DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD, FOLLOW YOUR HEART.

IF IT EXCITES YOU AND SCARES YOU AT THE SAME TIME, IT PROBABLY MEANS YOU SHOULD DO IT.

THINK ONE POSITIVE THOUGHT EVERY MORNING AND YOU WILL TRICK YOUR BRAIN PSYCHOLOGICALLY INTO BEING A HAPPIER PERSON.

EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY, SOME OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CHAPTERS IN OUR LIVES WON'T HAVE A TITLE UNTIL MUCH LATER.

DON'T THINK TOO MUCH.

JUST DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY.

KEEP WALKING THROUGH THE STORM.

YOUR RAINBOW IS WAITING ON THE OTHER SIDE.

DON'T LET ANYONE BREAK YOU.

THERE MAY ALWAYS BE PEOPLE WHO SECRETLY WANT TO SEE YOU FAIL.

THAT'S OKAY.

JUST STAY STRONG AND STAND TALL.

 

BE AUTHENTIC.

DIFFERENT IS BEAUTIFUL.

DON'T GIVE UP

persevere

IF THERE IS A WILL THERE IS AWAY.

Portuguese Shrimp (Rissois) Patties Recipe

Ingredients

White sauce:6 tbsp of flour3/4 stick of butter or margarine2 cups of milk1/2 tsp of salt1/4 tsp of pepper1/2 Knorr chicken bouillon cube1 egg yolk for a thicker fillingShrimp:1/4 cup of finely minced onion2 tsp of finely minced parsley1/2 chicken bouillon cube2 to 3 tbsp of olive oil1 and 1/2 pounds of peeled finely chopped raw shrimp1/4 tsp of paprika1/4 tsp of salt (if desired)1 tsp of lemon juiceDough:6 cups of water6 cups of flour1 tbsp of salt1 stick of margarine1 piece of lemon peel                                                                                                       

Directions

White sauce:

1. In heavy sauce pan on medium heat melt butter. Add the flour and stir until it dissolves into the butter. Add milk, salt pepper & bouillion cube. Stir well and cook while constantly stirring on med heat until it thickens like a pudding.
2. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Add 1 tbsp of white sauce to beaten yolk to temper, then add the egg mixture into sauce. *This is optional to create a thicker, yellowish sauce but not necessary fi your sauce is thick.
3. Taste the white sauce & add more salt or pepper if needed. Set aside to cool completely. (The filling should be very thick not runny)

Shrimp:

1. Cook the onions w/ olive oil on med heat until translucent. Add chick bouillon cube & shrimp.
2. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until shrimp is pink. Add lemon juice, paprika, and parsley and let let cool.
3. Chop shrimp into small pieces and stir into the white sauce. Season the filling with more salt & pepper to taste if needed.
4. Let the shrimp filling mixture cool completely, or overnight in refrigerator.

Dough:

1. In heavy non stick pan, place water, lemon peel, salt & butter on med heat until butter melts and the water starts to boil. Add the flour & continually stir with a sturdy spoon until a ball of dough forms. (This takes muscle power)
2. You’ll notice the bottom of the pan starts to form a crust. Keep stirring until all of flour is absorbed into the ball of dough.
3. (The batter should feel and look like bread dough). Let it cool.
4. Once both the dough and filling have completely cooled or overnight in the refrigerator, you are ready to roll out dough on floured surface.

Preparing the Turnovers:

1. This dough is called “massa tenra” because it is a very tender dough which must be handed gently.
2. Gently roll the dough to 1/8 inch thick with floured rolling pin.
3. Cut the dough into round 4-5 inch circles using a cookie cutter or a floured glass.
4. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the filing into center of dough rounds. Fold the dough over forming a moon shape.
5. Carefully pinch edges together and don’t let filling escape out of the sides.
6. Place them apart from each other on a large parchment lined cookie sheet.

Prepare for frying:

1. Beat 3 eggs with a couple tablespoons of water in large bowl. Spread a large amount (2-3 cups) of fine plain bread crumbs on a cookie sheet.
2. Use one hand dry, one hand wet method by dipping each shrimp cake into egg wash and then into the bread crumbs. Shake off excess crumbs.
3. Place them back onto parchment lined cookie sheets for storing in refrigerator until ready to fry.

