Working with your hands

and mulling with your mind

Feb 26, 2024

I love cooking. For those concerned that my diet consists of mainly popcorn for dinner, please rest assured that I enjoy consuming a range of nutrients ;-) Also, unlike baking which requires near draconian precision, I like the more collaborative, exploratory nature of cooking. I don’t mind following a recipe. But, like pirate code, it’s definitely more of a guideline than a rule.

I love everything about cooking. Going to the grocery store. Packing away the items. Peeling, chopping, sautéing, stirring, searing. I like the flow. I like the creativity. I like the natural rhythm of things being ready when it’s ready. Wiping down, washing up. Cleaning as I go. There’s something about working with my hands, especially in our modern age, that feels good and right. As for my mind, I usually swap between letting my thoughts breathe, and listening to podcasts, audiobooks, music.

The other day, I came across a roasted cauliflower chickpea with tahini sauce recipe. It reminded me of one I used to make a lot when I was in my vegetarian phase (mainly because, in my early-to-mid twenties, I had this ick about handling raw meat lols.) I like warm meals that are heavy on veg (gotta help the poops), so I gave it a go and it is officially joining the ranks of Weekly Rotation of Yums.

i know cilantro is a love-hate for some folks, but it really makes this dish. also a squeeze of lemon!

Some other snacks that I thought were scrumptious: a berry mint fruit salad. And a slice of sourdough and egg that I accidentally overcooked (I prefer ooey gooey yolks), but its deliciousness was not deterred as I topped it with a new garlic chili oil (thanks, char!) and plated on my Edmonton ceramic (thanks, kara!)

songs i’m meditating on

I’ve been mulling a lot on Philippians. Steffany Gretzinger’s No Turning Back beautifully and simply echoes Paul’s desire to imitate Christ. That in life and in death, we fix our eyes on Christ, our greatest prize.
I stick post-it notes of some of my favorite verses or quotes around my house. I’ve got one on the back of my bathroom door (that you can read while pooping should that help you on your journey) of the Message version of Matthew 11:28-30. It only clicked the other day that the lyrics of TAYA’s Getaway (that has been on repeat for me lately) perfectly weaves in the heart of this passage.

podcasts i’m pondering over

Here are some of the things I’ve been listening to while accidentally overcooking my eggs:

John Mark Comer on living a life of obscurity. I read his The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (thanks, david!) in 2022 and it is one of those books that I was amen-ing throughout.
Francis Chan on making it our ambition to live a quiet life of unseen kindness.
How CCM (Christian Contemperary Music) reflects American Christianity. This is a continuation of Skye Jethani’s observation of what he coined the Evangelical Industrial Complex back in 2021.
Seth Kaplan on some answers to our collective problem of loneliness in our modern world. What would it look like to be willfully interdependent on one another?
Historian Tom Holland (not spidey) on how ancient Rome has shaped modern America.

I’m not a parent. But I love the parents in my life, who are all doing the best they can with what they’ve been given. I’m obsessed with my nephew. I love being a spiritual mom / older sister. Two parenting episodes that I found striking:

Russell Moore’s 43-minute: Tender Questions on Parenting, Adoption, and Sexuality
Jess Connelly’s 28-minute: My 5 Biggest Motherhood Regrets (So Far)

surprise blooms

Tending to plants tends to mirror life. With disease, dormancy, and death also comes surprise growth and new life. Most of my plants are leafy jungle greens. The only one that flowers is this twiggy tree that I inherited from one of my Pasir Panjang housemates a few years ago. I’m not exactly sure what species it is, but look how cute it is! I like its pink poppy-like blooms! They are temporary. After a few days, each of them fades, wilts, and falls. But that’s the beauty of it. Every morning, as the sun rises, I open the blinds and eagerly peek around every branch—looking to soak in whatever stage of flowering the new day has brought.

And here’s a chunk of ginger that is neither here nor there: does it belong in my kitchen or my garden? I’m not quite sure, but it seems happy, so I will let it be with its weird nubbins.

i originally wanted to slice this up for a canto dish, but ended up buying more ginger in order to see what will become of this cute monstrosity

a prayer card from a praying church

“All things are possible for you.”—Jesus at Gethsemane (Mark 14:36)
“With God all things are possible.” —Jesus to his disciples (Matthew 19:26)
“Nothing will be impossible with God.”—angel Gabriel to Mary (Luke 1:37)
“Is anything too difficult for God?”—God to Abraham (Genesis 18:14)
“Nothing is too difficult for you.”—Jeremiah to God (Jeremiah 32:17)

This book has been inspiring me to pray Scripture. Paul Miller occasionally includes examples of his handwritten prayer cards. When his ministry was experiencing repeated failure in 2007, he created this prayer card “for seeing all things as possible with God. What happens when you being to pray this way? Your imagination comes alive. Evil no longer has the last word. You come at life with a new boldness, a new gusto. You pick yourself off the ground, dust yourself off, and have another go at it. You begin to wonder, Who knows what God might do? Hope is born.”

Thank you for reading, friends! Leaving you with the gift that keeps on giving: my adorable nephew being adorable. On our walks, he periodically pokes his head around the pram to make sure that I’m still there 🥹🥰

love,
reb