Some christian comic relief

"The only man another man can love is Jesus Christ."

As We Gather ... ...

As we gathered, things just got better! I am pretty comfortable with Joe, and Karen too. They are really friendly and nice people to have around.

Last saturday, we invited Joe, Karen and Zexian to our humble home for lunch. It's our first time cooking confinement food and they are our VIPs to trial the samples. The menu of the day was:

1. Mixed white and brown rice
2. Black chicken with black bean soup
3. Steamed cod fish with ginger
4. Stir-fried beef with kailan
5. Red dates tea

After a home-made breakfast, Florence and I went to the Cold Storage nearby to do some marketing. Florence did all the cooking while I did some housekeeping.

Joe and Karen managed to navigate their way to our place whereas my poor cell leader took the wrong LRT route initially and ended up touring the whole Seng Kang. By the time Zexian reached, we were all done with lunch.

We showed them around our house and our wedding photos. I also showed Joe and Karen some of my mission trips' photos. After lunch, Zexian ran 1km on our cross-trainer. We then proceed to celebrate Karen's birthday with a tiramisu cake from Breadtalk. We didn't have time for games even though Joe had intended for that earlier.

During our conversation, I found out that Joe and Karen have begin their search for their new house in Hougang. Do keep them in prayers that our Jehovah Jireh will lead them to their ideal purchase. They will be flying off to Maldives for their honeymoon. They have also shared about how they will manage their finances after their marriage. I realised that Joe is a planner and he keeps things in order.

Joe had made a reservation at this famous crabbie restaurant at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3. We then set off for our dinner destination in 2 taxis. We've ordered a crab cooked with vermicelli soup, butter crab, chili crab, 10 buns and their specialty deep fried tofu. Never in my life have I eaten such monstrous crabs. Their claws were so huge and satisfying! Zexian said that the crabs were from Sri Lanka. Then I remembered the tsunami and suggested that those crabs may feast on dead bodies before. We wondered if there are crabs in heaven waiting for us. Well, only God knows the answer. While we were happily eating our crabs, it started to pour heavily. Thank God that the heavy rain stopped right after our meal. Joe and Karen demonstrated their generosity by paying for the sumptuous dinner. I felt bad that they actually splurged on us despite the fact that they are saving up for their wedding plans.

On the whole, it was a great gathering with great food, and of course, with great people.

The Trek on Saturday

What happened:

• We trekked from Dairy Farm Walk to Bukit Timah Visitors' Centre and then to MacRitchie Reservoir
• On the way, we came across a railway track. Then we went off track. In other words, we hor-landed. Of course that was all in good adventurous fun.
• Our lunch was 10 biscuits, with tuna spread and 2 apples.
• We spent about 6 hours trekking.
• We went up Jelutong Tower and the HSBC Treetop Trail.
• Each of us notice uniquely different things. I keep spotting iguanas, spiders and a toasted baby snake. While Xinzhan spotted very green waters, terrapins and a swimming iguana.
• We went to the prata shop at Upper Thomson Road after realizing that the Teochew Porridge stall had already closed for the day.
• Xinzhan had kambing soup with bread, banana prata and 2 cans of 100Plus. I had a mutton murtabak, a glass of iced milo and a can of 100Plus.
• I was rather quiet all the way while Xinzhan did most of the talking
• Dinner time was more interactive with more conversational topics. Like that sin scale where I concluded that if one were to follow it closely, he/she is better off unattached. I thought it would more likely cause more problems than what it attempts to prevent.

Retrospect:

• Yup, we are uniquely different. Even the things that grab our attention are different. In a way, we compliment each other by noticing what the other may have overlooked or taken for granted.
• I learnt about Xinzhan's struggle against alcohol, which had me fascinated, intrigued and impressed at the same time. Fascinated and intrigued by how a person can be dependent on a certain substance, impressed by how well he can hold his liquor. I realized that I probably will never grasp why such things occur. Maybe he's like Li Bai, the Chinese poet who is incredibly talented in a drunken state. Though I think I remembered he ended up in a rather sorry state...
• Another thing that came across was his thoughtfulness. Noticing a particular wildflower, the thought a friend's msn messenger icon came to his mind. Throughout the trek, I probably was just thinking about finishing the trek. I was also thinking about what kind of conversational topics we could talk about, but I'm quite creatively challenged at coming up with conversational pieces, so I came up with nothing spectacular.
• There are some things that are common too. We have this simplistic, "just do it" mentality. That's why we started the trek in the first place. No need to ask, "sure or not?"
  Life's an adventure! Leave the "how to do it" for later.
  Though, Xinzhan isn't convinced that he should take on the full marathon this year... Kenny Sia (kennysia.com) completed his first with only 2 weeks of training in 6hr 35min.
• It was a good outing. Nothing like a good challenging walk to tire ourselves out so that we can enjoy the rewards (read: food) twice as much. Our cellgroup should do it REGULARLY. Good for keeping fit.
• Testing our limits is also a good way to recognize our existence. I think it makes anyone rethink life.

Last but not least, photos.

My First Blog ... ...

Above are the long awaited pics from our meeting with Joe and Karen at Bugis Junction Ajisen Ramen!

Hi, u guys said no need to write long long messages, but looking through all the blogs, I can't help but feel very pressurized leh for i am a 1st time blogger. Since Joe had written most of details regarding our meeting, i shall not repeat that and simply write about what Florence and myself learnt about Joe and Karen.

We both agreed that Joe and Karen are very thoughtful bro and sis-in-Christ. Below are the evidences gathered:

1. Before the meeting, he bothered to check with us what kind of food Florence would like to have since she is expecting. On top of that, he also offered multiple-choices for us to pick the venue so that we do not have to crack our brains.

2. We were early and thus glancing at the menu, but he cared enough to introduce Karen and himself to Florence and me to make sure we know that we are not eating with strangers.

3. He purposefully ordered a different side dish so that we can share with them.

4. We had wanted to walk from Bugis Junction to their photographer at Little India, but they insisted that we took a cab as they felt it's a bit too far to walk. Haven't paid him for that!

5. It's very nice of them to check with us if we were bored during their photos selection and if we need to go off earlier.


Really thank God for the opportunity that during the dinner, we managed to hear about Joe and Karen's love story, how they met and how they got together and their marriage plans. We've also found out a little more about each other's half.

Well, we are looking forward to meet them again. Hopefully, they will enjoy our simple cooking at our humble home this saturday!

Our Ops Plan...

Ok, Xinzhan and I are going to do something somewhat groundbreaking. We're going to go on a trek from Dairy Farm Walk to Bukit Timah to MacRitchie, without a map and compass. Armed only with my D70 camera, tripod, some water and my sense of direction, (Or the lack of it.) we will be on a reconnaissance trip for the fun of it.

The plan: We'll go in, get caught by ferocious terrapins in residing in the MacRitchie Reservoir, fight a even fiercer battle dodging the flying golf balls and die trying to escape in futility...

Ok, that ops plan was rather BS. But We are going to do the trek from Dairy Farm Walk to Bukit Timah to MacRitchie... Or at least, almost die trying. :p

OUR CELL GROUP SCRAPBOOK: See boss, we got do our "homework"!

OUR CELL GROUP SCRAPBOOK: See boss, we got do our "homework"!

Dinner At Crystal Jade

Teng Boon and me went for a good meal at Crystal Jade, it happens to be one of the favourite restaurant for both of us.
It's been a long time since we last catch up with one another, so we shared about our lives and work. I realised that we share some similarities and that is our dedication to our work and our love for food. But i wonder why i never put on weight although i love food, this could be one of the greatest mystery in my life. Here's the muck shot photo after a great meal!