May I wish readers in Scotland, where I know I have one or two, and anyone in Russia who happens to come across this blog, a Happy St Andrew's Day! If your name is Andrew or any variation thereof, may God bless you in a special way today.
I was assigned to Britain in September 2000, supposedly for four years. After Easter 2002 I was transferrred from Solihull, in the West Midlands of England, to Glasgow. I expected to be in Scotland for more than two years. After only two weeks I was asked to return to the Philippines, though not immediately. I lived among my Celtic cousins for five months. The Latin word 'Scotus' originally meant 'Irish'. The historical, cultural and linguistic ties between Ireland and Scotland are very close for various reasons, good and bad, that I won't go into here.
May I also ask your prayers as I go on retreat this morning until Thursday afternoon. I meant it to be longer but it hasn't worked out that way.
St Andrew's Cross, the National Flag of Scotland, known as The Saltire
The Republic of Ireland, where I'm from, is in grave financial trouble, as many know, and is being bailed out to the tune of €85billion by the EU-IMF. The UK also announced recently that it would lend us £7billion. Joan Burton TD, the Irish Labourt Party's front-bench spokesperson on finance in the Dáil, the Irish parliament, described the state last night as 'banjaxed', which means 'in a right mess'.
Britain - and Ireland - are getting Arctic weather at the moment. Above is Matt's comment in today's Daily Telegraph. Matt is a genius.
I don't know if the late John Wayne had any Irish blood in him, though Maureen O'Hara, with whom he starred in a number of movies and who turned 90 a few months ago, God bless her, is as certifiably Irish as they come by birth and by virtue of her glorious red hair. But I presume the bag we are sending is 'True Grit'.
ROME, Italy, November 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Catholic dioceses of the world are preparing to join together with the Pope in prayer on behalf of the unborn this Saturday in an unprecedented pro-life effort.
Bishops from across the globe have called their flocks to gather, as the Church begins its Advent celebrations, in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s call for a “Vigil for All Nascent Human Life.”
In a letter sent out earlier this year, the Holy Father asked that “all Diocesan Bishops (and their equivalent) of every particular church preside in analogous celebrations involving the faithful in their respective parishes, religious communities, associations and movements.”
The vigil takes place as many nations around the world are facing intense battles over the lives of their unborn children.
Catholics in the Philippines have taken up the vigil to pray especially for God’s protection against a ‘reproductive health’ bill that aims to promote contraception as a form of population control. The news site for the Filipino Catholic Bishops reports that El Shaddai, a large Catholic movement based in Parañaque City, will offer this special intention. The country’s Catholic bishops have warned that this bill, which is now in serious danger of passing, will eventually lead to the legalization of abortion.
The Polish bishops have called on parishes to undertake three days of prayer for children in the womb, dedicating Friday as a day of reparation for in vitro fertilization, reports TheNews.pl. IVF, which has caused the deaths of countless embryonic children, has been the subject a contentious debate recently in the largely Catholic country. On Thursday, prayers are to be offered for aborted babies, parents considering abortion, pro-abortion advocates, and abortionists.
In Australia, Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane issued an Advent pastoral letter leading into the vigil, calling on the faithful to pray for the unborn. The archbishop’s diocese is based in the state of Queensland, which is facing strong pressure to liberalize its abortion law.
“Once human life is considered merely something that can be accepted or rejected depending on our own comfort, there is nothing to stop violence from being directed not only at the innocent beginning of human life, but also at children and old people, which we see all too often in our media and movies,” he wrote.
In Britain, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols has written a reflection as part of the Archdiocese’s optional text for the vigil. The prelate likens the prayerful silence they will observe in the vigil to “the wonder, with which a mother senses the growth of a new human being within her womb.”
“Such contemplation as this also brings home to us the true horror of the destruction of unborn human life, robbed of its human potential to bring unique good into the world,” he observes. “Let us pray ... that the eyes of our world will be opened to these precious truths so that humanity may act with dignity and love in the defence of every innocent human life.”
In the U.S., the USCCB Secretariat of Divine Worship and the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities have collaborated in developing Vigil prayer aids for dioceses and parishes.
Four possible schemes for observing the vigil - which may include a Marian Procession, Evening Prayer (Vespers), recitation of the Rosary, and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament, as well as a Rubric for priests and liturgy directors - have been produced and posted to the USCCB website.
“We are grateful to dioceses that have already made plans to celebrate this special Vigil in union with our Holy Father and the Church all around the world,” the US bishops said.
For those who are unable to attend a local vigil, the Diocese of Davenport in Iowa has written a booklet with some of the prayers the Pope will use on Saturday.
“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. In those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away. So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
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Advent is primarily a time of preparation for the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, as Fr Thomas Rosica points out in his reflection below. It is also a time when we prepare to celebrate the Birth of Our Savior.
