Amazing Domestic Seafood Recipe

The following post is sponsored
I, as a big seafood lover, like fish, shrimp, oyster and so on. I have some really nice seafood recipes that I can share with you. One of them is the microwave steam fish. Here is the steps and what you need to make it:

1. You need some fish, of course. It does not matter what kind of fish you are going to use. Cod, catfish, halibut, and even salmon are perfect choices. Chinese people like to use whole fish. But you don’t have to. However, I would recommend NOT getting fillet. The better choice would be fish steaks due to its thickness.
2. Green onions. You need about two green onions and cut them into green onion silks.
3. Light soy sauce. There are two different kinds of soy sauce. One is dark soy sauce, and the other is the light one. Please make sure you get the light soy sauce. Otherwise, you will have a very very heavy colored fish without much flavor in the end. I recommend the Maggi’s which I think is the best one to use for any seafood plate. If you cannot find Maggi’s in the stores you shop, don’t worry, you will be completely fine as long as you are using the light soy sauce instead of the dark one.
4. Last, not the least, cooking oil and the microwave.

Let’s start cooking. Firstly, you need to clean up the fish by just washing it under running water for a bit. Then place the fish steaks in the plate, cover them with another bowl or plate or anything you can find to cover it in the microwave. This is an important step. Do not put the fish in the microwave without cover as it will let the moisture escape and leave you a very dry fish in the end.

Now, turn the microwave on for about five minutes at the high level. You can turn the fish once when it is half way through. After it is done, remove the plate from the microwave. You may find some water in the dish. Do not worry. It is normal. Just get rid of the water. Remember that we have some green onions silk prepared to use? It is the time to put them evenly on the fish.

The next thing we want to do is to heat up some cooking oil. Turn on the stove, pour some cooking oil into it (probably about 5-10 table spoons depending on the amount of fish you are having) and heat it up until you see a slight smoke coming out of it. Pour the heated cooking oil directly and evenly onto the fish. You will hear some nice sizzling.

The last step is to add the light soy sauce. Just pour the light soy sauce equally onto the fish and…..you are done!
This recipe is simple and easy to make and very delicious at the same time. I think it is a really great contender for a Cook off. If you like seafood, you should check out the GreatAmericanSeafoodCookOff event where you can watch all kinds of seafood cooking demonstrations from the chiefs across the states. It is One of America’s most prestigious culinary competitions, one chef and one state will walk away with the title of King of American Seafood. Governor Jindal issued the challenge for states to send us their best chef and most delicious domestic sustainable seafood. It is a fun event to attend. You can check out more information from their website.

GCR Check Received!

I have finally got my GCR rebate check in the mail yesterday in the total amount of $65.05. It took me about 45 days to receive my check from the date I requested. I just had the worst timing. They process checks on the 15th of each month. I submitted my request on June 16th,one day after the dead line!
So if you would like to pay by checks, you should pay attention to when you should submit your request. Of course, the best date will be the 14th. Or you can simply choose to pay by paypal.

Interview coming up

I have an interview scheduled on Aug 12 from a financial institution in Alberta. The job is exactly what I am looking for in an industry I want to work for. I hope I can score it on Aug 12. To prepare for the interview, I have searched on the internet for how to answer those questions usually pop up during the process. The particular useful one I have found is Interview Questions on About.com. If you are interested, you can follow this link.

Good luck to all the job seekers! :)

LA Police Gear

The following is a sponsored post

Have you ever wanted to buy the police gear such as 5.11 tactical series , watches, Sunfire LED flashlights, tactical boots and so on? Check out LA Police Gear website on which you can find a lot of those kinds of stuffs.

LA Police Gear was founded by Los Angeles area Police Officers. They have branded the company on extremely fast shipping, low prices, and outstanding service. LA Police Gear is a factory-authorized dealer for most of the brands you see on its web site.

So if you are interested, check it out using the link in this post and gear up in the summer.

Passive Income Report

I have decided to do a passive income report each month. Right now, most of my passive income come from blogging and investment income such as interests and dividends. In the month of June, I have been able to generate about $285 dollars. It has been pretty good. I hope the trend can continue into the future.

