Biker

Cycle, cycle~

Amazing! It takes about 30 minutes to cycle from Dundrum to Dun Laoghaire! What's cool: it's downhill, cool in the morning, not much traffic, and greeted by the sea and saltish air as we approach the coast. What's not so cool: it's uphill back home. But nevertheless, it's satisfying =)

Jong Chern on his bike in front of me.

The drunk guy.

A drunk man came up and talked to me and Jong Chern before going into church. He started off funny and ended with racist remarks. Poor guy though. He ended up dozing off right in the middle of the Kingston's front garden.

Lunch Pack

Chirozo~

Try this for a filling for a sandwich or throw in some couscous or rice, or eat it on its own. Fried mushrooms with lamb mince with slices of Chorizo sausages. They are fried with butter, some olive oil, very little salt, pepper, tarragon, and deglazed with sake. You could put in some cheese gratings at the end if you want =)

With the sake reducing.

Ready to be served!

Packed!

Liver

Meatily Iron-y~


This is a rich meal. Spaghetti with liver, Chorizo sausages, mushrooms, and tomatoes sauteed with a little butter, olive oil, dried tarragon, pepper and salt. Sauce for the spaghetti was ketchup heated with butter. Finally, a generous topping of Parmesan gratings.

Cured Loin

Saltish!!!

That slab of meat is a chunk of ham. Baked with a honey, cinnamon and syrup sauce with smashed cloves sprinkled on the meat. Well, the sauce wasn't thick enough..unless it's left to cool to room temperature. It was interesting, but I think I'll stick to ready sliced thin hams.

Aubergine

Egg-Plant

Ah, try this, people~ 1 whole aubergine cut into pieces fried with 2 pieces of bacon, an egg, onions, sesame oil, pepper, coriander powder and salt. It's a meal on it's own and healthy enough =) Use olive oil and a non-stick pan to reduce the need for oil hehe.. it's quite filling~

Tiny Bird

Small~

Thanks to F.X. Buckley, I got my quail :) Not bad for €2.50 a bird, a little expensive, but leaner, cleaner, and a little tastier. Baked this one with pepper, soy sauce, onions, mint leaves, stuffed the inside with bay leaves and a dash of Japanese sake. Wrapped it in aluminum foil to keep the moisture. Mmmmm ~ and love the 3/4 cooked egg too :) Boil for 5 minutes. In Malaysia, 3+ minutes.

Liu Lian

mmmmmm~

Oriental Emporium: Durians! In the freezer =) Well, I guess it's for keeping it fresh and keeping the subjective smell from intruding into the entire shop. Hmmm... I wonder how frozen durian is like.

Durians =P

Close up of the durians.

Change Of Venue

Cornerstone


Yesterday, service was held in the basement of the Kingston Hotel due to a mix up in the bookings for the ballroom. So, it was quite an experience being in a cramped up place under the hotel, in a bar area. Ergo: an underground church experience, literally =P

Italy, Summer 2008~

Photos, finally! Haha.. using photobucket. Will add more on food and missed out pics.

~CLICK HERE FOR THE ALBUM =) ~

Crop Production

Farming

Ah, here's how my little veggie patch looks like :P

Digging the drains and made 2 beds =P

Side view.

Drain close-up.

Almost done.

Top view, after sowing.

Hope my babies will grow! =P

Offline

Dear people, I'll be offline from today until the 16th of June. Moving house and internet is cut off until Thurs, but will be in Italy. So, see you! Byes!

Mess

Pack!

What a slow process of packing. So much garbage around the house, it's just amazing what one can collect over a year. And I've thrown out a garbage bag load of things earlier this year. Sigh.. well, can't wait to move to our new house! And get everything reorganised, since it's almost like starting fresh again, without the garbage. Hopefully this time, there won't be another phase of garbage collection. Hmm.. so many "garbage" words used in this paragraph too.. argh..

Value Meal

Just enough

What can you do with €4.85? Have a good filling meal at McD, eurosaver menu =) 2 Hamburgers, 1, Curly Fries, and a medium chocolate milkshake. Mmmmmm~~ it's more filling than having a value meal proper and all you get is a gas drink and some scrawny yellow fries. Combined, my meal here is more bulky. More for less.