Advent is the least understood of the Church’s liturgical season and perhaps the one most distorted by Christians, though not usually deliberately so. Filipinos often boast that the Christmas season here is ‘the longest in the world’, beginning in September and ending on the Feast of Candlemas, 2 February. The irony is that here in the Philippines we hardly observe the Christmas season at all. It begins on the evening of Christmas Eve and ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which will fall on 8 January in 2011.
I refuse to allow any Christmas decorations go up in my house/office or lights outside until Advent begins. But many have these up before Advent begins and down before Christmas ends. When I was a child we put up our Christmas decorations on Christmas Eve and took them down after the Epiphany. I know that Ireland has a different culture and we have the 'commercial Christmas' there too. But we should be guided by the Church's ancient tradition not by commerce as we prepare to celebrate the Birthday of Jesus.
But I have noticed over the last ten years that people are spending less and less coming up to Christmas, because they can’t afford to. I’ve noticed that the offerings during the Misas de Gallo (novena of pre-dawn Masses in honour of the Blessed Virgin, 16-24 December) are fewer each year, at least where I celebrate them. This again reflects that people are struggling.
Part of the universal distortion of Advent is the proliferation of ‘Christmas’ parties before Christmas even begins. We don’t hold baptismal parties before a child is baptized nor do we hold a wedding banquet until after the wedding.
I’ve nothing against parties before Christmas, as Advent is a quietly joyful season. But those held in parishes, in Catholic schools or by Catholic groups, should be called ‘Advent parties’ or, at the least, ‘Pre-Christmas parties’. Otherwise we are handing on something that is distorted and undermining the celebration of the great feast of Christmas and undermining the faith of people.
The emphasis should be on preparation, for the Second Coming, whenever it may be, and for a joyful celebration of the Birthday of Jesus. He desires to be born again in our hearts. In the words of St Paul today, we are called to ‘put on the Lord Jesus Christ’. Isaiah has the magnificent vision of the people beating ‘their swords into plowshares’. This speaks to a world in which many starve because their land is ravished by warfare and those who don’t die violently often die indirectly from the famine caused by the sword.
How much violence there is in the Philippines on a daily basis! Murders are often unreported or noted in inside pages. The families of the 59 killed - the usual figure given is 57 but two were reported to be pregnant – may not see justice done for years, if ever.
The gospel today closes with these words: for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come. What would we say to Jesus if he walked into our schools, into our offices, into our courts, into our churches, today?
The United Nations garden contains several sculptures and statues that have been donated by different countries. This one is called "Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares" and was a gift from the then Soviet Union presented in 1959. Made by Evgeniy Vuchetich, the bronze statue represents the figure of a man holding a hammer in one hand and, in the other, a sword which he is making into a plowshare, symbolizing man's desire to put an end to war and convert the means of destruction into creative tools for the benefit of all mankind. (I'm aware of a certain irony in this sculpture having been donated by the then Soviet Union. But the image is from the Word of God).
Biblical Reflection for 1st Sunday of Advent, Year A
By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB TORONTO, NOV. 23, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Advent season in its liturgical observance is devoted to the coming of God at the end of history when Jesus shall reign as king.
The time is chiefly a celebration of "the coming of God" in ultimate triumph. Our three Scripture readings for the first Sunday of Advent (Year A) challenge us to adopt a timetable in which the seemingly distant parousia (final coming) impinges on the present moment . . .
Father Rosica’s reflection includes the following:
The pregnant season
On Saturday evening, Nov. 27, eve of Advent this year, Benedict XVI will celebrate in St. Peter's Basilica a "Vigil for All Nascent Human Life" coinciding with first vespers of the First Sunday of Advent. The Holy Father has said: "The period in which we prepare for Christmas is an appropriate time to invoke divine protection on every human being called into existence, and to thank God for the gift of life we received from our parents."
"Nascent" is a word not frequently used in our daily vocabulary. While it clearly refers to unborn human life, its other meanings include "promising," "growing," and "hopeful." As we enter into Advent, our thoughts naturally focus on the hope and expectation of the coming of Christ. Christ came to us first as an unborn child, tiny, vulnerable and in need of protection and care of his mother.
By calling for this worldwide prayer vigil, Benedict XVI invites us to focus both on the hope and promise of new life in Christ that we celebrate at Christmas but also to acknowledge the sad fact that worldwide there are an estimated 50 million abortions performed each year. Lives are simply thrown away. Many people in our time have truly become "hypnotized" to this reality. We have justified our reasons and means for destroying life in the womb because it disturbs and upsets us, forcing us to change our way of living. What are the hypnotic conditions against human life that we experience without our consciousness of them?
More than any other time of year, Advent is a pregnant season. We need a renewal of faith and hope about the meaning of life as the reflection of God. The timing of this prayer service for "nascent life" at the beginning of the Advent season is a happy coincidence that reminds us of the great gift from God that each and every human life represents.
You may read the full text of Fr Rosica's reflection here.
Well, I want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
On this day we should all think about what we are thankful for, and one thing I am VERY thankful for is all my friends in Star Trek prop collecting.
