Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Chopin



I just spent the morning listening to Chopin. The music makes this gorgeous fall morning even more breath-taking. All's well when there are Chopin's nocturnes and concertos!

Here's Mauritzio Pollini, my father's favorite pianist (other than his grand-daughters) playing Nocturne no. 8 op. 27 no. 2 , offering salve for the soul!

Don't you just love this nocturne and Mr. Pollini?

Sunday, August 28, 2011

The Two Sides of God's Mercy


Photography by A. Monaco


I had an "ah-ha" moment last night about divine grace and human responsibility when reading Tim Keller's book, Ministries of Mercy, The Call of the Jericho Road. One mind-boggling teaching of the church for me is how we are saved by God's grace but yet called to work out our salvation. In this book, Keller is not so much addressing this difficult concept but rather the Christian's responsibility of extending justice and mercy. However, as a good theologian, before he addresses what we are to do, he reminds us of what God has done.

Here's a paraphrased version of the passage from Keller's book that provided that "ah-ha" moment for me:
When God's grace first comes to us, it comes unconditionally, regardless of whether we deserved his mercy toward us. His mercy is 'unconditional' in that God calls us with the gospel before we show any interest or desire of him (Romans 3:9-18), while we still have no regard, respect for him or care about him. But though God's mercy comes without conditions, it does not proceed without conditions! God demands our cooperation in how we grow after we have been touched by his grace. Why? Because he loves us and we can only be happy if we are holy. God cannot leave us in the condition he found us. He therefore demands our co-operation with his mercy. We must give ourselves to studying the Bible, to spending time in prayer with God, to the practice of the truths that is taught in the Bible. If we do not, we will not grow.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Sin is Crouching at the Door! But at which side of the door?

I recently read Genesis 4 again - the sordid tale of Cain murdering Abel. It hit me as I read verses 6-7, that part where God warned Cain that sin is crouching at the door, that I had often viewed it as an external object waiting to pounce on Cain. It then occurred to me that I must also often think of sin as something external. It is the evil around me that makes me sin. But is it? I can rebuff the evil around me, but I cannot rule over what is not my domain. I can however rule over what is within my control and power, what is within my own heart. That crouching sin that is ready to pounce on me is within me, not out there somewhere in the form of an external notion, person or thing. I also think that, like Cain, I am quite aware of when I am about to sin, when I am about to succumb to self-indulgence, when I am about to act out on my own terms. I hope I hear God's gracious warning that I can and must rule over my wrongful desire before it festers and devours me and the people around me!

"The LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.'"
Genesis 4:6-7

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

From Chopin to Saint Saens




About this time last year, our daughter Kathryn delighted us with her senior piano recital. Friends are still raving about how elegantly and passionately she rendered each piece. My favorites from the program are Chopin's Nocturne, Opus 9, No. 1 and Saint-Saens Concerto in G Minor, Opus 22. Her recital and her sister's art show were the highlights of the year for me! Kathryn is off to college now; I so miss hearing her daily practice on the piano.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Thy Lord is Risen!

Easter
by George Herbert (1593-1633)

RISE heart ; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise
Without delayes,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With him mayst rise :
That, as his death calcined thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much more just.

Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art.
The crosse taught all wood to resound his name
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.

Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song
Pleasant and long :
Or since all music is but three parts vied,
And multiplied ;
O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with his sweet art.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Art Show




Around this time last year, our daughter Lauren delighted us with a well-crafted presentation of her work at her senior art show at Washington University in St. Louis. I was so impressed by how poised she was as she presented to a crowded auditorium. Time flies...can't believe it has been nearly a year!! That was one of our family's highlights of the year.

Here are the links to her website and blog. Enjoy!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Banana Cream Shasta Daisies




Aren't these daisies absolutely gorgeous? It was a beautiful weekend in Dallas. I bought some plants and filled the pots in our backyard. These Banana Cream Shasta daisies are by far my favorites! They are perennials; so hopefully with some tlc, they will bloom not only through the spring and summer, but continue to thrive year after year.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Airy Bedrooms



House Beautiful



Country Homes Interiors

I know I'm procrastinating! I have two major papers due but instead of working on them, I'm looking at interior design magazines and websites! My daughter Kathryn said she loves white crisp bedrooms. Here are a few which I think she would appreciate. Enjoy, Kathryn! Back to work for me!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Afternoon Tea




"Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
-- Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

I can't agree more fully with Henry James! Our family has spent many an afternoon delighting over tea -- from intimate teas at home to elegant affairs at the Waldorf. We unwind as well as celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, recitals with tea, sandwiches, cakes, and scones with Devonshire cream! Afternoon tea necessitates the slowing of time. It evokes the joys of companionship, of unhurried conversation, of beauty and elegance, and of much-needed relaxation. Oh, the joy and necessity of Afternoon Tea!

