Parquet, My Shiny Parquet

Parquet floors are lovely to have in a home. It adds to the ambiance and gives a warm cosy feeling to even a bare room. I have two rooms in my home with parquet floors.

One is my study cum library. It has withstood more than ten years of having furniture and fittings being placed on it and all the wear and tear of its basic purpose. Needless to say, I am the room's primary occupant. The parquet floors are still beautiful.

The second room is my son's. He has really put the room to good use over the last eight years and the numerous scratches and scraps on the surface bares testimony to it. There are not many things he didn't do in that room. From playing with his building blocks to train sets, wrestling with his WWF figures and other action hero's and villans alike, making forts and obstacles to defend his territory from make believe foes, to launching all kinds of sharp edged and heavy toys as artillery against these phantom foes. Over the last couple of years, he has added cricket and football to his list of games that my cupboards are falling off its hinges. Well, that's another story.

What I am trying to say is that, my beautiful parquet floor was disfigured by his enthusiasm to create a great play time. Last week, I managed to find someone to grind and polish the parquet in his room. For a small fortune, they took half a day to restore it back to this shinny luster. This is the first of many other repairs and purchases I have in mind to give him a 'new' room that he can be proud off. Let's see how he manages.

Quick Meals: Chicken & Mushroom Fajitas

I have put this recipe on the Quick Meals category as it is one of my go to recipes when I want to make a hearty, healthy and nutritious meal, fast. It is not only easy to make, but there is also hardly any cleaning up to do afterwards. It is truly a one dish wonder.

This time, however, I made a couple of changes to the recipe with my son in mind. Firstly, I diced the chicken breast into cubes. This was because, when I left it in strips before, they kept slipping out of the wraps while my son was eating them. The smaller pieces would nicely mix with the other ingredients and be easier to handle.

Secondly, I sliced the onions and capsicums into quarters before slicing them into strips so that he wouldn't spend the entire meal opening up the wraps and pulling out all the "long" vegetables.

The final twist is the adding of the Dark Soy Sauce. As the dish was cooked in only olive oil and the natural juices of the other ingredients, the end result looks a little pale (but still tasty). The Dark Soy Sauce gives it a lovely color without altering the taste in any way.

The recipe:

500 g Chicken breasts - cubed
200g Shitake mushrooms - finely sliced
1 large white onion - quartered and sliced
2 medium red and green capsicums - quartered and sliced
4 cloves garlic - minced (add as much as you like)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 - 3 tbsp Light Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tbsp Dark Soy Sauce (to add colour - optional)
8 pcs Whole Wheat Wraps

Embracing My 40

I have been 40 years old for about 10 days now. Try as I might, I can't find the clues as to how I may or should feel old or older. I feel the same, I am doing the same things, if not more, and my body looks and feels the same.

Maybe it's because it was only 11 days ago that I was 39. So I probably haven't aged much in 10 days. Anyway, I hope to keep the pruning and pasturing process at bay for as long as I can for I have alot of living to do as yet.

I am embracing my 40.