2012 Leap Day

I was lying in bed ready to pass out until I realized what a long day it's been, and today's not a "normal" day in the year. Leap Year is a special day in the calendar that occurs once every four years. Today being the day, my day was slammed with some unique chain of events.

This morning I was schedule to deliver a training session for one of my clients at their site, and I did. But prior to breaking out of the house, I had a sudden wakening that pulled me out of bed, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and the next thing you know, it was only 1:30AM. Clearly I did not know what time of day it was, and didn't even notice that sky was still pitched dark. Very odd. So I went back to sleep and got up at 6:30AM to prepare for my 8AM training.

I got to the client's office only to realize that only two of the front door parking spots were taken up.. "SCORE!". I was able to park my car in the front, which meant that I didn't have to make a trip to the distant parking lot and walk over :)

The training started at 8:30 and ended around 11:30. Overall, I only heard positive feedback, so I guess that's a good thing for moi :) well done!

I headed home and made lunch before I jetted to the office to organize a potential travel that I'd be taking next Monday. The result; I will be travelling to Washington DC to give a training course to one of our clients. The deal was sorted out last minute, so I literally have 2 days to get my things in order before I depart... we'll see how that goes...

So my whole afternoon was figuring that out.

After work, I headed over the James Street Pub for our monthly Web Marketing Wednesday meetup. This week we had Glenn talk about lead generation. Great turn out (roughly 30+ people), great discussions and great vibe overall. The night event quite late; me leaving at around 9:30PM.

Brain is about to shut down.

Body is about to shut down.

Maybe it's time to shut down my computer.

Goodnight :)

[Recipe] Normandy Fish Stew with Mussels

Mmmmmmm what is that!? Well... you'll find out...

Last night, I decided to cook a nice dish for Kristy for the first time. The plan was Normandy Fish Stew. It turned out that we ended up eating dinner fairly late, but nonetheless, we satisfied our stomachs with this delicious dish.

Facts about this dish: "This fish stew from northern France, sometimes called Marmite Dieppoise, is a great comfort food meal"

For those who want to make this "awesome dish" you can follow the recipe linked above, but if you cannot find all those ingredients, I will share with you how you could improvise and still get a good tasting dish that you can serve straight out from your own kitchen. Sound like plan? Ok... you'll need the following:

• 2lbs mussels , cleaned and debearded (discard any that don't close when tapped on the sink)
• 500ml white wine (Reisling)
• large knob of butter
• 2 leeks , cleaned and sliced (you can even go 3 because typically they come in bunches of 3)
• 227g sliced white mushrooms
• 150ml sour cream 14%
• 2 cod fillet
• small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Cook it the same way as instructed, and you will get the following results;

Serve it with some soft and heated bread @ 350F for 5 mins, and you're good to go! Pour a glass of red wine if you really want to go all out on this meal :)

Girlfriend surprises with a break in to my unit

It's been a busy week while the GF was back in town. Her visit came by a big surprise as I thought I wasn't going to see her until April in Vancouver =O The surprise was a pleasant one :)

When I came home last Friday night (feb 10), I nearly freaked out when I unlocked my door and realized that my unit was completely dark, and that my balcony door was opened. I scented that there was something cooking in the kitchen, but rather it was a sort of burnt smell. Then on goes the lights and she appears. My jaws dropped and asked 'what the hell' (in a happy way). It appears as thought she picked up my brother's pair of keys from Mike earlier that day, and that is how she broke in. Clever... didn't see any of it coming.

From Instagram: "Feb 10 - GF surprised me with a visit from Vancouver. She broke into my unit and nearly caused me to shit my pants (not really). Then she prepared a delicous meal :) Baked scallops in white wine sauce with organic wheat pasta. Roasted pears and Canadian cheese torta salad. Mm mm! Love you!"

I guess the fright was worth it, because the meal was delicious and I didn't have to make myself dinner :p thanks babe!

[Recipe] A Yummy Recipe: Sweet n' Sour Pork

Due to popular demand, I'm sharing my recipe on how to make Sweet n' Sour pork (not really mine). This dish is great for any occasion; anywhere, any time and served with anything! I made the sauce for this dish with ketchup in the past. But here, it works a little differently and I find the ingredients for the sauce here tastier! :) **there is a video at the end on how to make this - that's how I learnt. But given there is no written instructions, I thought I'd write one out for you to print and stick on your fridges :) I've also added a bonus ingredient if you wanted to add a bit of variety to your dish!

What you'll need:

• 1 lb pork loin
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar (apple cider is fine - that's the one I use)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• fresh pineapple

Step 1: cut your pork loin into bite-size

Step 2: make the batter:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt

Stir and beat until batter smooths. You don't need to wait for it to sit for an hour (he said so in the video but you don't need to wait... at least I didn't!).

Step 3: in a large bowl, throw in your pork, pour the batter in and mix it with your hands.

Step 4: now it is time to fry the pork. Have a large enough pan and oil. Drop in each battered pork into the pan one at a time and let it fry! It will take around 12-15 minutes. Once you notice that it is golden brown, remove it from the pan and set it aside.

Step 5: making the Sweet n Sour *secret* Sauce:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vinegar (apple cider is fine - that's the one I use)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tsp cornstarch

Stir all the above in a pan until it dissolved. Have the pan over the stove on low-medium speed. All we want first is for everything to melt and dissolve. One that happens, you'll notice that the sauce is still quite liquidy. Turn the heat up until the sauce boils/bubbles. This will help thicken the sauce. Turn it off once you see it bubbling, it should be good by then.

Step 6: pour the sauce over the pork once it is ready.

Step 7: SERVE and EATTTT!!!

*BONUS* Step: this would come in BEFORE YOU POUR THE SAUCE... dice up some fresh pineapples and add it to the heated sauce. Pineapples are a nice addition to sweet n sour pork. Serve and eat! :)

Here is the video that I followed to make this dish. If you are a visual person like myself, then you'll probably follow this. The bonus step is not in there and I've outlined my process, not exactly how he does it in the video.

Please leave comments if you've tried making it and it was a success. If you have a different way of making it, I'd like to hear from you as well! :)

BON APPETITE!