2014 Resolutions

It's been a long while since I've typed here. I don't entirely feel like explaining why because it's always the same reason, and each time I type one entry, I would disappear for another few months. However, I felt a need to pen down my resolution for this year.

2013 was a pretty tough year for me. I felt like it was possibly because I wasn't aiming at anything, targeting to achieve various goals. When I looked back on the entry I wrote a year ago, I couldn't find anything related to setting any goals. So, in all honesty, the only reason why I'm typing it out in the public is - to put it up front that I really do want to achieve these resolutions by the end of the year.

Start Time: 12 January 2014, 1549
Target End Time: 31 December 2014, 2359

1. Be grateful in all the small things. Be thankful in everything.
2. Lose at least 10kg. (somehow, someway)
3. Gain sufficient sleep whenever possible. Not overwork.
4. Be spiritually refreshed again through constant QTs.
5. Complete reading the bible.
6. Meet up with my friends at least 3 times quarterly. At least making an effort to.
7. Make adequate time for my family and mister chen.

I won't be ambitious and have too many resolutions. Since 7 is an awesome number, I shall stop here.

Till we meet again, dear friends.
Hold me to it.

Idealism

It's only today that I've been too idealistic - think I was living in a utopia of my own. Being buried in my own little bubble of happiness that nothing would possibly get worst or go wrong. However, I've opened my eyes to reality.

No. Nothing big happened. However, as all thinkers of wisdom do, I think, feel and experience then think again. 

In all my earlier years of being a pessimist, I've stripped off that coat a while ago. However, since then, I've been wearing a coat of idealism and (somewhat) delusion. I chose (and it wasn't a wrong choice) to believe in a positive of all kinds, that life was much simpler than people think it is. Now, how delusional is that?

It's good to have an idea of idealism, but to think you're living in one is a dangerous route to go down. I guess I've become more aware of myself and my surroundings. It's going to make me think harder about things. 

Apart from that, I think that graduating "from" philosophy did injure my thought processing skills because I'm pretty sure I wasn't taught to live in idealism but instead to have an examined life. I really need to start reading my Greek philosophy again soon. Such profound wisdom. 

Interchanging Lives

These days, I find it so very hard to blog or twiddle balance my multiple lives I'm living - a local primary school teacher, a sunday school teacher, a friend, a fiancée, a sister, a daughter etc. However, I oddly find the first two the hardest.

Whenever I think to myself about these two, I'll wonder how different are they. Both try to transform and change lives; both attempts to inculcate good moral values; both present knowledge and wisdom. So what makes them different? The content. The firmness in discipline. The management.

Every Sunday's a constant struggle to not treat the kids in children church like my pupils in school. Be slightly gentler and sweet. After all, they've already gone through 5 days of constant discipline and nagging from their own respective teachers. They really do not need me to do the same on a Sunday. On the other hand, it now irks me whenever they misbehave as my level of patience has gone down and my standards of discipline shoots up into the sky.

I'm constantly on guard of the dangers lurking in every corners and possible injuries, because that's what I do 5 days a week. Looking at primary school kids 6 out of 7 days in a week can be...well, it does get a little too much. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love and adore kids, and treat my pupils like my own "kiddos" (as I often call them). It has come to my attention that my sunday school kids would also, similarly, suffer the consequences of my current inflexibility.

So, what's the difference? Do we bring the Sunday School style into the school; or do we bring the school style into Sunday school; or continue attempting to juggle and shuffle around? To be or not to be - sometimes it's just such a dilemma.

p.s Work has taken over my life.

Baked-It-Myself: Spinach and Bacon Quiche with Homemade Pie Crust

Not as consistent as I thought I would be. I'm finally back with a new recipe for BIM. I have to admit, I did some other recipes too that wasn't too successful, and I can't go putting my failed recipes up here can't I? :D 

I have tried making quiche before, but it was without a crust because I never had the courage to challenge myself and make a pie crust in my kitchen. This time - as per request by the mummy - I decided to go for it! 

It was a terrifying experience with a lot of mess and melted butter, but I made it. It really doesn't help that Singapore's weather is crazy humid and WARM, definitely not the best friend of butter (be it salted or unsalted). I ended up plopping (yes I made up that word) the pie dough onto the dish itself instead of the usual roll-onto-the-pin-and-gently-put-it-into-the-dish but hey, that's reality and what you'll probably face if you stay in Singapore without an air-conditioned hall/kitchen/dining room unless you want to have your room full of flour and butter.

