PHOTOS: Kuang Jing Xuan

This week, City News Stylebook spotted three friends with distinctively different sartorial styless. Zhang Yunxi, Jocelin Sitorus and Louisa Chen (left to right) may be close friends, each of them has their very own dress sense.

Jocelin put together a simple yet elegant outfit — a grey dress top paired with tights. We especially lovd her dress with a hankerchief hem. Draping gave this piece its unique and flattering shape. Jocelin underscored the look with a pair of simple black flats.

Yunxi loves bright colours and loud accessories. Her bright blue dress immediately caught our eye, and to accent it, she paired it with striped top that’s a darker blue. She gives the outfit a touch of polish with a gold belt.

Louisa played with layers — pulling a trendy black vest on over her simple white t-shirt, and a denim mini-skirt over black tights, she created a thoroughly fashionable outfit.

We know the ingredients to a great friendship — love, patience, forgiveness etc. But add one more to the mixing bowl — friends with great dress sense spice things up!

Are you ready to look polished?

I am going to show you how to do your own manicure at home, and how to create a zebra nail-art design.

	Step 1 File your nails in one direction — from the corner of the nail towards the center.
	Step 2 Soak your hands in warm water. If you want, apply a small amount of your favorite scrub. Rub the scrub gently over your hands, paying extra attention to the cuticle area.
	Step 3 Dry your hands and apply a bit of cuticle oil to each finger. Massage your cuticles in a circular motion. This is the area known as the matrix. It’s where your fingernail is actually formed before it grows out. By massaging this area you increase the circulation and help the nails grow.
	Step 4 Use a cuticle pusher or an orangewood stick and gently push back the cuticles. If your cuticles are overgrown you may not be able to push them all the way back during your first manicure. Don’t force them back. It will only cause damage. Next, wrap a cotton ball or pad over the edge of the stick and clean under your nail.
	Step 5 Moisturize your hands with your favorite lotion, cream or butter. You can also apply a lotion or cream that has an SPF factor of at least 15. Your hands are exposed to the damaging rays of the sun all the time. Though you can hide your age with makeup and surgery there’s no hiding old-looking hands.
	Step 6 Apply a base coat.
	Step 7 Paint 2 coats of the nail color of your choice. Remember to allow the first coat to dry before you apply the 2nd coat.
	Step 8 When the nail polish is dried, paint the tip of your nail with a black nail polish.
	Step 9 Once the nail polish is dry, use a silver glitter polish with a fine tip and draw uneven lines like a zebra’s stripes, on the black tip.Once your nails are completely dry, paint a top coat over.

A struggling single mother rises above the storms of life with the help of dedicated social workers from City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA). Sarah shares her testimony of how she overcame domestic violence at home and found renewed hope for the future.

“I am a divorcee with a 21-year-old child.

“Due to my poor health, I often fell sick and was retrenched from my job as a factory worker. This was very hard for my family as I was the sole breadwinner.

“My ex-husband had a very bad temper. I was often beaten up by him when he was unhappy. Whenever he failed in his business ventures, he would depend on me to supply income for the family. He would also fool around with other women. I kept quiet to keep my family together.

“When my child turned 18, my husband’s new business venture failed. He decided to sell the HDB flat to repay his debts. We would quarrel over this matter and it ended up with him scolding and beating me. Due to the frequent beatings, up to today, I sustain a permanent neck injury.

“Not long after that period, my child attempted suicide due to a failed relationship. Things between my husband and I worsened. My child and I were eventually chased out of our own house. It was during this time that CHCSA came to know about us. We were introduced to a social worker and she was a great help by seeing me through this difficult period.

The social worker would visit my child at the hospital everyday and patiently bring me around to look for a new place. I also decided to file for separation because of my husband’s abuse and affairs. This was not an easy decision for me. She was always there to listen to me as I poured my heart out to her. Even when we stayed at a shelter, she would continue to visit us.

Another social worker from CHCSA also visited me as I moved from place to place. As I was not earning much as a cleaner, she arranged for financial aid to help me with the rental of my flat, and for groceries for my family.

When my mum passed away at the beginning of this year, the workers came down to support me. I was very close to my mother and her departure was a great loss to me. They were there to listen to me and encouraged me. When I applied for a HDB flat this year, they were also there to assist my family with the paperwork.

Today, I am more hopeful about life. I am thankful that I can still earn an income and have a roof over my head. I would like to thank CHCSA for helping me through those very difficult years.

Thank you for your support, belief and love for me. I can continue to live and walk through life with courage because I know there are always people who are standing by my side.”

On 15 November, Expo Hall 10 was transformed into a dinner venue, up with a sumptuous buffet spread of local delights. With jazz music playing in the background, there was an atmosphere of nostalgia in the air as the crowd of familiar faces mingled.

It was a night for the forefronters of City Harvest Church: pioneering members who have been around since the early years of CHC. Many of them were teenagers when they joined the church — today, all have grown up and are in the work force, and the majority are married with children. This night was a rare opportunity for these foregronters to get together and catch up with one another.

