50 things that make me happy

@patlaw wrote in her blog what were the 50 things that made her happy. Thought I had do the same, and see if I do have 50 things to be contented with. It took me only one hour to complete this. See, it's not that difficult to make ourselves happy.

1. Those whom I like remembering what I like.

2. Enjoying a cuppa and cake with a loved one in a nice place.

3. Bumping into someone I know but he/she can't recognise me.

4. An empty train or bus.

5. Daily cab rides.

6. Striking lottery even if it is just $20.

7. No bad hair day.

8. Looking at layout of houses (childhood interest).

9. Arranging and rearranging furniture around the house.

10. Having auspicious dreams like meeting my gurus or The Buddhas.

11. Niece and nephew.

12. Predicting something that came true.

13. Being around happy people with no ill intentions.

14. iPhone and many accessories/Apps.

15. Being a listener to someone in need.

16. Travelling for leisure.

17. Autumn in another country (anywhere, especially Switzerland).

18. Eating chocolate anything.

19. Cooking for someone special.

20. Checking out and buying fengshui items.

21. Reading fengshui books.

22. Being in a holy place, feeling the surrounding awesome energy.

23. Having a bowl of ramen with shiok soup base.

24. Convincing boss /co-workers/staff my strategies will work.

25. Unlimited gadgets to play with.

26. Discovering new eateries.

27. Discovering the right fit for a job position.

28. Past mementos from special people.

29. Music.

30. Knowing a new found friend is true.

31. Having someone tell me I'm funny (in an intelligent way).

32. Doing charity and donations to the needy.

33. Donating blood.

34. Knowing the parents are proud of me.

35. Writing writing writing.

36. Making an elderly person happy.

37. Buying special gifts for special people.

38. Giving treats every time.

39. My clothes smelling of that heavenly detergent powder from Dubai.

40. Finishing a good book in extra fast time.

41. Taking fantastic impromptu shots.

42. Not making yearly resolutions.

43. Finding a nice pair of shades that suits my face.

44. Knowing I'm heading towards the right Path (towards Enlightenment).

45. Looking at and buying bags.

46. Not knowing my weight (haha!).

47. Cycling with breeze blowing across my face.

48. Learning something new spiritually.

49. If I am going to have a son in the near future.

50. Actualizing my dreams one by one.

Smoked Salmon Tortilla Wrap

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Met up with a friend who gave me a treat. Because of the heavy Nasi Padang I had for lunch, so for dinner, I chose this Smoked Salmon Tortilla Wrap. It was wrapped with smoked salmon, avocado, roasted onions, dill mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato in a soft sun dried tomato flat bread wrap, and served with salad, pico de gallo and BBQ chips. Refreshing and light meal indeed.

Belgian Waffles! :D

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A short meeting in the afternoon with someone in Starbucks over a cuppa and Belgian waffles. Overheard 2 sales persons doing a sales pitch to their client at the next table, I feel the odd familiarity and I'm quite sick of it ....

My Pasta dinner

This was what I whipped up within one hour tonight - my usual pasta and usual ingredients. The family said it tasted very delicious. Now I need to hone my skills on being consistent... ;P

Ingredients: 2-3 onions finely chopped, mushroom, young corn, red/green capsicum, chicken cut into cubes and marinated.

Boiling the pasta was so easy, with a dash of salt and olive oil and then  drained. Adding oil to the wok, I stir fry the onions, then chicken, and the remaining of the other ingredients.

A wok full of the colourful ingredients already almost cooked. Next, stir fry the cooked pasta for about 5 minutes. Then add in the cooked ingredients and mix well, with some oyster sauce and rice wine and light soya sauce for about 5 minutes. 

Tadah! My delicious pasta!  Easy Peasy!

In support of Earth Hour

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Tonight, to show our support for Earth Hour, the lamas and everyone at Gaden Shartse Drophenling decided to switch off the electricity during the 2-hour puja. Only candles and light offerings were lit. The lights at the altar were left on, in due respect to The Three Jewels. Wonderful session. Aids concentration and visualisation actually, in the dark, with the lights turned off.