In The Gazebo

The Gardener brought me to a gazebo,
He sat me down and smiled,
All around me was glistening stardust,
I stared in awe and wonder,
What's that?
The fragrance I had smelled before,
It was like floating in a galaxy,
in a dream,
The Gardener held out His hand,
And the stardust began to swirl,
in the center of the gazebo,
They concentrated in mid air,
A bright ball of light,
emitting the fragrance,
The Gardener smiled and blew softly at the light,
I gasped,
It was the flower which He burnt,
when we were walking in the garden,
He took it and held it to me,
"It is yours. You let me take it, and that, my child, is faith and honour.
Keep it, cherish it, for I can see that you will love it,
forever."
He closed His eyes, and the bloom flew into my heart,
I looked at my chest and saw it living and glowing.
He said,
"Follow me, and I will show you how to tend to your blossom."
He smiled,
He took my hand and we started walking again,
this time, with the flower in my heart.

jien

Numbers

Count-count?

Yikes..it's been a long time since I saw a finance-type document. I'm supposed to be learning how to drain a hill, build drains, digging for drains, and irrigation. But behold, my class assignment for my crop production class is counting Gross Margine/ha, Breakeven Grain Prices, and a write up of profitability of the wheat production for the year. HAHAHA... interesting =) Medical student in an agriculture class learning about irrigation and having accounting thrown at him~

Screenshot of Excel assignment sheet.

Knives

Trusty and Hardy

Here, my two kitchen companions. Trusty worn Tesco knife and Henckels =) I love that Tesco knife because the angle of the handle suits my hand very well, and the blade is tough. However, the handle has deteriorated and it has nicks now, needs to be sharpened now and then. Nevertheless, good for cutting up chicken, through small bones. Ah, Henckels is like a razor. How thin do you want your onions? =) hahaha.. enough said. Hope it lasts 10 years without blunting.

Top: Tesco knife, Bottom: Henckels

Dog

It's Bobby =) and Bear =)

Thank You~~

10th April 2008

Thank you guys for making my day! =) really appreciate all of you =) surprised me in G109, Newman Building ~

Evangeline, Cindy and Chong Ling made this cake :) Hebat!

Bean bag! Thanks guys! From Sam, Charles, Ryan, Alwyn, Terh Ren, Cindy, Chong Ling, Hui Yee, Sophie.

Bear has a new friend =) haven't named him yet =P From Cindy and Charles.

Some of the guys =) from left: Ken, Alwyn, me, Terh Ren, Cindy, Mag, Vikki~

Hail

Ice rain

Ice falling in April? Weirdness.

In The Garden

In the garden, I walked
holding hands with the Garderner,
He showed me flowers which had amazing hues,
blooming everywhere we passed,
I saw an interesting flower,
shades of intriguing colours,
I plucked it and turned to the Garderner,
He smiled,
then I heard cawing,
A crow swooped down swiftly,
and snatched the flower from my hand,
Teary-eyed, I looked at the Garderner,
He smiled,
He took my hand and we started walking again,
the warmth of His hand comforted me,
Then I saw another bloom,
with patterns beyond intricate,
I plucked it and turned to the Garderner,
He smiled,
then I heard cawing,
A crow swooped down swiftly,
and snatched the flower from my hand,
Teary-eyed, I looked at the Garderner,
He smiled,
He took my hand and we started walking again,
the warmth of His hand comforted me,
After a while, we came to a bush,
I looked at the Garderner and asked,
"Where are the flowers?"
He replied,
"Smell. Follow the fragrance and you will find it."
I closed my eyes and stayed still.
I began to smell the fragrance.
I followed it, falling in love with it every slow step I took,
I still couldn't see it,
When the fragrance was strong, I looked,
There it was, the flower,
I stood amazed,
It wasn't like any other flower I have seen so far,
in the walk through the garden.
It was beyond comprehension,
I plucked it and turned to the Garderner,
He smiled,
This time, there was no cawing,
I held the bloom close to me,
enjoying every moment with it,
its fragrance and its beauty,
The Gardener came up after a while,
He said,
"Would you burn this for me? It has greater fragrance that way."
I looked at him with tears streaming down my face,
I said,
"Why are all the flowers taken away from me?
Why can't I keep one, especially this one that I love so much?"
He replied,
"Do you trust me? Are you ready to let it go for my sake,
that I have tended this garden from the beginning?"
I wept,
and held the flower to Him,
He took it and in his hands,
the flower was consumed by a blueish green flame,
He was right,
A greater fragrance filled the atmosphere,
The ashes rose to the sky,
It glistened like star dust,
The Gardener hugged me, and said,
"You have been obedient to Me, and you have respected my decisions.
Walk with me, I have much more to show you.
For all you know, that flower might bloom again,
or there will be many more of its kind out there,
in this garden of Mine.
I will show you which will be yours to keep,
Trust me. I'm the Gardener."
I wiped my tears, looked up and smiled weakly,
He smiled,
He took my hand and we started walking again,
the warmth of His hand comforted me.

jien

*******