Frying Turnovers:

1. Fry 6 rissois at a time in good deep fryer at med – high heat about 375 degrees until they turn very golden brown. I recommend using a stainless steel fryer rather than a plastic one since it retains heat better.
2. You’ll need to keep turning them over and saturate them with the hot oil to cook evenly.
3. Cut one open to make sure the filling and the dough is cooked through.
4. Place them on paper towels to drain any grease.

Recipe & Photo Credit: Tia Maria's Blog, portuguesediner.com/tiamaria/

Observations on Growing Older

 

 
  ~ Your kids are becoming you... and you don't like them... but your grandchildren are perfect! 

~ Going out is good... Coming home is better! 

~ When people say you look "Great"... they add "for your age!" 

~ When you needed the discount, you paid full price. Now you get discounts on everything... movies, hotels, flights, but you're too tired to use them. 

~ You forget names …. but it's OK because other people forgot they even knew you!!! 

~ The 5 kilos you wanted to lose  is now 10 and you have a better chance of losing your keys than the 10 kilos 

~ You realize you're never going to be really good at anything .... especially golf. 

~ Your spouse is counting on you to remember things you don't remember. 

~ The things you used to care to do, you no longer care to do, but you really do care that you don't care to do them anymore. 

~ Your husband sleeps better on a lounge chair  with the TV blaring than he does in bed.  It's called his "pre-sleep". 

~ Remember when your mother said... 
"Wear clean underwear in case you GET in an accident"? 
Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident! 

~ You used to say, 
"I hope my kids GET married... 
Now, "I hope they STAY married!" 

~ You miss the days when everything worked  with just an "ON" and "OFF" switch. 

~ When GOOGLE, iPod, email, modem - were unheard of, and a mouse was something  that made you climb on a table. 

~ You used to use more 4 letter words … 
"what?"..."when?"... ??? 

~ Now that you can afford  expensive jewelry, it's not safe to wear it anywhere. 

~ Your husband has a night out with the guys, but he's home by 9:00 p.m. Next week it will be 8:30 p.m. 

~ You read 100 pages into a book before you realize you've read it. 

~ Notice everything they sell in stores is "sleeveless"?!!! 

~ What used to be freckles are now age spots. 

~ Everybody whispers.

~ Now that your husband has retired … you'd give anything if he'd find a job!

~ You have 3 sizes of clothes in your wardrobe … 2 of which you will never wear. 

~ But old is good in some things: 
old songs, 
old movies, 
And best of all, OLD FRIENDS!!

 

D I V I N A L esta D. Beatriz vale a pena ler

A D. Beatriz, senhora alentejana, 80 anos, solteira, organista numa igreja da Diocese de Beja.
É admirada por todos pela sua simpatia e doçura.

Uma tarde, convidou o novo padre da igreja para ir lanchar a sua casa e ele ficou sentado no sofá, enquanto ela foi preparar um chá.

Olhando para cima do órgão, o jovem padre reparou numa jarra de vidro com água e, lá dentro, boiava um preservativo.

Quando a D. Beatriz voltou com o chá e as torradas, o padre não resistiu e perguntou-lhe o porquê de tal decoração em cima do órgão.

E responde ela apontando para a jarra: "Ah! refere-se a isto?

Maravilhoso, não é? Há uns meses atrás, ia eu a passear pelo parque, quando encontrei um pacotinho no chão. As indicações diziam para colocar no órgão, manter húmido e que, assim, ficava prevenida contra todas as doenças. E sabe uma coisa senhor Padre?
Este Inverno ainda não me constipei".

É A Fé QUEM NOS SALVA...

ALL SERIOUS DARINGS STARTS FROM WITHIN.

YOU ARE THE STRONGEST WHEN RELAXED AND AT PEACE.

LET THE REFINING AND IMPROVING OF YOUR OWN LIFE KEEP YOU SO BUSY THAT YOU HAVE LITTLE TIME TO CRITICIZE OTHERS.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, TAKE ON YOUR CHALLENGES, DIG DEEP WITHIN YOURSELF TO CONQUER FEARS.

NEVER LET ANYONE BRING YOU DOWN.

YOU HAVE GOT TO KEEP GOING.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE THAT REFLECT WHO YOU WANT TO BE AND HOW YOU WANT TO FEEL, ENERGIES ARE CONTAGIOUS.

ONE DAY YOU WILL LOOK BACK AND REALIZE THAT YOU WORRIED TOO MUCH ABOUT THINGS THAT DID NOT REALLY MATTER.

THE THINGS YOU DO EITHER GIVE YOU ENERGY OR DRAIN YOU.