Did you notice the bright ray (blob) of light emanating out of the dark, from the altar extending out to the audience? 

Love the new SOTA (School of the Arts) building

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Almost thought this was yet another new condominium from afar, then realised it's SOTA! I like the cascading green plants. Notice how blue the sky was. I would love it if it's a residence at that location and would cost helluva $$$. Super expensive PRIME area in town. 

Charly T's

I was passing by The Cathay with a friend, and over at the next building, I found this cafe on the first level on Handy Road.  We dropped in for a cuppa tea and snack.

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Check out their choices of Charly T's waffles available:

- Hickory Smoked Bacon and Jack Cheese
- Corn Kernel with Cilantro Butter
- Honey with Fig and Dates

I chose the Hickory Smoked Bacon & Jack Cheese topped with a scoop of ice cream of their Gunpowder Tea Ice Cream. In the set, I can choose any drink. I ordered Earl Grey tea to go along with my waffle. The taste of the Bacon & Cheese waffle was more savoury, so I would have preferred an accompanying savoury side next time. That said, I like the buttery wholesome freshly made waffle. The waffle set costs $5.95 only.

Charly T's serves full set meals too. Do drop in when you're nearby. A nice cafe with good ambience, interesting food selection with accompanying music. Here's their entire menu and below are their set meals. 

Charly T's
20 Handy Road, Level 1
NOMU (beside The Cathay)
Singapore 229236.

What's cooking?

I'm slowly getting back to cooking for the family.... S.L.O.W.L.Y.  Something is still amiss so I'm not exactly back in the jolly-cooking mode. But here are some usual dishes I whip up at home.  Comfort food, in the truest sense.

From clockwise, 

Sambal Brinjal with Minced Pork

Tomato Potatoes with Ham & Carrots
Gourd (some kind of gourd) with Eggs

Stir-fried Szechuan Veggies with Fried Beancurd, Mushroom & Fishcake

Long Beans with Minced Pork

Braised Beancurd Sticks with Chinese Mushroom
Lotus Root/Radish Pork Ribs Soup

Onion Eggs

The ingredients for the dishes above sometime vary. It is actually more of what I have and can find in the fridge.  Buzz me if you need the recipes! 

That difference

I have a very bad habit. That is, when I befriend people, I become over-zealous in their problems, if and when they confide in me. Most friends will usually tell me the problems they face, from family matters to financial matters to job matters to BGR problems to whatever problems.  Some problems can be resolved easily and some are really tricky that I don't have the answers too. I know from the bottom of my heart, I do feel for them and some of their problems, and I usually do insist in giving some advice, maybe sometimes too fervently such that some of these friends feel I am intruding into their privacy afterwards. Hence, this leads to lots of misunderstandings from the very people I was trying to help. Depending on their age, I do try to go slow nowadays. I don't want to be seen as someone too pushy, too 'kaypoh' when people do not seem to welcome advice /comments. One or two even resented it. They just want a listening ear, someone to rant to, someone to just let them air their grievances to. They just want an outlet, but not prepared to receive input. I know they resent it from their reactions, their actions and the words they used.

Sometimes, through some mystical ways, I actually know what problems /consequences these friends are facing or will encounter in the near future, even though they pay no heed to my advice at that very moment. Hence, I appear to be somewhat too insistent on what they should do and not do. Even when at times I do not bear to tell them the truth what may happened. So they became pissed with me. One even refused to be friends anymore. But through my experiences over the years (I have seen many times), what I had expected would happen, it really happened. I hate to say it, but I always end up muttering to myself "See, I told you so" but I have no heart to rub salt on the wound by then. 

Those people who eventually resent me or met with the problems I knew they would, by then it was too late. So for them, I would just have to say a prayer for them. I would light a candle for them and their names would always be in my prayer dedication list because the only way I can help is to help them to purify their negative karma, to increase their merits, so that the obstacles they are experiencing would hopefully be eradicated. I am not the Budhha or God, I may not be able to help much, but that is the only thing I can do for them (and I am darn confident my prayers help). To friends who need help, I hope they recognise their problems and seek professional help if necessary. You can resent me, but ultimately please help yourself to help you, not me.

