On Thursday 30 July 09, invited two beloved cousins, Elaine and Debbie for dinner before they go for classic alpha setting, they faithful servants of most high.
The last time I cooked chinese dishes, this time I wanted to cook my 'la sao' dish for them, Rusilli in Mushroom sauce, Debbie loved me cooking this, cooked for her once long time ago... feel good to cook for them, cos they are very encouraging, she loved the taste, and asking for ingredient I put... I am so proud of myself (OMG!)
We have had good time, but I don't like them to buy me so many fruit (mangosteen and durian; 'Oooi, Debbie and Elaine, please don't feel 'pai seh' when you come, we are new generation, and our relationship is close enough to skip this kind of traditional chinese value (though it is valuable, but ... arr, very 'mafan' and feel stressed out; I don't usually bring anything in visit to a friend or relative)
If only you cook, you will know it! What it takes to have a day of cooking? It really took the whole night, from preparation, till the last job - mopping is done.
Just a meal of two of us, so many wash-up, and cleaning. It is still worth of all these jobs, because that proves I can cook!!
Beside,
I have two good things to share with cooking mom, or ladies who cook:
one is the Max Power Kitchen Cleaner can get it from Cosway retailing shop around neighbourhood, that really can keep your kitchen grease-free, after a wipe, spray onto the surface, wipe it again with clean cloth, then your counter top will be clean and oil-less (grease-free).
Second is this latex-like cloth, this will keep your counter top dust-free, usually cloth-dust will left behind after the wipes, but this cloth does a good job, clean and dust free. I got it from ACE hardware shop years ago at RM5, I don't know they are still available or not, it is soft when it is wet, and becomes harden when it is dry.
Fried sliced sausages to give a good serve for the special mixed aroma of those.
Then put the flame in low fire
Pour in beat egg in, trouble the egg once it is cook, do not have to wait till it turns brown, keep it bright yellow in colour.
Gabriel loves it, I think most children enjoy this as breakfast, they definitely feel loved. Put a spoonful of mayonnaise, and serve with pre-heat baked bean, start your day with 'A Bright Day'
Sounds simple?! But it is hard to do it for most of people in the world, I am not doing it well. We speak, we act most of the time is in contrary to our hearts.... hence there is the word in conjunction - regret.
I thought I have learned this well, that is way too pretty I am thinking about my own, but I will never learned...
Because of self-center and esteem, we are trained not to express, believe me, we are. Many areas of consequences to be considered, we will always assume there will cause terrible result, many out comes will turn out once we express what is inside, so we will always keep a 'way' for our 'face' in order to walk out of it beautifully.
It takes great courage to be able to speak what in you, to do what you want, dare to fail! hm, what a word, everybody knows, it is easy to say, who would want to have this if there is a better way (running away from it).
Every experience is a battle scar, none will to go through life unscathed and untouched, become a Christian can't avoid it too, but Jesus has become one that I always be honest to my heart, because He accepts who I am, He will not forsake me, He will walk with me, and be with me, He knows every thinking of mine, He knows exactly how I feel, He feels every little rhythm of my heart.
Life is wonderful, if you could find this best friend.
I really need to stop myself from giving excuse for not to cook, excuse like 'there is only two of us eating', I met Angela Ng one day in a pasar malam at USJ 1, we had a short chat, and she told me she cooks every day for Colin and herself, that really encouraged me to start cook for Gabriel and me, so I said it, I mean it! No kidding, I went to top up some basic ingredient and spices that needed for simple cooking, and started it last week.
I cooked on Monday, that day Gabriel was having fever, cooked on Wednesday, this day is my off day, and Thursday cooked for Debbie and Elaine, I am very thankful that they really 'bei min' to dine in, that took 'Courage' man!
Well, cooking isn't that hard, so far, I have cooked 'mixed vegie', 'fried beef with ginger and spring onion', 'fried chicken', 'choy sum', 'fried egg with 'choy bou' (my 'la sao xiu choy'), I kind a like cooking indeed, this isn't hard.
But I don't like the cleaning part, 'Huh, that really took out most of my time, to clean up cooktop and hood, mop the floor, wipe the walls, wash the pan and pots, WOW!'
