Yes .. Nov is ending and the last month of the year is starting .... and yes ... its the time of the year that I blast my Christmas songs ..... both in my car as well as in my room .... this year, I have to admit that I am slow ... I used to start my Christmas songs -- officially 1 Nov .... where did I learn all this ... I remember how Fred used to listen to Christmas songs ... as early as Oct!!! Guess, its something that I caught living with them! .. :0..
So,what was Christmas like ... those days?
Christmas has always been FUN time back in Sitiawan .... I recall carolers coming to our house in Sitiawan Estate past midnite or wee hours of the morning ... cos our house is so tercampak 1 corner .. they always make it their last stop .... and in those days ... we will have Mom's church coming ... earlier days .. we will have even the New Road Chinese church (Mom attended their church plant in Spg Dua) and Paul Ling's church. So, carolers will greet us in our pajamas and sleepy eyes .... we dont lock our main door but just shut it ..leave the porch & living hall lights on. I remember one year ... I did not wake up till the carolers started singing .... so, our house was invaded by them because they will open the door of our house and gather in the hall to sing. The will dress in white .. and some groups will wear a hear gear (hollow made of shining silver ... eeerr that thing la ... made into a hollow) ... so, they are angels bringing the Good News to our homes.
There was one year I spent Christmas in sister's house .. I must have been 8 or 9 years old then ... Christmas is gala time for their house ... with Christmas tree and lots of food prepared to serve the carolers. There were many carolers from different church that came ... I can recall clearly Pioneer Church ... wah .. their group ... no joke ... the Santa Claus is really dressed up and carries a bag with goodies to give away to kids in the home ...
As I grew older, I was introduced to caroling ... as early as 12 or 13 ... i was still in MIF ... Mrs Tay will bring us around in her car ... and in Mrs Koh's car ... that was the time I started to learn and memorize all the carols ....
In MYF days ... caroling is FUn FUN FUN !!!!! Once school hols start, we will start our caroling practice ... everyday ... Mon - Fri ... we will learn and memorize the songs and learn new songs ... we will also learn up our liners that we need to recite ... you see ... caroling in Sitiawan Wesley MYF is just not singing songs ... but we always have a narration to go along with it .... like a story ... songs ... Scripture reciting and the prayer .. we will gather in House of Grace as early as 5pm ... and we will start our caroling as early as 6 or 630pm ... nearby houses (Kpg Koh area) we will cycle or go on motorbikes ... but places that is far ... we will then take the bus .. we will go as far as Ayer Tawar & Lumut for caroling ..... oooo ... those days was really FUN! The fellowship among the MYFers during those days - GREAT! And m I right to say that sometimes relationships blossom during those days ...
By the time caroling reached Nee's era ... the tradition is still as strong as ever .. she joined the Chinese church caroling ... and this is where she will come back with LOADS of goodies from the houses she visited ... from Lux or May soap (dozens of it) .. towels .... to toothpaste ... and there was even one year ... Kpg Koh Cili Sos ... hahaha ...
As time move on .... I moved out from caroling .... somehow it just died ... but it came back when I came to JB ... 2 things I enjoyed ... Christmas in Spore ... for 2-3 years, I manage to catch the Acapella carolers in the shopping mall ... one year was in City Hall when I was shopping with LN & Cynthia ... they are great! Later in CCC I remember carolers went to City Square, Pelangi Mall and once the last year, I joined the Young Adult's carolers in Danga Bay ... and I found out .. the carols that I memorized during MYF days ... I can still remember the lyrics ..
This year ... there is no caroling for me .... just a youth camp is waiting for me just before Christmas ... from now till 25th Dec .... Christmas songs will be blasting from my pc & car ... and i simply LOVE Cliff Richard's Christmas songs ...
Friday, November 26, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Kari Ikan Masak Lemak (Fat Fish Curry?? hahahha)
I learned this new recipe from Lilian (she's a superb cook!!!) yesterday ... I thought I better pen it down before I forget the recipe ....Ingredients :
A) To pound or blend them together into a paste
Small onions (10)
Garlic (whole garlic)
Ginger (1.5")
Kunyit (1") - yellow ginger (ahhh?? )
Lengkuas (slightly less than 1")
Dry chilies (20-25)
Serai (lemon grass) - 2-3
B) Baba's Fish Curry Powder - 2.5 tablespoon
(add water and make it into paste)C) Coconut milk (100-150g or 1 coconut)
D) Curry leaf
E) Vegie : 4 big tomatoes (choose yellow ones ... not so ripe so that it brings a little sourish taste to the curry), ladies finger (and I think we can add tau-po pok)
F) Fish (ikan kembong --small ones taste sweeter .. think we can also use tenggiri or other fish)
Steps :
a) Heat up the oi in wok
b) Add (A) in and stir fry it till fragrant .... till the oil surface
c) Add curry leaves in to fry & (B) .... Baba's curry powder
d) Add water .....
e) After bringing it to boil .... add tomatoes ... and ladies finger ...
f) Add salt to taste ...
g) Add the fish
h) Add the coconut milk ....
i) Gently stir it ... try to bring the vegie to the top and leave the fish at the bott
om to cook it. Be gentle so that we don't crush the fish meat ....j) Final adjustment to the taste before dishing it out to serve once the fish is cooked
1st Class Reunion ..... 17 Nov 2010
We had our 1st class reunion yesterday at Angie's place .... thanks to Sam & Pris who graciously organize it .... Angie's condo .... wow .. clocks all over ... from all over the world ... from all spectrum of time line .... no wonder she's never late for class!
