Coffee And Cake Saturday

After…yes, another farewell lunch, we headed to Tiong Bahru Bakery‘s second outlet – in Basement 1 of Raffles City, where we managed to have rather good chats about life and ministry amid the occasional seat-vibrating rumbles.

TBB Raffles City is located just opposite Ding Tai Fung, in a place once verdant with Aerin’s plastic greenery. The chocolate croissant, blood orange tart, mixed berry panna cotta were rather good. We were amused that even the hot chocolate came with “latte art”, but having just experienced the prompt, polite service at DTF, were slightly perturbed at the waitstaff at TBB moving aimlessly about, getting in the way of people struggling with laden trays.

Then, read the last chapter of Matthias Media’s Back To Basics with someone to ensure she really understood what the Christian life was like before making a public declaration of her faith through baptism. After, because it would be otherwise impossible to meet up with friends on account of the lean staffing at their new venture, headed to Papa Palheta‘s fresh flagship store, Chye Seng Huat Hardware (facebook, 150 Tyrwhitt Road). Consolidated within the compound was The CSHH Coffee Bar, the Annex for experimental coffee stuff, the temperature-controlled bean storage, the roastery and packing facilities, and the machine repair workshop. The Bar was quite the looker.

In order to reference the original use of the space (and the continued use of the name of the previous occupant of the space), the interior design featured metal beam light fittings, metal rod shelves, nuts as napkin weights. The coffee island bar top was constructed from painted metal as well.

The Nuts and Bolts blend (Brazilian, Columbian, Tanzanian, Guatemalan) was indeed brighter, more acidic and juicy than the usual Terra Firma. Nicely done. Their in-house baker (the pastry kitchen is on the second level) is apparently the same person who did the desserts at the much-missed Peaberry & Pretzel, formerly at Sunset Way. The brownie, that barometer of a good pastry chef, was simply but well made – crackle crust with rich smooth moist interior.

They did a little tour of the place starting with The Annex (somewhat like The Steeping Room) for experiments, tastings, food pairings.

The coffee bean storage area, the roastery, and the packing area.

Behind a rather heavy metal sliding door, up the stairs to the second level, C-Platform – the coffee school with equipment and charts.

The top level will hold Papa Palheta’s offices. For now, simple desks and chairs sit in the emptiness, lit by dusty streams of sunlight.

The soundscape featured light jazz from an old turntable and the clanging of the automated prayer bell in the temple diagonally across the road.

The fading evening light brought out nice colours in the interior but i had to leggit to say more goodbyes over cream of spinach, a large leg of ham, yuzu goma-tossed salad. A good conversation about church – belonging, serving, growing; validity of spending time in two congregations.

Flat Whites and Sandwiches

With lunchtimes now at a premium, have resorted to quite a few quick bites and grab-and-go’s.

6oz Espresso Bar (facebook, 20 McCallum Street, Tokio Marine Centre). Branding and interior design by Louis Lam who also did work for black coffee dessert bar, shots cafe, and two Joe & Dough cafes. Decent coffee and panini sandwich.

EspressoLAB Singapore (facebook. 13 Bali Lane) is a branch of the popular Kuala Lumpur coffee people. Interior filled with pops of bright colours; no hint of edgy vintage so beloved by the Haji Lane crowd. Mason glasses as lamps.

They’re fairly new so still figuring things out – the flat white (made by the trainee i think) had a promising mid-tones that quickly dropped off to a watery milk taste. Will probably give it another shot some time. Beef pastrami surprisingly good for a coffee joint – toasted sun-dried focaccia bread, crisp greens, the use of mustard to spice up the sandwich.

Ella J Lifestyle Cafe (facebook, Suntec Tower 3). Something a little different – bamboo interior, cakes and pottery hand-made by the Korean lady owner, yoga wear.

Good place to chill out while waiting for friends/family members doing their groceries etc. Apple walnut loaf cake, orange chocolate cream cheese, cuban sandwich, “flat white”, flourless chocolate cake that had a nice sweet meringue crust atop what what tasted like chocolate egg custard.

That is all.

Pies & Coffee at Rochester Mall

Pies & Coffee (facebook. 35 Rochester Drive, Rochester Mall) serves…pies and coffee… The pies had a buttery crust that barely held itself together. The insides were fairly tasty though made us rather thirsty for some time after. Rocket leaves to accompany, mash seemed reconstituted.

Wasn’t too keen on the Geisha on the Air Infuser for the same reason I prefer drip brewing to the Aeropress – a certain lack of body. The espresso-based drinks were decent, with complimentary chocolate chip cookies.

Nice space: friendly and helpful staff, free wifi, choice of al fresco by the water feature or air-conditioned seating sometimes filled with teachers swigging beers and marking scripts.

