Paint Party Friday - Penguin Sunset

I did a 'Penguin Sunset' for Paint Party Friday in my journal. It is done in watercolour pencils (5"h x 7"w). Do you know that Penguins live in the South Pole, not the North Pole? The Emperor Penguins I drew are about 4 feet tall and weigh about 75 pounds! They are flightless and their wings have evolved into flippers. Who knew art could be so educational, lol.

Homemade Burgers

This is one of son K's favourite foods, husband M too for that matter.   When the weather's good, we barbecue them, but these were pan-fried, about 7 minutes per side on medium heat.  They are yummy with mustard, relish and ketchup!

Slow Cooker Asian Braised Short Ribs

I came across this delicious looking recipe and I think I am going to try it one of these days.  It's called 'Slow Cooker Asian Braised Short Ribs' from the Cooking with Campbell's website.
It calls for Hoisin sauce, shiitake mushrooms and bok choy, things I don't currently have in my pantry but should be easy enough to get. I do have sesame oil and of course I need some beef short ribs!  The slow cooker will then do all of the cooking.  Does this recipe appeal to you?  I am attracted to easy recipes.

Aging

I got this funny one on aging from Martha.

I read this wonderful story in the newspaper last week, and thought I would share. It starts like this:

'Pen pal marriage marks 50 years

The intent was clear from the beginning: let’s get married. That they hadn’t even met didn’t seem to matter much to Ilija Smoljo or his soon-to-be bride, Nena.'

Homonyms and Hetronyms

I received this in an email and thought you would enjoy reading it:

 

Homographs are words of like spelling but with more than one meaning.

A homograph that is also pronounced differently is a heteronym.

You think English is easy??
I think a retired English teacher was bored...THIS IS GREAT!

Read all the way to the end...
This took a lot of work to put together!

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce .
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse .
4) We must polish the Polish furniture..
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert..
7) Since there is no time like the present , he thought it was time to present the present .
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row .
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong for me to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France .. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'?

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this.

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is 'UP.'
It's easy to understand UP , meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP ?
At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ?
Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?
We call UP our friends.
And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.
We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.
At other times the little word has real special meaning.
People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.
To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special .
A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP .
We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.
We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP !
To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP , look the word UP in the dictionary.
In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.
If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.
It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP , you may wind UP with a hundred or more.
When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP .
When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP .
When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP .
When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP .
One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP ,
for now my time is UP ,
so.......it is time to shut UP !
Now it's UP to you what you do with this blog post.

 

Sunday Sketches - Pretty Model

This is a pencil sketch I did of a pretty model I noticed in a magazine ad. It's done in my journal (7"h x 5"w). Happy Sunday Sketches!

Baked Meatballs

I learned this week that apples are a member of the rose family.  I mean the rose flower.  Did you know that?

I have to thank Gigi for recommending this recipe for baked meatballs from The Southern Lady. It is a keeper, it was so simple to make and delicious!

Paint Party Friday - Through the Woods

For Paint Party Friday, I did a sketch in my journal (7"h x 5"w) in watercolour pencils. It is entitled 'Through the Woods', inspired by a photo I saw in a car magazine.

Large Trees

Here's a joke on aging that I got from Martha yesterday, hilarious:

We were in a restaurant on the weekend talking to the waitress.  She mentioned they had a large tree in their backyard which was destroyed by the recent ice storm.  Fortunately there was no other damage to houses, etc. They got quotes to have it removed.  I couldn't believe they wanted between $2900 to $3500 to do the job.  Her neighbour had 2 such trees, obviously very large trees.

A few weeks ago, I had clicked on this screen urging me to update my java software as it was out of date.   Being an organized type that way, I succumbed to malware called 'conduit'.  I was getting annoying pop-up ads everywhere.  Husband M helped me to clear it from my computer system but something was left  in the computer registry.   Everytime I would start up my computer I would get a Run DLL error message saying 'background container wasn't found'.  Then magically, a few days ago, the message disappeared.  We figured we must've run CCleaner (our PC optimization and cleaning software) again and it found it this time.   It's great when problems fix themselves!  Now I carefully avoid these suspicious pop-up messages.  They look quite real and will copy the actual company's logo perfectly.

