Christ is Risen!!

BY SARACH

“We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and will never die again. Death has no power over him any more.” (Romans 6:9)

Jesus has risen! It is a joyous moment for all Christians on earth, that yesterday and following the 50 days of celebration, Jesus was resurrected from the dead and is coming to give the Holy Spirit.

However, this wasn’t the same 2,000 years ago. We all know how his disciples and followers felt – scared, doubtful, lost. But what about the people who crucified him?

The recent movie, Risen, talks about the Romans’ point of view and how they had planned to handle the situation, making sure that Jesus does not rise from the dead and that his disciples do not take his body away.

(photo: patheos.com)

To my surprise, the movie follows the account of what happened in the bible quite accurately: from the appearances of Yeshua (Jesus) to the people and how the women went to the grave and met certain angels. Apart from that, it also shows a conversion, not of Saul like I initially thought, but of a Roman tribune, Calvius.

He attempted to seek the truth – and only the truth. Calvius stood strong when one soldier told him that this “Nazarene was different”, having died in six hours, and the earth shook after his final words “It is finished”. After a long day of battle and having to settle the crucifixions, he goes back to rest only to realised that Pilot has called him again to settle the Jews who requested that this Yeshua was properly kept.

After which, Yeshua disappeared from his tomb and news spread that he has risen from the dead. Once again, Calvius was called to settle this case. He interrogated several of Yeshua’s followers, including apostle Bartholomew, who was hilariously portrayed and Mary Magdalene, and released both on the account that they were a little mad.

They even showcased the Shroud, controversial as it is. (photo:crosswalk.com)

He was slowly trying to find out who this Nazarene was, and what made him so different. He was against Yeshua, being a Roman, and a non-believer. Yet, he was constantly reminded of Yeshua’s face in his dream and thoughts that he just had to find out more even though he was told to be sent off somewhere else. He was almost like doing ancient CSI if you ask me.

“Pek Chek” already! (photo: cnsnews.com)

It’s interesting to see how the director, Kevin Reynolds, managed to incorporate the Roman tribune’s character into the whole resurrection story. Though we can’t really figure out what happens to Calvius at the end, we do know that there was indeed a conversion in him. I love how he kept most of the story similar to the bible, but with an added character. Though Calvius’ character is fictional, it also kind of shows how we attempt to seek out for bigger things like he did – peace and “a day without death” – but finds Jesus in our lives and realise that only He can give us that.

Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) and the apostles watch in awe as Yeshua leaves them, depicting the Ascension (photo+caption: lifesitenews.com)

It’s exactly what the trailer says: The most important event in human history through the eyes of a non-believer. It offers a fresh angle, which was why I decided to watch it, and really shows how Jesus works in everyone!

Risen is still showing in the cinemas in Singapore. Catch it before the end of the Easter season! 

 

Marina Bay All Lit Up

BY STEFITH

If you’ve got nothing to do after work  for the rest of March, and want entertainment that’s also FREE, head down to what is pretty much the swankiest part of Singapore – Marina Bay Sands.

Till 27 March, the entire Marina Bay area has been transformed into a lightshow spectacle, with projections on the Art Science Museum, food markets by the bay, and a funfair all lit up in bright lights, complete with carnival games that you’ll probably lose a lot of money to.

I headed down one night with my better half, and it was pretty impressive! The first thing we saw was the Pasarbella market, but sadly I cannot afford $10 for a cup of cold-pressed juice. Can buy from the 7-11 in MBS next to Gongcha for $3 okay, it’s not like I can actually taste the difference. But I digress.

We went over to the Art Science Museum, and caught a pretty rad light display on the building itself. Projected onto the white curves of the building, and accompanied by vibrant music, it was an impressive sight! The best vantage point is on the Helix Bridge.

Here are some shots I took:

After watching the show at the museum for a while, we walked back to the Pasarbella market and witnessed the MOST AMAZING LIGHTSHOW EVER. They actually projected images onto jets of water dancing around the river, and the whole spectacle was complete with lasers, sprinklers, bright lights and even pyrotechnics. It was absolutely stunning, and it just sucks that I’m too short to see anything clearly.

