Home Sweet Home

A fantastic weekend back at home in Malacca. Really, there's no place like home. Bless the Sultan of Selangor for having his birthday on a Saturday. =)

Woke up at 7 o'clock this morning. In my opinion, there's no better way to start off such fine morning than bringing my dog, AhGal out for a walk. My sis and Ethan came along too. After we got back, I made us breakfast, fried rice. After that, mom and I went out for grocery shopping in Tesco.

Around 2 o'clock, I started my baking experiments with the recipes I found online. They were the Vegan Chocolate Cake and the Sticky Vegan Cinnamon Roll. Vegan means free of animal products, which means there's no egg or milk used in these recipes. And you know what, they tasted just as good, or even better!

Just wanna share some photos of my hard work of one well-spent afternoon!

The Vegan Chocolate Cake

The Sticky Cinnamon Roll

Without icing

With icing

The same oven ever since I was in primary school. Amazing, except the burnt bulb.

My music- Yiruma =)

The custom-made 'forceps' by grandpa for mom (to remove hot pans from the oven)

Life Ain't Bad

Drifted off to sleep yesterday reading John Grogan's Life Is Like A Sailboat and listening to Justin Bieber's Pray.

I was reading this part about kindness, true stories shared by readers of his column. Mom who donated her brain-dead son's organs; stranger who offered shoes to someone with broken sandals; taxi driver who returned accidentally tipped $70; someone in the queue who offered a desperate mom her number; local who drove lost tourists back to their hotel, and a whole lot more. I particularly like this one line from a person who refused a reward for returning an important briefcase: 'I'm just going to sleep better, knowing I did what I should have done.'. Now if everyone thinks the same way as he does, utopia might not be that unreachable. Why not lend a hand to those in need, given the chance? You might just make his or her day. And to my favourite author, John Grogan, thanks for reminding me that there is still the bright side of humanity when my compassion for fellow humans is gravely stricken by the headlines made up of crimes.

I was also checking out Nigahiga's videos last night. Then I thought of Justin Bieber all of a sudden, so I checked out his channel as well and saw this MV, Pray. Love it. It reminds me that the world is as big as it is, fortunes as unfair, and there is always something larger, something that shouts for attention from people who are too caught up in their own lives like me. While I'm fretting over the occasional little troubles, I fail to notice that there are some other people living on this same planet who face even greater challenges which I doubt myself can handle. By comparison, they make my problem a laugh. (Not that I can really laugh off it) There are always things that we can do to help. Skip that ice-cream, walk that short way, put back that dress, save the money, and donate it.

These two are the things that have touched my heart. Hope that you can check them out, and let them touch yours too.