Kith Bistro at Park Mall, Church Ministries

After sending bags to the cleaners, came upon Kith Bistro (facebook. Park Mall), sister to Kith Cafe (Watermark, 7 Robertson Quay. Facebook). It was taking up a tiny bit of Olio Dome’s former digs. A small interior and even smaller kitchen, with an alfresco area under mature trees. The presence of a dog bowl and a tub of toys for kids indicated that pets and children were welcome.

This outlet/branch dispensed with the distinct specially-manufactured wood furniture of the river-side one but retained that design shorthand to authenticity and sincerity – handwritten advertisements and menus in chalk on blackboards. The mismatched wooden panelling on the tables and also on wall containing the food pick-up (providing a framed view of the chef), the glass wall giving a good gob at the skeleton next door, and the brown and yellow beams protruding from the storefront were a nice touch. Didn’t ask if design was also by Hjgher.

There were familiar faces pulling familiar-tasting shots on the La Pavoni, though almost everyone else seemed trained so the standard of coffee varied with each barista – one constantly pulled what seemed (to me) to be overextracted shots, one really brought out the sweet complexity of the beans, the last just made a safe decent cup. A Brazilian-Columbian-Sumatran blend i think. They don’t serve cookies with their coffees so those used to a little nibble with their cuppa ordered some separately.

Big breakfast (buttery scrambled eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, spelt toast with homemade strawberry jam) and toasties (this one had scrambled eggs and bacon in it) until 3pm.

Also a changing blackboard menu featuring well-executed pasta and lamb shank by Prabath Gunatilake (previously executive chef at Da Paolo, lately also of a3 bistro) at a reasonable price.

The tiramisu was made in-house by The Chef and came highly-recommended by the nice friendly waitstaff.

While waiting for the storm to pass, we had time to sit around with the Pink Paper and also Colin Marshall and Tony Payne’s The Trellis and The Vine. Good points to think about, especially now that some church people are complaining that I’m not doing any work for their ministry. This is factually inaccurate and smacks of possible shit-stirring but that aside, I am naturally averse to any sort of peer pressure, have no interest in “acting busy” just to be commended, and will generally ignore such demands for commitment unless there is good reason (for example, commitment in the case of marriage, or commitment to ensure an event, whose purpose is eternal, runs well). But in the interests of doing what is right before God, had to examine these complaints and think through this.

The book was a useful place to start:

• the aim of Christian ministry is not to build attendance on Sunday, bolster the membership roll, get more people into small groups, or expand the budget. The fundamental goal is to make disciples who make other disciples, to the glory of God. We want to see people converted from being dead in their transgressions to being alive in Christ; and once converted, to be followed up and established as mature disciples of Jesus;
• churches inevitably drift towards institutionalism and secularisation. The focus shifts from seeing people grow as disciples to organising and maintaining activities and programmes. We come to think only in structural and corporate terms. We fret about getting people into grops, increasing numbers at various programmes, putting on events for people to come to, and so on. We stop thinking and praying about people and where each one is up to in gospel growth, and focus instead on driving a range of group activities – attendance at which (we assume) will equal growth in discipleship;
• we become disciples and grow as disciples by hearing and learning the word of Christ, the gospel, and having its truth applied to our hearts by the Spirit. The essence of Christian ministry is the prayerful, Spirit-backed speaking of the message of the Bible by one person to another (or to more than one). Various structures, activities, events and programmes can provide a context in which this prayerful speaking can take place, but without the speaking they are merely structures which will not foster growth;
• the goal of all ministry – not just one-to-one work, is to nurture disciples;
• an integral part of making disciples is nurturing and teaching people in their understanding and knowledge (their convictions), in their godliness and way of life (their character), and in their abilities and practical experience of ministering to others (their competence). This sort of training is more like parenthood than the classroom. It’s relational and personal, and involves modelling and imitation;
• in this sense, all Christians should be disciple-makers. So there is only one class of disciples, regardless of different roles or responsibilities (eg. pastors, elders, other leaders);
• The Great Commission, and its disciple-making imperative, needs to drive fresh thinking about our Sunday meetings and the place of other ministry activities during the rest of the week. This may mean starting new things, but very often it will mean closing down structures or programmes that no longer effectively serve the goal of disciple-making. It may mean clearing out some of the regular activities and events so that congregation members actually have time to do some disciple-making.

Société Canteen, Cluny Court

Société Canteen (facebook. 501 Bukit Timah Road, Cluny Court, #01-05B) provided a nice quiet place for a read before joining friends for dinner and then the tragic men’s finals at Wimbledon.

Filtered water for the Synpresso. Beans in the Mazzer grinder were from Papa Palheta – the all-new Terra Firma blend. Cookies in the jars were 3 for S$2. The girls did an ok job with the baguette sandwiches but I’d return for the familiar coffee blend at a convenient location.

