::: In Exile :::

New Year . New look. It doesn’t have all the fancy features of my last template but should be faster and slightly more visually appealing.

In no particular order.

1. Eat more sushi
2. Drink more red wine.
3. Run more.
4. Read more books.
5. Travel outside of the US.
6. Find the one. ( The One - a girl a little better than you think you can get that likes you back. )
7. Less procrastination.
8. Be more organized.
9. Be kinder to strangers.
10. Love Jesus more.
11. Blog more.
12. Express love for my family and friends more often.
13. Be less in debt.
14. Enjoy life more.
15. Make more lists.
16. Break 30 minutes in a 5k race.
17. Lose 10 more pounds.
18. LASIK
19. Learn to dance.
20. Earn the MCDBA .
21. Sleep better.

you can leave comments here which i’m sure she’ll read or you can comment randomly on her blog.  

Both should be acceptable.

 

I’m an idiot. I was totally duped by Crystal and Kevin with a surprise party at the Flying Saucer with about 15 of my friends. Good beer, good friends you really can’t ask for much more when dealing with the whole getting older, birthday thing. Thanks to Carter I wasn’t the oldest person there.

There were enough clues to pick up on that there was something going on but i was oblivious. I consider myself rather sharp on picking up on things like this but i guess my old age is catching up with me. I gotta say 2007 is looking better and better all the time.

Thanks to all of you that i know for making life better.

34

YUMMY

Originally uploaded by xetark.
*** UPDATE my own version of the Chicken Malai Kebab Recipe

The recipe is here.
i didn’t use the saffron or cashew paste and used lime instead of lemon as that’s what i had available. as usual i changed some spices up but pretty much stuck with the recipe. This is my 2nd time making it (first time was probably over a year ago). It was tasty the chicken was slightly overcooked and i know i can do a little better and can marinade the chicken a little longer for better flavor.
Overall pretty easy to make, quite tasty and not spicy but full of flavor.

The christmas gift i received from my sister was a very nice chef’s knife. I’ve been quietly looking for a while but hadn’t really decided what to get. I had gravitated toward the Wusthof or Henckels and had never heard of the knife my sister got for me but it was recommended to her by the chef at the school she works at ( a high school with a chef? ).

The knife is a Kershaw Shun 8″ Chef’s knife and its uber sharp. i gotta say slicing, chopping and stuff is lot easier with a crazy sharp knife. All this time i’ve been working with inferior equipment.

The Hon sent me a link to a friend of his who also has the Shun. The great part was learning that Alton Brown is also a fan of the Shun knives!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

by Marianne Williamson

there were other bad moments in 2006 and there are other great memories of 2006 but here’s the winner.

Best Memory of 2006

This is a story the story i retold the most in 2006. Finally losing the 25lbs i gained in early 2000, like a monkey on my back i carried for 6 years. Without much exercise i dropped 20lbs just by cutting out sweet tea and regular sodas from my diet in less than 6 weeks. I feel better and look better (at least to me). It was a great success story and the highlight of 2006. Here’s to a great 2007!

So what are you worst and best memories of 2006 ?

since jay didn’t bring this up during NYE dinner as we all expected i decided to blog it.
Worst Memory of 2006

Being forced to layoff my friends, letting go of a dream and in general feeling like a failure.

shizznit happens (twice)