Happy Tiger year:)

Sorry for this procrastination of updating my bloggie..Been quite busy with work recently PLUS it's CNY, surely there were MORE celebrations than usual:) In another words...MORE glorious food to eat...a season to grow horizontally i guess:P oh wells...once a year onlybaaa...DIET plan..forget it for now:P

CNY 1sr day..CHINATOWN celebration..Jam packed wei..Ang mohs really enjoyed seeing lion dance and eating CHINESE food( to be honest, all the food price were hiked up!) oh wells, talking bout the Chinese brains to make business!

Church had a CNY dinner, so we as waiters:) Goodie Chinese food..char siew, beef belly, dumplings, chicken curry~
Gab's CNY party...the food..CMI(cannot make it) at all! We just asked for sweet n sour chicken and it came out..BLUNT:( and even the dessert was..PANCAKE! !!??? how to fit in CNY picture?!

but deco was nice:) with red packets, chopsticks and fortune cookies! PLUS chrysanthemum tea for our drinks..nice~

started playing netball again...not fit anymore Angie! really need to train up some stamina..PLUS my shooting skills ar..wahlau..i think i missed SOOoo many shots and let my team down! arhHhhHg..why lar..WHY! But it's been good, starting exercising again, even though WHOLE body ache after the game!

ANDdd biggie THANKs to Jessica for this lovely surprise!
seee this..i'm still impressed:P

dahlah it's Hello Kitty! When i first open this package, i tot Jess sent me a water bottle..fine, i surely love it since it's Pink:)
then when i pulled it OPEN, it's actually a brolly:)!!!! Cute-nyer~
then then this cute lil keychain..DUN LOOK DOWN on it! the surprise of this is..IT SMELLS just like a REAL BUN! DAMMnnnN GOOD! dahlah i love bread, now i can smell it ALL THE TIME...Geng-ness! Bravo to those who created such canggih stuff in HongKong!
and my REDdy+ CNY+ Valentine's bento challenge:)

(description: a Haribo ring, lying in the pepper box filled with pakora chicken and...tomatoes eyes on roast potato:P)

that's about for now..need to get back to work!

just some insight of my next post::

Weekend @ Dundee with the IMU gang:) superbly GOOD FOOD!

we were really blessed to have these Dundonians as our host. They were AWESOME. They should be awarded with the BEST 'non-stop FEEDING guests' host! will talk bout it more, see how excited we were!
ANDDD FINALLY! my PRESSIES arrived safely from NEW YORK! rmb my Bento contest i won! what a BIG box i've got. Allrighty, will share bout these goodies in my next post. WAIT~

i'm tired.

rest..love:)

wasSup doc:

Jesus said 'come to me, all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.'

-Matthew 11:28-

Hola~

Should have written it so much earlier but due to some circumstances...here it is..

Allrighty..think i'm just gonna summarise some highlights there. .it'll be taking too much of my time to write down my whole itinery here:P Sorry ar...i need TIME to study my BRAIN..argh..why human BRAINs are so complicated..oh wells, God created it, i will ask Him when i see Him:)

de TOURISTs:) Stephie, AiAi, Lily, Lilian, Angie, Eugene and Troy!

::of Places::

Gaudi's majestic design..Sagrada Familia

1992 Olympic Barcelona stadium!the breathless US...had to walk up SUPER steep and FAR way to find..
Montjuic Castle! we shud hv taken the cable car up!!! we were so embarrased when only these CHINESE people, walked out from the bushes..a.k.a the DORSAL way..haih!inside Monjuitc Castle
FC Barca!!!!~~~ too bad for the boys, it was close when we went..didnt get to go for the tour..the BEACH! our Tour guide!

banyak stones!

my favourite SPOT! called the Guell Park. It's a park on the hill, overlooking the whole Barcelona! Gaudi designed the whole park with his distinct colourful sculptures..just like those behind, gingerbread houses:) there are many other parts of the park, well design and very beautiful as well! Lurve this park MOST! Felt like i'm in Alice in Wonderland..the 'MUST POSE WITH' creature outside Park Guell coz it's featured in Lonely Planet..muakakaka
outside Catalan Archeological Museum
Inside...phew!
Gaudi's Casa Batllo..actually got story behind these building..like why he designed this way and all, but I cant rmb anymore:(
another Gaudi's Casa! beautiful building:)

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::of Food::

nyum nyum nyum...Spanish food..i like generally!

found this small lil shop one day and the saefood paella was REALLY good:) hidden treasure..see the king prawnS..