However, this recipe is pulled from all over the place and adapted so I'll just get on with it. (:

Be prepared to get your hands very dirty and oily.

(a lot less pictures this time because I didn't have the hands to take the photos)

Ingredients

Pie Crust:
350 g plain flour (plus more to dust)
250g SALTED butter (one stick)
60 ml of iced water
1 tbspn sugar

(all these need to be done quickly to prevent the butter from melting too much)
1. Put sugar into flour and mix well.
2. Put all your flour onto the surface and spread it out.
3. Cut the butter into slices that are about 0.5 cm thick and place it on the flour.
4. Coat the butter with flour (back front left right)
5. Start to cut the butter into smaller pieces and repeat (3), keep coating the smaller pieces with flour.
6. Mix until it forms crumbs of flour coated butter. It should look a little like bread crumbs.
7. Make a well in between the crumb mixture and pour a little water into it.
8. Mix the crumb mixture into the water until water is entirely mixed into it.
9. Repeat (7) & (8) until you get a whole lump of mixture that is able to stick together.
(at this point, your dough might already be sticky, just put some flour so that it covers the butter)
10. Wrap it with cling wrap and put it into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before using.
11. After at least 30 minutes, take it out and attempt to roll it into the round shape of your dish. Just a little bigger than your dish.
12. If possible, slowly place your dough into the dish by rolling it onto the rolling pin and rolling back onto the dish gently.

11a. Otherwise, do my way: I started picking out pieces and layering it into the dish directly until it filled up the dish.

13. Bake it for about 15-20 minutes at 180C.

Quiche Filling:
220g Spinach (1 packet in NTUC) - Pluck out leaves and a bit of stem
150g Bacon Chopped
3 Eggs
Diced Shallots and Garlic (as much as you want)
120 ml whipping cream
160 ml milk
Salt and Pepper
150g Mozzarella Cheese

1. Wash the spinach and steam it for 2-4 minutes.
2. Remove and dry the spinach
3. Fry shallots and garlic with some oil, and add chopped bacon. Fry together.
4. Combine eggs, milk, whipping cream together to form mixture.
5. Add some salt and pepper to mixture.

6. Place spinach and bacon into prebaked pie crust.

7. Pour egg mixture into pie crust and add mozzarella cheese on it.
8. Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes.

Tadah! Voila! You're done!
Always dare to try and believe you can do it. If you fail, just keep trying again! :D
Enjoy!

Nail Craze #13: Fluffy Layers

Base: OPI Fly (Nicki Minaj Collection)

2nd Layer: Essie Ole

Top: Essie Navigate Her

Finally, I've got the chance to create some nail art again after a long time. I have to say, it's because of my job that I'm reducing the amount of time I do these nail arts because of some reasons.

However, today's nail art is a relatively simple one I learnt from Youtube (MissJENfabulous) and it's really nice! It doesn't take much effort to complete or much skills in fact. Feel free to mix and match the colours too! The next time I'm trying this nail art again I'm going to make a "gradient" version of it! It would also be very sleek and cool if you used black-white-black. 

Till then! :D

Nail Craze #12: Cupcakes

Base: OPI Fly (Nicki Minaj Collection)

Silver: The Face Shop Silver Nail Art Pen

White Icing: OPI Alpine Snow

Cherry: China Glaze Purple Panic

It's been a while since I last posted an entry about my nail arts. This time, I've decided to redo my cupcake nails.

It is not a difficult design to create but does need a little bit of time and patience in order for the design to not smudge! The nails did get quite a bit of attention though! After all, cupcakes are one of the more in-trends currently!

You can also choose to change the colour base of the design to something unique, eg. Yellow, Blue, Green, Purple. But try to avoid using pink, unless it is something brighter or darker than the cherry on top! (:

More designs will come soon.
I hope.

Date a Guy Who Teaches

With the recent "outburst" in people sharing the article "Date a Girl Who Teaches" all over facebook and with Mr. Chen's sending (whilst telling me how it sounds like me), I thought maybe I should also give a little credit to the guys as well. 

If you haven't yet read the article, you can just head on to the page with the article. It's really sweet. (:
http://ofrainbowsandansweredprayers.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/date-a-girl-who-teaches/

It's getting very common to know a girl who teaches because the teaching industry does indeed contain a lot of females, but what about the guys? Here's my two cents worth.

