The full armour

I was going through some old photos when I stumbled across this old one of my fiance D. D and I have known each other for more than five years now, and in four of those years, he was deployed to various parts of the world by the US military. I would be lying if I said I wasn't anxious or worried for him. I certainly missed him a lot. Our relationship was rocky in the beginning but God gave us both the same word when we sought Him individually. That He is with us in our relationship, and that He has an awesome purpose for the both of us. All we had to do was seek Him first - and so we did. As the years went by, and he got re-re-re-deployed time and time again, being together with D felt like a losing battle. At the same time, my parents were keen on me pursuing a law degree in the UK, and I wanted to honour their decision. Studying in the US was too expensive for us to afford at that time anyway. So I came to Manchester, completely confused as to why this was the only open door when my boyfriend is American, and my family are in Malaysia and Singapore.

My first year in Manchester was a whirlwind. I didn't know anyone when I arrived, and I didn't know where to begin to establish a network here. I left home when I was 15 to go to boarding school in Singapore - and I made so many firm friends that moving again didn't really make sense.

Then I found a church family here in Manchester with King's Church. In hindsight, I see how God has worked in our lives through our situations. I have been equipped and challenged in King's to mature in God. My testimony is that in King's Church, my relationship with God is closer than ever, and I have got to know amazing brothers and sisters in Christ. We may not always understand why things happen when they happen, but all that matters is that we know God's truth. God's truth is in His word, and it's this truth that we have to stand on:

My God is mighty to save.

My God is the King of King's.

My God loves me with an everlasting and passionate love, regardless of what I have done in my past.

The favour of God is upon me through my faith in Jesus.

My God will never leave me nor forsake me. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

Can you say the above about the person / entity / god in whom you place your faith or trust? Jesus loves you as much as he loves me. In the Bible, we are called to put on the armour of God. The belt of truth, the sandals of peace (an inner peace that transcends all understanding), the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation through Christ today and forever. The truth is, we are on the winning side of a battle against loneliness, low self-esteem, anxiety, poverty, depression, sickness and violence.

In my personal life, Jesus has been the ultimate comfort and wisdom to me when I was missing D. Indeed, without God, our relationship would have failed with the prolonged distance. We refuse to let the distance get in the way of us serving His kingdom today. I stand on God's promise that D and I will be together soon. As for now, God has provided the both of us with very full lives - full of God's work, service, blessing, power and family. It's such a privilege to serve the highest King!

The most important relationship

One very famous quote from the very brilliant designer Diane von Furstenberg:

"The most important relationship you have in your life is the relationship you have with yourself."

Diane was talking in the context of how we cannot rely on other people, or items, or ideas to make us happy. It follows that the most important relationship to build, first and foremost, is not our relationship with a boyfriend/girlfriend, friend, material possessions or our job. It is instead the bond we have with ourselves. I have to love myself, take control of myself, invest in myself to build me up before I can even think of being "whole" enough to build relationships with the world. It's us in the driving seat of our lives.

As much as I love Diane's quirkiness and genius wrap dresses, I have to disagree with her on this one. As human beings, we are all so flawed. I can disappoint me, and indeed I have, so many times in my past. When I came to terms with that fact, I was halfway through my revelation. People are fallen persons, and yet God loves us so much that He continuously reaches out to us. He never gave up on us. God sent His only Son to die for our sins so we can have The Most Important Relationship with God, freely and limitlessly.

I learnt to love God first instead of loving myself. As I spend time with Jesus my Lord and my Best Friend, he starts to reveal things about me. I start seeing how God sees me. How I am completely and unequivocally loved. How I am His child, and I inherit His kingdom. How I am created beautiful in His image and how He has an amazing plan and purpose for my life. That made me love me a thousand times more!

The truth is, the most important relationship you could ever have is with Jesus. He needs to be in your driving seat. The freedom you will experience from surrendering all to Him is inexplicable. No more chaos, worry, self-loathe, pity, confusion, anger or anxiety. Jesus bore all of these on the cross so that you don't have to experience those things. Instead, we enter into a life of joy and peace that no situation nor person can take away from us when we accept Jesus into our lives.

Jesus died for all, not just me. And regardless of what you think of Him, or the state of your relationship with him, the unchangeable truth is this: He loves you more than you can ever understand or imagine.

Japanese food - always healthy?

There is a common stereotype that Japanese cuisine, in general, is good for you. Life expectancy in Japan is amongst the highest in the world, despite the perceived high-pressure, fast-paced environment in which the Japanese live and work. In fact, as a child, I've always had it in my head that the Japanese diet is hailed to be low cholesterol, low-fat, packed with superfoods and antioxidants etc etc. It's also delicious! You could say I have the best of both worlds, but for the following three Japanese snacks that I absolutely love and are not too good for them hips and thighs...

