Cabonara Is Easy Peasy
Nice one Ah Zheng! The pasta turned out pretty good in the end! Ask jem!
http://jemtheboss.blogspot.com/We got a bit of help from Auntie, she was so exasperated when she saw how I was cutting up the bacon into bits. I was doing it slice by slice. She took the knife from me and started chopping the whole lot at once. Haha. Otherwise, I'm quite proud of our little achievement. I foresee more cooking sessions ahead.
Great pasta. Fine wine. Good friends for company. Ahh...
In other news, managed to get accomodation for the night we're staying in London. Thanks again Jacque! You the (wo)man!
I'll leave you with photos from our culinary adventure. Daphne! We're beginners! Don't laugh hor!
Don't worry. We know what we're doing. Really.
Mmmmm....bacon in cream sauce...
Ingredients needed!
Mmmmm....sauce.
Viola! Cabonara with bacon bits.
Thank you Jamie Oliver! Thank you!
Happy 21st Birthday Mitchell!
Live Strong! Anqi and Ying! visit www.laf.org guys...
Singapore Bi Pics: Dan, Me, and YC
Ah Nat
Happy Birthday Mitch!
Hey hey! Ghim, me, Evan
The Calm After The Storm
Apologized to Dad. Had a good heart to heart talk. Yesterday's bust up was really a culmination of many things that's happened over the past few months. My stupidity was the catalyst that triggered it all. I can only pray and hope things get better. Dad's leaving for Spain for business tomorrow, and he'll only be back after I leave. Talk about bad timing.
Probably be going over to either Wenz's or Ellie's place to cook up a few dishes over the next few days.
I need to borrow a road bike for the upcoming Osim Triathlon this year. Any kind souls out there? I'll be gentle!
Sorry Really Is The Hardest Word
I really pissed off my Dad just now.
I was driving my whole family back from a hearty dinner at The Tavern, which serves fantastic, but super expensive beef steaks ($32.oo per 100gm? HELLOO?!). Dinner and everything was great, and everyone was in a good mood.
Then somewhere along Clementi Road, Dad sorta made some remark that I was going too fast and braking too abruptly, even when I saw the red light. He said it in a really annoyed tone, and muttured something "....stupid..." under his breath. Wasn't the first time he's warned me about speeding, so I guess he has every right to be annoyed. I try to be more cautious, but sometimes I'm just more concerned about getting home ASAP.
I just get really agitated when driving, and when Dad says something like that, it really irks me. The last straw came when Mom asked me to slow down, when I was like doing 25km/h into a turn. I mean, who the hell drives slower than that? I dunno what came over me, but I just stepped hard on the accelerator reved the engine pretty hard. Quite dangerous travelling at that speed on a single lane road.
After we got out of the car, Dad said that was the last time I would drive in a while. I just cynically said sorry that I couldn't drive as well as he did. That threw him into a fit and there was finger pointing and a nasty exchange of words between the both of us.
Right now, I'm trying to draw up the courage to apologise to Dad. I really am too proud to admit i'm wrong sometimes and that's something that has to change. I put my family in danger in that moment of madness, and I ruined a perfectly good evening. I'm such an asshole.
I Came. I Saw. I Almost Swam To Indonesia. But Still Conquered La.
It was such an adrenaline rush! I dunno my exact timing, cos someone whacked my watch during the swim, but all in all I think it was about 1hour 25mins for the whole biathlon. I guess I'm just content to complete my first bi. But it could have been a lot better!
My swim took an abysmal 36mins, because the current kept sweeping me off course . The guys in the canoe kept telling me to swim in a straight line! And it's really tough cos, with all the heads bobbing up and down, and the high waves, it's tough to make out where the yellow buoy is. I must have swam at least 400m more than the required 1.5km. Haha! The run was surprisingly relaxed, considering the longest distance I ran in the last month was 2.4km.
It really is a high. I can't describe it, but it sure is a better high than a night out with the guys at Zouk (not to mention cheaper). Was very encouraged to see many friends there. Ghim, Evan, Kevin, Daniel, YC, Isaac (Chan) Mitch (Who was there not by choice, but anyway...) I'm glad I'm not the only one who refuses to turn into a fat lump of lard after NS. Must...maintain...fitness.
