success

No no, it’s not anything big. Just a little success out of little effort of TRYING sorry, william for BORING you with my food again

It was my first time baking a cake 100% on my own usually my mom will be next to me guiding but this time, just on my own. Plus, I did not use an electronic mixer too expensive! just mixed manually using whisk, chopsticks and fork ;p

The ingredients…

Before going into the oven…

and finally the outcome…

well… not too bad huh? by the way, I made a huge mistake actually – baked the cake under 80 degrees instead of 180 degrees =( how silly, hehe but managed to save it in the end ^_^

then comes the cooking *another pat on the shoulder* because it tastes soOooo good!!

                              … the-make-me-feel-at-home dinner …

steamed salmon (marinated the salmon with pepper, salt and garlic for 4 hours, added some olive oil and japanese soy sauce before steaming it for 15minutes) thanks to grandma who taught me over internet call, it’s so YUMMY!!

rice with scramble egg

hmmm… jeg er meget tilfreds (I am very satisfied) ^_^

reading…

Just finished – Max Lucado’s 3:16

Currently indulging in – Introduction to Psychology (850 pages academic textbook) and Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist (supposedly a very good novel according to many)

Looking forward to read – Cecelia Ahern’s P.S. I Love You

work

finally. no more relaxing. no more travel (for the moment). no more procrastination. no more excuses. just more tasks. more deadlines. the real work has begun. funny thing is I actually enjoy it.

snow, and more snow

it’s spring yet… still snowing like mad… 3 days of non-stop snow! and counting…

the song I’ve been looking for

I finally found the song!! It’s “No Matter” by Angel ^_^

Trondheim Part V

I really thank God for the opportunity to be in Trondheim, to know and be with Mark and his family. Had lots of good sharing about life experiences and had great fun time with them. To those who are reading, please pray for Mark and his family. He shared alot about his life and how Christianity had actually rescued him in several situations but there are still doubts and uncertainty. I believe God has indeed been working in his life but the step of faith has yet to be taken. He even said something like, “I think I owe Christianity something”… I really hope that one day he will be able to fully understand, trust, believe and accept the Lord.

By the way, did I mention that Mark’s wife is a great cook and bakes really delicious cakes and muffins? She is terrific! She made this Verdens beste kake, or Kvæfjordkake, means the world’s best cake in english. It is a traditional and famous cake in Norway.

                      

try it out yourself! below is the recipe taken from her blog

Ingredients:

The cake base
150g butter (room temperature)
120g sugar
5 stk egg yolks
150g flour (preferably sieved)
1 ts baking power
60ml milk

The meringue
5 stk egg white
150g sugar
80g almond, finely chopped. Can use walnut instead.

The cream
50ml whipping cream
300ml vanilla cream ( If you can’t buy this, you can make your own vanilla cream. Method shown in below attached URL)
10 to 15 drops rum essence

Baking equipments: Roasting tin, approx 30X40 cm. Electronic mixer.
Baking temperature: 180 deg, 35 to 40 mins

Method
1. Beat the butter and sugar until white and fluffy.
2. Add in egg yolk. One yolk each time so that the yolk can be fully incorporated into the butter cream.
3. Blend in flour and baking power, and mix well.
4. Pour in milk and continue to mix until the mixture become fine. This takes about 3 mins.
5. Pour mixture into a roasting tin, use spatula to spread the mixture evenly. NOTE: pls spread the mixture as thin as possible. Both husband and I agree that a thin cake base is more delicious and can also reduce the risk of a hard cakebase.
6. Clean the mixture and ready to beat egg white. Beat until white and fully. Approx 4-5 mins.
7. Add in sugar and continue to beat for 30 seconds.
8. Spread the egg white over the butter mixture in the pan.
9. Spread the almond and ready to bake.
10. Once baked, bring the cake out and let it cool. Prepare the cream in the meantime.
11. Beat whipping cream until fluffy. Then add in vanilla cream and rum essence.
12. Cut the cake into two equal portions-one on top and one bottom
13. Put the cream between the to layers.

The descriptions here maybe too lengthy to read, there’s a video here.
http://www.spise.no/oppskrifter/verdens_beste/verdens_beste_plug.htm

Trondheim Part IV

More breathtaking snapshots of Trondheim taken from Flickr’s…

                             

                                  Gamle Bybro (Old Town Bridge)

                                   Elgeseter Bridge and Nidelven

Trondheim Part III

Third stop – NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Library

            

            

                                             … the old tram …

            

                    … some artwork outside the library …

Fourth stop – Nidarosdomen (Nidaros Cathedral), is the most northerly gothic cathedral in the world, built over the saintly King Olav Haraldsson.

