Omar's Blog

Well it's been busy for me lately, been working, on my new job, last week I had training all day and it was pretty intensive. Sitting on a computer watching videos and listening to instructions is not very fun. I did learn a lot though but still doing some training. Next week I'm going back to the desk for more intensive training.



This picture has nothing to do with my posting but i haven't been able to take any pictures lately, this is just one of my many latest favorites.

Today at SAM new sculpture park, there were ice sculptors creating these ice sculpture of salmons.

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We went to Jeff's surprise birthday party last night. His GF Cassie put it together for him. I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in years, It was fun.

This morning we woke up to a brand new blanket of fresh snow. The temperature is 31 degrees F. Buses are running and a lot of cars are also running me however, I'm sick and I'm staying at home Temperature is expected to go up to 40 degrees which will be enough to melt a lot of snow.

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Well it will be a cold weekend but at least there is no more snow in the forecast. I was able to get out of my driveway today and got stuff done.

So I got home from working out today and I didn't have anything to eat. We always keep eggs, and veggies and salsa.
From anyone who knows me they will tell you that I like to watch the Food Network, so I rewinded the tapes in my head and pictured in my mind the following:

Ingredients for 1 serving:
1 Egg ( at room temperature)
2 cups of water
1 Tsp. White vinegar
2 medium size white mushrooms (about a hand full sliced)
Sliced white onions, (about the same amount as mushrooms)
1 garlic clove
1/2 tomato
1 tsp. Parmesan cheese
Cilantro for garnish
Home made tomato salsa (hot spicy) served cold.
2-3 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1 Tbsp. Sesame oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

This looks like a lot of ingredients but the volume will decrease when cooked because of the loss of water via evaporation during the cooking process.

Pour 2 cups of water on a sauce pan and let boil, on a 8" pan pour a TBSP of EVOO, let it warm at medium high heat and then add the peeled garlic clove, (Don't walk away this will take about 20 seconds) keep turning it until it starts getting almost golden. Take the clove out and let it sit on the side. Introduce the onion and season with salt and pepper to taste. When the onion is caramelized about 2 minutes, add the mushrooms, add another Tbsp of EVOO, season again. By now the water should be boiling, add the vinegar stir the mix to distribute the vinegar and then crack the egg and drop in boiling water (Poach it). Let it boiling for about 2 minutes (I like my yolks soft so if you prefer hard yolks leave another minute or two). While that's done keep flipping the onion, mushroom, etc. add the third Tbsp. of EVOO if it looks dry, you can make that call depending on how lean you want it.
Chop the caramelized garlic and and add, immediately start folding it in and ad the TBSP of Sesame oil, be patient, this smells soooo good by now but you are almost done. Take out the poached egg out of the water, onto a plate.
Add the tomato to your mushroom pan and fold in for another 30 seconds. Serve next to the egg, garnish the mushrooms with the parmesan cheese, sprinkle the chopped cilantro BAM! Season your egg with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish the egg with a spoon full of salsa, Enjoy!

As explained on the 365 project blog, I just started it, I hope I can keep up with it.

I have spent some time making new sets from pictures currently there and some newly uploaded. Please take a look.
Tio Nacho in Seattle 2005
Cindy and Me
Paloma's Best
The Best of Maya
Dayton's Best

For my whole library click here

The main part of the website has been restored to the new hosting account. I am still working on my other sites to bring them back up.

Note:
This website will be down for maintenance and consolidation of all my domains and hosting on 01/03/2007 intermittently. Thank you for your understanding.

Tax time is coming up, and we are all about to receive our W2's If you are like me, you will find out that the sooner you file the less stress you will have when the tax filing deadline approaches. Most people I know wait until April but if you have a return, the cash can be useful right after the holidays and just in time for Valentine's day. Doing some research, a couple of years ago I found that there are several places online that you can do this for free. I found this out about 3 years ago and I have been filing online since. This year I thought it would be nice to share it with you so you can use it as well. This is the link to the IRS website. Follow the instructions, you will get options about which vendor to use. I use Turbotax as that is what I am used to even before the free service.
Click here for the link to IRS Available on 1/16/2007

Starting a new year, 07 should be a great year, many good things are coming however many things aren't really things I want to remember about 06.
Some are minor and some are not so minor, the latest, my job ended with my employer of 6 years. I am very happy however about many other opportunities that will come in 07. As far as what plans I have for this year, I plan in getting more into profesional photography. I'm currently working on a new website for my portfolio. I am going to purchase some equipment that I still need. Also I am working on been more active about marketing my photography.
I have also started all last month (December) getting back to the gym and plan to keep it up.
Well in short, every year I plan to become better, however I never document my resolutions so by the end of January I always loose my target. This will help this year, I hope.
To anyone who's reading Happy New Year! Be who you are but be the best at it.