Still, I managed to get some amazing photos:

We popped by the carnival, located at The Promontory, for a while, but mainly just to look-see. I kind of wanted to play the carnival games, but it was really expensive and I’m pretty certain I’d have blown a TON of money there, so nevermind. The atmosphere is really great though!

There’s actually a lot of other light installations and displays happening around the area, but I didn’t have time to see all of them. The ones that I did see were seriously cool, so yeah ;D

iLight Marina Bay will run till 27 March, which is NEXT SUNDAY, so you gotta go fast! Check out their website for more information and details ;D

Be sure to pay a visit to this incredible lightfest before it’s too late. Cheers!

Food Adventures!

BY SARACH

Ah yes, the holidays have arrived. We are also very sorry about the delay in posts as mentioned previously, but nevertheless, we are back in fooooo(d)l swing!

Hence, I will be talking about food. Because food is life and life is full of fuuuuud fafoolous food… I tried to pun and I hope it got through…

Anyway, the holidays just started and besides trying to find a temporary job or internship, getting in place university applications and scholarships, helping out in several camps or being a participant myself, I have been up to the usual baking or cooking, and watching loads of Sorted Food, Donal Skehan, Jamie Oliver’s FoodTube and Cupcake Jemma videos.

Boy, they are awesome.

Here are some of the recipes I managed to whip up over the past two weeks, namely Roast Tomato Pasta and dinner, plus a Nutella Brioche Flower.

Roast Tomato Pasta – Recipe from Donal Skehan 

This went really well, and there’s no need for to buy bottled tomato sauce anymore! It’s also really easy to make: all you need to do is to halve some cherry tomatoes, throw in some garlic cloves and quarter some red onions, drizzle olive oil, generous pinches of salt and pepper, chuck it into the oven until soft and tada! You have some roast tomatoes ready to be mashed up into a sauce.

I also added some Italian herbs which gave a wonderful aroma when it was done. It really doesn’t get any simpler and you can just gauge the proportion of tomatoes or garlic or onions you want (although you do need enough to coat the pasta, if not you can always roast them again). Drizzle some Extra Virgin Olive Oil once you’re mixing, and a dash of Parmesan cheese and dinner is served!

Original recipe available here.

Grilled Salmon with Asparagus

Grilled salmon is a family favourite, it’s like a family recipe. You can never go wrong yet another simple recipe! We had some asparagus in the fridge so I decided to grill them in the oven as well. These asparagus were huge, so they did take some time to cook. The tricky bit was figuring out which one took longer to cook in the oven since I didn’t want to use another tray (extra washing!!). So I can safely tell you that the asparagus takes longer so put them in first with a good season of salt, pepper and olive oil, at 175ºC.

It’s another “agar-ration” recipe so say, about 10 minutes into the cooking, place your salmon on top, seasoned with salt and pepper. Depending on the thickness and size of your cut, once you see the protein, or the white bits, coming out it should be done. You can always check by pulling a small piece apart, but try not to leave them until you see too much white – it’ll mean that your salmon is overcooked and may be dry.

Not too much white bits! This one turned out just right!

Squeeze some lemon juice on top for an extra zing, or you can also put lemon slices together with your salmon when grilling!

Nutella Brioche Flower – Recipe from Sorted Food

Ah, this was an amazing experience to eat and to make! I made these by hand as we don’t have a mixer with a hook for kneading. It was especially hard to knead because it was a brioche and egg and butter was involved. Cold butter had to be kneaded into the dough to create layers of buttery air bits, giving brioche its amazing flavour. The dough was really sticky at the start but soon, it started to come together but still remained slightly sticky and oily due to the butter.

The feedback I got back from my family and Stefith was that it was quite dense. Flavour was great, because hey, nothing goes wrong with a good dose of Nutella, but the bread was not as fluffy as they expected. My guess is not enough kneading, since it did take such a long time and I got tired (read arms day), or I didn’t let it rest for a long enough time. Either way, it still turned out great and was my breakfast for two days. Amazing when dipped in milk also.

I would definitely try this recipe again soon! It calls for 400g of Nutella, which is slightly more than the entire middle sized bottle sold in the stores. I found that slightly more than 200g, which was what I used, was just right. Unless you decide to make really big flowers, then maybe you’ll need the whole bottle…

So that’s the end of my food adventures from the holidays so far, and until I get a job, you can expect more of it! Maybe you can suggest what I should make next?

