New recipes

As part of my move I Wanted to try a series of new things. One was new recipes. One a week is the goal. Not necessarily new food just things I haven't made before. I have tried 3 since I started. All relatively conservative as far as food I would eat.

I have been collecting recipes from people to try. I haven't dared to venture off to new foods yet but it is quickly approaching that time. Here are the items I have made so far.

1. Taco Salad- this was simple & quick. It even came out better then I thought. As I often like to do I change the recipe slightly, leaving out the salad dressing.

2. Fried Ravioli w/ marinara sauce- this was something I never tried but close to something I have eaten a bunch of. This was also a simple recipe. The seasons with bread crumbs made awesome dish. I didn't make the sauce homemade but will have to try next time. Although it was yummy It had more of an appetizer feel to it but was filling and could work as a meal with a side (some sort of bread?).

3. Sweet & sour chicken w/ rice - this is a dish I would normally pick up from a Chinese restaurant. This was the most complicated of the three. It required some frying, baking & making a sauce. I never really have made a sauce totally from scratch before so I was a little concerned. According to a few people who tried it the meal came out pretty close to the take-out you would get. Since I used brown rice instead of the white rice it did add a little twist.

I will continue to post more updates on my new food journey. I plan on trying some new foods soon. I will also post the recipes going forward.

Aparment Before & After

The apartment still needs some work. I just realized the before video is not very good. I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Apartment update

I am pretty settled in now. I am enjoying it so far. It is kind of weird not having anyone home ever bc I live alone.

I got a chance to scoop out the area. Although I am further from a Wegmans, Walmart, mall & Target they are still not to far.

With the exception of a mall I am pretty close to a lot. A locally owned grocery store (big plus), Dollar General, a few local (my favorite kind) restaurants, 2 gas stations, Tim Hortons, CVS, Subway, Pizza place & chinese place are all only .5 miles away. I really enjoy that the Grocery store is an independent store.

It is not all good. Being in an apartment above a house makes feel like I can't do my workouts because I am making to much noise. I also still have to drive my car more then I would like. I don't have a Laundromat close by but that isn't so bad.

I am hoping to post the before and after videos up soon I would just like to finish one or two more things in the apartment first.

Power Outage Movie

Here is a movie I made with my two cousins when the power went out. We had to find something to do. Why not make a movie. I hope you all enjoy watching has much as I did making it.

Year of Living Biblically

This is an interesting video from a journalist that attempted to live biblically.  He makes some good points about not really being able to live by the bible's exact rules and choosing the ones the make you a better person.  I am not to religious of a person but I believe living an honest life and following basic rules (killing, tolerance, treating people with respect...) will take you to where you want to go.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1XMxcB/www.ted.com/talks/a_j_jacobs_year_of_living_biblically.html/

Religion is such a touchy subject. I see the hypocrisy in so many "religious" people that it turns me away from a specific religion. It bothers me even more when religions that preach about judgement do just that. I don't believe any specific religion is  better or more correct. At the core of each one you will find similar virtues or ethical principles. We should be using these to bring us closer instead we allow the differences take us apart.  This should be a subject I discuss more. What do you guys think?

New Beginning

I have moved to a new location. The apartment is smaller. It isn't to nice. My decision to move here was for an experiment I have always wanted to do. Actually several things That I have always wanted to do. These are: living close to work, living in a small apartment, riding my bike to work. I will be saving some extra money that can help with some of my the things on this years business Agenda (Previous post).

I will be posting about my experience with this. I will post some pictures of the place before and after I set it up, the area and how I am liking the new experience.