Christmas Eve (24 Dec 2013)

Right after we woke up, we were already up and running on Christmas eve to try the breakfast at The Garden Slug located at 55 Lorong L, Telok Kurau, #01-59/61, Bright Centre, Singapore 425 500.

 

It is hard to find a nice and chic café that opens early at 9.00am. So we were delighted to find one new breakfast place we will consider coming regularly.

 

We had the three musketeers... when my mother-in-law asked if we could call their beloved cousin, Gabrielle Tan along for the breakfast treat. Of course, the kiddos were most delighted to have their san-jie (Third sister) with them.

 

 

Gabrielle trying her lychee fruit soda. 

 

Deborah and David had hot chocolate, which was very, very sweet. And that's why they love it.

 

    

 I ordered the 'Runny Salmon Scramble-up' which was come with 2 pieces of toast, smoked salmon and scramble eggs. The portion were just right for my appetite.

 

We ordered the All Day Breakfast for Deborah and David each, but it turned out too much for the kids. We should have just order one set for sharing. It came with 2 pieces of toast, 1 big and 2 small sausages, 1 hash brown and scrambled eggs.

 

Gabrielle had 'Snow White' which include 2 pieces of toast and fried egg wrapped with cheese and mushrooms.

 

My mother-in-law had the All Day Big Breakfast which was basically the "All Day Breakfast" with additional vegetables and shitake mushrooms.  John had seafood spaghetti (dry).

 

 

After the meal, John and I were bloated because we were trying hard to finish the left overs.

 

Thank God for the nice treat in the morning to gear us up for our evening's Carolling event with the Church.

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It is a tradition for our Church that we dressed up this way - ladies in white dresses and the men in white long sleeve shirt, black working pants with a tie.

 

David was excited that he could put on his tie for a second time. The first was last Sun during the Christmas Celebration Service.

 

While waiting for daddy to complete his dressing up, we took some selfie.

 

And then, we were off for a night of spreading glad tidings of peace and joy of our Savior's birth.



Christmas 2013

This Christmas, Deborah and David made us really proud of them. I asked them on Sunday morning if they could present an anthem during the Christmas service in the afternoon and they both happily agreed (ah hem... but with condition attached... haha...)

 

In the end, they truly deserved their reward. They sang loud and clear, with actions too!

 

The song they sang:

 

Song Title: 天上的家 My Heavenly Home

Lyrics / Music: Sandy Yu 游智婷

© 2013 Stream of Praise Music/BMI. CCLI #2351995

 

[Verse 1]

在天上我有個美麗的家

有親愛家人和愛我的天父

親愛的耶穌已為我預備

天上的家

 

[Verse 2]

在天上我有個美麗的家

有我的朋友和愛我的耶穌

黃金的街道充滿笑聲

再沒有悲傷 

 

[Chorus]

將來有一天，我要回到天上美麗的家

請不要悲傷，不要哭泣，耶穌在我身旁

只要相信祂，將來在天上，我們要一起唱

哈利路亞，哈利路亞

 

 

 

Well done, Deborah and David!

May God continue to use your voices to touch many hearts for Jesus Christ.

CHRISTMAS IS...

"Tis the season to be jolly....fa la la la la la la la la....'

 

How will you be spending Christmas this year?

 

Throughout the month of December, we will probably have many friends posting pictures of gatherings with families and friends, food, meals, presents and parties.

 

But what will make you truly happy during this Christmas season?

 

This year, I decided I had to do the right things. I did not want to spend another Christmas without pleasing my Lord Jesus. Since I knew that Christ is the reason for the season. And I know He came to earth as a helpless babe to save mankind. He came from heaven to earth to show us the way back to God. And most of all, His desire is for all to come to repentance and none to perish.

 

As we drew closer to December, the Holy Spirit reminded me repeatedly of the words Jesus' spoke "with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible". I sensed the Holy Spirit's prompting that I ought to take the step of faith to believe that God can use me if I allow Him to, by inviting people to my Church's Christmas Evangelistic Celebrations. I was also shown that if I invite one friend to come and he doesn't come, I will fail 100%. But if I invite 10, there is a higher possibility that 1-3 will show up and that will mean 10-30% success.

 

True enough, it worked! Praise the Lord!

 

Our family are so happy to see Darren Lau, Kelvin Ng, Josephine, Rachel Goh, Cynthia Ng with us last evening! Their presence proved that God is at work among us and in the hearts of people. Our prayer is for these dear brothers and sisters to find joy in committing their lives to the Lord and get to taste the goodness of the Lord in increasing measure! It was a pity I forgot to take a picture with them.