My Gourmet Banana Bread

Gourmet Banana Bread

Lindt Chocolate

The English Kitchen posted a recipe recently for 'Sourcream and Banana Loaf' and I decided to make it. I used very ripe bananas, and brown sugar instead of granulated sugar. I had chocolate from leftover Lindt bars and decided to break some of the squares into chunks.  I used Lindt Swiss Classic Double Milk and Lindt Excellence Coconut (with white chocolate) bars.  I believe I made a gourmet banana bread!!!  Eating it warm right out of the oven was to die for.  The next day I microwaved a slice for 10 to 15 seconds, it was perfect.  The coconut flavour adds a noticeable touch, but it might be worth adding whatever nice, flavoured chocolate you have on hand, simply break it into chunks (crunch caramel maybe?).

The Water Heater

I bought this beautiful pot of spider chrysanthemums recently.  I love the bright yellow colour.

Never a dull moment, husband M's mother called early one morning.  It seems the rental water heater in her condo where she lives was not working.  (Why do these things happen in winter?)  Most people here rent their water heaters from the gas company.   We went to the gas company's website.  It informed us that we had to contact an area contractor for water heater problems.  We did a search on area contractors and called a few of them.  The first one went through a list of all his charges in a heavily accented voice.  It would be $60 just for the first visit.  Luckily, the next guy seemed more informed and told us we had to contact Direct Energy, as they look after rental water heaters.  The problem was taken care of by Direct Energy, as it is a rental.  In fact, she got a new water heater as the sensor was broken.   It would have been at no cost, but they charged for a new gas pipe that was required because the old one did not fit on the new hot water tank.  At any rate, it was a relief to find the right company and have the problem fixed correctly.

The Knitted Cross

I was at McDonald's for lunch with my mom last week. We sat and chatted as we always do. I noticed this older lady was sitting near us and seemed to be paying attention to us. As she got up to leave she came by smiling and asked if we were Christian. She asked if I was with my mom. I said yes to both questions. Then she said she would pray for her and produced this knitted cross and gave it to my mom. She told her to keep it for good luck. She asked me to pray for her husband because he only has one and a half kidneys. Then she went on her way. My mom was a bit confused and said 'do I look sick?', which she didn't. We figured it couldn't hurt to have some extra good luck.

Then another man came to sit in the lady's spot. He noticed the cross sitting on the table and started to tell us how he was once given a picture of Mary and being a Christian he kept it. He went on to say how that picture brought him so much luck and even miracles happened to whoever he lent the picture to.  What is more interesting is that both these people were Christian Egyptians. They didn't seem to be connected in any way.  We have people from all over the world living in the Toronto area. 

It was an odd afternoon.

Sunday Sketches - Pastoral Sketch

For Sunday Sketches I did a pastoral sketch in my journal (5"h x 7"w) in watercolour pencils. I was inspired by a photo I saw in a car magazine.  I actually liked the green roof on the house.

Holding Your Wine Glass

I made these peanut butter and jelly muffins based on a recipe from The Southern Lady. They are great for breakfast!

So how do you hold your wine glass?  According to the experts you should always hold it by the stem.  A lot of people either don't know or care about the difference, I wonder if it's more of a European thing.  You should pinch the stem between thumb and index finger.  Then you won't warm your glass of white wine with the heat of your hand.  Even if it is red wine which is served at room temperature, you will be better able to appreciate its colour and clarity.  A wine glass should only be a quarter to one-third full, this I didn't know!  And husband M won't go for that.

Paint Party Friday - Winter Scene

This is a typical winter scene in the neighbourhood at this time of year. The small trees really do look like this as you go from house to house.   It's a page in my art journal (5"h x 7"w), done in watercolour pencils.  Linking to Paint Party Friday.

New Talk Show

This is funny, or maybe not:

I was watching a new Toronto TV talk show at the gym the other day and quite enjoyed it. It's called 'The Social' and it is like 'The View' with Barbara Walters but with much younger women. They were discussing the recent Golden Globe awards ceremony and the outfits worn by the stars among other things. It was very entertaining! They also commented on the fact that one of the actors had no speech prepared because he had no idea he would win. One of the women said sarcastically 'You have a one in five chance of winning...prepare a speech!'   Lol.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

The past few days have been almost springlike, with above freezing temperatures and SUNSHINE!  It's supposed to get colder with some snow.