Anyway Thank God Mitch was there to help us collect the goodie bag, hence allowing us to leave earlier. When we got to Nat's car, we saw the parking attendent auntie 5 cars away from us. If we had come any later, sure kena fine, cos' Nat's parking ticket expired 10 mins before. Heh. Phew!
A big thank you to Nat for letting me bunk over at his place so we could go down in his ride. Thanks man! Pictures coming up soon!
29.33
What a huge psychological boost. Finally managed to clock below 30 minutes for the 1.5km swim. A huge achievement for me, since I'm not exactly the swiftest of all swimmers. Probably be staying over at Nat's tomorrow so we can drive down early to East Coast Park for the race. My wave flags off at 8.10am. My only gripe, I'll be missing Electrico at Rouge tomorrow night. What to do, gotta rest up.
Happy Easter in advanced to one and all. Let's never forget why.
Uh.
Outside Cineleisure, after a nice 3 hours of DOTA...Isaac: I thought we said we'd stop playing before midnight. Think still got 174 nightrider on weekdays?
Gabe: Don't think so. Dun wanna take cab home leh, been spending a lot of late.
Shaun: Well it takes 3 hours to walk from Holland V to Orchard.
Isaac: ...
Gabe: ...
Isaac: ...
Gabe: ...
Isaac: ok walk home lor.
And so our inpromptu route march home from Cineleisure to Upper Bukit Timah began. Our voyage took Isaac and I past the infamous "4 floors of whores" at Orchard Towers (yikes where do these people go in the day?), past the winding roads of Orange Grove Road, and the never ending stretch of road that is Bukit Timah.
Was fun I must say. Isaac I bet you never thought you'd be taking a crap at a Shell station toilet at 2am. Ha!
Anyways, I remember from a past sermon where the preacher likened our walk with God to a marathon. You can start out with all guns blazing, but in the end it's the finishing that matters. Right now, I feel like I'm having a stitch.
Write My Name In The Clouds
I'd wish for God to do that when I was younger, just to be sure he was looking over me. Yes yes. Don't test God Gabe. He doesn't have to prove anything to you. The sky would be one messy canvas if everyone prayed for that.
While accompanying Wen Zheng to RJ for his invigilation stint, he was telling me Alex stopped going to SMU's Christian Fellowship, because some of the people there told her something she didn't believe in. Coincidentally, some of them were from ARPC. Apparently, they said they didn't believe God would talk to us anymore through visions or dreams, because all that He has to say, he's already said it in the Bible.
I would like to think that God still talks to certain individuals through dreams and visions. Will check it out with some of the guys. It's tragic when differences like these split Christians. Whatever happened to unity?
Already among Christians, there're a lot of differences in beliefs. Some believe in speaking in tongues, some think it's a distraction. Some believe in total body immersion during baptism, some feel just a sprinkling of water on the head is sufficient. Some think worship should be solemn and respectful, some think it should be done LOUD as an expression of our joy.
If we spent all our time arguing over all the minor differences in beliefs, we'd be arguing till the cows come home. It's like in Romans, where Paul rebukes both Jews and Gentiles, saying that we shouldn't argue about all these trivial things, like whether we should be circumcised or not. It's the fundamental Christian belief that matters, that you admit you are a sinner, that you believe Jesus died for your sins, and that you'll repent .
Getting circumcised doesn't make you any more favourable in God's eyes than the person that doesn't. Likewise, if you speak in tongues, it doesn't mean God loves you more. The reason why certain charismatic churches are coming under fire is because the messages the pastors preach seem to be kinda dodgy. It's like picking certain verses from the Bible to fit the pastors message. When the verses are picked out of context, that's when you should make a stand and say it's wrong.
Intensify
Singapore Biathlon in 5 days. Managed to knock off a whole minute and a half for my 1.5km swim. Hoping to cut off another minute and hit sub-30 before Thursday so I can rest well 1 day before the race. Haven't been training over the weekend due to Church and BB committments, which was really fun to do!
