Christina Foo

Monday, April 5, 2010

ABC soup with belly pork (or pork ribs)

This morning, I managed to rush to Thai Seng to do some grocery and as I saw the pork ribs and belly, yo… the ABC soup came to my mind. Then, I rushed home to cook this soup. Haha, My hubby also helped me out by reminding me of details… I guessed he’s afraid that I will mess things up. No, I will not… I’m smart k.

So, ABC… it's as simple as A, B and C.

Serve for 2

Ingredients:

2 carrot, cut into chunks

1 onion, quartered

Belly pork, as you like

2 tomatoes, quartered

Method:

Prepare 1 litre of water. Boil the belly pork for 2 minutes. Remove the water. Then, pour everything into the pot, boil for 10 minutes, then simmer over low heat for another 40-50 minutes. Checked tenderness of the belly pork, take it out and sliced it once cooked. You can season with salt as you like. But I don’t, because the soup is good enough without salt. I have no time prepare dipping sauce so I used dark soy sauce. Serve with warm rice and enjoy. Wow! I've tasted it. It’s superb. (I only reserve the clear soup for my hubby...haha) You must taste it. (I forgot to take picture of it.) Try it out. This nutritious and yet simple meals is tasty and time-saving.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

DARE to pray BOLD PRAYERS: YOU have a destiny handed down by Almighty God

Christina Foo 12:23 PM 0 Comments

The Story of Israel Houghton

Israel nearly didn't have the chance to share his talents with the world. His mother became pregnant with him when she was 17 and unmarried. She was white. His father was black. this was 1971 in a small Iowa town. The girl's parents strongly encouraged her to have an abortion. And, in fact gave her an ultimatum:'either abort the baby of get out of the house!' She chose to have the baby. She once a promising concert pianist, she ended up in San Diego, 8 months pregnant, alone, confused and battling a drug addiction...

One day, a lady talked to her on the street about God's love and forgiveness. And that day, she made a life changing decision for Christ. the lady gave her a Bible. she flipped through it, saw the name ISRAEL time and time again. She thought to herself, I will name my baby Israel. She didn't know much about God. she didn;t know how to pray. But she said boldly, "God, I'm committing my little baby to You. I'm asking You to use him to do great things."

The teen mother passed her musical gifts on to her child. God took care of the rest. her son grew up with incredible musical gifts. He could play practically any instruments. he could write songs,..arrange music. As he grew older, he began writing worship songs that declared God's goodness. He put together his own band, and supernatural doors opened.

Today we all know Israel Houghton. He is one of the great worship leaders and great songwriters. Israel and his band, New Breed, have won the Grammy Awards and praise around the world for their uplifting music.

Israel could have been a statistic. He could have just never finding his purpose. But because of this mother DARED pray a BOLD PRAYERS, his life was set on an EXTRAORDINARY PATH.

It's time for favor. Ask God for favor.

SUPERSIZE your prayers! Dare to ask God for bigger things.

Ask Him to fulfill your highest hopes and dreams. Don't lost your enthusiasm. Don't settle for 'survival prayers'.

God wants you to ask Him for big things! The Scripture says in Psalm 2:8:"Ask Me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance."

ASK, so that you may receive.

When Man said it's impossible, God says, "ALL things are POSSIBLE!"

ANZCA Modern Pianoforte Grade 1: Song Analysis - Scoobie Du Wup

Christina Foo 12:18 PM 0 Comments

ANZCA Modern Pianoforte - Grade 1

Piece: Scoobie Du Wup

About the composer:

Kerin Bailey (born 1949) is an Australian composer. He mainly plays the piano, flute and trumpet. He studied classical piano at university and his pieces are written fro young instrumentalists. He also has interest in jazz and so pieces like Scoobie Du Wup have a strong classical basis but still have strong elements of jazz. He is best known for his ability to write and play pieces which sound as though they are mix of classical and jazz.

About the piece:

This is a piece written in a swing style. Swing come from jazz music and refers to the way you play the quavers. If asked, give a demonstration of non-swing quavers, then play swing quavers. The name Scoobie Du Wup is based on the way a jazz singer might sing this music. Jazz singers would often sing using nonsense words like ‘doo doo’. This is called scat singing.

The speed of this piece is about 112 beats per minute.

Another element of jazz which can be found in this piece is the use of complicated harmonies.

From bars 1 to 8 it is in C Major, which is the most important key of this piece. If asked what key the entire piece is in, say C Major. The reason why it has E flats is to do with the sometimes strange harmonies of jazz. These are called blue notes and give the piece a bluesy feeling.
From bars 9 to 16 it is in F Major. This also has blue notes- the Ab’s.
From bar 17 to the end it returns to C Major.
At the very end the F# is a very odd note. Jazz often ends on uncertain notes which don’t sound like the piece has ended, and this piece does the same. The F# is a tritone away from C. A tritone is a certain distance from one note to another which sounds particularly odd. It makes the piece sound unfinished at the end.
This piece has a range of articulations, including accents, staccatos, legatos, slurs and ties. (a tie is between two notes which are the same pitch, a slur is between two notes of different pitch)
Note the fermata (pause sign) at the end.