dimanche, avril 17, 2011 Test-bake for the unleavened bread (aka mini roti prata) In preparation for Maundy Thursday/Good Friday, my Sunday School kids are coming over to my house to cook the unleavened bread for use on Thursday when we have our service. Recipe: 2 cups of plain flour (or any flour that doesn't rise) 1 tablespoon of cooking oil pinch of salt warm water To cook: 1. Sift flour into mixing bowl 2. Add cooking oil and mix until it's slightly crumbly (not all the flour will be "mixed in" but that's ok) 3. Add warm water slowly - do this in bits (i.e. add a bit, stir/mix a bit, add, mix etc) - mix until you get a nice solid dough 4. Take out as much dough as you want, roll it out on either baking paper or on any flat surface you want. My suggestion would be small little dollar-sized bits, although this can get challenging to do neatly 5. Heat the flat pan over the fire 6. Put in the dough-dollars into the pan. After about 30 secs - 1 min (depends on how hot your pan is), flip them over. 7. You should know when your dough cooks - it'll smell real nice. :)  The whole operation - dough, cooked, flattening plate, and hot skillet (low fire)  Cooking the dough dollars  Uncooked, and cooked  Cooked dough dollars, and bigger ones just to see which was better. I like the small ones better - they're just neater to manage/eat.  Mini roti prata!
[Test-bake for the unleavened bread (aka mini roti prata)] |
samedi, avril 16, 2011 Giving two months' notice is a long goodbye - not always bad though, just wistful.Case in point: this little guy was sunning himself (wings open-close-open-close) in my face on Friday, as I sit at my desk with half-height window panes all around. Judging from the ragged state of his wings, he could have just emerged (badly) from chrysalis stage, and was drying out.  Small pleasures which I will miss, and which I am taking time to say goodbye to. Libellés : working life [Slowly saying goodbye] |
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When You Thought I Wasn't Looking - by Mary Rita Schilke Korzan This lovely little ditty comes from Paulo Coelho's blog. Poetry is emotional shortform. When you thought I wasn’t looking You hung my first painting on the refrigerator And I wanted to paint another. When you thought I wasn’t looking You fed a stray cat And I thought it was good to be kind to animals. When you thought I wasn’t looking You baked a birthday cake just for me And I knew that little things were special things. When you thought I wasn’t looking You said a prayer And I believed there was a God that I could always talk to. When you thought I wasn’t looking You kissed me good-night And I felt loved. When you thought I wasn’t looking I saw tears come from your eyes And I learned that sometimes things hurt— But that it’s alright to cry. When you thought I wasn’t looking You smiled And it made me want to look that pretty too. When you thought I wasn’t looking You cared And I wanted to be everything I could be. When you thought I wasn’t looking— I looked . . . And wanted to say thanks For all those things you did When you thought I wasn’t looking. Libellés : literature [When You Thought I Wasn't Looking - by Mary Rita Schilke Korzan] |
jeudi, avril 14, 2011 When you have to manage two on top, and two below, it's difficult.When one on each side is behaving badly, and one on each side is not performing, it's even harder. The solution? The subway.  Libellés : working life [Squeezed: Top and Bottom] |
samedi, avril 09, 2011 Even as I struggle with my decision to resign from my job, God keeps sending me reminders of how He will take care of me. Bible Gateway email reminders, RBC Daily Bread devotionals, random emails from other websites, recent posts from my favourite Christian bloggers/websites - these are love letters to me from God, which I am noting here so that I may not forget His love for me.If you're wondering what I'm talking about, and you'd like to find out more, leave a comment to start a conversation with me on this. God's love is amazing, abundant, and unending. I'd wish it upon anyone.
I will carry you! —Isaiah 46:4 The prophet Isaiah draws a picture for us in Isaiah 46 of the siege of Babylon and the evacuation of its idols. The carts and carriages that carry them creak, and the weary animals groan under the load (v.1). In contrast, Isaiah says that God carries His children from birth (v.3). “Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you!” God declares (v.4). The contrast is precise and vivid in the Hebrew text: The carts and carriages are “loaded” with the weight of the idols (v.1), but we are loaded upon God (v.3). Idols are a “burden,” a thing carried (v.1), but God has gladly “carried” us from the womb (v.3). The Lord has made us (v.4). Nothing could be more comforting, for our Father loves and cares for His children. He promises, “I will carry you!” and that includes every care and worry that comes our way throughout our lifetime. So we may let Him carry us and our every burden. This song by Annie Johnson Flint challenges us to experience God’s care: “Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision, / Our God ever yearns His resources to share; / Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing; / Thy Father both thee and thy load will upbear.” —David Roper Heavenly Father, I want to unload my Our work is to cast care; God’s work is to take care! Libellés : working life [Messages from God] |
mardi, avril 05, 2011 I just took another 15 mins to finish this, making it a grand total of approx 2hrs for this project.Tools: screws, screwdriver, random washers  Went all around the house looking for blocks to prop up the MDF board so that the screws would insert firmly/no wobbles  I drew a 3x3cm box on each side, ensuring that I didn't screw up (heh heh) the screwing (ok yes shoot me now.)  the makeshift whatchamacallit  First screw in; not too badly done - balsa is very soft  But I didn't think to have a base block - project would be screwed (heh heh) if the screw just eats through the MDF  The solution? Washers. Not one, but two!  One final short screw to tighten things up, as well correct the slightly listing posture of the cross...  And there you have it - the cross that I'll be using in church this Maundy Thus. What do you think? Would anyone buy this for $50? That's gonna be $10 for material, $20 per hour of my time. I'd get paid less than a tuition teacher! :D Libellés : diy [Cross-Making - Part II] |
vendredi, avril 01, 2011 I'm planning my church's Maundy Thursday service, and I've been thinking of making a cross for the service for the longest time. I did it last night, and here are the pictures.Raw materials: 1. 2x wooden balsa blocks ($2 from Daiso) 2. 1x MDF board ($2 from Daiso) 3. handsaw ($1.90 from chapalang shop in AMK central) 4. electric screwdriver (in toolkit) Time taken: 1.5 hrs  Took out everything and laid it on the table  I was making a 2:3 ratio cross, so had to do the math... with a little help from Nokia calculator  Drew in the lines for the horizontal bar to be cut  Taking action (over the dustbin to catch the sawdust)  Fail lah, cannot match!  The final product - okay lah, not TOOOOO bad, still quite even  This is the machine-cut side  Now for the cross-bar: both the wood blocks need to be cut 50% through so that it'll fit together neatly  After some failed attempts at trying to cut it, I decided to abuse my electric screwdriver's drill function to cut "perforations"  It seemed to work at first...  ...but still cannot.  Time for the big guns - I went searching for my wood carving set which last saw light in 2004...  In the end I decided to use my screwdriver drill...abused it so badly that it broke off in protest.  After a couple more hard saws, success!  The whole chunk of block came off  But it was still kind of not smooth, so had to saw some more  this is how it looks like, one piece 50% sawn through  Not too badly done; a bit uneven, but this is an amateur job. My abused electric screwdriver is in the background.  Here's the attempt on the 2nd piece of wood (the longer vertical part of the cross)  After many "triangles" were cut off, it's always the horizontal edging is the hardest to smoothen  But hey! It fits together pretty well...  A bit of gap here and there, but not bad. Tonight I'll do the other bit with the MDF to secure the cross to the board, so that it can stand.
[Cross-Making] |
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