They also sell designer energy-saving Plumen bulbs, T2 Tea (also sold in Tangs), and the artwork on the walls.

Funny thing about seeing Ashley Khoo’s “The Ruins of Mona Lisa”(?) on the wall. In attempting to explain why a good preacher is determined by how good a steward he is of God’s word, the writers of The Archer and The Arrow, Phillip D. Jensen and Paul Grimmond have this to say:

The Mona Lisa is probably the world’s most famous painting. It currently resides in a purpose-built, bullet-proof case in the Louvre. It is considered so precious that it has only been exhibited outside of the Louvre twice in the last century. In 1963, it was displayed for a time in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and then in the spring of 1974 it was hung in the Tokyo National Museum.

Can you imagine what might have happened if those responsible for delivering the painting decided that the Mona Lisa was a little short of artistic merit? What if they had whipped out a brush in transit and added a nice floral pattern to the border or updated the dress to the duck-egg blue fashion of the day? “We thought it was a little dreary and we wanted to brighten it up a little.” This would not have been an acceptable excuse. Their job wasn’t to improve the painting, but to deliver it in its original condition.

How much more with the word of God!

Dean & Deluca (Orchard Central, Singapore) and Service

The attraction of the flagship Soho branch of Dean & Deluca was the atmosphere, said a dinner companion; tempting displays of supposedly gourmet food and incredible New York service. The Singapore branch (facebook. 4th floor, Orchard Central) was so cramped we could hear, quite distinctly, the private conversations on two neighbouring tables while we watched two waitresses/kitchen staff wander to-and-fro for the next few minutes trying to locate the rightful owners of the plates they were hefting.

Other than the food that was prepared/heated on the premises (pies, salads), Dean & Deluca played a curatorial function: a selection of imported cheese, an edited list of the best local breads, cakes, and pastries that fit D&D’s Noo Yawker image (from Baker & Cook, Maison Kayser), etc.

Our nicoise salad contained exactly three pieces of tuna and was decent. Despite the height-challenged buns, i liked the flavour and texture make-up of the burger. Roasted onion tomato relish was a tastier condiment to plain old Heinz tomato ketchup. Unfortunately, we had a female server/cashier who wasn’t at all pleased to be answering excited questions about the pastries, and some other people had a male server/cashier who didn’t bother to tell them, while they waited patiently in line, that the last order had already been taken even before 9pm. This did not encourage anyone to think that the experience was worth the premium prices.

The evening was salvaged, however, by the caucasian lady who appeared to be running the show. When we returned a faulty confection, she was not only apologetic even before verifying the alleged fault, readily acceding to our request for another cake, but also generous enough to throw in a second on the house. Teething problems for the rest perhaps and what a great help to the Singapore F&B industry if the waitstaff manage to learn the basic service principles from her. It’s not about giving free stuff but actually allowing customers to have the opportunity to enjoy, well, being served and being properly taken-care of.

The requirements for Christians are higher though. What’s expected isn’t just the fake smile and trained thoughtfulness before hiding behind the counter to bitch to friends on Facebook or Twitter but, just like Jesus’ own service standards, a willing sacrificial service, even for one’s enemies:

Jesus called them together and said,”You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:42-45)

In the grocery section:

A good selection of products that we’ve usually had friends bring back from overseas grocery runs. Kitchen Language seems to have been a bit generous on the profit margins though.

Teas: Kusmi Tea, Mariage Freres (was available at Changi Terminal 3 for a brief period), Tipu’s Chai, Dean & Deluca House Brand
Coffees: Papa Palheta, Dean & Deluca House Brand
Coffee paraphernalia: Clever drippers, Chemexes

Variations on the themes of herbs and spices, olive oil, jam, preserved vegetables, salt, sugar.

Henry Congressional

Dropped by Henry Congressional (facebook. Smitten Coffee & Tea Bar‘s pop-up shop/cafe at Henry Park Apartments, 44 Holland Grove Road, next to Secret Recipe) on the way to a late dinner. Minimalist decor as befits a temporary space. Loved the half-curtained windows, aluminium door and window frames, menu painted onto main wall, hanging naked light bulbs (that C & J say they popularised in Singapore).

The tight menu offered a good selection of teas, coffees (fixed prices for black and white, brew bar, cold drip), beers (Mikkeller! Moor!), sandwiches, scones, and some sweets.

The tuna, capers, cucumber sandwich (panini) was toasted to a good degree of crisp without being dry or rough enough to cause abrasions to the roof of your mouth. The balance of flavours between the tuna and capers was excellent. The flourless chocolate cake (with lovely crackle crust) and MIL pineapple tarts (buttery and crumbly, semi-sweet pineapple interior, made by the baker’s mother-in-law) got the thumbs-up. Thumper blend (refreshed?) x Darren x Henry the Kees Ven Der Westen Speedster = a satisfying complex (yeah very descriptive) milk coffee.

