so where's our future headed towards?

this picture was taken (3 weeks ago? 4 weeks ago?) right after we submitted our MPC (marriage prep course) form. see how invisible it is? that's because we were in such a hurry to send it in (we heard the administration process can take quite long) we sent it in before aileen could get us to take a picture. hahaha, i love my cell leader - she was all, 'eh take a picture first!! so exciting!! ... what? send in already? never mind la, just pose.'

HAHAHAHA!!

also, we were in such a hurry (it was the same weekend where everyone was trying to sign up for g12), it was just before we sent it in when i turned to alvin and asked, 'eh did you inform pastor william anot?' 'er, no leh. must meh?' 'YARRRRR??!?!?!?!'

so we ran off in search of the pastor; thank goodness he was nearby, and informed him (who is alvin's pastor, and listed as our preferred marrying pastor) we were sending our form in RIGHT NOW. 'oh, er, can la can la. you guys will still be meeting me right?' 'yar, after sending in the form we need your approval to start, so we have to meet you.' 'ok, arrange with me again la.'

*glee* we have approval! :D

but right at the counter, the usual person whom we're to submit the form to was either not there, or caught up with the g12 sign ups. we stood there for the longest time trying to figure out who we could send the form to and began to fret until we saw pastor debra (who is my pastor)!

'ps debra!! can you help us to submit our MPC form?'

then with some afterthought, i realized, 'oh yar, by the way this is my boyfriend, alvin.'

she was a little stunned because i'd never introduced her before. HOW COME AH??? fail man.

so after the rather last minute introduction, she helped us send the form in... and we're on our way!! woohoo!!

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btw, mpc does not mean i am engaged or confirmed in getting married. it's a phase meant to work out if a couple is ready for marriage. so either of us can back out at anytime. well, fyi for those not from fcbc. :)

---

our meet with ps william came by last friday, right after alvin's birthday. ps william was surprised we took leave just to meet him, but then we told him we'd actually taken leave to celebrate alvin's birthday.

our plan was actually to go to ps william's house to wash his toilet. it's quite standard for couples to go through this first when they meet with ps william and i knew, so i was all prepared. in the car, this conversation ensued.

w: vivien u wash toilet before?
v: er no. my house toilet is very clean. no need to wash one.
w and a: *silence*
v: WHAT??? IT'S TRUE!! that's because my dad is such a clean freak he makes us dry the toilet after baths! all the time!
w: nono. you are mistaken. someone HAS to wash the toilet. i think you just don't know it.
v: *sputter* but my toilet IS very clean! coz we keep the water only in the shower area what!
a: omg viv pls stop talking hahahahahaha (coz i was looking more and more misguided to them)

so the conclusion is that i don't know who's washing the toilet. dammit. do i really sound so clueless?? i really think my toilet is ... well, JUST VERY CLEAN LA. coz we're clean people at home! *shrug*

anyway the plans for us changed when ps william asked the next question (upon finding out that we had the intention to celebrate alvin's birthday that day).

w: vivien can you cook?
v: no. (no hesitations here!)
w: alvin leh?
a: er, abit la. i was in US for two months.
w: hmm...

'ok you guys will cook lunch today.'

I PANICKED. ARE U KIDDING ME???

but these few days having been thrown into possibly out of control situations like leading my kids through pulau ubin and now cooking, i realized i have a superpower.

I CAN SWITCH MY MIND SET AND MAKE THINGS WORK.

i never used to be able to. it's weird how i can feel my entire body switching gears and immediately going into survival mode. am i sounding odd to you? i really hope not.

ps william's car turned into the place where we were to get our groceries from... hey he stays near wailiong! coolness. we went up to NTUC, and were told to get whatever we needed, including of sauces and all that because his house had NOTHING. NO RICE, NO CONDIMENTS, NO SAUCES.

gahhhhhhh.

i decided to go for a chinese meal, at which ps william grinned and nodded, then told us, well, it's the trickiest to do. REALLY MEH??

never mind, i'll just go gather all that i need. baby kailan, shiitake, then oyster sauce, salt, rice, garlic, light soya sauce, olive oil, black pepper and sesame oil. actually did we get sesame huh, alvin? i can't remember.

we needed meat, but i wasn't so sure i wanted to venture into making chicken stew because i'd have to add flour and i couldn't imagine how i was going to do it, so we headed for fish instead. we stood there for quite sometime, because i did not want to steam fish (my mom always has steam fish on fridays when alvin comes for dinner!) so we picked the salmon instead. should be easy enough, just fry/sizzle in the pan.