Cooking is easy, but not the cleaning part, give a salute to all moms and dads who cook at home.
Read the post, wanted to write a note for it, do read through the article if time allow.
Jane's Note
Remember that time when I wasn't a Christian yet, I can't understand why Christian praise God for everything, why Christian thank God for all things, I felt it irritated, especially when my sister Christabel became a Christian that time, 'Thank God', 'Praise the Lord' was being recap for many times, and I start wonder why this God needs their praising, why this God needs them to thank Him for everything..
Now I know why, there the power in Praise is so enormous, and powerful.
That actually needs 'Trust' 'Believe' 'Hope' in a Praise, when you start praising, you start building up 'trust', 'believe that what you are praising is real', 'hoping that good thing will happen after praising', I started to realize this when I start practicing this, and things start changing, life becomes so light and easy, and people around you becoming brighten up.
Gab is having fever since Sunday, not waiting for the second service to finish, we went home directly, gave him a tablet of paracetamol, hauled him to bed, summoned him to sleep, but he suggested me to watch a movie, I think:"that is a good idea, I have a few movies awaiting me."
So we watched 'Slumdog Millionaire' which was lent by Debbie months ago. . . (Debbie, finally I watched it, and will return to you next Sunday, thanks!)
I cooked dinner on Sunday. Fish and chips with baked bean and cocktail sausages.
Monday morning, Gab had an appointment with OSSO for bone setting "跌打", this will be the third and the last visit, he sprained his toes last Sunday, he was kicked by a friend of him.
Initially I will send him to school after this treatment, but the fever came back, he had to stay at home ALONE, and will cook porridge as dinner. We went Giant Hypermarket for grocery, brought home some tomatoes, carrot, rice and sesame oil.
I made a plan for him, to keep him occupied, suggest him to make a lapbook about 'gun', so he google searched the topic, copy and paste to document, waiting for me to read through when I am home, and print out those needed.
He cut a piece of manila card into half, folded these two pieces and paste them together to make a double lapbook. At the same time, I get the rice cooker ready with the amount of rice put in the cooker, instruct him how to set the rice cooker, what he needs to do to cook porridge, and keep those marinated cut-beef slices into fridge.
I gave him a call as soon as I finished my last lesson, instruct him once again, from rinsing the rice, dry the pot, set the cooker into porridge mode, slide in the beef, wash the potatoes and carrot, guess what? He did all of those, Gab was quite happy with the cooking, good boy!
Though the porridge did not taste as nice as what my mom cooks, but I told him, we still have to finish all, and continue to cook, our cooking will become better and better. (....what a vision....without vision... we perish...never would want to cook any more...)
1. Place potatoes in a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water; add 1 teaspoon salt. bring to a simmer. Keep potatoes at a low simmer until a knife slips in and out easily. Drain potatoes in a colander. Place potato into milk/whipping cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Press hot.
3. Stir potatoes with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add pepper, and salt to taste; Serve immediately.
Gabriel loves mashed potatoes... very much.
Click here for more info about Mashed Potatoes, the link provide introductory, and how to make perfect mashed potatoes step by step with nice pictures.
It may be the most often quoted and yet most misunderstood verse in the whole Bible. People who have never even cracked open a Bible have heard and quoted this verse. “Do not judge so that you will not be judged” Matthew 7:1
Usually that verse is used like a hammer to immediately stop any discussion about the rightness or wrongness of a persons behavior. Almost invariably if someone claims that a certain action or behavior is wrong, someone will say, “But Jesus said we are not to judge anyone”. The clear implication is that we can never say if some behavior is sin or not because we are not to judge. Sometimes these words are shouted out in anger and rage, “You can’t judge me!”.
What is possibly more amazing than the fact that so many people quote this verse and the concept of not judging, is that so many people could get the real meaning so completely wrong. This is especially true since the context makes it clear what Jesus meant by these words. When Jesus said that we should not judge unless we be judged also, he was not saying that we are to never judge if behavior is sin or not. What he was doing was giving us a caution to make sure that we are willing to be judged by the same standard of judgment. This verse is not a warning against judging an action. It is a warning against self deception and hypocrisy.
