragement and advice too!

Jel is graduating from Waseda this April.. and she might go back to Singapore to work.. will pray for her that God will direct her way and open the right door for her. But if she stays, I will be one happy pony *grin* but still, if Singapore beckons to her, I know she will do well.

Indeed, it is a privilege to be AWARE and to have this chance to THINK. Great sharing, looking forward to more cafe-hoppings and eating Krispy Kreme with you!

See the 2 silly beret-looking things there?

Guess what?

It is a silly pot-warmer!

Come on Comme ça... thought you will do better.. can definitely improve on the tea.. taste and presentation-wise not so happening... though the tarts are admittedly not bad (but i like cakes..)

Check out their tarts... a huge variety.. drool-inducing...

*happy*

Pure joy

James 1:2-3
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Thank you Kumi, for your wisdom and sharing. God`s joy comes in the morning indeed. Not just joy, but pure joy.

Psalm 30:5
For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Praying with you.

Cooking in sushi-land

Am getting sick of eating bentos and frozen stuff.. and my skin is getting super dehydrated and complexion is not-looking-so-youthful (now that i have hit the 25 yr mark.) Been hearing from friends that the 25 years old`s metabolism rate reduces drastically and this winter is really a good excuse to start stuffing my face with Lay`s and all sorts of snacks.

Went to youth group again on Wednesday and Ps Shingo cooked this really yummy stew thingy which went well with rice. I shyly asked him the recipe and he told me it was really easy: just dump some chinese sauce, consomme, sliced pork, tako, onion, cabbage and boil! PRESTO! And i just bought a rice cooker after living in sushi-land for a good 10 months. Ha! I am soooo in love with Japanese rice.. sayonara long-grain Thai rice... (but saying this, Hainanese Chicken Rice still tastes the best with long-grain *drool*)

Shall post photos when i attempt my first Japanese stew with my brand new rice cooker. And now that i received my MIJ pan that went round the world, thanks to Mummy, i am only limited to my imagination...

Met up with Lena, Joy`s ex-boss, who will be in Tokyo for a 12 weeks project. We went to church together last week, and I really enjoyed talking to her. She travels around the world, and is an impressive career woman but it is her heart for Jesus that captures me and I am glad that I got a chance to get to know her here in sushi-land. She is also a fabulous cook and she encouraged me to try cooking and gave me some pointers like how to cook broccoli *wince*.

Ok, shall try to google for Jamie Oliver`s easy and yummy recipes to start off (Clara said he`s good) and here are my very first Japanese cookbooks. *haha*

Kicking off 2007 at Shalom!

Woohoo! It`s great to be back at my home church in Tokyo - Shinjuku Shalom. Ooossh, am looking forward to what God has in mind for the land of Japan in 2007.

And it`s different worshipping in Japanese.. all the familiar songs but with Japanese lyrics, not easy to sing but the powerpoint team puts up the romanji which is very helpful ;)

There was a `laying of hand` ceremony (按手式)　which i think is similar to an ordaining ceremony. Youth Pastor Shingo and his wife Hisae went forward to be blessed by Pastor Elmer and all the cell leaders went on stage to pray for both of them. I felt really excited to be part of this because I am sure this year God will use them mightily to reach out to the people in Japan! Hallelujah!

On Wednesday (17 Jan), I joined Kumi and the youths at Youth Wave, which is like a youth bible study conducted by Ps Shingo at the church office. Was a bit shy because I have not really used Japanese to interact with the youths before but i enjoyed the fellowship! It made me less homesick for my ministry at home and my spiritual family.

To my surprise, Ps Shingo handed out a booklet in the midst of the discussion, turned out that he is starting to teach School of Leaders Level 1 (Youth) that day. Cool bananas! Good old SOL1! I was attending it with June last year but i i didn`t manage to finish the whole 10 sessions. It took a while to get used to the notes in Japanese but it`s great and I felt very comforted. (I think God answered my prayer.. to continue to grow spiritually in Tokyo..ha, it`s all about willingness isn`t it?)

Anyway, the session ended with impromptu worship and a guy came at 10plus to play guitar for the worship, how on is that!!! Ps Shingo also made dinner for everyone and I can sense the love they have for one another.. thank God for each and everyone of them.. and Hisae-chan came afer work looking tired but still i see her catching up with the girls.

Dear God, let this be a year of victories for us, whether in Singapore or Japan! AMEN!

Home is where the heart is.

For this is where I know it's home.

谢谢你们！！！！！辛苦啦！！！

这是我房间!!! 在生日当天，自己开车到邮局pick up我的parcel, 迫不及待把车停在路旁，开着hazard light, 把盒子拆开，哇！！

感动到哭了。。。（timing很好噢，みんな！）

谢谢你们的心意。。。虽然我笨蛋，没先看光碟。。。不过真的超感动！！！

日本制的围巾，好贴心！！

不过重点是你们不辞劳苦去收集大家的祝福，这一点我真的very very touched! 还有计划和我哥来躲猫猫，虽然有点失算，不过在最紧要关头，还是成功了！

亲自在生日当天收到的第一份礼物竟然是来自远方的祝福，赞！！！！！！

You may not know how much this means to me but I really appreciate your gesture.

I love you all!

I love strawberries!

Not cheap but MIJ strawberries are much sweeter than those US strawberries we get in Singapore.

日本的草莓真好吃！！ *陶醉*

美丽的谎言。。。

Stylish wallpaper..

But it's actually Macdonald's at Harajuku!

Xinyi, explaining the differences between a Big Mac and Mega Mac.