A big pat on the back for April, Clare, Carilyn, Elaine, Linette, Ruth (wok!), Sarah, Wong Ci and Elliot for the job well done for the 4 services we played for. Tiring, but hey, all in the service of the Lord. "It's A Happy Day" keeps ringing in my head for some reason!
The BB kids are a joy to be with. They're really good kids. Did topo with them around Woodlands, finding checkpoints and stuff. Glad we made it back in time eh April? Heh. This one particular sec 2 kid, Gabriel (Tong), he's really athletic and a bit of a hardcore cyclist, but quite mischievious and difficult to control la. Think he just needs guidance, and I hope to get to know the rest of the kids better too. My mandarin will improve tremendously if I continue man. I can't remember when was the last time I spoke so much Mandarin, though quite sub-standard. Haha.
The weekend was a mad rush. If I wasn't in church, I was out of the house. Pei Ling's house warming, Dota-ing with brothers, out for bowling and dinner with Shawn, Haresh, Ghim, Dza and Suhaimi, which was cool guys.
Oh and Liverpool finally WHOOPED Everton! Watched it @ Isaac's. I don't get it man! Why can't they play like that all the time! Pity about Baros though. Isaac and I were on our toes when we saw Morientes, Hamaan and Warnock limp off the pitch one after another. Wassup man? They made of paper or something? Anyway I wish I could make a trip to Anfield while in Europe, but a bit out of the way. Could have to settle for a Chelsea, Arsenal or Spurs match. Heh. See how.
Boys' Brigade guys. They're just damn entertaining man! haha.
Beng Hia and Dan: Mahjong Masters
Brothers in arms. Haresh, Shawn and Ghim
Wong Ci and Clare with Baby Drumma Girl. That is how adorable! The baby i mean. Hahaha.
Photos from Brewerkz. Marc about to gulp down my Indian Pale Ale.
Brewwerkz quesadillas. Sedap.
Now THAT'S, what I call a burger.
Is it what I think it is? Citizens, treasure your pink IC!
Pink Rocks
That's right. That's MISTER Gabriel Tan to you as of today. Got my pink IC today. And I must say, I've never been happier to see geeky ol' primary 5 me on my IC. It's been 2 years and 2 months since I last saw it. It's just so surreal!
Friday service went well today. I must admit, I wasn't concentrating too well during Ronnie's sermon. Well, I've got 3 more opportunities to.
Boys Brigade tomorrow. Doing singsperation and topography. Pray we don't get lost!
This Read Can You If Fortunate You're
Played badminton with Ah Long, Evelyn and Cherry at Woodlands today. Had a nice lunch with them at Causeway Point after. Was really nice chatting with them. I knew Cherry was a teacher but what I didn't know was that she taught dyslexic children at a primary school. It was really interesting hearing her talk about the problems these kids go through.
Dyslexia is a learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words. It doesn't mean they're stupid, that's the common misconception. Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong have dyslexia. So do Tom Cruise and Kiera Knightley (so says Caleb, but I'm too sure abt that). Apparently, normal people have larger left brains than right brains. The left brain is usually used for stuff like learning language, numbers and speech. The right brain controls our more creative side. Which is why artists generally have bigger right brains. Dyslexic people have larger right brains too. Xinyi, is that right? This is under your scope right? Heh.
There're different levels of the disorder. Severe Dyslexics can't even tell the time off the clock, because their brain just cannot organise the information they see. Some are also capable of writing a whole paragraph absent of vowels. For example, the word "running" will prob be spelt "rnnng". The cool thing about such people though, is that once they over come their initial disadvantage, they can tap on the power of their right brain, and usually they're quite creative and even geniuses in their own right.
Anyway just a side note. I read somewhere that when we dream, we can't read, since it's our right brain that controls our dreams and our left brain that controls language recognition. So next time you guys dream, do tell me if you're capable of reading. Quite interesting man.
Passed my final riding evaluation today! Can finally book TP date! 11 April! Vroom Vroom!!!!
Elliot belaying some of the NCC guys.
Heavenly! The shrimp and tomato cream sauce for the spagghetti turned out fantastic! Good job guys! =)
The omelette was looking good. Until I tried to flip it. GARRR!
