Happenings

Well, I am not sick anymore. Thankfully!

I managed to get my pull-up bar mounted. Now I am able to hang upside down. I really enjoy inversion.

I wish that I could have mounted the pull-up bar higher though. I don't like to do pull-ups with a bar that is only a few inches higher than my head. It's not comfortable. Later I may have to build a rig that puts the bar much higher so I can do it more comfortably.

This month we do not have as many students at the center in the mornings. They had a break from school last month so their parents tortured them, so I earned more money. Now they're back in school, so I have less morning classes. There are more students in the afternoons, but I have not yet picked up any extra classes then. I do, however, have more 1-1 tuition classes.

I'll earn less this month than lat month, but I'll still earn a decent amount.

This month I have a LOT of free time though. I have one class from 9:30 to 11am and then, depending on the day, another class at 3:30 or 4:30 mon-fri. This means that I have 4.5 to 5.5 hours of "downtime" so I've spent it reading or walking around. I wish I had a laptop ;-)

Hopefully things remain stable or pick up more soon.

Siew had a job but encountered some problems and resigned. It seems as though she'll have a slew of interviews in the near future though. She's thinking about taking a part-time job to kill time and earn a little extra money. I think that would be fine. I just want her to be happy.

I recently started reading Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle. I really recommend it!

It's amazing that He wrote the first book when he was 14. I'm not posting links, I feel lazy, it's enough that I'm writing this :-P

I'll get some pictures to post later, I want to give a tour of our place, demonstrate inversion and inverted exercises and whatever else I think might be interesting to look at.

I wish I had more time at home, right now I'm free, but I am not at home to do spend it playing games, taking pictures, or doing something else that need to be done.

Siew and I have been at the sauce again. We made 4.5 kilograms (9.9 pounds) of tomatoes into tomato sauce for spaghetti. I have to add a small amount of baking soda to the sauce in order to prevent it from being too sour (tomatoes have a lot of acid), otherwise there's not much to it.

Here's how I do it:

First, you need fresh tomatoes. A pot of boiling water. A sink or other container with cold water. A ladel. A good tomato paste. Dry basil and oregano. Salt. Baking soda. Mushrooms. A sieve screen or cheese cloth. A knife. A small spoon. Bowls to contain everything.

Second, you blanch the tomatoes and peel them.

Third, you cut the peeled tomatoes into quarters and then use the small spoon to scoop out the portion of the tomato that has the seeds. Put that into a bowl. Chop the remainder and put that into another bowl. Do this with all of the tomatoes. When you are finished, use the sieve or cheese cloth to separate the seeds from the liquid you spooned out. Save the liquid, of course, and discard, or plant, the seeds.

Fourth, add the strained liquid, some basil and oregano and a little salt to a pot and apply heat. Add half of your chopped tomatoes to this mix. Bring to a boil and taste. If it seems a little sour, add a SMALL amount of baking soda and stir until no more bubbles are created. Taste again. Repeat if it is still too sour. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste. Reduce this mixture by about half.

Fifth, after the mixture has reduced, add the remainder of the tomatoes and cook with low heat for about 10-15 minutes. The idea is that you do not break-down the remainder of the tomatoes, so you still have chunks of tomato in your sauce.

That's it. It's really pretty easy, but it tastes really good, it's healthy and you can stick it in your own jars if you make enough. ;-)

Hmmm What else?

Ah, the movie Up is really good! I found it to be really touching. I recommend that everyone see it.

We recently had to buy a mattress pad. I wasn't sleeping well, and part of it was our mattress. It's a bit too hard for me to sleep on.

We hunted around, but no one had any pads! We found one store that sold them for a mere 1000++ Ringgit! What the hell! A new bed costs less!

Anyway, we found one at Ikea for 269 Ringgit that does the trick nicely.

I guess I am out of happenings to post for now. I'm going to make effort to post more frequently. Please bear with me!