Farewell 2007

Yes finally today is the last day of the Year 2007. 365 days have past and gone just in the blink of an eye. As I looked back 2007, has been a great year for me learning new things and making new friends. With the brand new year fast approaching and just round the corner, I looked forward to it and pray that 2008 will bring PEACE to the world.
A Happy New Year to everyone!

Humpty Dumpty Had A Great Fall

Saturday mornings are my usual house cleaning day. As usual I started my routine chores with high spirits with the radio blasting in the background to keep me company. It all happened so suddently when I was keeping the laundry, I lost my balance and my whole body gave way and with a loud thud I fell onto the wet slippery floor with both my arms supporting my heavy body.

I felt both my arms strained and I couldn't lift them up. I sat on the wet floor trying to compose myself from the shock not knowing whether to laugh or to moan in pain. After awhile, I gathered my strength and slowly picked myself up. Still with both arms in great pain, I continued and completed my chores. Oh what a year to end with! The only word to describe me now is PAIN!

'Thank you for being my friend' award

Thank you to Debra & her Princess for awarding me with this award, THANK YOU to you both for being my cyber friends. I've actually received this award in early Dec but have simply forgotten to post it onto my blog due to my busy schedule. So here it is finally! Good things are meant to be shared and thus this award goes to my dear great friends, THANK YOU FOR BEING MY FRIEND:-

1. Annie

2. Donna

3. Delphine

4. Ernest

5. Geok Ping

6. Hazel

7. HK

8. Judy

9 Joshua

10. Nancy

11. Pauline

12. Tina

A Blessed Christmas

Here's wishing everyone a very Blessed Christmas filled with HOPE, PEACE, LOVE & JOY

GoodBye Fr David Thexeira

Our dearest Fr David Thexeira was called home to the Lord on 13 Dec 2007 at 11.40pm. Thank you for all the wonderful things that you have done. Your task on earth is done and God has called you home to be with HIM to enjoy the heavenly kingdom that HE has prepared for you which you truly deserved. Though it pains us to miss a great Priest like you but we'll definitely get to meet you again in Heaven soon.

Eternal Rest Grant Unto Fr David O Lord And Let Pepertual Light Shine Upon Him!

Fr David's wake will be held at :

Church Of The Holy Spirit

248, Upper Thomson Road

Star Of David

The past week has been an alarming week for some of us Catholics in Church Of The Holy Spirit and Church of St Francis of Assisi. Our dear favourite Priest, Rev Fr David Thexeira was suddenly taken ill while visiting some church friends in Bankgok while at the Immigration and later blacked out in the Bangkok's hospital. He was later flewn back to Singapore via an air ambulance on 9 December and has since then been warded in Mt Alvernia hospitial now unconscious. Fr David though with a stern look is a wonderful Priest and he's very Christ like in his own gentle ways. I remembered the time when he was Assistant Priest in Church of the Holy Spirit and we had the little children from Primary 2s making their 1st Reconciliation with him. He was so gentle to the children and made them feel so at ease during their confession. Fr David has always been a good Priest who will never say NO to anyone even to strangers. I also remembered clearly when our Holy Spirit Church first had the newly installed stained glasses panels in our main church, Fr David was the one who ran to open doors of the main church to allow the morning mass worshippers to be the first to view the panoramic view of the stained glasses. This simple and selfless gestures of Fr David have left me deep impression of a good and loving shepherd. All we can do right now for Fr David is to continue praying for him and hope for a miracle to happen. Read more about this wonderful STAR OF DAVID

Easy Sausage Rolls

This is a very simple quick and easy recipe that I found in a forum shared by a member. This is a definitely a keeper!

Ingredients Needed
Frozen Pratas
Sausages
1 egg beaten (for egg wash)

1. Preheat oven at 170-180 degree oven.
2. Thaw the frozen Pratas for 3-4 minutes
3. Place a sausage onto each prata and roll it up
4. With a knife make several slits onto the rolled pratas
5. Egg wash the rolled pratas and bake it in oven for 40-45 minutes.

Enjoy these oven baked looked like store bought croissants sausages rolls and impressed your family and friends..... (to all my fellow guys readers...go try it and impress your wives)

The 5 Things............

I've been tagged by Debra with the following Meme... hmmm good to sit down and reflect what I've taken for granted the things around me and also what I would dream to have. Here's my list....

