Untitled #2

Tonight my friend told me about his parents' young love.

His parents started dating when they were 12 years old and got married at 17. Although initially their parents disapproved of their young marriage, they have proved that love is possible no matter what age you are.

They now have 3 kids, almost 30 years into their marriage and still wildly in love ;)

When my friend told us this, all the girls' hearts at the table melted and I was so inspired to write a story...

(suggestion for a title welcome!)

The day the new Year 7s came was exciting. I could see they were nervous. Their unfaded navy polos separated us from them. At recess, we told them middle school was so much harder than primary. The teachers don’t care about you as much. You only get forty five minutes of lunch and fifteen for recess. And there was absolutely no room for crying. At all.

By lunchtime, two girls had cried of homesickness. My group of boys rolled our eyes and barged past them, rugby ball in hand.

“Christopher!” I heard my name being called out crossly.

My teacher was standing in the doorway, frowning. “I saw that you ran into Anna. Apologise to her please.”

I looked at the tiny blonde girl next to her in a pink headband and red puffy eyes from crying. I could feel my friends behind me pause to watch what I would do.

I bit my lip. “Sorry,” I shrugged at her.

She sniffed and nodded ever so timidly.

I ran to my friends and played rugby all lunch time.

The next day, I walked out of my front door with my lunch bag in hand. I turned around to swivel my backpack around when I saw the crying girl from yesterday walking on the sidewalk.

She smiled slowly and said, “You’re in my class.”

I stashed my lunch in my bag, nodded and kept walking ahead of her.

That day I remembered her name.

Anna.

After school, Anna followed me all the way home. I ran up my driveway and into the house, shutting the door firmly behind me. I couldn’t see Anna through the window, she must’ve kept on walking.

The next week I learnt she lived around the corner from me.

The next month I took out my bike and went for a ride on the streets. Anna was on her yellow bike too.

“Chris!” She called out when she saw me.

“Annaaaa.”

Her grin glinted in the afternoon sun as she rode to meet me in the middle of the road.

“You got braces,” I said.

She nodded. “Yeah, do you like them?” She bared her teeth, showing a pink row of metal.

“Yeah.”

“They hurt. I just got them today.”

“No wonder you weren’t at school.”

“Aw did you miss me?”

I laughed out loud and we biked around the cul de sac street until her mother came out of the house and waved her in.

Just before term break I learnt her mother makes delicious homemade pizza and Anna has a room all to herself.

“I have to share a room with my older brother,” I said as I glanced around her floral room.

“What’s he like?”

“Anthony? He’s in high school and he has a girlfriend.” I stuck my tongue out in disgust.

Anna looked down at her feet.

During term break Anna turned 12 and I gave her a hairclip with a daisy on it.

“My sister helped me choose,” I explained as she turned the hairclip over and over in her hand. I was afraid she might think it was girly of me to buy it.

She flashed me her braces and stuck the clip in her hair.

She reached out squeeze my hand.

She wore it every day that I saw her.

I learnt that her hair turned green in the pool, that she’s a great swimmer and I will not be able to dive as well as her, no matter how many swimming lessons I’d taken.

“You have other things you’re good at,” she shrugged as she dried her blonde- green hair by the poolside.

The next term I learnt that I’m really good at keeping secrets, but Anna... not so much.

We had gone to our classmate’s birthday party and played truth or dare. Afterwards, Anna and I biked home together. Her mother had said to us to come home together safely, so I had to wait for a long time for Anna to finish talking with her friends about lip gloss before we could head home.

It wasn’t dark yet, so Anna was still allowed to play outside and we sat on her front lawn picking grass.

“If I had to do a dare I would have nothing to do with climbing trees or heights.” Anna said decidedly.

“I can climb a tree!” I said. I stood up and approached the tree next to her house.

“Be careful,” she called out after me.

I was careful. But I slipped on the way down, fell off and skinned my knee. Anna shrieked as she ran over to me.

I learnt that her gentle touch on my bloodied knee made me feel warm. Like I would fall off any tree again and again.

Her mother put a gauze over my wound and put the two of us in the backyard where she could supervise us (me) from the kitchen.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do dares,” Anna sighed.

“Okay truths then. But truths are boring!”

“No they’re not…” she paused as she focused on stringing two daisies together. “Who do you like?”

I learnt that the world did not collapse when I told her the truth. And the sweetest sound I have ever heard was Anna repeating my sentence back to me.

“But don’t tell anyone okay?” She whispered before heading inside.