Disciples Of The Naked Chef
So we cooked up a storm at Elliot's last night. I did the dishes so no guilt about messing up the place, heh heh. Inspired by the fabulous meal at Linette's a few days ago, Elliot decided to cook up something of his own, and then dragged me into it. Well I'm glad he did though. Heh. We took a "Shrimp and tomato cream pasta" recipe off Jamie Oliver's cookbook. Uncle Graham ended up doing most of the mixing, heh. Sarah was there to help too.
I tried making an omelette, thinking you can never go wrong by just mixing lotsa ingredients in a pan. Although the presentation was far from ideal, (see pictures below) it actually tasted....edible! Haha.
We helped out the Youth For Christ (YFC) guys in the morning. The NCC kids from Regent Sec came down to do some rock climbing. We were there to cover safety and just befriend the kids. Quite fun la.
Anyway you know the song "Especially For You" -Man that song just KEEPS PLAYING IN MY HEAD. It's the duet between Kylie Minouge and Kermit da frog. Been humming to it ever since I heard it in Sarah's car last friday. Someone send it to me if you have it! I love KERMIT!
nus bi pics are out. yep. i believe in running pantsless.
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Some pics from the past few days. Last night's Banana flambe. Mmmmm.
Good job team. Now if only we could photoshop this guy's head out of the pic.
See Iylia. See Iylia Fly.
Congrats ZhiQiang and Peifen! From Left: Dav, Ah Bao, Da lovely couple, Xionghai, Muah
Can't touch this.
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Happy...err...birthday, Edwin
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Jason to Isaac: I told ya not to try a backflip, but noooo....
BURP.
I just had the meal of my life I tell you. Never before have I gone to someone's home and eaten so heartily in my life. Ok maybe when I went to Elliot's place for Christmas dinner and Auntie Swee Kheng cooked up a WICKED dinner! But this was seriously da bomb! Thanks again Linette! And your Mom and Dad too! I'm quite sure April will blog about this too. Heh Heh. Bruschetta (tomatoes on french loaves with garlic and olive oil), Foie Gras, Pasta with clams, Lamb Shanks, Banana Flambe with Vanilla Ice Cream. For 3 hours, I was in heaven. =)
Before that, I had worship practice for next week's service. So the whole worship team + Daniel, the lucky one (haha) went down to Linette's. PUNJ will be taking the Saturday and Sunday services. Hope everything goes well!
Getta Move On
So we managed to maintain our 2nd place and NOT get lapped by NDU for the 50km Road Relay. Phew. The divers were too much man. Noel! Didn't see you there man! And yes, happy belated 21st birthday Lloyd, heh.
It's seriously been a busy few days. Once again, happy 21st birthday (also) to Edwin. I hope you like our present man. heh. And the dunking. It was great seeing some of the 4.9 guys. Esp Marc Ho, whom I have not seen in ages. For some reason we never meet up man! That will change my friend! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Seriously, we could've spent hours recounting the good ol' AC days, about Malcolm calling Lao Shi a pornstar (disrespectful, but hilarious nonetheless), Charno and his explosive farts, Uncle Kenneth and good ol' Chris Koay. The 4 years in ACS(I) were truly awesome.
Helped out for The Boys & Girls' Brigade Recruit Camp in Si Ling Sec School up in Woodlands. Organised the games with Ellie and led them in Singsperation in the night. Had to leave in the afternoon for ZhiQiang and Peifen's wedding, so it was quite a rush racing from Sentosa to True Way and then back up to Woodlands again. Happened to see Tiff, Sam and their friends while at Palawan. "In Good Company" this Monday yeah Tiff?
The games and singsperation went pretty well. The kids were a bit hard to control, but fun to be with! Hope to get more involved, but I'm just so afraid of committment right now. There's seriously so many things I wanna do. I have to tell you about the kids another day, too shacked to go into detail.
Pix called today. He may have a lobang for me to be an assistant teacher at Julia Gabriel's Speech and Drama! How fun is that?! Hope he brings good news soon!
Drain
I'm starting to feel the physical drain on my body. The past 2 weeks has been filled with non-stop activities. Cycling, running, daily swims, daily gym sessions, late nights out. I woke up this morning feeling like crap, aching all over. I need a full body massage bad. A few episodes of Naruto makes you feel a bit better though.