I found this simple recipe for parmesan crusted chicken in a magazine. I tried it with some chicken breasts and it was, of course delicious. You can't go wrong with lots of mayonnaise, cheese and seasoned breadcrumbs!

Food Facts

I picked up this retirement magazine in a restaurant and saw this product inside, coconut sugar. It looks interesting, if a bit expensive for sugar.

Go here for some interesting food facts from The Southern Lady.  I didn't know or forgot most of them!  For example, peanuts are legumes, not nuts.  Corn always has an even number of rows on each cob.  Apple seeds are poisonous.

I also learned from an article in the newspaper that coumarin in cinnamon causes liver damage in some people. So I guess everything in moderation.

Is news bad for you?

Here's a funny one, in light of the cold winter we are having (although temperatures did get milder on the weekend):

I was in a dinner conversation months ago and someone said news is bad for us. At the time I didn't understand the argument so I decided to google some information on this. I found this story. It has 9 reasons news is bad for you (misleads, wastes time, inhibits thinking) and 9 reasons why it's good (informs us, teaches critical thinking, educational). I think news is good for us, how about you?

Sunday Sketches - Icicles on the Shed Roof

For Sunday Sketches, this is a journal page in watercolour pencils, (5"h x 7"w). I've called it 'Icicles on the Shed Roof', inspired by the wicked winter we are having this year.

A Learning Experience

Hershey is making Chinese New Year chocolates! The reason is that we have a large Chinese population in the area. I am Chinese Jamaican myself. I googled the exact date of Chinese New Year and that would be January 31, 2014 this year.

This Thursday morning, I took son K to school for an 8am class.  Well it turns out the class was booked at another campus!  The morning became a panic as we tried to resolve timetable issues at the start of the semester.  We sat on this timetable over the holidays complacent that everything was in order, we never checked the room number on the timetable.  Luckily the deadline for making changes was the next day Friday at 5pm.  Needless to say, we have learned a lesson, we have to check things very carefully!  K is still new at the school and the room numbers at this point don't raise alarm bells.  Did I mention it was a critical course and we had to change 5 of his 8 courses around to make it all work?  Then a better time for the critical course came up and we tried to move everything closer back to the original schedule.  We first went through their extremely busy advisement helpline and got in the queue until we finally figured out how to do it all ourselves.  I think the helpline got us into this problem in the first place (no blaming, just a fact). We will chalk it down to a learning experience, hopefully we are fine now.

Paint Party Friday - Cold Reflections

This is a journal page for Paint Party Friday based on a photo I saw in the newspaper. I call it 'Cold Reflections'. Apparently the movie 'Expedition to the End of the World' contains such stunning cinematography.  It is set in Greenland.

Packaged Kale Chips

Daughter L had bought these kale chips to try. I have baked fresh kale chips which husband M really likes. None of us really liked this ranch flavoured bag. Luckily one of L's girlfriends loves them, so she gave the rest of the bag to her and it didn't go to waste.

Here is a recipe for Shanghai noodles that one of my sisters shared with me. It really works.

Baked Doughnuts

Here are the doughnuts daughter L baked on New Year's Eve.

And have you heard of 3D Food Printing? I found this great article explaining the concept. All your food is produced by a 3D printer. You load the raw materials into the cartridges and it 'prints' it. An actual machine will soon be available for sale!

Delightful

Yes it is bitterly cold in Toronto.  The wind just rips right through you, even in your warmest clothes!  I heard on the news that the salt trucks have to add sand, chemicals, even beet juice to their salt when the temperature goes below -30C as it is more effective at melting the ice.  The salt trucks melt the ice and keep the roads safe for driving. Still it's a lot better here than in other parts of Canada like Newfoundland where they had snow higher than their doors!  Or -50C temperatures in Western Canada.

I received this pretty card from our newspaper carrier thanking us for the monetary ($) tip we gave him at Christmastime. I thought it was very sweet of him to enclose it with the newspaper the other morning. Giving truly is receiving!

Daughter L is safely back at her school.  This year, I find that I don't miss her in the same grieving kind of way.  It's like an acceptance that she is an adult with her own life now.   I'm always happy to see her and will always be there for her of course.  Some of her friends don't even intend to return home after graduating university.  I am lucky that for now she has found a job close to home.

Son K is also back at his college today for the winter semester.  K has been having fun with his friends playing the GTA5 video game until the wee hours of the night.  Sometimes his actual friends would come over,   sometimes it was virtual play usually with the same friends.  He enjoyed  go-karting, going to the movies with some other friends.   He still has his part time job as well.  It will be tough to get back to regular hours and school work.  The days are getting longer, which is good.

Pretty Platter

We've been hearing these loud bangs and night and couldn't figure out what was causing them, turns out they are ice quakes or cryoseisms where the ice expands under the ground causing loud booms.  Fortunately they are not dangerous.

On the topic of ice, have you heard about 'cryoblation'? It's where they are freezing breast (and in the future lung) cancer tumours with good results. The technique is minimally invasive. They use ultrasounds and a nitrogen filled needle to get to the tumours, then freeze (destroy) them and the dead cells will be re-absorbed over time.

This is a pretty platter my sister had given to me for Christmas. I quite liked it.  It said it was hand-crafted in Portugal.

Sunday Sketches - Mallard Duck

This mallard duck portrait is a page in my journal(5"h x 7"w) done in watercolour pencils. Happy Sunday Sketches!

84th Birthday

I am feeling tired and burned out from the season.  Have not been able to get to the gym, it will be great to get some sort of a routine back.  There seems to be a million little things to get control of.  I will turn 55 this year and I will be able to get a senior's discount from least at one drug store!  Of course, it means coming to terms with getting a senior's discount, but whatever.  And now they have started doing movies recapping the 80's.  That was my heyday, so it really makes one feel old!

I slipped on an ice patch in the garage a couple of days ago and fell flat on my back and my head hit the pavement. Luckily I had my sweater hood and coat hood on. Husband M witnessed it. I had to assure him I would be able to get up.  Fingers crossed, I am remarkably fine so far.

It's my mother-in-law's 84th birthday today. Husband M got her some topical pain reliever cream to try. It was expensive, but hopefully it will help her arthritis. We found a cute mug that says 'Happiness is a Loving Grandma' so we put the box of cream in there and attached a card I had drawn.

Paint Party Friday - Palm Fronds

For Paint Party Friday, this is a page from my journal (7"h x 5"w) in watercolour pencils. It was inspired by a photo I saw in the newspaper. Happy New Year!

Eggs Benedict

During the ice storm just over a week ago, our power was out, so we decided to go to a restaurant for a hot meal. We ended up at The Pickle Barrel restaurant. They offer all day breakfast items on the menu. So I ordered eggs benedict with smoked salmon and potato latkes. It was delicious with hot coffee.  A latke is a potato pancake, which I had never had before, or I may have had flatter ones.  I had actually ordered boiled potatoes but they ran out of those, luckily!  You can have the eggs poached soft or medium.  I had mine soft.

Eggs Benedict with Latkes

Happy New Year 2014

Warm wishes for the new year, no pun intended!  It is COLD outside.

We stayed home for New Year's Eve.  Daughter L had a friend over and they baked doughnuts.  Son K played Grand Theft Auto 5 with friends online.  We have been staying up too late over the holidays, so we were up to welcome in the New Year with champagne.  I had made a nice casual pork roast for dinner.

Daughter L had her regular checkup with the eye doctor this week.  She had an optomap (digital scan) done of her retina so she did not have to have her eyes dilated.  The doctor also did a visual field test.  We had to pay extra for these tests but we figure it is worth it.

We all ended up at the mall later on that day and found that the sales were still ongoing.  L got a great deal on new clothes, building a work wardrobe.  The truth is, she has too many clothes and shoes.  K also found some great deals on some designer clothes.  I enjoyed looking through the discounted boxes of Christmas cards and bought a couple that I liked for 50 percent off.  So I am all set for  Christmas 2014!