Stir Fried Shrimp w/ Sweet and Sour Chilli Sauce

It’s been a while since I last posted a recipe. I thought it’s time to share another favourite of my family. It’s fortunate that my children doesn’t have any allergy on seafood because they just love eating seafood specially shrimps. Shrimps have been one of the most delectable foods there is as far as I’m concerned but it can be expensive. The bigger it gets, the more expensive it is. Well, as we always hear, indulgence doesn’t come cheap. This recipe is very simple with three basic ingredients. Shrimps or prawns can be used. If you prefer to have the head on, that would be fine too.

Let’s start with the ingredients.

1 bag of headless prawns (around 20 to 25 pieces), slit the back
½ cup of sweet and sour chilli sauce (can be found in any grocery store,)
1 tbsp of flour
1 tbsp of butter (or any cooking oil)


Direction

1. Prep the prawns or shrimps. This means have it thoroughly thawed if frozen. Pat them dry with paper towel or just lay them on a double sheet of paper towel to absorb excess liquid.

2. Dust the shrimps or prawns with flour. This will further absorb liquid and will help in absorbing the sauce later.

3. Heat butter or oil in a wok or wide pan.
4. Stir fry the shrimps (or prawns) until they changed color (which indicates that they are cooked through).
5. Then add the sauce. Continue stirring until all the shrimps have been coated. This will only takes a minute or two then turn the heat off.
6. Serve with rice.

Happy eating!

When you Wish Upon A Star

When You Wish Upon A Star
Louis Armstrong



When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams
No request is to extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
As sweet fullfillment of their secret drowns
Like a boat out of the blue
Fate steps in and see's you through

Moma when you wished upon a star
Your dreams come true

(instrumental break)

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
As sweet fullfillment of their secret drowns
Like a boat out of the blue
Fate steps in and see's you through

Baby when you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
When you wished upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Your dreams come true




______________________

The pictures are courtesy of my daughter Louise. She takes amazing pictures and creates artistic images through available softwares. The star origami are also made by her and her jar is almost full. Those were alot of wishes!!!

Wish I may, wish I might... have the wish i wish tonight. What could be my biggest wish? :) that is between the star and me.

Happy wishing everyone!

A Nice Dusting of Snow - Fist snow fall of the season

It was Dec 7 when the first fall of snow came. We’ve been waiting for it for a while already. Last year, it came around November. This year, it’s late but it came none the less… re assuring us of a white Christmas.

It came in slow fall, with huge flakes falling slowly and surely. It would have been nice to be out there immersed in it all. But I have to contend being out in the balcony staring at the beautiful flurries fall and cover the still green grass. I am sure that the children in school would have had the chance to go out and greet the snow personally.

There’s not much right now. The snow that fell today is just enough to dust the ground and a nice contrast to the green grass and the pine leaves.

There’s this thing about snow that make you love it and hate it. Well, children have always thought the snow is the coolest thing around in winter (except the gift giving during Christmas time..hehe). But for us adults there are lots to dread about. Behind the pretty, clean, velvety exterior that brings feeling of attraction to go out and play with it is the coldness that makes your ears and nose red and numb. It makes the road harder to drive through and walking in icy walkways is this risk of falling down and getting a concussion. We can worry all we like but snow is very much part of winter that you either love it or leave it. For me, I’ve always contented myself at looking at it falling behind a huge window with a cup of hot chocolate drink in hand. But I guess this year I would like to enjoy it more by being out and plunge myself in the midst of this white, cold thing and enjoy it more closely. Probably try a snow ball fight, make some snow angels, and be adventurous enough to do tobogganing. Brrrr…. I better get my gears ready…hehe

Celebrating Friendship - Nov 29, 2007

Treasure the friendship you receive above all. It will survive long after your gold and good health have vanished."
— Og Mandino


Let me dedicate this post to a dear friend. I have not met her personally but she became as dear and as close to my heart as any bestfriends would ever be. Ours is a unique story. Each living a world apart, met through the world wide web and together began a journey of sharing and caring worthy of telenovelas and the likes. Today marks our first chika, the commencement of a long line of letters, emails, calls and chats. The beginning of a great friendship oblivious of time and space.