(Went back the next day to take away a few slices of the pandan chiffon cake – sans green food colouring, commendably fragrant if no flavouring was added, very light, and as Singaporean aunties would say by way of compliment,”not oily and not too sweet!”)

We two pre-dinner diners had had a trying week. I’d spent the last two days/nights yelling down the Polycom at South Asians, in deference to the cultural norms of negotiating in certain countries. We had a laugh at how difficult it was to snap out of this mode of communication: I have been known to accidentally scare a few Japs by irresponsibly getting on a call with them fresh out of a preceding call with the Indians; someone else could not stop himself from answering phone calls with “Tell me, tell me!”.

Dinner, dessert, and a very serious talk till midnight. Wonderfully timely call not to have a world view restricted by present experience (however pleasant or miserable), but to renew our minds, according to God’s truth, to interpret current reality in a gospel-shaped God-centered manner. For one day will come the Lord, to whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. The practical outworking of our understanding of the second coming is that we persevere in fighting the good fight; that we not be idle slackers but be diligent in keeping up His good work and being faithful to his purposes.*

Now i’ll have to haul ass to bed before wedding photog duty in a few hours. To add more later (or never)!

*Teaching The Christian Hope, David Jackman

A Death. Nylon Coffee Roasters.

A strange surreality to the day.

Fell asleep mid-sentence early last night after a few long days of dealing with Indo-China. Was awoken in the early hours by the insistent buzzing of SMSes and whatsapp messages coming in about the demise of Singapore theatre actress (or “actor” as they would insist) Emma Yong, and also from theatre friends suddenly arranging meet-ups. It was like this when a mutual friend committed suicide last year – the seeming need to share stories, to grieve together, to be badly comforted in face of the stark reality that death comes for us all…

And then, life went on. Got some ang ku kueh from Ji Xiang Confectionery (1 Everton Park, #01-33) for the girls at the office who are very fond of the sticky oily stuff.

And since i was in the vicinity, dropped by Nylon Coffee Roasters (4 Everton Park #01-40, tumblr, facebook, current hours: 8.30am to 5.30pm) where Dennis Tang and Lee Jia Min, formerly of Papa Palheta/Loysel’s Toy, set up a micro-roasting shop after a few months of travelling, providing coffee consultancy services, and working mobile coffee stations at weddings and other events. “Nylon” because New York and London figured majorly in their interest in coffee, and the moustache logo because the designer they hired didn’t figure on Jiamin being on the scene?!

A Probat roaster at the back which is put into use every other day. (Go maillard reactions!)

Well-wishes.

They’ve done away with the concept of cappuccinos, flat whites, etc and classify their drinks as either milk-based or non-milk-based.

The El Primero (first) blend was a mix of Brazilian and Peruvian – perky and bright in a way that makes one (or just me and my deluded mind) think of South America.

It’s not a cafe with food or other drinks, but the four chairs inside or the use of your two pegs provide loads of opportunity to chat about what’s central to the whole set-up, so somewhat like how it was with The Steeping Room. Good stuff.

(To affirm their coffee geekery, there was also a pin-up calendar with the barista of month being Tim Wendelboe of Norway (World Barista Champion 2004).)

Now, the day is ending with more buzzing from friends overseas, wanting to confirm the news, to grieve. But to what end all these platitudes of any deceased being “in God’s hands” and “with the angels”? If there was life after death, i would want to be sure that the people i love are really in a better place and are really right with God. i would want to be absolutely sure of seeing them again in happier circumstances. Well-meaning but ultimately superficial Hallmark card condolences are faint comfort to any one…

..nor the songs that we once made up and sang and taught others to sing. Despite all earnest sincerity, no friend can accompany us through death’s door (other than the Friend who has himself gone through it before us):

Dedication
We have shared our morning days,
and gone through all rainy nights,
even in the darkest of nights,
stars still light up our way.

Tomorrow is a beautiful dream,
a dream that could be fulfilled.
Cross the bridge of rainbow,
in search of the gold.

For here we stand,
our dearest friends.
Sincerely from our hearts we wish:
may streams of sunlight shine like rays of hope,
hand in hand we’ll work and strive,
for the best things in life.

Friends
Sometimes I wonder, if I’ve made a wrong step somewhere
and times don’t seem as good as they have been before.
It’s not so hard then, to want to lay down and cry,
but then I hear a chorus of voices calling from the other shore,
“Look up! Look up!”

These are my friends, my friends
just some people walking the same road
with hands joined as one together.
Cross the bridge, see the rainbow
feel the breeze, watch the flowers grow
touch the sky, don’t you know
we can go higher, higher, higher!

