today...
Saturday 24 January 2009

celebrations of sorts

"The kitchen of every nation has one dish which is not a dish, not even a meal, but an event.” - Chef Louis Szathmáry

One of the things I like about Chinese New Year is not only cashing in on the ang pows but also looking forward to eating yee sang! Yee Sang is sort of like a communal dish where everyone shares their chopstick germs and is allowed to "play" with their food for once. In fact, yee sang has probably very very little nutritional value at all, but rather, it has a more symbolic meaning to each component that makes up the dish.


It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Before eating, everyone is supposed to toss the mounds of auspicious ingredients as high as possible so as to attract maximum prosperity and abundance. Well - that's what they say anyway.

In any case, 2009 is the year of the ox. Does that mean it's supposed to be a good year for me since I'm born in the year of the ox? Well, the ox symbolises patience, determination and hard work... haha... so I think I'll be working hard with determination and patience by my side and so to everyone else as well because of the "economic downturn."
I also love to eat pineapple tarts during this season. I could eat a whole tin of these myself!!! I don't care if they look like this...
this...

or this!!! I'll eat them all!!! Although, I do have a preference to the last picture of pineapple tarts *nom nom nom*

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I just have to throw it in there, that on this year, Chinese New Year shares the same day with Australia Day! Why do we celebrate Australia Day? ... because... Australians don't get enough public holidays compared to Malaysia - and we like public holidays especially when they're on a Monday! But truth be told, Australia Day is held to commemorate the landing of the First Fleet in NSW by Captain Authur Phillip in 1788.

In essence, we're celebrating Captain Arthur Phillip who brought in a number of Cochineal-infested plants from Brazil and a fleet full of convicts into Australia some 200 years ago, and that's why we celebrating Australia Day? *weiwei makes one of her spastic faces*

You can say that I'm not that patriotic even though I do love Australia Day. But I think for a lot of people, we've lost the real meaning of why we celebrate Australia Day. We're just happy that we get a day off to spend in the sun and drink beer while singing to the Australian anthem.

It's sad really... sometimes I don't feel proud being an Australian with all the multiculturalism and acceptance that apparent Australian citizens are supposed to have, because even after having lived and grown up in Australia practically my whole life, there can still be so much racism and discrimination around. I guess if you've got black hair, yellow skin and a slanted eyes - you're not Australian and still subject to racial remarks. *shrugs*

Well anyway, happy Australia Day - whatever that means to you.

I'm just a little peeved at what some little Aussie *toot* said to me and my mother whilst on my daily walk around the burbs - and it's not the first time it has happened! rarh!



today...
 @10:13 pm

Saturday 17 January 2009

i love bokeh


Observe around you and be thankful for all that you have in this transitory lifetime =)


today...
 @2:53 pm

Thursday 8 January 2009

I'm going to the desert!

Wow... God really spoke quick -- I guess I'm going to the desert then. =)

The Purpose of the Desert
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Wednesday, January 07 2009

Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. - Hosea 2:14

If you have an important message to convey to someone, what is the best means of getting the message through? Have you ever tried to talk with someone who was so busy you could not get him to hear you? Distractions prevent us from giving our undivided attention to the messenger. So too, God has His way of taking us aside to get our undivided attention. For Paul, it was Arabia for three years; for Moses, it was 40 years in the desert; for Joseph, it was 13 years in Egypt; for David, it was many years of fleeing from King Saul.

God knows the stubborn human heart. He knows that if He is to accomplish His deepest work, He must take us into the desert in order to give us the privilege to be used in His Kingdom. In the desert God changes us and removes things that hinder us. He forces us to draw deep upon His grace. The desert is only a season in our life. When He has accomplished what He wants in our lives in the desert, He will bring us out. He has given us a mission to fulfill that can only be fulfilled after we have spent adequate time in preparation in the desert. Fear not the desert, for it is here you will hear God's voice like never before. It is here you become His bride. It is here you will have the idols of your life removed. It is here you begin to experience the reality of a living God like never before. Someone once said, "God uses enlarged trials to produce enlarged saints so He can put them in enlarged places!"

He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me (2 Samuel 22:20).

I know He has a great plan for my life. =)


today...
 @8:41 am

Wednesday 7 January 2009

My thoughts for the year ahead


The ushering in of the new year wasn't a big one for me this year. Actually, it never really is. Usually I stay home and sleep on New Year's Eve. I suppose I get really emo towards the end of the year reflecting on what's been happening throughout the year. The coming of 2009 was just another day - literally.

I've got a lot on my mind for 2009. Every year, I foresee a 'phase' that I'm going to be put through in that year and the lessons that God wants to teach me. Usually the lessons are very clear cut. For a period, I will learn about patience, for another to trust in God etc. If we speak about recently, 2007 was finding friends, 2008 was establishing myself and 2009 I think will be a time for growth and perseverance in a lot of areas of my life.

Growth in my personal walk with God, growth in friendships, growth in leadership, personal growth, growth in the workplace and career and perseverance in all these things. Every year, I can sort of foresee what the year is generally going to take, and take out of me. This year, I just know it's going to be a really rough and challenging year in many ways because there are just a lot of things going on and this year, I believe there are going to be a lot of changes as well in my life. Changes for the better.

I'm anxious how this year is going to be because as much as you plan things out, things may never work out how you planned, and I don't like to fail. I know I'm being very vague about everything I'm saying - it's because I don't want to share specifically this struggle that I'm having or will be having because I know the nature of this very "thing" - but I know that this "thing" is going to take a lot out of me this year. It's going to take a lot of energy and strength - and I guess, in the end the lesson out of it all will be to constantly refresh your spirit in Him and rely on Him for all your needs.

So 2009 isn't really a fresh new start as it has been every other year. It's not really a year to kick bad habits and lose weight and all the other kind of new year's resolutions that everyone makes. It's more like - this is the way I've been living for years and this is the year that He is demanding my undivided attention. To just get over what has happened in the past, move on and keep looking forward. There's no use looking back now.

I feel like God has really been speaking to me the past few days. Several times over, the same message is getting through. I won't say what it is, but I know what to do. To know what to do is one thing, to do that thing with might and perserverance is another thing - and that is also another struggle that I have. I know what God wants me to do. I know what I have to do. The bottom line is - I have to do it.

Reading through all that - what a vague post! Good thing you have no clue what I'm talking about or you only have the vaguest idea what I'm on about. It's deeper than that. Please pray for me. =)


today...
 @11:28 pm

the author


♥ samuel tan
♥ she really likes green stuff.
photography is one of her on the side hobbies (when she has time) ♥
♥ lomography and toy cameras
she ♥'s teacups and homeware
she is a skinfood addict... and nars lover! ♥
she hates super dislikes the cold.
she ♥'s 45 degrees in perth.
she enjoys reading autobiographies.
she would ♥ to travel around the world... one day.
she is a child of God ♥
... and she gets called a lot of names!

i ♥ to read about your life
adam loh
adrian & liz's wedding journey
aletheia ng
amanda & gabes
cheah yen hor
de xin chia
esther yew
eugene hoh
eulynn gan
frances lyn
godssips gospel
garry's cell
janica loh
john cham
julian tay
kimberly chia
li ying chuah
lynn tan
marianne wong
mishi lau
nouvina chai
passion at uwa
pau ting yapp
peter bui
raphael lim
shin woei lee
steph cooke
thomas chua
wilson chong

yukiko tan

the past
July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 March 2011
tweets what's on your mind
wishlist ♥


(not in any order)

♥ bb9700
♥ d&g - rose the one
 ♥ 50mm f/1.8
♥ elise whipstich
♥ facial

bye bye~