Is God still on the throne?

some thoughts that have come to me during this incredibly worrying times: [you can look up the references yourselves!] 

-My grace is sufficient for you, My strength made perfect in your weakness

-to live is Christ, to die is gain - Paul

-"Don't be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

-Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.

-Psalm 130: 7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption.
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The Lord is the only One who sustains us. If He allows bad things to happen, we just have to keep trusting that He is good. This passage below to me, just really reflects the heart of God for us:

Isaiah 61 King James Version (KJV)

61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

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We don't fully understand God's ways but we have seen in so many examples how God uses wickedness/the wicked to accomplish His plans, like how when Jesus was crucified, it appeared that wickedness had won the day and the disciples felt that they'd lost all hope.... but in fact it was a triumph for God's purposes! He is still on the throne, He is in control, and not an ounce of wickedness can occur without His allowing it. And since we know He's good, we can trust that His allowing of wickedness is not for no reason. This tells me we needn't fear wickedness or the wicked, but fear Him. This life is not all there is, and death is but a comma on the page, not a full stop. We have hope for that because of Christ's resurrection from the dead. 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Prov 9:10

"The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure."- Jesus

                         

foodie tour

I love Korean - so we never pass up the opportunity to visit Oriental Spoon on Melbourne's La Trobe street.

 The beef soup with rice and kimchi is always always a satisfyingly good choice especially on a chilly day.

 this bento lunchtime special at just $11 is a very good deal - that's a LOT of stuff covering the rice underneath!

At the Target Centre in Chinatown there's BBQ Junction which offers a very good yongtaufoo [below] with noodles in curry laksa soup [$11]- ironically, none of these items were barbecued....
There's the option for the usual clear soup or a tomyam but curry laksa will always be the most indulgent, tummy warming option!

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Back in Tassie, we recently visited Duc's in Sandy Bay [next to Solo pizza] for the hubby's birthday. When the chef heard it was his birthday, he sent out a free dish! [which happened to be the BEST dish we had that day] 

Below, the claypot pork belly which had excellent flavour with a fragrant broth, perfect to drench your rice in. 

 The mapo diced chicken breast was a tasty, slightly spicy dish which we liked as well.

 And the star of the meal - the garlic and chilli stir fried long beans, which had just the right crunch and fragrant wok fried spiciness. I could have this everyday!

 It was my first time eating there, but I don't think it will be my last. Everything is priced quite reasonably as well, around $12 per person for a nice, hot cooked to order Asian meal. There are individual noodle/rice dishes for those who prefer Western type individualist dining, or you could order dishes and plain rice to share, like we did, asian-style. Service is excellent and there's lots of parking at the Woolies across the road.

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This is the lunch special at Arirang on Elizabeth Street, Hobart. 

The spicy stir fried pork, $10 is exactly that - tasty thin strips of pork and onions served with rice.

 The seafood and tofu soup [$10] with vegetables was good too - with a bean paste flavour. My only regret was not ordering kimchi to go with these items [as I thought it would be included with the set, after all...which self respecting Korean would have a meal without it? but as it turns out, it's an extra $1.50 a serve!].

Service was excellent, and there's free flow of Korean brown rice tea on the house. It's slightly sweet and very refreshing. 

christmas, new year's, and in betweens

Ever tried making fried rice with curry powder? 

 it turned out okay...but not as curry-ish as i'd have liked. perhaps I'll add more next time.

 part of our Christmas spread included beef tongue, beef silverside and roast turkey

 and a trifle!

 here's my plate piled high

 One of the most beautiful christmas hams I've ever seen............

and pavlova for dessert!

Jesus describes His true family

Mark 3 : 31 - 35 is really interesting to me right now, as I ponder why some Christians believe we should keep ourselves within our own religious organisations when it comes to building strong relationships. To the extent of de-emphasizing our existing r'ships with other believers who're not in our organisation.

Logically, it doesn't make sense as we're all in the same family of God [as believers], and in heaven...we're gonna continue being in the same family for eternity! I hope God doesn't segregate us in heaven... like a section for each local church, and telling us not to mingle!

Anyway. Jesus says in v 35 that "whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

How should we treat others within the family of God then?

