Engaging the Marketplace

Recent events have made me wonder about how Christian and Marketplace should engage each other. Here are some questions that popped into my head.

Should Church engage in Political activity ?

Personally Church should not support any political movement because in doing so it opens itself up to persecution especially if you are on the opposition party. My personal opinion is that church should remain bi-partisan meaning neutral. Supporting any party outwardly of a member, former member or leader by finance, by mobilization of people is bound to cause alot of frictions. Especially if we utilise Church resource to help a party member.Because in politics no party would remain forever. Some times you win, sometimes you lose. If the party you support wins you may stand to gain but if they lose then the church might face unwanted scrutiny. Also, in a church there is bound to be split loyalties, some may support a labour party, some may support the liberal. It would be wrong to tell people who they should support.

How then should Church engage in politics ?

Church can engage politics by voicing any issues on the current government whose policies might be ungodly. Namely Church can voice their concern or petition against legalizing certain drugs, abortion and legalizing Gambling. But we must alway stay neutral to whichever party is the leader. Our role as a church is to provide a sound moral advice to the government in times of crisis. For example Billy Graham has been a presidential advisor for many past US president

How should we act or behave in the marketplace ?

Some people in the christian circle say that we need to avoid confrontation and behave like a non-christian so that people will not know we are christian and persecute us. I believe this teaching is absolutely opposite of what God teaches. If we have to do anything that goes against the bible to avoid being seen as a christian then we have sinned terribly. Good example is Daniel, when faced with possible death he still chose to not bow down and worship idol and what happen ? God came to his resue. We must never underestimate God and worry about persecution.

All i can say is Jesus has once remarked in the bible, " If we deny Him before men, then Jesus will deny us before the father." We need to choose who we trust


I hope that one day whatever that is happening now in these current situation God will resolve it quickly. God put in my heart that there will be alot changes and movement this year... and I am absolutely flabbergasted as to the extent of events happening.... in our current climate. God will find a way...

" I speak in riddles so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving"

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Celebrating my Brother's Birthday

Here is one place where you can eat really good steak for a reasonable price. The place is known as Aston's. Unfortunately its in Singapore, it serves Angus beef and also the famous Wagyu. Yum ! And of course, me being me I had to have the Wagyu.

The food was not too shabby either. It was my brother's birthday so i treated the family. What to do, money come money go. The place we went to is in Joo Chiat which apparently now is a sort of quasi red-light district with alot of Vietnamese ladies plying the 2 way street.

The funny thing was 5 to 6 years back, the place was just rows of shop houses. And to make matters more interesting our Church office is located along the Joo Chiat road, what interesting irony, how times have changed in the area. When we first bought the shop house for the office, it was still a nice area.... but anyhow... the food there is still worth making the trip






Fries




I think this was Steak tenderlion





My brother had t-bone steak



Crab pasta




Mushroom Soup






Pork Belly




Deep fried oyster with wasabi

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Lobster Pasta and Mint Pea soup

I am no michellin star chef, still learning. So on Sat, when Vivien and Kah Sang brought over lobsters i decided to make my own Pasta. Yes thats right, i tried a new corriander flavoured pasta which i made from scratch




Mint Pea Soup served with seared scallops and truffle oil

- I saw Gordan ramsey did a cauliflower soup so i thought i would give a mint pea soup a go.
- Simple boil a bag of peas and i pour in a little chicken stock and white wine, brought it to a boil
- then put the mix through a blender and pour it over a sift to get a smooth consistency
- I seared the scallops with paprika, salt and coriander powder....
- I used a little thickened cream on the soup and use it during the serve

Verdict : nice but i thought was a little sweet for my taste. Probably need the ham or something salty to combine with the soup. I think if i had real truffle it would certainly lift up the dish





Lobster pasta

- this was really tasty. I cannot describe it but Coriander, oregano mixed in the pasta is absolutely heavenly. I would keep this combo when making my own pasta noodle once again. This would go well with seafood base

- the lobster was just boiled and then broken in half and then put into the seafood bisque sauce
- The sauce was : tomato, lobster, seafood stock, cream and prawns
- I blended the sauce and then boil it on the pot again. Brought it to a boil and put in the meat and parmesan cheese to thicken.
- On hindsight i should plate the pasta first and then pour the sauce over. It would look much nicer
- yes i used barramundi : point of note : seared barramundi with salt, paprika, corriander powder is tasty.