Five Things :

A. Found in my Room

1. Mini Hi Fi

2. TV

3. Prayer Altar

4. Massage Chair

5. Aromatherapy Oil Burner

B. I have always wanted to
1. Quit my job and still have money for retirement

2. Volunteer fulltime to do works of charity

3. Be Slim and not put on weight easily

4. Travel to Dubai to stay in the World's Best Hotel(Burj Al Arab)

5. Pilgrimage to Holy Land

C. Found in my Bag

1. Pocket Bible & prayer booklet

2. Rosary

3. Wallet

4. Mobile Phone

5. Cosmetic Pouch

E. I am currently into

1. Co-ordinating 1st Reconciliation for the 95 children in my church

2. Planning a class party for the year end closure of catechism class

3. Trying faithfully to go for my slimming sessions again

4. Embarking onto my new diet plan (RESET)

5. Planning to bake some interesting new recipes for Christmas

5 Candidates to Tag:

1. Annie

2. Geok Ping

3. Joshua

4. Ju

5. Lee Lee

Ready, Steady.... RESET

Yipee.. I'll be embarking on my weight loss programme with RESET. I chanced upon RESET while reading my friend's blog and she had successfully managed to lose 2kg in just one week that is 5 days of the starter programme. Me being ambitious managed to get my colleague who's a member of USANA to buy me the RESET for 28 days programme at S$130. Hopefully, I'll be disciplined to complete and follow to the T the whole of this weight loss programme by just drinking the nutrimeal in three different flavours which are chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.. thankfully they're all my favourites. Well, I'll be starting my diet plan on coming Monday to Friday and I hope to lose at least 1 - 1/2kgs for a start. Hmmm.. in the meantime I must enjoy all the yummies around me before I start my diet programme on Monday. Hee hee.. wish me all the luck and discipline.

Twitching Eyelid

For the past couple of days, I've been having this uncomfortable feeling on my left eye lid. My left eye lid had been twitching constantly and is still twiching now as I'm writing this blog, it's driving me CRAZY! I did read somewhere that eyelid twitching or muscle spasms around the eye could be due to fatigue or stress. A superstition belief about left eyelid twitching signifies that there be meeting with long lost acquaintances. Hmmmmm.... who huh? As for me, whenever I have this eyelid twitching on my left eyelid means I'll be spending money....

Wear A Pink Ribbon

This year I contacted BCF and offered to help sell their pink ribbons pins. I took a total of 40 pink ribbon pins from them together with 2 pledge cards. Within one morning, my supportive colleagues readily forked out S$2.00 each to support raise breast cancer awareness. A very BIG THANK YOU to everyone who have supported this Breast Cancer Awareness campaign.

So wear the pink ribbon and raise breast cancer awareness. On top of that, during this month long campaign, if you're spotted wearing the pink ribbon, you could stand a chance to win attractive prizes! I believe we're not for the prizes but rather doing it for a good cause right?

The Unexpected

Thank You HK for this award though my blog is far from deserving this award, however I shall graciously accept it. Mine is a simple blog in which I share about my feelings and happenings around me. I'm far from my great fellow bloggers who have great recipes and nice photos of their cookings in their blogs. To all my wonderful readers THANK YOU for your patience in reading my blog.

Oh GOD Hear Our Prayers!

God must be very pleased with His creations. Look at the serenity of the boy and the dog. How do we tell a dog to close it's eyes? Just wondering what that doggy is praying for? Hmmmm..... I'm sure God will grant them their prayers. Oh! of course the doggie is SAVED!

Anything & Whatever

This is a true incident which my colleague shared with me about his wife Mas' encounter at a coffe shop in Pasir Ris.

Coffee Shop Uncle: What drink you want?

Mas : Uncle, can give me Anything?

Coffee Shop Uncle: Oy, what Anything, tell me what you want?

Mas : Uncle, I want Anything lah.

Coffee Shop Uncle: Again Anything, okay tell me you want Coke, Sprite, Pepsi, Coffee or Tea?

Mas : Grrrrgg....... okay lah Whatever can?

Coffee Shop Uncle: What Whatever, here no speak your English lah, you want Coke, Sprite, Pepsi, Coffee or Tea?

Mas fed up with Coffee Shop Uncle and also feeling embarassed that everyone staring at her.

Mas : Okay lah okay lah, give me Coke lah...... (bodoh Apeh grumbled to herself)

Coffee Shop Uncle: Aiyo.... early early say lah.. take so long to order, and he stormed off to get her the coke.

Nyonya-Baba Natural Potpourri

I saw this on Arts Central last night and have been ever so excited to get my hands on all these ingredients. Being a pure Nonya myself, I didn't know of this Potpourri...oooh what a shame.. (betul betul malu sekali). Just wondering how to tell the auntie or uncle at the market vegetable stall what's basil leaf in local dialect or malay? Hmmmmm... anyone knows?