It started at Christie's in 2006 when I met Dana Hammontree and Rob from Atlanta in line waiting for the doors to open. After that I kept meeting people who I have come to call friends. Jim Williams, my fellow DS9 maniac, Mark Short and Giles from London, our favorite Patrick Stewart look-alike, though we didn't become friends till the following year when I went to London and hung out with him. The crew from The Prop Store of London welcomed me into the hobby and their VIP suite. Stephen and Tim were awesome, and I also got to meet Andy (who won the Reliant), Bill Bayliss (who won the Kirk Maroon), and Dave Abberly (who won a bunch of stuff!). Bill and Dave let me crash on their floor the last night when I decided I was having too much fun to want to leave! I also met Jason (Prop King) and his brother, as well as Denise and Mike Okuda.
What a great time that was, and that got me writing my blog. That turned into starting the Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum where I have met so many fellow collectors.
Since then I have made so many great friends. Lyn, Carolan, Katie, Donna...the forum has a lot of awesome female collectors. Anthony Sforza, Aaron Carlson, Adam Schneider, Ray Cole, and of course Jorg, the Star Trek savant! Susie, Francis, Alex from Hong Kong, Grant the Canuck, Burt, Dave (Dochol), Althea, Darrin, John, Chris, Doc Brett, Willie, Kenny, Rob, Anthony Pascal from Trekmovie.com, Josef from Austria and of course Doug Drexler.
Oh I have probably missed one or two of you, but if so, you know who you are and how much I appreciate you. Thank you all for being my friend, sharing our passion for Star Trek together and supporting this blog and the Forum.
May I wish all my American readers a Happy Thanksigivng Day. I have been blessed to have celebrated the holiday a number of times in the USA.
Fr Bill Morton, an American Columban working in El Paso, Texas, across the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where Australian Columban Fr Kevin Mullins and Irish Columban Fr Michael Donnelly work in one of the most violent areas caught up in the drug war, thanks those who support the work of Columbans. Thanksgiving Day in the USA is a very special holiday, one centred very much on the family and one that invites people to thank God for the many blessings we have.
Father Morton had an unusual path to the priesthood. He found his vocation partly through a 'Born Again' girlfriend. We published this interview in the November-December 2003 issue of Misyon.
Change of Plan
Fr Bill Morton's first job was as an air traffic controller. Later he became a Columban missionary priest. In this interview, he tells how that happened.
Q. What is your family background?
A. I was born into a large Catholic family in Philadelphia in 1952. Frequent discussion about faith, politics and social issues around the dinner table, regular attendance at Sunday Mass and recitation of the family rosary were buttressed by lived values of hospitality to anyone who came to our door. After secondary school, I enlisted in the Navy and qualified as an air traffic controller.
Q. Was it a stressful job?
A. At times. On one occasion when I was in training at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida I cleared a plane on to the main runway when all of a sudden an A-7 from the aircraft carrier Lexington requested an emergency landing. I had to clear him to land on the crosswind runway and as he touched down I saw him bounce on one tyre, which burst and then bounce back on the other wheel and that tyre burst as well. The plane spun off the runway into the dirt. My heart was in my mouth. The canopy popped open and, thank God, the pilot was OK.
Q. Was your religion important to you during those years?
A. As a young man of 18, in a new place without the influences of family and community I began to drift. I rarely went to Mass and seldom thought about God. I went to bars and nightclubs, drank and smoked heavily and experimented with drugs. At the same time, a man named Jim in my air traffic control unit used to speak to me about Christ, leave little pamphlets in my mailbox and invite me to go to his church.
Life in the fast lane was leaving me empty and longing for something and so I began to attend church and eventually had a conversion experience. I told my parents I had been 'born-again' and was no longer a Roman Catholic. When I went home on vacation there was friction in the family over my 'conversion.' My father said, ‘You're no born-again Christian; you're a fallen-away Catholic!’ They invited a well-known religious woman to the house and together tried to convince me to return to the fold. They were all seated in the living room and I at the top of the stairs armed with my Dake's Concordance, an evangelical Bible designed to refute Catholic doctrine.
Q. Were their efforts to convince you successful?
A. No. Back in Pensacola I became even more involved in the Church of the Open Bible. We worked with the youth and started a Christian coffee house and a Jesus rock group. I would pick up the teenagers in my Volkswagen mini-bus for Sunday services and our Friday night coffee house called Freedom Road.
It was a kind of hippie type thing, a very casual atmosphere where we mixed music with Scripture and preaching. We invited the kids to accept Jesus and receive counsel about family, drug and other problems. It was a joyful and creative time for me and deepened my sense of mission.
Q. How do you look back on those years?
A. I have remained friends with Jim, who witnessed to me, and I still delight in telling him I would not have become a Catholic missionary priest without that profound experience in the evangelical church. Through it I developed a more personal relationship with Christ and an appreciation of the Scriptures. I overcame my Catholic reticence to share faith and I developed a much more outgoing approach.