ALRIGHT WE ARE SET.

oh yar, we also had one box of strawberries and oranges and grabbed a box of magnum ice-cream in case everything exploded in our face and we needed comfort.

it came up to a total of $52 which alvin paid everything for. (thanks dear!) yar i know, it's quite expensive. we didn't really tally up the prices in our heads, we just dumped food in. heh.

upon reaching ps william's place (which has gorgeous grounds and landscaping!!) i actually stood there for a moment and was stumped by what to start first. i only moved when alvin prodded me. hehe.

1. we washed the mushrooms, and cut them up. this was our first error when we opened the entire packet and WASHED EVERYTHING before we realized it was too much. well, at least they will shrink after cooking. i washed, alvin cut, and soon we had an entire overfilled bowl of shiitake.

2. baby kailan - yeah here's the crunch that we needed! this is one of my favourite veggies, and i know it's easy to cook; you can just stir fry with garlic! :) again, i washed, alvin cut (i taught him how to, hehe) and soon we had a plate full of baby kailan (but threw away a lot of withered/old leaves).

3. alvin chopped up the garlic. i was going to guide him how to, but once i saw him flatten the garlic i knew he had it already so i prepared the wok for some cooking, FINALLY!

4. i am afraid of fire. so there was a lot of hesitation before i dared to turn on the gas stove. once it started to flame, i added oil, but the wok was not dry enough so the oil started to pop. i turned off the flames, and let the water evaporate for another 2 minutes then turned on the fire again. once popping was at its minimum, and the oil began to sizzle, i turned to alvin, took his garlic and dumped everything in. oh, the smell... :D

5. shiitake in!! fry fry fry it's so fun hurhurhur. suddenly i stopped and decided we needed some sauce, to try and make some mushroom stew thingie. under my instructions, alvin prepped a bowl of water, and added oyster sauce and light soya sauce which i poured a little into. that sauce plus the mushrooms' flavour quickly permeated through the house and ps william perked up from the living room (he really just left us on our own) and quipped, 'smells nice ah?'

YAY!

6. so that dish was done, and alvin left me to start on the salmon while i started on the baby kailan. there was a bit of mushroom sauce left over, so i added the kailan to that, plus some garlic and fried it. i actually didn't know where to stop so i was worried that everything would burn up... know what i did? i added sauce so it'll just boil instead of turning black. hehehehe. i cheated. baby kailan! done~!

7. 'eh alvin we forgot about the rice. HAHAHAHA.' somehow the amount of water we used was JUST RIGHT. our worries about ending up with porridge was unfounded. thank goodness.

8. after alvin was done descaling the salmon the entire sink was clogged up because of the tiny scales. i offered to unclog the sink while i told alvin, 'u cook the fish la? should be quite simple. :)'

a: 'ok ah, i put the oil already.'

v: 'how much oil u use?'

a: 'er should be enough la.'

v: 'ok when the oil heats up then u can start la? :)'

a: 'ok i put it in now ah?'

SIZZLE!!!!

SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE! SIZZLE!

this went on for a VERY LONG 3 minutes during which alvin and i reeled backwards and gaped at the tiny saucepan of frying fish. tentatively, alvin stretched out his hand to prod the handle and then got burnt by hot spraying oil. he retracted back again.

after the initial shock i started laughing my head off because it was so funny how we were just super frightened by that tiny fish + saucepan. i knew then that alvin had put in too much oil. thank goodness the crazy sizzling subsided after a bit, and my dear brave alvin hardened himself to the pain (he has pretty high pain tolerance... except when i smack him, then he whines like mad.) and flipped the fish.

everytime he flipped the fish it broke apart, so by the time lunch was served, the fish was in 6 parts. HILARIOUS!! :D

here's my first ever homecooked meal that did not involve instant noodles or heated leftovers:



i am so very proud. i would've preferred pictures of us cooking or that scared look on our faces as the salmon popped, but i guess pictures of me doing some dishwashing is enough to prove we did work too. heeh. :)





YAY! not only did everything go pretty well, the food was good! I LOVED THE MUSHROOMS!