#Art #Painting Toronto Skyline 2010

Toronto Skyline 2010
14”x 18”  Oil on stretched canvas

#Faith I don't have to understand HIS ways ...

... I just have to follow, trust, and obey HIM ☺

#Love HE is more interested in the version of my heart, than the version of my Bible

                                                ☺

Where do we fit in The Generational Puzzle? Find out from @DrJoyce_Knudsen's book

My review of The Generational Puzzle by Dr. Joyce Knudsen on Amazon

#Cooking Chicken Chow Mein

As with most cooking, it's not so much about the ingredients, as much as it is about how it's cooked ☺

♫ "Learning to read music in Braille and play by ear helped me develop a damn good memory" - Ray Charles

Hit the road Jack - Ray Charles

#Praise #Grace #Gratitude I must hold lightly what HE's given me, else it will hurt when he pries my fingers open :-)

Because, I own nothing, HE owns everything

"All your money won't another minute buy" - Kansas

"All your money won't another minute buy ....
All we do, crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see" - Kansas

Get Dust in the Wind on iTunes

#RoadTrip Have you driven the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road?

Where is the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road? 

If you have driven the Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, I'd love to connect and interact with you ☺

Houses are made of brick and stone, but homes are made of #love alone

Houses are made of brick and stone, but homes are made of love alone ☺

#Leadership #Parenting The most rewarding job a man can do ...

... is not leading a large business enterprise ...

... but raising a happy family! - John Koshy☺

Porsche passion and the Gemballa Mirage GT #supercar

An interesting article from Road & Track  magazine

The 5.7 liter V-10 engine can produce 650 bhp of torque

0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds!

See more models from the official website of Gemballa

(Btw, here is how to pronounce Porsche the proper way) ☺

Brothers, what we do in life ... echoes in eternity - Maximus

Gladiator - Hans Zimmer

#Poetry Moonlight on a Windy Night

Moonlight on a Windy Night

It was a freezing night

But I made no fuss

Waiting for the children to alight

From their yellow bus

The clouds moved like they were busy

With a pace that made me dizzy

The sight of pine trees slanting

Made the night very enchanting

 

To the moon, it would seem as if I didn’t care

If with you I didn’t share

So I took out my N8

And captured the moonlight

To share with you on this site

What once was, a cold and windy night

 

-John Koshy

(21^st Feb 2011)

I took these pictures and wrote these lines while waiting to pick up the children a few years ago ...

#Honesty is such a lonely word - Billy Joel

Honesty by Billy Joel on iTunes

Seagull Stroll

I took this photograph at The Arches Provincial Park, Newfoundland

Flu shot or Chicken Curry?

Here is a detailed recipe for chicken curry I wrote many years ago on my old blog that got wiped out! 

Whenever it's flu season, I cook meat curries that have star anise as an ingredient ☺

Did you know that star anise is used to make the anti-flu drug Tamiflu?

Star anise is just one of the spices I use in my cooking!

Here's what you need - 

24cm AMC roaster with lid and stainless steel square spatula

Large sharp knife to cut meat and onions

1.2 kilo chicken without skin

2 large Red or Yellow Onions

1 square inch ginger finely chopped

2 tablespoons of coriander powder

½ tablespoon turmeric powder

150 ml coconut milk

1 table spoon of salt

2 green chillies cut lengthwise

10 large fresh curry leaves

4 cloves

4 green cardamoms

2 small pieces of star anise

3 tablespoons of sunflower oil

6 large cloves of garlic

3 cups of water

Method:

Wash well in running water and cut at the joints 1.2 kilo chicken 

Slice thinly 2 large Red or Yellow Onions and fry until golden brown in the 24 cm roaster using 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil. Add 6 large finely chopped cloves of garlic, 1 square inch ginger finely chopped, 2 green chillies cut lengthwise and continue to fry until mixture turns light brown.  Add 2 tablespoons of coriander powder, ½ tablespoon turmeric powder and mix on medium heat till the mixture begins to fume with a strong aroma    