"Happiness never decreases by being shared" - The Buddha

Penang Char Kway Teow FTW!!!

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Toby's

Everyone who knows me knows that Parkway Parade is my playground because it is quite near to where I stay. Parkway Parade has everything under one roof that I need - supermarkets, hawker food, restaurants, department stores, book stores, banks, everything.... just short of a cinema and it would be complete.

The drive to Parkway Parade is always quite nice as I pass by the Mountbatten stretch, Tanjong Rhu or Katong or sometimes the Joo Chiat area, all different ways to get there. You see mostly private houses or condos along the way.

There's a new kid on the block in Parkway -Toby's (The Dessert Asylum) - where you get pizzas, burwiches, pastas and desserts. I was attracted to this mural on the wall of its bar counter. It's a relaxing cafe to have a chit chat with a friend or two, compared to the ever crowded Starbucks or Coffee Bean and fast food joints.

I have had their fantastic Fish & Chips before. On other days, it was just desserts or snacks. One thing is a must, a cuppa of hot Latte to chase the mid- afternoon craving away.

As I was vegetarian for that day, I didn't order anything savoury. Just tried this mudpie whose name and the real thingy itself are equally a mouthful - To-by Or Not To-By Mudpie With Rum & Raisins Ice Cream and Oreos. Utterly sinful but oh so good, with the mildly addictive taste of the rum. It doesn't look as good as it tastes and it's not too sweet for my liking. Must try out their pizzas, pastas and other stuff soon.

Naga Day

According to the Tibetan lunar calendar, today 23 March 2010 is Naga Day. 

What is a Naga? The nagas are one of the 8 kinds of supernatural beings who are said to revere and protect the Dharma. Nagas are a kind of long-lived serpentlike beings with miraculous powers or in chinese they are 海龙王 and 蛇精. They mostly live in the depths of water and are supposed to control the weather, especially rain.

Naga is a Sanskrit word for snake. In Buddhist writings the term is used for unseen beings associated with water and fluid energy, and also with persons having powerful animal-like qualities or an impressive animal with human qualities. Nagas in Buddhism are also seen as protectors due to the story of when the Buddha was meditating and it began to rain; a Naga came up behind the Buddha and unfolded its seven-headed hood over the Buddha so the rain would not disturb him.

When humans have unknowingly incur the wrath of the Nagas (by hurting them or hurting the livelihood of the underwater world such as fishes, turtles, crabs etc...), sometimes humans fall seriously ill, some get inflicted with cancer, some especially get skin diseases, or other diseases. And at worst, when humans cause harm to the sea creatures in the underwater world by hurting and/or devouring them, the Nagas may wreak havoc which resulted in the form of natural disasters we encounter, such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Hence the Nagas need to be placated.

Because of this special day, DPL conducted a Naga puja to benefit everyone, as it is not any day that this puja could be conducted.  Today on this particular day, the Nagas are expected to be very active. Just early this morning, I read news of a 5.9-magnitude earthquake that had rocked the northern Philippines at 3.58am.

And this entire morning, it was raining heavily. It is said to be very auspicious to have rain during the puja. It shows that the Buddhas, deities and Naga beings are very happy with the prayers and special offerings. The heavy rain stopped just before the puja was completed at 12 noon and the sun came out shining brightly. This was an auspicious sign.

The benefits of participating in the Naga Puja include:
1. Obstacles & sicknesses will be eliminated, one will have good health & wealth.

2. One will always encounter good friends and spiritual masters.
3. Good harvest of the five grain.

4. Accomplish one’s Dharma practice without obstacles.

5. Bring happiness, peace and harmony to one’s family and home country.

Guess where am I?

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Vegetarian Mee Goreng for lunch. Yumssss

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Birthday lunch

21 March was my Father's birthday. According to the lunar chinese calendar he should be 70 years old this year. Most probably we will celebrate his 70th year next year according to western birth date.

We went to one of our favourite Teochew restaurant for the celebration - Liang Kee Teochew Restaurant. They just opened a new branch in Bendemeer. The original branch was at Robertson Quay.