This was my FAVOURITE food stall of all..it's in La Ramblas...the busiest, most lively street of the city! HIGHly recommended by the 'Lonely Planet' We waited like 45mins for a place to sit! Let's see wat they served:)it's just a food stall selling FRESH seafood of all kinds! mixed seafoodsquidGrilled salmon

All were so fresh and mouth watering. Though they're quite pricey but if u share..it's quite worth while!

FRESH fruit juices @ La Ramblas

Pastries in Barcelona were super attractive and mouth watering! We would stop by any pastry shop and buy one just for tasting:) That's the benefit of coming with a big group..sharing is caring~our favourite tapas( appetizers in Spanish) Fried whitebait!:):):)Monkfish stew with king prawns..my new year dish. Highly recommended by 'Lonely Planet' oh..SUPERbly yummy! only @ AguT:) go go try k..

Sangria..Spanish wine..erm..taste quite fruity..but FULL OF WINE!

and not to forget, our home packed sandwich Lunch with ham:) we're just students, and thus it's always a budget holiday...nyum:) looked very pathetic sitting along a longkang hor..but naa...let's see wat our view was:Poverview of the whole breathtaking Barca view! But the angmohs found us weird sitting there eating our sandwich. Some even took out their camera and take picture of us, this Chinese bunch eating along the drain..muakkakak:P

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::of random pics::water fountain is everywhere in Barca..thus free drinks for us always:) wanted to find the one DaoMingShi and Sanchai used in Meteor Garden II, but we couldnt find it:( will we come back again after drinking this water?
If u could rmb, i had a pic posing with the RED postbox in Belgium, so this time, it's YELLOW postbox..send me home for CNY~
Steph said must take pic under the sun..just wanna show how sunny n good the weather was when we were there!:))
and us @ apartment, after whole day of jalan-jalan...tired sial at the end of the day! and Lily our accountant would be counting our daily expenditure, making sure all of us dun overbudget:P Good job huh:)

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:: of Prayer WORRIORs::I must say this trip was really under God' protection all the time! I'm grateful to have these brothers n sisters in Christ with me, travelling to this 'pickpockets' manifested country. Every night, no matter how exhausted we are, we would still sit together and reflect back how God has protected/ been faithful to us each day. Then we would pray together, for a sunny weather, for protection and for our plannings to go accordingly. God's presence was greatly felt throughout this trip and we, 4 felt, it's definitely by God's grace.

First up, we were very blessed to hv such sunny weather. B4 we went, it was forecasted to be quite cold and might rain..but throughout our 5days 4night, it only drizzled once at night. Otherwise, the scorching sun was always there, which allowed us to be outdoor more, and capture pictures without the gloomy weather! Even Steph was asking us not to pray too hard for HEAT dy coz it's too HOT..muakakkakak

Everybody knows Barcelona is famous for it's pickpockets. We were warned by our friends way earlier b4 we went, out of 10 groups who visited Barca..9 groups would have encounter this sort of incident! So just b4 the day we were about to leave, Troy was mugged by a group of professionals pickpockets! They swiftly went into the train from different entrance and within seconds, the whole gang surrounded Troy and forced their hands into his pocket, wanting to grabhold of his wallet! It was as though they're going to bash him up because Troy was reluctant to give..Thank God, Troy was calm enough and forced his way out from the train without any loss...All of us were traumatised after this incident. Even Troy testified that he wouldnt know wat to do if it wasn't God wih him....Thank God, the door of the train close few minutes later so that Troy could escape the misery, thank God, this unfortunate thing happened at the last night just b4 we left, Thank God, all of us are safely home in one piece. Thank God, that He listens to our prayers:)

so yup, if God is with us, WHO can be against us?

WHO DARE TO COME NEAR US?!??!? :P

It was surely a fun filled, exciting plus adrenaline rush holiday. Things would not be the same if it wasn't God with us:)

wasSup Doc: NO place is more secure than to be in God's hand...

Thanks to Him!

AM jumping with joy now...words cant describe how excited and happy I AM after knowing I WON the contest! Out of 74 entries...the random integar generator picked one of my NUMBER!
See the my winning post here by BentoZen

Honestly, all praises and glory must go to God! It is He who made this impossible POSSIBLE!
Let me share with u why i say so...

As all have known, Angie has been crazy over bento! I could spend HOURs and HOURs just looking through all the bento pics available and try to learn some tips from these bloggers on how to make my bento lunch more interesting.