Photos taken from Flickr’s (Nidarosdomen during summer)

            

Photos taken by me

           

           

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

            

                 He loves. He gives. We believe. We live.

Final stop – City Central Square

The statue of city’s founder, Olav Trygvason perched atop its 3-storey high pedestal at city central square (taken from Flickr’s)

                                

            

Trondheim Part II

…more of beautiful Trondheim… I am really loving this place! Mark even suggested I should further my studies or work here due to the many benefits and the universities are among the top 50 in world ranking. We will see, haha…

first stop – Kristiansten Festning (Kristiansten Fortress), built in 1681 to protect the city against attack from the Germans. Its purpose has been fulfilled when Swedish forces lay siege of Trondheim.

                                   … view from the festning …

               

                                               … the entrance …

                                               … with Ansel …

Second stop – The Tyholt Tower

This communication tower stretches 120 metres into the sky and it’s a must for tourists, simply because it offers a spectacular view of Trondheim, featuring Egon Resturant (rotating restaurant 74 metres above ground revolving at one full turn an hour offering a panaromic view of Trondheim in all directions!!)

Had a sumptuous pizza buffet at the rotating restaurant while enjoying the beautiful view ^_^ the pizzas are freshly made and really yummy!! costs me NOK 110. Anyway, I was told that this restaurant is considered the cheapest in Trondheim but still… one main course costs around NOK 200! Speak of high living standard, man…

The views from Egon’s…

Trondheim Part I

Finally arriving in Trondheim after a long 8 hours of train ride, was really tiring travelling, not to mention expensive, hehe but the trip to Trondheim is worth every cent!! Met up with Mark and his family for the first time, am so nervous and excited at the same time. After all the chats online, finally will be able to meet them in person. They are very warm and welcoming, it’s like I’m going home to family ^_^

Trondheim (third largest city) is located in central Norway, known as the City of Viking King, definitely the Historical Capital of Norway.

Went for the mountain on the first day. Weather was so good during my 3 days stay here, bright and good temperature. I was really blessed because the day I left, the temperature actually dropped down to -12 degree Celsius!!

                                         … like the sky…

                                                   … me …

              

                                             … going down …

                                      … with Mark’s family …

                                     … with Ansel, Mark’s son …

                                 … cute little Ansel on sleigh…

Telemark Part IV

And the famous Telemark Canals (during summer)…

                           

Photos are taken from Flickr’s because it’s still winter now hence not much view except for frozen lakes and oceans

                                        … Eidsfoss Locks …

Telemark Part III

Anyway, I had a really good time at Helene’s home. It was very refreshing. The last night was the best ever!!

Seriously, I can’t even remember when was the last time I had a girls’ night out. You know, just eating away, gossiping about hot guys, having heart-to-heart talks, watching shows and just chill. Frankly, I don’t even have that many close girl friends. My circle of friends seem to consist more of guys than girls and how I realized I missed the girly girl time sOoo MUCH. I am not saying that time spent with the boy friends is not nice, just that it seems so long I have not feel like being a girl friend, haha. I just seem to be always the sister or one of the boys. It is nice to hang out with the boy friends, listening to them talk and share about girls, drinking frosty beer, wait, more like I watching them drink, hehe and all the boys talk but it was even better with the girls sometimes.

Helene and I went to do a lil shopping for the night – all the different potato chips, fries, ice-cream!, chocolates, cola, basically all the unhealthy and fattening food, haha and rented two movies. Ratatouille and Stardust. She invited two of her friends over as well. Fun night with movies and my favourite, junk food and games.

            

            

and the super cool board game – Party & Co. It’s like a combination of pictionary, taboo, scrabble, all the act, mime, sing and guess games. Suddenly just reminded me of the crazy fun time in family camp with tuxin, vincent, carmen playing pictionary and joni’s card game(can’t recall the name, hehe)

It’s a team game, where each team has to collect certain amount of coloured ‘peanuts’. Taking turns to throw the dice and complete given tasks.

Showtime! (red card) – one team member has to either sing a song, act or mime out objects/characters while the other guesses

Artwork! (green card) – 3 types: either one team member has to shape the object using the green wire or draw out(ala pictionary) or have to wear those orange glasses and paint out the object while the other guesses. The orange glasses is the tricky one, when you wear those, you can’t see what you are drawing! it’s like you’ve been blinded.