 

But this year, I have learnt a valuable lesson. Trust and obey, throw out your nets as wide as you can, so we can see God's miracles working through us.

 

Have you brought someone to hear the Good News this Christmas? It's never too late....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tribute to my beloved late grandmother

My grandmother left us on 28 Nov 2013 at about 12.25pm, a day after I returned from Taiwan. She would have turned 94 in two months' time. In her lifetime, she is survived by  10 children (6 are married), 16 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.

I remember her as a strong woman who brought up her 10 children and also the first few grandchildren without my grandfather, who died in 1970. She remained a widow ever since.  

 

My fondest childhood memories are those dated back to the early 80s, when she stayed at a ground floor HDB unit at Jalan Besar. She had many plants in front of her house and my cousins and I would spend most of our weekends playing at her front yard or a nearby playground, while she prepares dinner for us with my 5th uncle's help.

 

When I was about 5 years old, there were times my cousin, Wei Xuan and I would stay overnight on Fridays at her home. We would head to the nearby Lavender Food Market at around 9pm to buy our favourite supper - Hokkien Prawn noodles, Fried carrot cake and Char Kway Teow.

 

When I was older, around 10 years old, she shifted to her current home, a 4-room HDB unit at Hougang Ave 10, which was 10 minutes' walk from my parents' home. My mom would bring my siblings and I to her home every weekend for dinner, and we would be there from 5pm to 9pm. I love the food she cooked - curry chicken, chicken feet soup, bean sprout with fried beancurd, prawns in chilli sauce, etc. They always taste so homely and delicious. Following dinner, there will always be a platter of fruits placed at the living room, usually oranges and apples for all to share.

 

There were occasions when I still stayed overnight at her home, and I remembered sleeping beside her and she would pat my buttocks gently to rock me to sleep.

 

She was also very disciplined. I remember she would sleep early by 9pm and wake up by 5.30am every morning. When she was still able to walk, she would go for morning strolls every morning, and be back to prepare breakfast for us when we sleep over at her home.  

Whenever my cousin and I are playing in the living room, I remember she would always be sitting on her usual sofa seat watching her TV. Occasionally, she would raise her voice at us when we get too loud while playing. Besides that, I hardly remember any time when she was angry. In my mind, she was a quiet woman, of course, with her fair share of worries and heartaches for some of her single sons.

 

As I grew older, I became occupied with my church commitments on weekends and visited her lesser. That was when I looked forward to her annual birthday dinners which usually happens in January. There was once I remembered presenting her with a bouquet of flowers on her birthday. Although my relatives laughed at me, on retrospect, I am glad I took the courage to do it.

 

Her 89th year old birthday celebration at Long Beach, East Coast Park.

 

 

Celebrating her 90th birthday at Jumbo Seafood in Year 2010.

 

 

The last time my family visited her on 15 October 2013.

By then, she was drifting in and out of sleep more frequently.

 

 

Her parting gift to us - One-dollar Singapore coin, 1977 series.

 

She is dearly missed by all of us. Most of all, I will miss hearing her loving voice calling my Chinese name again. Thank you for being my grandma.

 

 

 

 

 

Taiwan 2013 (Day 10 - 27 Nov 2013)

It is Day 10, and we are going home today.

 

We crossed over the road from our hotel to have our breakfast at "Taipei Milk King" café. Unlike most shops in Taipei, this is a few of those that opens from morning.

 

The kids had their ham and egg toast.

 

  

  

  

 

While mommy had beef ham croissant and of course, her favourite milk tea

 

 

The café also serves rice with beef or chicken for breakfast. So the men would love it too.

 

Then we checked out of Kingshi hotel Taipei and headed to Taoyuan International Airport.

The day before, we requested the hotel to book us a minivan for the airport transfer.  

 

We were early for our check-in, so we did some final shopping at the airport and photo-taking.



And then, we headed for home.

 



  

Taiwan 2013 (Day 9 - 26 Nov 2013)

One more day before we head back to the sunny island. Today, we plan to stroll and shop till we drop!

But first, we had to fill our empty stomachs. Like yesterday, we gave the pathetic hotel's buffet breakfast a miss and headed to Mcdonald's, which was only 2 minutes walk from our hotel.

Unlike Singapore, the Mcdonald's in Taipei offer 2 choices of Happy meals that children can choose from - the usual hotcakes or muffin with egg and ham.

