Exploring

The last time I was at my parents house, I decided that I would go exploring around the field and forest behind the house. It was a rather dreary day, but I figured it would give me an opportunity to indulge in my new photography obsession. Here's a few shots of what I found:

First off, I found this old chair.  I was quite fascinated by this old, abandoned chair.  Why is it here?  How did it get there?  I have no idea.  I had to get some shots of it.  Here's some of the more interesting photos I was able to get.

After messing with the chair, I walked over to the old trailer spot.  My grandmother rents this section of the property on occasion, but the area has been abandoned for a while now.  There wasn't much left, just an old, cracked foundation and some old bricks.  No interesting photos here.  But I did manage to get this weird, pointless shot of the old light pole. 

After leaving the trailer spot, I wondered over to the neighbor's pasture, where the cows followed me.  I'm not sure what was so intriguing about me, but they followed me the entire length of the field. 

It was almost like they thought I had food or something.  They would all "moo" and walk where ever I walked. But if I made a sudden movement, they'd all scatter. Then they'd start following me again. Once I got back to the chair, I decided to film what they were doing.

Weird... 

Spring Has Sprung!

Every year for as long as I can remember, springtime at my house has always revolved around flowers. My family and I would go out to local nurseries and pick out our favorite flowers and shrubs and plant them in the flowerbeds around our house.  Marigolds and zinnias, impatiens and geraniums always surrounded my home.

Now that I'm on my own, I've continued the tradition of planing flowers to brighten my day.  But being in an apartment has presented some challenges to this. Obviously, I do not have a flowerbed to play in, however, last year I installed several window boxes and pots around the apartment's balcony and stoop, to help make things more springy.  I tried several different types of plants, but only petunias and impatiens survived, and only for a short time. 

I spent a small fortune on those flowers.  But I learned from my mistakes and I'm trying something new.  This year, I've bought a small greenhouse to grow my own plants in.  It's a really cool system.  You fill the bottom with warm water, which causes the soil pellets to expand, allowing you to plant your seeds. After you've finished planting, you put the cover on and place it in an area with indirect sunlight, and wait.  No watering is necessary so it's no hassle at all!  After several weeks, you have seedlings that are ready to be planted in the ground (or in my case, pots).  Because they were so successful last year, I've decided to only plant petunias and impatiens.  That way I don't waste time on other plants that won't survive.  Also, this is a much cheaper way of gardening.  At the nursery, it's not unusual for me to spend over $40 on flowers.  Assuming that I'm successful, I will only have spent $9 all together.  That is... if it works. I'll post updates on how the seedlings are coming along as they grow!

I took pictures of the box and the finished product, but I forgot to take them off my camera.  I will add them to this post once I get them.

Happy Spring!

Chinese Fried Rice

If any of you have followed me on Facebook or on Twitter, you know that I am an Asian food fiend.  I am constantly craving Asian food.  At least once a week, I'm headed out to my favorite Chinese place to satisfy a craving.  But about a year ago, I began to realize just how much money I spend on this habit.  So, I decided to start making my own.  If I could do it right, I would satisfy myself, for half the money (and half the calories).  This soon proved problematic as I was never able to duplicate what I was used to in the restaurants.  It would always come out gummy and such.  I would try, and fail... try and fail. 

But, I came to a success a few nights ago.  I finally figured out how to duplicate Chinese Fried Rice!  Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:

Cooked White Rice

Mixed Vegetables

Cubed Chicken Breast

1 or 2 Eggs

Soy Sauce

Lemon Juice

Onion Powder

Vegetable Oil

*I don't have a set number of how much you need to use. I just kinda threw it all in as I needed it.

Heat about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a skillet or wok until it is as hot as it can go. Then add your cubed chicken into the pan. You may also want to season the chicken with a bit of soy sauce. Once the chicken is cooked and all moisture is out, add your vegetables.  It's very important to have all of the moisture cooked out of your ingredients before adding the rice.  This is where I've always gone wrong before. Once that is done, add your rice, soy sauce, lemon juice and onion powder.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Then toss your rice and eggs together and cook for another 5 minutes until the rice begins to turn golden brown. 

And that's it. Pretty easy and very tasty. Enjoy!