Laptop, are you that important?

I haven't updated my blog for a long time. Why? It's because my laptop is certified...

I truly believe that we people do not know how to cherish what we have at present. Just take my laptop as an example, since it's been broken down, I have had a lot of things that I wanted to do but couldn't such as updating my blog.

Cherish what we have is a life time lesson. Another life time lesson is to accept what we have lost. Which is more difficult? To me, to accept what I have lost is more difficult. So now I have to accept that I have lost my laptop....poor me.

But Thank God, it's just a laptop...

HELP

What other things can be more meaningful than helping others in their lives. Putting footprints in someone's life can be a beautiful thing. When you help someone like a friend, you do not lose but win. Why? By helping, you win a good impression, respect, admire, and more importantly friendship. I am not saying you should help blindly. Be smart and considerate when offering your help.

Help is a symbol of me to some of my friends. And in order to maintain this positive symbol, I am helping more people who are in need. My first target is Yun Nan, a province of my original country.

Decidophobia

Do you like to have choice? Have you ever felt confused, frustrated, annoyed, undecided when you have a choice? Take an example, a menu of a restaurant. Have you ever experienced such suitable:

Steak - too heavy
Pasta - too much carbs
Salad - too light and plain
Sandwich - too simple....
Dessert - too much caleries

Then a question comes up - what I should eat? (starring at the menu for +5 mins)

Are you the type of person who always cannot choose one thing over another? If you have had the above experience and yes to my question, be careful as you might have Decidophobia (fear of making decisions).

The Rosebud (669 queen street west, toronto) - my highly recommended restaurant.

Dinner with 2 friends both have birthday in March at The Rosebud. Our menu:
White wine - Lailey Riesling VQA 2004
Starters - warm bread and butter, pureé of leek and potato with truffle and mussels with white wine and garlic
Entree - baked crepe(s) with arugula, spinach, mushroom and gruyère (me), risotto p.d. (J) and naturally raised, bone-in pork loin with calvados sauce (S)
Veggie - rapini with roasted garlic and extra virgin olive oil
DESSERT - Vanilla bean creme bruleé and Hazelnut ice-cream like mousse
Coffee - Americano

I give 4.5 out of 5 for tonight's dinner.

The Rosebud is the one of the smallest restaurants I've ever been in TO. It has only around 10 tables, so reservation is highly recommended. Although it is small, it is excellent. Full house on thursday night is a sight of how well this restaurant is. The interior decoration is simply and classic - honey wooden walls with a wooden bar, small bench table for 2 - 4 people, plus a very very narrow corridor in the middle. Lighting mainly depends on the candles on the tables and around the walls.

Riesling is a very sweet white wine, well my friend S likes sweets. For starters, the white wine and garlic sauce is remarkable, the rich and creamy sauce brings the fresh taste of mussels.

Out of the three entrees, I like mine the most because it is special and delicious! The creamy sauce sparkles the mushroom stuffed crepe. I order a small portion but it's very filling. S's pork loin is very good too. The braised red cabbage matches so well with the pork loin. Lastly, it's the daily risotto, the sauce is good but since I am not a fan of risotto, I cannot give comments on it.

Dessert is the last course, yet it is the most remarkable one. We had creme brulee and hazelnut ice-cream like mousse. Both are very outstanding dessert. Our reactions are the same to both desserts - YUMMY!!! The creme brulee is the best I've ever have, very smooth and creamy. And the hazelnut dessert is so special and complicated. But the best thing is that both desserts are not too sweet, they are just perfect!

Food and service are outstanding. I am sure The Rosebud will not disappoint you. Click here for more details: www.therosebud.ca

Fresh Mixed Fruit Cake

I thank God for arranging such a wonderful opportunity for me to make the tropical mixed fruit cake again. Tonight, as usual, I went into classroom without knowing what to make. The chef told us he was planning to make strawberry short cake. But because of the supplier was stupid enough to mix up the order from 4 cases to 4 pints. Well, obviously we could not make strawberry with 4 strawberries for each student. So we had to change from strawberries to mixed fruit cake. Come to think of it, this is really a testomony for me to experience the amazing work God did for me.

As I said, I was disappointed on my mixed fruit cake I made on Saturday. There were some steps I did not do them right and something was missing but I did not know then. And tonight I realized what I did wrong and more importantly learn some tricks for making a beautiful fresh cream cake. This is the cake God gave me as an encouragement. I have gained back my confidence and learnt the importance of failure. Failure is the assistant to success.

Father, you are the BEST!! Amen.

A day worth to remember

Have you made a birthday cake for someone? I just did that yesterday. It was such an excellent experience to me. Am I am expert in cakes? Of course not, but I started to like it. It is because I have satisfactions from seeing the result and people's happiness and appreciation. I also learn a lot from many failures.

Just like yesterday, it took me the whole day to get all the ingredients and make the cake. Is the cake so fancy and complicated to make? Not at all. But for me who had never made a cake before...it was a big challenge. The hardest part was to follow each step carefully and accurately. I made several mistakes, some of them could be recovered but some could not. But in the process of making, I had joy. I really enjoyed seeing the outcome of mixing different ingredients together and applying different techniques to it. It was an interesting feeling. The most amazing moment was of course seeing the beautiful cake came out from the oven. It was full of satisfaction and joy.

I find that the process of making a cake (or cooking in general) can be comparable to being a christian and following Jesus. In order to be succesful, we have to study the recipe (Bible). We will have failures (sins, temptations, etc...), and yet, we learn a lesson from each failure and try not to repeat the same mistake again. Sometimes, we get hurts but in Jesus, we will get healed (bandage). Satisfactions are from God's love to us and His name can be glorified. Two most important elements in these 2 process are: companions and love. Cooking together with someone is much joyful than alone, same as a spiritual companion in walking God's way. Here I would like to give thanks to my friend, Mr. Lee and his father. They were a great help of me. Love is the most important element in making a delicious cake. Love is also the greatest command from Jesus. And Jesus' love never fails. I hope my love to people around me would never fail as well. Unless I make each cake with love, or I will not be able to make a delicious one.

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me this chance to serve my family, especially my niece. Next month, I wil be serving some other people. May you be with me and guide me. Amen.

Praise the Lord, almight God!

One more chance for me to praise my Lord. He is the greatest for He loves me and heals me. This problem had been bothering me for over a year. It seemed that I could find no way to solve. With my faith and prayers, I trust that God would help me. And he never fails me. It is so real and true. I am telling you because I am experiencing it. My problem has just been solve at the perfect timing.

My dear God, no words can describe my feeling right now. It is unbelieveble. Although I do not deserve His grace, He always loves me and gives me what I need.

Have you experienced this greatest love? Do you want to?