No more complaining

The Miami Heat lost the basketball finals on Sunday night and there are a lot of depressed fans around. Fortunately, I'm not a sports fan.

K and I had a near accident in the car yesterday morning in the busy rush hour while he was driving. We saw the big bus barrelling down just in time as I screamed. (I scream easily). All is well that ends well, not to mention it would have been our fault. I told him it was good experience but it made me appreciate having him around more. Sometimes it's frustrating and stressful working with him especially during exam time, but I'd keep doing it forever compared to having some harm come to him. So no more complaining, it's all about putting things into perspective!

I did a quick check of the garden and noticed that a lot of seedlings from different plants have started popping up in odd places. So I gathered a few of them and re-distributed them all around the yard for about half an hour. I do this every year instead of buying new plants and it seems to work fine. The columbine are blooming profusely and look very pretty. Coneflowers, coreopsis, yarrow, violets, sedum, lavender, iris, propagate so easily. The alyssum plants re-seed every year. Some people don't like forget-me-nots as they can run out of control, but I like them.

I think I have finally perfected my beef stir fry recipe. (I know this because everyone is eating it right up). I always use top sirloin beef and it is very tender. No extra salt is required as the soy sauce makes it salty enough. I've posted different versions in the past as the dish evolves. My measurements are approximate so feel free to adjust as you please.

Ginger Beef Stir Fry

1 1/2 lbs top sirloin steak, cut into slivers
2 tbs canola oil
1 tbs dark soy sauce
1 tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 onion chopped
1 thumb of ginger sliced
1 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp sugar

Marinate all ingredients except canola oil.
Add oil to saucepan on medium heat, and the meat in small amounts. Toss each batch of meat for about 3 or 4 minutes until browned on all sides. You might need to add a bit more oil per batch. Place each batch into the serving bowl as it is done. Serve with white rice.

A Sunday Walk

I went for a nice Sunday Walk yesterday morning. It was pleasant and cool, requiring a light sweater. There was a young family out jogging together, all 4 of them. I moved aside to let them pass with a smile. On my way home, I saw a dad riding a tandem bike with his young daughter. I stopped in at the convenience store and noticed a mother with a young daughter and a toddler inside. The toddler was all smiles being pushed along in a ride-on car. "It must be nice to be that age, with not a care in the world", I remarked to the store clerk. He agreed, "Just laugh and cry...". I guess it was just that "family" kind of day.

I snapped a couple of photos to feature later on in this week's art challenges, stay posted!

And here's what I found interesting in the news recently:

Horrific LeMans crash goes viral on youtube. This is uplifting because the driver walked out of this terrible crash due to the design of the car among other lucky factors.

Frist Gabrielle Gifford's Pics Since Shooting. She's looking great considering what happened to her.

10 Personal Details revealed by Bill Gates

Sunday Sketches - Wildfire

Welcome to Sophia's Sunday Sketches! Today's 'wildfire' is inspired by a photo I saw in the newspaper of the recent Arizona wildfires.

Time to go see what everyone else did!

Sweet Saturdays - Greek Yogurt

Welcome to Diana's Sweet Saturdays. I read that it's healthier to add your own flavourings to plain yogurt instead of buying the flavoured kinds. I bought a tub of plain Greek yogurt and just added a touch of honey and a handful of sweet blackberries to it and it was simply delicious! This type of yogurt has no fat although it does have sodium.

Please join us for Sweet Saturdays.

Paint Party Friday - Poppies in Sunshine

Welcome to Kristin and Eva's Paint Party Friday. This piece is called 'Poppies in Sunshine'. I wanted to do some flowers in sunshine and I chose poppies because I liked the way I have seen them reflected through light.

Off to see everyone else's work this week!

Mid-life crisis?

One of L's friends told her he was at his family's dinner table recently when his dad told his mom 'I really don't like this dish'. The mom said 'but dear, I've been making this dish regularly for 17 years'. He said 'well, I was just being nice'. Think he's having a mid-life crisis? The son just burst out laughing, he couldn't help himself.

Have a look at this inspiring artist's video...he's really amazing. He draws city scapes in minute details from memory (being autistic).

Here's a cute dog surfing video for the dog lovers!

In other news, Google Releases a Stable Version of Chrome 12 web browser. Has anyone tried Chrome? Google is taking over everything.

Nice Guys

L is obsessed with this Kev Jumba youtube video. I think it's the sweetest version. Listen to the words carefully, there is a story to it! I've also included some other versions of it. These young men all met each other on youtube and have collaborated on this song which is also selling quite well on Itunes.

The interesting thing is these young men have become quite rich making these videos according to L's research. They have their own youtube channels with ads. If you make a lot of videos and get millions of hits for a lot of them, the royalties add up quickly. Kev Jumba will often donate a portion to charity and if he can end up donating $5,000 to a charity then he's making a lot of money. Times sure are changing and these kids are the future online entrepreneurs.

L said the quality of the videos are so good now because as they make more money they buy the same quality of equipment as the real movie people and even hire producers, etc.

Anyway, enjoy the videos:

Nice Guys Kev Jumba

Nice Guys Niga Higa

Nice Guys Acoustic with Chester See