#StefGlobeRollin: #TSLGoesHongKong!

BY STEFITH

Note: Sorry for the month-long quiet on the blog – Sarach was caught up with exams, and my MacBook went to heaven, so we haven’t been able to write. But we’re back, and we’ve got exciting stuff planned, so watch this space ;D

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you’d know that a couple of weeks ago, I was in Hong Kong on a work trip. I honestly didn’t expect to be able to travel with TheSmartLocal – my official internship was coming to a close, and these things take time to plan, you know? But my boss sprung the news on us one morning and well, needless to say, I was really excited.

In other news I’ve also extended my time at TSL, so yay.

^this is the poor soul who had to live with me for 5 days. thanks Sandy xx

My article for TSL about Hong Kong is live, and my travel partner, Sandra, and I had a blast exploring all the different places in search of fun things to do in HK without spending too much money.

I chose the angle partially because we planned to spend A TON of money on food in order to bring you a guide to some of the most delicious/interesting/adorable food in the city, so finding things we could do without spending too much cash was imperative. 

I guess you guys can read my article on TSL to find out about the attractions we visited while we were there, so for this blog post I’ll be talking a lot more about my feelings about the trip.

It was an amazing experience. I didn’t expect to be back in HK so soon (I was just there last June with my family), and the trip was a series of firsts for me. It was my first trip travelling without family or school, as well as one where the itinerary was entirely in our hands. Sandra and I spent quite some time scratching our heads over how to plan our days there, but everything went really well!

I’ve only ever visited Hong Kong in June, which is pretty much right in the middle of summer, so going in February was an experience because it was so cold. I’m not kidding – our second day there, the temperatures dropped to 11 degrees Celsius in the city, and as a result I caught a cold because I wasn’t prepared for the drop. Jokes.

Look at how bundled up I am.

I had on so many layers I looked like a giant pau, and when we were up in the cable car up to Lantau Island, I could see my breath when I exhaled. I’ve never had that experience before, so it was really cool.

Being up in the foggy mountains visiting the Big Buddha was really interesting as well – I’ve often wondered what it’d be like to wander through a cloud, and I think this is probably the closest I’ll ever get. Lantau Island is possibly my favourite attraction in Hong Kong, so if you ever have the opportunity to go, please do. It’s damn gorgeous and super worth it.

I was also able to visit the Neko Atsume pop-up store there, and naturally I bought myself some random crap in order to fuel my obsession. Oh yeah.

I also bought myself some Gudetama slippers to wear in the office while I was visiting the Ladies Market in Hong Kong. @ my deputy editor, who cannot stand the sight of this egg-cellent creature: I’m sorry, but not really 😛

As part of our adventure, we ventured into the suburbs of Hong Kong, and visited the Kowloon Walled City Park. If you’re ever in Hong Kong and are tired of the usual tourist spots + looking for a place to take ultra glam #ootds, this is the place to do it. The park is so serene and quiet, it’s hard to believe it’s located in one of the world’s busiest cities.

The park also has a super interesting history – it was a lawless walled city rife with prostitution and illegal gambling and a ton of other vice, until it was finally torn down in the early 1990s and turned into the park today. It’s pretty hard to believe that this picturesque place has a backstory like something out of a triad film!

While we were in HK, I was able to reunite with my old buddy Darren. He was my first seatmate in TSL (aka he sat in the seat next to me) and we fostered a strong friendship while talking rubbish in the office. He’s based in HK at the moment, so he acted as our tour guide – and thank goodness for that. I think we’d have gotten horribly lost otherwise, and he was very helpful in navigating the streets of the city, which, while beautiful, are a maze.

And of course, we ate a lot of food. I’ll link Sandra’s article on some of the best cafes HK has to offer when it’s live (update: it’s live right here), but here’s a sneak peek of one of the delicious things we put in our mouths while we were there:

Yum.

I’m just really glad that I was able to see a different side of Hong Kong, in the midst of winter edging into spring, a Hong Kong that’s a little greyer and a little colder, but still an incredible place.

I think Hong Kong is a city you can keep coming back to, no matter what – there’s always something new to experience and explore, and well, I’m looking forward to my next adventure ;D

(Also please like and share my HK article on your social media platforms thanks very much :3)