Inari, sushi rice and mayo

It's a carb bomb and to make matters worse, the inari (beancurd) is soaked in sugary syrup. I don't think it has any nutritional value. Mmmm... did you know that cellulite is the main ingredient of refined white rice? (Yes, I'm a fan of that movie).

Takoyaki

Oh boy do I remember when takoyaki first took off in a big way in Singapore and Malaysia. There were takoyaki stalls EVERYWHERE, thanks to the relatively low barriers to entry and set up costs. All you need is a takoyaki mould grilling machine, octopus, grease, batter, that dried shaved fishmeat stuff (katsuobushi), lots of Japanese mayonnaise and condiments and you're good to go. The smell of the batter grilling is just so yummy. There were lots of variations too if you aren't a fan of octopus: ham and cheese, tuna and chicken being a few of them.

And finally, this. I don't actually know what this is called. In fact, I don't know whether this even exists in Japan. I've certainly seen it in lots of sushi bars in Singapore but I have no clue if it is in fact a localisation. It reminds me of the deep fried Mars Bars in Scotland. Most things deep fried are yummy. Mars Bar is yummy. So by logical deduction, a deep fried Mars Bar is double-yummy. Right?

Same concept applies here:

The Deep Fried Sushi

Smothered with mayo and roe, no less. This one was a simple tuna and cucumber maki, dipped in tempura batter and dunked in hot oil. Delish...

Is this one authentic Japanese? Can you find it in Japan?

Back in Manchester

There are a few good reasons why I disappeared over the summer, and they are as follows:

1. I've been on a Langkawi island trip with D on the back of a motorcycle



2. I've been snorkelling



3. I've been spending my time just chilling out and admiring one of my all time favourites of God's creations: the big blue sea



4. And finally, and most importantly - I got engaged!


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!

Castlefield - my walk into the city centre

This is St George's Island, a relatively new development by Dandara (a large mixed use property developer). St George's Island is made of five blocks of modern apartments (which kinda remind me of new HDB flats but no fear, there's nothing wrong with HDB flats and I love my flat very much. This is where I live, and for me the three biggest selling points of the apartment are:

1. The new-ness. No faulty windows or creaky floors. No cracked tiles or funny boilers.
2. The balcony which is accessible from all rooms within the flat through floor to ceiling sliding glass door-windows. Lots of sunlight and amazing to sit outside and just chill (or do pilates, sunbathe whatever - the balcony is massive compared to a lot of space-starved city centre apartments).
3. The proximity to the city centre without actually being in the city centre. I walk to work every day and it takes me about 20 minutes of leisurely walking. No buses shifting up and down the roads on the ground floor driving you nuts

So let me take you through my daily walk to work. Sorry I didn't get to take very many photos and the ones I did take didn't do very much to document the whole trip, and certainly not the excellent bars we have along the canal! I'll update this one when I get a chance to take more photos. Castlefield is extremely picturesque and so even for a photography noob like me, it's still pretty easy to capture good photos.


Geese and the canal. Yes we are inundated with geese and I have a love/hate relationship with these birds. They are pretty to look at but boy are they aggressive when you have (food) shopping bags in your hands. These geese have been completely urbanised and the sound of a rustling Sainsbury's plastic bag means food to them. The white bridge leads to the other side of the canal, a shortcut to Dukes 92, the Museum of Science and Industry, the White Lion and many other Castlefield gems. But we're keeping to this side of the canal to get to Deansgate station and beyond... into the city centre.


There are plenty of narrowboats going up and down the canal or just parked (docked?) at the sides of the canal. I often get the smell of woodfires as I walk to work, especially on a frosty winter's morning. Woodfires will always remind me of my little flat now. This dog is always around, s/he's really mellow and chilled out, and he loves lazing in the sun. Sometimes the boatowners put out knitted baby jumpers, pottery and other bits and bobs that they've made to sell to passers-by.


This is one of my favourite boats. It's definitely more modern than the others and looks out of place but there's something very cool about it. I love the nautical colours (blue and white). If you look beyond and into the background, behind the trees on the left, that's where the exit into the real Manchester city centre is. You go under a bridge (a motorway runs above it) and I always think of this exit point as being similar to the wardrobe in Narnia. Two different worlds, one bustly and concrete and the other chilled out and peaceful. I love Castlefield!

First signs of summer

Newborn goslings! Fluffy little furballs with their baby down. I like to share little gems of Castlefield with you. These babies must have hatched a week or so ago and they are peddling their little webbed feet out through the canal that runs along my apartments into the city centre. WP and I had some crumpets in hand and decided to do a little test to see if they'll take to crumpets.

The parent geese were a little hissy at first but after some cajoling with pieces of crumpet, they were fine to let their young 'uns near us.