Psycho! (yellow card) – this is like a mind game and compatibility test! Hardest of all four because you have to know your team mates well enough to know what is she/he thinking or will react upon certain given situations. Intriguing.

Knowledge (blue card) – test of general knowledge and IQ

Anyway, Helene and I won in the end

                                       with Helene’s friends

                                 my bed at Helene’s house

By the way, had a good sharing and praying session with her mom during the stay There is indeed a reason for me to come to know Helene.

Telemark Part II

Skiing!! I was so excited that I can barely sleep the night before, hehe.

Some photos taken…

                                            … snowboarding …

                               … view from the mountain top …

                             … after hours of skiing attempts …

Sadly, after 5 long non-stop hours of trying and learning to ski, I still failed. I just can’t seem to control and lost balance for like uncountable times! *paiseh* but it was really fun though ^_^ came back with body aches, haha.

Telemark Part I

Two hours of bus ride from Kongsberg reaching Helene’s hometown, Kviteseid, Telemark. It’s a small and neat town, famous for its cow breed and canals. Spend the first day walking around, exploring its culture and history. Weather was bad with super strong cold wind!! =/

The old village of Telemark – Kviteseid Bygdetun

                                     the food store and firehouse

                                          one of the houses

                                             the old church

                    

                                             information board

During Norway’s National Day, everyone will be wearing their national costumes (each state has their own unique costumes) and there will be big celebration and parade etc. A glimpse Telemark traditional costume…

                 
they are all soOo expensive, one set range from NOK 3000 to NOK 10k!! I can’t even afford to borrow and try them on *tsk tsk*

one of the oldest stave churches in Heddal, Telemark

                

                                                 nice huh? =)

other random shots…

love how the sun shone through the trees

view taken from roadside, half way going up the mountain

my easter holiday

It’s finally here! Getting 10 days off during easter   *smiles*

Will be spending the first half in Helene’s hometown, Telemark and the other half in Trondheim. Will finally be meeting Mark Ong, his wife and cute lil son. Found his contact through a Malaysian Students Society in Norway website and friendship is built. Great man with a loving family and is always ready to give advice, guidance and not to mention the ‘you must know what you want to do with your future’ talks and singing ;p Better still, he introduced another friend to me who is now residing in Oslo and I believe we will become great friends in times to come ^_^

Looking forward for a warm and fun easter

rice!!

I’m not exactly a rice lover but after being here for 2 weeks, I realized how much I miss having rice. And grandma’s cooking. Eventually, I called her up and asked all the how-to-cook, hehe

Yummy rice and curry beef cutlet

potato and ham salad (without the vege ;p)

friend

“There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24

Having to read that, I wanted very much to share about this particular friendship I had. Let’s just say it is a church-based friendship. And I mean truly what a church-based friendship should be like. Friendship that saves lives, gives hope, non-judgemental, always available, carries people through thick and thin, encourages each other to stay close to God, setting examples and not afraid to speak the blatant truth.

Humility. Honesty. Love. They all play an important role. Humility allows us to know that we need each other. We can’t live by ourselves, carrying every burden on our shoulders, living life without acknowledging others or merely being alone. Even God says “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18 Everyone needs somebody. Honesty holds us together, and even honesty sometimes hurts us. But that is why honesty is vital, solid friendship can handle much more than just mere compliments. They can handle truth. Truth that many are afraid to tell. Then we have Love. Remember from 1 John 4:20 that says “If you don’t love your sister or brother who you can see, how can you love God whom you cannot see?” That explains.

I am grateful and very blessed to have this friend in my life. A true bro-in-Christ. You helped me get on shore when I was drowning. You never fail to encourage me, give me sound advice likewise and more importantly, you are never afraid to point out my mistakes, telling me off, waking me up from my lack of discipline, irresponsibility and silly hopes. You always call just to make sure things are really okay when I say “I am fine” but am not and be there for me giving me support and care when I needed them most. I can share with you just about anything, revealing my true self whom is full of secret fears and hidden emotions. And we can then pray for each other, to provide support. I was never afraid to cry in front of you, because I know you do not judge and understands above all. I trust you and will continue to take up the risk of trusting.

Having to know you, gives me much comfort. I know that even when I have nobody in the coming days, I still have a friend, a brother to depend on. And wanting you to know I am learning to not take things for granted, and to begin with, not take you, ricky tan, for granted.

truly forever friends

all smiles

Can’t wait for the coming week, it’s Easter holiday! Yay! Get to travel around a lil ^_^