Q. What then brought you back to the Catholic Church?
A. Though I agreed with and experienced personally this relationship with Jesus, certain behaviours like smoking, drinking and swearing were stressed as litmus tests of Christian life. There was a lot of quoting of Scripture and arguments about who was saved and who was not. I began to think of the Catholics I knew who didn't quote much Scripture, who smoked or drank, but who were also generous, compassionate and non-judgmental people.
I asked myself: ‘If Jesus came back whose butt would he be kicking?' I concluded that it would more likely be my own, because of my self-righteousness, rather than the man on the street with his bottle.
I was madly in love with one of the girls who sang in our Christian rock group. She had been raised Protestant and one day she asked if we could go to a Catholic Mass. We went to a Saturday evening Mass at St Mary's and it was a lively celebration with guitars and songs and a young, Irish priest who preached with fervour and humour. Though still very much a member of the Church of the Open Bible I had a fleeting ‘I could do that’ thought about the priest.
My girlfriend enjoyed the visit and so we began to go each Saturday evening and then to the Open Bible on Sunday morning.
My mother had also written me a very challenging letter, quoting John 6, and asking me how those who claim to interpret the Bible literally understand the Eucharist. I didn't get any convincing answers and began to hunger to receive again in the Catholic way.
Though I had always disliked confession as a youth I began to long too to hear those words of pardon and absolution and finally made up my mind to seek out a priest. Around this time my girlfriend suggested that we break off for a while to get things into perspective. This upset me at first but thoughts of priesthood and mission continued to float around in my head.
Q. Why did that happen?
A. My process of conversion was liberating me spiritually, psychologically and socially. I had always wanted to fit in, to be liked by others. Now I began to live out what I perceived as the values of Christ, living from within whether others liked it or not. I was becoming the person I had been created to be.
Mission came from my desire to have others share this freedom and joy that God had given me. A year or more before I came back to the Catholic Church I saw a Columban ad in the Navy Times newspaper. The ad said simply, 'I bribe you with uncertainty and I challenge you with defeat.' I cut it out and put it in my wallet although I'd never heard of the Columbans.
Later, when I returned to full communion with the Church I wrote to the Columbans enquiring about the missionary priesthood. When I told my evangelical friends about this emerging call some were very upset. It was a painful experience to break with people who had become close friends.
Q. After your ordination as a Columban priest in 1985 you were assigned to Taiwan. Was that another drastic change of culture and outlook?
A. During my years of formation and early priesthood, I had changed from being a Protestant fundamentalist to a Catholic fundamentalist. I was always prepared to argue, to prove what was true from Scripture or Church teaching.
Assigned to Taiwan I discovered that the people in general thought there was no difference between Catholics, Protestants, Mormons or any of the other groups. I saw how the Holy Spirit could work also outside of any Christian church.
One example was the great kindness of my friend's mother when I became ill. Mrs Chen didn't know me well and was not a Catholic. In the mornings I would see her offering incense to the Chinese gods of the sky and the mountains. Her charity and hospitality to a stranger, a foreigner, made me think the Spirit was here and working.
Many of my certainties about life and religion were shake-up and I had to reconstruct my way of seeing things. Cross-cultural experience deepened my conversion.
Q. Now you work on the US/Mexican border. What are you doing there?
A. If Taiwan challenged me to reshape what was going on in my head, the poverty that I saw in Juarez and on the US/Mexican border forced me to look at what was going on in my heart.
I wanted to offer service to those people. I felt the need to become involved, to be in solidarity instead of just talking or writing about it.
I see myself, too, as a bridge person between the two countries. Those of us who work on the border are not lone rangers. We can help build bridges.
We invite people to come here and experience the Third World on their own doorstep. Many theologians today insist that there is urgent need for mission in the First World.
It is there that many of the world's most serious problems and injustices have their origin. United States individuals and groups that visit are challenged by the poverty and injustice but even more, they are evangelized by the faith, resilience and sense of community of the people here.
In this way I see the border ministry as a way of being on mission to the First World, to my own people.
Of course I trust that there are young people on both sides of the border who are hearing the call to be Columban missionaries.
Today, 23 November, is St Columban's Day when we Columban missionaries, priests, Sisters and lay, thank God for and celebrate our great patron, Ireland's greatest missionarym who was born around 540 and died in 615. The Columban Region of Australia and New Zealand produced the video above which shows the extent of our missions and the diverse situations in which we have and still find ourselves. The video also shows the centrality of the Mass in our lives and in the lives of the people we serve.
