Illegitimate Sun

Thanks for visiting my website.

I’m glad you stopped by.  This website is updated randomly, so I apologize for the lack of content. Please feel free to browse, I’m especially proud of some of the pictures in the Galleries

Amy and I have used IKEA extensively in her apartment.

Our biggest additions are three double-wide GORM bookcases, one of which has been hacked to serve as an open liquor cabinet / pantry.

Here’s a picture of one of our bookcases and I put up the liquor cabinet one next week.

Have you ever wondered how much meat you can get from a roasted pig’s head?

Neither have I.

But, I happened to find out. It all began with a trip to our favorite Asian grocery store…
(Read on …)

Emilee was the Pirate Princess of Toronto.

With her wooden sword and row boat, she terrorized the merchant fleets that sailed the Great Lakes.

She always took the merchant’s best toys and candy.

With each raid, the merchants became more and more fearful. Eventually, they stopped sailing altogether. They waited out at the docks, watching as Emilee rowed back and forth - daring them to come closer.

One day, Emilee was rowing her boat about the bay watching the distant merchant fleet. Suddenly, a goose landed right on the bow of her boat! It was a huge goose with wings that cast a shadow over the entire boat.

Emilee looked at the goose in amazement. Never had such a large bird been in her little boat.

Emilee went to shoo the bird away.

As she got close, the goose stretched out its long neck and bit her arm with is strong beak!

Emilee looked at her arm. Already a red mark was forming where the goose pecked her.

Angry, Emilee turned to the bird and hit hard on the beak.

‘That’s for biting me!’ she cried.

Instead of flying away, the goose looked angry. It lifted a wing and hit Emilee on the head, knocking off her pirate hat.

Emilee was mad. She and the goose fought all over her little boat. They bit, and punched, and kicked, and pushed.

The fight rage on and on.

Tired, Emilee and the goose sank down on opposite sides of the boat. Both were sore and exhausted. Emilee was bruised and the goose was missing feathers.

Suddenly Emilee noticed that the merchant ships were no longer at the docks. While she was fighting the goose, the merchants had hurriedly sailed past her into open waters.

They were escaping and Emilee’s little boat would be too slow to catch them.

It was the goose’s fault. The goose must work for the merchants!

Emilee started at the bird, anger clear on her face.

Scared, the goose sprung into the air to fly away.

Emilee caught the goose by it’s feet and quickly tied a rope from the boat to it’s feet.

Trapped, the goose still tried to fly away. It flapped its mighty wings harder and harder.

Soon, the large goose was pulling the tiny row boat across the waves.

Emilee pulled hard on the rope, steering the goose like a kite. Her little boat headed out across the water to the merchant fleet.

They would not escape the pirate princess Emilee!

One of the differences that stand out while I visit Canada is the usage of British English.

Canadians use certain constructions that are unique to their British heritage. These are phrases that are not used in American English.

The one that stands out every time it cross my ears is the phrase “to hospital.” An example would be, “He was taken to hospital for treatment.”

In American English, we would throw in an article to create the phrase, “to the hospital.”

It’s a small, but constant reminder that I’m visiting another country.

I ate the best steak of my life last night.

Even better, I cooked the best steak I’ve ever eaten.

I found another bargain at T&T Grocery Store. I found two filet mignon steaks for $3.

I prepared them following a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. You can read the recipe here. There’s also a video on Youtube telling you the recipe.

I often rely on recicpe’s from America’s Test Kitchen. Their thorough testing and incredibly helpful tips may make the preparation a little more complex, but the results are always worth it.

For this dish, I simmered cracked peppercorns in olive oil, mixed that with salt, and marinated the steaks for an hour. Then I seared both sides of the steak and finished them to our preferred state in the oven. (Amy likes hers well-done. I’m a medium-rare guy myself.)

The steaks turned out tender and buttery. The pepper complemented the taste of the steak and eat morsel seemed to collapse in a wave of flavor when you took a bite.

I cannot recommend this recipe enough for those who want to cook the perfect steak.