Brain Food : Giant Killers

No person ever achieved greatness without facing a giant obstacles. 

________________________________________________

I've been attending a training called the Million Leaders Mandate managed by this group called Equip. Equip started with Dr. John C. Maxwell vision of equipping leaders to impact the world for Christ. The Million Leaders Mandate became a global initiative to develop one million international Christian leaders by 2008. By God's grace, they have exceeded way beyond that goal. 

What pushed me to attend this training was the fact that Dr. John C Maxwell is a well-known management guru and coming from a training background, I know that training like these cost a bomb!! But guess what, Million Leaders Mandate training's are given free... FREE!!! A group of people who have benefited from these training are now training other people. 

Basically what I learn is Dr. John C Maxwell super-duper managements and leadership skills converted into simple, biblical perspective. Or in other words, leadership skills from the bible. There are 6 books in total and each book have 6 lessons. Twice a month, I attend classes and I am currently at Book 4. 

It's been a good journey and I'll try to record things that I've learned along the way so that you guys can learn too :)

i scored..

love this :)

Source: tumblr.com via Esther on Pinterest

Snapshot : Sunset at Romantic Bay, Perhentian Island, Malaysia

Eating in Shenzhen

Go where the local goes. That's what we try to do every time we visit a new place. When we were in Shenzhen, we came upon a restaurant that seem quite popular. According to Rockstar, its cheap and good and locals love it. Since it was already full house, we had to walk a few doors away to their extension outlet located on the 2nd floor in a shady looking area. Since we were not very hungry, we decided to share. 

We ordered the char siew rice set which turned out really yummy. The meat was soft and juicy. Rice was kinda dry. RMB28

We ordered fried rice. I like chinese fried rice. Its normally never goes wrong. RMB20

We ordered goose. Absolutely delish. Just the thing on a cold wet night. Crispy goose skin with perfectly cooked flesh,soaked in oily juice and laid upon crunchy peanuts.. 

I can't remember the name of the shop but the logo was kinda like a white thing with a yellow star inside :)

________________________________

On our last day, we walked to one of the malls in Shenzhen whose name I also can't remember *that's what happens when you blog 8 months after*. Since I also can't recall the name of the cafe or how much we paid, I'm just going to post up pictures *failed blogger*. I only remembered that they had a cool looking laptop-like menu and the soft shell crab was yummy :)

Absolutely failed. Sorry peeps. 

Lesson learned. Blog faster!!!

little town of Kemaman

Every time my family drive up East Coast, we are sure to stop by at this little town of Kemaman for its famous coffee shop... 

Kedai Kopi Hai Peng have been around for generations ages and even though I wish I could tell you more of its history... I really can't because I go there for the food... and nothing but the food... and drinks :)

We were there kinda late this time and most of the good stuff were already gone.... boohoo. If you are there for the first time, just look for a jumble of tables piled high with all sorts of delicacies and goodies. Its located in front of the cash counter where the dragon lady of the shop perch :) 

Take whatever catches you eyes... or tastebuds and look for a table to sit. Sharing tables are allowed. *Its a small town. People there are not monsters*

If you are up for a nice, hot, kaya-butter-oozing-out bun/s, just place your order with the nice foreign waiter. 

kopi = coffee

A must try at almost every old-fashion kopi shop is their hard-boiled eggs. My dad always say that the skill of a kopitiam owner is by the right level of half-boilness of their eggs.. Pour too hot water, it'll turn too hard. Keep it soaking a bit too short and it'll be too uncooked. Not too hard, not too soft, just perfectly right. 

I miss the old-fashion cups they used to serve us with. Now, it comes in plastic sealed cups :( effect of modernization..

Crowds early in the afternoon..

I like Kemaman. Not just for its quaint littke town feel, or its food but also for its cheap shopping. I almost bought 2 super cheap, cape-like bright green and sea blue kaftans... but had to let it go when there were stains on them :(

If you ever have the time, take a slow drive up the coastal road on the East Coast. Its peaceful, its calming, its beautiful. You can stop by the road for a drink of tuak, or a coconut, or walk along the sandy beaches, or visit the pasar malam.. so many interesting things to see and do :)

Surprise birthday!!!

One of the cons of working alone is that I got no colleagues to celebrate with me *sob*sob*

This year was kinda quiet. As mentioned earlier I was away on a diving trip in Perhentian Island. 

