"I wanna throw my bills out the window catch a train to another town" - Merle Haggard

Workin' Man Blues by Merle Haggard

Released in 1969.

Get the song from iTunes

Christmas

From East to West, North to South, my dear friends, 

connections, acquaintances & strangers, 

if you celebrate #Christmas, 

I want to wish you a Christmastime filled with Love, Joy & Peace!

If you don’t celebrate Christmas, 

I want to wish you a safe & happy holiday season!

To everyone - Hugs

Love one another, irrespective of religion, race, colour or gender.

Be yourself. Be good to all. Life is short. #Resist evil. 

#ReasonForTheSeason #TheBirthOfJesus

https://www.johnkoshy.ca/christmasthebirthofjesus.html

Painting Jesus my good shepherd

This is a theme from John 10 of Jesus my shepherd

Specifically John 10:14 and John 10:27

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" - Jesus 

16" x 20" oil painting on canvas

More themes from the gospels 

I was listening so some of my favourite hymns while painting this

Hos Ephanerothe sung by Agnieszka Kraus-Nabielec

The lyrics are from 1 Timothy 3:16

Hymn of the Cherubim 

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom Op 41

composed by Tchaikovsky

Some call it banana chips, others say plantain chips, call it what you like, I'm frying them!

Cut the tips off

Peel the outer skin. This and the tips are the only parts you cannot eat.

Remove this part of the skin carefully.

This can be cooked, so don't throw it away!

But that's another dish

Add a little salt, and turmeric in a bowl of water and mix well.

This mixture will be used to salt the chips 

while it is being fried in the hot oil 

Heat about three cups of vegetable oil, almost to boiling temperature.

I use the back of a cheese grater, 

and slice the bananas into the hot oil

***Please do this next step very carefully as the whole mixture begins to rapidly boil

When the banana is almost cooked ...
(you can tell when it gets firm)
... Add 2 teaspoons of the salt water mixture to the oil,
And mix gently.
This is how the chips get salted.

This is what it sounds like when you add the mixture to hot oil

Here is another high fibre recipe that uses the whole banana, 

including the skin 

(shown on the right side below)

Happy eating!
☺

“What’s the point of getting up in the morning unless you’re gonna have an adventure?" - Hans Zimmer

Hans Zimmer playing Madagascar

And if you love long highway drives,
You've gotta love Thunderbird by Hans Zimmer,
From the movie Thelma and Louise!

Painting HIS backyard

So much to be grateful for, at Thanksgiving.

No matter who we are, or what we have,

There are always people going thru worse stuff than us.

Thinking of them ...

Poured a glass of red wine,

Stepped outside,

And started painting HIS backyard

The leaves are turning yellow, orange, red ...

And every colour in between,

And they are beginning to fall.

As they come to the end of their brief lives ...

Started this painting in September ...

And just finished it now

HIS backyard

24"x 36" oil painting on canvas

Who buys computers these days? Build your own instead

Six years ago my son and i decided to build a computer,

 rather than buy one off-the-shelf.

It was time well spent together!

Now he's built his own gaming machine,

all by himself!

Need help building your own computer?
Ask us

Spider on a web

If you want to learn acrobatics, ask this spider

Or if you want to learn weaving ...

This side view of the spider web looks like the strings of a harp

This loonie-sized spider,

resembles a crab!

(The largest spiders I've seen, 

are the tarantulas,

In our home in Africa)

What a beautiful spider web,

3 feet in diameter

I once saw a spider eating it's own web!

See photos here ...

Life

"This life was given to me as a gift from God, and I have no right to take it" 

- John Koshy 

10 Sept 2018

"As the seconds of our lives are ticking away, you have to realize that life needs to be an adventure" - Hans Zimmer

These movies would never be the same without the music of Hans Zimmer

Madagascar

Gladiator

(Vocals by Czarina Russell)

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor performed by Amy Turk on harp

What an amazing performance!

This is a piece of organ music, probably composed in 1704 

played on the harp.

Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor 

performed by Amy Turk on the harp

Saving a Grasshopper

Saved a grasshopper ...

 

And then ...

... the cicadas started their chorus!

Listening to Rimsky-Korsakov and painting Hummingbird in the Night

 God has spoken to me to reassure me more than once,

through the rare appearance of Hummingbirds.

So Hummingbird sightings, 

are very treasured moments!

I saw this juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 

two years ago, 
and as recently as yesterday!!

Mixing gold, yellow, emerald green and black

This is Flight of the Bumblebee written by

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

(composed 1899-1900)

and an amazing violin performance by Katica Illényi 

Hummingbird in the Night

16"x 20" oil painting on Russian birch panel

One thing you'll never regret as a parent, is teaching and encouraging your children to cook!

For example, this basil fried rice,

with yellow chicken curry

 

Or these pork dumplings, 

and a sauce to go with it

Or this steak!

With vegetables

No idea what it's called, 

But this baked dish with mainly Italian ingredients,

and some Ontario wine, 

is so tasty!

A good friend is someone who brings home a large live lobster ...

... And then we get started on cooking it

This is the largest lobster I've cooked!

The cutting board and my large knife look so little 
☺

What you need ...

Chop onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies. 

Fry the onions till they are light brown, then add the garlic, 

ginger, green chillies and fry a few minutes. 

Add Kashmiri chilly powder, clove powder, 

cinnamon powder, coriander powder, 

and 

when the mixture begins to stick to the pan, 

add a finely chopped tomato, 

and a little vinegar to prevent sticking to the pan.

Add the lobster which must be cut at the joints. 

For large pieces crack the shell so that the spices penetrate in for flavour. 

Mix very well to prevent sticking to the pan, 

turn off the heat, keep shut 

and allow to cook for about the time it takes to set up the table, 

and have a sip of Gewürztraminer

☺

Sharing is loving!

Barbecuing a whole chicken

Made a marinade with Kashmiri chilli powder, 

ground dried red chillies,

Soy sauce, half a fresh lime,

freshly ground garlic and ginger,

a little salt,

and 

a flat teaspoon of sugar.

The secret is to cut the chicken this way ...

make slits in the chicken, 

and marinate well under the skin

(I've started using gloves these days,

imagine after all these years of not using them)

Cover and keep the chicken for 48 hours in the refrigerator to marinate well

The chicken can be spread out on the grill because of the way I've cut it,

And it will cook well on the inside on low flame

Meanwhile, 

a Polish friend had given us a small bottle of Żubrówka Biala 
which they brought back from Poland. 
I added some Canadian ginger ale, 
squeezed some fresh lime and made a drink 
(this is not part of the recipe)

While I was focused on the chicken,   
A wasp flew into my drink.  I quickly rescued it and let it go!

Back to the chicken

Basting the chicken

Voilà! 

a  few minutes later,

 a second wasp flew into my Zubrowka Biala!

☺

No doubt, this is a tasty cocktail

(Here are the social wasps on the hummingbird feeder)

I rescued the second wasp ... 

And I must say, 

the Polish drink tasted good, after two Canadian wasps!

To wrap up the BBQ chicken story ...

You could add fresh onions 

(Anna hates it when I eat raw onions)

☺

Have a good week, friends!