Life is Beautiful


Photography by A. Monaco

Just by living, we know that life can be hard and at times filled with great disappointments, pain and sorrow. The Bible does not offer a cure to our painful existence in so many words. We do not find a methodology on how to avoid or alleviate pain and suffering. Neither do we find a philosophy or even a conclusive understanding of why we suffer. In Scripture, we do however find a God who offers Himself to broken humanity throughout history, culminating in the gift of God the Son who entered our world, taking upon himself all the worst ugliness this world has to offer and changed forever what it means to live in the midst of that ugliness (paraphrasing Professor Stuntz). Life is beautiful and hopeful because God has entered into every nook and cranny of our lives. Scripture presents to us life for what it is, and a loving God on whom we could cling to in life's journey.

Friday, March 25, 2011

You Will Call, and I Will Answer

I was alerted to this very raw and honest interview with William Stuntz, well-loved Harvard professor of criminal law, who suffered from chronic pain and cancer, by one of his students. But before I give you the link to the interview, I would like to share a portion of the testimonry he gave at Park Street Church, Boston.

This is an excerpt of his testimony as recorded by Timothy Dalrymple of Patheos.

First, he said, God redeems, working through the curses of our lives to bring about blessing. "I may never know precisely what form that redemption takes, and that's fine with me. It's enough to know that I do not, and we do not, suffer pointlessly. Our God delights in taking the worst things in life and using them to produce the best things in life." This is essential to God's identity, and "it's an incomparably large gift."

Second, God restores, returning to us a portion of the dignity our afflictions have stolen from us. The sights and smells of cancer, he said, were foul. Sometimes it felt "as though the clothes I was wearing were soaked in sewage. Long before it kills, cancer steals the dignity and the beauty from life. It is as though tumors inside me were attacking whatever small pieces of good and decency that were in me." Yet the thief of cancer, the destroyer of suffering, does not have the last word. God entered into the pain and ugliness of our condition, and this changes everything. "It's part of this world's deep magic that when the One Man, who is so supremely beautiful that his existence defines beauty—when that one man took on himself all the worst ugliness this world has to offer, he changed forever what it means to live in the midst of that ugliness, to live in the midst of pain and loss and hardship. My disease may be ugly . . . But I am not, and thanks be to God for that. I no longer need to wear those foul clothes that cancer spun for me. God the Son gave me cleaner clothes to wear, clothes I did not buy and do not deserve. He elevates all he touches, and he has touched ultimate suffering and he has also touched me." This too is an incomparably great gift.

Third, God remembers, holding us in his heart even in the worst of our sufferings. "Memory for God is not a matter of recall; it's about a love so passionate and powerful that it overwhelms all it touches." God "remembers each one of us in our worst moments the way the Prodigal's Father remembered his lost son, the way a lover remembers a long-lost beloved." [He then] cited what had become a favorite passage from the Bible:

You will call, and I will answer. You will long for the creature your hands have made. Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sins (Job 14:15-16).

His voice began to break as he read those words. Think, he said, about the second sentence. "God not only forgives my many and awful sins. He longs for me, and he longs for you too. And he will not rest until he has us secure in his hold."

He concluded: "Standing with us in the midst of those curses is the God who longs to redeem and restore and remember and wrap you in his arms. And if there is one thing I have learned in the midst of cancer and chronic pain, it is this: God is larger and stronger and more powerful than the worst disease."


Professor Stuntz is now with our Lord Jesus who had entered into his pain and the ugliness of his condition; he is now with the God who longed for him. He died March 15, 2011. Here's the link to the interview.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Chicken Cacciatore


My daughter asked for my tried and true chicken cacciatore recipe. The sauce is rather flavorful with a touch of capers, lemon zest, white wine and vinegar. Here below is the recipe.

CHICKEN CACCIATORE
Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teasp salt
¼ teasp ground pepper
3 lbs chicken parts, rinsed and dried
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 medium shallots, finely chopped
2 medium green bell peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into ½ inch dice
1 14 ½ ounce can whole peeled Italian plum tomatoes, crushed, with juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
8 ounces mushrooms, preferably short-stem, wiped clean with a damp paper towel, trimmed, and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
½ cup pitted oil-cured black olives
2 tablespoons drained capers
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in the mixture, shaking off excess flour.
3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Cook chicken in batches, about 5 minutes per batch, turning until pieces are browned evenly. Transfer the browned chicken to a medium bowl and reserve until ready to use.
4. Reduce heat to low and add the garlic, shallots, bell peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, and mushrooms. Then add the wine, vinegar, and basil, and cover. Stirring occasionally, cook vegetables for about 15 minutes or until just tender. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the olives, capers, lemon zest, and reserved chicken.
5. Transfer the mixture to a 3 to 4-quart baking dish and bake, covered, for 1 hour or until chicken juices run clear when chicken is pierced in thickest part.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Peranakan Houses




I am now back in the United States. Before I leave blogging about Singapore altogether, I feel I need to round out my write-up about Singapore architecture, having mentioned the colonial black and whites and the more typical contemporary houses. Any entry about Singapore architecture would not be complete without mention of the unique Peranakan houses as well as the more preponderous HDB flats. This post presents the quaint Peranakan row houses, homes of the Straits Chinese in the 18th C to early 20th C.

