What I did today (the day after)

100 - I realise that the reason I can't sleep is because I'm worried about exams. Get up and study for another 45 minutes, covering Jurisdiction in Contract and Delictual Cases. Head back to sleep.

800 - My personal alarm wakes me up. I snooze her =P

830 - Get up for real after the alarm wakes me up again. She's irrepressible, thank God.

930 - Prepare to skate to uni. Realise with relief that there's less ice today. Walk instead.

1005 - European Legal History Tutorial - free mince pies given by Dr Finlay. Feel slightly more relaxed about the upcoming exam (not due to the pies).

1100 - After the tutorial, I head to the library for some more IPL - this time covering choice of law in marriage (after checking sports news)

1305 - Jurisprudence tutorial. If you're wondering why I'm always late to classes, it's because unlike in Perth, classes start at 5 past and end 5 before the hour.

1335 - Tutorial finishes early as some ppl didn't make it to give their presentations. I face a tough decision: do I gym or do I study? Common sense unfortunately takes a back seat and I begin the walk to the Stevenson Building (Gym). Meet Mutinko (find out, amongst other things that he has a cousin in Perth and that he's a Christian).

1530 - Leave gym. Didn't really work out that hard today. Did the chin-ups, shoulder, chest, triceps and biceps. But didn't really feel 'in' today. Was grappling with a headache (and residual soreness from the night before). So... hmm maybe I've hit diminishing returns.

In response to Kristine:

• Time spent in gym today: 100 minutes
  
• Time spent studying thus far: 90 minutes.

1600 - Grab some afternoon tea - fixed a bacon and cheese omelette. Egg tally for the day: 3. Proceed to complete MLH Essay =)

1800 - Head to cell, guitar in tow. Slightly more slippery this time. Arrive, and practice for worship with Rachel (our budding pianist). She's come on leaps and bounds. Last week was only her first time, and today the improvement was tangible. Awesome for a girl who doesn't have a piano to practice on.

Songs for the day:

• All who are thirsty (G) - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oCwDtSFMjdw&feature=related
• You are my world (G) - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gX36X1lTjiw
  
• In Christ Alone (C) - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dDCdGPJQ-hM

Got piano, will play

1900: Have dinner (we all take turns to cook). This week it was Wei Yao's turn. On the menu: spaghetti and Ikea meatballs - not bad, except that I'd had spaghetti twice in the last 3 days. Needless to say, I didn't take the leftovers.

My poser of a cell leader =)

1930: Cell starts... no need to say much la. It was another good meeting =).

Gordon first got our thoughts re the semester just gone by and shared re future plans. We discussed what a church we would want to go to would look like:

And no - i wasn't the one who suggested 'good looking ppl' [Jason]

Wei Yao then shared from Mark 4:26-7. Turns out the passage isn't just evangelistically-focused. The seed is also God's word in our hearts. The first chapter of the gospel of John describes the word as made flesh. In other words - Jesus is that seed in our hearts.

As Wei Yao was sharing, I realised something. Seeds need to be buried underground, in the darkness, under pressure from the surrounding soil to grow. To grow, they must fight gravity and head towards the sun. I realise that that's kind of like us. God gives us a word/promise, and often life will bury us straight after. It's so easy to crumble under that pressure.

The thing is, without pressure, there can be no growth. Eg gymming - muscle growth is impossible without some form of resistance. In any case, there's life even in that dark. Jesus lives inside us. And the promise from this passage is that even if we don't know it (for whether the farmer sleeps or gets up), we're growing as long as He's with us.

Pastor Gordon (the white guy figuring out his moble) and Caleb

This was Jason's last cell with us as he heads back to Sg on Saturday. Unfortunately I can't catch up with him there as he returns to Glasgow on the 6th. Will miss you mate. Take care and I hope next sem is better for you =)

He needs a haircut more than I do =P

2230: Wei Yao sends me and Rachel back. There ends another great day in Glasgow =)

The Stew

Remember the stew I was making yesterday while waiting for the pork to cook?
Turned out pretty good =). Had a bit of a disaster boiling rice though, so had to fry some bread instead - I need to work out how to make rice properly.

Stew ingredients: some beef (preferably cuts meant for braising/stewing), carrots, spring onion, garlic, tomato, onion, soy sauce, sugar and plenty of pepper. Can't give the exact recipe, because I realise I'm turning into an agak-agak cook =P

But I cant really complain about today's meal. Another satisfied customer =)
Was in Matthews - a Chinese grocer in a less well-known part of Glasgow. While doing some shopping, came across this. Doesn't taste that good unfortunately (was feeling a tad homesick)
Lest you think that all i do is cook - well to be honest, until I left Perth I never really had the time to do it, what with ministry, work and study. But food is something I'm passionate about, along with photography.

In case you don't know, I was really into photography in high school, but I just let it fade (quite sad actually that most of us give up something we're passionate about when we enter adulthood). I'm slowly getting back into it though. I'm looking towards getting a new camera over the next few days. My current one just doesn't have the functionality I need. Given Glasgow is quite gloomy, the lighting is pretty bad and the camera doesn't have quite enough settings to tweak. Ahh well - here come's the shopping bug!

Cooking

One of the fun parts about living overseas is that you tend to cook often (to save $$$ for traveling around). Breakfasts aside, I've had to cook 2 meals thus far. Why don't breakfasts count? I could cook them with my eyes closed =P. Breakfast is one of those things men should naturally be able to do. Can't be that hard to fry an egg - well actually wait...


So on my first night, I pan-fried some salmon, and stir-fried long beans and garlic (along with some rice). The cooking was going fine, until i reached for some salt to cook the salmon with.






Then I realised that the plastic covering over the salt shaker (it was brand new) was quite tight. Unfortunately, the pan was getting too hot, and I was in a hurry (some other stuff was starting to burn). Rather than taking my time and getting a knife, I tried to rip it off... and successfully got a sea of sea salt over the kitchen.



Other than that though, tasted alright (aside from the soggy rice). I learnt some valuable lessons:

• To pan-fry salmon successfully, it needs to be well lubricated with olive oil and the pan must be flamin' hot.
  
• To get the skin crispy, coat it with salt (hence my accident) prior to frying (stole that idea from Chinese roast pork).
• Most importantly - I should never multitask.

So that was the first night. Tonight I felt more adventurous and attempted dad's signature pork dish: pork belly with sweet ginger and garlic sauce. Basically involves a nice long simmer of the sliced pork belly with sugar, kicap hitam and the rest of the ingredients. Easy - but takes time and you have to make sure the pork's cooked. Came out good (if I say so myself).


So while it was simmering, I figured I'd make a beef stew. Let's hope it turns out alright - it's still cooking away now. Note to self: add some flour tomorrow to thicken. Also, buy some herbs.