One of the signature dish was the Braised Duck with Beancurd. It goes very well with their lime chilli sauce. This is highly recommended if you dine in Liang Kee, as braised duck is a special Teochew dish.

We ordered the Ngoh Hiang with Fried Golden Tofu, Honey Pork Ribs (Father's favourite), Stir-fry White Spring Onions with Prawns, and the generous portions of Fish Maw Soup.

One dish not to be missed is Ee Fu Noodles, which symbolises longevity during birthday meals. We love Ee Fu Noodles which was simply fried with spring onions and button mushrooms.  Close-ups of the dishes again.

I think this was one of my favourite, the Fried Golden Tofu which was crispy on the outside and so soft inside that it melted in the mouth. They added some green mashed veggies into the tofu.

Oh, and happy birthday, Pa! May you have a long and healthy life!

:D

His Holiness the Dalai Lama wearing a souvenir cap from the winter olympics in Vancouver that was presented to him by a student. His Holiness is signing a book during a break in the Delhi teachings, March 20th, 2010.

Rare to see this Living Guan Yin wearing a cap.
Om ah hum!!!

Have a great Sunday, everyone!!! ;D

Hipstamatic

Playing with Hipstamatic app in iPhone. I love it.

"Digital photography never looked so analog. The Hipstamatic brings back the look, feel, unpredictable beauty, and fun of plastic toy cameras of the past! The Hipstamatic keeps the the quirks of shooting old school but gives you the ability to swap lenses, film, and flash settings all with the swipe of a finger."

Electric dreams

One of my colleagues posted in Facebook this song from the movie "Electric Dreams" in the 1980s. What an ancient movie! I remember watching this movie when I was still a kid and absolutely love both theme songs "Love is love" by Culture Club and this one below "Together in Electric Dreams" by Phil Oakley. Ahhh..... nostalgic.  Listening to this tonight made me smile. :D

He made my day

Since my last post about being in extreme moods these days, I was still not faring better today. But this famous writer/physician, Deepak Chopra, made my day. I have blogged about how I love Dr Chopra's writings and advice on different issues. And I love his daily random quotes in tweets a lot.

Today, he tweeted and asked this question "Can the concept of existence exist outside consciousness? Is existence sentience itself?" 

So I replied him in tweet:  "Consciousness defines existence, for without which existence is simply non-existent."

Dr Chopra replied and RT my tweet: "I love this answer". 

I thanked him, my honour really. He made my day.  :D

Bimi Kaiho

One of the evenings, met up with a dear friend whom I've not seen for a long time. We went to my favourite Japanese restaurant at International Plaza, Tanjong Pagar.

Bimi Kaiho Japanese Restaurant is a quaint little restaurant which has been my regular haunt for the past few years. The quality of their Jap food is fantastic, run by an amicable Jap guy. They are pretty crowded during lunch time where they serve set lunch meals as well as ala carte items. In the evenings it is more quiet and an excellent place for  a quiet cosy dinner and intimate conversation, over a bottle of Sake.   

I miss their Bento sets which range from $16-$20. What we have at Bimi Kaiho was thoroughly worth it. For $20 per bento set, you get: 

- Very fresh Tempura prawns and veggies

- Unagi (or you can change it to Sashimi)

- Chawanmuchi

- California Maki (1 piece)

- Tamago (egg)

- Salad (very delightful!)

- Sticky rice

- Miso soup

- Fruits 

- Tea

Compared to those horrible bento sets we get in foodcourts which costs about $10 per bento set and half the items available with lousy quality, I would say the Bento set in Bimi Kaiho is EXCELLENT. There are many other unique ala carte dishes you can try too.

Bimi Kaiho Restaurant

#02-28, International Plaza, 10 Anson Road

Singapore 079903. Tel: 62202262

After dinner, we took a stroll to The Pinnacle@Duxton where my friend's pad was. It is the latest new  iconic housing project in Singapore's public housing history, with many unique features that set it apart from other HDB housing projects. Located at Cantonment, it is the first 50-storey public housing project in Singapore, housing 1,848 apartments in 7 towering blocks. It is also the first in the world with 2 unique skybridges linking the 7 blocks at the 26th and 50th storey. The skybridges create possibly the longest continuous skygardens in the world, offering panoramic views of the city skyline.