Grow With Cisco Certification

Information technology, computer, and Internet have become a must for today’s business and our daily activities. Without any doubt, IT industry presents many opportunities and has grown very fast in these days. There are many companies that need to hire someone who has IT background and knowledge. It is very important and necessary in my opinion to get yourself some IT certificates if you are considering a career in IT industry since without a proper certificate many companies will have doubts in your abilities.

There are so many different companies who provide IT certificates and offer related trainings. You will have to choose very carefully based on both your career stream in IT you want to head to and the trustworthy of the company who is offering the certificates. You certainly do not want a certificate without any value. If you are considering a career as a Network specialist, I would recommend Cisco certification. It holds a large value in today’s IT industry. The Cisco Learning Network is offering all kinds of Cisco certification programs such as IP Networking (CCENT), Routing&Switching (CCNP), Design(CCDP) and so on. If none of those sounds interesting to you, specialist certifications are also available for fine-tuning your skills in particular areas such as wireless LANs, security and more. All the certifications would be a validation of your knowledge and skills for internet networking and at the same time a ticket to wider career opportunities. If you are interested, you can check out the website of Cisco Learning Network to find out more.

Update on GCR checks

I logged into my GCR account today. My account shows that the check has been cut and mailed. My total rebate is $65. Until today, I have not seen the mail coming yet. I will wait until Friday before I send them an e-mail. Hopefully, I will be receiving it soon.

WarGames 25th Anniversary Back in Theaters

Although I am not a big movie fan, I like to watch some movies from the 80’s, such as Indiana Jones, Sixteen Candles, Back To The Future and so on. I feel the movies from the 80’s have more stories to tell than today’s. They might not use a lot of stunts and high tech animation, but still fun to watch.

WarGames is celebrating its 25th Anniversary and it will be back in the theaters nationwide this coming Thursday, July 24. The showing is one night only and will include never-before-seen interviews with film’s creators and the cast (including Broderick and Ally Sheedy) and crew on how the movie was ahead of its time and its relevance today. Additionally, only at this one night event, get a sneak peek at the making of the sequel – WarGames: The Dead Code. If you are interested, do not miss this opportunity.

Scotiabank and Etrade Canada

Scotiabank Reaches Agreement To Buy E*TRADE Canada. The announcement has been made yesterday although the deal has not been finalized yet. It looks like there is going to be less and less competition for the discount brokerage firms in Canada.

For more on this, please follow this link

Get Paid To Try Today!

This year is definitely very tough. Stock market is down. Home value has been beaten up very much. Everything seems to be heading the direction we do not want it to. What can we do? I do not think there is much we can do other than stay calm and stay the course. In the mean time, to get through this tough time, you might want to consider increasing your take-home pay by generating some side income. There are several ways to do this. One is to blog, and the other one is to take some paid surveys at home. If you would like to try to take some paid surveys at home, you should check out GetPaidToTry.com. If you sign up now, you will get $20.00 after completing the member bonus. Moreover, unlike other survey sites, there will be no credit card information required during the sign up process. The registration was very quick and simple. Once confirmed, you are free to do whichever offers you wish to do when you feel like doing them. The offers are categorized which allows you to easily find those you are interested in. Furthermore, GetPaidToTry has a referral system as well. You will be able to earn more cash by referring your friends to GetPaidToTry. Sounds interesting? You can Click here to begin.

GCR Weekly Report

If you shop at Footsmart.com this week through Canadian Great Rebates, you will get 10% in Cash Back Rebates. Plus, until the end of July save 15% Off the purchase of lower body health items with Coupon Code: WBFSS10.

SocialSpark is Great for Mommy Bloggers

For the past two months, I have been able to bring a little bit extra money by taking the sponsored post opportunities from SocialSpark. The result is so much better than I have thought. On average, I am able to generate about $100 additional income each month. It might looks small, but it certainly pays for my food each month. I think it is pretty cool that I can eat free for the rest of my life.