And then, I had a SURPRISE PARTY!!!

My totally awesome and fantastic friends pulled together everything without me knowing anything. 

I had absolutely no clue. If not, I would have dressed up a little, comb my hair, and look more like a birthday girl then a drown rat. lol.. 

Thank you to everyone who made this happened and especially to Rockstar who didn't have a chance to celebrate with me. Next year k? :)

I got lots of lovely gifts from both friends and family.. I got a stripe bag, pink sequin jewelry box, rose hand cream, turquoise earrings, a book, ang pow, more ang pow and a new handphone - Samsung Galaxy W...

*edited*And an amazing, skinny jeans which makes me look skinnier from my awesome twinnie, Lydia.

I showed the book to Rockstar and he burst out laughing... at the book, not the model.. 

pfftt..

-_-

We can cook!!

Hey everyone. Sorry for the long absence. Stupid unifi was down again last night and I was away diving entire last week and didn't realize there was limited internet. Anyhow, it was a good 6 days.. away from technology.. away from stress :)

Since I'm still feeling the effect of the long holiday, I am just going to post up lots of pictures. The Saturday before I left, I had a brilliant idea to organize a cooking competition for the members - since the daily programme is kinda boring. And they did surprise me... with their creativity and erm... yeah, that's about it. Thank God I survived their cooking. Check the pictures out to see what I mean...

Camping style cooking with mess tin, stove & solid fuel...

  

  

Dish 1 by Juniors - Baked Fried Rice

Dish 2 - Korean Food

Dish 3 - Burger

Dish 4  - Spaghetti

Dish 5 - Pasta

Dish 6 - Baked Rice + Baked Beans

Dish 7 - Pineapple Fried Rice

Dish 8  - Rice with Salad & Tomato + Egg dish. Dessert - Apple Crumble. 

Dish 9 - Tomato Rice with Mushroom, Raisins, Sardin and Corn. 

Best camp food ever...

Dish 10 - Pasta + Mushroom Soup

Looking at the dishes, you'll never imagine that it was all cooked via a small stove, mess tins and solid fuel right? At least most of them did. Some cheated and cooked part portion at home. 

My verdict? 

Camp methods - 2/10 (None of them consider the wind direction, the kitchen space, etc..)

Creativity - 8/10

Preparing & Planning - 5/10 (Quite a number did not plan in advance and forgot chopping board, knife, ladles, etc...)

Food taste - 8/10 (Ok la. Better then I expected)

Budgeting - 2/10 (Most of them underused the budget allocated and did not cooked enough for the entire squad)

Cleanliness & Hygiene - 3/10 (At least I didn't get stomach ache)

Fun - 10/10 :)

Winner? The one with the apple crumble.. Dish 8. Why? They had apple crumble!!! Lol... Nah, they cooked everything from scratch. Even the apple crumble. They planned well. They budgeted well. They were creative. Their preparation methods were clean. Their kitchen space was well planned and clean. Very hygienic. And to top that, their food was delicious. Especially the apple crumble... seriously!!!

All in all, it was a good event. They all had fun and we officers did too. At least now I know that our members got skill :) Although I can't say the same if we go camping out in the jungle. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIEEE!!!

p.s. All photos was taken with my Samsung Galaxy W.

26 to 27

How time flies. I've been a fiance for 6 months and will be a wife in exactly 4 months!!! And as scary as it sounds, I'm kinda looking forward to the next part of life. Its like you don't wanna grow old, yet want to see what life has to offer... and I am thankful that I am where I am today.. living, breathing, enjoying life :)

And I know, I have not display a single shoot of my absolutely gorgeous engagement ring yet.. due to the fact that there wasn't a camera good enough to capture the brilliance of the stone. But just the other day, I was at KLIA waiting for Rockstar to touch down and waste my time fiddling with my camera and ring and the setting sun... 

And even though I still did not manged to capture the gorgeous colour of the ruby... I better satisfy the hinting of some friends who have not seen it and been pestering me to post it up.. 

Isn't it gorgeous?

...and now that the clock just stuck 12 midnight, I am proud to say that I just turned 27 !! Its been an amazing journey for the past 26 years and I am praying that 27 will be an awesome age to be :) 

Thank you Jesus for pouring down your abundant blessings and thank you everyone for loving the imperfect me!!