Statue of St Columban, Luxeuil, France, where he founded one of his first monasteries
There are days where I eat to live (ie >90% of my time especially since I've started working) and there are the wonderful days I live to eat. I'm so superemely rested and satisfied after having good food for the past 3 days and I'm all prepared to go back to my eating to live days (until my next annual leave, that is...)The pockmarked lump on that weighing scale is the white truffle I had during lunch. Not the whole thing cos its costs >$1K ;)Had lunch at Otto (omg it felt >1 yr since my last meal but I've just checked it was just Jan this year!! Feels so long ago!!) I had the truffle creme brulee the last time and it was sooo good I had to go back this year.
Their delicious restaurant bread - the onion bread is my fave - they also have walnut, cranberry and olive but the onion's the tastiest.
Octopus - not my fave seafood unless it's raw...
Shaving the truffle. Truffle is weighed on the electronic weighing scale. The chef then shaves it over the dish of choice (in my case, it's scrambled eggs with crab meat) and reweighs the truffle after shaving. Had 2 grams of truffle with my dish. 1 gram just isn't enough, 2 is just right, since my budget isn't expandable. 3 would be such a luxury!
Chef reweighing truffle in the background - he's wearing those surgical latex gloves! :)
My scrambled egg with blue swimmer crab ($19++, excluding price of truffle) was creamy, piping hot and smelt so heavenly after the truffle was shaved over it :D Best ever way to eat scrambled eggs...
My Red Wine Pappardelle with Guinea foul ragout and crispy bacon ($28++)
Somehow both times I've been to Otto my dessert and starter was nicer than my mains. I was enticed by the Guinea Foul cos I had previously watched Iron Chef on TV and they had a cookout using Guinea Foul so I wanted to try it for myself. It tastes like chicken. The sauce was tasty, noodles done al dente, and the crispy bacon minced so finely but somehow it didn't taste particularly memorable. Maybe cos it was my only non-truffle dish?? Paccheri with Grouper ragout, Pachino tomatoesAtlantic Cod Tagliata with Porcini mushroom crust and creamed baby spinach with white truffles If the scrambled eggs with crabmeat and truffle was good, the cod is sublime! It's seriously the best cod I've ever tasted. I'd have thought that the cod was so marvellous on it's own, but paired with the aromatic white truffle, it was even more sublime. If I had the cash, I'd rush down to Otto just to have this dish. The porcini mushroom crust is not crispy, and more like a finely minced layer of tasty mushrooms coating the fish. The fish is buttery and oily, and it's seriously melt in the mouth. Haven't tasted fish like this for uber long! And the sauce is simple, creamy and doesn't interfere with the delicious aroma of the truffles. Ah I think this will probably be the best fish I've tried the whole year...
Their signature creme brulee with berries marinaded in balsamic vinegar.
But for me, their truffle infused creme brulee is the dessert of choice. Otto's creme brulee tastes great already, but when paired with truffle oil, it takes the creme brulee to a whole new playing field. Their creme brulee is excellent - such a pleasure to have creme brulee like this.
I'm superbly satisfied after my annual white truffle meal. Such a joy to eat such great food. Even more so since I've maximised my leave eating my way thru lots of good food. I'm all prepared for suffering for the next 6 months rotting in the east and eating lousy canteen food :D
White truffle season doesn't last forever, and this year, Otto will be serving their white truffle special menu until about mid December. So do go down if you want to get a taste of Chef Michele's delectable cooking.
Otto Ristorante 28 Maxwell Road #01-02 Red Dot Traffic Building Tel 62276819 Closed on Sundays
PS Hello to Kok's gf! Ask him to bring you to eat lots of truffles from Otto :P
The photo above shows a beggar in Dublin, quite possibly an immigrant drawn by the dream of prosperity, being ignored by IMF officials and leaning against a letterbox built in British times, painted green instead of the old British red. The photo symbolises the state of the Republic of Ireland today.
If Oliver Hardy were an Irishman and around today he'd probably be standing outside the Dáil or wherever Irish government officials are meeting with officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Dublin today with a banner proclaiming his immortal words 'Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!' Very likely he'd change the 'me' into 'us'. The photo below, with Stan Laurel standing and Oliver Hardy on the ground, is particularly apt since much of the mess was brought about by speculators building houses that nobody can afford to buy.
'Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!'
I've never understood economics but I know that my native country is in the worst mess it has ever been in since the Irish Free State, now the Irish Republic, was established in 1922, except for the brief but devastating Civil War that followed almost immediately after independence. Bankers, politicians and speculators made huge gambles but lost. For the most part the money they lost wasn't their own but that of the taxpayers and depositors in the banks.
What has angered Irish people enormously is that those who created the mess have, in many cases, been given huge bonuses and allowed to walk into the sunset. Politicians have a plethora of salaries and allowances and multiple pensions in some cases. Unlike other citizens, they don't have to wait till they are 66 to draw these.
Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion of Mary, was a great believer in symbolic acion. In other words, if you see a need you start doing something that is possible for you to do. It might be as simple as tidying up your room. If politicians in Ireland from all parties announced that they were reducing their salaries, that no one could draw more than one salary, that they would draw only one pension, and that when they were no longer serving politicians and at least 66, it would send a message that they too were prepared to share the hardship that faces everyone in the Republic of Ireland. I don't believe that any politician in Ireland set out deliberately to bring the country to its needs. I don't believe that they are corrupt, though some have been and have paid the price, including time in prison for a couple. But it is very clear that the present government, elected in 2007, no longer has the support of the people. Reputable polls have shown consistently that they haven't. I recall previous governments resigning when it was clear that they were no longer competent.
Many young couples are left with huge mortgages while many newly-built houses remain empty.
The UK has offered to give £7billion in loans or guarantees towards the £70billion apparently needed to ge the Irish economy working again.
Matt, the brilliant front-page cartoonist of The Daily Telegraph, linked the loan/guarantee by the UK with the announcement of the engagement of Prince William of England and Catherine Middleton:
I am a huge fan of Phasers. I own a lot of screen used ones, both hand phasers and phaser rifles. I think they are the most recognizable and iconic props from Star Trek and so it is kind of my specialty.
I guess I can say I got one of my Holy Grails this summer: The Kelvin Phaser. And that is funny, because this is pretty new, but the moment I saw it I fell in love with it. And the reason is because it looks like the TOS Phaser. It is a total homage and frankly, THIS should have been the new phaser, not the chrome one which got chosen. But that is just one man's opinion.
And I am big on homages to TOS. I always thought the Star Trek III Phaser was the perfect next generation of the TOS Phaser. It looked like it was an evolution of the TOS Phaser. You could see its heritage. And I loved that. (Don't get me started on that piece of crap TMP Phaser).
So this Phaser is now the highlight of my Phaser collection. It was pricey, but I love it. I am told they only made two for the movie. Now if I can land the Kelvin Communicator!
I'm so sad that my 2 days of annual leave flew past in the blink of an eye!! I think that getting back to worse is 1000x worse but I shall now slowly blog about my delicious food adventures during leave so that I can look forward to my next annual leave, which will again, be spent eating ;) (since I'm too lazy to plan anything or to crawl anywhere...) I've had a brilliant total of 5 days indulging in all my favourite foods, and sleeping >12h each day :D Though I am very sure that Friday's call will undo all my sleeping... You know how food doesn't taste as good when you're full? I just ate the bento set from Tomo Izakaya, and had 1.5 tacos from Spruce, and had the Sticky Date Pudding from Boomerang to top it all off. And it still tasted amazing. Amazing enough to taste even better than Marmalade Pantry's Sticky Date Pudding. I think it would have been even more amazing if I had been hungry! So this is how freaking good the sticky date pudding from Boomerang was... (Lol I know that I am very gluttony, but I have been eating crappy food and will be eating crappy food for the next 6 months...)
Melt in the mouth texture, if you inhale deeply just before eating, you can smell the butter. And the taste of dates is distinct and not hidden under the sugary goodness.
However, I must say that Marmalade Pantry's Kapiti ice cream beats Boomerang's default vanilla ice cream (a very unmemorable one I must say) hands down. No real vanilla beans in this ice cream! Cost wise, it's same as Marmalade Pantrys at $12 ++ (it's around $14 after all the pluss-es).
I'd say that this definitely beats Marmalade Pantry (but not the ice cream!) but Boomerang is so out of the way, especially since Marmalade Pantry has moved to Ion. (Come to think of it, the last time I had their crabmeat linguine was so long ago! Time to pay them a revisit soon!) But for convenience, since Boomerang is really out of my radar and since there isn't any aircon (which is a essential for me especially with our sweltering hot weather), I'll still be patronizing Marmalade Pantry.
On a side note, I've been to Boomerang for their brunch, but it's not that impressive as their sticky date pudding. I'm still dying to try Pamplemousse for brunch tho!
Pope Urges Release of Asia Bibi, Christian Mother in Pakistan Sentenced to Hang for Her Faith
11/17/2010
Zenit News Agency (www.zenit.org)
45-Year-Old Christian Mother of 5 Accused of Blaspheming Mohammed
'Today I particularly express my spiritual closeness to Mrs. Asia Bibi and her family, asking that she be given full liberty as soon as possible. As well, I pray for those who find themselves in similar situations, so that their human dignity and fundamental rights be fully respected.'
Asia Bibi, sentenced to death in Pakistan
VATICAN CITY, (Zenit.org) - Benedict XVI added his voice to that of the international community beseeching the release of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani woman condemned to death for blasphemy.
Bibi, 45, was charged a year ago for blaspheming Mohammed in a conflict with fellow farm workers. She was sentenced to death last week.
The Pope on Wednesday, at the end of the general audience mentioned the plight of Pakistani Christians, who along with Hindus make up only a 5% minority in the Muslim country. Human rights groups have long decried the nation's blasphemy laws as a means of persecution of religious minorities in cases that have nothing to do with religion.
"In these days, the international community is following with great concern the difficult situation of Christians in Pakistan, who are often victims of violence and discrimination," the Holy Father said.