And through the years, as generations come and go,
yet still this flame inside burns strong despite the rain.
It’s not so hard then, to stumble and fall.
It’s then I hear a chorus of voices calling from the other shore,
“Look up, look up”

You are my friends, my friends,
just some people walking the same road
with hands joined as one together.
Cross the bridge, see the rainbow,
feel the breeze, watch the flowers grow,
touch the sky, don’t you know,
we can go higher, higher, higher…

My friends…

As One
We were once all strangers
Roaming near and far.
Lost in a world of fantasy
Don’t know who we are. [sic]
Then one day destined we were
To stand together here as one. (lalala)
We’ll be together, together as one.

Day by day our spirits grew
Bonding us with love.
Striving, working, never rest [sic]
Striving for the best.
‘Tis our story, ’tis our song
Filled with joy, spirit strong as one. (lalala)
We’ll be together, together as one.

As the years pass us by
In many ways we fly.
But the spirit still remains
It can never die.
‘Tis our story, ’tis our song
Filled with joy, spirit strong as one. (lalala)
We’ll be together, together as one.

SPRMRKT, Franken-Monkey and Rabbit from Aranzi Aronzo’s The Cute Book, Cake

The prevailing holiday mood meant people were taking it easy on Friday. Since i wouldn’t be able to dally at Ocean Curry Fish Head while waiting for someone to run her banking errands, ended up next door at SPRMRKT (2 McCallum Street. facebook. No relation to the Amsterdam outfit).

Opened three weeks ago by a pair of siblings, the emphasis was on fresh (and therefore dearer) food. There was also a retail section for fruits, some veg, and homeware. The flat white from Smitten Coffee’s Thumper Blend was at times excellent – hot chocolate in a mug, and as personal preferences go, more favourable to me than what i’ve gotten onsite. Good texture in the carrot cake thanks to obvious bits of shredded carrot and nuts, and the citrus zest in the cream cheese was quite refreshing. Several people liked the peanut cookies.

Back in the office, the girls were cooing over the kawaii-ness of Aranzi Aronzo‘s The Cute Book. I had a go for a lark and the unanimous conclusion was that not only would i never come near the likes of Ashley Isham, Kevin Seah, Edwin Neo of Ed et al, Jeremiah Ang of The J Myers Company, that OberBlünck bespoke jeans guy, or Woffles Wu for that matter, if i were old and decrepit and selling these franken-dolls for food, even sweet charity might turn heel and run like the hounds of hell were after her.

(Old Monkey done by an expert, the Franken-creatures by Why-Can’t-We-Just-Use-A-Hot-Glue-Gun)

But altogether nice for a chill and chat.

And later on, we were biscuitted and caked-out by, inter alia, very lovely Anzac biscuits from Sarnies, dark chocolate mousse from Grin Affair, tiramisu and banana toffee tart from Da Paolo (after which there was yet another round of desserts after bumping into more friends).

This world is a brilliant place to live in with so much to see and do and enjoy, but still later on, listening to Richard Coekin on 2 Corinthians 5:9 – 6:2 (Motives for Gospel Ministry), i was reminded that when i became a Christian, my priorities changed and it became my purpose to please not myself but God. In the letter to the Corinthians, Paul defends his ministry against the accusations of the false apostles and in so doing states the motives for ministry and unpacks the meaning of pleasing the Lord:

• fear of the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:10ff) – when Christ returns, we must all stand before the judgement seat of Christ who will judge everything we have done and spoken and thought. If we have trusted in him, we have no reason to fear his condemnation because he has taken that condemnation when he died on the cross for us. But precisely because we have been saved from all this, we ought to know that God will have a reckoning for all we have done in this world. Jesus tells two parables of the talents – in one, when the servants were at first given different amounts of talents, the same reward was given in the end; in the other, the servants were rewarded according to what they had done with what they had been given. So we are encouraged to make the most of what we have been given to do what we can to please him. But more than that, there is a great seriousness in facing Christ’s judgement – it lasts for all eternity and a disappointing review but the person who matters most in the universe can never be changed. How much more frightening it will be for people who are still unforgiven. Therefore, just as it would be unspeakably cruel and inhumane to walk past a house engulfed by flames without warning its sleeping occupants, so it would be unconscionable not to persuade people to be saved from hell;

• love of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) – the immense love that caused God the Son to come to earth to live the life we could never life, and to die the death that we should have died, as a sinner and a criminal, as our substitute and our representative. So when Christ died on the cross, we died together with him. We know we are now acceptable to God because we were raised with Christ. Therefore, we can no longer live for ourselves but for him;
• responsibility for the message of the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:19-20) – God entrusted the impossibly important message of peace and reconciliation to the apostles which the apostles passed on to us. As ambassadors of God, they were not not at liberty to change the message, and neither are we, just to make it more popular or palatable to others. And we are not at liberty to keep the message to ourselves, that would be stealing; we must pass it to others;
• this is the day of salvation – this is the time to alive, not the days of the prophets of old. This is the period that the prophets of the Old Testament foretold and looked forward to, the last days before the judgement of Christ. These are days of opportunity and urgency.

