Aha!  It is time to put a big smile on your face!  Why?

*Because we are alive
*Because we are in good health
*Because we are surrounded by our loved ones
*Because we don’t have to starve
*Because we have a job
*Because we can do what we like (legal activities :D)
*Because we can travel
*Because we learn a bit more every single day
*Because we are not perfect but we love who we are!

And etc…etc…etc…

Shouldn’t we be grateful and thankful?

So, remember!  Be positive and be inspired at all times!  You’ll do great things and achieve tremendous results!

Have a fabulous day every day!

I started to cook “again” for myself while I was living alone for the last quarter of 2011.  It was about 8 years ago when I last touched the stove.

I try to make things easy, but it seems not really easy.  The easiest way is to go to a restaurant or a hawker stall to have my meals, but there is not much choice in my area (since I am a vegetarian), and it is neither economically efficient nor healthy.

Therefore, I cooked my own meals “sometimes”.

There was one time I cooked 60% of dried mushroom with 40% of green (it seems like an unusual ratio), because I didn’t buy enough vegetables.

This recipe is given by SiewPeng, and it is very easy to prepare.

I cut the carrots, potatoes and tomatoes into pieces, boil them in water and add some salt, done!  - My favorite soup.

Another meal I like to cook is the porridge.  I do not have to measure how much water I need to add to the rice, and just put all the ingredients into it.

To make life easier, I prefer to use an electronic stove, I am also worried about explosion if I use a gas cylinder.

I also ate some canned food.

I fried hash brown.  I have a few metal bowls, the reflection makes the food seems like duplicated.

These are the ingredients I added into my porridge.

These are the ingredients I used for frying spiral macaroni.

50% of spiral macaroni + 50% of add-on (mixed-vegi, greens and mushroom).

This is tomato version of fried spiral macaroni.

I fried rice twice only after I have got a rice cooker.

Sometimes I used shortcut when I was lazy to prepare food. - Instant Noodle.  However, I don’t like the taste.

This was even easier.

I bought an apron and used it not only when I was cooking, but also when I washed dishes to prevent water splashing onto my clothes.

The tough part of my life has gone because now SiewPeng has joined me for a new living environment.  She prepared the most delicious food for me, and I want to thank her.

Next I will show you the food I ate in restaurants, sometimes with my colleague, sometimes I ate alone, and sometimes I bought it and ate at home.

A new year has just arrived on our doorstep.  Are you ready to open the door and welcome the future?  There is a very good Chinese saying.  A day’s plan starts in the morning, a year’s plan starts in spring.  Have you listed out your 2012 resolutions?  If you haven’t, it is never too late to do it.

I am sure that everybody must have been through many different stages in life.  Sometimes, it takes a lot of courage to move out of our comfort zone and deal with the challenges which lie ahead of us.  Let’s be stronger this year and face all the hardship that we have been running away from!

Wishing everybody a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012!

I found a small “GuanYin” statue in the temple’s garden.

The yellow flag with red borders.

And a incense burner which is roofed.

We walked up the hill and found this gourd-shaped big red pot.  It is used for planting bamboo.  As I know bamboo (especially purple bamboo) is related to “GuanYin”.

Another big pot.

Turtle from top view.

The red Chinese word on the stone is pronounced as “Nian” which means “Thought“.  This single word is formed by 2 sub-word.  The upper part is “Jin1” which means current moment, and lower part is “Xin1” which mean heart.  When 2 words combined become 1 word, it means what is currently in your heart = thought.

This is the beauty of Chinese word.

The word “Nian” actually cannot be exactly defined by the word “thought”.  The meaning is close but the concept might be different.

I believe that “thought” is as powerful as action, and it is actually an action in our mind which will lead to create another potential action.

I keep on telling myself that positive thought is important.

I like this word on the stone and I took photos of it from different distances and angles.

To be continued … … in Part 3.

I have drawn a petola sponge using a computer software.  It is messy, just like what is happening now in my mind which is overloaded with programming codes.  I need a break to tidy up the messy lines.

I am going to do a half marathon (21 km run) again to release my tension.

Similar to what I have drawn?

This is the actual Petola sponge, read my previous post to know more about it.