My Wonderful Life

My life has not always been wonderful. But, that was my own doings. Thankfully, I have learned from my mistakes and right now I feel my life is pretty wonderful. No, it may not always be this way, but for now it is pretty good.

I have peace and contentment. While I may not have everything I want, I have everything I need and that is okay with me.

These are the halcyon days to bask in, to fling wide open the doors to your soul and drink in the vastness of beauty that is God. There is a freshness in my heart. A yearning for simplicity.

I have never been one to much care what anyone else thought of me, or of what I wore or of what I did. Who cares what anyone else thinks, they are not living my life, they are not in my same circumstances.

I know that this post is pretty random, just trying to get a few things out of my head!

As much as I love Chinese take-out, it is expensive. Last night we had family over for dinner. I made some sweet and sour pork (blushing here - from a mix), fried rice and this easy-peasy dish below.

Empress Beef
Serves 4-6

1/2 pound boneless sirloin steak (I think I used closer to a pound)
oil
1/4 pound fresh snow pea pods, trimmed (I used broccoli)
3 celery stalks, julieened
Fresh mushrooms, sliced - probably about half of an 8 ounce container - we like 'shrooms!
1 large onion, sliced
1/2 can water chestnuts
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
Hot cooked rice to serve

Slice steak in 1/4 inch strips. Pour oil in wok or heavy skillet. Heat. Add steak, stirfry for 5 minutes. Take steak out. Add veggies, stirfry until moderately tender, about 3-5 minutes. Combine water, soy sauce, cornstarch and sugar. Mix well. Remove veggies from pan. Pour cornstarch mixture into pan and whisk to deglaze the pan. Cook to thicken. Add beef and vegs back to pan, stir to coat with sauce.

I added some carrot, julieened and 1/2 can of bamboo shoots, julieened. I also added in 2 fat cloves of garlic, minced fine when I added the vegs.



My SIL could not believe how easy this was! It is even easier if you don't burn yourself like I did! I had the bowl with the beef and vegs behind my burner when making the sauce. Duh - it was getting hot! I grabbed it and ow, ow, ow, burned my thumb pretty good.