Sarnies (facebook)
136 Telok Ayer Street

Grin Affair (facebook)
3 Everton Park

*SPRMRKT
One Monday’s Menu

Went In For Coffee, Came Out With Hole In One

No this isn’t one of the creative euphemisms used by the reviewer(s) of Veet for Men Hair Removal Gel Creme 200 ml on Amazon UK (the tales of woe by these (this?) hapless hirsute bloke(s) are an absolute must-read for anyone thinking of doing anything silly and permanent like killing themselves). (The other viral, Golden Balls, is a must-watch for application of game theory reasons.)

Anyway, the previous night, I’d walked past the curiously crowded Sarnies to The Naked Coffee (facebook, 116 Telok Ayer Street) for a caffeinated nightcap. The Naked blend was nice – Brazilian Santos and Sumatran Madheling (i think) roasted somewhere in Buona Vista made for a safe cup with good body and a chocolate finish. Liked that the fanny-packs were quite at home there with their beers and that it wasn’t an indie clone with pretty retro interior studded with beautiful people.

But back to the bagel. I haven’t had a good bagel outside of New York, but Mama Bagel’s (facebook, jlsharrison@gmail.com, 91171738, sometimes at Loewen Farmer’s Market) was surely adequate on the chewy front. She also makes her own cream cheese.

She currently does her bageling at the back of Sarnies (facebook, 136 Telok Ayer Street), where many patrons gape at the sight of pale bagels in their water bath. Jennifer Harrison (aka Mama Bagel) explained that locally-available commercial bagels were steamed not bathed, resulting in a lower quality bread. (But no, she does not import her water from New York.) Grabbed one of the very fresh onion ones baked that evening and had it topped with smoked salmon, cream cheese and capers to go. Quite yummy.

The chia seed one had a slightly more crackly exterior and was similarly chewy inside. Other options available were plain, sesame, and cinnamon and raisin.

(Telok Ayer Street is also home to The Muffinry (facebook, 112 Telok Ayer Street.)

On an unrelated note, i thought Richard Baxter rather hit the nail on the head with regard to sly folk who say that God will give us health, wealth and more if we believe in him. A dreadfully deadly misrepresentation of a God who delights in the man who prays:

⁷ “Two things I ask of you, LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonor the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:7-9)

So Baxter says:

What a pity is it to see men destroy themselves with the mercies of the Lord! What pity is it to see them so eager for prosperity, and so regardless of the proper use and benefit of it! O be not like the bee that is drowned in her own honey! And do not so greedily desire a greater burden than you can bear; and to have more to answer for, when you have been so unfaithful in a little. And if you believe Christ, who tells you how difficult it is for rich men to enter heaven, and how few of them are saved, don’t long for danger, and don’t complain if you don’t have these exceeding difficulties to overcome. You would be afraid to dwell in that air where few men escape infection; or to feed on that diet that most are killed by. It is evident by the effects that prosperity fools and undoes the most; we find you on your sick beds in a more tractable frame. (Baxter, The Fool’s Prosperity)

The Pastoral Scene

Last week, i met The Stig for a Very Serious Conversation. Except it wasn’t The Stig of course because everyone knows The Stig isn’t One but Many and is far more circumspect about revealing his/their identity(ies).

The al fresco table at McDonald’s looked out to the River Plains where a “naturalised river” was made to meander through Bishan – Ang Mo Kio Park.

Then on the way out of the house yesterday, i grabbed a book off the top of a towering pile of unread books and it was a good companion that segued somewhat with ongoing discussions. In the chapter on “Shepherding Souls” in Murray A Capill’s “Preaching with Spiritual Vigour (Including Lessons from the Life and Practice of Richard Baxter)”, Capill makes the following points:

