Oil of Oregano & 1Q84

I was not feeling good last night, so I took several drops of Oil of Oregano and went to bed early. My husband's little sister, Amy, told us about this and we have been taking it for a few years now. We have a few bottles in the house as this is now our rescue remedy when we start feel the first sign of a cold, sore throat or just anytime when we don't feel right. Next day after we take these drops, we are just fine. It's  magic.

It taste awful though... very bitter, spicy (?) and very hot. You don't want to make a mistake by dropping it on your lips when you take them. Put several drops under your tongue, wait for 30 seconds and drink water. It's Oregano, so it has the flavour of Pizza! Not bad at all.

I started reading the first few pages of the book "1Q84". It's a novel by Haruki Murakami, a Japanese author. The book was really popular in Japan a few years ago, and it was published in English just before Christmas last year.

My husband likes his books. He describes Murakami as a very imaginative author. Although my husband often says you can't stop reading once you are into the story, I don't know about this piece as this is a 925 page hardcover novel. It's really heavy and not a good book to read in bed.

It would be so much faster for me to read this in Japanese as it is awkward to hold, heavy and small letters!  It's like a text book for me...

Jamie's 30-Minute Meals

Every Sunday morning, our day starts with watching our favourite cooking show with a cup of coffee at 8am. How can you watch a cooking show after getting out from the bed first thing in the morning? We know it's not a good idea as we get hungry even though we have not taken shower yet.

The show is "Jamie's 30 Minute Meals" on food network. It's Jamie Oliver's new show and we really like it. He has had many TV shows and books in the past 15 years, but I think this is his best. Easy recipes which we can cook within 30 minutes (I will say it will be probably more like 45 - 60 min for regular folks). No difficult techniques are needed. Most of his recipes are familiar flavours with a twist.

This morning was "Steak Indian-Style". We are not big meat eaters, but we LOVE Indian food! This looked sooooo good, so we went out to pick up a nice piece of steak for dinner.

Yes, Dad, we BBQ'd today :)

All his recipes in this new show are easy to follow, so you should check this out too. Click on the link here to go to "Jamie's 30-Minute Meals".

Choir Group

Another stormy day... We are getting tired of this kind of weather, even Snoop. He can't move forward in this strong wind and his walks have been very short ones lately. Sorry buddy, it's not fun :(

Today was the first day of our choir practice. There are about 15 Japanese wives living in this small town, and we decided to get together once a month to sing some Japanese songs. We have several songs we are practicing and hoping to debut at a local cafe sometime this year! Maybe? Need to come up with a group name first!

A total of 12 Japanese ladies came to my place today and we had a great afternoon of singing. It's a nice stress release!

Forgot to take a picture of us, so I will post a picture of today's Snoop.

Up on the Roof

Today's subject is not so fun but it had to be done, so we did it.

The huge wind storm last Sunday blew off one of our roof shingles... Yes, the wind was that strong. We found out that night when we saw a half piece of the shingle on the front porch. Next day another storm hit us and another half fell off.  We wanted go up on the roof and check it. But it has been raining a lot, the roof was wet and slippery so there was nothing we could do. We called some roofing companies in town, but we learned they were too busy fixing other roofs due to the same storms.

Today was a sunny day. We had all the gear we needed to repair the roof by ourselves. We were not sure if we could go up on the roof as it was heavily frosted this morning and still wet. In the late afternoon, my husband decided to go up and spent about 30 min fixing the roof. It was our first experience, but now we know how to do it!  Hope he doesn't have to go up often as our roof is quite steep... Yikes! He enjoyed the nice view from the top though...

   

Spring Flowers

It was around 5C today. It is still winter, but I saw some spring bulbs for sale at the store. So I took some Crocuses and Daffodil home.

I love Crocuses very much. When I see their small faces in the ground, they make me smile :)  Their bright colours are so attractive to look at and they are so cute! I always wanted to have them around in the yard, so I bought some today to be planted in our first house. I picked up one that has only buds, but within a few hours inside of the house, three purple flowers started to come out! I am planning to plant them outside, but I am now thinking it is nice to have another one in the house too. Although the weather forecast is calling for another snowy/rainy week next week, I have my small spring flowers to make me smile :)

Snow Monkey

Another stormy day. What is going on? Crazy wind and rain is hitting hard again our house! Snoop is of course not pleased with this endless rain...

Today, I thought I would share a picture of a happy monkey in Japan. I read a news article about them this morning and I was so jealous. They are called "Snow Monkeys" who live in Jigokudani (Hell's Valley) Park, in Nagano Prefecture.

They enjoy bathing in traditional Japanese style "Onsen", an outdoor natural hot spring.

I don't need to explain much, just look at their faces...

"Ah, so peaceful...!"

Snow Monkey: Picture was taken by Mr. Kawara, Junior High Teacher in Tokyo

Coconut Dog

Beautiful day after the massive storm. Warm, sunny and of course our son enjoyed his W in the big puddles of water... Let me tell you how hard it is to keep a white dog clean! Specially one with short legs!

Snoop is a good dog, he is very quiet in the bath and believe it or not ... he loves the blow dryer.