It was a time of GREAT fun ... laughing .... its really good to be back in "class group" again ... with all the uncle's nonsense ... jokes .... stories ... fellowship .... but most of all ... it was good to gather again just to share how have our journey been .... as well as our prayer request .... Sam led us to a meaningful time of worship .... (yo .... u got to get back leading worship la ... anointing man!) .. and just to pray for one another ....
Who came : Uncle Steven (hahahha .... with him around .... u're never short of stories .... and he shared on how he met my cousin Jonathan ... hahahha ... cool!) ... Uncle Pat, Lian Kuan (with his 2 kids .... though I really thought I saw little Tu jumping jumping around .... and with his blue Crocs slippers), Chris (with his wife and gal ... she has really grown so tall - pretty --- huge eyes!!) ... Sam, Lily (eerrr ... think its her 1st time joining the English class group ... hahaha ... y she's in the group ... "i dono" ...), Pris & Vic (the love birds ... ;-) .. jia you!!!) ... Jelin & Diana ... Samadi & hub ... oooo .... Lawrence ... Peter (who rushed in from JB [???]), Pei Yi and off course ... me me me ... ooo yea .. not forgetting our host whole steamed CRABS for us!!!!
Yup ... we had LOTS of food .. the star of the night was off course the crabs ... Lian's cheese cake .. and gor-ki ... really there were gor-ki-ies .... :0 .... did some one almost drop one??? hehhee ..
The take of the night :
It's really the grace of God that He had saw us through past 4-5.5 months of ministry. Many of us are very much struggling to adjust, settling down in the new life routine, new working environment.... new people .... balancing the ministry demands and we are all still on the journey .... its only by God's grace that we survived ...
Yes .... life and ministry is tough ... and we are glad that God gave us one another .... as support group .... to know that we are not the only ones who are struggling with the struggle of expectations of church members .... fear of offending people ... fear of taking risk for the Lord ... juggling demands of ministry verses our personal intimate relationship with God .... we are NOT alone ... we have one another ... and we have God ... the One who called us ... to be set apart to serve Him .... for extension of His Kingdom .....
From the sharing .. we gain strength that the God who called us will be faithful to us .. and to our calling .... 2 of personally shared that just 2 weeks ago ... they thought of giving up but it was God who reaffirmed their call and strengthen them ...
We also saw God's long lasting love and patience at work in our lives ... He is ever patient to wait for us to response to His work in our lives .... we saw a "repent" Lawrence ----- 1st time he handed in all his papers days before the deadline!!! And we also saw how God brought some of us through the process which we went through during our time in TTC ... but if we did not respond to His molding ... we will still be in the same process ... net2 .. there is NO moving on until we pass the "test" or "work" that God wants to do in our lives
Uncle Steven ... Pat .. Lawrence will be graduating coming May ... like how God led us ... and opened the door for us ... all of us .... He will open the door when we are ready and at the right time .... so ... we will continue to uphold our brothers and sister (Samadi) in prayer as they wait for God's door to be open .... He will surely lead us all the way!!!
So .. let's not stop meeting together like this and let's continue to pray that :
".... God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light ..." (Col 1: 9b-12)
Till the next time ..... remember my dear brothers & sisters .....
p/s : yes .... why no pix???? .... cos the one who brought camera got super excited when see the food .... forgot to take pix!!!see la!!!! guess who???
It was a time of GREAT fun ... laughing .... its really good to be back in "class group" again ... with all the uncle's nonsense ... jokes .... stories ... fellowship .... but most of all ... it was good to gather again just to share how have our journey been .... as well as our prayer request .... Sam led us to a meaningful time of worship .... (yo .... u got to get back leading worship la ... anointing man!) .. and just to pray for one another ....
Who came : Uncle Steven (hahahha .... with him around .... u're never short of stories .... and he shared on how he met my cousin Jonathan ... hahahha ... cool!) ... Uncle Pat, Lian Kuan (with his 2 kids .... though I really thought I saw little Tu jumping jumping around .... and with his blue Crocs slippers), Chris (with his wife and gal ... she has really grown so tall - pretty --- huge eyes!!) ... Sam, Lily (eerrr ... think its her 1st time joining the English class group ... hahaha ... y she's in the group ... "i dono" ...), Pris & Vic (the love birds ... ;-) .. jia you!!!) ... Jelin & Diana ... Samadi & hub ... oooo .... Lawrence ... Peter (who rushed in from JB [???]), Pei Yi and off course ... me me me ... ooo yea .. not forgetting our host whole steamed CRABS for us!!!!