 

After breakfast, we took a cab and headed to Taipei Lee Ji to buy our favourite Taipei's specialty pineapple tarts. The taxi ride was about 20 minutes from Ximending. Apart from the pineapple tarts, we also bought green bean paste tarts (with and without salted yoke). There were also pineapple tarts that come with or without cranberries.

 

Website: http://www.taipeileechi.com.tw.

 

 

 

 

And we ended up with 2 cartons of it!

In total,we bought 18 boxes and it cost around S$450.

 

 We headed back to our hotel in a taxi as it was impossible to shop with the 2 cartons.

Then we walked to Ximen Metro Station from our hotel, that is about 5 minutes walk.

Before we entered the Metro station, we took some photos at the famous Ximen Red House.

 

Right across the Ximen Red House is the heart of Ximending.

 



 

Our next stop is the National Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, located at No.505, Sec.4, Ren-ai Rd., Taipei (Zip code 110), You can visit the official website for more information: http://www.yatsen.gov.tw/en/. The opening hours: Monday-Sunday 9:00-18:00 (Except the eve and the first day of Lunar New Year)

 

 We took the MRT fom Ximen Metro Station on the Bannan Line (aka "Blue line") to National Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memoral Hall Station. 

 

 At the National Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memoral Hall Station, take Exit 4 and walk straight for about 90 meters, and you will reach. There are very clear signs at the train station (in English and Chinese) that will show you which Exit to take to get to the Memorial Hall. Just follow the signs.

 

  

 

At the concourse.

 



  

 

Before entering the memoral hall.

 

The main highlight at this place is to witness the honor guards exchange ceremony, which happens every hour from 9am to 5pm daily.

 

 

Then we walk through the museum for some history lessons.

 

   

 

 And then our tummies rumbled and growled....

 

No worries if you get hungry here... there is a buffet restaurant located at Basement 1 of the memorial hall. You can eat-all-you-can for just S$30 for adult and S$15 for child. The spread include a salad bar, fresh prawns and mussels, rice and Chinese dishes, vegetables, bread, croissant and cookies, ice-cream, fruits, coffee and tea (English breakfast to Oolong Black Tea to Rose buds tea, and more). It doesn't offer exquisite dishes but to me, it is decent enough for a good buffet lunch.

 

After lunch, it was time for mommy to shop, SHOP, SHOP!!

 

We were heading for Wufenpu, a wholesale garment market, that sells really cheap clothings, shoes, etc. And I have to say that after returning to Singapore, I still really, really miss this place. And I will surely go back there for more shopping real soon!

 

To get to Wufenpu by Metro Taipei from National Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall Station, take the Ban-nan(阪南) line and get off at the Houshanpi(後山埤) MRT station.

 



 

Use Exit 1 to Wufenpu Commercial Zone and walk north along Zhongpo N. Road(中坡北路) to the intersection of Zhongpo N. Road and Yongji Road(永吉路). That will be the start of your shopping!

 



 

Once you step out of the metro station, you will see a self-service kiosk for rental of bicycles. This is one of those things the Taiwanese are much like the Japanese.

  

  

  

 

Daddy and kiddos having a break while mommy continues her shopping.

 

 

While eating their Taiwanese sausages, Daddy reminded David to hold on to his stick tightly so it doesn't drop. Just when he finished speaking, David dropped his sausage on the floor and was about to burst out crying. At that instant, Deborah offered her sausage to her brother voluntarily and without any hesitation. We were so touched by Deborah's spontaneous kindness and our sweetie girl truly made our day!

 

By then, the children were quite tired as we were out since 9am that morning. On our way to the metro station, we stopped by Spizza Café for dinner. The kiddos had their usual favourite pasta - carbonara while mommy, an avid tea-lover, settled for her English breakfast tea. I had to take this picture, because I seriously think that the tea served in Taiwan tastes especially fragrant compared to those in Singapore, even though it is still Lipton tea bag. I already know of people who put their hands up in agreement to that! Haha....

 

We had initially planned to go to Raohe Night Market but the kids were already too tired to walk further so we dropped our plan. This is something mommy planned to do in our next trip to Taipei.

 

The Raohe Street Night Market is one of the oldest night markets in Songshan District, Taipei. It is located on Raohe Street, near Songshan Station, and is about 600 meters long.

 

It is not far to get from Wufenpu to Raohe Night Market. Walk towards the Songshan railway station(松山火車站) and you will see the night market after crossing Ba-de Road Section 4(八德路四段).