Date a guy who teaches. He knows how to controls kids and teenagers by balancing the soft and hard approach and when to use which. He can communicate with them to get them to listen and behave when you feel as though their attitude can't get any worst. 

Date a guy who teaches. You will probably know one when you see them dressing in sports attire walking home on a late afternoon. They usually carry a backpack filled with worksheets so that they can mark it at home instead of staying back in school.

They spend a lot of time thinking about lessons and marking papers too! So, if you need some me-time alone, they will be more than willing to do so. However, if you need them for anything, they are also willing to put down their work for you, be it for dinner or a complain session about anything. He knows how to work hard and play hard. 

They will always have something to say and how to get the conversation moving at all times. He is the life of the party. 

Date a guy who teaches. His environment is almost conquered by females, so he know what to say and what not to say when you are in a bad mood. After all, he has to deal with many more females in the workplace. He will appreciate just handling one. Especially during the special moody time of the month.

When you talking to a guy who teaches, he talks about his students as though you know them. But rest assure that you will still understand everything he say because it is not numbers and formulas you can't relate to. You'll probably just end up reminiscing your school days and have even more things to talk about.

Date a guy who teaches. He's going to put in more effort in your presents because he knows what you do not want. Without you knowing, he's going to ask everyone for ideas to surprise you and buy you something only girls you know about. 

Husband material - yup. He'll handle the kids and not just keep quiet when you are nagging them. He'll keep them from turning into brats or the kids they have in school. He doesn't just watch the television or reads the newspaper and let you do all the scolding, because he knows how exasperating it is to scold. It's more tiring than it looks to deal with young ones who can't wait to grow up.

He dares to be crazy and do funny things to make you laugh even if it is embarrassing. 

He believes in you and he means whatever he says. He believes that having a future and planning ahead is important. Even when you feel silly or stupid, he tells you that you are better than what you think and reassures you that he will still love you nonetheless. 

His love will be unconditional and he doesn't expect much in return. He just wants you to have the best and have your best interest in mind at all times. Everything he does is just so you would be better. 

So, if you find a guy who teaches, never let him go. Keep him real close.

Because no one is ever more patient, than a guy who teaches.

23 things before I turn 24

I haven't been blogging since the last day of 2012. In about 45 minutes, I'll be turning 24 but I am truly grateful about everything that have gone through this year. Why haven't I been blogging? I guess the 23 things I did before turning 24 should roughly explain the reason why I have been busy.

It's been a fun journey throughout this 24 years of my life and I really have God to thank for this wonderful life. And I truly thank God for my family and friends who have helped me through these years.

In no particular order.

23. I became a teacher.

It has been a dream of mine to become a teacher because I had a wonderful teacher when I was in secondary school. But why primary school then? Simply because I love kids. I really enjoyed teaching the girls in PL. I still miss them very very much!!

22. I got to see the 'Weasley' twins.

It was quite a crazy experience meeting the weasley twins from harry potter and it got me very excited. An amazing experience!!!!

21. I had a grad trip in Europe (London, Barcelona, Paris) with my parents.

It was an amazing journey bringing my parents and planning for the trip to Europe. It was pretty crazy as we did it all on our own. Rented apartments and buying domestic ticket from country to country. Going through a baking lesson in Paris and roaming the streets of Barcelona. It's an unforgettable journey.

20. I graduated and got a degree!

Finally, after all the hard work, I graduated from NUS with a degree in philosophy. All the years of studying has finally paid off as I got to wear the mortar board and walked through the stage to receive my scroll. It has been one of my achievements in life and a dream of my late grandfather. 

19. Shanah baby turned 1.

As I think back about shanah, it's still a little unbelievable that this coming year she's turning 2. This little one has been part of my life and a crazy one indeed! I'm so proud to be her aunt! (:

18. I went to NIE!

The first step to becoming a full fledged teacher is to get into NIE. It was truly a tough one and a blessed one to get to go into this intake as I only had a 4-month contract teaching stint. It was near impossible, but by the grace of God, I got into this intake!

17. I got to meet the bunch of crazy tongs.

This bunch of girls have truly been a blessing to me when I entered NIE. Till now, they still remain as my best kakis and crazy support as we race through NIE in a year. I can't believe that I have gotten a chance to meet superb people that would always be there for me. (:

16. I baked red velvet cake!

An achievement indeed! To me, it's the best one ever!

