dimanche, août 29, 2010  Somehow I don't see the makers of Grand Theft Auto making a God-Themed Adventure anytime soon. Libellés : christian, geek, technology [GTA & A Nice Christian Girl] |
samedi, août 28, 2010 Free Speech: Whose Right Is It? When is free speech not free speech? When one side is perceived as the underdog, poor and persecuted. With all the brouhaha surrounding the death penalty in Singapore, I am fairly certain that anyone who stands up and speak out in support of the death penalty on principle, would be condemned by these vocal public (they are not the "general public"). Why is our right to living in a drug-free and crime-free country less than someone else's life - someone who willingly and wilfully committed a crime, as defined by Singapore law? We are famous/notorious for a reason - and yet drug runners persist in breaking our law. I do not dispute that it is a hard law. It is a cold law. It is a law which brooks no argument, and which has no wiggle room. It doesn't matter if you're a drug lord or if you're "just" a runner - you were caught, and Lady Justice is blind. I treasure life. I love living and breathing and enjoying the earth God gave. I love my family too. I love my future family, my children unborn, my nephews and nieces, my friends and loved ones. For their sake, may I support this absolute zero-tolerance deterrent? It's really simple - you break the rules, and you get punished. Conceptually, how is that so hard to understand? Why should we bow to international pressure when I live in a democratic country, and my country is exercising its sovereign right to choose how we punish crimes as defined by us? We are hardly North Korea (don't confuse the issues). Libellés : current affairs, singapore [Free Speech: Whose Right Is It?] |
mardi, août 24, 2010 Awesome conversations ... in slow motion Some of us are rediscovering the wonderful world of slow email... only now, with the wonders of gmail technology, we can actually see how long we take to respond to certain things. For example, this was one of the most awesome conversations I've had recently - and it was all about lights. Yes, like, switch on the light, that kind of light. Libellés : aki, art, church, diy [Awesome conversations ... in slow motion] |
lundi, août 23, 2010 To thank Andy for finishing our study of Acts (six months!) I decided to make something for the class on Sunday. A slow watch, a new sewing class, and slow traffic created the impetus for this little experiment. And so, I give you this exciting little ditty...Trial and error method of making a tiramisu ice-cream cake: attempt to make a tiramisu cake, accidentally buy too much cream, AND buy the WRONG kind of cream, then decide to freeze the whole wobbly, drippy mess. WIN! Ingredients: - 500g mascapone cheese (approx $11.50 from Phoon Huat, also available at Cold Storage and Jason's Supermarket, maybe at NTUC Gourmet) - 1000g whipping cream (approx $4.50 from Phoon Huat, CS/JS/NTUCg also have) - make sure you buy WHIPPING cream, NOT cooking cream like I did) - 6 tablespoons of sugar - or to taste - 3 eggs - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract - 1 roll of MacVites digestive biscuits (optional) - 1 double-pack of ladies' fingers sponge biscuits (impt that you get this; I have not found a suitable substitute in all my years of making tiramisu) - 1 cup of coffee (you can make it as thick as you want - I used six packets of IndoCafe in one very large mug) - some liquor (I used a tablespoon of rum, but you can also use Bailey's Irish Cream, Contrieau, or any other sweet liquor - try not to use hard types, like whiskey etc... unless you want your tiramisu with a bit of bite) Equipment you will need: 1. electric mixer (if you don't have this, I strongly recommend you forget this experiment) 2. a big large bowl that can fit ALL your liquid stuff (it should be able to hold your cream container, the mascapone container, and 3 eggs WITH ROOM TO SPARE. If your large bowl cannot fit all this, you have to find one that does, or you have to halve your ingredients so that you know, you have SPACE for it all) 3. Spoons, mugs, hot water 4. Cake tin/container that you want to assemble the cake in Instructions: The overall sequence is: make the creamy stuff, then assemble and freeze. This process should NOT be a messy one. Before you start: make sure that your freezer doesn't smell bad, and has enough space for your creation (or make sure you make a small enough creation that can fit into your freezer!) 