Then he mentioned Bibi specifically: "Today I particularly express my spiritual closeness to Mrs. Asia Bibi and her family, asking that she be given full liberty as soon as possible. As well, I pray for those who find themselves in similar situations, so that their human dignity and fundamental rights be fully respected."
An international campaign is collecting signatures appealing to the Pakistan government on Bibi's behalf.
On Monday, an appeal was filed in her case, while her husband requested prayer from Christians across the globe.
St Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231), the patron saint of Franciscan Tertiaries (Secular Franciscans and members of the many religious congregations of the Franciscan Third Order). She was a princess, married at 14, mother of three, widowed at 20 and forced, with her children, out of their home in winter, finding herself living in a disused pigsty shown ot her by a kind shepherd.
St Elizabeth had an extraordinary love for the sick and the poor and built a hospital in Marburg, Germany, where she daily worked. She died at the age of 24 and was canonized four years later.
This remarkable woman, along with being patron of Third Order Franciscans, is also a patron of many other groups: Bakers; beggars; brides; Catholic charities; charitable societies; charitable workers; charities; countesses; death of children; exiles; falsely accused people; hoboes; homeless people; hospitals; in-law problems; lacemakers; lace workers; nursing homes; nursing services; people in exile; people ridiculed for their piety; Sisters of Mercy; Teutonic Knights; toothache; tramps; widows.
Elizabeth was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castles should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.
Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly repulsive; to some she gave goods, to others clothing; some she carried on her own shoulders, and performed many other kindly services. Her husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works. Finally, when her husband died, she sought the highest perfection; filled with tears, she implored me to let her beg for alms from door to door.
On Good Friday of that year, when the altars had been stripped, she laid her hands on the altar in a chapel in her own town, where she had established the Franciscan Friars Minor, and before witnesses she voluntarily renounced all worldly display and everything that our Savior in the gospel advises us to abandon. Even then she saw that she could still be distracted by the cares and worldly glory which had surrounded her while her husband was alive. Against my will she followed me to Marburg. Here in the town she built a hospice where she gathered together the weak and the feeble. There she attended the most wretched and contemptible at her own table.
Apart from those active good works, I declare before God that I have seldom seen a more contemplative woman.
Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn-out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.
Part 2 of Day 1 of Annual leave! Pardon the interruption from the Truffle Infused Creme Brulee I was so overjoyed after eating it I had to blog about it stat.
I've positively been dying to try Spruce Taqueria but their office worker unfriendly cos their opening hours are only weekdays 12-3pm. So I used my annual leave day 1 (for this posting) just to try it (and many other yummy foods which I will be blogging about later).
Somewhere around 2pm, we arrived at the much awaited Spruce Taqueria (right on top of the hill, at some obscure corner of phoenix park). Underwhelmingly, it's a little black and white shack with a small shelter infront and some plastic/wooden tables and chairs thrown around. Suprisingly, there was a rather huge group of people there feasting on the tacos already.
We decided to have the set with 2 tacos, corn chips and their salsa, plus a drink ($9). For the set, you can only choose one type of filling for both tacos, so we settled on the pork carnitas. There's other choices of beef tongue, grilled snapper, portobello mushroom etc but pork it was... No regrets about the pork - insanely soft, juicy and with a bit of that porkey smell, its a generous portion (for $3 per taco) of succulent tasty pork topped with guacamole. Though it got a bit soppy and wet after a while when the pork released its juices on to the corn tortilla and onto the plastic plate...
It's purely al fresco seating right next to nature - think having a nice picnic with wooden tables under a large shady tree, with all the ants, houseflies as well as a cacophony of crickets to accompany you and your meal, not to mention patches of birdshit on the tables and chairs... We found ourselves taking refuge in the car - the carpet of decaying leaves and lots of ants under our table was too much to handle. Of course, the tortillas being slightly wet from the juicy pork made it even trickier to eat inside the car...
I really pity the people working hard inside the little shack during midday, when the sun is scorching hot. No air con inside either! But thanks to them, yummy soft corn tacos for a super worth it $3 a pop.
The watermelon with lime drink (it's some fancier name in the menu, but essentially, it's watermelon with lime) is extremely refreshing, and I think it'll taste even better with a dash of vodka... Though I must say it did the perfect job of washing down the spicy salsa dip...
I really cannot figure out why Spruce would want to have this little shack instead of opening up their main restaurant. But it's really yummy so if you're not afraid of the heat, the long trek up the slope (unless you drive) and if you happen to be free from 12-3 on a weekday, do go down to try some tacos. Though if you're a non-nature lover like me you would probably want to drive and have it inside the car...
