简单就是幸福

昨天应朋友MS 邀请到她家里小聚。因工作的关系MS的先生将在今年低携着一家四口到印尼生活一段时期。

天气持续闷热好多天，前晚拜托老天爷赐点雨水。昨天早上当真下起豪雨， 只好撑伞出门。走在湿答答的路上心里直埋冤：雨就不能聚餐后才下吗？忽然不知怎的 脚下一滑，回过神来已是四脚朝天地躺在行人道上！是老天爷在骂我：没雨水的时候你 complain；雨下了你又嫌下的早啦，到底是想怎样?!

今天是 bank holiday，所以明天（週一）不用去上班 ，真的好开心喔!  将上个週日晚秤好的材料从冰箱里取出，做简单的 double chocolate muffin。能和年迈的父母围着餐桌，看着他们品尝着我亲手做的小点心，也算是一种幸福吧？

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS 巧克力玛芬

Adapted from 我的幸福烘焙廚房: 205道經典烘焙食譜, 完整收藏!

Makes 12 standard-size muffins

140 grams butter

120 grams sugar

Salt

2 eggs

140 grams milk

220 grams cake flour

40 grams Dutch-process cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

100 grams chocolate chips + more for decor

Method: Creaming

Oven temperature: 180ºC / 350ºF

Baking duration: 20 minutes

HARI RAYA HAJI

Today is Hari Raya Haji, otherwise known as the “Festival of Sacrifice”. 

Celebrated by Muslims worldwide, it honours the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ishmael (Ismail) as an act of submission to God's command.  God then intervened to provide Ibrahim with a lamb to sacrifice instead. 

The same story is told in the Old Testament, God had called Abraham to embark on a three day journey (Genesis 22) to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son Issac. 

There are several similarities between the bible and the koran. Perhaps if we're willing to believe that there is only one God and that we each honour Him in different ways, we can live side by side in harmony.

牵一只蜗牛去散步

Drawing by Fun @chillicrabkitchen

上帝给我一个任务，叫我牵一只蜗牛去散步。

我不能走得太快，蜗牛已经尽力爬，每次总是挪那么一点点。
我催它，我唬它，我责备它，蜗牛用抱歉的眼光看着我，彷佛说： “人家已经尽了全力！”
我拉它，我扯它，我甚至想踢它，蜗牛受了伤，它流着汗，喘着气，往前爬。
真奇怪，为什么上帝叫我牵一只蜗牛去散步？

“上帝啊！为什么？”天上一片安静。
“唉！也许上帝去抓蜗牛！”
好吧！松手吧！反正上帝不管了，我还管什么？
任蜗牛往前爬，我在后面生闷气。

咦？我闻到花香，原来这边有个花园。
我感到微风吹来，原来夜里的风这么温柔。
慢着！我听到鸟叫，我听到虫鸣，我看到满天的星斗多亮丽。
咦？以前怎么没有这些体会？

我忽然想起来，莫非是我弄错了！
原来上帝叫蜗牛牵我去散步。

作者: 张文亮

A TUMBLE, AND ANGELS TO THE RESCUE

Poor old Dad, he took a serious tumble today.

Mum and Dad had gone out to lunch.  They were making their way home when he fell.  He didn't know how it happened, he mumbled repeatedly.  Needless to say, Mum was in a state of panic.  Fortunately, three good Samaritans - Daniel, Jaime and Mark -  descended out of nowhere and lent a helping hand.

According to Mum, Dad could not get up after the fall.  Mark, who was on his way to lunch, came upon them and immediately piggy-backed Dad to the nearest clinic. Daniel and Jaime called me using their mobile phone.  They were kind enough to hang around until I arrived.  Dad was referred by the doctor to the A&E at TTSH.  My hands were shaking and couldn't even call a cab properly so Jaime had to call one for us.  

I couldn't thank Daniel and Jaime enough.  Jaime said they were on their way to have ice cream.  Normally they would park by the side of the road but today Jaime thought they ought to drive into the car park (where they witness Dad took a tumble) so maybe it was meant to be.

On my way home from the hospital tonight I was still thinking about Daniel and Jaime and about what she said. When this is all over, I thought to myself, I shall thank them properly - over ice cream.  Just as I was about to cross the street to my apartment block, two boys (who looked like they were 8 and 10) approached and asked if I would help with their school fees.  What were they selling?  Ice cream.  Is this another one of your jokes, God?

The ice cream were $12 a box.  I opened my purse and there were exactly $12 in notes lying inside. So maybe it was meant to be.

There were hundreds of patients at the A&E today.  We waited several hours with Dad to get his X-ray and CT scan done.  And then it was another few hours' of waiting to get him admitted.  After that another couple of hours to get him settled into the hospital bed and made sure he had something to eat.  We get to speak to the doctor tomorrow at around 10:30AM.  It was a long day but I don't think my life is half bad, really.  Thanks to an understanding boss, the sweetest coworkers, and of course - three perfect strangers who offered their timely assistance unconditionally.

WHAT IF GOD WAS ONE OF US?

What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus trying to make his way home?

There are times when I can't help but believe that God exists. Or it could be one of his angels hanging around to lend a helping hand. Like that time when I was in a supermarket picking out tomatoes and a stranger came up to me, thrust one of those perforated plastic bags my way saying, “Here, this is for you. I got it for you.” Before I could say anything he had quietly glided away, pushing his shopping cart.

Or that afternoon when raindrops started to fall just as I stepped off the kerb.  Out of nowhere, a Japanese lady appeared with a large umbrella.  She gestured, offering to shelter me.  Did I hold her arm or did she link hers in mine?  What was the color of the umbrella?  Did she even speak to me? I don't remember any of that.  All I remember was the sun was still shining even as the rain hit harder on our umbrella.  After we ran across the road safely, she gave a sunny me smile before diving into the rain to head back to the other side of the street.

There are days when God is out for a bit of fun. Some months ago my colleagues and I were in the MRT. “Did you hear about the fire that happened in AA building yesterday?” one asked. “I used to work in the same building, you know?”

“Really?" I answered in surprise. "I used to work in AA building too!”  As she went on to tell us about what she had read about the fire,  I suddenly noticed him - a boy leaning beside the train door, a pair of white earphones stuck in his ears.  Printed on the front of his T-shirt was this:

This picture is from http://www.pixpow.com/tag/building-in-fire/

Coincidence, or God's sense of humour?