Mooncakes at Mid-Autumn

Piglet

Goldfish and Carp

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Han calendar—essentially the night of a full moon—which falls near the Autumnal Equinox (on a day between September 8 and October 7 in the Gregorian calendar).

During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD) and the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912 AD), the Mid-Autumn Festival was as popular as Chinese New Year.

Dough & Filling

The tradition of eating mooncakes during the festival began in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), a dynasty ruled by the Mongols.

Snow skin

Snow skin

Salted eggyolk

United Buddy Bears

Visited an exhibition featuring United Buddy Bears at Esplanade, Penang.  Of the 146 bears from Berlin in Germany, 140 represent countries in the United Nations while six are general ones.

The bears have been exhibited since 2002 and travelled to five continents covering cities such as Astana, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Havana, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Montevideo, New Delhi, Paris, Pyongyang, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, St. Petersburg, Sydney Tokyo, Vienna and Warsaw  to promote tolerance and understanding.

It was last exhibited at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur in 2011.

God did not promise days without pain

Pain is not an indicator of God's wrath, but rather His grace and His mercy.

Suffering is the fertilizer to the roots of the tree of Character bearing fruits of Righteousness to feed the hungry soul of man.  Your fruits are not for you to eat but to be tasted by people.

 

God may use hardship to get us give up a bad habit or learn a new virtue.   He used a thorn in Paul's flesh to teach him about grace (2 Cor.12:7-9).

Dinner at Little Saigon

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Kimchi

Kimchi also spelled kimchee or gimchi, is a national Korean dish consisting of fermented chili peppers and vegetables, usually based on cabbage.  It is suspected that the name kimchi originated from shimchae (salting of vegetable) which went through some phonetic changes: shimchae > dimchae > kimchae >kimchi.

Common ingredients include Chinese cabbage, radish, garlic, red pepper, spring onion, ginger, salt, and sugar.  While kimchi is generally identified internationally as Chinese cabbage fermented with a mixture of red pepper, garlic, ginger, and salted fish sauce, several types of kimchi exists, including regional and seasonal variations.  There are variants, including kkakdugi, based on radish and containing no cabbage.

Kimchi has been cited by Health Magazine as one of the world's five "healthiest foods", with the claim that it is rich in vitamins, aids digestion, and may even prevent cancer.  The health properties of kimchi are due to a variety of factors.  It is usually made with cabbage, onions, and garlic, all of which have well-known health benefits.  It also has active and beneficial bacterial cultures, like yogurt.  Lastly, kimchi contains liberal quantities of red chili peppers (gochugaru) which has been suggested to have health benefits as well.

Seasons of life

This month, two of our church friends' daughters tied the knot, one on the sixth and the other at the end of the month.

It made me think of my two children.  My younger one, just started working about a month ago in Singapore, while the older one have been in the working life for more than 3 years.

We had a taste of the  "empty nest"  in mid 2011 when my daughter left home for further studies in Singapore while my son started work in late 2012.

Seasons come and go, in a continuous cycle.  Each season has its challenges and also its beauty.  The most assuring thing is that the Prince of Peace and Wonderful Counselor is with us all the way, seeing us through the seasons in our life.

Ecclesiastes 3 : 1-2  There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot. (NIV)

Pot Bless Fellowship

What a blessed gathering at Lembah Permai - having a good time fellowship over good spread of home cooked food and in good company of friends.

My peace

The idea of peace in connection with personality is that every power is in perfect working order to the limit of activity. That is what Jesus means when He says "My peace". Never have in mind the idea of jadedness or stagnation in connection with peace.

Health is physical peace, but health is not stagnation; health is the perfection of physical activity. Virtue is moral peace, but virtue is not innocence; virtue is the perfection of moral activity. Holiness is spiritual peace, but holiness is not quietness; holiness is the intensest spiritual activity.

The profound realization of God makes you too unspeakably peaceful to be capable of any self-interest.

John 14:27
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." NKJV
{From PEACE LIFE IN THE SPIRIT - Oswald Chambers}

Living the Good Life or God Life ?

The 'good life' according to the world standard is all about wealth, power and getting what you want, when you want it.  Living the truly good life means living for God.

Life is not always black and white, and while some choice are right and wrong, many are just better or worse.

Parents who refuse to let their children experience failure or sadness give them a false view of the world and do not prepare them for the harsh realities of adult life.

Some Christians expect that the Lord will be the kind of parent who protects them from all sorrow and disappointment.  But our Father in heaven is not like that.  He lovingly allows His children to go through suffering as in Isaiah 43:2 and 1 Thessalonians 3:3.

God's goal is to make us holy, not just happy.  When we face the truth that life is difficult, we can start investing our lives in the pursuit of a good and godly life instead.  The pursuit of holiness occurs daily as we yield ourselves in obedience to the Lord instead of following our old ways of self-gratification.

TO  BE  RICH  IN  GOD  IS  FAR  BETTER  THAN  TO  BE  RICH  IN  GOODS

Hammer Bay - Queensbay

Blessed to a dinner at Hammer Bay Corner, Queensbay by the Cheah's family.