Here's the recipe for Nonya Baba

Natural Potpourri

Nyonya-Baba Natural Potpourri(lasts for about 2-3 days, prepare daily for fresh aroma)

Prep Time: about 15-30 minutes

Materials

Grater

Mortar & pestle

Mixing bowl

Ingredients:

Pandan leaves

Basil leaves

Kaffir lime leavesLaksa leaves

Lemongrass (stalks with leaves preferred)

1 Mandarin orange

Star anise

* Ginger Torch (this is additional from me)

Method:-

- Tear the pandan, basil, laksa and kaffir lime leaves by hand into small pieces

and crush to release fragrance.

- Cut the lemongrass stalk into pieces. Pound to release the aroma.

- Grate the mandarin orange peel and add to the mix.

- Finally add the star anise and toss.

** Recipe and Photo extracted from Bare Beauty

Let's Do It For The Children

This is the exact current description of me! Yeah... a group of us Sunday school teachers are in the midst of planning for our church's Children Day's mass. All doors were closed upon us like the Art Ministry telling us that they would not be helping us without any reasons given! Most of the priests we contacted that could relate to children also turn us down due to other commitments. On top of all these just to get ONE organist and ONE choir conductor to help us train the children to sing seems impossible. Everyone is so busy with their own activities... sigh sigh sigh.... Hey let's do it for the little children after all it's for Children's Day.
Well, I believe GOD WILL definitely make all things possible!
Hey GOD, I need to TRUST you more and please hear our humble prayers.

Plastic Money

A Malay sitcom on Suria Channel "2 x 5 Dol" portrayed a young couple having their first ownership on credit cards. They splurged on branded goods and dining at lavish restaurants chalking up their bills to more than S$3000 on their first statement which they were unable to settle their bills due to overspending. It's cool to have credits cards especially with all the perks that entice us. However, the real danger comes in when a person cannot control his or her spending limits and also not able to settle the bills when the credit bills are due. The penalty is having to pay the bank interest as high as 24%p.a. This is a rising issue with many young people that eventually leads them to bankruptcy. To me, these plastic cards are very useful but we have to be prudent on the usage.

St Rita, Patron Saint of The Impossible

One morning, as I was tidying up my office drawer. I stumbled upon a piece of paper with scribbling of a simple and meaningful prayer that seems so personal to me. This is a simple prayer to St Rita, the Patron Saint of the Impossible, when in despair and troubled moments. Having read about the life of St Rita, I was inspired by her profound faith in God for which she now enjoys the great reward bestowed upon her.

Prayer To St Rita

Pray for us Saint Rita and assist us in our need,

that we may face all seemingly impossible tasks

with patience and courage.

Who's The True Me?

The True You

You want your girlfriend or boyfriend to be more open with you. With respect to money, you spend as little as possible. You think good luck doesn't exist - reality is built on practicalities. The hidden side of your personality tends to be satisfied to care for things with a minimal amount of effort. You are tend to think about others' feelings a lot, perhaps because you are so eager to be liked. When it comes to finding a romantic partner, you base your search on information from your friends.

Who's" The True You?

Shrek Ears For A Good Cause

These Shrek Ears are so cute and moreover for a good cause too! MacDonald is doing their part for charity where the 100% of the sales of each S$2.00 Shrek ears will be contributed to Ronald McDonald Chidlren's Charity(RMCC). I bought 2 of these Shrek ears for my little nephews, Daniel aged 3 plus and Martin aged 1 plus. I explained to Daniel the purpose of wearing the Shrek ears. He nodded his head and looked very cute indeed with his Shrek ears and I even made him wore it while we were out. I'm so glad to hear that some of my online friends have also bought the Shrek ears for their child and even the adults are wearing them too. Let's all do our part for charity especially for the little sick children at a minimal cost of a bowl of noodles.
Photo courtesy by Joshua.

No Mess For Me

You Are Not Messy

You're so clean, people have accused you of being a clean freak! You like things tidy, organized, and smelling fresh. Messes drive you crazy, especially when you didn't make them. It's hard for you to live with a slob - or someone who leaves their dishes in the sink.

Are You Messy?

A Gift For Mummy

I can't bake those fanciful cakes with all the lovely icings, so I presented mum with this simple but from the heart gift. Mummy always loves fragrances and have tried most of the frangrances on the shelves. Though this is not one of those very expensive fragrances that Mum had tried, she was happy to receive it. It's light and refreshing when Mum opened it up to spray over herself. I just might one to get one for myself too.