CHOOSE WISELY.

SOME CHANGES LOOK NEGATIVE ON THE SURFACE BUT YOU WILL SOON REALIZE THAT SPACE IS BEING CREATED IN YOUR LIFE FOR SOMETHING NEW TO EMERGE.

THE PERSON YOU ARE DESTINED TO BECOME IS THE PERSON YOU DECIDE TO BE.

FREEDOM IS BEING YOU WITHOUT ANYONE'S PERMISSION.

BE BOLD ENOUGH TO USE YOUR VOICE, BRAVE ENOUGH TO LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, AND STRONG ENOUGH TO LIVE THE LIFE YOU'VE IMAGINED.

 

Live Life Happy

A blind girl hated herself purely for the fact she was blind. The only person she didn’t hate was her loving boyfriend, as he was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry him. One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her – now she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “now that you can see the world, will you marry me? The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying: “Just take care of my eyes dear.”

Moral of the story:

When our circumstances change, so does our mind. Some people may not be able to see the way things were before, and might not be able to appreciate them. There are many things to take away from this story, not just one.

Don’t rush the process. Allow yourself to grow at your own pace. Stop comparing your life to what other people are achieving.

Don’t waste energy on revenge. Your inner peace is more important.

The longer you hang in there, the greater the chance that something will happen in your favor. – Jack Canfield

Life is too short to spend time with people who drag you down and prevent you from being happy.

Worrying about things in the future doesn’t stop them from happening. It just takes away from your happiness today. – Jack Canfield

 

BEAUTIFUL IDEAS FOR SEWING ROOM

 

SPEAK WHAT YOU WISH TO BECOME.

LIVE AS IF IT IS ALREADY HAPPENED.

PARTY FOOD

 

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all.

You can get excited about the future. The past won’t mind.

Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start.

“No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again.”

Believe you can and you're halfway there.

The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.

Animals of YouTube sing "Deck the Halls"

Help others in need, we get the rewards of our helpful acts

One afternoon a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from over a lofty branch.

“Just the thing to quench my thirst,” he thought.

Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them but still failed.

Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, “They’re probably sour anyway,” and proceeded to walk away.

 

Moral of the story: 

It’s easy to despise what you can’t have.

A slave, ill-treated by his master, runs away to the forest. There he comes across a lion in pain because of a thorn in his paw. The slave bravely goes forward and removes the thorn gently.

The lion without hurting him goes away.

Some days later, the slave’s master comes hunting to the forest and catches many animals and cages them. The slave is spotted by the masters’ men who catch him and bring him to the cruel master.

The master asks for the slave to be thrown into the lion’s cage.

The slave is awaiting his death in the cage when he realizes that it is the same lion that he had helped. The slave rescued the lion and all other caged animals.

 Moral of the story: 

One should help others in need, we get the rewards of our helpful acts in return.

Puppies for Sale

A shop owner placed a sign above his door that said: “Puppies For Sale.”

Signs like this always have a way of attracting young children, and to no surprise, a boy saw the sign and approached the owner; 

 “How much are you going to sell the puppies for?” he asked.The store owner replied, “Anywhere from $30 to $50.”The little boy pulled out some change from his pocket. “I have $2.37,” he said. “Can I please look at them?”

The shop owner smiled and whistled. Out of the kennel came Lady, who ran down the aisle of his shop followed by five teeny, tiny balls of fur.

One puppy was lagging considerably behind. Immediately the little boy singled out the lagging, limping puppy and said, “What’s wrong with that little dog?”

The shop owner explained that the veterinarian had examined the little puppy and had discovered it didn’t have a hip socket. It would always limp. It would always be lame.

The little boy became excited. “That is the puppy that I want to buy.”

The shop owner said, “No, you don’t want to buy that little dog. If you really want him, I’ll just give him to you.”

The little boy got quite upset. He looked straight into the store owner’s eyes, pointing his finger, and said;

“I don’t want you to give him to me. That little dog is worth every bit as much as all the other dogs and I’ll pay full price. In fact, I’ll give you $2.37 now, and 50 cents a month until I have him paid for.”

 The shop owner countered, “You really don’t want to buy this little dog. He is never going to be able to run and jump and play with you like the other puppies.”

To his surprise, the little boy reached down and rolled up his pant leg to reveal a badly twisted, crippled left leg supported by a big metal brace. He looked up at the shop owner and softly replied, “Well, I don’t run so well myself, and the little puppy will need someone who understands!”