Ahhh... had a fantastic dinner tonight! The best meal I ever had since I touched down in UK... it's gonna be pasta and soggy rice and what-nots again for the next week and beyond. But anyway! It was wonderful! Vanessa, Emily, Jason, Ailin, Eleena and I went to this Malaysian lady's house. She's a fellow church member of St Mike's (St Michael le Belfrey, the church I go to) and she invited us to her place for dinner. She was (still is?) a Malaysian and she came to York when she was about our age, and has stayed here ever since. About 50 or so? Yeah that was what Emily said. Anyway, the dinner she whipped up was wicked man! Chinese cuisine, or peranakan... something along those lines. The sambal... whoaaa. Even the rice tasted fantastic. Ok maybe I'm exaggerating. But that was the only dinner which I emerged from REALLY full... so full even laughing hurt. Felt much better after drinking the enzyme thingy Ma shipped over.
We were driven to church after that; attended the 7pm service. So glad Jason and Ailin agreed to go without open reservations about it! Yay thank God! I hope God spoke to them in His special way... Anyway, I loved today's service. Felt the loveliness and warmth of God during the Praise & Worship and I liked the sermon. It had a seemingly blasphemous title -- "Wake Up, Dead Man: God, Church and U2." Yes, U2! How creative was that. The speaker gave testimonies of the life, progress and attitude of the rock band U2 and its members. He even played video clips and CD tracks of their songs... which illustrated struggles with the Christian faith, calls to God and the Christian journey in general. He used the lives of the members and the song lyrics to bring out the message of Philippians 3:7-16. Which was very very creative I thought! Well perhaps because the medium with which he conveyed the message revolved around music, so THAT really caught my attention. But Vanessa and Jason agreed it was a good sermon anyway.
Among the storm, Your love is the anchor.
My hope is in you alone.
I'm gonna buy the U2 albums when I get back to Singapore. Didn't realise their tracks were Christ-oriented...
Anyhow. We cooked chicken rice yesterday! Yay! Well that's because my chickens were due. I mean, the stated date of expiry was yesterday's date. (well the M'sian lady told us it can last about 5 days after the date of expiry because that date only states the end of its SHELF life.) The chicken was good, but the rice was.... soggy. Soggy mushy rice. We agreed that if we whipped up our own meals, our standards of taste drop significantly because we tend to be less harsh than ourselves. Jason was saying that if some chicken rice restaurant (I forgot which he mentioned) served him what we ate yesterday, he'd refuse to pay. But oh well... when you cook it yourself... you tend to be more forgiving. *nervous laughter* Haha but we liked it I s'pose. We learnt from the lady today (She's Siew Ching, btw) that the chickens or chicken parts sold in Sainsburry's, or all supermarkets, have a lot of water content because they've been injected with water-retaining chemicals. To look more succulent and juicy. Oh gross. I shudder at the thought of consuming all those chemicals... but then again what doesn't have chemicals of some sort nowadays? Oh but the chicken thing sounds awful... I'll have to make do with it tho, there's no butcher around. Or at least I don't see one around. Noooo don't make me part with meat... noooooo. Back to my chicken rice story -- I guess the water seeped into the rice and made it all soggy. Every mistake is worth a lesson learnt I s'pose!
After dinner we chatted and played daidee (Eleena, Jason, Ailin and I). And ate butter cookies and drank milo. Felt cosy. Well it was in my room anyway. Ha :D
I bought a big tube of chocolate-covered digestives today. Yumyum. :)
Don't worry ma I also bought vegetables, lots of fruits, and sweet potatoes... yes...
Gonna do some reading now. Been sleeping about 12-1 nowadays, think my body clock is tuned to sleep in those hours already. Housemates are making too much noise downstairs anyway. Don't get me wrong -- I'm on great terms with them, especially one of them who's my seminar-mate. Brits are just very loud people... or sound echoes a lot here. I think it's the latter. Been seeing buskers in town and they don't need a mike or anything. Their voices resonate and sound so beautiful! Oh man. Ok really gotta do some reading. I'll end with a song by U2 called Grace.
Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name
Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that Changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness
In everything
Grace
She's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk
She travels outside
Of karma, karma
She travels outside Of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear the strings
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips
Between her fingertips
She carries a pearl
In perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
Grace finds beauty
In everything
Grace finds goodness
In everything