Our dog smells like Coconut! Yummm :)

Stormy Day & DIY

We were up since 4am this morning as a big storm hit the Island. Snoop has been up and scared of the sound of the wind and rain, we invited him to our bed. The storm continued through the whole day, we decided not to go out, just stay indoors and work on some projects.

We purchased a house before last Christmas and we have been painting, fixing stuff and finding more things to do every weekend. It's good have projects to work on. We are both new to owning a house, so we are learning as we go.

Today, we finished the bathroom en-suite. The light fixture was not working properly, so we bought a new 3 light fixture, replaced it and finished painting. We are not good at painting... no patients for that! It's our bathroom, so we decided "it's good enough!"

I think we did decent job for 1st time home owners?

Mrs. A's Lemon Sponge Pudding

Saturday here was much warmer than the last few days. Snow has been melting everywhere and Snoop had trouble walking around in the puddles of water.

We did our regular weekend shopping including groceries and bought some lemons to make my mother in-law's Lemon Sponge Pudding.

Do you know the show which was on the food network channel called "Recipe to Riches"? A lady from Nova Scotia won the title & $250,000 for her famous "Lemon Pudding" and it is now sold at the grocery store. Then my mother in law (Mrs. A) said she used to make Lemon Pudding! And she is such a great baker! I asked why didn't she enter the contest?

Here is her recipe. We tried it tonight and it was great! We will make sure Mrs. A enters her recipe for the next contest!

3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
1 cup sugar (We only used 1/2C and it was plenty sweet!)
2 and 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 teaspoons of grated lemon rind
 
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Mix the flour and sugar together. Add lemon juice, lemon rind, butter, milk and egg yolks, 
blend well. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a buttered 1 and 1/2 quart casserole,
place casserole in a pan of hot water. Bake in a moderate oven 350F for 45 - 50 min. 
 

We didn't have milk, so we used the almond milk. I think real milk will make it creamer tasting. 
It tasted good though! Thanks Mrs. A :)
 

Snow Day!

We probably had about 5cm of snow today. It started early morning and kept coming all day. Lucky, my husband got a ride from his co-worker, so he didn't have to drive the little Honda. It has now changed to rain, and the news is warming of possible flooding as the temperature rises.

Snoop enjoyed the day skipping and sniffing in the snow, but he realized he spent too much time outside? He started to sneeze a lot later in the day. He is now cuddled in the blanket and resting...

I spent some time shovelling snow. I had never owned a snow shovel before because we lived in a condo in downtown Vancouver. So, I purchased my first snow shovel at the end of last winter. It is much better than using a dust-pan!

It's Friday!

Snoop: Hurry up and take the picture Mom, I'm cold!

Our Snoop Dog

Its a beautiful sunny day, but really cold for Vancouver Island, -8C. The weather forecast said it will be much warmer on the weekend. Nice to hear the temperature will go up, but sad to see all the snow melt...

Today, I am going to talk about our beloved son, Snoop.

He is 6 yrs old and we got him from the SPCA just a year ago. He was used in a puppy mill as a stud dog for the past 5 yrs. As he was not well socialized, we had trouble getting him used to other dogs. When he saw other doges at the begging, he started growling and barking. It was because he had no social skills and also he thought he should attack the other dogs first before he got hurt himself.

We took him to a few obedience classes and personal trainers. He has been doing so much better recently and now has several dog friends. We only spent one year with him out of his 6 yrs. It will take more time to get to know him and for him to be able to trust us. Although I am sure he is quite comfortable with us already...:) Our relationship will keep going strong and he will be a much much happier dog as time goes on.

We love you Snoop!

Date Squares

It has been snowing lightly since this morning. I heard of many schools are closed on southern Vancouver Island. It doesn't look bad here where I live. Our little car doesn't have snow tires and the lease will expire this spring. So we don't want to spend too much $ on winter tires for a car we are not sure if we keep or not.... too cheap? Hope my husband will have no trouble driving...! Yikes!

Well, let's stay indoors, bake some Date Squares and have a cup of nice Rooibos tea!
I will take you out for a nice walk later in the snow, Snoop!


Date Squares

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C rolled oats
• 1 1/2 C flour
• a bit of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• almost 1 C butter, softened
• 1 1/2 C pitted & diced dates
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbs lemon juice

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1. Combine oats, flour, salt, 3/4 cup brown sugar and baking soda. Mix in the softened butter until crumbly. Press half of the mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch greased square baking pan.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the dates, water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened. Remove from heat. Spread the filling over the base, and pat the remaining crumb mixture on top.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven, or until top is lightly toasted. Cool before cutting into squares. 

First Step

Today I decided to start writing a Blog. Not sure if I can continue to keep writing, but I thought I would try it anyway to see what happens. It's 2012, the new year! I need to try something new and challenging. Hope this is no so challenging though...

The title of my blog is "One Step Forward Every Day". Hoping to move forward little by little, every day.

I live on beautiful Vancouver Island, Canada, with my husband and our furry white dog Snoop. This blog will be the journal of our daily life, including hobbies such as baking, cooking and sewing. I will also talk about our beloved dog Snoop and post pictures and stories from Vancouver Island. 

Here is my family :) minus me... I am taking a picture!

Yay! I took the first step today!