back.to.seventy.five

How's your weekend? We got a bit of snow again since last Friday. Frankly speaking I have had enough of snow already and just hoping they will melt away as soon as possible.

Well starting tomorrow I am working 75%...

I have to start picking up the momentum progressively in anticipation of my full time faculty assignment in US in March.

I am in fact quite looking forward to get back to the normal rhythm of life, surely this will be a good start again for my career....

pressed.sushi

Beside the dessert, I decided to make another dish for this afternoon gathering...

A quick and less tedious contemporary sushi, pressed sushi is what it is called!

Pressed Sushi with salmon, avocado and white sesame seeds

A piece of salmon, avocados and lemon

sliced the salmon and let the lemon juice to lightly cook the salmon

cook the sushi rice with a piece of Japanese konbu (kelp), once the rice is cooked, seasoned with rice vinegar and let cool

I use a square tin form, first pressed a layer of rice, then spread a thin layer of wasabi (for the kick), then the sliced avocado and salmon.

Then generous sprinkle of white sesame... Once this is done, I spread another layer of rice on top and then pressed really hard to set everything in the form....

Finally eat it with two slices of nori (seaweed), O.. so good, even good without the soy sauce...

sago.pudding

Few weeks ago when we decided to have our care meeting at one of our home, I volunteered to make dessert... and since yesterday I decided to make sago pudding....

Sago pudding

The first part is about making the sago and it is rather simple as long as you have the right sago. The sago is boiled in water till soft and transparent and then run under cold tab water to wash away the extra starch..

Let cool and set in the form, I used cupcake forms this time and let them cool overnight in the fridge.

The set sago...

The second part is preparing the syrup, again a rather simple task that I only did it this morning

Gula Malaka (the brown cube sugar that has a very distinct taste), the rock sugar and fresh pandan leaves...

Add water in a pot, put in all the ingredients and let it shimmer till the sugar is dissolve and when the pandan aroma fills the house...

Heat up some coconut cream with salt in low heat or like me microwaved the coconut cream to just about warm. Then remove the sago from the cupcake form and place into a bowl, pour one table spoon of coconut cream and add the gula melaka syrup...

It is really yummy....

Please enjoy a bowl of Sago Pudding!!

half.empty.or.half.full

I have not shared about the outcome of my medical checkup since the day I collected the result.
I guess the best way to put the outcome is all about how one is viewing the result. It is like if you look at a glass of water that has half content of the water and would you say it is half full (optimist) or would you look at it as half empty...
The result is mixed, but for me personally I am taking it as half full. During the first diagnosis, there were pre-cancer complex cells and intermediate cells present in my cavity. The intermediate cells became less active in the second diagnosis and there is no longer trace of intermediate cells in the last checkup.
I will have to continue with the hormone pill treatment for another three month and do the check up again. However, the pill could not do more harm to me than what it has already done to me by making me a diabetes… Plus ever since I switched to insulin injections, beside the ‘traumatic’ period during end of last year where my blood sugar went hair wired, now it is pretty much within the normal range and in my control.
Things are definitely progressing to the better side and I now starting to have confident again especially with the new secret that I have just learned and if I can hold on to it in my heart, great and amazing things will happen my way…

thy.will.be.done

It’s a strange experience that I have gone through lately ever since the God’s economy seminar that took place last Saturday. The speaker is a successful business man who has gone through the hard times to come to where he is now and he finally understood the secret of success and is happy to share this secret with others.

I am an organized person in the sense that I plan and set out my objectives, to do list and then I just do it to attain my objectives (long and short ones)

.
The last few days I have been pondering into the key secret that the speaker had shared during the seminar that largely based on the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Interestingly I have been reciting and know this prayer by heart for years and yet never grasp the true zest of the Word. The secret is we are not suppose to tell God what to do or set out our agenda and then ask God to bless our plan, in some sense this is okay to do so as I have been doing that for years as well, i.e. tell God what I want and ask Him to bless my plan... but the true secret is “Thy will be done” and that really so hard to grasp and to put into practice. The fact is that we are just His sheep and Lord Jesus is our shepherd, so instead of telling Him what to do and do it according to our plan, why not do it the otherwise.


It is not easily when I set out this journey of letting go of what I want to do each day and let Him surprise me. The fact is that He has been surprising me and adding new experience into my life. It is an amazing and subtle experience, nothing big or dramatic but I knew it was because I told Him that 'I want His will be done in my life today'. I could easily quote a few examples that took place already this week but it is really not necessary because those are rather personal and specific to me. You got to let go and experience it yourself.


To me, this is definitely a progression in my relationship with Lord Jesus.....

-7c out there

What I needed is food that can keep me warm...

I suddenly crave for kacangma, a sort of herbal chicken made of special herbs (only found in Sarawak, my hometown), lots of pound ginger and rice wine. It has a bit of bitter after taste but the combination is just perfect for the palette and plus is a kind of tonic for women.