PHOTOS: Daniel Poh

Conversations dwelled on topics such as work and children; friends reminisced about the good old days and shared the latest scoop on mutual friends. If not for the proof of small children running around the room, it would seem that time stood still for these pioneers who had no problem picking up where they left off, some 10 years later.

The facilitator of the event was Derek Dunn, executive pastor of City Harvest Church, who stepped up onto the stage and shared with the crowd about how the last reunion of of the forefronters held at Roland’s seafood was a huge success, which prompted the pastoral team to make such reunions a regular feature at CHC.

A gathering of such is hard to come by due to the busy schedules that everyone has, and Dunn urged the crowd to make effort to stay in touch and keep the bonds of friendship strong. He also revealed that an social networking site (ala Facebook, CHC-style) is in the pipeline. This will provide a channel for forefronters to keep themselves connected and updated.

As the church grows larger in size, it must get better in terms of connectedness. Open communication is vital to keeping the unity and the fellowship of the Forefronters strong!

City Harvest Outreach, Johor Bahru, is a vibrant new church that has been impacting the lives of both the young and old. Founded on 30 July 2004 with only 42 members, the church service used to be held at Samudra Condominium. The church has since grown to more than 80 people, with the new service located at Hotel Seri Malaysia.

The church first started as a bible study and cell group meeting led by Tan Chee Kiang, a pastor in City Harvest Church, who had a vision of building a church in Johor Bahru. Tan explained, “The youth have a fire stirring within them for God and the country of Malaysia. They want to see a change in their lives, in the lives of their family and the whole of Malaysia.”

PHOTOS: Michelle Wong

Tan hopes to see the church grow even larger and do greater things for God. He also feels that the members are changing for the better and they have become hungrier for the Word of God.

Adrian Liew, one of the pioneers of the church said, “My mindset has changed as I can now see a clearer picture of how God wants to use me and others to serve Him. Chee Kiang is great as he helps us to go the distance in achieving the impossible. He has given us tremendous spiritual and personal guidance.”

With a renewed call to reach out to the younger generation, the youth in the church have been sharing the Word of God in their campuses. The church also organizes fun events such as movie days where they rent the whole cinema for private screenings. Recently, the church has also launched a new adult service, which now has more than 40 members in its average attendance.

It may have had days of small beginnings, but now, City Harvest Outreach is poised to impact Johor Bahru and Malaysia.

The book Sing To The Dawn was one of this reviewer’s favorite literature reads back in school. It had none of the talking animals, nor the home theater system in a tree, that the movie version has.

Despite that, the book is much better. Dawan is a young village girl who dreams of living in the big city. However, she has to fight traditions and customs that plague females in her village, like girls are meant to be married off to someone decided for them and that education is unnecessary for girls. Dawan is no ordinary village lass, going against wishes of her dad and out-scoring her brother in an examination to clinch a prized scholarship.

A subplot to Dawan’s pursuit for a better life is an evil landlord who is plotting to bulldoze the village and plant a casino, rendering everyone homeless.

The story addresses the generations-old gender stereotype that’s common to Asian families. It’s just hard to see how a bear leader, complete with a TV-creating spider and bespectacled monkeys fit into the picture. These really detract from the heart of the story.

Story aside, the animation is where the movie really fell short. The characters seem to have titanium embedded into their bones. The movement was extremely rigid, and facial expressions were less than satisfactory. The part that showcased the brother’s martial arts skills seemed like a right rip-off of Kung Fu Panda. Perhaps the weirdest thing was the color of the film. I know it says “Dawn” in the title, but no matter what time of day it was in the story, there was always an orange hue on screen.

There was just nothing new about this movie, or interesting about the production to make this a good film. My companion summed it up as “a boring movie with beautiful songs” and that’s pretty accurate.

The amount of money that went into this film could have created a much more worthy production under a more capable producer and director. Clearly, having three major studios plus lots of money doesn’t result in a quality film.

Rating:

Makeovers are only for teeny boppers, right? Wrong. On Sunday, 26 October, City Harvest Church’s dialect church successfully made over eight elderly men and women from their congregation during service.

The participants, all between the ages of 60 and 80, were given a free, full makeover inclusive of a brand new set of clothes, make-up, hair styling — plus before-and-after photographs to complete the experience.

At the start, with the exception of a few enthusiastic individuals, most of the participants seemed tentative and uncomfortable in their new outfits. Finally, after the flurry of curling, styling, preening and powdering, the contestants were photo-ready.

But when it came to posing for the photographs, the elderly displayed a different side to their initial reticence and discomfort. Most of them seemed much more confident. One male contestant even gamely mugged for the photographer upon request. When asked to comment on their new look, the participants were unanimous in their approval.

Finally, the elderly got to show off their new looks on stage to the congregation. The female participants looked slightly unnerved on stage at first, but as they waved and posed it was evident they did not mind the attention at all.