These days there are many mommies who stay home, look after their family, take care of the kids and do the entire household work. Moreover, among those stay-home mommies, many of them are bloggers as well. They are writing posts about their daily life, the persons they care and love, the things they are passionate about, and so on. Blogs are their diary online. If you are a mommy blogger, I encourage you to check out SocialSpark and join the community where bloggers and advertisers unite. At SocialSpark, you will be able to share your thoughts through your blog and earn some money from it. The typical pay out for each post will be in the range from $5 to $30 with the requirement of 50 to 300 words. Based on my personal experience, it will take about 15 to 30 minutes for me to write up a post, post it and submit the URL at SocialSpark. Don’t worry. It is a very easy task. If I can do it, you can do it too. So, take the time to sign up at SocialSpark, start blogging away and earn some hard cold cash.

iPhone 3G comes to the market

Today is a big day for iPhone lovers as it is the time the iPhone 3G comes to the market. For Canadians, Rogers is the wireless provider who will offer this phone in Canada. If you would like to get one from Rogers, here is the list of plans they are offering now:

New iphone black 16G $299

1st 2 month is free
1st 3 month is unlimted call time
each month $35 with NO data plan
250 day time min, free after 6pm.
free call display, call waiting

$60/month - 150 anytime minutes, 75 outgoing SMS, and 400 MB data
$75/months - 300 anytime minutes, 100 outgoing SMS, and 750 MB data
$100/month - 600 anytime minutes, 200 outgoing SMS, and 1 GB data
$115/month - 800 anytime minutes, 300 outgoing SMS, and 2 GB data

Basically, we are looking at, at least, $45 per month with NO data plan or $75 for a plan with 400 MB data. For me, that price is just too high. $900 per year is enough to pay for a small nice trip. I would rather go traveling instead of having an iPhone. How long will I feel it is a fun gadget? Probably 6 months maybe? After 6 months, I will be stuck for another two and a half year of it. I don't think I will be getting one.

Buy Your Next Prescription Glasses from Zenni Optical

Do you wear glasses? I do. I used to buy my prescription glasses in store. Those prescription glasses are so expensive. After the $150 deductions from my insurance, I still need to pay around $170 out of my own pocket. If you hate the high price just like me, you need to check out ZenniOptical.com which sells stylish prescription glasses online from $8. You will find huge selection of frames, with single vision lens, sunsensor (potochromic)lens, tinted sunglasses lens, bifocal lens and progressive lens. The Secret to Zenni’s Low Prices is that they sell only their own manufactured frames direct to the customer, with no middlemen and virtually no advertising budget. Even Fox News is talking about ZenniOptical as well. For the full story, you can check it out by the following link,Zenni on Fox

This post is a sponsored post

Canadian Mortgage Rules Act Change

As the change to the act, there will be no 40-year mortgage in Canada anymore. The maximum amortization period will be limited to 35 years. Also, 5% down payment will be required when purchasing a house/condo. The change will take effect on October 15.

This is a sign of credit tightening. Apparently, the federal government is worried about the similar sub-prime crisis might happen in Canada.(Just take a look at the real estate market in BC and AB) Will this change cool off the real estate market in Canada? I think only time can tell. But this is a correct decision to make. Good move for the federal government.

Dungeon Runners

Gaming industry has become larger and larger. Nowadays, there are more and more people especially kids and teenagers who play all kinds of games, such as video games and computer games. Gaming is truly enjoyable and addictive. Among all different games, the massively multiplayer role-playing games are very popular. People love to play this kind of RPG games because they can interact with lots of people, make friends and team up with them in a quest. Although I am not a big fan of online games, I found the new Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, Dungeon Runners, quite engaging and entertaining. In the online video game, players can play as a hero, fight monsters and explore exciting magical places. Also, players will obtain magical Bling Gnome that eat their unwanted items and turn them into gold by taking a golden squat. This game is very simple but fun. You might think that you need to pay a big price or high monthly subscription fee for such a fun game. No, you do not have to. Although there is an option to purchase a subscription, you can still download and play the game for free.