Deep fried pork cutlet with bread crumb, first step for making the famous Japanese katsudon (カツ丼)

Japanese katsudon (カツ丼), a bowl of rice topped with the deep fried pork cutlet and seasoned gravy with egg. Yummy and juicy plus I needed the extra calories for such a cold winter day.

roaring.20s

Last Saturday, I attended our company party with the theme "roaring 20s" staged at Steigenberger Kurhaus Hotel, one of the most prestigious hotel at Scheveningen beach nearby to where we live.

The grand opening show was quite spectacular, but the performance throughout the night was not a disappointment either. Despite that I did my homework on the fashion of 20s (short hair cut or bob, smokey eyes, dress shorter than knee length, pearls, etc) I actually missing the key feature of feathers, non the less I had some fun with the feathers from my colleagues.

The variety live performance, all featuring the theme of 20's...

There were lots and lots of people but I still manage to bump into some colleagues of mine and able to stay tune and catch up a bit despite of the loud music and occasionally distract by the live performance...

Besides the twenties show, there were enough live band, DJs and music in different halls, the big hall featured the real techno music with some famous DJs, definitely something for the young and energetic, especially the new graduates that just started with the company. The hall that I hung around all night featuring the Broadway shows, alternating with live band performance from the 70s, 80s and 90s .... There is also a jazz lounge but unfortunately the vocals really suck... Otherwise I would love to be there...

I ended the night by playing poker at the casino room. No real cash involvement so it just for the kick... and those chips are not mine but from the lucky lady next to me....

All in all, a fun and relaxing night...

365

365 days ago, my dad finished his last breath and return to the Lord.

365 days later, it becomes the first anniversary...

Today I want to remember his journey on earth with a few digitized photos that I have and the special moments that I had with him....

when he was young and handsome

when he was a bit older but still healthy enough to visit me in Hong Kong and we visited Shanghai together...

When he was much older but happy to see my youngest brother getting married

when his physically became a challenge but he survived the trip to Europe proudly...

Lots of things had happened in the last 365 days but today (after 365 days), I want to dedicate this special day to my dearest Daddy…

Daddy, Rest In Peace!!

my.gallery

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my humble virtual art gallery. I hope you will enjoy the exhibition....

Spring

Spring

Abstract by my nephew Jo Jo

Perfume box

Tulip

Lily

Tulip

Japanese Impression

Japanese Tea ceremony

Japanese Garden

que.sara.sara

Tomorrow is 'D Day'...

Well, perhaps the outcome of my medical checkup is already out just that I haven't got to know the outcome yet.

The doctor insisted to have a face to face meeting to discuss the outcome instead of via phone call.

So... yeah... 3:45pm is 'D Time'... Anxious?? I am not sure, there are too many things troubling me lately, so this probably just one of them.

Of course I hope that I am clean from the pre-cancer complex cells, but then again is not really up to me but HIM. I have done my part, and He will never let me down...

So for now, I would just echo the famous song 'Que Sara Sara..., whatever will be, will be...., the future is not ours to see (but Him)..., what will be, will be....'

opportunity

Monday, I received a work email with an ‘opportunity’ but my office mail server was down and thus my response/reply didn’t go out till the next day (Tuesday). By the time the email went out, I was told that I was too late; someone else responded and took the ‘opportunity’.

The two nights I have been praying, even subconsciously in my sleep, I told God that I really would like to take that sort of ‘opportunity’, please open up another ‘opportunity’ for me.

Wednesday, I received another email (from the same person) asking if I am still interested because the one who have taken the ‘opportunity’ somehow withdrew or not qualified. So the ‘opportunity’ came back to me. I filled in the form and gathered information and sent them through.

Today, I got an official confirmation that the ‘opportunity’ is now MINE.

What I want to say is, God is so real and He grants me my heart’s desire. If he is faithful in small things, he can certainly clear the mountain of challenges that I am facing right in front of me.

So, what is this ‘opportunity’? I don’t want to speak too soon as there is still one more procedure before this ‘opportunity’ will finally come true. However, just a thought of this ‘opportunity’ makes me thrill….

get.active

Is gym addictive? Hmmm, I am not sure but I have been going almost every day or every other day.

Sweat makes me feel good and also time passed easily at the fitness center, calories burnt as I workout and the fitness center becomes my kind of hiding place.

And the hot sauna ritual is really addicting as well....

I am not trying to put down some weight but I just want to be active and healthy. Hopefully this ritual of gym/fitness will continue for a long long time...

Today I spent over 2 hours there, with first hour working on cross trainer and weight exercise, then I was lured in to Body Shape aerobic for another hour. It was so so good especially with a 15 min of sauna as an ending note. Now is time to sleep!