• in recent years, the corporate business model has been one of the more dominant models of church leadership – the senior pastor is the church’s CEO has drive, foresight, motivation and determination, defines the church’s goals, and manages and motivates the various people under him. But Paul’s charge in Acts 20:28 is to “be shepherds of the church of God”. So the pastor is not just to “self-watch” (dealt with in the preceding chapter) but to “flock-watch”;
• although preaching is of central importance to the life of a church, it must go hand-in-hand with effective pastoring;
• in bringing God’s Word to a congregation, a preacher does so as their pastor. The best person to preach to a congregation is their own minister rather than some itinerant who does not sustain a pastoral relationship with them. It is the pastor who knows them by name, loves them, lives with them and cares for them. It is he who is accountable to them, and who will live with them through times of trial. He is to feed them by way of expository doctrinal preaching, and also to protect, encourage, watch over, help, assist, spur on, refresh, and care for his flock. He is bind up the wounded, deal tenderly with the young, reprove the belligerent and rescue the straying. Much of this pastoral work can and should be done from the pulpit but the minister is not two people: sometimes a preacher and sometimes a pastor. He is one: a pastor-preacher, who complements his preaching with diligent pastoring, and who pastors faithfully from the pulpit;
• the Puritan vision of the pastor was that of a physician who is entrusted with a certain number of people for whose spiritual health and well-being he was responsible;
• the first necessity of a pastor would be diagnosing the condition of the souls of his people. He has to be adept at analysing spiritual disease, seeing the root cause of the problem, and being able to describe clearly and accurately the malady of the soul. Any physician who merely treats symptoms without accurate diagnosis ultimately does more harm than good. Similarly a pastor who fails to really understand the spiritual problems of his people, and proceeds to apply quick-fix remedies, harms their spiritual well-being. The good shepherd will be concerned to understand people, to probe their hearts and consciences, to uncover deep-seated ills, and to address the greatest and most urgent needs of their souls;
• the physician of the soul should then be able to prescribe biblical remedies for the ills he had diagnosed. Biblical principles have to be specifically applied to the needs of the individual, not by way of pre-packaged solutions. For effectiveness in this work, Baxter stressed the importance of knowing individually and personally the people in the congregation. Christ cared for individuals, not just for the flock as a whole;
• any personal knowledge of people must be in the context of love. It is the church of God that the pastor is called to oversee, and when the energy wanes and zeal flags, this thought must stir the pastor to action again. For Christ has purchased the church with his own blood, so the pastor must not be negligent. The pastor must desire to show love to God’s people and actually show practical love, kindness and generosity to them;
• Baxter arranged to see about 14 families each week so as to be able to cover all 800 families in his parish within the year, and so, far from aspiring to a larger church, longed for a much smaller parish where he could give his people more time to discover their spiritual needs and meet them.

The ability to understand and preach God’s Word faithfully, i suppose, can possibly be taught and caught, or at least achieved with reasonable and sincere effort.

But the pastoring bit is rather rough. If the church is a group of sometimes saved sinners, then you’ll get all sorts in there. Some people’s difficulties are obvious – adultery, greed, etc. Some are less obvious and may even be encouraged: an appointed church leader who has the propensity to lie, pretend not to understand things, and as the leader’s own sister said, to be good and adhere to whatever the rules are – perhaps then giving the sister the erroneous idea that the Christian life, like any other aspect of life, is about being feted because of how much you play by the club’s rules. Or perhaps one discovers, while trying to minister to people, that someone else has sidled up to them and given them cause to be envious at how much better they could have been treated (so much more attention! so much more fun!) if they only had this other person as care-taker, and so on. The list is limited only by the perversity of men and women everywhere.

Yet surely the reason for this is that Christians are saved not because they are nicer than others but because they have trusted that Jesus has paid the price for their sins.

But this does not mean Christians should be allowed to wallow in them and indeed we are told that now that we are a new creation, we must not live according to the rules of this world. Yet, any proferred cookie-cutter solution will only breed legalism. However since no sin is foreign to mankind, there might be something to learn from Baxter’s “A Christian Dictionary”, in which he apparently brings the principles of God’s Word to bear in the lives of people so they conformed to God in every detail of their living. Shall aim to get paws on it.

The Plain cafe
50 Craig Road
Tanjong Pagar Conservation Area
The flat white made from Genovese coffee was excellent – the dark robust roast cocooned nicely in sweet hot milk. Would pass on the melting moments the next time though on account of too much of a flour taste and the scones, being things that need to be eaten very fresh, were a little stale and were accompanied by butter not cream. Enjoyed the combination of flavours of poached eggs on melted cheese & vegemite on sourdough toast (dean’s breakfast).

Real Food Cafe
B1-52/53 The Central
Sadly, my food cravings (if any) are mainly for things people find no joy in, in this instance, unpolished rice, vegetarian steamed dumplings, miso soup.

Songkran Weekend in Singapore

We might have had to pull a work weekender last week, but were saved by Thailand being on a no-negotiations Songkran break. So there was time for brunches and coffee stops:

crostinis: duck rillette, green apple, fig compote; soppressata, gorgonzola, roast tomato

late brunch at Min Chan’s Club Street Social (facebook, 5 Gemmill Lane, off Club Street) – Italian-inspired menu with New York interior and service that could not be faulted. The crostini bread was fresh and crisp, and in the lobster panini, chunks of crustacean were pan-fried in butter and paired with grilled avocado (the yuzu mayo might have been too subtle);

in comparison, brunch at Privé was rather dismal – limp sausage of doubtful texture and taste, soggy maple-syrup-laden bacon. Perhaps they were overloaded during Boat Asia 2012. Lovely waterside dining though with adequate ventilation and breeze;

coffee at the Aussie Kokka Cafe (facebook, 18 Purvis Street) – organic Fairtrade Coffee dark-roasted and decent. Opened by the same Lauren and Marcus of the Chalk Group; and

coffee at Viking Coffee (facebook, 56 Kandahar Street), just down the road from Maison Ikkoku, where many visitors were friends and there was Zenith Cans spray paint for sale.