I take comfort in the knowledge that God knows our hearts, and if we yield to Him, and ask of Him, He will surely speak to us and give us His wisdom. [James 1:5]

30 minute meal

 I didn't need a Jamie Oliver book to come up with a 30 minute meal - most of our dinners take under 30 minutes to prepare anyway!
This one was so convenient as we used some freezer ingredients.

Tomato and scrambled egg chinese style - just cook up the tomatoes till they turn to mush and add some tomato sauce, chilli sauce and soy sauce! then mix them with some scrambled eggs.

Miso soup - from a packet, just add hot water!

Spicy chicken slices - from a frozen Steggles packet! hehe. the hot and spicy ones are the best!

Stir fried shrimp and snow peas with garlic and oyster sauce.

Melb CBD

Melbourne's become our new "malaysia" - a place for great food and shopping! and meeting old friends.

Above, the bulgogi at By Korea on La Trobe street. It was excellent of course. We paid something like $15.90 per serving [the minimum order is 2 servings though] Ambiance was nice for conversation as it was relatively quiet, and the waitress was sweet although I wasn't used to the non-eyecontact thing having lived in Tassie for awhile now. I'd forgotten what it was like being served by Asians -where making eye-contact is not a requisite to portraying polite-ness. But yeah, it felt a bit weird because we couldn't even smile or say thank you and ackowledging them whenever we were served something because they just wouldn't make eye contact! it's not meant to be rude though. it's just cultural I guess. It's the same with cashier chit-chat - it's just not done in asian cultures!

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Le Triskel in Hardware Lane is a nice cozy little cafe. We were there in the morning and there weren't too many people so it was nice and relaxing. Below, a mushroom and cheese galette, very nice. 

 and, a ham and egg one - also delicious. They were both yummy and filling -perfect for a lazy breakfast.

 Couldn't resist ordering dessert as well - below, the salted caramel crepe which was lovely as well.

On recommendation by a friend, we also went to Oriental Spoon on La Trobe st, which we noticed were always chockers full of customers no matter what time we went by!
We weren't disappointed. the wait staff were very efficient and we never had to wait for long. The lunch specials were surprisingly quite good value!
below, the Galbi Tang [pork rib soup] turned out to be the best pork soup we've ever had, was only $11! It came with a side of kimchi and chilli paste, and rice of course. I was a bit disappointed that there was only 1 side dish, but well, for $11 i guess we can't complain!

 We returned later that night for dinner and had the gamja tang [pork bone and potato soup] below, which came with 3 side dishes of kimchi, spicy eggplant and lightly cooked beansprouts.
 Actually I was hoping for the usual 9 side dishes we used to have in malaysia... ! is that just not done here?

It was nice but not as nice as the afternoon's galbi tang. One thing I wish they could do is make the portions smaller and cheaper - that way we could try more menu items. One serving of the spicy fried chicken is like...a whole chicken's worth! and $33! That just doesn't work when you only have 2 people dining together. It's the same with the bulgogi with the requisite minimum 2 serving rule - even if there're 2 of us, would've been nicer to have been able to just order 1 serving to share, and try other things. Anyway, we'd definitely return to try the other items if we ever had the chance to in future.

spaghetti and meatballs

I was in the mood for something American lately, after reading a few american fiction novels! there's something about reading about a certain food that makes you want to cook it. except if it's from Enid Blyton.... the food she describes in her books don't sound at all appealing... hard boiled eggs with cucumbers, raw tomato, rock cakes and... potted meat? no thanks! [not to mention cold chicken, cold sausages and bear tarts....]

what's the difference between spag bol and spaghetti and meatballs? wouldn't they taste the same? I always thought so, but now I think that the fact that the meat's rolled up into a ball  gives it a different texture and mouthfeel that adds to the experience. So, I'd say this is an improved spag bol. 

Just cook it the same way you would a spag bol, but instead of browning the mince, you mix it with an egg, breadcrumbs and any seasonings you like such as grated parmesan, salt, pepper, oregano, basil and minced garlic. I think I added paprika and garlic powder to mine! Roll them into balls and simmer them in the tomato sauce until cooked. 

Serve with extra grated parmesan on top.

to make it healthier, add chopped capsicum, grated carrot, peas, green beans or even spinach to the tomato sauce!