I have a box I call “jules box” filled with goodies from her. Whenever I am lonely or sad… I go to my jules box to find something that would lift my spirit up. It works everytime… until now I can still pick up one thing inside the box that would bring me to smile and bring me inspirations. It gives me countless ideas of what to do or what to write about. She is everything a friend is about and if Ibegin to describe her, I would not be able to finish my post. :) Hopefully ... i'm not promising anything ..hehe... that I would beable to bring her out in some of the future post I make.

She knows me enough to write my life story. And I hope I know her enough to write hers. A lot of times I long to hold her hands and to feel her warmth beside me. To share a cup of coffee and talk about anything endlessly. I wish I could always run to her house just to see her and say hi. But I guess that could wait.

I hope to meet her someday. Give her a huge embrace enough to catch up on those times we are apart. Until then.....

Thank you for being my friend Jules!!

The Lost Symbol – by Dan Brown

To live in the world without becoming
aware of the meaning of the world is
like wandering about in a great library
without touching the books.

The Secret Teachings
Of All Ages


How will I start my story of Dan Browns new novel? Hmmm… The Lost Symbol somehow .. lost me. Well, compared to The Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, this last sequel didn’t come up with something new. When I say new, it’s not just new, I was kind of expecting big and spectacular. It did however kept up with the usual suspense and fast phase thrills of the two previous novels. There was a moment there that I thought Dan Brown has killed the character of Robert Langdon. I was saying to myself… the lead character is dead already and I still have several chapters to go through. Don’t be alarmed… Robert Langdon is not dead. Surely another sequel is in the process.

Robert Langdon has found himself involved in another adventure (traumatic in the most frightening way). He was summoned to Washington DC presumably to be a guest speaker when he found himself in the middle of a severed hand and an annoying assistant director of the CIA. In one night, he was tricked, harassed, fled, kidnapped, tortured, killed, re-born, and found the lost symbol. If I was in his shoes…I would be catatonic by the time I was re-born. How can one person go through those experiences in one single night? The trauma is just too great.

Anyway, the story is about the obsession of one man to find the lost word of the Ancient mysteries that is guarded by the brotherhood of masons. It was written that it was buried somewhere in Washington DC. It was complicated by the involvement of CIA claiming some sort of national security. As expected, only Robert Langdon has the capability to decode the many secret code that protects the treasure. With the involvement of Masonic brothers, he unravelled the truths behind the secret codes which some were really hard for him to accept being a non-mason himself. There were new technologies added to the story like the Noetic science, the breathable liquid, the thermal imprint thingy…hehe.

What is the lost symbol??? Should I reveal it? Nah… I will only ruin the suspense to those who are reading it or about to read it.

Laus Deo – praise God

Cast your burdens upon me.. and I will give you rest.

This song has always inspired many. The many I mentioned includes me of course. But never in my life have I really felt its meaning than during my recent moments of crisis. A crisis so overwhelming, so tragic that like a heavy boat in the midst of torrent waves, I must unload some of the weight to stay afloat. I have to cast my burdens so I can focus on living. So, I did. One night, I prayed to God and asked Him if He could take these lumbers off my shoulder. I don’t want to think and worry about them from now on and He may do whatever he pleases with them.

Little do I know that He not only took the burden and carry them on His own shoulder but He is also working on them. One day, He sent me a note saying… “Your burden No. 1 has been taken cared of”. It’s that easy… the burden that I’ve been carrying for years have been taken cared of. I am a testament to His grace, wonders and blessings. Praise the Lord!

A Different CNE Experience

Through the years I have developed certain anticipation to our yearly trek to the CNE. CNE, by the way is Canadian National Exhibition. A yearly end of summer fair held at the Ontario Place. It’s the last douse of summer fun before the school starts. Like i said, it just calls on me every time. This year is very special. Why? I get to share it with some very dear friends. My barkada from university days came to visit me all the way from New Jersey and also from Hamilton. It’s been how many years since we all last saw each other? It was like 20 years already! Now we have our own families and it was so nice to see and hug each other again. There were too many to say and too many to catch up on. We’re just happy to be so close to each other again. I hope we could do this many times.

The CNE itself is the same as ever but this time it was made extra special by friends who proves that “ the house to a friend is never long” . I thank God for the opportunity to feel once again the warmth of a friends embrace.