Nom nom nom

Arrghhh look at the little baby goose butt in the air! The crumpets sank very quickly and this one did a half dive to try to retrieve a sinking crumb. How clever, eh? They were able to fend for themselves and scurry for food despite being only a couple of weeks old max.

I love it that summer is finally here!

Oklahoma - Northern Quarter

WP, a friend and journalist, and I took a walk round the city and in particular, the Northern Quarter of Manchester.

By way of a very short background, Manchester city centre is further divided into sub-areas. Each of these areas are known for having certain features, be it posh, high street, bric-a-brac, ghetto-ropey, urban, industrial, academic or commercial. For example, I live in Castlefield and it is known for being regenerated, nu-posh and full of young professionals. However, it is debatable as to whether this falls within the "city centre" in the strict or loose sense. I love Castlefield and it is my favourite part of the city centre. I'll talk about this in a separate post.

Today it's the Northern Quarter, and in particular, a cute little shop called Oklahoma.

As the name suggests, the NQ lies in the northern part of the city centre, right above the convergance point in Piccadilly Gardens. If I could pick just three words to describe the NQ, I would say it is:

1. Hippie (you know, Earth-friendly, say-no-to-waste, save the planet, organic produce)
2. Individualistic (no high-street chains or mass production - just really bespoke boutiques and shops)
3. Artsy (Prints, music, painting, posters - you name it, the NQ's got it)

WP asked if I could help her take some photos of Oklahoma as she was going to write a review of the place in an article for an online magazine. Her camera had ran out of juice and mine was still running. As the ever professional journalist, she had spoken to the shop owner before to ask questions and find out about the history of the place. I will post a link to her review here once it's published. As for me, I thought I'd just share my experience as a first-time visitor and my thoughts on the shop and its products and services.

You will see from the photograph above that Oklahoma is hidden behind a pair of solid wooden doors, graced by a neon sign above them reading OkLaHoMa. Higgledy-piggledy (sp?) neon letters and a cute orangutanhouse-esque menu next to the front door - so far so good. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time, nor belly space for lunch but the place seems obviously vegetarian/vegan and in line with the general theme of NQ shops, is probably fair trade and organic. There was not a sliver of chicken (battery farmed or otherwise) in sight.

Walking into the shop, I missed the cafe section entirely as my attention was immediately wooed by an explosion of kitsch and quirky products strewn haphazardly within the store.

On closer inspection, this appears to be an organised mess of knick-knacks.

Enter Oklahoma:

The first thing you see

Little socks hanging on the washing line

They even rented out DVDs - off the beaten-track ones, not your normal blockbuster films.

I know, anyone want a flamingo for your living room? I like the bags in the background, really cute and you'll spot them a mile away on the carousels in airports.

Cards, reusable shopping bags made from vietnamese rice sacks, paper chains, unidentifiable colourful objects

Quirky one liner mugs, crystal curtains and wrapping paper

Pots of beauty potions - they even carry Burt's Bees - my favourite lip balms!

The side entrance to the cafe. Love the frilly blue brolly and flower power seats. Every piece of furniture was slightly different from each other.

I really like these lunchboxes, they remind me of Strawberry Shortcake - a ubiquitous fixture on our pencil cases and dresses as children back in Malaysia.

The patrons were mostly young adults dropping by for a coffee, cake and conversation. I didn't see any families with children but would

Earrings, headbands and bangles - WP informs me these are Oklahoma's bestsellers

Finally, my favourite item in the whole shop - these adorable rainbow candy cane earrings. I love these!! Fantastic Plastic - the puffy cloud pieces at the end of the rainbows are so cute.

My verdict: Oklahoma definitely impresses in terms of its decor and layout. It sells a concept rather than products. I could find very few items which I actually needed - this is probably a place to visit when you need to find a present for a friend, as a bit of a joke or otherwise. (No one really needs a rubber chicken laying a rubber egg, or a pink clay flamingo). In the good times, there is a definite market for things we don't need, and Oklahoma markets them well. It's a little bit too chaotic and frivolous for my personal taste, I'm a minimalist I'm afraid. However, I could see how people would enjoy coming here for a nosey. Oklahoma is a feast for the eyes, but as to whether I would actually pick something up worth taking to the till and paying for...

My favourite item was the rainbow earrings - yes I would wear them. As for everything else, they're fun to look at but that's about it. I'm sure there are tonnes of people in Manchester who love Superman glasses (the cups, not the spectacles) and Korean Pucca headbands. I do think it makes perfect business sense to set up the cafe next door as this was bustling on a Saturday.

If you know someone who loves the fun and quirky, this is definitely a winner. It's a one stop shop - the cards, wrapping paper and present can be purchased and you could probably be quite certain that you won't be getting the same thing as her other friends who went gift-hunting on the high street.