The Boys/ Girls' Brigade camp for Xiling Sec is coming tomorrow. Elliot and I have to come up with the games for Saturday morning @ Sentosa. Hoping the weather will hold. Kinda unpredictable these days, the weather.
2nd leg of the 50km Road Relay tomorrow. We're looking to maintain 2nd, and maybe even close the gap on NDU. We'll see.
The team.
It's...it's not what you think!
Dao boys.
Whack Ah.
Man the weather this afternoon was perfect! Thank God! Managed to clock my personal best. Did 2km in 6.38mins. Managed to overtake a few guys, but I just couldn't catch up with that DIVER! GARRR! Guess they run as fast as they swim. Lungless fellas.
In other news, my good buddy EDMUND JOSEPH TWOHILL is gonna be walking down the catwalk this Wednesday at Zouk! HAHAHA! No, I'm not mocking you buddy. It's just that, your name really does have the makings of a model eh? Support Twohill guys!
A Weekend For The Body, Mind And Soul
So I went all the way to Tampines SAFRA (East Side!) on Saturday for the Singapore Biathlon Swim Trials. Had to swim 1500m (or 30x50m laps) in under 40 mins. Managed to do it in 32.25mins. Reasonable time, though Nat was saying the competitive pple do it in under 30 mins! Guess I gotta kick ass during the 10km run.
Today's Class ARPC at YMCA was really enriching. Pastor Chris was going through some of the doctrinal basics and what it means to be a member of the church. The class is for people that want to get baptised/transfer their membership to ARPC/ get confirmed. I come under the "get confirmed" category, since I was baptised as a baby.
I'm ashamed to say that although I'm "supposed" to be a Christian since primary school, my knowledge about Jesus and the Church (no guys, the Da Vinci Code does not count as historical reading) is still really limited. How can Jesus be wholly Man and wholly God at once? When and where did the Presbytarian Chruch branch out from? What was with Martin Luther King and the 95 Thesis? Why language is really important when choosing worship songs (Hillsong fans beware!). I'm glad I found the answers to some of these questions, but I 've merely scratched the surface. There're just SOOOO many more issues. I just pray for the willigness and discipline to learn. Eric, when you're back from your course, give me some theology lessons over our gym sessions eh? Heh.
50 Km road relay tomorrow. I'm runner no.2. Pray for the best (and good weather).
Ray Charles Robinson
I loved the movie. Jamie Foxx was really convincing as Ray Charles. I never thought I could take him seriously as an actor after watching The Jamie Foxx Show a few years back. But he pulls it off right here man! It was quite an unbiased account of Ray Charles' life, it showed the lows as well as the highs of his life. His battle with heroine, his mistresses on the road, how he overcame all the barriers that comes with being blind to become one of the world's most beloved entertainers. How he fought against racism. Towards the end of the movie, you forget that he's actually blind, because he's just so independent. I'm still quite amazed his wife stood by him through everything he went through, in spite of his infidelity and heroin abuse. Amazing woman.
Anyways yesterday was quite hectic. Cycling at Bukit Timah trail was delayed for a while due to the rain. Once it stopped, we proceeded anyway at about 11 am. So Jason, Wenzheng, Isaac and I took on the trail which became quite challenging due to the wet surface. Isaac took a few tumbles and now has some battle scars to show off. One particular fall was really spectacular! With rolling breakfall and all! I give it a 10 Isaac! It was a good thing he wasn't hurt bad la. It started raining half way through before we made our way to Rodalink to get Isaac's rims fixed (cos they were damaged in his little accident).
Took a quick shower back home before heading down to Hougang (yes, all the way from Hillview) for some badminton with Eugene, Zeng Jia and his friends. Damn fun man! no regrets going down, although I was a little reluctant initially because of the distance. All in all I'm glad my ball sense is still there. Haha.
I had an awesome dream last night. We were just walking down this stretch road flanked by trees shedding their leaves during autumn, the kind you see in those cheesy Korean dramas (corny, but it's my dream, so there!). We were just talking, but it felt like bliss. You looked so angelic. Stupid alarm clock.
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