Spruce Taqueria
320 Tanglin Road
68365528
Btw I have 1 more post before I blog about my annual truffle affair at Otto! *satisfied and highly contented sigh*
Having cheap set lunches were the joys in my life but ever since starting work (think weekends PLUS public holidays and 6 calls/month) I've been missing out heaps on the wonders of set lunches. But I have reason to rejoyce cos I'm on annual leave! :D I'm going to maximise my leave by catching up on the hundreds of hours of sleep I've missed and perhaps if I'm feeling not too lardy tmr, I shall go down to borrow Inception dvd :)
Actually I had wanted to eat Pamplemousse for lunch today but Pamplemousse is CLOSED on Mondays! Sadness. Looks like the next time I'll be free to try it will be Sunday Brunch :(
I'm going to share one of my best finds ever - Clarke Quay is still having their $15nett set lunch promos at certain participating outlets - and if you have either DBS or POSB cards, you are entitled to further discount/offers on top of the $15nett set lunches. Spent quite a long time debating between Tomo Izakaya, Fremantle Fish Market as well as Hotstones, but we settled for the Japanese bento box lunch at Tomo Izakaya.
Had the bento boxes Set A and Set B for $15 nett each. Set A is the grilled mackeral and set B is the exact same sides with pumpkin croquette. I'd say to go for the fish instead of the pumpkin, even though the pumpkin croquette is so nicely fried and battered, and the golden pumpkin puree inside is extremely tasty, I somehow don't feel satisfied until I have a piece of meat in my meal (unless I've already psyched myself up for vegeterian lunch ;P) It comes with mustard leaf salad with sesame dressing, duck and spinach salad, 2 types of sashimi, pickles and miso soup. The rice they use is the normal long grain rice, not the nice glossy Japanese rice though I suppose for $15 nett it's alright? Pretty worth it considering it's in a restaurant and it's nett price.
And if that's not enough, if you pay using DBS/POSB, you'll get a returning dining voucher of $15 when you spend $30 bucks. Shiok or not?
3A River Valley Road
#01-04 Clarke Quay
Tel 6336 0100
I shall blog about part 2/3 of my delicious lunching on annual leave day 1 later.. more delicious food to come - including Spruce's Tacos and a sticky date pudding which is better than Marmalde Pantry's!
Above is a video on the killing of two priests and 48 parishioners during Mass at Our Lady of Salvation Church, Baghdad, on 31 October. They were members of the Syrian Rite of the Catholic Church. Of the 15 Catholic dioceses in Iraq eleven belong to the Chaldean Rite, one to Latin or Roman Rite, one to the Armenian Rite and two to the Syrian Rite. The song in the video is in Arabic and, as far as I can make out, was written in honour of the people who were martyred. Freddie Hamika put the video together. I'm not sure if he wrote the song.
You can read a longer post, with some photos, at http://www.misyononline.com/, the online magazine I edit for the Columbans in the Philippines, here. It includes the letter of Fr Albert Hisham Naoum, a friend of the two priests who were murdered, Fr Wasim Sabieh and Fr Thaier Saad Abdel, along with the names of their parishioners who died.
While I try and not talk much about Replicas (outside of Master Replicas and EFX, which are worth owning), I found out last year about the maker of the Romulan costumes from the 2009 Star Trek movie and that they were now selling their costumes to the public. Recently this cam up on teh Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction Forum and it made me think I needed to write about them!
Romwear is a company created by the team that did the Romulan costumes for the 2009 Star Trek movie.
As they state on their site:
ROMWEAR is brought to you by the same designers who were contracted in 2007 by Paramount Pictures to create over 300 original costume pieces for the Romulans in the Star Trek movie (2009), directed by J. J. Abrams. So what you can get? Well, the whole outfit, sold ala carte. The jackets are beautiful and I think well worth the price. Both Nero's and Ayel's jackets are available as well as other versions. Shirts, pants and boots as well.
I think the prices are very reasonable and the only question is how many people are interested in them. Typically it is the uniforms that are in demand. However, while not uniforms, these are very cool costumes and because of the prices I think they will be well worth it. The jackets are amazing by themselves. I wish these guys would set up at the Las Vegas Star Trek con!
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There are days where I eat to live (ie >90% of my time especially since I've started working) and there are the wonderful days I live to eat. I'm so superemely rested and satisfied after having good food for the past 3 days and I'm all prepared to go back to my eating to live days (until my next annual leave, that is...)
The pockmarked lump on that weighing scale is the white truffle I had during lunch. Not the whole thing cos its costs >$1K ;)
Had lunch at Otto (omg it felt >1 yr since 
Paccheri with Grouper ragout, Pachino tomatoes
Atlantic Cod Tagliata with Porcini mushroom crust and creamed baby spinach with white truffles
Otto's creme brulee tastes great already, but when paired with truffle oil, it takes the creme brulee to a whole new playing field. Their creme brulee is excellent - such a pleasure to have creme brulee like this.
I'm superbly satisfied after my annual white truffle meal. Such a joy to eat such great food. Even more so since I've maximised my leave eating my way thru lots of good food. I'm all prepared for suffering for the next 6 months rotting in the east and eating lousy canteen food :D