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Pasta of your choice (4 Key)

Here is a 30 minute dish that every family can make. Making a pasta for a family is really easy. All you need are some key ingredients. What i am going to give is a Tomato base sauce and from experience there are just a few things to note. What i will provide is principles that you can use to make any pasta you like

I found that Pasta are all the same, the taste difference is the herbs and ingredient you want to use.As long as you keep the steps simple

Key ingredients

4 main

1. Pasta
2. Meat - either chicken pieces, seafood or beef mince.
3. Herbs - you can use basil, oregano
4. Canned tomato

Side ingredient

1. BBQ sauce
2. Salt and pepper
3. Chicken stock
4. Parmesan Cheese


Noodle
Cooking the noodle - simply boil a pot of water, put in some salt - the trick is to taste the water it should taste like sea water. Once the water boil, put in the noodle. Sitr and check, cook it to slightly al-dante

Pasta Sauce
- At the same time we can prepare the pasta sauce,
- Normally i use 1 can of diced tomatoe
- Pour in some chicken stock, white wine
- I then put in some herbs : you can use oregano, basil, mint, thyme, garlic, onions. ( The combo is up to you) : Mix and match to your taste
- For the little difference i normally would use a little BBQ sauce

Meat - I would fry the meat separately and then at the last minute stir in the meat with the sauce. I would use parmesan cheese.

The final - touch stir in the pasta, add some cheese, pepper to taste. All these only 30 minutes.

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Funny from My friend

this brought a tear to my eye! Hope this touches you the way it touched me!

GOODBYE MUM

A young man shopping in a supermarket noticed a little old lady following him around. If he stopped, she stopped. Furthermore she kept staring at him. She finally overtook him at the checkout, and she turned to him and said, 'I hope I haven't made you feel ill at ease;
it's just that you look so much like my late son.' He answered, 'That's okay.''I know it's silly, but if you'd call out 'Good bye, Mum' as I leave the store, it would make me feel so happy.'

She then went through the checkout, and as she was on her way out of the store, the man called out, 'Goodbye, Mum.'

The little old lady waved, and smiled back at him.

Pleased that he had brought a little sunshine into someone's day, he went to pay for his groceries. 'That comes to $121.85,' said the operator. 'How come so much ... I only bought 5 items..'

The operator replied, 'Yeah, but your Mother said you'd be paying for her things, too.'

Don't trust little Old Ladies!!!

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30 minute dinner

Besides those normal recipe, i have also decided to include a new 30 min recipe using 4 to 5 simple ingredients.

Apparently Bird found problem cooking... and by request some friends have asked me for simple recipe you can cook without much problem... so at least once to twice a week, i will put in simple recipe you can cook

I will start from Tom...

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UPDATEs

Ok since i was away for so long... just thought i would give a run-down of events.

I went to singapore recently... as some might have guessed.. met up with family and relatives as well as closed friends. The main aim though was a discussion to buy another investment property with my family.

Well for one i think, my uncle and my family might be getting 2 property one each. So hopefully this venture would prove profitable in the long run. When and where that shall remain a mystery
until all is settled.



I also found out my brother... has gout... my goodness... too much rich food... normally this is reserved for older folks but him... gout wow !

I am also going on another holiday down to Margaret river during the holiday which is always Good

Bought many things for the baby.. and i think the Chinese name is almost settled just the English name... i need to think

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Thai Express

Here is a place, my dad brought us to try in the Serangoon Gdn area. My area is truly blessed with many nice eateries, its a mini Holland Village. This place is one place, i think my dad stood outside looking at the menu but never walk in, so much so when we came in the Manager actually came over to us, to greet my dad.

Appararently, he recognised my dad as the man who stood at the window, over the years the restaurant been there. Beats me how he know about my dad, but he must have left an impression

Anyway, we had lunch at the place and to our surprise the food was pretty good. Below are some sample of the food we ate.




Fruit Juice



Soft Shell crab - this was really nice especially with the mayo sauce they provided





Prawn Toast - this one not too bad, not really the highlight of the lunch. Prob skip the next round



The pad thai here was pretty nice the sauce was rather unique. Could give it another shot.





This dish was by far my favorite so much so i finished before i realised i have not taken the picture... TOM YUM soup... the good thing is the separate the ingredient so we can put them in individually.... really yummy


Ok in case you are wondering this is NOT in PERTH..... my rating says... 6/10 . Good lunch restaurant to eat but parking is really BAD !!! So unless you go early or live nearby. I suppose people woudl prob skip this place.

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