Dungeon Runners is a great online game you can play. If you are interested, march over to their site, download the game and try it out yourself.

DRIP Order Problem With Questrade Update

OK, I just got the e-mail reply from Questrade. It looks like the executed price was correct. They execute the DRIP order the day after the dividends payout, which is July 2nd in this case. The trade will settle in 3 business days, which is July 7th. In their back end system, Pension, the correct executed price(July 2nd price) was recorded. However, in their trading platform, Webtrader, the executed price was recorded as the price at the close time of the day the trade settled which is July 7th price. So, the number in Pension is correct but the number in Webtrader is not. I am glad the problem has been figured out. But this kind of issue is still not acceptable. Basically, I could not use the records in Webtrader to calculate my adjusted cost base. I have to go back to the back end system to figure that out. Oh, well, let's just hope there is no more issues with Questrade. Otherwise, I am ready to switch.

New Way to Boost Your Blog Traffic

People are blogging for many reasons. Some write posts to sell a product; some are blogging to make some extra money; some are just blogging for fun and want to meet some new friends. No matter what you are blogging about. Every blogger is looking for more traffic to their blogs. What are some ways you have been using to drive more people to your blog? Obviously, there are many different techniques and websites which can bring more people to read your blog. Have you noticed that there is one called TrafficeXplode2.0? The TrafficXplode2.0 was designed with “Owners”, “Visitors” and “Invitees” in mind. In other words, it creates a “win-win-win” situation for all 3 parties. As an owner of the blog, you will get more traffic to your site. If you are the visitor, you will be getting some free gifts. As an invitee, you will get to know about a great resource that might potentially be something of value. TrafficXplode2.0 is basically a tell-a-friend solution. Visitors to your blogs get to introduce your blog to their friends by importing and inviting their contacts through either email contacts such as Gmail and Yahoo or social networking contacts like Hi5, MySpace, Friendster and even Facebook. The software will keep track of the referrals. To award your readers, you can choose gifts that in the price ranges you are comfortable with. I think this is a quite interesting and innovative idea. If you are interested , please check out their website for more information.

DRIP Order with Questrade

I just noticed a problem with my DRIP order in my Questrade account. The executed price shown in my webtrader account is different than the one shown in its backend system Penson. The net difference is 2%!! They are not sure what is going on now, but will e-mail me back when they figure it out! I will sure not be letting this go without a proper reply. Let's see what they come up with.

A Penny A Day

Every one loves to have more money in their accounts. One way to achieve that is to save more. How do you save more? There are several ways to do it. You can either make more or spend less or doing both. At the beginning of this year, I have made several moves to cut down my expenses such as switching my cell phone monthly plan to the prepaid service (save me at least $30 per month), canceling my cable TV and watch my favorite show on the internet and so on.($25 per month save). If you pay attention, you will find a lot of ways to find a little bit extra dough. Here are some I would like to share with you:


1. Get a coffee mug and bring your morning coffee with you instead of going to the drive through of McDonald’s to get yours.
2. Start car pooling with your colleagues.
3. If you are not a big talker like me, consider switching your cell phone to the prepaid service. Feel need to chat on the phone? Pick up your land line.
4. Clip coupons and reading the flyers to find the best deals for your purchase. I just got a leg of lamb last weekend for 60% off last weekend by simply looking for the deal at the grocery store!
5. If you need to make a lot of long distance calls, consider using Skype or other VOIP services to save big.
6. Are you in debt and looking for Debt help? March over to bills.com to find some information on Debt consolidation, Debt relief and Consolidate debt. You will find a lot of information about how to save the interest charge on your debt.

Building up a personal net worth is not an easy job. It takes a penny a day to achieve your final financial freedom.

How do you determine your networth?

I have been regularly posting my net worth on this blog. But, actually, how do you determine your net worth? What is the standard for rich and poor? Is a person with $40,000 in assets and $1000 monthly expenses richer than the one who only has $30,000 but $500 monthly expenses?