The way we know this is the same way that we usually know what the Bible teaches. We look at the context. The verse that immediately follow helps explain what Jesus was saying. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:2 In other words, if you are going to say that what someone else is doing is wrong then you better be prepared to be judged by the same standard. If you don’t want your life to be scrutinized, then don’t judge others. If you can stand the scrutiny then go ahead. Think of Al Gore telling us that we need to cut down our energy use in order to save the planet and then finding out that he has three large homes and the carbon footprint of Godzilla. He needed to read this verse first.
Just in case we still have not figured out that this is not a complete prohibition on judging behavior, the next few verses make it even more clear.
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3-5
Before you ever start to tell someone else what is wrong with their life, make sure you take a good look at your own life first. But notice, Jesus does not say, take the log out of your own eye and don’t say anything about the speck in the others persons eye. That would be the result of never judging anyone about anything. Instead Jesus says that after you take care of your own stuff, then go and help your brother. So you are to help then with their issue but only once you have done a personal spiritual check to make sure that you are right with God.
We need to see this as a matter of helping someone, not beating them down. Jesus used the example of having something in your eye. In order to get it out, you often need the help of someone else to see it and remove it. When we see something wrong in the life of a friend we need to point it out and help them deal with it. When we do that, we are serving them, not condemning them. What this is really all about is determining if something is right or wrong behavior, sin or not sin. We can and should do that with a loving attitude and not a condemning, superior, hypocritical attitude. Pointing out destructive behavior in another person is actually an incredible and brave way to love your neighbor. We understand this when the situation becomes so serious as to require and intervention. How much more loving would it be to step in long before it got so serious?
There are a couple of final reasons why this verse cannot mean that we are never to judge if what a person does is right or wrong. First, Jesus makes it very clear that we are to forgive people when they sin against us. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray that God would forgive us as we forgive others. Well in order to forgive someone, you have to first, “judge” that they have done something wrong. The very act of forgiveness that Jesus teaches so clearly, requires that we identify some behavior as wrong. To fail to judge it as wrong or sinful in the first place, makes it impossible to forgive.
Secondly, the Bible is filled with admonitions that we avoid evil, flee from temptation, cling to what is good and lovely. In order to do that, we have to make judgment calls. We have to decide that one thing is good and another is not. We make these decisions all that time as a matter of course in life. We do it if we are a follower of Jesus or not. Everyone has somethings that they decide are right to do and others that are not. Every society and culture has these things and every member of those cultures has to think and decide, has to judge what behaviors fit the standard.
Bursting forth with the words, “judge not”, should in no way intimidate anyone from deciding if something is sinful or not. If anything slows us down it should be the warning from Jesus that we not be hypocrites who are unable or unwilling to live according to that same standard.
Jane's note: Judge the behavior, not the person, always good to set ourselves free by making the prayer to forgive the person, it's free of charge, and only a decision to make a day brighter.
I remember in John 21, Peter asked Jesus out from his self justice, fairness and legitimacy about what is Jesus going to do with the person who betrayed Him, Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?
I think by now, you (who are reading) should know what Jesus wants us to learn, let us do our part, there are no perfect men in this world only Jesus, I believe every one is learning, no matter the person is talk the walk or walk the talk, let the time to determine, it is something can not be seen overnight, or even if they sin, let us say encourage word to one another rather making condemnation judgment, saying this not because I am perfect, but striving to live and striving to learn.
I am good at judging if I choose to live in this way, it has ones became my habit to do this, writing this post at the same time is a reminder to myself not to fall into judgmental attitude, see, when I talk the walk, I am also learning to walk the talk, it is not overnight, it takes time.
"Talk is easy, that is why talk is cheap. But talk always comes first before the walk. that is why talk and walk are usually inconsistent, until the talk is cultivated and becomes a part of their lives. that is a process, sometimes longer than what we like. But rest assured while we may be upset with them, God is still working on them. Remember that walking the talk is a process. otherwise, you will pressure yourself unnecessarily." said Tan Chong Hiang
Thank you for reading, if you have read the whole post, a 'wow' to you! You and I the same, we both have a teachable heart.
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