I have a new app on the app store called “Plan It Out!”
Record classes and/or assignments so that you don’t forget to finish your work.
Leave a comment if you have any questions.
Roasted Tomato and Sweet Pepper Pasta
Recently my mom decided to share the job of cooking with the rest of the family. Spreading the love, you know? So now that’s one more job piled on top of my list. But the good thing is that I can make the rest of my family eat what I want (hehehe). At first I thought it would be easy to find a meal to make, but then I realized that it was harder than I thought. For one, I couldn’t cook meat, in case of salmonella. Also, it had to be easy to make in thirty minutes, because I don’t have much patience to stand around for too long.
Every Saturday my sister and I have to cook dinner for our family, starting last week. So, what is an easier first meal than pasta? Using the recipe from Washington Post’s Food Section, we cooked our pasta, and to be honest, it actually tasted pretty good!
Ingredients:
– 1 pint cherry tomatoes (sliced in half lengthwise)
– 1 sweet bell pepper, any color, I used red (cut into 1 inch pieces)
– 1/2 large red sweet onion (cut into small pieces)
– Olive oil
– Salt and pepper to taste
– 8 oz farfalle (or bow-tie) pasta
– Parmesan cheese
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Spray olive oil onto a tray and spread the tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion onto it. Put salt and pepper onto the vegetables. Place tray in oven for around 35 to 40 minutes, or until the tips of the bell pepper pieces are brown.
- As the vegetables are roasting in the oven, make the pasta according to the instructions provided on the package. Drain the pasta.
- In a pan pour some olive oil and add the pasta and vegetables. Don’t let the pasta stick to the pan. Remember to keep stirring, and if the pasta sticks, add a little more olive oil.
- While serving, add cheese if desired.
My family enjoyed this dish very much, and I hope the same comes to you!
Curiosity Saves the Cat
I have always been told that “curiosity kills the cat”
But I can only find ways that curiosity can help him.
It may be so that he can get some dinner
Where he finds new places to catch his own rat.
Even with the whole world out there,
This saying is suppressing the poor cat
And preventing him from
discovering
inventing
and doing new things.
This cat turns defiant
And won’t stay silent
Because he doesn’t have to believe
That “curiosity kills the cat”
Because he knows that it doesn’t.
Falling Leaves
It has been a long time since I wrote my last poem. But fall time is here, and a small poem wouldn’t hurt!
Red, orange, and brown
Falling gently to the ground
The trees are shedding
Creating a bedding
Over the slowly browning grass.
The breezes are beginning
And the days are shortening
As the children’s squeal
Slowly disappears
Into the warmth of their homes.
Now it is time to prepare
For the winter ahead.
For the snow, the cold,
And the hot chocolate days.
Birdwatching
Spring is here and the flowers have bloomed. It is 6:00 AM and… who is awake before you? The birds! There are so many different kinds of birds: chickadees, finches, cardinals, sparrows, and woodpeckers. Here are a couple from my front yard.
This was one of the few birds that did not fly away after I opened the door
A goldfinch sitting in the cherry blossom tree.
The black-capped chickadee never stood still.
My only shot of the black-capped chickadee...
A downy woodpecker with a red head.
Does anyone know what this bird is?
Hopefully I can compile these and more bird photos into a slideshow at the end of spring.
The Importance of Action
Have you ever thought that you missed a chance to do something that you could never change? Then this is the story for you.
My eyes fluttered open and I saw the sky. I had been sleeping. My head lay on a hard, cold rock in the midst of the barren grassland, my car within a few meters of me. I sat up and rest my back on the rock and took a sip of water out of my canteen and a bite of my sandwich. I saw a small black dot against the icy blue of the sky. Finally!, I thought, A bird! For I had come out here to go bird-watching, a wonderful pastime, by the way. But as I looked throught my binoculars, I realized that that was no bird, let alone something small. It was getting larger by the instant. It was an airplane headed straight for… me.
My first instinct was to run. Then I thought, How many innocent people could be on this aircraft that one action by me could save? But I neither ran nor took action. I stood, stunned, watching this airplane plummet straight towards the earth at speeds unmeasurable.
Then I awoke. Just a dream! But to this day, that dream disturbs me. How many things have I not done, that I could have done, that might have changed the course of my future. Small or large, thought is important, but so is action.
A Shadow
As I walk to my bus
I spot my shadow
Following me
Where ever I go.
I have decided to get a pet puppy
When I enter the door to the pet store
The shadow slips in unseen
I wonder how it never bores.
I feel funny
To have a follower
Growing when I grow
Crying when I cry
Laughing when I laugh.
Changing when I change.
I have gone to my soccer game
Playing my position
When suddenly,
I spot my shadow
Taking the same steps
Kicking the same kick.
I have visited a new store
Knowing me, that does not occur often
I have picked out a new shirt to wear
For I have grown out of my others
And I realize that my shadow is there
Choosing the same shirt.
Why can’t this shadow
Ever retire
And stop following me
And let me be different
And let me be myself?
I wonder…
–Dedicated to my friend S
January 2nd Palindrome
Happy New Year!
New Year is now here
Beginning a clean new year
Make resolutions!
Did you notice the palindrome of January 2nd 2009 (01/02/2010)? Look at the date closely : 01/02/2010. If 01/02 is written backwards (20/10) it creates the year, 2010. The next palindrome day will be on 11/02/2011.
Winter Solstice
At exactly 12:47 PM on the first day of the Winter Solstice (today, 12/20/09), if you place an egg on a table and let it stand, it will stand up without support, at 12:48 it will fall down. This ONLY will work at exactly at 12:47 PM. I want to see it work during the spring solstice…
Pictures at 12:47
Picture at 12:48 PM
Thanks to my piano teacher for telling me about it.
Purple Flowers
Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii)
These bushes attract a lot of butterflies and grow really fast. The deer don’t touch them. If your garden is eaten by deer you might want to consider planting this bush.
More information here.
These pictures are my entry to Purplicious going on at Flower Fest.
Cherry Blossoms 