Add 1 table spoon of salt, 4 cloves, 4 green cardamoms, star anise and mix without breaking cardamoms. Immediately add chicken and fry till dry. Add 150 ml coconut milk, 10 large fresh curry leaves and 3 cups of water, shut with lid and cook on low heat until done

Here is how to make Barbecued Chicken Curry (you can also add Star anise in this)

Or try a spicy red pork curry, which is one of my favourites ☺

#Cuisine Call it Eggplant, Aubergine, Brinjal or Garden eggs, I am #cooking them!

Many years ago, in Africa we called them garden eggs, in India we knew them  as brinjals, here in North America they are known as eggplants. Whatever you call them, they have been around since the Middle Ages ☺

Here's how I cook eggplants in less than 10 minutes!

Cut the aubergines and soak them in water for at least five minutes (this is to remove that bitter taste) and while they are being soaked, chop and fry in about two tablespoons of olive oil, an onion, some ginger and garlic

Drain and add the brinjal ... 

Add turmeric powder, Kashmiri chilly powder, cumin powder, and salt ...

Keep stirring to avoid sticking (if you heated the skillet well, then added the oil, and heated that well before adding the onion, garlic, ginger mixture, then nothing will stick) ☺

When the garden eggs are cooked, they'll look like this ...

#Nature #Wildlife Waiting for the Monarch butterfly to sit still

On our evening walk ...

Love how the leaves change colour from green to yellow to orange, and then red before they finally fall ...

WOW! A Monarch butterfly after a long time ... let's wait for it to sit still ...

Doesn't it amaze you that a Monarch butterfly can fly from Canada to Mexico? 

That's about 4,500 kilometres with it's own navigation capabilities!

Many years ago we saw this Monarch butterfly way up in Northern Ontario at Agawa Canyon 

#Thanksgiving #Gratitude I'll never be able to thank HIM enough

Family time, movie time :-)

I love movies based on true stories. And what a fine performance by Albert Finney and Julia Roberts

My favourite quote at the end of the movie by Ed Masry (Albert Finney) - "Do they teach beauty queens to apologize? Because you suck at it!" 

I'd rate this movie an 8.2/10

Get Erin Brockovich on Amazon

Sunday morning creeping like a nun - The Beatles

Get Lady Madonna on iTunes

#Safety #Serenity #Security Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty - Psalm 91

"Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I'm using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I'm happy with that" - Aretha Franklin

Loved the cast and the songs in Bobby

"You can lie to a child with a smiling face,

Tell me that color ain't about a race

You can cast the first stone, you can break my bones

But you never gonna break,

You never gonna break my faith

Faith and hope ain't yours to give

Truth and liberty are mine to live" 

Written by Bryan Adams, sung by Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige

Get the movie Bobby from Amazon and the song Never gonna break my faith from iTunes

#Sovereignty #Reverence HE doesn't need my invitation, HE was here before me

HE owns everything, including you and me ☺

#Grace I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see - John Newton (1725-1807)

♪ 'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

and Grace will lead me home - John Newton (1779)

Get Amazing Grace by The Blind Boys of Alabama on iTunes

"If that don't make you feel good, you ain't got nothing" ☺

#Cooking #Cuisine Adding turmeric and tomato to try a different theme with Tindora

This can be cut anyway, doesn't have to be lengthwise ...

Fry onions ... 

When brown, add a dried red chilly ...

(I usually add a tomato and fry till they are cooked before adding the Tindora) 

This time, I'm doing it differently -  

Add the Tindora, sprinkle red chilly or kashmiri chilly powder, turmeric and salt

Chop a tomato

 Add the tomato

Cook till done (but do not overcook!) 

(I personally prefer adding the tomato after the onions are done, and cooking it a bit before adding the Tindora)

But either way, enjoy!