But the next day her friends knew and then the day after, everyone in the class knew. I was proud to call her mine and I dated her for five years.

Year one- I learnt that the first kiss is never perfect. But the feel of her hand in mine is.

Year two- I learnt that when we fight, the guy should always be the first to apologise and the first to wipe away her last tears.

Year three- I learnt that girls always smell nice and they’re too nice to comment on how you smell.

Year four- I learnt that Anna looks absolutely beautiful in a formal dress and I felt awkward and itchy in my first suit.

Year five- I learnt that when you love someone, why wait to marry them?

At seventeen years of age, we found ourselves hand in hand at the altar, Anna’s white gown and my tux were almost covered in rose petals. 
Our parents’ stern, disapproving faces disappeared that day and joyful tears flowed from my mother’s face like I had never seen before.

My first word to Anna was sorry.

I have said it a million times to her in our thirty years of marriage now but the only time I didn’t mean it was when I first bumped into her. I’m glad I did.

A little bit about three course meal at Starry Thai

So it was Lauren and Elisa's date time again...
It's a time where we talk about our dreams, our hopes, our respected men and marriage.

We looked on grabone that day and BOOM three course meal at Starry Thai !
$38 for two people... pretty legit.

Starry Thai
2 Stanley Street
Parnell, Auckland
Monday - Friday Lunch 11.30-3pm 

Monday - Saturday Dinner 6-9:30pm

Entree- spring rolls

and money bags, which are mince pork with thai herbs and peanuts.

Lauren got the snapper with tamarind, chilli and vegetables ($25.50)

And I got the sirloin with mandarin sauce. It had little pieces of mandarin in it.. mmm :)

I asked for it 'well-done' but it actually came out medium-rare. Pretty awks but it was still very delicious.

Dessert was warm sticky rice with coconut cream.

They have this in Indonesia, called 'ketan hitam', and it is one of my well-liked desserts.

I love Thai food!!
It is probably my favorite Asian cuisine. Thai or Japanese...
I'm not a big fan of Asian food but give me Thai any day, I'll say yes.

I thought I'd be bursting after a three course meal, but I was pretty disappointed to find that I could still eat :p But at the same time, satisfied with the meal we just shared and the conversation that took place.
So blessed to have a best friend for eternity that you know you'll see in heaven!

If you ever get the chance to dine at Starry Thai, I recommend the NZ eye fillet with Thai three taste sauce that comes on a flaming hot plate ($29.50). A bit expensive, I know but it seemed very popular!
More than 4 tables ordered it when we dined and it came sizzling on a hot plate, the waitress would then pour a shot of alcohol and light the whole plate up on fire. I could feel the heat as the table next to us ordered one.


And to conclude,
I've been sick with a cold and suspected bronchitis that just got better. But I still can't smell/ taste anything, which is why I have not been baking... I can't taste my food! :( It seriously sucks.



Signed,

Elisa Hardijanto

A little bit about Donna Hay's caramel slice recipe

I love Donna Hay.
I used to watch her shows on TV, in awe of her fluid and simple cooking.

Then I got her cookbook!!

It has amazing photography and recipes of mains, baking and dessert...

Must try:

flatbread...

sponge cakes...

 Swirl loaves...

 panna cotta!! and brioche...

creme caramel ~I LOVE CREME CARAMEL~

Because it's a Donna Hay recipe, I thought I might as well go for gold by using quality ingredients, as opposed to the usual Basics/ Home Brand I purchase :p

Including Cadbury melts- which are really good to eat by themselves too...

And using the best butter!
Just kidding- these are too good I will not use it for cooking! I bought this from The Foodshow this year (blogpost coming soon..)

I made her caramel slice, this is pretty much the exact recipe except I substituted half the chocolate for white chocolate to marble the two :)

125 gr of butter to be melted

Mix it together with the dry ingredients

Press into a lined tin with the back of a spoon, and bake until golden :)

The filling: condensed milk, golden syrup and another 125 gr of butter.
Two cans of condensed milk is a lot ae?!
Most recipes only use one, but I trust you Donna!!

Looks like creme brulee after it has been baked, doesn't it?

