Projects

I am currently revamping my kitchen. It seems to be taking me a little longer than I expected. My first project was to paint the kitchen cabinets. That took me 13 months. The next plan was to paint the walls. That only took me 3 hours. Now it's not that I suddenly became a very efficient painter, it's just that the wall space in my small kitchen is mainly covered by cabinets. Those cabinets are now a lovely shade of grey. We bought our house almost 6 years ago. It was a bit of a crack house, and had been empty for 3 years. The local hell raisers had gotten whiff of that and decided to make good use of our house while it was vacant.

When our house came on the market, my real estate agent mistakenly invited me to the agent showing. Things had not been cleaned up yet. By things I mean the kind of things you don't want to see in a house that you may buy. The garage had recently been burnt down, there were several piles of knee high raccoon feces in the attic, plus needles, bottles and spoons in the basement. I'm guessing the spoons weren't for soup parties down there. Oh home sweet home!
We bought it, gutted it, and rebuilt it. There were only a few sketchy fellows knocking on my door when we moved in. I guess they were looking for their old party spot. I hope my home looks a wee bit better than when they were shooting up in my basement. I'll admit I'm a little slow with decorating projects but I'm improving. After we renovated, we did prime the kitchen cabinets. It took me just over 4 years to start painting them their lovely shade of grey. Now that 13 months doesn't sound so bad does it?

Stir Fried Beef with Green Beans and Chilies

This is perhaps the best stirfry I have tasted in a long while. It looks a little complicated but it's not once you get the hang of it.

Marinade

1 egg white
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp Asian five spice
1 tbsp cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

1 lb boneless beef top round, sliced thinly against the grain
3 tbsp of peanut oil
3/4 lb green beans

Sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 inch fresh ginger, minced
4 cloves garlic
2 green onions
1/2 dried chili
1/4 chicken stock
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese vinegar or balsamic
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Combine ingredients for marinade in a bowl. Toss beef in marinade and refrigerate for 15 minutes. While the beef is marinading, blanch green beans and toast sesame seeds.
Heat peanut oil in pan until hot, and begin to fry beef in small batches. Once all the beef is cooked, set it aside or warm in a low heated oven.
Add ginger, garlic, green onions and chilies in remaining oil, and saute for a few minutes. Mix in stock, cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. Simmer a few minutes until sauce thickens. Return beef, beans and sesame seeds, and toss to coat. Serve with rice, and a cold beer. Enjoy!