1. Whip the cream using the electric mixer until it has changed from being milky to creamy. 2. Add the eggs in one at a time, and mix (either by hand or by machine) until the colour is even. 3. Add the sugar, vanilla extract and mix well (either by hand or machine). 4. Add the cheese and mix well. 5. Leave the mixture in the fridge, as you start preparing for the assembly. I left the mixture overnight. 6. Get your container (mine was 11" by 11") and line it with aluminium foil if you want to re-use it. Lay out the sponge cake along the base, then "fill in" the gaps with crushed digestive biscuits. 7. Make the thickest cup of coffee you like, add the liquor to it, then use a spoon and drizzle/spread the coffee mixture across the cake and biscuits. 8. Once this is done, use a large spoon and carefully distribute the cream across this first layer of sponge (take it out of the fridge first of course). 9. Lay the 2nd layer of ladies fingers, and repeat the same process with the digestive biscuits and the coffee. 10. Spread the remaining cheese mixture on the top of the platter. 11. Put it into the freezer to freeze. 12. After it's frozen, take it out of the freezer, then sprinkle cocoa power through a sieve for the perfect tiramisu cake. 13. Serves 20-25 pax. .JPG) .JPG) Left pic: equipment table with crushed digestive biscuits in red bowl, thick coffee in the mug, first layer of sponge half-drizzled with coffee, and the ice cream mix. Right pic: crushing the digestive biscuits in 5 mins with a plastic bowl and a ceramic mug. .JPG) .JPG) Left pic: Assembling the 2nd layer of ladies fingers (seen on left) Right pic: smoothening the top layer of digestive biscuits for a smooth finish. .JPG) .JPG) Left pic: cutting out the cocoa stencil with a penknife Right pic: sprinkling cocoa powder through the map of ancient Europe .JPG) Left pic: the wasted cocoa!!! But yum. Right pic: the finished product
[Tiramisu Ice-Cream Cake] |
dimanche, août 22, 2010 Most people don't know how long facebook has been around: Libellés : humour [Jurassic Phail] |
samedi, août 21, 2010 Being babysat is a fun experience. I was babysat by two friends on Sat, from 230pm-1030pm, and this is my activity diary:2.30-3.00 - Tea Time! - I drank bubble tea at Novena Square - I had some exercise time: walk back to church 3.00-4.00 - Home Time - Then we went to my babysitters' new house, still being renovated, to play in the mud and muck for a while. We even had a visualisation exercise on "Let's Imagine What The Room Will Look Like", as well as a lesson on measurements with rulers and measuring tapes on the floor! We also had a bonus art lesson, on how to make a Screed Floor, and what makes it pretty. 4.00-5.00 - Making Money Light - We had a short lesson on mathematics, as we sat in a hot pink place full of lights, and worked on the object lesson for that time: budgeting and money. It was a good time because we learned that sometimes, going to further locations means cheaper deals! 5.00-7.00 - Cultural Exchange - Because it is the Because it is the month of Ramadan, it is a good time to visit Geylang Serai, to explore the festival that they have going on along the streets. It was a good time of eating putu piring, looking at really really really really cheap cushions and cushion covers, plants, and all sorts of other items on sale in the carnival! Along the way, we also explored some interesting surprises along the way: .JPG) 7.30-8.30 - Independent Project Time - My babysitters allowed me some time to work on my independent project, a tiramisu ice-cream cake, while they went to discuss some other matters with their uncle. I went shopping for cake boxes and trays, and cocoa powder. (Post coming up next about how to make this.) 8.30-10.30 - Dinner! - We ended the day with another semi-cultural exchange, eating dinner at Gurney Drive restaurant at AMK central. Not too expensive, and yummy to boot! Libellés : christian, church, humour [Being Babysat] |
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