Yup ... we had LOTS of food .. the star of the night was off course the crabs ... Lian's cheese cake .. and gor-ki ... really there were gor-ki-ies .... :0 .... did some one almost drop one??? hehhee ..
The take of the night :
It's really the grace of God that He had saw us through past 4-5.5 months of ministry. Many of us are very much struggling to adjust, settling down in the new life routine, new working environment.... new people .... balancing the ministry demands and we are all still on the journey .... its only by God's grace that we survived ...
Yes .... life and ministry is tough ... and we are glad that God gave us one another .... as support group .... to know that we are not the only ones who are struggling with the struggle of expectations of church members .... fear of offending people ... fear of taking risk for the Lord ... juggling demands of ministry verses our personal intimate relationship with God .... we are NOT alone ... we have one another ... and we have God ... the One who called us ... to be set apart to serve Him .... for extension of His Kingdom .....
From the sharing .. we gain strength that the God who called us will be faithful to us .. and to our calling .... 2 of personally shared that just 2 weeks ago ... they thought of giving up but it was God who reaffirmed their call and strengthen them ...
We also saw God's long lasting love and patience at work in our lives ... He is ever patient to wait for us to response to His work in our lives .... we saw a "repent" Lawrence ----- 1st time he handed in all his papers days before the deadline!!! And we also saw how God brought some of us through the process which we went through during our time in TTC ... but if we did not respond to His molding ... we will still be in the same process ... net2 .. there is NO moving on until we pass the "test" or "work" that God wants to do in our lives
Uncle Steven ... Pat .. Lawrence will be graduating coming May ... like how God led us ... and opened the door for us ... all of us .... He will open the door when we are ready and at the right time .... so ... we will continue to uphold our brothers and sister (Samadi) in prayer as they wait for God's door to be open .... He will surely lead us all the way!!!
So .. let's not stop meeting together like this and let's continue to pray that :
".... God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light ..." (Col 1: 9b-12)
Till the next time ..... remember my dear brothers & sisters .....
"The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it ..." (1 Thes 5:24)
p/s : yes .... why no pix???? .... cos the one who brought camera got super excited when see the food .... forgot to take pix!!!see la!!!! guess who???
Friday, November 5, 2010
Happy Depavali ..... Memories from Sitiawan Estate
I currently live next to an Indian family house whom I saw busy preparing for Depavali - painting the house .... cleaning the garden ... and late last nite the lady was washing porch .... and then .... firecrackers ... loud and lot .... this brings back memories of growing up in a multi-racial community - which becomes even more interesting during festive times ......I remember getting excited over Depavali more than CNY as a child ... why .. because of the excitement of my neighbors ... Depavali is a bigger thing for us living next to an Indian community than Chinese New Year .... :0
Baby's sister and Prema's mother will be busy making the Depalavi cookies and muruku a month before Depavali -- and like many other households in the estate I grew up, they will paint their house or even buy new furniture for their homes... they will paint/draw or use colored/dyed rice their front floor with images of flowers etc. Surround their house / fence .... they will place little lights that is lighted over kerosene oil or place candles .. Depavali is a celebration of lights .. so on Depavali eve, they will light up these lights .... for perhaps a week or so ....
My Indians little friends will be thrilled because its the time of the year where they will new clothes ... this is the only time that many of them will get new set of clothes ... but there are some unfortunate ones that will not get them .....
On Depavali evening ... the air is thicken with the festive mood .... the final touches in their homes, final shopping .... by 6-7pm .... our neighbors (my friends -- all of them are kids like me) will be coming to our house ... with a round tray in their hands ... they will yell my name on top of their voices at our gate ... cos the distance from our gate to our house is very far away ....
Yes, its tradition that our neighbors will come to our home bringing their goodies (kuih raya) on their trays ... and we in return will put a palm full of sugar on their tray as a gesture of appreciation. On the right season, we may even give them rambutans or cempedak from our orchard .... so, what do they give us -- LOTS of yummies .... different types of
muruku ... round2 dono what small balls (2-3 types of flavor or types of flour) ... and ah-ci-muruku (beehive) ...In the morning, we will start our home visitation as early as 9am ... we will go from house to house to "bai-nian" ... hahhaha ... this is where we will enjoy our dhall curry .. mutton, chicken curry with tosai or idlis served on banana leave ... and we eat with our fingers .... eeemmm .... interesting .... yummy ....
Well, Happy Depavali to all my old friends back in Sitiawan Estate .. wonder if they still live there ... wonder
if they are still around ....p/s : Mom called me ... and wish me "sin-nian quay-lerk, sin-nian-huak-chai" (translation : happy new year .... new year prosper) ...
pengsan!!! Yeah .... its Depavali .... Indian New Year!