Instant Toxics

I was shocked to read the following about cooking instant noodles in an email sent by a friend. Imagine how much toxics we have consumed even though we have followed the instructions on the packaging of the instant noodles?
Normally, we cook the instant noodles by putting the noodles into a pot with water, throw in the powder and let it cook for 3 mins.This is the WRONG method of cooking the instant noodles. By doing this, when we actually boil the ingredients in the powder, normally with MSG, it will change the molecular structures of the MSG causing it to be toxic.
The other thing that you may or may not realized is that, the noodles are coated with wax and it will take around 4 to 5 days for the body to excrete the wax after you have taken the noodles. So the CORRECT method, to cook the noodles are as follows:-
1. Boil the noodles in a pot with water.
2. Once the noodles is cooked, take out the noodles,and throw away the water which contains
wax.
3. Boil another pot of water till boiling and put the noodles into the hot boiling water and then
shut turn off the fire.
4. Only at this stage when the fire is off, and whilethe water is very hot, put the ingredients with
the powder into the water, to make the noodle soup.
5. However, if you need dry noodles, take out the noodles and add the ingredients with the
powder and toss it to get dry noodles.
Hope this piece of information is of importance to your health in relation to eating instant noodles and please apply this cooking method with immediate effect.

Scissors????

Received this cute picture via email from my colleague. This is a picture of a young kindergartener drawing a pair of scissors. Hee Hee.. I know some of you are having other thoughts.. so typical of us adults yeah? Hmmm..... I'm going to try out on my nephew when I see him on weekends. Enjoy this cute innocent drawing!

My New Toy

This gadget has been keeping me busy recently. Thanks to my wonderful and generous brother who has given this O2 beauty to me. Enjoyed downloading great realtone ringtones from colleagues via bluetooth onto my O2. Hee hee.. I'm still meddling with this gadget and finding my ways around.

Happy Oink Oink Year

Wishing Everyone A Very Happy, Prosperous & Blessed Chinese New Year Of The PigGONG XI FA CAI (Oink Oink Oink)

Fever Continues.....

I'm still in the mood of baking even though I've been very STRESSED out at work GRRRRRRRRRRR......H
Every evening, I looked forward to going home to experiment on my baking. It's a form of de-stress and so therapeutic for me. This is my first time baking Chinese New Year cookies and I'm hooked onto baking the Sugi cookies. Even my ever so fussy Mummy gave me her thumbs up for my cookies and especially my kuih bangkits. I'm so happy...... Yipee!

Another First Attempt

I'm hooked onto the baking fever and tried yet another first attempt with Kueh Bangkit, from Florence's recipe. Though alittle tedious with the baking of the flour but it's worth the effort. I never knew that Kueh Bangkit could be so easy and I'm going to bake yet another batch next week for Chinese New Year.

Kueh Bangkit from Florence's Recipe

Ingredients:
225g tapioca flour
3 pcs Pandan leaves (cut into 4 inches pieces)
30g margarine
55g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
75ml – 90ml coconut milk




Method:
1. Bake the flour with dry and cut up pandan leaves at 160C for 25 - 30 minutes and stirring every 10 minutes.
2. Set aside, cool completely before using.
3. Cream margarine with sugar and yolk till sugar dissolves.
4. Add in 75ml coconut milk and mix well.
5. Add flour to mix till a non-sticky dough is formed. If dough is too dry, add more coconut milk but add
1 tsp at a time, otherwise, dough may be too sticky.
6. Roll dough on a floured table and use cookie cutters to cut into shapes.
7. Baked on lined tray in preheated oven at 170C for 20 to 25 mins.
8. Remove to cool completely before storing in air tight jar.

Baking Frenzy

I'm in the mood of baking for Chinese New Year cookies so I tried my hands at Sugee cookies. I was so pleased with my first attempt as I followed the recipe to the T. It was so simple that I really enjoyed baking them as the wonderful aroma of the Sugee cookies baking in my oven filled the whole house and even to my neighbours'.... hee hee.....
Hubby dear and colleagues enjoyed my Sugee cookies.

Do give it a try and here's the recipe from QBB

Bursting Chest

Been nursing a very bad cough for the past week. All sorts of cough syrups, from purchases at pharmacy to doctor's prescription were consumed but didn't helped at all. Worst part was that the coughs always attacked at night and I really felt bad disturbing hubby dear from his sleep. He would got up to check on me, applied ointment and gave me hot drinks to soothe the itched and sored throat. What I dreaded most and also embarassing was on board the public transport, the throat would started to itch and I could feel the mouthful of coughs coming out and all stares were on me as though I'm suffering from some deadly diseases. I just wished that I could hide beneath the seats or just disappear into thin air! Sigh........... oooh I hated the coughs!

A New Beginning

A brand New Year 2007, a new beginning and lots of hopeful dreams to fulfil. Here's wishing that this new year GOD showers HIS

HOPE

LOVE

JOY

and PEACE to everyone!