Katsu Don

Katsu Don has been one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It turns out that making it is not so hard and really good.

Ingredients for the tonkatsu:
5-6 pieces skinless & boneless porkchops
flour
2 eggs, beaten
panko bread crumbs
salt, pepper and meat tenderizer (optional)

Method:
Sprinkle salt, pepper and meat tenderizer on the porkchop
Put flour and tap the excess flour
Dip it into the egg
Put the panko onto the pork, and pat them well
Put it into the oven 425 F for 8-10 minutes each side
Once done, sliced each tonkatsu about 1-1.5 cm wide.

Tonkatsu, fresh from the oven

Ingredients for the katsu don:

1 sachet Dashi No Moto powdered soup stock, mix with 1 1/2 cup of water

4 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs mirin
1 tbs sugar
1/2 onion
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:
Put the stock into the pan in medium heat
Add in sugar, soy sauce and mirin

Put the onion and simmer for a few minutesPut in the tonkatsu slices into the pan, simmer for a few minutes on low heat

Pour the eggs over and cover the pan with lid. Simmer for few minutes.Then it's done! Place the pork on top of Japanese rice. Enjoy! :)

@ Work

Richard and I recently watched a sermon from Northpoint church entitling "@ Work". It's a very simple message, yet it's very true, relevant and applicable to our daily life. Quoted from the description of the message: Many of us will spend half of our lives at work. Yet research tells us that over 80 percent of us are dissastified with our jobs, feeling fearful and frustrated most of the time. This message, Jeff Henderson (the speaker) offers a perspective on work that could forever change your experience "on the job". I highly encourage you to listen and watch it yourself. There's 3 parts sermon, I just watched the first part.

I will write it down for a reminder to myself.

Some of us, or most, we are trapped. We are frustrated, stressed with our job, but at the same time we are fearful that we might lose the job that gives us so much frustration. How ironic!

God created the idea of work. Work was God's idea. We should discover God's original idea purpose of work. We should connect the purpose of work and the purpose of you. We will never understand the purpose at work until we understand the purpose of work.

So what is the purpose of work? Is it for paying the bill? Identity? purpose? success?
None of these are God's original idea of work.

Going back all the way into the Book of Genesis:
Many of us believe that the idea of work starts in Genesis 3:17 -- "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it, all the days of your life. "
Work is not introduced to us as a curse; but in Gen 2:15 -- The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Before the fall of the sin, God gave work to man, not as a curse, but as a blessing. Just like God who created the heaven and earth, who "worked" for six days, so much that He enjoyed it, that He wanted men to enjoy work as much as God did. So, work is a blessing.

The purpose of work
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

What does working for the Lord mean?
You work for Jesus. Whatever it is that you do, it reflects upon Jesus.

Marthin Luther once said: the men who sweeps the kitchen floor is doing the will of God, just as much as the monk who prays, not because he might sing praises and hymns while he sweeps, but God likes clean floor :)

The purpose of my life @ work is to show that God is @ work in my life.

Roti Sosis Keju = Sausage & Cheese Bread

I have enough of making Indonesian cheesecake + pandan chiffon cake.. I only know these two particular cake to make, sometimes it's a success, but most of the time, the cake did not turn out so well, either it's the beating or folding the egg/batter, the cake become deflated in the process or the unmoulding part. Anyway, since I've bought a stand mixer a month ago, I want to bake more often so the pricey mixer will be worth it.

So I decided to try making bread. I adapted the recipe from Yossi's recipe in her blog. Yeye also shared her knowledge. I must admit though, making bread is really time consuming. A lot of proofing stages.. I think the whole process took me about 4 hours. As Yossi said, the recipe yielded 8 breads. If I don't have a stand mixer, I don't think I will make more of these. The dough was kneaded for about 30 mins using a mixer. Plus later on, the rolling the dough etc etc.


I think I put them in the oven for too long, or the temperature is too high. It's a little bit burned and quite crispy at the top part. :P But Richard and I really like it. We ate 4 of them shortly after the bread came out fresh from the oven.

A day with Jasmine

I still have 5 more months until I start my new job at Deloitte. So from now til then, I don't have specific things to do. Being a good and responsible housewife is of course my duty of all time. However, aside from keeping the house clean, preparing lunch and dinner and doing some admin/finance stuffs, I usually spend 80% of my time in front of my computer browsing here and there, and also watch TV and Netflix. I have prayed to God for wisdom to use my time effectively, however, if there's no one's asking for help or no pressure or anything like that, I am just busy with myself. I know that God has a purpose for me during this waiting period, but I am just too lazy to figure it out :(

Anyway, I thank God for the opportunity to babysit Jasmine yesterday. A long time ago, I told her mom that I would like to play with Jasmine one day. I like little kids. After a good friday service at my church, I casually talked with her mom, and somehow it happened that her mom asked if I would be willing to babysit Jasmine on Monday since her daycare is closed for Easter that day. Of course, I was more than happy to say yes. I babysat Jasmine from morning around 10am until 5 or so. She was being good, very easy to manage, and did not cry at all. Thank God!


God answered my prayer in one way or another. I used that day wisely :) What's better way to spend the day than to help a friend in need. Her mom wrote me a card that said I am an angel for her family in time of need. Hehehehe.. What a compliment! Thanks ci Elisse. It feels good that I can be a blessing for others.