15. I made agar agar mooncake!

It was a crazy thing to do but I've always wanted to try this for years and I finally succeeded in creating it!

14. I made friends with popular people! HAHA

This was, honestly, included for the fun of it! But truly, it had been an amazingly crazy journey knowing and actually being friends with brad and jessica. Through them, you'll learn how bloggers can actually be humans too. and yes, jessica's cake is AMAZING!

13. I attended my first red bomb chinese wedding dinner without my parents.

You know how they sometimes say that you turn into an adult once the people around you start getting married. You'll start bleeding money through weddings because they never stop coming. So it has began, but also, it was an amazing experience to attend a friend's wedding because it's was very touching. Also, it was fun to make fun of her by insisting on calling her MRS.

12. I went to Taiwan!

I visit Taiwan an average of about once every 2 years but this time is special. I didn't travel with my usual companions. This holiday was a truly unforgettable and memorable one because the whole experience was different with different people. Not only that.... (look at number 11).

11. I got engaged.

What else can I say? I got engaged. It's been one of the happiest moment I've ever had! A moment all girls imagine. I really thank God for an understanding and bearing partner. I love that we sharing verses and pray for each other every day! <3 p="">

10. I became Barbarella.

For the sake of English, I turned into Barbarella for an assignment we have to complete in NIE. It was super fun and enjoyable as we had to read and localise a story. Even till now, I'll watch the video over and laugh about it!

9. I went to Pulau Ubin for the first time!

Crazy, I know right? I felt like the last person who hasn't stepped on Pulau Ubin and truly explore the island. I got to go it with the craziest bunch of people and cycled our hearts out! 

8. I created a life-size board game.

It was crazy! I'm never doing this again unless I really have to, because it was a tiring and exhausting journey to complete this board game in a night. We had 2 hours of sleep and had to teach the class something we were confused ourselves. The bond built, on the other hand, was perfect. I got to grow even closer to the girls from my class and love them to bits.

7. Mummy and I went to Malacca on a crazy almost impromptu trip! 

We felt like going because the Das were going. We booked our hotel. We book our bus ticket. We went. We had fun. We came back! It was crazy!! I didn't even know how I did that amidst my crazy assignments!! I want to go back there again soon!!!

6. I started practicum.

If you don't already know, I'm having my practicum now. It's really tough and sometimes I just want to quit and run away. However, with these two people in school with me everyday, it makes it so much more bearable!! 

5. I had Restaurant Week 2013!

I went to 3 different restaurants for Restaurant Week 2013. It was crazy! I had amazing food for 3 consecutive days! After that, I really really really felt fat! BUT IT WAS SOOO DELICIOUS!!!

4. I got to watch Jersey Boys!

It's not my favourite musical BUT the songs stuck in my head for a good two weeks! We didn't get to take pictures with them because the queue for cut and closed before we even got close so we just went in front and took a self shot with them in the background. It is as good as we can get! hahaha

3. I brought Ben to meet the folks.

It sounds like a small deal, but to me it was pretty big because I'm never the type that shows these things. Even though I look like i'm a little crazy on the outside, I'm in fact shy and don't know how to face such things. Oh, by folks I mean my relatives and friends. It's a little crazy but it went fine. *phew*

2. Had an out-of-the-world self graduation photoshoot @ Raffles Place

This is probably the last mad thing we had to do once we graduated! No photographer. Just a compact camera and a camera stand! We jumped, sat and stood in the hot sun to take our photos. We wanted something different from the usual popular gardens by the bay shot, so we chose raffles place! If I'm not wrong, this place is now used to build a mini playground! So we got the last of it!! :D

1. I ate at Guy Savoy!

It was a special experience at Guy Savoy as I have never even stepped into a place like this in Singapore. French food at its finest!! I'm still savouring the food in my mind till this moment! 

So, this sums up my exciting year before I turn 24. As I press the 'Publish' Button, It's 12:55am. 

Happy Birthday to Me (:

Fragility

Fragility

Many things in life are fragile. Glass. Bones. Relationship. Friendship.

In this one year, I've realised how much that there's just too much fragility. It is a very scary experience to go through twist and turns and have things turned out these ways.

In this coming year, I pray for stronger bonds to be build. more patience. and courage.