Cooking again

I haven't done any serious cooking for the last 3 years. Nothing beyond reheating left-over food or boiling an egg. I've good reasons and I will not delve into that but instead would just document my attempt to cook again.

My first step? Call my sister-in-law to ask.... how do I cook an adobo? :) So off she went and enumerated the ingredients and the steps. The cooking went quickly. So there I was, taking a breather after cooking my chicken adobo. My brother calls to ask why I called his cellphone and I recounted the story. He repeated the instructions. I quickly cut him off to say good-bye. And ran to the kitchen to add the oregano leaves. Whew!

The other experiment I did was buttered chicken. (Isn't it obvious that I love chicken?:)) The secret? A Thai mix I just bought from the grocery. Unfortunately, I forgot the required yogurt. So there, I have a soupy instead of a thick sauce (I used liquid milk). It tasted delicious though.

A good first attempt. I still have next week-end to do another experiment. That is, if I did my first cooking well and not die of food-poisoning. :)

Disclaimer : blurred image... I couldn't find the camera flash of my cellphone. This is about cooking and not photography! :)

Stretching me

“I didn’t sign up for this!” This was my complaint during the audit. There were so many things brought up that were not mentioned when the responsibility was given to me. I felt overwhelmed.

Reading through the Bible and some of the personal reflections of some people inwww.fromgardentocity.com, I saw a different perspective. Through the many months of learning this new responsibility, I realized that God has been stretching me. He is giving me greater tolerance for people who are difficult to work with. He is strengthening my emotional stability when facing struggles. He is making me more confident in dealing with people. He is making me more observant so that the wrong procedures and practices could be corrected and improved. And finally, He is making me more proactive so that I would find solutions instead of faults.

I wouldn’t volunteer to do what was given to me. Thank God that the decision was not given to me. Thank God that I have become dependent on Him and not on myself. Because I definitely don’t feel able to do what was expected of me.

God stretches us. Our abilities, our emotions, our talents and skills, and most importantly, our faith in Him.

* image from http://helixwellness.blogspot.com/

What to do?

I was naive.

I thought that by finishing school I would have a lot of idle on time on my hands. Okay, I do not want to complain. I am grateful that I graduated. But suddenly, I realized that there are so many things I want to do. Read more than a dozen books that piled up inside my room. Watch more than fifty movies that I never had the time to see. And some more are added each week as new movies are released. I want to blog about my trips early this year and what I went through in the past few months.

There are seminars to go to so that I could learn more. Art exhibits to see so that I could appreciate art more. There are personal research and planning that must be done for the future.

And of course, there's work. Very important. And then, there's the ministry, too. Time to pray, read the Bible, fellowship with other people.

So many things to do and so little time.