And then marble that chocolate... :)

Marble Caramel Slice

base:

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup brown sugar

125 gr butter, melted

filling:

1/3 cup golden syrup

125 gr butter, chopped

2 cans of sweetened condensed milk

chocolate marble top:

100 gr dark chocolate melts

100 gr white chocolate melts

1 Tbsp vegetable oil (not olive oil)

1. Place the flour, coconut, brown sugar and melted butter in a bowl and mix well to combine

2. Press into a lined slice tin with the back of a spoon

3. Bake at 180C for 15-20 mins or until golden

4. To make the caramel filling, place golden syrup, butter and condensed milk in a medium saucepan over low heat.

5. Stir until butter has melted and the caramel has thickened slightly

6. Pour over cooked, slightly cooled base and bake for a further 20 mins or until golden

7. Refrigerate until cold

8. Melt the chocolate in seperate bowls, with half a tablespoon of oil in each

9. Pour over caramel top and spread with the back of a spoon for a marble effect (You can retouch the marbling with a toothpick :)

10. Refrigerate until set then cut into slices

Tips:

~ Pour hot water over the measuring cup before pouring in the golden syrup. This makes the syrup stick less to the cup when you pour it into the saucepan.

~ When melting chocolate, use clean and not wooden utensils. Chocolate is sensitive to moisture (wood is porous, it may contain moisture) and most importantly, careful not to get water in the bowl! It will spoil the chocolate

~ When you cut the slices, dip the knife in hot water so it won't stick to the caramel
~ Same idea with cleaning the slice tin; soak it in hot water and any sticky caramel on the sides will easily wipe off

Okay, it is really really sweet. I had one square and I'm reeling from its sweetness.
Next time: Lessen the sugar and maybe one and a half can of condensed milk only. Man it's so sweet...

My action group girls loved it! Even said it's not too sweet
So when you make it, up to you really whether you reduce the sugars or not :)

I gave jt two slices wrapped in tinfoil today and he said it's the best baking I've done!

<3

So I made a limit...

And to conclude,

I like this post by my friend Dominic
http://dominusdeussabbaoth.blogspot.sg/2012/03/just-kiss-away.html

by my friend Dominic

Signed,
Elisa

A little bit about banana chocolate chip muffins with cinnamon crumble tops

A couple of months ago jt mentioned how much he likes bananas; banana cake, banana muffins, banana bread... and ever since then it's been niggling me that I should do a banana bake item.

The thing is, the bananas have to be overripe- very brown and soft for easy mashing and sweetness of flavor.

And I forget to set aside any bananas!

 But this time I made a conscious reminder for me and everybody else in the house. 

It took about 3 days for these bananas to go from edible yellow to this color.

This recipe jumped out at me because it contains golden syrup. How special!

As I browsed other recipes, I decided to add chocolate chips and a cinnamon crumble topping for extra texture.

Banana chocolate chip muffins with cinnamon crumble tops

150g butter
2 Tbsp golden syrup
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 very ripe, brown bananas, mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips (I didn't measure how much I used, maybe even up to a cup)

For the cinnamon crumble topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
20g butter

1. Melt the butter and golden syrup

2. Add vanilla essence, mashed bananas and eggs. Stir well

3. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and brown sugar with a whisk

4. Make a well in the centre and pour in butter mixture

5. Mix gently until just combined. Do not overmix

6. Spoon a tablespoon full of batter into each lined muffin tin

7. Drop a few chocolate chips and fill to the top flat with more batter

8. Put in the oven at 220C bake for no more than 5 minutes, while you make the crumble topping

9. To make the crumble topping, place ingredients in a bowl and cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs

10. Sprinkle on top of muffins and continue to bake for a further 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

Makes 12

I actually had a bit of trouble making the crumble topping (impatient) and I didn't know how to 'cut in the butter'. But mama rescued it hehee...

Note:
It is important that you do not overmix muffin mixtures. Otherwise they go hard and over-dense when they're cooked. Lumpy is fine.

I ate two straight out of the oven.

I gave jt five. During action group planning, Jeanny and Abigail had one each (she fed a piece to her fiancee, it was so cute and funny; she sanitised her hands afterwards) and JimBob was so nice, he gave us the couches to have action group! So I gave him one too and he said my bf is a lucky man. And then I was thirdwheeling the other EJ couple ("Where's-Joshua Wednesday"), and mile is always hungry so they shared a muffin and said it was yummy!!

I hope you all enjoyed it!

And to conclude,

highlight of my day: watching the Athletes in Action basketball team from USA play against our very own UoA team! An event hosted by Studentlife!

I was really excited.

We have weekly events every thursday 1pm in SLT 2 with speakers each week talking about how God has changed their lives. You should come!


Signed,
Elisa