I caught a breathtaking 360 degree view of the night skyline of the city and even beyond Sentosa, in fact, all over Singapore. There were running tracks along the sky gardens as well as function rooms, and park. I wish I'm staying there. The view at 50th storey was really great, cooling with winds and a nice end to the evening.

Swimming in the sea of noise

Ironic as the title sounds... when you're submerged in water, you are actually engulfed by silence... and instead, I hear 'noise'.

Truth be told. These 2 months have been nothing but meandering between extreme fluctuating moods which set me thinking a lot. A lot. One moment I could be  at an all-time high exuberant mood because of the most auspicious and fortunate events that  had happened to me, about spirituality, my gurus, and my extremely good fortune in having all of that to bless me.  On the other hand, other times, the mood could be at an extreme low, despondent and one of bewilderment as I observed the people and things happening around me.

Been pretty occupied in doing other stuff and hanging out with real life friends, as well as getting to know more online friends, almost all of whom are strangers. And because of my observation and time spent in doing just that, I've been pretty behind in updating this blog. Been in a blogging rut / rot. I actually have a lot on my mind and much stuff to write, but words just could not materialise when I was sitting in front of the laptop. It's like having something to say, but nothing came out. It was like something stuck in my throat. Whilst nothing and silence from my side, on the other hand, I 'see' and kept hearing the 'noise' from the digital world, specifically, online news, Facebook, Twitter and what-nots. For example, while the entire Singapore seemed to be embroiled in the Jack Neo (aka. Tiger Woods)'s scandal, I could not have been bothered the least. What people did behind closed doors was none of my business, the unfortunate thing was because Jack is famous. Which very rich and famous man  has not strayed and has been truly faithful in a marriage, I wonder? Not that I condone his deeds, but who am I to judge him? Let his God, family and wife do that. Give the couple space and time to heal.

Another thing why I stopped tweeting regularly was, it has become too addictive reading and tweeting stuff with my 'friends' there, many of whom are strangers. Too much stuff to absorb even though I mostly skimmed through. Most are nice people, I'm sure, but I am at times appalled at some of the stuff people tweeted, ranted, cried foul over, the angst  and anger. Sometimes too personal. Some tweeters are students and teenagers, but most are young working adults. I am amazed some of them can be online and tweeting all the time 24 hours a day.  It is like their lives revolve around Twitter, which is pretty astonishing to me, no matter how fanatically I embrace the social media. Some stuff I read from one or two tweeters made me cringe (I know, I know, I can always 'unfollow', but then again....).  I prefer to chat with the few regular nice buddy buddy ones whom I know. It boils down to what was the acceptable limit to me.  It came to a point where I could not bear to hear the "noise"  people make over the slightest littlest everyday things that happened to them. All the gossiping irritated me. Even real life noise from people's chatter irritated me at times. I thought, if people find the need to constantly engage in mindless gossiping with others, it shows how desperate these people are to prove to others they are right and happy and not alone. However, it somehow shows the opposite. So I learned to 'switch off' for a while.

And just this morning, when I routinely opened up to check Facebook, I was shocked to see that someone has posted some videos of a naked girl in his facebook profile. The girl looked familiar and I immediately recognised her and her name. She was a girlfriend's bestie. I do not know the girl personally but have seen her a couple of times before. I presumed the guy who posted the videos was a spurned ex-lover or someone close to her to resort to this. I was quite sad and shocked. I am considering reporting the guy, even though (again) it is none of my business. This is the first time being "online" made me so tired. Tired of all the unreal and hurtful stuff people do in the internet. Breathless.
 