Junwei, who dragged us to Mac to try the Mega Mac...supposedly double the size of a big Mac.

*Disappointed*

Surviving the 寒冬in Tokyo

Went to buy a new quilt today. My summer quilt is too thin and the quit that came with my futon set is too bulky and it always ends up on the floor and I will 冻醒！

Yeah, invested in a down feather quilt since my down puffer jacket has served me pretty well in freezing Tokyo... check out my not-so-cool but very authentic Japanese quilt cover that comes with a mesh side (can see the obiang flower pattern of the quilt.. tried to look for a 300 threadcount cover but it is tough..) felt cheated because i didn't know that the quilt cover comes with a mesh side.

Can't see the mesh so clearly but my quilt cover is actually pink and the obiang flower is the design of the quilt. Very auntie, i know, but *shrug* i cannot complain if it keeps me warm in my 10 deg room.

The dilemma is always between 干燥死 or 冻死。

Introducing my skin-saver:

My Sharp humidifier—ioniser! Woohoo!

From wikipedia：
Ionic air purifiers use an electrically charged plate to produce negative gas ions that particulate matter sticks to (in an effect similar to static electricity). Many ionisers are sold as air purifiers, but in this regard they are very inefficient. They will clean the air to a small degree, by charging dust and smoke particles which will then be attracted to a neutral or positively charged surface. Heavier combined particles may precipitate (fall) out of the air should two smaller particles of different charge clump together.

How exciting! I do find clumps of dust bunnies after a night of leaving the ioniser on! cool bananas!　But i think the air is so dry that the humidifier is not enough. *sob* Fine lines, here i come...

And 妈咪寄来的爱心邮包：

Hot boiling mugs of Milo to last the winter, a Made-in-Japan pan that has been around the world and back to its birthplace (thanks anyway mum haha!), my Keane CD that I forgot to dump into my luggage 6 days ago, herbal soup ingredients, canned food to eat in Yihui’s room cos it is too cold to walk out to buy bento...

Outing with cousins at Vivocity on 30 Dec 2006

Went to Vivo to meet up with my brother, Shaochong and 妹妹。。。 wanted to catch a movie but the queue was horrible．．the whole Singapore was at GV that day lor.

So we ended up at Carl's Junior coz I was feeling hungry. Actually it had been a while since the 4 of us went out, and I realised both boy and 妹妹 had grown up a lot.. ha... 不得不认老了, but it's really good, I am really proud of the both of them, especially Shaochong, who had matured into a fine young man.

My 2 reluctant cousins with their trigger-happy cousin (yours truly).

妹妹blossoming into a pretty lady, Secondary 3 already!

My 帅堂弟Shaochong, it seems just like yesterday that I was tutoring him in Sec 1 Maths. He just turned 18! (And 王原really reminds me of him。。。）He has really changed a lot, more mature now, and I was so blown away by his piano playing and his humility to play the piano at the wake for Ahmah. This is one young man whom I can foresee has a bright future ahead... and reading his blog brought me to tears. (because I can really see that the little boy I used to tutor has 成长。）

Ah mah's wake had allowed us to bond together over several days and I really enjoyed myself that day.. we went to Haagen Daz then we picked up Lirou before heading for dinner with Liern and his girlfriend and Uncle.

The 3rd generation women of the Sim family：Look out world, here we come!
(Lirou, Shaojean and me in the back of Uncle's car)

Recalling 2006 and looking forward in 2007

I love 加藤先生‘s　class on Thursday and Friday. She is always doing discussions and impromptu stuff which allows us to talk a lot and voice our opinions. We presented our favourite photographs, talked about our country`s cuisine etc.. yeah and she gave me 100 marks for my last exam haha.

Anyway during her first lesson on Thurday, we talked about the top 10 news of Japan for 2006. Japanese people love ranking things and so we got to talk about the hottest news voted by Japanese for the past year. No 1 is of course the news on the birth of 悠仁　様 (Prince Hisahito).

Anyway so we gotta choose our own top 5 news of 2006 and share our news with the class. Here are my picks:

1) Coming to Tokyo: start of independent living! (March)

2) Encounter weekend at Mount Fuji with FCBC and Shinjuku Shalom Church: Serving the people of Japan! (May)

3) Summer vacation back in Singapore: learning to appreciate Singapore for all it offers! Catching up with family and friends. (August)

4) FCBC comes to Tokyo to put up Magic of Love 2006: fulfilling my dream to serve once again at MOL. Getting to know the different teams who came down from Singapore. (October)

5) Ah mah passing away on 26th Dec 2006, 9.47am: Getting to know my cousins and family members better as we organised the memorial services. (December)

And we each have to pick a word to describe 2006: mine was カラフル (colorful).

Indeed, 2006 was filled with many colorful events, especially due to the fact that I am starting a new life, living alone here in Tokyo. And it was a good closure, being together with my extended family members when my paternal grandmother passed away one day after Christmas. I still give thanks to God for His blessings and provisions in 2006.

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The Japanese also chooses a Kanji at the end of each year and the word 命 (`inochi` meaning `life`) was chosen because 2006 saw the birth of Prince Hisahito as well as the increase in suicide cases due to school bullying. So 2006 is deemed as the year to treasure `life` because it is so fragile and precious.

For me, I picked 幸　(`kou` meaning `blissful` or `fortunate`) for 2007 because:

this is the year that I want to be thankful for all I have and to remind myself that I am indeed blessed even when I am feeling low or discouraged.

This is also a year for me to treasure kinship and friendship and I want the people I love to know how important they are to me, although I am not by their sides.

And I am looking forward to a 幸せyear ahead because IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER!