Smart Marketing

Well, I gave my first Christmas gift yesterday, to my hairdresser!  I won't see him again until probably the New Year so I gave him a bottle of nice Merlot wine.

I use a non-hydrogenated margarine, often this Becel brand. Recently they started making Becel Buttery which has a more buttery taste due to the addition of some buttermilk. So I've been buying this kind. However, the other night I compared the original Becel with the new Buttery kind and was surprised at the smart marketing. It seemed to me the Becel Buttery was in a larger size because it is a taller bucket. Not so! They both cost the same, but Becel Buttery is 680 g (1.5 lb) and Becel Original is 907 g (2 lb).   Does the taller container seem bigger to you too? 

Brain Hurter

Here is a some of my Xmas decoration, when K was little, he would walk by and mess the boxes all up!

Xmas Decoration

I got this from a friend, it's a real brain hurter! Think you'll give it a try?  It took me a day in between whatever else I was doing to finally figure it out!

Einstein's Intelligence Quiz
Einstein wrote this quiz last century. He said that 98% of the people in the world cannot solve the quiz.

• There are 5 houses in 5 different colors
• In each house lives a person with a different nationality
• These 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet
• No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.

Here's the question: Who owns the fish?

1. The Brit lives in a red house
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets
3. The Dane drinks tea
4. The green house is on the left of the white house
5. The green house owner drinks coffee
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
8. The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer
13. The German smokes Prince
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water

With these 15 clues the problem is solvable.

Magical Mondays - Miraculous Wheelchair Recovery

It's time for Carol's Magical Monday Blog Hop! Please join in the fun!

I love this story I read in the weekend newspaper, so inspiring and indeed magical:


Former Paralympian makes miraculous recovery to become pro cyclist


“I’ve had many bad situations in my life and it’s not fun, but every time you learn from it and you get stronger because you have to make the decision to fight to get out of it,” she said. “There’s always an end as long as you keep fighting. You get stronger from the things you learned in life. And I learned the hard way.”

And in other news, my Xmas decorations including the tree are all up!  I was inspired by Diana Evans.

Sunday Sketches - Sailboat Sunset

Hello and welcome to Sophia's Sunday Sketches!  Please stop by the others to see what they did today.

I did a 9x12 inch acrylic 'Sailboat Sunset' and had fun with the bright colours.  It's on 140 lb acrylic paper.  I actually have a white wooden model sailboat in my living room that I used as a guide for this painting.

Sweet Saturdays - Pretty Painting

Welcome to Diana's Sweet Saturdays!  Please stop by the others to see what they found sweet today!

Last week, I went to a local Country Decorating and Collectible Holiday Event. A lady in the line told me she had accidentally left her debit card in the machine at the grocery store, but went back there and was able to retrieve it. The cashier showed her a stack of cards belonging to other people who had done the same thing! In Canada, they've implemented these new chip cards where you have to enter a pin into the machine yourself. It seems people are forgetting to remove their cards from the machine afterward! It almost happened to me once.

Anyway, I was determined not to buy any cookies, or buttercrunch, etc etc at this event. Then this painting caught my eye and I found myself purchasing it. Now I don't need any art, but do you like it?

Paint Party Friday - Every Obstacle

It's time for Paint Party Friday!  Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting.  Please stop by the other participants and join in the fun.  Have a great Friday!

This acrylic ACEO was inspired by a quote I received in an email recently.  I liked the spirit of the message. 

'Every Obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition' - Unknown Author

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Some of you may know I'm Jamaican (of Chinese descent) although I've lived most of my life in Canada. To this end, I'd like to share my easy jerk chicken recipe. (I don't make the sauce from scratch).  I'll post a jerk seasoning recipe in a future post.

According to wikipedia

Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice. Jerk seasoning is traditionally applied to pork and chicken. Modern recipes also apply jerk spice mixes to fish, shrimp, shellfish, beef, sausage, and tofu. Jerk seasoning principally relies upon two items: allspice (called "pimento" in Jamaica) and Scotch bonnet peppers (among the hottest peppers on the Scoville scale). Other ingredients include cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, thyme, garlic, and salt.

I baked some jerk chicken for supper the other day. You can buy a jar of jerk seasoning in most grocery stores here and hopefully you can find a milder version if you are not used to spicy food, as the jerk seasoning can be fiery. Here's how I make mine (measurements are approximate and to taste):

1 onion, chopped
sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tbs dark soy sauce (really just a couple of splashes)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp jerk seasoning (or to taste)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 chicken legs and thighs (or you can use chicken breasts)

Preheat oven to 350 F
On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, mix all the ingredients together with the chicken
Bake 35 - 45 minutes

Enjoy!

Add Spices

Mix Together

Jerk Chicken