So this fine afternoon came, as I was googling all bento blogs online AGAIN, i came across BentoZen's post about this vacation contest! Just randomly i must say( God's guidance #1)....and the tricky part of this competition was that u must GUESS where she is going for her holiday before being qualified to participate in the draw for the GRAND PRIZE! So how to guess?? She would drops some clues on and off on her twitter and by gathering this clues, send her your guess through email and she would tell you whether you got it correct or not! I could only send 2 guesses one day, on top of that, before sendin the GUESS in, I was required to send in pics of the bento boxes I've made as well! Allrighty, which means i must make bentoS in order to participate!


So..am DETERMINEd..just give it a try then..no harm right, and since i'm just the beginner, no matter wat prizes come along, I dun mind, they ARE ALL ATTRACTIVE to me, because i need those accesories EAGERLY! I cant afford to buy any in UK coz they're WAY too expensive and making bento is actually a way of saving $$$ for me..


Allrighty, no doubt my public knowledge is not as good, sent in the first and 2nd guesses..I've got no reply, means didnt got the location right! *disappointed* but am not giving up yet! Tried googling as much as i could with the clues given, but na...cant get anything right! Then i decided to seek help from friends thru..FACEBOOK! (God's guidance #2 coz i seldom post up question as such)After posted some clues there, suggestions of answers flew in one after another!
And God sent this friend, Fabien to give me THE correct answer! I could still rmb vividly how he insisted it's ICELAND the place the blogger is going by the mere 3 clues i gave! Click here to see wat he has said on my FB wallpost! And to my surprise...THE ANSWER IS CORRECT btw, ICELAND has never come across my mind, but my instint just asked me to try!!!!! (God's blessing #3)
phew...now i'm FINALLY qualified to the draw! And to make the chance of me winning, i must now submit 2 entries of bento EVERYDAY till the dateline! Faithfully i made bento everyday and sent in my entries:) Lilttle did i know, my effort PAID off!

When i received the email from BentoZen saying i've got the correct answer, i somehow had this feeling it's God's blessing upon me. It's Him who gave me the correct answer, he is the one picking the number from the draw and NOW He is the one who blesses me with the pressies. I guess He understands my situation most for now. I wanted eagerly for those bento stuff, searching online HOURS to get the best deals and kept pestering my sis back home to buy me MORE bento accessories. Then come the result day..which is today!!! I rmb telling Him once i really wanna win this, and if it's in His will, let me win this..and true enough..I WON There is no other ways i could have won this if it's wasn't HIM making the impossible POSSIBLE!
The chances i've got to win this was very narrow because there were SOooo many participants all over the world who took part in this, and still, a beginner like me could win it all!

So, really~ nothing is impossible for Him who is able!

But just yesterday, as i was doing my quiet time, He spoke to me, asking me not to be distracted with things that can draw our attention away from spending time with God. It's a wake up call for me coz i think i've been too indulged in this hobby and neglected other things around me. Like spending time with God's people or even time with my Father in heaven. I will continue making bento definitely, but i shall set my priority right at the same time:) I must remember, in every deeds or action, the ultimate glory belongs to Him! TQ God!

SooOo..wat i have won? A few bento boxes:) some candies, Chopsticks, some bento accessories and 50 background deco papers! I shall post them up WHEN they arrive k:)

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and today's Red Challenge bento is THIS:)

Hearts with Red dots on my chicken ham Granny baton, Red strawberry and also Red cabbage!

nyum nyum~ lunchie:)

wasSup doc: Hold tightly what is eternal, but loosely to what is temporal..

the RED challenge:)

Since bento sets here are REALLY expensive, i hv to resort to this..entering as many competitions as possible to TRY MY LUCK. The previous challenge is OVER and the draw is TONIGHT! arghh...* i wan win smth, just SMTH will do *

there is only one winner actually coz there is only ONE draw..

the next challenge is organised by HapaBento, with RED as the theme..called the B.O.M.B challenge...why? "Red represents HEART for American Heart Awareness month, Red for Valentine's Day and Red for the lucky ang pow u get for CNY:)"

so my challenge this week around is REDdy Red RED:) my breakfast with RED HEARTs! Red tomatoes, Red grapes!
oh..not to forget my Haribo bear bear gave his heart to U!
and my HEART shaped kiwi:)

loving RED this week..:P

loving God more..

wasSup Doc: God sent His only begotten son, to die on the cross for us..His blood has shed for our sins...Red indicates His blood, His love for u and me.