According to Jonathan Goh, the main coordinator for the dialect church, the reason for organizing the event was to boost the confidence and inspire change in the elderly, as many of them thought of themselves as “old and outdated” and were therefore, poorly dressed.

This is hopefully the first step in encouraging a similar change in their outlook on life and self-esteem. It was a great start to making the elderly at City Harvest Church “grow old with grace”.

PHOTOS: Alvin Loh

Jia Le Roasted Food
Where: Marina Square, Suntec City, AMK Hub

In line with our wallet-friendly recommendations of late, this week we’ve sniffed out sumptous eats worthy of Hong Kong fine dining standards, hidden away in humble food courts.

We love Jia Le Roasted Food outlets, started by Master Chef Charles Tan, and found in Marina Square’s Marina Food Loft, Suntec City’s Food Republic and Ang Mo Kio Hub’s NTUC Foodfare.

Chef Tan’s stalls have an impressive track record, catering their popular roasted selections to various top-notch hotels in Singapore today. The dishes also boast the authenticity of true Hong Kong-style traditional cooking, its chef having been trained in Hong Kong for 25 years.

Jia Le’s roasted meats are worth the hype: The char siew is thick and generously sliced, perfectly caramelized in syrup and charred in all the right places. The meat has just the right amount of fatty goodness, and sticks slightly to your teeth with each bite. The rice that accompanies is served with big lashings of gravy.

The crispy pork belly is nothing short of a culinary masterpiece. The skin is roasted to a good, clean crispiness (no oily taste here), while the meat manages to remain tender and tasty — truly skilful kitchen artistry.

For the health-conscious, Jia Le’s double-boiled soups are also good. We tried the lotus root pork rib double-boiled soup, which was full of lotus root slices and pork rib pieces. The broth was light and tasty — the ideal comfort food with no guilt attached.

It’s hard to find a weak point at Jia Le: Even their noodle dishes are excellent. Try their wonton or shrimp dumpling noodle, or their braised beef brisket noodle. The noodles are drizzled over with a mild oyster sauce, and nicely complimented with crunchy blanched kai lan. Just the thing if you’re looking for a light noodle snack.

Rating:

PHOTOS: Michael Chan

Vanity can be a virtue sometimes. In Dave Teng’s case, it was what fueled him to pursue the craft of hairdressing. “I like pretty things. If something doesn’t look nice, I’ll find a way to beautify it.

I admit I’m vain — I like to dress up and look good,” said the owner of the six-year-old Hairfolio Luxury, a boutique hair salon at Stamford House.

With appreciation for all things beautiful, Dave started channeling his inner ‘Edward Scissorhands’ at the tender age of 14, apprenticing at the hair salon of his father’s friend.

Since then, he has worked with celebrity hairstylist David Gan for 12 years as well as going for stints in Taiwan and Hong Kong to pick up the tricks of the trade.

Fresh from his special award win at the prestigious Tokyo Etoko 2008 Hair Competition, the astute yet humble Dave said that a willingness to learn and having pride in one’s job are keys to self-improvement.

He also credited his friends for helping him set up Hairfolio by offering him monetary gifts and teaching him to run his own business.

According to Dave, the hardest part about running his business was finding staff that were both talented and passionate about the job. Without drive, there was no desire to push for excellence and no business can afford uninspired employees.

As with every craftsman, using the right tools were pivotal to the end result. His weapon of choice was a limited edition, half-ceramic, half-metal pair of scissors made by a Japanese company, which produced a sharper cut.

This attention to quality extended to other areas as well. Hairfolio used hair quality products without harmful chemicals though at a higher cost. Dave explained, “If the product achieves the desired effect without negative effects, it is cheap. If it doesn’t, even a free product isn’t cheap at all.”

Held on 24 October 2008 at City Harvest Church’s Jurong West auditorium, A Shot to Fame was an event created to provide a platform for aspiring talents to perform and unleash the superstar in them.

The audience was treated to a string of tantalizing performances consisting of vocals, bands and dance that night.

Over a span of three weeks, the contestants went through several training sessions to hone their skills and an audition for the finals. After the finalists were notified, they were preened and plumed to be in tip-top shape for the final showdown.

The event was graced by three special guests: Jiu Jian Kenn, Allan Moo and Bevan. Veterans in the local music and entertainment scene, they gave their expertise and comments as judges at this competition.

It was a close fight as all the finalists gave their best shot and delivered near-flawless performances. Throngs of cell group members and friends came to support their favourite finalists, bringing the atmosphere to fever pitch.

As the night drew to a close, the results were announced. Best dance group “Daniel Meet Locker AD Feat Spiderpig”, Best Group Vocal “Flowerhorn Angel” and Best Band “Focus” left with S$400 cash. The fans of Tan Kah Thai, a contestant in Best Vocalist, won the Best Fan Club Award and got themselves S$300 Ben & Jerry vouchers.

The event ended with all the finalists and contestants singing together on stage. The event had succeeded in bringing the contestants a step closer to their dreams, encouraging them to break out of their limitations and giving them a shot at Fame!

PHOTOS: Rayvin Hsu