Obviously, there are many ways to measure your net worth. Besides the numbers, I typically like this one: how many months you can live on without having a pay cheque? Using the example above, Person A would be able to go without having a pay cheque for 40 months while Person B will be able to do so for 60 months. Although Person A has higher net worth in numbers, Person B is actually has more net freedom.

This method not only measures wealth, but it measures wealth against lifestyle costs as well. It gives higher score to those who live below their means since they are truly more flexible than those who just live larger than life.

So, what is your score in terms of your pay cheque free month?

Online Baby CPR

Are you new parents or soon-to-be parents? Do you know that thousands of babies and toddlers die each year from drowning and choking and yet most Parents do not know CPR or have not been trained in CPR in the last couple of years? Do you want to learn the skills that you need to help your babies or young children in an emergency? Traditional CPR course will take about four hours to complete. Most of the parents or soon-to-be parents do not have the time and resources to do so. Online Baby CPR has provided a new way for new parents to learn the skills at home, at their pace, for an affordable price with online CPR course designed for parents.

Currently, Online Baby CPR is offering some demo courses which include topics such as Drowning and Choking Prevention, Infant Child CPR, What is AED, How to use AED and so on.. The lessons include pictures, video, and audio. I think every parent should learn the CPR skills and online course is a great way to learn it. If you would like to know more, please visit Online Baby CPR website

GCR Weekly Report

Great Canadian Rebate is offering 15.0% Cash Back Rebate, save 10% instantly and FREE shipping on orders over $37.00 from Yves Rocher this week. You can check it out here.

Get To Know Glenn

Do you know who is Glenn Beck? He is the funny guys who is known for his political comedy and hosts his radio program with a wide range of topics. I have never paid much attention to Glenn Beck before. Today, I watched several videos on his website. I like the way he talks about politics. In his video, "Real Story- Energy Independence", I am surprised that how those politicians make their promises but most of them were not able to keep it. Glenn Beck just tells it like it is!

There is going to be a summer political tour for Glenn Beck. He will be in Dallas on July 17^th. The Dallas show will be broadcasted to select movie theaters by FathomEvents. Make sure you check it out.

Do you check your pay stub?

I think most of the people got their pay directly deposit into their bank account. Therefore, many just do not bother to walk to the admin's cubical to get their pay stub. If you are on fixed salary each month, there should be no problem. I, however, am on the two weeks' on-call rotation. Therefore, once in a while, I will get the extra on-call pay. Surprisingly, my on-call pay for last month was not processed. I immediately noticed that when I got my pay stub from the admin. It turned out to be a error from the pay roll team and they assured me the pay will be processed next time and show up on my next pay stub. So, if you are like me and will sometimes get additional OT or other extra payment, it might be a good idea to check your pay stub because errors do happen.

Glenn Beck, The Funny Guy

Every one finds Glenn Beck funny. He talks about politics with his unique style and a sense of humor in his radio program. I do not consider myself a politics fan of any kind. But as I read through Glenn’s blog about the wearing of Dr.Oz in Oprah show, I had a good laugh and agree with him that in this society many people tends to judge others by his/her appearance or think others will judge them in this way.

If you are a fan of Glenn Beck, make sure that you check out his blog which he updates regularly with videos, articles and his radio shows with a wide range of topics. Moreover, Glenn Beck is doing a summer comedy tour. The Dallas show on July 17th of his will be broadcasted nationally to select movie theaters nationwide on that date. Make sure not to miss this event.

My Side Income - June

As my previous post stated, I have made my target to bring in additional $80 for June. I think it is interesting to see what amount of money I am able to generate besides my employment income. For now, it is pretty simple. All of my side income fall in two categories: Blogging income and money from investment such as interest and dividend. For the month of June, my blogging income is $120. The interest and dividends from my investment adds up to $80. Overall, I am able to bring in around $200 per month besides my regular pay cheque. $200 a month is enough to cover my monthly food expenses plus the cost of my car insurance with a little bit extra left. I am working towards two more ideas to generate a little bit more money each month. Both of the projects should go live in the month of July. Let's wish me luck. I will provide an update later on.