Peranakans are acculturated Chinese of Southeast Asia (particularly Singapore and Malaysia) who have adopted the ways of the local Malays and later, the Colonial British, when they migrated to the region in the 18th C. They have created an eccletic and fascinating lifestyle, its influences still evident today in its cuisine, fashion, language, and architecture. I am a Peranakan on my father's side. My grandmother wore sarong kebayas and beaded slippers (I'll have to blog on the colorful fashion at another time). My grandfather was a big fan of Shakespeare. Sadly, they did not live in a delightful Peranakan house like one of these pictured above. The above shots of Peranakan row houses on Emerald Hill are by courtesy of Toast and Nutella.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

What is a life worth living?


Recently, a family member said she wonders if my mother's life is worth living. My mother is in her mid-80's, strickened with several ailments. She has limited mobility and a failing eyesight. There also appears to be an onset of dementia. Is her life worth living?

Photography by A. Monaco


I looked at that family member. She is at the prime of her life, active, with a mind like a steel trap. She is extremely motivated, traveling the world chasing after the almighty dollar. Is her wealthy life, I ask, worth living?

I was at the hairdresser a couple of days ago. I sat next to a woman who came in huffing and puffing. She said she was so busy. The hairdresser asked her what she was so busy about? She said she's busy shopping. Is such a busy life worth living?

The doctors I met at the hospital were brilliant with their diagnosis but lacking in compassion. Are their brilliant lives worth living?

A young professional at a table next to mine at a cafe talked about his weekend of hard partying, of getting wasted and having gratuitious sex. Is his ambitious life worth living?

The woman behind me on the plane boasted about her many accomplishments and derided just about everybody she knew. Is her accomplished life worth living?

What determines a life worth living? Who determines a life worth living?

Thursday, January 27, 2011

No Accounting for Taste




Hope you enjoyed the photos of the black and white houses in Singapore in my previous post. The above are more typical of the bungalows found in Singapore. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder...but if there's beauty or grace to these houses, it is lost to this beholder!! There's no accounting for taste, obviously. These houses could probably sell in today's Singapore market for US$2-3 million! Evidently wealth and good taste do not always go hand in hand.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Black and White





Pictures by Munshi Ahmed

I am in general not a big fan of Singapore architecture. But the black-and-white houses of the colonial era are my all time favorites. This afternoon, on the way to purchase some Lunar New Year plants in the Upper Thompson area, my cousin and I drove through the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. I was captured by the view of one elegant black-and-white home after another. These black-and-whites thrived during the late 19th C to right before WWII in Singapore, built to house the British officials and their families. They are quite large and airy to accommodate the tropical climate, built on relatively large parcels of land, surrounded by lush greenery. They are such a pleasant contrast to the modern, cramp style of the majority of Singapore's contemporary homes.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Steamboat

Picture from bestmalaysianfood.com

I am now in Singapore to celebrate Chinese New Year with my mom. After a busy season of getting ready for Thanksgiving, Christmas and NewYear, I’m just not fired up for yet another celebration. Besides, it's been over thirty years since I’ve been back in Singapore for the Lunar New Year. Maybe if I focus on one aspect of the celebration at a time, I may be well prepared when the New Year rolls around on Feb. 3, and may even come to enjoy the process.

I thought I would start planning the reunion dinner which is celebrated on the eve. My mother traditionally serves “steamboat” which consists of a large pot of stock, into which everyone at the table adds in the various meats and vegetables. I looked at several recipes and came up with a version of my own that is not too elaborate and over the top.

RECIPE

Broth (store-bought such as Swanson’s Chicken is fine)

Meat
chicken, de-boned, sliced thinly, marinated with soy sauce and corn flour
fish fillet, sliced thinly
shrimps, shelled, marinated with salt n pepper
squid, scored in sliced, marinated with salt and pepper
scallops
fishballs
stuffed tofuballs
wontons (parboiled)

Vegetables
Chinese cabbage
lettuce
spinach
choysum (mustard greens)
tofu, in cubes
fresh shiitake i mushrooms

Noodles
mifun, ho fun etc, soaked and blanched

Dips
Chilli sauce
Oyster sauce
Soy sauce

Direction
1. Cook each item separately, starting with the meats.
2. Add the noodles towards the end.
3. Scoop into individual bowls. Enjoy

Sunday, January 16, 2011

A Little Daydreaming


A little overwhelmed by the congestion and slick sterile high-rises in Singapore, these pictures provide some reprieve. Multi-million dollar condos in Singapore could never compete with any of these quaint cottages, ever, in my mind.