sonya kitchell - can't get you

this girl is only 17 and man can she sing!
she's got the raspy vocals of rachael yamagata,
the soulfulness of norah jones and she plays jazz guitar.
awesome stuff.

grace flows down

it's amazing how God works when you least expect it.
as i was reflecting upon the week's events, i realised that i had a lot to be thankful for -
more so this week than others.

firstly, a couple of items i had been praying about were answered surprisingly quickly.

secondly, i accidentally wiped out all the documents and pictures on my computer but managed to recover most of my files after much panicking and 2 days of 'deep scanning'.

thirdly, i had the privilege of evangelising to an 11 year old african girl whom i didn't expect to evangelise to.
i had been praying for an opportunity to share the gospel with my tutee but she didn't turn up last week and i ended up working with this other girl, ayea.
while doing a crossword puzzle, the word 'sin' unexpectedly came up and gave me a chance to explain the work of Christ on the cross.
how exciting :)

it's indeed comforting to feel God working especially during this exam period
when i constantly have to remind myself to rely on Him, do my best and to give all glory to Him in everything i do.

on a random note,
i recently had the urge to listen to mr brown's podcast again.
i was listening to 'love song for singapore', their national day song which complains about the price increases.
haha it's hilarious!

You promised me paradise
Overflowing with abundant rice
I used to go for lunch buffet
Now my breakfast half a Yew Char Guay

mm i really want to eat yew char guay and tau huay now..

yummy i've got love in my tummy

mm i haven't blogged about food in a long time!

so here are photos of some of the dishes i've been eating/cooking lately :)

green tea noodle salad with salmon
i do this dish all the time cos' it's soo easy! just make your usual cha soba, pour the sauce into the noodles, throw in some salad, add salmon/roast beef and sprinkle seaweed!

asam laksa
cooked this at mel's place last week using packet based ingredients that her mum brought over from singapore. the soup turned out surprisingly well. i need to buy more and bring them back here next time!

foccacia with proschetta
yummy italian bread and ham that we had the other day. nope, i did not cook this! way beyond my limited culinary skills.

sweet chili pasta salad with prawns
this is my most recent craze. got the recipe from a pasta book that i just bought. very simple and quick dish! all you need is sesame oil, lime, watercress, coriander, fettucine and prawns. and the best part is, it only contains 2.3g of fat :)

soundtrack of my life

have you ever listened to a familiar song and then had a flashback to the moment when you first heard it or shared it with a friend?

or perhaps it was at a certain point in life when everything was a blur and yet somehow all the words seemed to make sense?

when that happens, i sometimes feel nostalgic and at the same time, grateful for the people who were around and the memories that i have of them.

pretty amazing how songs can have that effect huh?

i was sitting in the library and trying to do some readings this morning when some of these songs just kept coming up on my ipod and i just couldn't stop thinking about the memories associated with them,
so i'm going to list a few of my personal favorites :)

'the good kind' (the wreckers) -

angie and i, sitting on the floor of the NL, with our backs to each other, harmonising the chorus over and over again

brighter than sunshine (aqualung) -
sitting in an empty classroom after eka tanu's class with tiff, angie and jamie, listening to "tied up in ancient history, i look up you're standing next to me, what a feeling..." for the first time and being unanimously taken aback at the beauty of the lyrics

'when the stars go blue' (tyler hilton & bethany joy lenz) -
sitting in the ac void deck and being emo (whatever that means)

'she paints me blue' (something corporate) -
tiff stuffing a earphone into my ear excitedly and painfully after chinese class, and also introducing me to one of my favorite bands

anything jamisonparker -
tiff and i listening to it endlessly in the NL

'your ex-lover is dead' / 'calendar girl' / 'celebration guns' (stars) -
waiting for the train at buona vista and on the train to starbucks after school with angie and royston

'someday we'll know' (mandy moore) -
this one has many memories because of the many times i've sung it with and for people. the earliest memory is of jamie and i in the ac library, during one of our many vain attempts to study during free periods. other times i recall are: singing for jinglin on the phone and getting laughed at. also, singing for ying yi in person and getting laughed at. and again with jamie, singing it in person and her burying her head in my bed. i have such lovely friends.

'baby one more time' (who else?) -
this is a really old memory. it goes all the way back to 10 years ago when all i did after school was invite friends over to sing stupid songs, wear stupid clothes and jump around on the bed til' it broke, literally. this one was with you geri, if you remember at all :)

'qing tian' (jay chou) -
jamie, tiff, angie and i sitting at ac bleaches on a cool day. gee, we did sit around school a lot doing nothing but listening to our ipods. it's a wonder how all of us got decent grades.

'put your records on' (corinne bailey rae) -
i will never forget how velda excitedly claimed to know one corrinne MAY song before going for the concert. and the multiple spoofs that jess and i did after. haha. "4 little birds..."

'you and me' (lifehouse) -
mark and joshua singing in the middle of taka on the day our exams ended

'sunday best' (augustana) -
studying next to the fountain in united square starbucks - much calmness and yet anxiety, all in one place.

'mr beasley' (corrinne may) & other songs -
probably the most recent memory. just last month geri and i were singing with our ukeleles on coogee beach in sydney.

there are many many more to these. some memories too embarassing to mention because the songs were so intensely rocked out to. you know who you are.

realize.

what a fantastic concert it was!

i have to admit that she's a little shy on stage but still, so honest, down-to-earth and friendly.
plus, i love her voice and how she constantly radiates happiness. heh

unfortunately, she doesn't have a wide range of songs since she's a fairly new artist, so most were taken off her album but her covers of 'killing me softly' and 'i want you back' were pretty well done thanks to her band.

also,
her guitarist/backup singer, justin young, has a really soulful voice and plays with such passion!
was a lot of fun to watch during the show.

wheeeee
who needs drugs when you get such a high from concerts like these!

(i think if jason reeves was there too i would have just crumbled into pieces and died a happy person.)


justin young!
check out his myspace.
really good solo artist, plus he's hawaiian too :)