Also, William Taylor of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate on 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 the iPod:

¹¹ Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. ¹²  We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. ¹³ For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

• The judgement of Christ governs the style of ministry – Paul said he will concentrate on plain-speaking proclamation of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:2). He was permanently homesick because his real home was in heaven, and he was longing to be with the Lord in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1-10). And he knew when he met the Lord, there would be judgement for the believer in heaven. This certainty of future judgement impacted the style of ministry then as it should do now. While false teachers had great CVs, and looked successful in the context of the 1st century where being a great orator was thought of as extremely glamorous, Paul said because he knew that he would be laid bare before Jesus, he would simply proclaim the gospel without sneaky methods or trying any funny gimmicks. It is the proclamation of God’s word that the Spirit will use. So where is our confidence – in music concerts, in funny anecdotes, or…? Since we fear the Lord and want to please God, we must work and sweat away at preparing for Bible studies or talks because we want to proclaim him plainly. And we will not be side-tracked by a group member who wants to talk about his sick parrot or how tough his work is.
• The love of Christ impacts the shape and scope of ministry (2 Corinthians 5:14-17) – the scope is anyone anywhere and the shape is at any cost. Because Christ died for us, therefore we can no longer live for ourselves; we can do nothing else but bring the gospel message to others. We are a new creation brought from death to life so that we might live no longer for ourselves but are compelled to live for Jesus. The false teachers looked only on the face of things, but Paul was unable to look according to the flesh, he saw people from the gospel point of view as someone for whom Christ had died, who understands that others too will face the wrath of God if they do not repent. And do we regard group members from human point of view or gospel point of view? Do we see them from the love and judgement of Christ, or do we just see whether they contribute well, or prepare their studies, or are boring?
• The commission of Christ is the subject of ministry – God has given all of us the ministry of reconciliation.

MU Parlour, Strangers’ Reunion, Fraud and Truth

Last week, with China closed for Ching Ming/Qingming, finally got round to spending some time with India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Japan, and Vietnam, and watching the Myanmar elections, and having strange vivid dreams about attending the official show-and-tell of North Korea’s rockets. Then back to China this week for insider news on political maneuverings, and also updates from the US on the whole Rudy Kurniawan wine fraud saga.

In the midst of all this, was pleased to have wandered into two new cafes/coffee places:

MU Parlour in the space previously occupied by Anthropology at 16A Lorong Mambong – a decent cup of MU Blend No. 21, not quite as citrusy or chocolatey as described but really quite decent; and

Strangers’ Reunion (facebook) at 37 Kampong Bahru Road (just a few doors down from Highlander Coffee), where Ryan Kieran Tan helms a Synesso Hydra II 3 Group, the first of its kind in Singapore (HT: Colin Loh), and takes Papa Palheta‘s Terra Firma blend to the bright side.

Coffee hasn’t begun to fetch the sort of prices that result in the coffee equivalent of dodgy DRCs. But come to think of it, brinksmanship, character assassination (by both the incumbent and the opposition), conveying words that are technically accurate but intentionally set in a context that encourages the hearer to understand them to mean something else etc, are all variations on fraud, yet are par for course in social, political intercourse.

I was trying to explain this, over lunch, to a pastor recently: if God is a God who is insistent that humans should have faith in him and trust him because he is unfailingly trustworthy and his words are always true, then we who profess to follow him must not be any different. The command not to bear false witness (Exodus 20:16, Exodus 23:1, Deuteronomy 5:20) isn’t to be read restrictively just to mean not to say anything untrue in a court of law, but that one’s whole character must be one of integrity (cf. Matthew 5:33-37).

There has arisen a strange practice in some Christian circles where a more knowledgeable member of a bible study group asks questions of the leader, giving the impression that she would like to be enlightened, when she actually hopes that others will benefit by her query. The motive for this is a good one, but the constant practice of this sort of behaviour does not help in building trustworthy character. This became evident recently when I asked one of these helpful people about something she had said to someone else, her first instinct was to deny vehemently that she had ever said anything at all, though this was later shown to be untrue.

This is why Paul was keen to emphasise his trustworthiness (and therefore the trustworthiness of God’s word through him):

…we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2 ESV)

In inviting people to events where the gospel will be preached, it appears to be the common practice to downplay the talk and emphasise the good music or the fantastic meal as the main attraction. Before i became a Christian, i was leery of this sort of trickery; and now i realise it possibly dishonours the very God we claim to exalt.