It was during one of these 'breathless' moments, it suddenly dawned upon me something I had learnt from one of the teachings (in regards to a guideline for a practice)  "Do not be close to malevolent people".  While as Buddhists, we have to respect each and everyone we meet, even those we do not like, or those who hate us, our enemies.... at the same time, we have to try to steer clear of people who can potentially harm us, from thos people who have ill intentions towards us, whether mentally, physically, or psychologically, and especially those who try to sway /pull us away from the Dharma path.  We need to avoid association with people who may be detrimental to our beliefs and practice. We must learn to protect ourselves and prevent ourselves from all the sources which are weakening our mind further. I have tried to advise one or two fellas whom I think is going towards something they should not (because I know the heartaches and hurt they are going to bump into) but it fell on deaf ears, and I was misunderstood instead.  So much for being a busybody. Have I exposed myself to malevolent people unwittingly? I am still not enlightened, I am still a suffering human being. But I know I have the higher beings' blessings and protection at the same time. Yet maybe because of these tiny realizations I get, I have become even more sensitive to external harmful forces, which explains why I'm feeling this way.  (Patience) testing times indeed.

Allow me to get back to my normal self. Stay blessed. In the meantime...

Silence is a source of great strength. - Lao Tzu

Souperlicious

You wouldn't believe me if I told you I have not been to The Soup Spoon for more than 5 years. Well, I really didn't. Blame it on the huge number of restaurants available in Singapore, that you would be spoilt for choice.

One late afternoon I had a late lunch at about 3pm. And finally decided to have soup.

One of my favourite is Mushroom Soup. Even the regular size is big enough portion for me, which came with a steaming hot bun. The chunky bits of mushroom made the supposedly light meal quite filling, but it was soooo good.

Another favourite I usually order is Pumpkin Soup. I could take pumpkin soup everyday. I even particularly like the Chinese pumpkin cake (Kim Kuay Kueh) which is selling in the wet market but fast becoming a rare sight.

We shared the Tikka Chicken which has spicy curry flavour and the sour yoghurt sauce to dip in. A completely souperlicious meal.

Macs extra big breakfast!

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Half a favour?

One of the days, was visiting and hanging out with buddy and her 2 kids.  I love kids, so I like to be around her 6-year-old son and 8-month-old girl.  The boy was bored and was dragging boxes of toys to play. He asked me to help him.

Boy: Can you reach that box of Lego for me? (box was out of reach from him)

Me:  Ok, sure (handed the box to boy)

Boy: Can you do me a favour? 

Me:  What is it? 

Boy: Bring the box to the other room for me.

Me: You cannot bring it there yourself? 

Boy: No, you've got to bring it there for me.

Me: Ok..... (followed him to another room)

Boy: Next, you've got to bring that (another toy) over here as well.

Me: Why? I've already done you a favour by bringing this one, right?

Boy: No, that is only half a favour. 

Me: ???? A favour is a favour. There is no such thing as half a favour, boy.

Boy: No, that was only half a favour. The other half of the favour is you've got to bring me the other box and then play with me. 

Me: *speechless*

Wow, I'm amazed. Kids are so smart at "negotiating", not that I gave in to his favour (be it half or whole or it could have become a quarter?) because didn't want to spoil him.  I wished I was that smart when I was a kid.  Kids these days... *palm on face* ..... I lose.  Haha!  :D

Nice sunny day!

The buzzing bee

A Venerable related a very short story in one of the teachings. It was said that Chenrezig (who is also known as the 1000-Armed Guan Yin, Goddess of Mercy), once manifested as a bee, to thousands of worms who were dying in a pool.  Unlike humans, animals and insects do not and can never learn nor understand the Dharma. So the bee, through its fluttering wings, with its buzzing sound of Guan Yin's compassionate mantra "om mani padme hum" hovering above the dying worms.  The bee/Buddha expounded the Dharma to the poor worms. The worms immediately died and were reborn in a higher realm as human beings. 

The morale of the story is, once you are ready or once your karma ripens, the Buddha will come in any form to guide you, to inspire you, to liberate you. We have no karma to meet the Buddha until our karma ripens. Hence we are only able to have realizations through the appearance and the guidance of a guru. In this story here, the guru appeared in the form of a bee to the dying worms. Hence we know that the Buddha is definitely working to help us in the form of a guru or teacher.

And I leave you with a video of my precious guru, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who is liberating animals everyday, by chanting mantras to them and blessing the surroundings.