Barra brith and being blessed

Barra Brith

They say you start 'nesting' when you are pregnant, well, it's true - I've been into baking these last couple of weeks. Today I decided to make Barra Brith (Welsh tea loaf) for my colleagues, since it is my birthday. What a disaster! First it overflowed, surgically welding itself to the intereior of our oven, then it burnt on top whilst remaining raw on the inside, then it rufused to be extracted from the loaf tin. I wouldn't be surprised about any of this with my track-record in baking, but I made exactly the same thing using exactly the same recipe last week and it was 100% successful.

It still tasted great though - once I managed to extract it from its tin. I'm not, however, looking forward to dealing with the oven! That can wait until the weekend.

Hard times

I've had a number of emails from friends recently telling me of the death of close friends and accidents that people have had; it has made me realise just how fortunate and blessed we are in our position at the moment. We thank God for that. Our love and prayers go out to all those friends who are having a difficult time at the moment, we are sad to hear about what you are going through and that we can't be there to comfort you at this time.

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Pregnancy and stuff

How is it that my stomach, once almost a taboo subject, has become public property overnight? Often people's first reaction when they find out I'm pregnant is to stroke or pat my (already expanding) tummy! I guess I'll get used to that over the next few months. Here are the scans we have so far. Photos- Top: Scan at 6 weeks Middle: Scan at 8 weeks Bottom: Scan at 12 weeks Weather It's started to warm up and dry up here again after the monsoon. It's lovely to be able to eat breakfast on the balcony in the sun again. The hoards of ants are back, any morsel left untended is soon found and turns black with the tiny creatures. Wedding We went to a wonderful wedding at the Conrad Centennial hotel on Thursday evening. Two of our freinds from church got hitched after 13 years of on-off dating. It was a touching ceremony (during which, to our surprise, the champagne flowed freely). The meal was great - traditional Chinese wedding fayre - jellyfish, prawns, shark's fin so...

Buses, bats, bites and other bits

I know I've been writing a lot about Singapore recently, but I guess that's what happens when you've lived in a new culture for a while. I've become very aware of what's around me. I get the bus to and from work every day. It costs around 15p and is fully air-conditione d. Most of the time I get a seat, it's brilliant. Today was a special day - I boarded a bus that was driven by the world's most friendly bus driver. He greeted each passenger and said good bye to everyone who got off. Sadly I was the only person to notice of the 40-50 passengers that recieved this star treatment during my journey. So I gave him a big grin and a wave as I got off the bus. I love how something like that can add an extra smile to your day. I'm currently learning Mandarin (week 2 of a 10 week course). Last week I was convinced that the whole language is a conspiracy to confuse westerners. Today, however, I am thoroughly enjoying the challenge of learning such a dramatically d...

Food and friends Life in Singapore It does seem that we are properly settling into life in Singapore now. For the first three months we were finding our feet, now we have a pretty established group of friends. We also have more of an idea of what to do and where to go. Life is good and varied, and as Paul said earlier more closely resembles our life in London. Cooking I am really enjoying cooking for us again, this low-carb malarky is great. I feel fantastic, less sluggish, more energetic and generally happier. Most of all, the food cravings have gone. I no longer crave chocolate, caffeine or sugar. Those headaches last week were well and truly worth it (as nasty as they were). I even managed to run for 15 minutes on the treadmill yesterday, if I keep that up, I'll be well and truly fit for walking in New Zealand. I found out today that one of the common desserts here, herbal jelly, is made from ground up turtle shell, yuk. Oh well, I guess it's not as bad as a 'live frog c...

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